In the following days, Kanzaki Kumo continued his training step by step.
Although he still couldn’t master the First Form, his proficiency in the other sword forms continued to soar.
Furthermore, his Total Concentration Breathing exercises were steadily improving, and his physical fitness continued to enhance.
While Kanzaki Kumo was training diligently, significant commotions would occasionally erupt from the Ubuyashiki Estate.
During these days, the two sisters, Ubuyashiki Hinaki and Ubuyashiki Nichika, truly had their eyes opened.
When they first met Himejima Gyomei, they only noticed that his stature was significantly different from ordinary people, suggesting he was a man of great strength.
For a period afterward, Himejima came every day to study the training manual for Stone Breathing.
Aside from his eyes being prone to tears, he didn’t display anything particularly special.
It wasn’t until half a month later—the second day after Kanzaki Kumo left for Mount Momo—that his long-term malnourished body finally received sufficient nutrition, and his already tall frame became even more robust.
Simultaneously, this tall man began formal physical training, leading to a series of feats that stunned the two sisters.
For instance, he would perform squats or even jog while carrying three logs, each thicker than the two sisters tied together.
Or, he would push a boulder over two meters in diameter for strength and endurance training.
Alternatively, he would sit beneath a hundred-meter waterfall, using the terrifying impact—enough to knock an ordinary person into an infant-like sleep instantly—to temper his physique.
In short, during these days, Himejima Gyomei trained near the Ubuyashiki Estate.
The methods or tools he used would be enough to constitute murder if applied to an ordinary person, but for Gyomei, they were merely the starting point.
One day, Gyomei had just finished his workout and was about to continue contemplating the theoretical points of Stone Breathing when he heard Ubuyashiki Kagaya approaching the training ground.
He immediately turned and bowed.
“master.” Deep down, Gyomei was very grateful to Ubuyashiki Kagaya.
He had yet to make any contribution to the Demon Slayer Corps, yet he had already enjoyed such generous treatment for many days.
“Gyomei, Kanzaki sent a letter for you.”
“Little Kumo?
Amitabha, I wonder what he said in the letter?” Gyomei was somewhat surprised by the sudden letter from Kanzaki Kumo.
He had originally intended to find time to write and ask how the child he had looked after for quite some time was doing, but he hadn’t expected the other party to write first.
After hearing Gyomei’s response, Ubuyashiki Kagaya opened the envelope in front of him and began to read.
The main content of the letter was Kanzaki Kumo saying that his Thunder Breathing practice was going smoothly.
Aside from not having found the knack for the First Form yet, he was proficient in the other sword forms.
His Total Concentration Breathing practice was also progressing rapidly, and Kuwajima Jigorō was taking excellent care of him.
At the end, he expressed concern for Gyomei’s current situation.
Kanzaki Kumo had written two letters.
One was for Ubuyashiki Kagaya, consisting mostly of routine, almost formulaic greetings and gratitude, while “incidentally” mentioning that he wanted to know the outcome of the disposal of Kaigaku.
The other was written to Gyomei.
After all, they had lived together for several years, and Gyomei had taken good care of him, even saving his life that night.
Since he wanted to write letters, he naturally couldn’t leave him out. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
“Amitabha, since he is doing well, that is good.” Gyomei pressed his palms together.
Learning that the child he had cared for for years was doing well put him in a good mood.
As for a reply, Gyomei, who had never received a formal education, couldn’t think of much.
He could only reply with “All is well,” which was transcribed by Ubuyashiki Kagaya himself.
Kagaya also wrote a reply to Kanzaki Kumo, which was similarly formulaic in its greetings and “incidentally” pointed out that Kaigaku had been dealt with.
Receiving the reply, Kanzaki Kumo felt a weight lifted off his mind.
However, seeing Ubuyashiki Kagaya’s formulaic greetings at the start of the letter, which looked almost like a copy-paste job, made Kanzaki Kumo not know whether to laugh or cry.
The master of the Demon Slayer Corps seemed to have a bit of a childish side.
But on second thought, the current Ubuyashiki Kagaya was only a few years older than him and even younger than Gyomei.
This kind of personality wasn’t out of place; instead, it made Kanzaki Kumo feel a bit closer to him.
Thereafter, Kanzaki Kumo developed the habit of writing letters every few days.
The letters to Kagaya still began with formulaic greetings, followed by some interesting anecdotes or jokes.
The ones to Gyomei were simple explanations of his current situation along with some care and greetings.
It wasn’t that Kanzaki Kumo didn’t want to tell Gyomei interesting things, but Gyomei’s nature was too honest and serious.
He was a reliable older brother one could depend on, but not a great friend to joke with; after all, he would take your jokes seriously.
In contrast, Ubuyashiki Kagaya was someone who could be treated as a friend.
Gyomei’s replies were always phrases like “All is well,” and Kagaya’s replies maintained the same formulaic opening as Kanzaki Kumo’s, followed by his own views on interesting events, occasionally sharing a piece of news that didn’t involve the privacy of Demon Slayer Corps members.
Days passed inadvertently.
Aside from Himejima Gyomei passing this year’s Final Selection and becoming an official swordsman, nothing major happened.
However, after Gyomei passed the selection, Ubuyashiki Kagaya complained in a letter to Kanzaki Kumo that Gyomei’s stature was so large that a standard nichirin blade looked like a chopstick in his hand.
Even Gyomei had rarely complained to him that the weapon wasn’t suitable.
According to Kagaya, this was the first time he had heard Gyomei use a complaining tone.
The subsequent choice of weapon for Gyomei involved many considerations.
Combined with his own input, it was finally decided to forge a broad axe and a flail, with the flail’s chain connected to the axe handle.
This way, the flail could perform fierce attacks at medium to long range, while the axe could effectively deal with enemies up close.
Kanzaki Kumo, however, wondered if any demon could actually get close to Gyomei.
Based on his memories from his previous life, even among the Upper Ranks of the Twelve Kizuki, few could manage it, and those capable probably wouldn’t actively choose to do something so thankless.
After Himejima Gyomei became an official member of the Demon Slayer Corps, the correspondence between him and Kanzaki Kumo decreased significantly.
After all, Gyomei’s combat power was immense, and he was assigned more missions accordingly.
Although he received corresponding preferential treatment in terms of money and rank advancement, his free time was much less, and he had to travel all over the place, making correspondence quite inconvenient.
From then on, the letters Kanzaki Kumo wrote to Gyomei went from one every few days to roughly one a month.
In contrast, his letters to Ubuyashiki Kagaya maintained their original frequency until Kuwajima, unable to stand him bothering the master’s work so frequently, reduced the frequency to once a week. Follow the newest chapters on novelping.com.
Just like that, time flew by until winter approached, and Kanzaki Kumo began preparing for his first solo long journey.
Kanzaki Kumo: “Honestly, it’s not actually that far…”
Kuwajima Jigorō: “You have to stay overnight outside, and that’s not far?
How much further do you want to go as a kid?!”
He was going to pay his respects to Kanzaki Keizan.
After Kanzaki Keizan died, Kanzaki Kumo had spent a lot of money to hire people to help with the burial.
The site was on the outskirts of that small town, not far from the temple that had taken him in, and it was possible to make a round trip in a single day.
However, traveling from Mount Momo would take two days even by carriage.
The entire round trip would require spending at least three nights outside.
Fortunately, there were villages along the way, so he wouldn’t have to sleep in the wild.
“Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash.”
“Second Form: Inazuma.”
“…”
“Sixth Form: Rumble and Flash.”
The day before his departure, Kanzaki Kumo was in the courtyard familiarizing himself with all the techniques of Thunder Breathing.
That’s right, in over half a year, Kanzaki Kumo had already completely mastered all the forms of Thunder Breathing.
The last one, the First Form, was successfully grasped during the days Himejima Gyomei was participating in the Final Selection.
With the coordination of the First Form, the other sword forms he had mastered earlier could be executed with greater power, and the transitions between moves became more fluid.
The only thing that left Kanzaki Kumo slightly disappointed was that the lightning appearing around Kuwajima during the demonstration was truly just a special effect.
All the sword strikes that actually caused damage came from the nichirin blade in hand, at most including the sword qi swung out, though the distance usually wasn’t far.
Whether it was the lightning of Thunder Breathing or various effects of other Breathing Techniques, they were all just visual effects created by the resonance of the surrounding air caused by the specific Breathing Technique, combined with the movement of the nichirin blade.
As for why mere breathing resonance could produce such effects?
Don’t ask; if you do, the answer is that every world has its own laws.
Even demons exist, so what’s wrong with a bit of special effects in a fight?
Kuwajima Jigorō sat in front of the door, watching Kanzaki Kumo’s fluid movements and the wildly scattering lightning, his eyes filled with pride.
The current Kanzaki Kumo, aside from a lack of combat experience, was already stronger than many official members of the Demon Slayer Corps.
However, Kuwajima was still a bit worried about Kanzaki Kumo’s solo long journey, not just about encountering danger, but also about him being cheated.
After all, in his eyes, Kanzaki Kumo was just a child with high swordsmanship talent.
But Kanzaki Kumo was going to pay respects to the grandfather who had taken him in, so Kuwajima couldn’t easily stop him.
Moreover, this Brat was very firm about not letting him come along.
Kuwajima got angry just thinking about it.
So what if his leg was lame?
It wasn’t like he couldn’t walk anymore.