Chapter 249: Training

"All of you, come at me together!"

The weather was perfect, the kind that lifts spirits and boosts efficiency, whether for sleeping or working.

Training was no exception.

Li Mo stood alone in the center of the training ground, calmly addressing the others.

This was a collective training session for the Pillars. After finalizing the plan for the decisive battle, preparations began immediately. First, the Corps Leader had to arrange channels to disseminate information. Perhaps influenced by Li Mo's earlier words, Kagaya Ubuyashiki decided that the information needed time to spread and ferment before it reached Muzan Kibutsuji's ears.

This was to dispel Muzan's suspicions.

Even if he saw through the obvious trap, the Demon King would still likely come. After all, this was the first time in a thousand years that he had found a lead on the Blue Spider Lily. He couldn't afford to ignore it.

This period became a time for intensive training.

As the Corps Leader, Kagaya Ubuyashiki also had to arrange for the selection and training of candidates, aiming to elevate the skills of ordinary swordsmen by a notch. But organizing such efforts took time, and the Pillars weren't about to waste it.

Thus, Li Mo made his declaration.

Fighting against multiple opponents.

This was one of every boy's dreams—being ganged up on was a testament to one's strength. Take Lu Bu, the strongest warrior in *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*. While his character was questionable, the fact that he was always surrounded by fierce generals whenever he appeared was proof of his unmatched prowess.

Li Mo enjoyed a treatment similar to Lu Bu's.

The truth was, in a one-on-one fight, none of the swordsmen present could match him. Even the training wouldn't yield much.

When someone's strength far surpasses others, being ganged up on becomes inevitable. Only when the Pillars joined forces could they exert any real pressure on Li Mo.

Physique, speed, reaction time—Li Mo far exceeded the Pillars in all aspects. This was a given.

But the Pillars, each a master of their own Breathing Style, had their own pride. Their Nichirin blades left dazzling trails of light.

At first, Li Mo was only mildly impressed. The first round of combat ended with him defeating them one by one. Having witnessed the attacks of heroic spirits in Fuyuki City, he didn't find their techniques particularly remarkable.

The exception was Gyomei Himejima's attacks. His axe, wielded like a meteor hammer, was terrifying—a pure display of brute force and kinetic energy, making it the most difficult to counter.

Although Li Mo could use the "Softening Technique" to dissipate the force, his body would inevitably lose control during the process, much like how the Sea King in *Baki* was sent flying after being struck by the strongest creature on Earth.

In a one-on-one fight, the "Softening Technique" was undoubtedly a divine skill. But in a group battle, with blades flashing around him, it was a different story.

Fortunately, the Pillars weren't very familiar with each other, and their coordination was lacking, leaving many openings for Li Mo to exploit and defeat them one by one. Otherwise, his earlier boast would have turned into a humiliation, and he might have been laughed at by Kanae Kocho.

Makomo... Senior Sister Makomo's expression was icy. Her Flow Breathing exuded a murderous intent, yet it wasn't aimed at vital points, reminding Li Mo of a story he'd heard about a female doctor stabbing a scumbag eighteen times, each strike non-lethal, resulting in only minor injuries.

Fortunately, Li Mo was more skilled and wouldn't fall to such a level.

But the subsequent training didn't go as smoothly. As the Pillars' coordination improved, Li Mo began to struggle, even without going all out.

The group training came to a temporary halt.

"Your physical fitness is too weak... Mr. Himejima, don't you think your words are a bit misleading?"

Describing Gyomei Himejima as having the pinnacle of human physique wasn't an exaggeration. His body, when stripped of clothing, resembled the most perfect sculpture from ancient Greece, embodying the masculine ideal.

Li Mo had to rely on enhancements to barely achieve his peak physique, but Gyomei was born with it. It was hard to imagine such a towering figure, standing over two meters tall, emerging in Japan, where the average height was around 1.5 to 1.6 meters.

For someone like him to say his physical fitness was too weak... If Li Mo didn't know better, he'd think Gyomei was humble-bragging.

"Li, your physical fitness has already surpassed mine, hasn't it?" Gyomei Himejima had realized this strength through several training sessions. The being known as Li Mo seemed to have transcended human limits, reaching another realm.

"You caught on. In a way, I'm not exactly human anymore."

Li Mo spoke frankly, not lying to Gyomei. Lies, no matter how many, remained lies—falsehoods.

"If not human, then what?"

"A fox demon, perhaps."

"Like Tamamo-no-Mae?"

"I don't have nine tails yet. But you can think of Tamamo-no-Mae as my inspiration, Mr. Himejima."

What Li Mo had learned was the path of Koyanskaya, who herself had modeled her path after Tamamo-no-Mae. When summoned as a Servant, Tamamo-no-Mae appeared with only three tails, far from her full power. According to Koyanskaya, when all nine tails were gathered, Tamamo-no-Mae would become a "Beast."

"A mythical demon? You've had it rough."

"It's also because I'm not skilled enough."

If Li Mo could master the magic of the Type-Moon world, not only could he handle Muzan Kibutsuji, but he'd also dare to return to Teyvat and drag that shut-in archon out of her palace. Unfortunately, he wasn't at that level yet.

Gyomei Himejima: "I have a question. Why was Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the first-generation swordsman from centuries ago, so strong?"

The Demon Slayer Corps' lineage had been interrupted centuries ago, and even records of Sun Breathing had to be dug up from the Corps Leader's library. Gyomei's understanding of Yoriichi Tsugikuni came entirely from Tamayo.

He was an invincible man.

And he was still human.

Li Mo had become a demon to achieve such strength. What had Yoriichi Tsugikuni done? Gyomei didn't expect an answer from Li Mo. According to him, he had traveled to another world to gain this power. How could he know about Yoriichi?

Gyomei's understanding of other worlds was that they were very, very far away. He didn't understand how Li Mo had traveled, but that was someone else's secret, not to be pried into.

"Born with the Demon Slayer Mark and the Transparent World."

Li Mo answered without hesitation.

"Huh? What are those?"

"It's hard to put into words. The former is likely a method of pushing the body's limits, while the latter is a state of being."

The Demon Slayer Mark and the Transparent World were ways for human swordsmen to break through their limits. But both had their drawbacks.

The former guaranteed death by the age of 25, like the magical girl Madoka, trading future possibilities for present power. The latter turned the world into a skeletal and muscular framework, so much so that even Yoriichi Tsugikuni never saw the world as ordinary people did.

Gyomei Himejima was intrigued and began asking more about these terms.