One year later.

The headquarters of the Demon Slayer Team, in the courtyard.

Xuan Hao sat in the courtyard with the young man with a purple-black vein in front of him, with blind eyes covered in purple and black veins.

This is the leader of the Sayashiki clan, Sayashiki Kenichi. But Xuan Hao didn't know which one of the first leaders he was.

Because the curse still lingers with the Saiyashi clan, every leader can only live to his twenties, and the person in front of him seems to be terminally ill.

"Hello, Mr. Xuanhao." Saya Shikiki's tone was gentle, and there seemed to be some kind of reassuring magic in his voice. "You are older than me, so it should be okay for me to call you Mr.?"

"This is natural." Xuan Hao nodded slightly, "You are the lord of the Demon Slayer Team, and I am the swordsman of the Demon Slayer Team, and I am your subordinate."

"Sir, jokingly, there is no strict distinction between superiors and subordinates in the ghost killing team," said Shikiki Shikichi Saya. "The 'lord' is just the swordsmen who call me that out of respect. Maybe they have pity for my weak body."

Xuan Hao nodded slowly and did not refute the young man's words.

Because he was right, the Sayashiki clan did not attempt to control the entire ghost killing team. They just won the respect of every swordsman through their actions.

This is true for every leader. It has never changed since the establishment of the Demon Slayer Team. The title of "Lord" is indeed not the title they gave themselves. This represents the respect that the swordsmen have given to the Sayashiki clan over hundreds of years.

"I wonder what happened to my lord who asked me to come?" Xuan Hao asked straight to the point.

"Mr. Purgatory once recommended you to me as a new 'pillar'." Sayashiki replied, "He seems to be very acknowledging your strength. I also know that you have performed many tasks since joining the team. According to your strength, you should be qualified to become a new 'pillar'."

“Are you going to make me the new ‘pillar’?”

Xuan Hao’s understanding of “Pillar” is just because it is the strongest combat power of the Demon Killing Team. As for how strong they are, there are only a few of them, and he is not interested in it.

It’s not that he looked down on these pillars, but that the Demon Slayer team has been established for hundreds of years, and no one can defeat Muzan Ki, and even was beaten by the ghost before the appearance of Guoyuan. He was not much stronger no matter how hard he thought.

The reason why we can suppress ghosts now is to rely on the "breathing method" taught by Guo Yuanyi back then. If nothing unexpected happens, the so-called "pillar" of the Demon Killing Team should be the descendants of those swordsmen who extended other breathing methods through "Sun Breathing".

"Yes." Sayashi nodded slightly, "Your strength is much stronger than the swordsman of the 'A' level. I think no one in the entire Demon Killing Team questioned your strength. With your strength, you were already qualified to be promoted to the pillar level. However, the rules that a person in the Demon Killing Team who had to become a pillar must kill the ghost of one of the 'Twelve Ghost Months', so it has been delayed until now. I think this is inappropriate."

"So what are you going to do, lord?"

Xuan Hao nodded slowly. The strength he showed was indeed much stronger than the "A" level swordsman. Of course, he had to correct it. It was not that he didn't want to show stronger, but that he couldn't meet a stronger ghost.

But to be honest, he has no interest in becoming a "pillar", because the Demon Killing Team is different from other organizations, and it is not that the higher the status, the more preferential it will be...

On the contrary, in such organizations that have fought to protect humanity for hundreds of years, the greater their capabilities, the greater their responsibilities. They have almost engraved the "killing ghosts" into DNA as their mission.

There are indeed preferential treatments, but they are not proportional to efforts. After all, the Demon Slayer Team is not an organizational "power" recognized by local governments without even thinking about it. The so-called preferential treatment is just a convenience in life.

This can be seen from Purgatory Shinichiro. The guy led the way in guarding the area he was responsible for, and rushed to the forefront of everything, but ended up living in a thatched hut and living in a quiet place.

Xuan Hao had thought that after becoming a pillar, he could use the power of the ghost killing team to let them find clues about his sister while hunting ghosts, but in the end he found that it would not work at all.

Because he had no clues himself, the only way he could confirm whether someone was his sister was to resonate with the sister's soul after meeting him. And just like he did not find out when he first met Arii, this resonance was not stable.

He had tried to feel the location of soul fragments as if they were in the chaotic space, but unfortunately, except for being able to confirm that the fragments are in this world, he could not feel the specific location more clearly.

In other words, if you want to find the right person, you can only confirm it slowly by yourself. It seems that you have no effect in your rush. Instead of rushing to search randomly, you might as well wait for your sister to wake up and give him guidance.

"Mr. Xuanhao, this year's 'final selection' will be soon." Sayashiki said to Xuanhao with a smile, "I want to ask you to supervise this election. As your assessment of your promotion to the pillar level, what do you think?"

"Is this okay? Actually, I personally think it doesn't matter whether I am a pillar or not."

Xuan Hao was stunned because this was simply a bonus question.

To put it bluntly, the supervision of the "final selection" is just a so-called "simple" method.

The 'final selection' is cruel, because the ghost hunter may face life danger at any time, and it is impossible for someone to rescue him at critical moments at all times. Every swordsman has long been ready to face death alone.

They must have the ability to fight against evil spirits independently.

And the ‘final selection’ is the first threshold to become a swordsman in the Demon Slayer.

They must survive independently in the "Vine Escalation Mountain" filled with ghosts for seven days. This is the most basic assessment standard. The ghosts inside are very weak. If they cannot survive independently in such an environment... Then even if they join the ghost killing team, they will just give the ghost food.

The supervision responsible for the "final selection" is really just "supervision".

Xuan Hao didn't even have to save anyone, because those who participated in the selection should be enlightened. The reality is cruel. There will be no chance to repent when facing ghosts. Each of them should know that since they are here to participate in the "final selection", there will be only two results.

Either he successfully became a swordsman of the Demon Slayer Team through the selection, or he died in the Fujishishan.

The real responsibility of ‘supervision’ is not to save people, but to eliminate those ghosts who have eaten too many people after each round of selection; or to prevent any ‘accidents’ in the selection.

"Please accept it, Mr. Xuanhao." Sayashiki knelt down and leaned over, "Your strength is recognized by everyone, and no one will have any objections."

"Okay, that's it."

Xuan Hao nodded slowly.

...

At night, on the way to Tengxishan.

"Help! Help..."

A cry for help suddenly came from a distance.

The girl holding the Sun Wheel Knife in her hand suddenly stopped hearing the sound.

"Is there a ghost here?" Kajikawa Maya frowned and looked in the direction where the cry for help came.

After a year of hard work, she has mastered the breathing technique and twelve sword skills taught by the man named Xuan Hao, and is now preparing to go to Tengxishan to participate in the "final selection".

Although I was prepared for a long time, I had never met a real ghost along the way.

"Do you want to go and have a look?"

Although she had questions in her heart, her body had already started to move when she asked the question.

The answer has long been obvious. If she wants to be a person like Mr. Yuanyi, how can she face the call for help but refuse to save her?

"Mom! Mom!"

In the collapsed wooden house, a little girl called her mother who was crushed under the collapsed wooden beam.

Behind the girl was a ghost with a ferocious face holding a heavy hammer.

Under the ghost's feet is the body of a deformed man.

The ghost laughed with a heavy hammer like a sarcoma in his hand, as if it had collapsed the wooden house in the forest.

The girl's mother was crushed under the wooden beam to save her daughter, while the girl's father had been brutally killed by ghosts to protect her mother and daughter.

"Mom! Mom!"

The girl shouted in tears, holding her mother's hands under the beam of the house, at a loss.

"Escape...Escape..."

The woman pressed under the beam of the house shouted weakly.

"No...No..." The girl was still crying.

"Please... run away quickly... don't worry about mom..."

The woman almost begged the girl in front of her to escape.

"Hehehe..."

And the ghost who looked at this scene laughed hideously, "Escape? Where can I escape?"

The naive human, do you really think a little girl can escape from it?

It sneered and approached the mother and daughter.

He raised it high with a heavy hammer made of flesh and blood in his hand.

"Escape quickly! Please...please..."

The woman seemed to see the heavy hammer raised by the ghost behind the girl.

It was such a heavy hammer that smashed her husband to pieces. After this hammer, she almost saw the ending of her daughter tragically dying in front of her.

"No! I want to be with my mother!" The girl cried and dragged the woman's hand, but the woman pressed under the beam could not move.

"Please...please..."

Tears in the woman's eyes were mixed with blood flowing down.

He begged at the top of his lungs, not knowing whether he was begging his daughter to escape quickly, or begging the ghost to discover his conscience, or the prayer that someone could come to save them in this remote countryside.

"Please...please...please..."

"No!!!"

The heavy hammer slowly swung down, and the woman screamed at the top of her lungs, and finally closed her eyes.

"Bang--"

This is the sound of a heavy hammer falling to the ground.

It's over... the woman fell into despair.

"Mom! Mom!"

But she could still hear her daughter's cry.

The sudden ignited hope made her open her eyes.
To be continued...