Chapter 110: The Demon Slayer (1)
"Hey, why are you daydreaming?" shouted a warrior. "Without proper focus, how can you be valued and succeed?"
"I don't need to be recognized," replied the young man in a flowing cloak, wearing a mask. "I'm not a warrior, just a wanderer."
"Do wanderers not need to settle down somewhere?" a nearby warrior rolled his eyes. "If you don't want to be recognized, why would you get involved in such a risky mission? Even a fool knows that offering such a high reward must have some kind of problem."
"Yeah, it's about slaying demons," the young man adjusted the fox mask on his face. "But there are plenty of folks in it just for the money. This is a reward offered by the shogunate, even if someone dies, the money can still be sent back. We all have a determination to die, and there are even fewer people like you."
The young warrior with a buzz cut became flustered. "You, you shouldn't talk nonsense!"
"The samurai's path to promotion is difficult. If you want to advance from being a foot soldier, you need to participate in at least three of these demon-hunting missions. If you join an expedition, maybe one mission will be enough. It all depends on how many demon heads you can cut off. Relying on luck alone won't give you a chance. Only those who survive can level up. That's how intense it is." The young man smiled and said, "If you're afraid, you can still quit now."
The buzz-cut warrior stood still, his face turning red. He had dressed up nicely, but he hadn't realized how dangerous it truly was. Hurriedly, he went to find someone to quit with.
The young man gave a gentle push to the mask on his face. The smile on the fox mask remained exaggerated, as if it was mocking someone.
Half a day passed, and the sky gradually grew darker, with torches illuminating the gathering spot.
Sword-wielding samurais and bounty-hunting adventurers gathered in groups. The armored shogunate general stood as their leader, and by his side, a young face appeared.
"Let me introduce you all, this person is Yagyū Saizō, he will be in charge of leading the team starting from today."
There was a young warrior named Saizō from the Yagyū family. The Yagyū family's style of swordsmanship had been chosen to serve the shogun, making Saizō responsible for teaching others how to wield a sword. It meant that he couldn't engage in fights with outsiders easily, as it could reveal the secret techniques of his family's style and make him vulnerable to being found out.
This young person is most likely the future leader of the Yagyū family.
The young man with a fox mask lifted his eyes upon hearing the name Yagyū, and looked in the direction of Saizō. He seemed to truly see a resemblance between that face and the face of a girl. In the blink of an eye, more than seven years had passed.
He didn't know what Yagyū Chiyo looked like now.
Although he had considered becoming a retainer of the Yagyū family, he eventually gave up on that idea. He chose to pursue the path of vanquishing monsters and demons instead. Ultimately, as long as he could protect her and repay the kindness she had shown him, it didn't matter where he was. Insisting on being close to her seemed more like self-satisfaction, resembling a twisted person who incessantly bothered a young girl. It would be enough just to occasionally catch a glimpse of her.
Yagyū Saizō is Yagyū Chiyo's older brother. I need to keep an eye on him and make sure nothing bad happens to him.
The young man waited patiently for the samurais to finish forming their ranks. He quietly moved to a different spot and joined the group led by Yagyū Saizō, which consisted of fifteen people.
If we were to describe what kind of person Saizō was…
There are only two words that can describe him.
Very disciplined.
His swordsmanship is very precise, and he leads a very disciplined lifestyle. Even his way of speaking is very cautious and rule-bound. He seems like a dull man, restricted by strict rules in every aspect of his life.
This is exactly the opposite of Bai Wei. As a wandering demon slayer, he is lazy and carefree all year round. He can get into fights with the Tengu in the mountains, enjoy drinking with the legendary demon Redleaf in the Crimson Leaf Forest, steal offerings from the shrine, and even offend the Land God.
He would roam freely, never bound by rules or restrictions, living his life without a care.
Put these two individuals together, and it's like American students encountering a piece of metallic sodium, or like mischievous children discovering a fully assembled Gundam model, or like mobile gamers stumbling upon a guaranteed rare card in a gacha pool… It's impossible for there not to be some kind of additional chemical reaction occurring.
However, whether this reaction is intense or slow-burning depends on the circumstances.
At first, they lived together harmoniously.
The young man spoke freely and used unique words, but everyone in the team appreciated his skills and experience. They were even more willing to listen to him because he was incredibly proficient. He could analyze the number of different races present, their movement patterns, whether they were feeling ill or constipated, and… if they had recently consumed human flesh.
Although he had a tendency to provoke and engage in friendly banter, Yagyū Saizō saw it as an opportunity for practical learning. He didn't pay too much attention to it and continued to focus on his own growth.
The young warrior thought that once the actual battle started, victory would surely be within their grasp.
And when they finally arrived at the ghosts' camp, they were completely astonished.
Because the young man didn't have any sense of honor, he decided to use deceitful tactics. He poisoned, set fires, and engaged in sneaky actions beforehand. He skillfully infiltrated the enemy's territory and effortlessly defeated five opponents in a single moment.
This made Yagyū Saizō feel disgusted.
In a warrior's duel, it should be fair and square. They should face each other head-on and fight with swords. Even if the opponent is a man-eating monster, they should be given an equal chance of death. But to engage in deceitful tactics and attack from behind, one after another, is a clear violation of honor.
As the small and gentle dissatisfactions continued to accumulate, the two of them began to clash more and more. Yagyū Saizō's temper also grew increasingly volatile. He became stubborn and refused to listen to any opinions. What was supposed to be a cleansing mission lasting for a half-month ended up turning into a stubborn grudge match.
As a result, the team split up, with nine people on one side and six people on the other, each group taking separate actions.
Bai Wei, along with his team, took a leisurely stroll in the woods before deciding to return. They had already killed plenty of enemies earlier, so there was no need to continue.
But Yagyū Saizō didn't return for a long time. He was a bit lost in his own thoughts, believing that he could defeat the other side, but he ventured alone without any supplies.
By the time he became conscious of the situation, the team of nine had already lost more than half of its members.
He felt extremely regretful and desperately wanted to escape, but he found himself trapped in the forest, with no response to his pleas for help.
"I can't walk anymore."
"Yagyū, go alone. You are the strongest. Break through in one direction."
"We were ready to stay here for a long time. All of us came here to slay demons and we have no regrets!"
"What a joke!" Yagyū Saizō couldn't tolerate such nonsense. "How could I leave you behind, living a meaningless life alone?"
"Your family is still waiting for you to go back!"
"I, how can I go back, just like that?" Saizō gritted his teeth and said, "Go back and become a laughingstock? No way!"
For some stubborn warriors, honor and dignity can even surpass death.
The warrior who lived within strict rules and boundaries only knew how to live like this.
No one spoke nonsense anymore. In this situation, even breaking free was just a hopeful wish. They had never seen so many evil demons before. It felt like they had entered the nest of the evil spirits. There were hundreds of them, densely packed, and they continued to emerge without end.
How long could they hold on for? Ten minutes? Twenty minutes?
There was nothing to contemplate. Swing the blade, slaughter, and escape.
On the path of retreat, the number of people steadily decreased, and the shouting gradually became faint.
Yagyū Saizō finally realized that the surroundings were empty, with only one person left. Then, he suddenly understood that the group of people had sacrificed themselves so he could escape. Their actions were exactly the same as what they had advised him to do.
He really wanted to turn back, but he couldn't. He could only continue running.
He saw a valley and a stream, which was the exact place where he had chased the fleeing demon into danger. If he could escape from here, there would still be a chance.
The desire to survive and thoughts of revenge drove him to run wildly all along. It's not that he didn't want to stop and go back to face his own death, but he vowed to come back and fight with an army of warriors.
And so, he ran to the end of the stream, getting closer and closer. Just as he thought he was almost there, a shout came from behind him.
He stopped in his tracks and instinctively turned around. What he saw were the demon creatures dancing around, holding up human heads that had just been freshly severed.
With hot blood rushing through his veins, he turned back and swung his sword, but he was quickly overwhelmed by dozens of pursuing demons.
Before losing consciousness, he heard a faint sound.
A crisp sound of friction, like the sound of a blade sliding against a sheath, echoed through the air, as if tearing through the pitch-black sky with a thunderous roar, even colder than the wind in the valley.
…
When Yagyū Saizō woke up again, he saw fire and a pile of bodies. Sitting nonchalantly on top of the corpses was a young man roasting skewers, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
After going through life and death, and being apart for several days, the two reunited. Saizō spoke up.
"Where is your fox mask?"
"Instead of checking if you were missing any parts, your first reaction was to look at the mask?"
"Are you saying that even when you eat, you have to wear that fox mask? You said the mask is your true self, and when you take it off, your soul leaves your body."
"Why can't I just be too lazy to take it off?"
"That's right, you are a lazy person… Thank you for saving my life."
"Is your apology too plain? Do you know how long I've been searching for you, and you still owe me a favor? At least give me a humble bow."
"If you need it."
"Okay, seeing you like this makes me feel uneasy. It's as if you crawled out from a pile of corpses."
"In reality, it's just like this, everyone I brought along… they all died… they all died…"
"I saw it, but I couldn't find their whole bodies. Only the heads remained, and they were buried nearby."
"So many ghosts, and you killed them all by yourself?"
"Didn't I do it alone, could it have been a dog killing randomly?"
"How did you manage it? I mean… you were all alone."
"Because I am skilled. Would you like to learn? I can teach you."
"Okay."
"You should ask - what is the cost, then?"
"What is it?"
"Tell me about your sister, Yagyū Chiyo… I have a friend who wants to know it."
