After being escorted back to Momoyama by the Kakushi, Rika hugged Ryosuke and started crying.
Shota was still hiding behind the doorframe, peeking from the shadows.
Grind grind grind—
The harsh sound of teeth grinding was continuous.
The resentment he emitted was practically materialized; it could at least feed three Evil Sword Immortals!
Tch, incompetent brother~
Ryosuke couldn't be bothered with him and rubbed Rika's head.
"Why are you crying? I'm not dead."
"W-what if something really happened to you!" Rika's eyes were filled with tears.
"It won't. Your brother has great luck and a tough life, I won't die."
I hope so...
The last three words were stuck in Ryosuke's throat.
"Great luck, my ass!"
Jigoro hurried over leaning on his cane. He wanted to hit Ryosuke on the head, but seeing his injuries, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"You clearly finished the mission, so why did you actively put yourself in danger?"
"Grandpa, if I didn't kill that demon, someone else would have."
What Ryosuke meant by this was that he was afraid someone else would steal his kill.
In his eyes, how were those things demons!
They were lovely experience point babies!
"You kid!"
Jigoro sighed.
Obviously, he misunderstood Ryosuke's meaning.
He thought Ryosuke was being considerate of others.
Such a temperament wasn't bad, but it also made it very easy to lose one's life.
...
Breathing techniques had a miraculous effect on healing injuries. In half a month, Ryosuke's wounds were fully healed.
During this time, Shota also went on his first mission.
It couldn't be helped; there were too many people who passed the Final Selection, and too few demons suitable for rookies to practice on.
Ryosuke sat at the edge of the training ground, deliberately lengthening the rhythm of every breath he took.
The airflow seemed to solidify into substance, driving the stagnant impure air in his body, accompanied by a subtle stinging sensation.
Total Concentration: Constant.
This was the technique Ryosuke had been primarily studying recently.
In simple terms, it was making Total Concentration Breathing a habit.
Whether eating, sleeping, going to the toilet, or playing cards... doing Total Concentration Breathing every single moment.
This was the foundation of Breathing techniques, the key to prying open the body's limits, and it was incredibly important.
Simply put, Total Concentration Breathing was like turning on an invincible mode.
After mastering Constant, one could ignore skill cooldowns and stay invincible all the time, turning an active skill into a passive skill.
"Breathing is not about using force, it's about integration."
Jigoro instructed from the side: "Lightning doesn't only exist when it strikes. It is constantly brewing deep within the clouds, accumulating without releasing, making its momentum even fiercer."
Ryosuke tried again, but still failed.
This kind of training couldn't be rushed.
Besides physical fitness and skill, it was mostly about habit.
After all, even someone as strong as the protagonist Tanjiro was tormented half to death when learning Total Concentration: Constant.
At this moment, a familiar faint blue figure swooped down and landed on Ryosuke's shoulder.
"Chirp! Ryosuke Yasui! Mission!"
"Kanagawa Prefecture! Young women are continuously disappearing late at night! Go investigate immediately!"
Before Ryosuke could digest the information, the hummingbird spoke again.
"Furthermore! Through Oyakata-sama's grand assessment, Ryosuke Yasui has been promoted to Kanoe rank swordsman! Chirp!"
What the hell?!
Kanoe rank?!
Not only Ryosuke, but even Jigoro was stunned for a moment.
Beside them, Rika blinked, looking at Ryosuke with a face full of admiration.
"Wow! Brother Ryosuke is so amazing! You're already a Kanoe so quickly!"
The corner of Ryosuke's mouth twitched.
The Demon Slayer Corps had a strict hierarchy; high-ranking swordsmen had the authority to deploy low-ranking swordsmen.
Promotion to each rank required completing missions and accumulating merit.
He had merely killed a few small fries and a troublesome Hitouban, yet he shot straight from Mizunoto to Kanoe...
Skipping four ranks in a row!
This speed was simply absurdly fast!
By the same token, the higher the rank, the more dangerous the missions, and the stronger the demons.
This meant that Ryosuke needed to bear this broken body to face even greater pressure and danger!
Damn it!
That damn brat Kagaya Ubuyashiki!
Ryosuke roared in his heart.
At the same time, he was glad that Shota had gone on a mission and hadn't returned yet.
If he found out that he was a Kanoe...
That young boy's sensitive and competitive heart would probably explode on the spot.
Just imagining Shota's twisted "Why are you faster than me" expression made Ryosuke's brain hurt.
"Understood."
Ryosuke suppressed the complaints in his heart, and immediately started packing his things to set off.
Along the way, he kept pondering the location of this mission.
Kanagawa...
That place wasn't very far from Asakusa.
Thinking of this, Ryosuke's heart stirred.
The place Asakusa had too much significance!
That's where a beautiful married woman lived!
In the original work, it was in Asakusa that Tanjiro met Tamayo and Yushiro.
At that point in time, Tamayo had already been hiding in Asakusa for a long time.
This mission's location was relatively close; after finishing it, he could go and try his luck.
After all, if he wanted to kill that trash boss Muzan, Tamayo's medicine was absolutely necessary.
Forming an alliance earlier meant pushing the progress forward earlier.
With this thought, Ryosuke's pace quickened a bit.
A few days later, Ryosuke disguised himself, changing into a plain traveler's outfit, and blended into Kanagawa Prefecture.
He gathered information in places like teahouses, docks, and markets.
"Sigh, gone again... Miss Okiku from the tofu shop on West Street. Such a good girl. The night before last, she said she was going to deliver a bowl of hot soup to her sick grandma, and she never came back..."
"Yeah, this is the sixth one! Not a trace of her alive, not a corpse to be found dead. It's like they were swallowed by the night!"
"The government investigated again and again, but it was completely useless! They couldn't even find a footprint!"
"It's extremely bizarre! Some people say they heard a strange singing voice in the middle of the night..."
"Yeah, yeah! I heard it too! It was terrifying!"
...
A few days later.
An old fishmonger lowered his voice.
"Some say that before those girls disappeared, they all seemed to have received a seashell."
"A seashell?"
Ryosuke was puzzled.
"Yeah, just the kind of small seashell commonly seen by the sea. It's nothing valuable."
The old man leaned in closer, his voice still carrying lingering fear: "I heard it inexplicably appeared on their windowsills. At first, no one paid any attention, but then..."
Ryosuke nodded and bought a few salted fish from the old man's stall.
The difficulty of this mission was indeed unusually high.
Clearly, this demon was completely different from the ones Ryosuke had slaughtered before.
It had a relatively clear mind and chose its prey with a specific target in mind.
The seashells and the singing voice might even be related to its Blood Demon Art.
He could only wait until night to investigate further.
As night fell, Kanagawa was enveloped in a deathly, silent fear. Every household had its doors and windows tightly shut.
Only two figures appeared on the street, completely out of place.
The young woman tightly gripped the sleeve of the young man beside her. Her delicate body trembled, and she couldn't control herself from looking around nervously.
"Ken, let's just go back. So many girls have disappeared lately, it's too scary..."
The young man forcefully puffed out his chest and showed a smile.
"What are you afraid of! It's all just baseless rumors. The government even said it's just wandering kidnappers. With me here, no one will dare touch you. Don't scare yourself!"
He firmly patted the young woman's cold hand, his tone softening.
"Besides, the moonlight is so beautiful tonight. It would be a pity not to come out and see it."
As soon as his words fell, an extremely faint humming sound, like a spider's web, drifted into their ears without any warning.
The melody was weird and ethereal, neither male nor female, carrying a sticky, seductive charm that drilled straight into the depths of the skull and hovered in the brain.
"Sing... a singing voice?"
The young woman exclaimed.
Ken abruptly turned his head to find the source of the sound, but his vision rapidly blurred.
He tried to call out to the young woman beside him, but his throat couldn't produce a single sound. His body fell heavily to the ground as he lost consciousness.
However, the originally terrified young woman gradually calmed down amidst this singing voice, becoming hollow and numb.
She stared deep into the street and took a step forward, walking in an almost sleepwalking manner.