Yamada's black pupils instantly turned blood-red, with three tomoe spinning coldly within them.
"You talk too much."
"Die!!!"
The Hand Demon roared, and his mountain-like body instantly shot out over a dozen thick green arms, completely sealing off all of Yamada's paths from all directions, and smashed down fiercely.
Boom!
A dozen arms smashed into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust and debris.
"Hee hee hee, smashed into meat paste! This is the price for enraging me!" The Hand Demon laughed triumphantly.
"Where are you looking?"
A slightly mocking voice suddenly sounded above the Hand Demon's head.
"What?!" The Hand Demon looked up sharply.
At some point, Yamada had leaped high, over ten meters in the air.
His pair of crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan was looking down at the Hand Demon's huge eyeball.
The moment their eyes met, the Hand Demon felt a loud "buzz" in his mind.
The world before his eyes changed instantly. The dense forest disappeared, and the dark night sky vanished.
The Hand Demon found himself suddenly tied to a huge cross. The surrounding sky was a strange blood-red, with a pitch-black full moon hanging high overhead.
Sharingan: Genjutsu!
Although it hadn't reached the terrifying level of Tsukuyomi, which could control the changes of time and space, the Genjutsu of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was more than enough to crush the soul of a demon that wasn't even one of the Twelve Kizuki.
"Wha... what is this place?! Let me go!" The Hand Demon struggled madly in the illusion, only to find he couldn't move at all.
Tap... Tap...
In the blood-red world, countless Yamadas holding black longswords appeared out of thin air from all directions, looking at him with extremely cold eyes.
"Shut up in despair."
As all the Yamadas swung their swords simultaneously, the Hand Demon felt the extreme pain of being sliced a thousand times in the illusion.
Outside.
Only a second had passed.
The previously overbearing Hand Demon suddenly let out a shrill scream like a dying pig. His massive body collapsed to the ground like a pile of mud, and his countless arms scratched his own body madly, his eyes bulging.
Clearly, his spirit had been completely destroyed by the Genjutsu.
Yamada's expression in mid-air was indifferent as he then reached out his right hand.
Chirp! Chirp!
Violent blue lightning erupted in his palm, the piercing sound of a thousand birds chirping even drowning out the Hand Demon's screams.
With the frantic injection of Chakra, the mass of lightning instantly elongated and condensed, turning into a solid spear of lightning five meters long.
Lightning Release: Chidori Sharp Spear!
Rip!
Yamada's arm swung down fiercely, and the blue lightning spear pierced through the Hand Demon's layered arm defense without any resistance, stabbing into his neck.
A flash of lightning cut that thick neck in half without any resistance.
Thud!
The Hand Demon's massive head rolled to the ground, and his huge body began to rapidly break down and dissipate under the dual destruction of Lightning Release and the Sharingan.
Until the moment he turned into ashes, the Hand Demon's eyes remaining on the ground were still filled with endless fear of those red eyes.
[Ding! Detected that the host has killed the key hostile target 'Hand Demon'!]
[This target was the greatest threat on Mount Fujikasane. Killing this demon has significantly changed the fate of Kamado Tanjiro and others who were set to enter the mountain tomorrow, and indirectly influenced the plotlines of Urokodaki Sakonji and Tomioka Giyu!]
[Overall Rating: Extremely High!]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining Dimension Points: 1,500!]
The series of system prompts in his mind made Yamada's landing steps a bit lighter.
'One thousand five hundred points. As expected, killing these elite monsters linked to the main cast's fate is the shortcut to getting rich.'
Yamada glanced at the now completely silent Mount Fujikasane, estimating that the remaining few small fry would be enough for the newcomers to practice with in three days.
He patted the dust off his yukata, found a clean large green rock to sit on, and quietly waited for dawn.
'System, open the panel.'
[Dimensional Template System]
[Host: Tanaka Yamada]
[Current Template: Sasuke (Mangekyo Sharingan Period)]
[Items: Kusanagi Sword: modified (comes with scabbard, possesses the demon-slaying characteristics of a nichirin blade, indestructible), Wisteria Sachet.]
[Dimension Points: 2,980]
—
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
As night fell, the sea of wisteria flowers at the foot of Mount Fujikasane emitted a faint purple glow under the moonlight, isolating the entire mountain range from the outside world.
In front of the stairs leading deep into the mountain forest, more than twenty young swordsmen with various expressions gathered one after another.
Kamado Tanjiro, carrying a wooden box and with a dark red mark on his forehead, nervously gripped the nichirin blade at his waist.
Before departure, the heavy entrustment of his trainer, Urokodaki Sakonji, still rang in his ears—especially regarding the mutated demon that specifically hunted students wearing the "Warding Mask," making Tanjiro's heart incredibly heavy.
'I must survive... not just for Nezuko, but also to avenge Sabito and Makomo.' Tanjiro gritted his teeth.
Not far from Tanjiro, the blonde-haired Agatsuma Zenitsu was squatting on the ground hugging his knees, snot and tears streaming down as he muttered, "I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'll definitely be eaten by a demon."
On the other side, Shinazugawa Genya, sporting a mohawk and a face full of ferocity, was irritably wiping his sword hilt.
And in a corner stood a girl with a side ponytail and a gentle smile but hollow eyes—Tsuyuri Kanao.
Above the stairs, two twin guides from the Ubuyashiki Family held lanterns and announced the rules of the trial in monotonous voices.
"In Mount Fujikasane, demons captured alive by swordsmen are imprisoned."
"Your mission is to survive for seven days in this mountain forest, which is not protected by wisteria flowers."
"Well then, we wish you a safe journey."
As the rules were announced, over twenty newcomers, carrying either the fear of death or the desire to become stronger, stepped into the dark and deep Mount Fujikasane one after another.
Tanjiro took a deep breath, heightening his sense of smell to the limit, and stepped into the forest one step at a time.
'I absolutely cannot be careless during these seven days. Although the demons on the outskirts are weak, there must be many of them. I must maintain Water Breathing at all times.'
He warily observed his surroundings while mentally rehearsing potential emergencies he might encounter.
However, after Tanjiro had traveled cautiously through the mountain forest for a full two hours, his footsteps came to a halt. His expression shifted from initial alertness to a look of utter bewilderment.
"Strange..."
Tanjiro twitched his nose. With a sense of smell sensitive enough to detect the emotions of others, he currently couldn't smell the scent of a single living demon in this place known as a demon's den.
The air was not filled with the expected scent of blood, but rather an extremely strong smell of burning, as well as a pungent ozone scent similar to the aftermath of a thunderstorm.
"There's movement ahead!"
Tanjiro suddenly caught an extremely faint scent of human flesh. His heart tightened, thinking a companion had been attacked. He immediately drew his nichirin blade and rushed toward the scent.
Pushing aside a dense patch of bushes, the sight before him caused Tanjiro's pupils to shrink, and he froze in place like a wooden statue.