Chapter 182 The Kingdom of Eternal Times—Between Brothers!
The man left from behind the stage, leaving behind a bewildered crowd.

Tanjiro looked at the hesitation, excitement, and eagerness on their faces and realized that they didn't have much time.

Tracking was not difficult, the whole city was celebrating, and wherever the man went there were crowds of people, allowing the six of them to stay together and follow behind without attracting attention.

Soon, he went around the streets and alleys and disappeared into a shrine.

Light shone through the gap, and the man's shadow was clearly reflected on the window.

Although it was not sunshine, this scene still cast a shadow on everyone's heart. Just like they could not accept that the hidden ghosts became ostentatious, when light and evil ghosts were combined, there was always a sense of disharmony.

"The Ghost King might be inside... and judging by the situation, we are not allowed to sneak in to investigate."

Uzui Tengen looked at the shadowy figures in the shrine, then looked at the few people around, and said decisively: "Attack by force! At least catch that man!"

"Okay." Xiao Banei said concisely and took the pill from Tanjiro: "Tanjiro, don't move. Save your energy and wait for the opportunity."

He drew out the snake-like Sun Blade and climbed over the wall into the courtyard: "Ten minutes. If Su Beixun doesn't come out, we will retreat. If he does, don't worry about us, just attack him directly."

Xiao Banei squatted slightly and landed silently.

Tengen Uzui and Inosuke Hashibira followed closely behind.

Zenitsu swallowed his saliva, his eyes sparkling with nervousness: "Is this abandoned... This is definitely abandoned... Tanjiro! I haven't married a girl yet, you won't ignore me..."

Tanjiro nodded seriously, but before he could say anything, Aka asked first: "You are not still thinking about living now, are you?"

He glanced at the crying boy and said coldly: "How naive!"

"But...but..."

"No buts! If you don't have enough determination, you'd better go back and wait with enough pills!"

Zenitsu immediately went crazy: "Damn it, you are hiding in the back, of course you can talk without any pain in your waist!"

"Hiding behind..."

Chi smiled inexplicably. He held onto the wall with both hands and looked inside the shrine expressionlessly.

"You are wrong! The ones who have a real chance of saving their lives are you."

"If Su Beixun is not at the shrine, after tonight, you will lose your ability to fight and will naturally retreat to the second line and stay away from danger."

"But as the few swordsmen in the Demon Slayer Corps who have not been hit, Tanjiro and I must stay in Tokyo and make peace with Su Beixun."

The shrine was becoming chaotic.

Many people heard the noise and came out to check. After they determined that they were humans, they were all knocked unconscious with the handles of their knives, covering the entire yard.

Chi listened carefully to the faces of every person who came out, and murmured to himself: "I look forward to this moment."

Zenitsu suddenly fell silent.

He looked at Chi's calm pupils, then at Tanjiro's determined expression, and suddenly realized that five of the six people were ready to die here.

He couldn't help but ask: "Why don't you wait for support to come and act together?"

"Because the proportion of people under control is definitely higher among the support! They are only the last choice when there is no other choice. In other words, the six of us are already the best configuration."

"Isn't this just courting death?" Zenitsu lost his composure again, but this time, he was not only worried about himself, but also about Tanjiro: "The enemy is the Demon King. Without the help of the Pillars, it's just the two of you..."

He didn't finish his words, but his meaning was obvious.

[Are you going to die...?]

Chi felt his body becoming increasingly fragile after being injected with the poison, and remained silent without refutation.

What Zenitsu said was right, at least...that's how it felt to him.

Tanjiro comforted his companions softly: "Don't worry, we will win! For sure!"

Zenitsu took a deep breath.

He punched his twitching thigh, screamed, mustered up his courage, fell off the wall, and rushed towards the three people with his teeth and claws bared.

soon.

The riots subsided and there was no more movement in the shrine, but the man in the priest's uniform was nowhere to be seen.

"Do you want to go in?" Uzui Tengen stretched his head and looked into the bright room with the door open.

Xiao Banai shook her head: "Once we go in, our vision will be blocked, which will be difficult for Tanjiro and the others to analyze."

He asked the tall [Sound Pillar] who had been a ninja: "Do you have a fire stick? Burn it, and whatever monsters are inside will be exposed."

Uzui Tengen reached into his arms and actually took out a fire-starting tool.

As the dry wood squeezed out thick smoke, the trees and flowers bloomed, and the orange flames started from the bottom and embraced the shrine little by little.

Amid the crackling sounds, everyone became serious.

At the same time, Tanjiro gripped the hilt of the knife, recalling the last breath as warm as the sun at Nadagumo Mountain, adjusting his rhythm little by little, staring at the shrine with sharp eyes.

The Ghost King...will he be here? !

But suddenly, he opened his eyes wide!
On the corridor on the second floor of the shrine, a boy was standing in the middle of the railing, sticking his head into the gap and looking down.

"Mao... Xiaomao..."

He recognized his brother who had been missing for several years at a glance, and cried out in disbelief, his ten fingers pressing on the wall clearly showing the flesh and bones.

"What's wrong?" Chi frowned, noticing that something was wrong with the person next to him.

Tanjiro pursed his lips and pointed to the second floor with his head: "That's my brother."

"Your brother?"

Chi narrowed his eyes and looked at the boy's pale palm holding the railing, sweeping across the wooden box behind Tanjiro, and asked in an inexplicable tone: "Another ghost?"

Tanjiro remained silent.

But at this moment, he saw a thick white snake crawling silently over the eaves, bending its body and about to bite the boy's head.

"Wait... wait a minute, Mr. Iguro! Please stop!"

He shouted subconsciously, supported himself on the wall with his hands and flipped into the yard.

The exclamation made the white snake pause for a moment, and also made the boy who was waiting for the swordsman to fall into the trap look up.

The four eyes met in an instant.

Their eyes reflected each other's figures, and for a moment it seemed as if there was no one else.

The railing in the boy's hand was twisted and distorted. He was in a trance for a moment, then he came to his senses, jumped back and went back into the house.

At this moment, the white snake bit the floor and transformed into a winding sun blade in the flying wood chips.

Xiao Banei drew his sword and ran into the house.

But it was empty, there was no one there!

"Secret passage... No, it should be [Blood Demon Technique]."

He looked at the room becoming charred by flames and starting to collapse with no one appearing. He then jumped back to the ground and looked at Tanjiro expressionlessly.

"I need a reason."

"I'm so sorry!"

Tanjiro put his hands on his thighs and bowed 90 degrees: "That child... is my younger brother who was kidnapped by Su Beixun two years ago, so..."

Xiao Banei frowned and interrupted him.

His voice was calm but cold: "This is not the game you play to recognize your brothers! Do you think we are here to travel and let you enjoy the reunion leisurely?!"

As he spoke, he suddenly bent over and coughed, and the bandage wrapped around his mouth turned red with blood.

Tanjiro was stunned, and hurriedly took out the pills and handed them over one by one.

After Xiao Banei swallowed it, his pale face looked a little more red.

He wiped the blood off Yinchu's bandage, looked at the wooden box behind Tanjiro and continued: "I don't understand why the lord wants to keep your sister... But considering that she has never eaten humans, I can barely convince myself to accept it."

"but!"

"That ghost just now was different!"

"I could smell the strong stench on him, like a garbage dump full of rotting meat in the summer, disgusting and nauseating."

Xiao Banei decisively concluded: "There is no doubt that he has eaten people."

He looked at Tanjiro, whose face suddenly turned pale, and continued without hesitation: "So! If you still can't put yourself in the right position next time, I will not hesitate to kill you too!"

The wooden box opened with a creaky sound, and the young Nezuko bit the bamboo tube and waved her fist at him in dissatisfaction.

Xiao Banei ignored him and stared at the other person with cold eyes.

"No." The boy suddenly said with his head down.

Xiao Banei narrowed his eyes immediately: "No? Are you saying that I made a mistake in judgment and that the ghost didn't eat people?"

"Do not……"

Tanjiro raised his head, his expression serious: "I mean, if my brother really ate someone... I would definitely... I would definitely kill him myself..."

He gritted his teeth, his face grim, but he couldn't utter the last two words.

Nezuko patted her brother's hair.

Xiao Banei glanced at the other person's nails digging into his palm, snorted coldly, and said, "This is best."

He passed Tanjiro and came to a wall and flipped over it.

"Since we have nothing to gain, let's leave before anyone outside comes in to check the fire."

As expected, quite a lot of people had gathered outside, pointing at the burning building, and some people saw several masked men coming out. But before they could exclaim, the figures disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The stars and the moon shine together.

The six of them returned to the hotel where they were staying.

The candlelight flickered, and they stood or sat in a circle around the candle in the center of the room.

The atmosphere was heavy and silent.

Zenitsu looked left and right, feeling uncomfortable and itchy all over, and couldn't help scratching his head: "That..."

Seeing everyone's eyes on him, he immediately waved his arms and said in panic: "Ah, it's nothing! I just wanted to ask why everyone doesn't go to bed...ha...haha..."

"Sleep?" Uzui Tengen, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, laughed and said, "Young man, have you forgotten that you took poison? Dying in an unclear way while sleeping is not beautiful at all!"

Inosuke paced back and forth in the room in annoyance, two streams of white smoke coming out of his nostrils as he put the wild boar mask back on, and his Nichirin sword clanged against each other.

"Damn it! Didn't they say there's a demon king in Tokyo? Let's go find him!!"

"The efficiency is too low." Xiao Banei put his elbows on the windowsill and looked out the window.

"Tokyo Prefecture is so big that it's probably too small for the six of us to find the evil spirit before the poison takes effect and kills us."

Inosuke was furious: "Damn it! That's not what you said before I took the poison! It's too frustrating to end like this!"

"Don't worry."

Xiao Banei's expression was calm.

"Judging from the demon's flamboyant behavior, if we are exposed, they will definitely come to us on their own initiative."

"Eh...eh?!" Zenitsu hugged the knife tightly in his arms: "You said they would come here? The Demon King?!"

Inosuke instantly cheered up.

Time passes slowly.

Dang~~~
There seemed to be a pipa playing outside the hotel, and the melodious sound came into my ears through the window.

Uzui Tengen subconsciously glanced towards the window, but when he turned back, he found that the candlelight had disappeared!

【What? ! 】

His pupils suddenly shrank and he suddenly turned over and looked at the chaotically spliced ​​house structures around him.

The other five people who were sitting around him all disappeared without a trace, and he was the only one left in the strange room!
Click~

The sliding door in front of me slowly opened.

A child with scarlet eyes stood outside the door with an expressionless face.

##
"Mr. Uzui?"

"Mr. Iguro?"

"Zhenyi?"

Tanjiro looked towards the inn where he was now alone and called out tentatively.

Seeing no one respond, he immediately pressed on the edge of the door and tried to push it open to get out.

But, it failed.

"...brother."

Suddenly, a low shout came from outside the door.

The shadow of a child was reflected on the cloth of the gate, and Tanjiro recognized it instantly: "Shigeru, is that you?"

He tried to push the door open again, but still failed.

Kamado Shigeru held the door tightly outside and asked softly, "How have you been these years?"

Tanjiro paused as he pushed the door open, and habitually smiled in front of his brother.

Even though he couldn't see it at all.

"It's great! I met a very kind master and many like-minded companions... Nezuko's condition is getting better and better."

"Liar."

Kamado Shigeru grinned, just like he used to throw himself into his arms and act like a spoiled child.

"Brother, you are always like this. No matter what happens, you will only say that everything is fine. You always treat me like a child."

“No way…” Tanjiro scratched his hair subconsciously.

Looking at his brother who was just a door away, he was silent for a moment, his gentle red eyes filled with sadness: "It's just... sometimes I still miss mom and you guys."

Kamado Shigeru didn't say anything else. In this depressing atmosphere, his empty eyes made it unclear what he was thinking.

Tanjiro came back to his senses and said quickly: "By the way, don't just talk about me! What about you? What happened back then? How are you...doing?"

[How are you doing?]

Kamado Shigeru gave a bitter smile and did not answer. Instead, he asked, "Brother, do you know the Breathing of the Sun?"

Tanjiro was stunned.

But before he could answer, Kamado Shigeru continued, "A thousand years ago, with the birth of Kibutsuji Muzan, the world gave the destiny of expelling him to a man named Tsugikoku Yoriichi."

"This swordsman, who can be said to be the strongest in a thousand years, used his own creation, [Breathing of the Sun], to force Muzan into desperate situations many times."

"It's a pity that we failed in the end."

Shigeru Kamado sighed and thought about the source of his family's tragedy.

"And our ancestors of the Kamado clan, because they knew him, were taught all the sword skills by him. Therefore, the Breathing of the Sun has always been flowing in our blood."

He told the information he had learned from Su Beixun: "The earring on your ear was passed down from Tsugikoku Yoriichi." Tanjiro was stunned: "Xiao Mao...what do you want to say?"

"I want to tell you that if you want to kill the Demon King, proficiency in using the Sun Breathing is the most basic requirement. In addition, the techniques called [Stripes] and [Transparent World] must also be mastered."

"So... you came here to remind me because you were worried?"

Kamado Shigeru pursed his lips: "You can think so."

"Thank you."

Tanjiro's eyes were warm and clear under the candlelight.

As he spoke, he suddenly thought of the other two and asked anxiously, "By the way...where are Takeo and Hanako?"

"They're all dead."

Kamado Shigeru's calm tone was a heavy blow to Tanjiro. Although he had been prepared, the expectations he had after seeing Shigeru were still shattered at this moment.

But now...

It's not the time to shed tears yet.

The melted wax dripped onto the floor.

Thinking about what Obanai had said to him, Tanjiro hesitated for a long time, his voice bitter.

"Xiao Mao... have you ever eaten a human?"

Silent for a long time.

Then there was a deep sigh: "Brother, do you really have to get to the bottom of this?"

Kamado Shigeru looked at the pale hand pressing on the door.

"Many things are like this door. If they are separated, everything will be fine. But once they meet, there is no room for change."

The wind blew through the window late at night. It was not cold, but it made Tanjiro feel icy!

"……I see……"

Tanjiro smelled the strong smell of blood in his nose, and the last bit of hope in his heart disappeared without a trace.

He held the knife at his waist.

next moment.

The sword light is sharp!
The fabric on the sliding door was torn.

They fell backwards, revealing the familiar face of the boy in the corridor.

In the tearful pupils, the knife light wrapped around waves and currents slashed down fiercely!
##
A huge infinite city.

Chi looked at the empty room, his heart full of vigilance.

He gripped the knife tightly and carefully pushed open the door - in front of him was a long and narrow staircase that stretched into the air, and it was unknown where it led to.

There was no other way, he could only take one step at a time.

After stepping on 974 steps, a wooden house suspended in the air appeared at the end of the stairs.

Chi put his knife against the door and pushed it open.

"Creak" sound.

He turned sideways cautiously.

Everything behind the door came into view.

The stove, cupboards, tables and chairs, beddings... everything looked so familiar that Chi couldn't help but feel dazed.

"How is it? Looks familiar, right?"

The voice behind him made his hair stand on end instantly!

I turned around suddenly and saw a little child in my eyes.

Su Beixun sat on the bed over him and said with a smile, "Don't you want to chat with me about family matters? The pair of brothers outside are chatting animatedly."

Chi walked up to him, not afraid at all at this point: "It seems like there's nothing for you and I to talk about."

"Reminiscing about the past, remembering the dead, we have lived together for six years, how can we not have common topics?"

"Reminiscing about the past..."

Chi was so angry at the shameless words that he laughed: "What are you reminiscing about? Reminiscing about the fact that you watched Falcon die, or reminiscing about my hatred for you?!"

"It's all right." Su Beixun smiled.

"Stop being disgusting!"

Chi gritted his teeth and said, "You obviously don't care about anything about the Mizutani family. You obviously don't care at all... Why did you build this fake place? It doesn't belong to you at all!"

"Because of you."

Su Beixun sighed and pointed at him: "You are going to die. I think it might be better if you die here."

"Then come and kill me!"

Chi roared!

"Don't you want to eat me? Then come on!"

"How childish."

Su Beixun's expression was calm, as if he was looking at a unreasonable child.

"You're smelling the scent of wisteria flowers all over your body. You don't think I can't smell it, do you?"

Chi's pupils shrank, and his heart was filled with shock.

"You, how did you..."

Senior Shinobu Kocho clearly told him that this unique poison cannot be smelled by ghosts after being injected into the body!
"Because I know."

Su Beixun smiled softly: "So many people in the Demon Slayer Corps have been deceived by me, it's easy to send a demon to infiltrate and collect intelligence for me."

His eyes were wandering, his bare feet swaying, and he looked like he had everything under control.

However, what Su Beixun did not tell Chi was that the reason he sent people to check the situation was because the blood induction he left in Chi's body suddenly disappeared.

That's how he realized that long-term use of wisteria poison could neutralize and cover his blood vampire magic, getting rid of its influence.

Akami Mizutani, Shinobu Kocho, and Tanjiro who inexplicably broke free from his control after using the Breathing of the Sun... There are still three people in the Demon Slayer Corps who were not hit.

Chi suddenly felt a chill in his heart.

When he thought about Su Beixun secretly mocking himself for injecting poison into him every day, he felt that his so-called determination was extremely ridiculous.

[Just like a clown...]

He remained silent and drew his knife.

"You are no match for me."

Su Beixun tilted his head: "It wasn't like that before, and it's even less likely to be like that after being poisoned by the poison tea."

He held out his hand, just as he had done that day in the woods.

The knife wrapped in water was instantly split into two halves!
Half of the blade fell to the ground with a clang.

Su Beixun was still sitting there.

He looked at Chi, who looked helpless in despair, and shook his head slightly.

"Why don't you try to beg me?"

"You're dreaming!"

The remaining blade swung again.

This time he was completely crushed to pieces.

Su Beixun looked down at his brother who had fallen to the ground, and propped up his face with his palm: "Are you really not going to give it a try? If you beg me, I might eat you."

Chi stood up and raised his head in surprise: "...What did you say?"

"I said..." Su Beixun smiled and said word by word: "As long as you beg me, I will eat you."

He spoke slowly, like the words written by a drunk madman, full of absurd and unreasonable meanings.

But Chi suddenly froze.

——He hesitated...

##
Broken hotel.

The flash of sword and flesh and blood intertwined!
The wind was howling in the corridor, and the wooden boards were dented by people stepping on them.

Tanjiro gasps for breath!
His forehead was covered with sweat, and the warm air was sucked into his lungs, turning into even hotter exhaust gas and expelling it. The arm holding the knife was covered with scars.

But he still swung the knife down without stopping!

Kamado Shigeru dodged and looked at him sadly.

"Stop it, brother! My [Blood Demon Art] can reflect all attacks below the limit. You can't be my opponent."

Tanjiro ignored him, he clenched the handle of the knife, the knife light undulated like the sea, rushing to the shore violently!

Kamado Shigeru pursed his lips and stretched out his left hand to block the knife light.

laugh!
The sharp blade cut into the flesh, and blood splattered!

But as Kamado Shigeru's arm was cut with a finger-deep wound, Tanjiro also suffered the same injury.

"give up!"

Kamado Shigeru couldn't help but speak again.

"If I hadn't stopped you, the moment you cut my neck, you would have been the only one to die."

puff!
The sharp claws pierce through the flesh!
A palm suddenly emerged from his abdomen!
Kamado Shigeru listened to the muffled groan of pain coming from behind him and clenched his fists: "Big sister... even you..."

Nezuko, who has returned to her human size, doesn't care about the bleeding wound on her abdomen. She focuses her eyes and purple-red flames begin to burn around her palms.

The flames devoured his flesh and blood bit by bit, and Kamado Shigeru finally showed an uncomfortable expression.

But Nezuko's injuries were even more serious! The smell of burning came from her body, making veins pop out of her slender neck.

"Why?" Kamado Shigeru gritted his teeth.

In front of him!
It’s the same red flame!
The Sun Blade seemed to be ignited by the sunlight, turning into a brilliant golden plate and burning him to ashes!
Kamado Shigeru stretched out his arm to block, and looking at the wounds that appeared and deepened on Tanjiro's arms, he said fiercely: "My elder sister has also become a ghost! You can snuggle with each other, why can't I?!"

"…Because you ate people!"

Tanjiro finally couldn't help but roar in response.

His expression was so angry, but his pupils were filled with tears of sadness. He repeated with a choked voice: "Because... you ate people..."

"But the people I eat are all irrelevant to you! You have never met them! Whether they are alive or dead has no effect on you! Isn't it better to just pretend that they never existed?!"

Kamado Shigeru yelled, "We are a family! I am willing to risk being punished to remind you! Why can't you abandon those worldly prejudices and continue to treat me as your brother!"

"Brother! I never meant to hurt you at all!"

……

【I know……】

【Big brother knows all of this...】

Tanjiro gritted his teeth and his pupils trembled.

Even in the previous battle, all the injuries on his body were rebound injuries. Kamado Shigeru never actively attacked him even once!
This is enough to prove that Shigeru Kamado still regards him as a family member from the bottom of his heart.

【but……】

[The mistakes you made won't just disappear like this! ]

Tanjiro burst into tears.

[Those people you ate, and their families... I don't have the right... to forgive you on their behalf...]

Past scenes kept flashing through his mind, but he couldn't reconcile the boy who liked to hug his legs and act coquettishly with the figure in front of him.

Tanjiro knew that even though they had the same experiences and memories, Shigeru Kamado's emotions and mind had been distorted into that of another species.

A species...completely different from humans!
Anger, sadness, guilt, pain...

These extreme emotions mixed with each other, finally pushing Tanjiro's body into a new stage!
The red lines on the forehead spread out, and the scorching red flames were dyed golden and white!

At this moment, the wound on the wrist that was constantly spreading suddenly stopped!
The bright lines in the dark night seem to be frozen in the air!
The red-hot Sun Blade fiercely cut through Kamado Shigeru's tough wrist and slashed off his pale neck!

Blood spurted out.

Heads shot up into the sky in disbelief!

Tanjiro threw away the Nichirin Sword in his hand, held Kamado Shigeru's head in his arms, knelt on the ground and cried bitterly.

Tick ​​~
Tick ​​~
Cold tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped into the boy's red eyes, gradually wiping away the resentment in his eyes.

He wanted to shout that he was no longer afraid of the sun, so even if he was beheaded, it would be useless. But when Tanjiro held him tightly in his arms and listened to his sad heartbeat in his chest, Kamado Shigeru's chaotic thoughts suddenly became clear.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” Tanjiro’s body shook, and he burst into tears.

Kamado Shigeru was about to shake his head, but then he realized that he couldn't do it at all: "Why should I apologize? This is all my fault."

At this moment, he thought back to his previous thoughts and felt that everything was horrible!
"Eating people is really scary."

Kamado Shigeru whispered softly.

"Once you step into it, it's like falling into an abyss, being dragged by the exhilaration of growing power, falling faster and faster... until you finally become an evil ghost with twisted thoughts, embellished memories, and a sense of infallibility."

He thought of Su Beixun, who loved freedom and always emphasized being unrestrained, and a hint of irony appeared in his eyes.

Perhaps... the other party has already become a prisoner driven by desire and without any freedom without his knowledge.

"Brother, run away." Kamado Shigeru said softly.

Tanjiro wiped away his tears, touched the antidote in his arms and shook his head firmly: "My companions are still missing, I must go find them."

Now the ten-minute limit is getting closer and closer, he must hurry up.

"You're always like this...you like to put others before your own safety."

Kamado Shigeru's body gradually dissipated due to his self-abandonment.

"But you can't find them now."

He said bluntly: "They were all sent to a different dimension called [Infinite City], which is not in the real world at all."

"Then why am I..."

"Because I told Su Beixun that I would get rid of you here."

Kamado Shigeru interrupted him: "However, Su Beixun can read my memory, and he will definitely know about my failure later."

"So, you must escape quickly!"

The boy's head was half gone, and he urged eagerly.

"You don't have his blood in your body, so he can't sense your exact location. As long as you can avoid the eyes and ears of the evil spirits, you can hide in Tokyo Prefecture and won't be pulled into the Infinite City."

(End of this chapter)