Amidst the swirling black smoke, Rui's body was sent flying backward, crashing heavily against a large tree.
With a bang!
Rui collided with the tree, and after a loud noise, the tree snapped and toppled backward.
Bai Ye did not pause, repositioned himself, and then...
Teleportation!
Bai Ye's figure flickered, instantly appearing before Rui. He raised the Nanming Lihuo Sword in his hand and thrust it forward.
Rui quickly dodged, and the Nanming Lihuo Sword struck the broken tree trunk behind him, instantly splitting it in two.
After creating distance from Bai Ye, Rui couldn't help but gasp for breath.
Bai Ye turned around and looked at Rui again.
"Shouldn't this be enough to end it?" Bai Ye said. "Leaping around won't save you."
Bang!
The moment Bai Ye finished speaking, he leaped forward again, slashing forward with the Nanming Lihuo Sword.
Rui swiftly raised his hand, and a large amount of spider silk surged from his fingertips, quickly forming a web for defense.
Bai Ye curled his lips.
That spider silk couldn't block the Nanming Lihuo Sword!
But...
The spider silk condensed by Rui suddenly turned blood-red at this moment, and then...
Clang!
Bai Ye's Nanming Lihuo Sword struck the spider silk, then forcefully dragged it, striking Rui's neck, followed by a crisp clashing sound.
Rui's expression turned ferocious, and he roared at Bai Ye, "This is the hardest silk, you can't cut through it!"
As he spoke, Rui pushed the spider web, shoving Bai Ye away!
Bai Ye retreated several steps, looked at Rui, and said, "The Twelve Kizuki, they do have some substance!"
The Twelve Kizuki represented the twelve strongest demons below the Demon King.
Thinking of it that way, Bai Ye felt that being able to withstand a blow from the Nanming Lihuo Sword was not entirely surprising.
At the same time...
Rui suddenly released a large amount of spider silk, wrapping himself into a cocoon, saying, "Let me show you my strongest Blood Demon Art, 'Threaded Rotation'!"
In an instant, the cocoon enveloping Rui began to spin at high speed.
The next moment, one by one, spider threads shot out in all directions.
As the hardness of the spider threads increased sharply, their power naturally multiplied several times.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The flying spider threads struck the ground, shattering it instantly. They struck trees, and the trees snapped immediately.
At that moment, the spinning, sweeping spider threads were like hundreds and thousands of blades, scattering in all directions, leaving no blind spots, aiming to shred everything around them into pieces.
Bai Ye took a breath and raised the Nanming Lihuo Sword in his hand.
"While being able to block one strike from the Nanming Lihuo Sword isn't too surprising, however..." Bai Ye said. "You used your full strength to block that strike, while I..."
Bai Ye slowly let go. The Nanming Lihuo Sword did not fall to the ground but hovered directly in the air!
"I haven't even used my full strength yet!"
In an instant, the Nanming Lihuo Sword erupted with brilliant light.
"Lihuo Shocks the Heavens!"
In an instant, the radiance bursting from the Nanming Lihuo Sword spread out in all directions like mercury flowing over the ground!
The radiance was azure blue, constantly swaying in the wind, like a raging inferno.
In an instant...
Within the flame-like radiance, countless swords rose!
Each fire sword was arranged in all directions, suspended in the air, arrayed in a miraculous formation.
That was precisely...
A sword formation!
Lihuo Shocks the Heavens (Using Lihuo to form a sword array, offense and defense integrated)
Bai Ye waved his hand and said, "End this!"
With a boom!
As Bai Ye's voice fell, the burning Lihuo Sword suddenly exploded, and then...
An azure blue pillar of fire instantly covered the surroundings, then shot straight into the sky, transforming into a fiery column that pierced the clouds.
The chosen ones still wandering in the Natagumo Mountain looked up at the sky in astonishment.
At the foot of the mountain, the Demon Slayer Corps' rescue finally arrived. Tanjiro Kamado and Inosuke, supporting Zenitsu Agatsuma, looked towards the mountain peak with expressions of horror.
It was an incredibly spectacular scene, an azure blue pillar of fire soaring into the sky.
The mountain forest seemed to have been gouged out by a giant hand.
Even the clouds in the sky were shattered by a piece when the pillar of fire shot upwards.
In the mountain, Rui's face was filled with terror.
His proud spider silk was completely vulnerable before the Lihuo of the Nanming Lihuo Sword, being swallowed by the azure blue flames in almost an instant.
The cocoon formed by the spider silk was not only capable of attacking but also provided excellent defense.
But...
It was meaningless!
The spider silk wrapped around Rui began to melt rapidly, and soon, Rui's body reappeared, engulfed by the flames.
The burning and searing pain twisted Rui's expression.
He felt death!
This was a sensation difficult for demons to experience, as demons possessed infinite life as long as they were not killed. As one of the Twelve Kizuki, they most often played the role of the hunter.
This was Rui's first time feeling the approach of death.
Pain, unwillingness, ferocity, fear, struggle, and then...
Rui suddenly became calm.
Rui remembered his childhood, his sickly self, which always made his parents dispirited. Even with all their efforts, they couldn't restore his health.
Then...
That Demon King appeared. He granted his wish and turned him into a demon.
After becoming a demon, he was no longer sickly.
He possessed infinite life.
His parents no longer had to worry, no longer had to be dispirited because of him.
But why did they want to kill him?
Because he was a demon?
Why? Why?
Why!
Clearly, after he became a demon, they didn't have to worry anymore. He became a demon for them, yet they wanted to kill him?
Why!
This wasn't his parents, it definitely wasn't. True parents wouldn't want to kill him.
But, he missed them so much, he really missed them...
Rui looked up at the sky. In that moment, he seemed to see his young self, held in his parents' arms, his father smiling slightly, his mother softly telling stories, lulling him to sleep.
Then...
Rui closed his eyes, his body consumed by the flames!
"You have completed the restricted zone mission, defeating the controller of the Spider Demon family, Lower Rank Five of the Twelve Kizuki. Mission rewards received: Demon Blood x1, Random Blood Demon Art (Spider Demon) x1, Shard of God Stone x15."
"All restricted zone missions have been completed. Surviving participants will be sent back to the Natagumo Mountain (Supernatural) area in three minutes. Please prepare yourselves."