Chapter 167: Changshi Village——Doctor and Beheading!

The five fingers grasped the blade, and the long knife sank into the flesh from the soft fingertips, kissing the bones, and rubbed against each other during the pulling movement, making a teeth-grinding sound.

Rengoku Gojuro looked at the dripping blood with an expressionless face, and didn't care whether the other person's fingers would be cut off.

He just asked indifferently: "What's in the medicine?!"

Seeing that the other party didn't answer, his eyes became fierce, and he pressed the handle of the knife, letting the sharp blade twist fiercely in the child's body!

More blood spurted out instantly!
The child let out a short scream! His face turned pale, and his body trembled unnaturally in pain: "You... didn't you guess it? Why ask me?!"

"I want to hear it from your own mouth!"

"Heh." The doctor laughed in revenge, his mouth cracked to reveal a sick expression: "I added diluted ghost blood to the medicine!"

!!!

An ice spike suddenly pierced through the spinal cord! The stiffness spread to every part of his body! Even though Rengoku Shoulang had been mentally prepared, he still felt a chill.

"Ghost blood?! Are you crazy!!"

When he thought about what his beloved wife had drunk, Rengoku Gojuro could no longer control his emotions. He violently grabbed the child's collar, making him slide forward a long distance along the long knife nailed to the wall.

The cracks on the shoulder blade increased, and one could even vaguely feel the bone fragments piercing the flesh!
The child clenched his teeth tightly, but moans still escaped from his throat!
"Am I crazy? Ha! If it weren't for this medicine of mine, how long do you think your wife could have lived?!"

The pair of scarlet pupils became even more creepy in the intense pain!

"You know her body well before I took over. It was full of holes and she was basically on her deathbed!"

"But what about now? You are healthy, long-lived, and full of energy... Isn't all this my credit?"

"It's just some minor side effects. Are they so unacceptable compared to death?!"

"A minor side effect?" Rengoku Gojuro was almost laughing out of anger: "Did you know that the blood of a demon can turn a person into a demon?"

"Ah~, of course I know!"

The child responded sharply: "I have visited various places in the past six years and I know as much as you do."

"But as far as I know, only pure and large amounts of Muzan's blood can achieve the effect of turning a person into a demon. The blood of other demons will have no effect no matter how much blood is injected!"

"The blood I use comes from weak ghosts. After dilution, the situation you are exaggerating will never happen!"

He laughed hoarsely: "Just like your wife, can't she still accompany you to bask in the sun now?"

"Since it can generally guarantee safety, why can't we use ghosts to heal humans?! At least judging from the current progress, my idea is completely feasible!!"

Rengoku Gojuro stared at his expression seriously, and after realizing that everything he said was from the heart, he couldn't help but secretly call him a madman.

He narrowed his eyes and thought for a long time before deciding, "I don't accept your words, nor do I agree with your approach!"

"However, I will bring you back to the Demon Slayer Corps, and the Lord will decide whether your actions are right or wrong! But I advise you to be mentally prepared. No matter what, we will never give you absolute freedom again!"

"It doesn't matter!" The child placed his forearm on the back of the knife and secretly exerted force to offset the effect of gravity on his body hanging on the knife.

"Just like Bruno who was burned alive for defending the heliocentric theory, and Nobel who died in an explosion after studying dynamite."

"There will always be people who sacrifice themselves for the truth! It's just that today it's my turn, that's all!"

"Ridiculous!" Rengoku Gojuro felt sick when he saw him sacrificed gloriously!
He thought of the various tragedies he had experienced over the past decade or so, and tried to hold back but still couldn't control himself, so he growled in retort.

"Don't make yourself sound so noble! In order to eliminate evil spirits, how many sacrifices have our Demon Slayer Corps made over the past thousand years?! And how many innocent people have died tragically?!"

"Use their blood to heal humans? You have no idea how terrifying ghosts are!"

He thought of the countless companions who had died beside him. His gorgeous hair was blown by the cold wind, like flames dancing in the twilight.

But the child just sneered.

"fear?"

"Swordsman, don't be so narrow-minded!"

"Everything in this world has two sides!"

“It’s like opium was invented for medical use, but ended up being used as a drug.”

"Although it is indeed disgusting and terrifying that ghosts eat people, their healing abilities and strong vitality are also much better than humans!"

"Since the first time I met them, I have been fascinated by them! And I have been exploring ways to let humans gain their power!"

"You actually like such disgusting things..." Rengoku Fujuro frowned, and couldn't help but get angry when he heard him praising evil spirits.

"What if something unexpected really happens? What if the patient is really turned into a ghost by you?!"

"It's just one, I can handle it!"

Hearing his nonchalant tone, Gojuro's eyelids twitched, his expression gloomy: "Are you using those patients for experiments?!"

"...Heh, I only tried it on those hopeless patients."

The child took two breaths and spoke in several parts before he finished: "Although it is a bit inhumane, it also gives them hope to survive... Isn't your wife the same?"

Gojuro looked down at his weak face - the blood on the ground had already flowed over the soles of his shoes, dark in the light and shadow.

Looking at the total amount of bleeding, he thought for a moment, pulled out the knife, tore off a piece of clothing, and bandaged the child with an expressionless face.

"What will happen if Ruka continues to take demon blood?"

"I don't know." The child pushed his shoulders forward to make it easier for him to do it.

He spread out his intact arm and said very frankly, "I only started the experiment after I came to this village 20 days ago. Everything is still under exploration... In fact, I just found out that I like human blood."

He paused, looking hesitant: "But if the worst-case scenario develops..."

"Although she won't turn into a ghost, her personality will change drastically, and she may even only feed on blood in the end."

Feeding only on blood?!
Gojuro's pupils shrank and he clenched his fists.

[What's the difference between this and a ghost?! ]

"We don't need to eat humans, we only need blood." The child understood his thoughts and explained quickly.

But even so, Rengoku Shoulang still couldn't accept it! He took a deep breath and said forcefully: "Change her back!"

"That's not a problem." The beaten child was very honest: "Her current symptoms are all caused by the continuous consumption of ghost blood."

"As long as she stops taking the medicine and waits for her immune system to process the rare foreign blood, she will naturally return to normal."

Rengoku Gojuro's eyes lit up, but as a well-read man, he immediately discovered the problem: "Wait a minute! If it is only taken orally, how can demon blood trigger the immune system?"

"Ah, this..."

The child was actually a little excited when talking about this: "This is what I discovered by accident - even if it is taken orally, the ghost cells will flow into the human blood just like an injection!"

"I see." Rengoku Fujuro nodded, looking much more relaxed.

But the child suddenly said: "There is one thing I must remind you!"

He pursed his lips as he looked at the swordsman who was obviously relieved, and slowed down his voice: "The patient's body is now supported by these medicines. If they are cut off, I'm afraid..."

Even though the words were spoken, the meaning was already very clear.

The bright light in Rengoku Fujuro's heart was instantly swallowed by the haze! But he sharply asked back: "No! Many patients have only come once before, why didn't they relapse after drinking the medicine soup?"

He looked at the doctor's face and suddenly said, "You are lying to me!"

The child gave a wry smile in the face of doubt.

"There is no set of rules that can cover everything. Others don't need to take medicine repeatedly because their illness is not serious."

He looked at the other person's unfriendly gaze, paused, sighed, and changed his words to something more understandable.

"The harmful substances in other patients' bodies are limited, so they just need to be eliminated! But your wife's body will produce them continuously, so she needs to take medicine all the time."

This metaphor is indeed very vivid! But when it reached Rengoku Fujuro Secondary School, the voices had already become "there is no hope".

The atmosphere suddenly became cold and quiet. The Golden Crow that fell into the Tang Valley gradually withdrew its light from the house. The Jade Rabbit left the palace, followed by the Star God.

"...Is there no other way?" Rengoku Gojuro's throat was dry and his voice was muffled.

The child just responded with silence.

"……I see."

Rengoku Fujuro let out a heavy breath, feeling very confused.

——He didn't want his wife to die, but he also didn't want her to turn into a bloodthirsty monster. He was in a dilemma and didn't know what choice to make.

So he changed the subject: "Come with me, the Lord must know what happened here!"

He said as he lifted the child's collar, wanting to take him back to the Demon Slayer Corps. But just as he was about to step out of the room and be illuminated by the starlight, a mouthful of blood suddenly spurted out of the child's mouth!

Fen Shoulang was startled, thinking that the other party was attacked and immediately guarded around! But the much darker house was calm and there was no abnormality.

"What's wrong with you?" He lowered his head.

The child coughed violently in his hands, as if he was going to vomit out his internal organs! His throat became hoarse, and a lot of blood was vomited on the ground!
"I'm going to die." The child wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand, his expression calm.

Rengoku Fujuro frowned: "Impossible, although the injuries I left on you are serious, they are definitely not fatal!"

"There's something wrong with my body."

The child touched his pulse with his scarlet fingers: "The reason why I started studying medicine and ghost blood is because I have a very difficult disease."

"I thought I could hold on a little longer, but tonight's battle just made my body unable to bear it any longer."

Rengoku Fujuro had a blank expression on his face, but his tone was full of sarcasm: "What? Didn't you try the demon blood therapy you invented yourself?"

"Because I want to make it as perfect as possible and collect more data before I use it myself." The child had no feeling of shame and openly placed his despicable behavior under the moon.

Anjuro was speechless.

He narrowed his eyes: "So what you said to me means... that you want me to agree to let you make medicine for me?"

[Should I agree or not? ]

Anjuro seemed slightly hesitant.

To be honest, he was still very wary of this man and this treatment plan, but just letting him die didn't seem like a good option.

But unexpectedly, the child shook his head: "It's too late."

He clenched his fists and couldn't help feeling a little unwilling: "The ceramic jar you chopped over was mixed with the last of the ghost blood I collected... I can't sustain going out to look for ghosts now."

The child looked a little depressed. He pursed his lips, gave a complicated look to Rengoku Fushoulang, then turned around and said, "Come with me."

Rengoku Fujuro stared at his back for a moment, then took a step forward and followed him.

The two of them returned to the dim side room, one in front and one behind.

The child took out a coal lamp, lit it, and placed it on the ground in the corner.

The arc-shaped pale yellow halo spread instantly.

He walked to the southwest corner of the wall and started digging in the ground with his hands. After a while, he dug out a wooden box.

"Here you go." The child opened the box, took out a sealed paper document, and handed it to the swordsman behind him.

"This is all the research data I've collected over the years. If you want to save your wife, you can follow the instructions above... Of course, if you don't like burning it, that's up to you."

As he spoke, he vomited another mouthful of blood. His body went limp and he slowly sat down against the wall, closing his eyes tiredly.

"……So be it."

Rengoku Gojuro glanced at the complicated professional terms on the document and was about to ask something when he saw that the other party was motionless and his chest stopped moving.

"Hey, kid!"

He called out tentatively, then stepped forward to feel the other person's pulse. After confirming that there was no sound, a complex look flashed across his pupils.

then……

Stupid!
The silvery-white blade light passed through the slender neck!

With a thud, the child's head fell to the ground and turned several times in the mud!
Red gushing out!

Rengoku Gojuro wiped off the blood that splattered on his face and calmly put the Nichirin Sword back into its sheath.

It's not that he has a habit of abusing corpses, but it's just out of his usual cautious character - it's hard to feel at ease with a doctor who studies ghost blood, even if the other party can walk freely in the sun!

So it’s best to...

Even if the opponent really turned into a ghost-like monster and had his neck cut by the Nichirin Sword, there was absolutely no way he would be able to survive!
After piling the child's body in the mud, Rengoku Fujuro was in no mood to explain to the villagers. He woke up his sleeping wife with great difficulty and left under the cover of night.

The sound of horse hooves rang out again.

Same carriage, same passengers...

But coming and going, it seems like something has completely changed...

##
Its daybreak.

In the courtyard of the [Demon Slayer Corps] headquarters, two men sat facing each other with teacups in their hands.

"Is this your experience in the Village of the Eternal World, Mr. Purgatory?"

The man with half of his face disfigured covered his mouth and coughed softly, then took the paper handed to him by the other party with some emotion.

Coming from a family of medical experts and having read many medical books on his own due to his poor health, Utsuo Uzumaki Yoshiya glanced at the contents of the first page and instantly understood most of it.

But he did not continue to turn the pages. Instead, he handed them to a member of the Hidden Department next to him and said, "Take them to the medical staff to have a look."

After the member left, Ubuyashiki Kazuya looked at the distracted man in front of him.

"What do you think, Mr. Purgatory?" he asked gently.

The wind blew up a fallen leaf on the ground, which fluttered in the wind and was gently caught by the man with bright hair.

"...I don't know, lord." His voice was full of confusion, and confusion was revealed in his struggle.

Ubuyashiki Kazuya was still so considerate: "No matter what choice you make, I will understand and support you... So, don't let yourself regret it! Mr. Purgatory."

"...What about you, my lord?"

Rengoku Fujuro said softly: "If this technology is really feasible, then your body..."

"I do not want to!"

Ubuyashiki Yoya expressed the most resolute rejection in a gentle voice!
He raised his head and looked at the long-awaited sunny weather during the transition from autumn to winter, and suddenly said, "It's beautiful today, Mr. Purgatory."

Rengoku Fujuro looked up at the ordinary sky and didn't feel anything different, but still nodded in agreement.

Ubuyashiki Yoya saw his perfunctory attitude and smiled helplessly. He stretched out his hand to feel the cool breeze, but his expression was very happy.

"Of course I am eager to live."

“The world is so beautiful. If I live long enough, I will definitely be able to witness more splendor… I have always thought so.”

"Not to mention, maybe we can even see the day when the evil spirits are put to an end."

His smiling face tensed for the first time, and the half of his disfigured face that revealed hideous flesh and blood looked solemn and resolute.

"but!"

"The Ubuyashiki family has been passed down for thousands of years, and every generation has taken it as their responsibility to eliminate evil spirits! Although I am not talented, I will never go against the wishes of my ancestors!"

"So, even if I die... I will not let those things enter my body and continue to tarnish our already tainted family reputation!"

(End of this chapter)