Lifting his nichirin blade, he finished off the two small fry who were covered in fire and rolling around on the ground.
Ignoring the system prompts, Uchiha Bing turned to look at the demon that had stopped howling, his gaze icy.
Uchiha Bing walked back with his blade in hand to stand before the upside-down hanging demon.
It was no longer screaming, and its dim, vertical pupils were filled with pure terror.
Breathing out fierce flames, what kind of monster was this?
An immortal?
A god?
Or perhaps a yokai?
“One last question.”
Uchiha Bing aimed his nichirin blade at its neck, interrupting the demon’s thoughts, and said expressionlessly:
“Where is the strongest demon on this mountain?”
“Hand…
Hand Demon…” The demon squeezed a few words out from its throat, “In the valley to the north…
where the wisteria trees are densest…”
“Have a safe trip, I won’t see you out.”
Having obtained the answer he wanted, Uchiha Bing swung his long blade, cleanly slicing off its head.
The demon’s head fell to the ground, rolled twice, and instantly turned into ashes, drifting away in the night wind.
Demons were sickening while alive, but quite eco-friendly after death.
Uchiha Bing wiped the nichirin blade clean on his sleeve, sheathed it, and turned to look north.
It was pitch black at night, and nothing could be seen there.
Who would have known that a big fellow was hidden to the north?
The Hand Demon, a big fellow that had eaten more than fifty examinees, was a demon possessing a Blood Demon Art, belonging to the elite among demons.
Before dealing with the Hand Demon, Uchiha Bing still needed to improve his strength a bit more.
It would be best to first find someone to learn a Breathing Style from; only then would success be guaranteed.
Uchiha Bing’s figure flickered, and he vanished into the dense forest once again.
In the remaining time before dawn, Uchiha Bing activated slaughter mode.
Influence value, being the sole currency of the current system panel, was naturally the more the merrier.
He moved silently through the dense forest, observing every movement around him with the acute five senses endowed by Ninja Chakra.
Most demons were humanoid and hard to recognize in the dead of night, but Uchiha Bing didn’t need to look too closely.
His principle was very simple: upon sensing living activity, regardless of whether it was human or demon, he would approach directly, observe closely, and evaluate their strength.
If he encountered an examinee being chased and hunted by a demon, he would casually rescue them.
After saving them, he wouldn’t linger; while the other party was still panting and expressing their gratitude, he had already vanished into the darkness.
By the time dawn was approaching, his influence value had risen to 120 points, and the nichirin blade had hacked down another six demons.
When the sky began to turn pale white, all the demons disappeared.
They shrank back into the depths of the dense forest, hiding inside mountains and caves, waiting for the arrival of the next night.
Daytime was when Demon Slayer Corps Members rested.
Uchiha Bing found a thick ancient tree, sat down on the highest branch, leaned against the trunk, and closed his eyes to rest.
Calling it rest was actually a state of light sleep, which was a basic skill of a Ninja—maintaining vigilance toward the surrounding environment during light sleep.
When he opened his eyes again, it was already noon.
Sunlight spilled down through the gaps in the branches and leaves, casting mottled patches of light upon him, feeling warm.
The daytime of Fujikasane Mountain was very quiet, with no demon howling or miserable screams, only bird song and the sound of wind.
If one did not know the truth of this mountain, they would probably think it was a good place for an outing.
Uchiha Bing jumped down from the tree and began his daytime activities.
He didn’t plan to hunt demons during the day; now the demons were all hiding, playing hide-and-seek underground one by one, making them truly troublesome to find.
There were more important things to do during the day: reconnaissance of the terrain and familiarizing himself with the environment.
He rapidly wove through the forest, leaving marks that only he could recognize on every main path, every water source, and the entrance of every valley.
He used a Kunai to carve directional markers on tree trunks and arranged stones on the ground to form secret codes that only a Ninja could decipher.
Two hours later, the terrain of the entire Fujikasane Mountain had formed a complete map in his mind.
He found the valley where the Hand Demon was located; to the north, there was indeed a basin densest with vines, with a narrow entrance and steep cliff walls on both sides, having only one road for entry and exit—a typical trap terrain.
He stood on a distant ancient tree and glanced at it from afar, not entering.
That big fellow wasn’t urgent; he would save it to be dealt with last.
Reconnaissance completed, he began to head back.
Just as he was passing by a stream, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Not far ahead, someone was active.
Uchiha Bing silently glided onto the branch of an ancient tree, parting the branches and leaves to look down.
By the stream, a young man was washing up, and his attire looked very familiar.
A green checkered haori, a scar on his forehead, a mask on his head, coupled with his iconic head of red hair.
Kamado Tanjiro.
The protagonist of demon slayer, kind and gentle, a zero-negative-review male lead who was compassionate without being overly self-righteous.
If he wanted to learn a Breathing Style, asking Kamado Tanjiro shouldn’t result in a refusal, right?
After all, he was so gentle.
Uchiha Bing silently dropped from the tree, stepping on the pebbles by the stream as he walked toward Tanjiro.
Tanjiro clearly heard the footsteps.
He turned his head to look at Uchiha Bing, water droplets that he hadn’t had time to wipe away still hanging on his face.
“Hello, I am Kamado Tanjiro.”
Seeing a stranger approaching, Tanjiro took the initiative to greet him, his voice carrying the youthful awkwardness unique to a teenager.
“Are you also an examinee participating in the Final Selection?”
“Yeah.” Uchiha Bing squatted down next to him, cupped a handful of stream water to wash his face, “How was your night?”
The two of them were teenagers in their teens, so peers talking to each other didn’t have much restraint.
“I encountered a few demons, but it was alright, I wasn’t injured.”
Tanjiro wrung out his towel, his tone casual and devoid of any tension.
He paused, his gaze falling upon the nichirin blade at Uchiha Bing’s waist, “How about you?
Are you alright?”
“Alright.” Uchiha Bing was concise and to the point.
Tanjiro tilted his head slightly and gently twitched his nose.
His sense of smell was extraordinary, allowing him to smell people’s emotions and states.
There was no scent of fear or tension on the black-haired youth before him, and even the smell of blood was much fainter than that of other examinees.
This left only two possibilities: either he had been hiding the entire night, or he was crisp and decisive when killing demons, not letting any demon get close at all.
“You’re very strong.” Tanjiro said sincerely.
Uchiha Bing turned his head to look at him.
This red-haired youth’s gaze was very clean, so clean that it made people a bit unaccustomed.
Before and after his transmigration, he had seen too many gazes carrying calculations and evaluations.
Bumped into such pure goodwill out of nowhere, it instead made him feel a bit dazzling, subconsciously wanting to avoid further contact.
But he didn’t look away; he had come to the stream specifically to find Tanjiro.
“You use Water Breathing?” Uchiha Bing cut straight to the point.
“Yeah, teacher Sakonji Urokodaki taught me.” Tanjiro nodded, directly revealing his mentor, “What’s wrong?”
“I want to learn a Breathing Style.”