Chapter 46: Shinobu and Wisteria Poison (Announcement)

"The new distillation and purification technology has greatly improved the purity of wisteria toxin. I estimate that just one drop of the new poison should be 70 times more lethal."

Seeing Shinobu curiously swirling the purple liquid in the vessel, Maple chuckled and announced the rare good news, as well as its potential shortcoming.

"It's just a pity, the ten drops in the small bottle have consumed 80-90% of the demon-slayer corps wisteria flower poison stock. It seems that we would not be able to create poison of this level anytime soon."

However, even after hearing the disadvantages, the smile on Shinobu's face was still there. On the contrary, a relieved smile appeared on her pretty face.

"I think it's okay, Mr. Feng, just this small bottle is enough."

Shinobu smiled faintly and placed this extremely precious bottle of poison close to her body. Anyone could see the care and solemnity of her movements.

"Ten drops are sufficient, 700 times the lethal dose…"

Shinobu's somewhat absent-minded murmur reached Maple's ears, causing him to pause his utensils-packing slightly and look at the petite Kocho Shinobu again.

Suddenly, Maple realized that this was a good opportunity to let Shinobu let out the deep hatred in her heart.

"Shinobu, what are you…"

Maple gently interrupted Shinobu's trance, and raised a reasonable "question" of his own.

"With all due respect, when you raised this topic, I felt strange, because this kind of highly lethal poison would be too wasteful to deal with ordinary demons. If all these ten drops are added, I'm afraid even the upper-ranked demons would hate to drink it…wait, you cannot be wanting to?"

Maple's "question" was natural and logical, even Shinobu who had accompanied him for a long time did not find anything wrong. She just pursed her lips, seemingly thinking how to explain.

In fact, when Shinobu asked Maple to work together to develop a more powerful poison, Shinobu had realized that she would one day face this question from Maple.

This young man, who in opinion of Kocho Shinobu was extremely talented, would definitely realize the "overkill" of this poison, Shinobu never doubted this point.

"Mr. Feng, I…"

Shinobu's eyes were shaking violently, even the smile on her face was a little forced…

She did not want to implicate her comrades in her hatred. The demon who killed her sister was now an upper-ranked second demon. If she did not have the determination to die, Shinobu did not think she would be able to avenge her sister in this life.

Shinobu could not, would not allow her comrades to be affected by her own hatred and gave up the possibility of survival.

Just imagine, if Mr. Feng knew about this, what would happen if he met Doma in the future and was affected by her words and did not retreat, what would happen then? Would Mr. Feng sacrificed himself?

Shinobu did not wish to see this kind of ending, that was also the reason why she found it difficult to talk about it.

However, similarly, as a person who had spent the longest time with Maple, Kocho Shinobu was also the only one who had seen "Mr. Feng" the complete 7th form sword arts.

That terrifying moves that had transcended the human realm had been echoing in the depths of Shinobu's mind, which unknowingly made her have a vague hope…

[Maybe, with Mr. Feng's help, can easily slay Domo]

This vision was very strong, like a drowning person grabbing onto a driftwood, allowing the desperate Shinobu to have a look of hope and finally told Maple the whole story.

"Mr. Feng, you should know about the previous "flower pillar" right?"

"I know, senior Kocho Kanae the 'flower pillar', I suppose miss Tsuyuri's flower breathing technique should be learnt from her right? The surname 'Kocho'… is she a relative of yours?"

"Yes, Kanae is my elder sister."

"Elder sister" these two words seemed to have aroused an emotion Shinobu had suppressed for a long time, the fact with "perfect" smile, finally "broke" as tears flashed in her eyes, becoming poignant and real.

At this moment, this once competitive and irritable girl temporarily let go of her long indistinguishable "gentle" expression on her face, and released the long-suppressed emotions within her.

Was this what Shinobu meant by "immature"? Shinobu did not know, and at this moment, she did not care.

"The one who killed my elder sister was Domo, who was previously an upper-ranked sixth demon, but now an upper-ranked second demon."

As if recalling the disgusting smiling face in her memory, Shinobu who had removed her "gentleness" showed a clear anger and hatred.

"I want revenge, Mr. Feng, but I know that other than poison, it is impossible for me to kill that monster."

As she said that, she could not help but to touch the bottle of poison within her cloth again…

This was her only hope.

"Seven hundred times the lethal dose is sufficient to severely injure Domo. But, I, I do not know whether I can inject this poison with my own ability and whether I can kill it."

Shinobu glanced at Maple, who was silent and staring at her quietly. His clear eyes allowed Shinobu to slowly control her frenzy emotions.

Thinking of Mr. Feng's strong true combat power, Shinobu seemed to have found a pillar of support. A slightly "awkward" smile appeared on Shinobu's face who had been crying like a kitten.

"Ne…, Mr. Feng, do you know, before I met you, I was planning to let Domo eat me so that I can poison him, but I have no idea who can help me kill him.

Speaking of this, Shinobu's face showed embarrassment, shame and even hope which finally emerged into a sentence with an extremely reluctant tone.

"Mr. Feng, you, can you help me? After Domo swallowed me, could you help me kill it?"

Once this sentence was spoken, Shinobu lowered her head due to regret, not daring to look at Maple's face, because even herself felt that this sort of "trying for anything in desperation" was a bit excessive…

She and Mr. Feng had only known each other for less than 6 months. Although there was a certain friendship, to actually ask the other party to risk his life to fight against an upper-ranked demon. It was truly unreasonable.

"Sorry, Mr. Feng, I was…"

"Kocho, you do not need to be this way."

Maple's gentle voice interrupted Shinobu's apology, and his next words, caused Shinobu to raise her head, the purple eyes filled with disbelief, and stared blankly at the young man in front of her.

"Kocho, you can kill Domo alone, trust me."

"But my insect breathing…"

Maple shook his head, did not allow Shinobu to continue, and looked directly into her eyes, and spoke with an inexplicable hint in his voice.

"Kocho, would you like to learn my soul breathing? Not the sword art, but the basic breathing technique."

"Huh?!"

~~~

Announcement:

"Traveling Through Worlds" or TTW (On Hiatus/Abandoned)

- The author has started writing a new fan fiction, and this fanfic is no longer being updated with new chapters.

"The Mysterious Journey" or TMJ (Concluded with an Author's Note)

- The author concluded this fanfic at the end of the Demon Slayer volume/arc. This was announced by the author.

I have two choices if I want to continue this story: either I write it myself, or I hire someone to continue it. So, after I'm done uploading the 'Traveling Through Worlds' (TTW) 'Akame Ga Kill' arc, I'm going to start hiring someone to write it.

The same goes for 'The Mysterious Journey' (TMJ) after the 'Demon Slayer' arc. If there's a competent person, we can discuss continuing it.

So, this isn't completely sad news, but either way, if you guys pay or want to pay (via Patreon) to read more of TTW and TMJ or to support me in these stories, please don't. I don't want to disappoint you with the promises mentioned above.

Thank you, readers of TTW and TMJ.