Demon Slayer: Strength Gained with Every Swing of the Sword

The dirty little boy led Feng Yu back to his home.

As they walked, an eerie floral scent hung heavily in the air, and many emotionless faces stared at them, both Feng Yu and the little boy.

Feng Yu furrowed his brow but didn't act on his discomfort.

When the door opened, Feng Yu immediately noticed that the interior of the house didn't match the boy's shabby appearance. The home was clean and orderly, clearly belonging to an ordinary family.

But why did this boy look like a beggar?

"Tell me everything you know, in detail," Feng Yu instructed.

He casually took a seat on a nearby stool, opened the wooden box on his back, and released Xiao Bai, the small white fox, from inside.

"Big Brother, please, you have to save my sister!" the little boy cried, kneeling on the floor.

"Calm down first. Tell me the situation, and then I can help," Feng Yu said as he gently pulled the boy up.

Xiao Bai also nuzzled the boy comfortingly.

"Big Brother, this all started half a month ago…" The boy wiped his tears and began recounting.

"Half a month ago, our town was perfectly normal. But one day, for no reason, strange red flowers began to grow in the homes of the residents."

"At first, no one paid much attention. After all, it was just a small flower. Some people even nurtured it carefully, while others simply removed it."

"But it didn't work. The next day, the same flowers would appear again. And it was from that moment that everyone in the town began to change…"

"Go on," Feng Yu urged.

"They began to worship the Flower God, and formed a follower group, with the family where the first flower bloomed taking the lead."

"They made a rule: when the flowers in a household withered, it meant that family had shown disrespect to the Flower God and had to undergo the Flower God's cleansing ritual."

"During that period, the scent of the flowers filled every home. And during that time, people seemed to lose their minds. They still followed their daily routines, but their personalities were completely different."

"Our family also had a flower, and my family changed too…" The boy sniffled.

"So, why weren't you affected?" Feng Yu asked.

"I… I've had a cold for half a month. When I noticed the changes in people, I decided to pull the flower out. But my family looked at me as if I were a monster and tried to stop me."

"But I found a chance. One night, I pulled the flower out, and that's when I saw my parents return to normal, no longer acting strangely."

"I told my mother everything, but not long after, the strange flower reappeared. The scent filled the air, and my mother changed back to her strange state…"

"I was afraid that if I kept pulling out the flowers, the people who had been bewitched might find out, so I stopped. After all, those who had undergone the Flower God's cleansing never came back."

"My neighbor, Xiao Zhi, is like that—he never returned…"

"One day, as usual, I went out to observe everyone and ran into Xiao Zhi. To my surprise, he seemed to have returned to his old self."

"I asked him if he had pulled the flower out of his house, and he told me he didn't know what had happened. He didn't understand why he was out on the street; his memory was that he had been sleeping at home."

"So, I went with him to his house, and sure enough, the flower was gone."

"At that moment, people who had been bewitched started coming to Xiao Zhi's house, declaring that his family had disrespected the Flower God and would undergo the cleansing ritual after dark."

"Xiao Zhi was confused. He said he didn't know who the Flower God was, and that his family had done nothing wrong. So, they began to resist, but it was useless. Those people, claiming to be from the Flower God's group, bound them up. After nightfall, Xiao Zhi disappeared…"

"Since then, people have been taken for the cleansing one by one. I noticed something strange—those families whose flowers disappeared seemed to be the ones chosen."

"I suspect that the monster, like choosing food, takes the families whose flowers vanish. That's why today, our family was chosen… Our flower disappeared, and my father hasn't woken up for some reason. You saw for yourself, there are those people outside our house now. Once night falls, they'll likely take me and my father to be dinner for the monster…"

The little boy knelt again, begging Feng Yu.

Feng Yu rubbed his forehead, feeling somewhat helpless. Why did people keep kneeling these days?

"I told you to get up…" He pulled the boy up and patted him down.

"Why did you make yourself so dirty?" Feng Yu asked.

"I… I thought the monster might not eat dirty people, so I made myself and my father dirty…" The boy explained.

"You really are clever…" Feng Yu chuckled. "Well, this monster seems interesting…"

"Alright, don't worry. You and your father will be fine. Go wash up now."

Feng Yu patted the boy's head.

"No… I won't go. I'm afraid that if I clean myself, the monster will really eat me…" The boy replied.

"Good boy, don't trust me? Fine, don't wash up then."

Feng Yu didn't dwell on it too much. After all, they were strangers, and he had already decided that he would deal with the monster tonight.

He found the whole situation rather interesting. The monster had used the flower scent to charm the entire town and turn it into its own private garden, feasting on one or two people every day.

When Feng Yu reached the bedside, he saw that the man lying there was indeed filthy. He guessed it was the boy's doing, a last-ditch attempt for hope.

Feng Yu couldn't help but admire the boy. Everyone in the town had changed, but he remained normal, noticing so many details others missed. It was not something an immature mind could achieve.

But even with all his efforts, he was helpless. No one could assist him.

It was a rather hopeless situation.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you and your father."

Feng Yu gently patted the boy's head again.

"Big Brother, it's alright. No matter what happens, I'm grateful to you. You're the only person who has been able to talk to me normally these past few days. Everyone else…"

"Don't worry!" Feng Yu reassured him.

He suspected that the flower's scent wasn't very strong. After all, he had been inhaling it since entering the town, yet he hadn't been affected.

With this in mind, Feng Yu didn't bother to avoid the flower scent.

As twilight fell, people arrived at the boy's house. 

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