Different Paths, Same Destination

afternoon.

Asuka sat cross-legged on the tatami mat in the Rengoku family dojo, casually placing the raccoon dog on her lap.

Opposite him sat Kyojuro Rengoku, his back straight as a pine tree, sitting with his eyes closed, breathing slowly.

"Hoo—" Feiniao exhaled a long, hot breath, and a warm current flowed through his body.

Hearing this sound, Kyojuro nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad! Asuka, your Flame Breathing is becoming more and more proficient. It's hard to believe that only a few days have passed!"

"Feel the burning sensation in your chest, like fuel pumping through your blood! The core lies in an explosive will!"

Following his guidance, the bird continued to calm down and feel the flow of energy within its body.

He has been staying at the Purgatory family's residence for the past few days, and his progress in practicing Flame Breathing is much faster than he expected.

Although he often unconsciously uses the Breath of Wind, causing two different breaths to clash in his lungs, making him feel suffocated.

But after many repetitions, the painful memories gradually taught him how to correct this habit.

In particular, he discovered that wind is an invisible, formless, free-flowing, sharp blade, while fire is a fierce, burning sword that pursues explosiveness and the ultimate.

Although the two are quite different, they are also somewhat similar.

"Although the way they exert force and the points of transition are different, their rhythm is very similar," Asuka said casually.

"Exactly!" Kyojuro Rengoku responded loudly, "Asuka! Your senses are incredibly sharp!"

"My lord once told me that all breathing techniques today originate from the initial breathing methods of the Warring States period, so it's normal that they share commonalities!"

At this point, Asuka opened her eyes and asked curiously, "Then why don't we just practice the Initial Breathing Technique directly?"

Kyojuro Rengoku opened his eyes as well, his golden-red pupils somewhat confused: "I can't learn it! This breathing technique has been lost!"

Lost to history? Asuka frowned slightly, listening to the other person continue explaining:

"I don't know the specifics either; all I know are snippets of information from my lord."

"Legend has it that in the very distant past, the Demon Slayer Corps suffered a catastrophic disaster, nearly being wiped out!"

"In that battle, so brutal we cannot even imagine, all the swordsmen who mastered the Breath of the Beginning perished! And with them, this lineage was utterly severed!"

He touched the "Guide to the Breath of Flames" beside him: "Although what we can inherit is merely the embers that arose after that catastrophe... I believe that even so, we can still slay demons!"

"As the saying goes, those who explore every path will inevitably arrive at the same destination! Whether it's the Breath of Fire or any other breathing technique, they are all powerful weapons for slaying demons!"

The bird remained indifferent, feeling a pang of regret that it hadn't been able to directly learn about the most primal breathing technique.

He stood up, nodded slightly to Kyojuro, and turned to walk towards the toilet outside the dojo.

In this respect, the inconvenience of the Rengoku family's traditional samurai-style decor becomes apparent.

At the Butterfly Mansion, Asuka used a Western-style toilet for the first time. Although it was awkward, it was quite convenient.

Before that, when they were in Hayama, Asuka would just go to the open toilets without thinking anything of it.

However, the Purgatory family uses public toilets, and you have to turn right a few steps after leaving the house, or you can only use the toilet at home.

To avoid causing trouble for the Rengoku family, it's better for Asuka to handle this outside...

The afternoon sun, carrying a cool breeze, streamed through the corridor.

The air was filled with the cool scent of grass and trees, and a faint smell of aged wood.

The bird had just turned the corner of the quiet corridor when it stopped in its tracks.

Rengoku Makijuro's tall figure sat not far in front, blocking him under the corridor.

The flame-patterned haori that symbolized his former status as the Flame Pillar was draped haphazardly over his shoulders, and several empty sake bottles lay scattered at his feet, suggesting that he had started drinking shortly after waking up.

Asuka has been paying attention to this through her spiritual pressure perception these days.

Uncle Makijuro had been secretly watching their training.

He never approached Asuka and Kyojuro. Sometimes he would lean against the wall from a distance, drinking and watching. Other times he would just doze off in the corridor, listening to their breathing.

I don't know what An is thinking.

As the bird was about to silently bypass him, the other party suddenly waved his hand at him without warning.

pat!

A tattered book with a red cover was roughly thrown at the bird's feet:

"Take it." Makijuro's voice was hoarse, each word seeming to have been steeped in sake: "...Since you insist on wasting your time learning useless things, then read it carefully!"

"Take a good look... just how useless these so-called breathing techniques really are!"

Asuka bent down and picked up the tattered book—"The Book of the Twenty-First Generation Flame Pillar."

After that, Makijuro stopped talking, but tilted his head back and took a big gulp of sake. His Adam's apple bobbed violently before he stood up and disappeared into the shadows of the corridor with unsteady steps.

When Asuka returned from the toilet and handed the Book of Flame Pillar to Kyojuro, his expression clearly changed.

"This is... a book that Father often reads?" He was somewhat confused and shocked, seemingly not understanding why Asuka would receive this book that his father never let go of.

Asuka carefully placed the book between the two of them and casually said, "He threw this at me. Let's take a look. Don't waste time on the Breath of Flame."

".....Is that so?" Kyojuro said with a serious expression, gently opening the old-fashioned red cover.

A strong, musty smell of old paper wafted over.

The first few pages, with their old yet clear and neat handwriting, roughly record the life and achievements of the Flame Pillar of the Purgatory family, as well as a description of the early forms of Flame Breathing.

However, after Kyojuro's fingers had turned more than a dozen pages, his movements suddenly stopped.

The pages are no longer continuous.

Large sections of the page were torn off in an extremely brutal manner, leaving the content in a tattered and unreadable state.

"This is..." His gaze trembled slightly, filled with incredulous shock: "How could this be? Did Father destroy it?"

The torn edges were jagged, and large sections of blank space were shocking.

Under these tears, some parts of the book disappeared entirely, while others had key sections torn out midway through the narrative, abruptly ending the text.

This is not only a destruction of family history, but also a desecration of the hard work and dedication of generations of Yanzhu.

As Kyojuro's fingers trembled as he scrolled to the next page, Asuka's sharp eyes spotted something unusual: "Wait."

He reached out and found a scrap of paper tucked inside a torn page.

Coincidentally, he also found similar items in other torn pages.

These straw papers were folded and stuffed inside, and were completely different from the paper used for the books themselves.

Upon opening it, it was covered with distorted strokes and illegible handwriting. Much of the content had varying shades of ink, as if the writer was unsure of what to write next and paused to put pen to paper, resulting in this situation.

Under the increasingly bewildered and confused gazes of the two, Kyojuro and Asuka exchanged glances and finally understood that these scraps of paper contained parts of the missing chapters.

The records contained within were mostly accounts from previous Flame Pillars regarding the First Breath.

And the Flame Pillar of the Warring States period, and a conversation with a special person—

【Tsugukuni Yoriichi】