72: Infinite City

Gazing at the elegant figures of the two sisters on the battlefield, Lin Luo couldn't help but express his admiration. The heroic demeanor they displayed at this moment was completely different from their usual gentle and serene selves, like tempered sharp blades, their cold gleam chilling yet even more captivating.

His gaze lingered on Shinobu for an extra moment. Knowing that her own strength was insufficient to sever a demon's head, she found another path, infusing the deadly Wisteria poison into her blade's edge, overcoming force with skill and winning with wisdom—this resilience and intelligence in carving out a path to survival within limitations commanded more respect than mere strength.

"Truly... remarkable," he murmured to himself, his fingertips once again gathering Spiritual Qi, which swirled around the two sisters like fireflies, warding off sneak attacks from their blind spots.

Just as Shinobu's poison spread within the demon's body and Kanae looked back, Lin Luo moved.

He merely took one step forward.

However, this single step caused the entire tumultuous battlefield to fall silent. Centered on his toe, an invisible ripple spread out powerfully, and the free-floating Spiritual Qi in the air seemed to hear a supreme decree, instantly boiling and converging!

He joined his fingers like a brush, casually drawing a line in the Void Realm.

"Enact."

His words became Law.

Countless golden runes suddenly lit up in the night sky, weaving together into a giant net that covered the heavens and earth, enveloping the entire village. The runes flowed, emitting a majestic aura of ultimate Yang and purity, cleansing all evil.

The Spiritual Qi within him surged like a mighty river. As he chanted the true words and formed a Dao seal with his hands, under the canopy covered by the golden net, streams of ethereal blue lightning crackled down! This lightning did not strike blindly; each bolt seemed to have eyes, precisely striking the demons entangled with the Demon Slayer Corps members.

While the power of the lightning was not enough to kill them instantly, the ultimate Yang power to dispel evil and the strong paralyzing effect it contained were sufficient to instantly disrupt their attack rhythm, making their bodies stiffen and causing them to emit painful howls.

When the lightning struck, the demons were scorched black, their skin split open. In the brief moment they lost focus due to intense pain and regeneration—

"Now!"

Without needing a command, the battle-hardened Demon Slayer Corps members seized this fleeting opportunity. Streaks of blade light, already poised, flashed like lightning! The radiance of Breathing Techniques intertwined in the night sky, forming deadly trajectories that precisely sliced through the necks halted by the lightning strikes.

The lightning faded, the blades fell.

One by one, hideous heads, filled with shock and unwillingness, flew from their bodies, then turned to ash along with their disintegrating forms.

With Lin Luo's powerful auxiliary crowd control, the battle situation throughout the village instantly became one-sided.

The golden net suspended in the night sky not only rained down ethereal blue lightning to purify evil, but also acted like an unbreakable barrier, completely sealing off all space.

The demons discovered in horror that their swiftness and regenerative abilities, on which they relied for survival, were useless at this moment; even escaping became a luxury—each impact with the light net only resulted in agonizing pain as their bodies were scorched away.

They had become turtles in a jar.

Under the absolute suppression of the Law, the Demon Slayer Corps members no longer needed to divert their attention to defense and pursuit, allowing them to pour their entire focus into their nichirin blades. The radiance of Breathing Techniques lit up with unprecedented efficiency, precisely and effectively eliminating the man-eating demons within the net.

Meanwhile, in a bizarre space distinct from the Laws of reality.

Infinity Castle.

The spatial structure here was like shattered mirror fragments arbitrarily pieced together; beams slanted, corridors hung upside down, making it impossible to distinguish up from down, left from right. Eerie string music echoed, as if it were the heartbeat of this twisted castle.

Upon a high platform suspended in the Void Realm, several figures quietly gathered. They varied in form, some elegant as nobles, others grotesque as beasts, but all exuded a terrifying aura that sent shivers down one's spine.

Upper Rank Demons and Lower Rank Demons, all surviving high-ranking demons, were now assembled here by command.

And at the very front of all the figures, in the deepest shadow, a figure dressed in a retro black kimono, with the demeanor of a cold and aloof Young Master, stood with his back to them.

Even though he did not turn around, the invisible, absolute dominant pressure emanating from him made all the powerful demons present hold their breath.

Kibutsuji Muzan.

His mere existence solidified this twisted space.

Every scene that unfolded in the village—from the swordsmen's sharp slashes to the heaven-shrouding golden rune net and the purifying ethereal blue lightning—was presented without error to Muzan's perception through the Bloodline link, as if he had experienced it himself.

His handsome yet pale face showed no expression, only a bone-chilling coldness that churned in the depths of his eyes, enough to freeze the Soul.

Silence spread through the Infinity Castle, heavy and suffocating.

Finally, he slowly raised his hand, his fingertips lightly tapping the air. In an instant, everything he had just "witnessed" transformed into countless blood-colored light fragments, forcibly pouring into the minds of every Upper Rank present.

The images concluded with the final scene of the village being completely purified, all demons turning to dust under the lightning and blade light.

"Useless."

The cold word, like a poisoned icicle, was uttered from Muzan's lips. He slowly turned around, his plum-red pupils sweeping over every Upper Rank Demon present, finally resting on the respectfully standing peach-haired demon.

"Akaza."

"Lord Muzan," Akaza responded in a deep voice, his head slightly bowed. "Though this person's Spiritual Qi is strange, his martial Dao is crude. If I hadn't been careless last time, I would never have given him the chance to use that peculiar Talisman."

"Hehe~"

A frivolous and nonchalant laugh inappropriately rang out. Doma (Upper Rank Two), with hair the color of white oak and irises like iridescent glass, stepped a few paces closer, his tone laced with mockery:

"But then again, if Your Excellency Akaza hadn't suffered that loss, wouldn't you have turned misfortune into a blessing and advanced your strength to a new level?"

Akaza's brows suddenly furrowed, feeling extreme disgust at Doma's unauthorized act of placing his hand on his shoulder.

"Remove it," he said coldly, tiny arcs of electricity already beginning to flicker in his hair.

"Oh dear, don't be so cold~"

"Bang!"

In a flash, half of Doma's head, along with his jaw, was smashed by a punch! This was not uncommon within the Infinity Castle. Doma's headless body remained standing, even raising a hand to wave, indicating he was fine. After his flesh rapidly regenerated and returned to its original state, the hollow smile on his face remained unchanged, but Akaza had already shaken off his arm and put distance between them.

"We cannot go out now, at least not until the crisis is resolved."

A low and weighty voice rang out at the opportune moment, like the lingering sound of an ancient zither, instantly suppressing the slight commotion in the arena. The source of the voice was a figure in the shadows of a high-rise pavilion.

Kokushibo, Upper Rank One.

He was hidden beneath the dark shadows of a wooden window, only his silhouette vaguely visible. Most striking were his six peculiar eyes—crimson sclera contrasting with golden irises, like six cold, crescent moons, gazing down without a trace of emotion.

His very existence was a symbol of order, and the weight of his words was second only to Muzan's.

Within the Infinity Castle, the oppressive silence seemed to gain weight.

Just then, the entire space seemed to writhe like a living creature. Pavilions, corridors, and suspended stairs silently shifted and reassembled, the scene in view changing in an instant. However, amidst this seemingly mysterious transformation, countless broken beams and collapsed pavilion fragments were clearly visible, like unhealed scars, mixed among the intact architecture, appearing particularly jarring in a twisted order.

—Those were the remnants of the previous fierce battle, still unrepaired, and perhaps never to be fully restored.

The spatial changes, far from dispelling the suffocating atmosphere, added a sense of decay and eeriness.

Muzan's plum-red pupils subtly shifted, falling upon the shadow where Kokushibo stood. He did not speak, but that brief silence was, in itself, an acknowledgment.

Kokushibo was right.

Until the deadly crisis was thoroughly resolved, they absolutely could not leave this last sanctuary. That brilliant blade light, bright enough to cleave day from night, was still seared into his Soul, vividly remembered—that one strike had not only severed all his ambitions but had almost completely annihilated his very existence.

If he hadn't always been suspicious and laid countless backup plans for resurrection... perhaps the world would no longer have creatures like "demons."

Without confirming whether the person who wielded that blade, or any related threat, was still present, he could not gamble, nor did he want to gamble. A thousand years of dormancy and escape had etched an extreme caution into his bones, especially when faced with the threat of his hiding place potentially being exposed.

His gaze swept over the cowering Upper Ranks below, and his cold voice once again cut through the silence: "Send out another batch of demons."

His fingertips gently tapped the Void Realm, as if tapping on the nerves of every listener.

"Go find those humans with special abilities... whether they use that kind of Spiritual Qi, or any other abnormal power."

Finally, his voice was tinged with a near-obsessive desire that had burned for a thousand years: "As long as we find a way to overcome the sun... we will never again have to hide like rats in a sewer."

These light words, however, carried more weight than any roar, for they bore the ultimate and sole dream of all demons.

"Zheng—!"

A clear zither note suddenly cut through the deathly silence of the Infinity Castle, like an undeniable command.

In the next instant, the rules of space were forcibly rewritten. Apart from the core members of the Upper Rank and Lower Rank, the numerous demons who had been temporarily summoned here to serve as intelligence sources and cannon fodder blurred as if erased by an eraser, and were then all dispatched back to their original hiding places.

The Infinity Castle was instantly emptied.

Unaware that every detail of the fierce battle had just been observed by the high-ranking demons in the Infinity Castle, Lin Luo and his group were now traversing the silent village.

The clamor of battle had faded, leaving only the mournful sigh of the night wind through empty houses. They meticulously searched every dwelling, confirming that all lurking demons had been thoroughly purified. However, accompanying the victory was not joy, but an increasingly heavy sense of suffocation.

This village was empty.

They found almost no traces of survivors. Most houses bore signs of struggle and dragging, as well as dried and blackened bloodstains, silently narrating the tragic events that had occurred when the demons descended.

"Did we... still arrive too late?" Shinobu said softly, her voice, usually filled with smiles, now lowered. She clenched her fist, her knuckles slightly white.