The Fig Leaf Lifted Against the Sun
The incessant heavy rain continued for half a month before the constantly dark and gloomy sky finally changed.
The dark clouds dispersed, and the fiery orb silently burned, its golden sunlight, long absent, finally spilling down, casting a layer of shattered gold color over Asakusa City.
However, this brilliant and dazzling color seemed out of place with the city, which was now full of building debris and appeared somewhat desolate and decaying.
After the final battle in Asakusa City, the main force of the Demon Slayer Corps was wiped out, leaving only a few scattered new Swordsmen barely hanging on.
And the residents of Asakusa City, who had been previously imprisoned and sealed off, after cautiously attempting to escape, found that the fierce Demons guarding them had all disappeared.
If it weren't for the fact that the once prosperous Asakusa was now as ravaged as if a hurricane had plowed through it, and that their memories couldn't be false, it would seem as if everything had just been a dream and hadn't truly happened.
Many people left, and many also stayed.
Within the intact Hongyue mansion, Kurozawa didn't get out of bed until after the sun was high in the sky.
His gaze went past the window and saw a few rays of pale golden sunlight entering the slightly dim room through the gaps.
"Hongyue, I'm going out for a bit."
He reached out and poked the still-sleeping Hongyue beside him. The skin on her sleeping face gently indented as Kurozawa's finger poked it.
Her long, thick eyelashes, like small brushes, trembled, and Hongyue opened her beautiful eyes, looking at Kurozawa.
"The sun is out?"
Kurozawa nodded. "My Demonic Body is perfected. It's been cloudy all this time, and I haven't had a chance to try. Now I want to go and bathe in the sunlight to see."
He was someone who enjoyed sunbathing and feeling the slightly intoxicating sunlight on his body.
After becoming a Demonic Body, not seeing the sun had made Kurozawa a bit uncomfortable.
After speaking, he stood up, casually draped a large haori over himself, covering his strong and muscular body, and walked step by step to the door.
Slowly gripping the door seam, Kurozawa took a deep breath, holding his breath and concentrating.
He pulled the door open inch by inch.
The brilliant sunlight, through the gradually widening gap, slowly permeated and seeped in, gradually falling on Kurozawa's body, as if giving him a golden body.
Unlike before, the horrifying burning pain that could make even an iron will wail did not come.
Kurozawa felt as if he was being enveloped by gentle flowing water, comfortable and at ease.
Immediately, he raised his hand and happily pulled open his clothes, exposing his upper body to the sunlight.
"Even an ultimate being is nothing more than this."
The Immortal Demon Body only feared sunlight.
But the Immortal Body, whose flaws had been eradicated, had no natural enemy and was a perfect immortal physique.
In fact, he no longer needed to replenish energy with blood and flesh; sleep, breathing, ordinary food, and so on could all be used to replenish his stamina.
Furthermore, Kurozawa had a feeling that the traces of time flowing over him were almost nonexistent.
Because his body could regenerate endlessly, his lifespan would also be extended to an extreme. Hongyue had lived for a thousand years, and not even a hint of aging had appeared.
Even if the Immortal Body had a lifespan limit, it was probably measured in tens of thousands of years.
Behind him, Hongyue also simply put on a top, revealing her long, straight, smooth legs. Her exquisite, fair, and tender bare feet, like they were carved from jade, stepped on the smooth wooden floor as she approached step by step.
"The sun... what I hate the most is the sun."
"Every time the sun comes out, I can only retreat into the darkness. It constantly reminds me that no matter how strong I am, I still need to hide from its radiance."
"But I know that I also love it the most. The so-called hatred is just because I cannot touch it, cannot obtain it."
"That brilliant light is something I've yearned for all along."
Kurozawa keenly grasped the key point.
"Before?"
"It's not now? Why?" He smiled.
Hongyue raised her head and carefully observed Kurozawa.
After a few seconds, she suddenly stood on her tiptoes and lightly kissed Kurozawa on the face. "Because now I have something better, a sun walking among humans, a sun that belongs only to me."
Immediately after, Hongyue turned her gaze, her ruby-like eyes shining brightly.
She looked at the brilliant sunlight covering half of Kurozawa's body and slowly extended her slender fingers.
Her long, fair index finger was the first to touch the sunlight.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle... The sound of ice water touching a hot iron immediately rang out. Hongyue's fingertips visibly turned charred black at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In just under ten seconds, the skin was charred black and peeled off, exposing the flesh underneath.
Hongyue slightly furrowed her brows, feeling the burning pain in her fingertips, but she didn't speak or withdraw her finger. She simply silently activated her regeneration power.
Fine flesh buds wriggled, unwilling to admit defeat and wanting to contend with the destructive damage of the sunlight.
After fully activating her regeneration power, a few pieces of snow-white skin reappeared, but they rapidly melted and disappeared under the sunlight. After this cycle repeated several times, her regeneration power was clearly falling behind.
After a few more minutes, the flesh and blood were completely evaporated, revealing the bony structure of her fingers.
Strands of blood struggled to regenerate, but they instantly turned into nothingness and dissipated, completely powerless to contend with the sunlight any longer.
"Alright," Kurozawa said, taking Hongyue's hand.
Although she was practicing Sun Breathing, unfortunately, her progress was very slow. Sun Breathing is the origin of all breathing techniques, and it has the most demanding requirements for physical talent among all of them.
Only Kurozawa could forcefully circulate the breath, allowing her to begin Sun Breathing and then improve it with Potential Points.
He himself didn't have the talent for practicing Sun Breathing.
It wasn't just Kurozawa and Hongyue; before this, among the Demon Slayer Corps, not a single Swordsman had a physique that matched Sun Breathing.
Otherwise, Kurozawa wouldn't have faced only Hyuga Wu recently.
In fact, if Tanjiro hadn't been so young, he probably would have been pushed by various reasons to become a Sun Breathing Swordsman and fight Kurozawa.
However, Hongyue devoured Hyuga Wu, and although her progress is slow, she is gradually improving nonetheless.
With her previous physique, she would have lasted even less time when exposed to sunlight, let alone activate her regenerative ability to try and resist the sunlight.
At Hongyue's current pace of practicing Sun Breathing, dedicating decades to intense training might allow her to reach the level of Total Concentration: Constant. At that time, her Demonic Body would also undergo an evolutionary leap, becoming a true Immortal Demon Body.
Other worlds might have special methods, such as using mental attacks or other means that ignore physical attributes to destroy an Immortal Demon Body.
But at least in the Demon Slayer World, there is no such ability.
Once the Immortal Demon Body is achieved, it means invincibility. No one can kill Hongyue; natural disasters, misfortunes, time, and so on will all bypass her.
Now, the cycle of the Demon Slayer World has been broken. The Divine Will, which seemed omnipresent and had been observing them, has also vanished, disappearing along with the half-month of continuous heavy rain.
At this moment, the Demon Slayer World is full of possibilities, and no one can see its future development clearly.
The Swordsmen who have almost completely disappeared may one day regroup. As an anomaly, even as a Demon King, Hongyue is not absolutely safe.
Only after Hongyue has fully achieved the Immortal Demon Body and similarly reached the peak of this world will Kurozawa consider leaving here and heading to the next world.
By then, even if another Yoriichi Tsugikuni were to descend, he would not be able to pose a threat to Hongyue.
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