"There's absolutely no need for a sparring match. Since Shinobu has chosen to place her complete trust in you, then your capabilities are beyond any doubt," Tengen Uzui replied smoothly, tracking his gaze across Li Ke's robust physique.
As a veteran shinobi master, his finely tuned sensory instincts were picking up an intensely dangerous, volatile pressure radiating from the stranger. Furthermore, from his perspective, anyone capable of traveling openly in broad daylight alongside a highly skilled kunoichi like Mai Shiranui—without a single care for local rules—had clearly broken completely free from the suffocating shackles of traditional ninja villages.
An individual with that kind of unchecked, autonomous background was mathematically impossible to be a weakling.
More importantly, Tengen knew that the Insect Hashira was a meticulous, calculating woman who never engaged in hyperbole or baseless exaggerations. If Shinobu had definitively vouched for this man's combat prowess, he was more than willing to accept her assessment at face value.
"Lord Li Ke is exceptionally powerful, you know. You shouldn't underestimate him even a fraction," Shinobu chimed in from the side, her melodic voice carrying an unyielding note of pride.
Having personally witnessed him channel a roaring volcanic river of sapphire fire to vaporize a horde of Upper-Moon-level anomalies, she harbored absolutely zero anxiety regarding his tactical survival. If anything, her lingering worries drifted toward an entirely different, structural concern.
She had noticed that Li Ke seemed to be severely lacking in baseline, common knowledge regarding the socioeconomic realities of the Taisho era.
Of course, her deduction was entirely accurate—the simple reason being that Li Ke didn't originate from this universe to begin with.
"Right. In that case, we'll spearhead the deployment and set off immediately," Tengen declared, his colorful expression shifting subtly as his gaze flickered between Mai Shiranui's quiet posture and Shinobu's soft demeanor.
Li Ke simply gave a casual wave of his hand, completely unbothered by whatever complex romantic calculations were currently running through the Sound Hashira's mind.
"Would you mind if I picked up a few extra weapons before we head out? They don't need to be high-quality steel at all—just any standard, run-of-the-mill katanas will do fine."
"Oh? Are you planning to deploy some kind of highly unconventional combat method?"
Li Ke's abrupt request instantly piqued Tengen Uzui's curiosity.
"Something like that. You can pretty much categorize it as my go-to long-range projectile assault," Li Ke replied smoothly without a shred of concealment, laying out his tactical intent on the spot. Tengen merely gave a casual shrug of his shoulders, completely unbothered by the bizarre ammunition preference.
"Fair enough. Let's get moving then."
Li Ke took the lead, stepping boldly through the main gates and out into the open courtyard, with Tengen naturally falling into step right beside him.
However, the exact moment they reached the estate stables, a sudden logistical realization violently struck the Sound Hashira.
"Wait... do you actually know how to ride a horse?"
The question honestly caught Li Ke flat-footed for a microsecond. Truth be told, his equestrian skills were far from exceptional; he had only casually practiced basic horse riding a handful of times back in the Food Wars universe, which hardly qualified him as a master rider.
Nevertheless, looking at his staggering physical baseline parameters, this was barely a speed bump.
"I know the basics. If push comes to shove, I can always just sprint the entire distance to the mountain on foot without any real issues."
"Well, that's certainly one way to handle it..."
Tengen muttered, feeling as though he had just unlocked another ridiculous facet of Li Ke's physical capabilities. Fortunately, the mounts provided by the local garrison were exceptionally docile and well-trained. Li Ke managed to mount up and handle the reins without triggering any dramatic incidents, allowing the duo to rapidly navigate through the city streets until they pulled up outside a bustling local blacksmith shop.
The perimeter surrounding the forge was an absolute sea of humanity, completely packed with desperate civilians frantically clamoring to purchase any available weaponry. Scanning the crowded stalls, Li Ke was treated to an unobstructed view of endless racks stacked high with incredibly shoddy, mass-produced iron blades, displayed out in the open without a single care for craftsmanship.
It was glaringly obvious that the grim reality of the cosmic apocalypse had forced every single citizen to sharpen their survival instincts; absolutely no one was willing to play the naive pacifist anymore.
After all, when the monsters manifested, they genuinely devoured human flesh down to the bone.
"Under normal peacetime parameters, a standard katana would be dirt cheap. But under current market inflation, the local merchants have aggressively jacked up the prices by nearly tenfold," Tengen critiqued dryly from atop his mount. However, just as Li Ke was analyzing the stalls, considering whether it would be far more efficient to simply buy raw iron ingots to use as explosive shrapnel instead, the Sound Hashira let out a confident chuckle.
"But as members of the Demon Slayer Corps, we have a system in place to procure gear directly at manufacturing cost. Exactly how many blades do you need?"
"Sounds like these merchants at least possess enough brain cells to recognize exactly who is keeping them alive," Li Ke let out a soft smirk.
"Ten katanas will be more than enough for me."
One look at the crowded shop was all it took for Li Ke to realize that finding his preferred style of heavy greatsword here was completely out of the question. The local populace of this era simply had no military demand for a weapon of that massive scale; securing another proper greatsword would require a highly specific, custom-forged order down the line.
Within minutes, several auxiliary members of the Demon Slayer Corps stepped forward, using the organization's funds to secure the blades before Li Ke could even reach for his own wallet.
"You are actively deploying to reinforce our front lines, so it is only fitting that the Corps shoulders these baseline logistical expenses," Tengen Uzui noted, stopping his hand. "Furthermore, you are already on track to formally join our ranks very soon anyway."
While Li Ke was technically cooperating with the Corps on a strategic level, he had yet to undergo the formal enlistment protocols, meaning he wasn't officially categorized as a registered slayer just yet.
"Much obliged," Li Ke nodded, accepting the gesture. He smoothly strapped the bundle of ten cheap katanas across his back and fell into formation behind Tengen to resume their march.
The trek that followed was largely a monotonous grind, consisting of endless, dense forests, winding mountain tracks, and rugged terrain that forced them to scale steep ridges.
Throughout the grueling journey, which stretched late into the second evening, the scouts assigned to Tengen's vanguard rarely spoke unless it was tactically necessary. They moved through the wilderness with the eerie, disciplined silence of trained shinobi.
Because of this rigid focus, their operational efficiency was exceptionally high, allowing the tactical squad to chew through the miles and approach their destination well ahead of the projected timeline.
However, just as they were clearing a narrow mountain pass that bordered the final stretch toward the base camp, Li Ke's eyes violently snapped open. He had kept his "Observation Haki" continuously deployed to scan the path ahead, and it had just flashed a frantic, critical warning of imminent lethality.
Through his sensory radar, he perceived that the lead scouts navigating the dense foliage just a short distance ahead were rushing straight into a fatal ambush!
Without a microsecond of hesitation, Li Ke reached over his shoulder and ripped a standard katana from his bundle. Concentrated plasma Dragon Fire violently surged onto the steel. Subjected to the absolute extreme temperature of his element, the cheap, low-grade blade instantly cracked and splintered across its hull, prompting Li Ke to aggressively hurl the compromised weapon straight ahead!
In the next breath, a roaring streak of crimson fire sliced through the dark void, flawlessly perforating clean through the thick trunks of several massive trees along its trajectory. As the heavy timber collapsed into the brush, the absolute heat of his dragon flames simultaneously ignited an unseen mesh of razor-sharp strands stretched across the path.
Despite his lightning-fast intervention, one unfortunate vanguard scout was simply moving too fast to completely clear the hazard. His horse violently collided with the remaining perimeter, instantly exploding into a grotesque spray of severed meat as the invisible lines effortlessly sheared right through the animal's bone and muscle. The rider was thrown violently to the earth, his right arm cleanly severed at the shoulder by the pressurized filaments!
Li Ke vaulted off his saddle, launching his frame high into the air. He willed a localized wave of Dragon Fire to scatter downward, weaving a protective thermal dome around the disoriented slayers to shield them from further contact. The exact microsecond his boots touched the dirt, he scooped up the bleeding soldier's severed arm, firmly aligned it against the pumping, torn flesh of the shoulder stump, and violently flooded the wound with a concentrated burst of his healing flame factor!
Leveraging the molecular, transparent tracking of his evolved Observation Haki to aggressively piece the blood vessels, nerves, and muscle fibers back together, he simultaneously threw his focus outward to map out the surrounding terrain.
Within his specialized, X-ray-style vision, the darkness vanished, exposing a terrifying network of anomalies that remained completely invisible to the naked eye.
Silk strands.
An absolute, infinite web of predatory spider silk choking out the entire canopy!
"Looks like we've blundered right into the teeth of an established trap," Li Ke muttered, his voice dropping into a dangerous register.