"What's going on?"
Gyokko, who had just teleported to Nezuko's battlefield, hadn't even had a chance to attack when he suddenly realized his Blood Demon Art had been broken. He turned his head to look towards Tanjiro and saw Adam standing next to him.
"It's that human Doctor Lord Muzan was looking for earlier."
Before this mission, Kibutsuji Muzan's task for them was to find the whereabouts of a human Doctor, but they hadn't found any trace until now.
Yet, unexpectedly, they no longer needed him, but he had delivered himself to their doorstep.
Just as he was considering whether to capture Nezuko first or deal with this sudden unexpected appearance, Tanjiro had already charged over, wielding his nichirin blade.
"You're really courting death."
One of Gyokko's hands transformed into a pot shape, then he spewed out several large goldfish:
"Blood Demon Art: Thousand Needle Fish Kill!"
The goldfish immediately aimed at the attacking Tanjiro and shot out countless sharp senbon, forcing Tanjiro to dodge while batting away the senbon with his blade, unable to advance further.
"Never mind, I'll just kill you, you monkey. While art is important, Lord Muzan's mission is more important."
Gyokko's other hands also turned into pot shapes, aiming at the dodging Tanjiro.
"Blood Demon Art: Ten Thousand Gliding Sticky Fish!"
A full ten thousand sharp-toothed sticky fish, capable of instantly devouring human flesh and bones, flew out of the pots, tearing towards Tanjiro.
These were not senbon that could simply be dodged; if not all of them were cut down, they would relentlessly pursue and bite their target. Even if cut down, one had to be wary of the potent venom contained in their splattering blood.
"This isn't good."
Seeing the overwhelming swarm of sharp-toothed sticky fish flying towards him, Tanjiro's expression changed. With his current strength, even using the Mixed Breathing method, it would be very difficult to eliminate all of these sharp-toothed sticky fish.
Furthermore, Adam was not far behind him. If he simply kept dodging, these sharp-toothed sticky fish might attack the defenseless Adam.
"I have to go all out!"
Taking a deep breath and using the Mixed Breathing method, Tanjiro raised the nichirin blade in his hand.
Just then, Adam actually walked up behind him:
"Tanjiro, move aside."
Tanjiro instinctively dodged to the side upon hearing this, and then a large fire brushed past him, incinerating the ten thousand sharp-toothed sticky fish in front into ashes.
"It's a good thing I have this fan that can breathe fire."
After regaining his footing, the somewhat stunned Tanjiro looked at Adam and saw him holding a strange fan.
"Tanjiro, you go help the others. I'll deal with this guy. Although I can't fight, I have many treasures, so I should be able to hold him off for a while."
Seeing Tanjiro looking at him, Adam explained with a smile.
The fan in his hand was the Bashosen, a Six Paths treasure he had obtained in the Naruto World. It could ignore Chakra attributes and release Ninjutsu of the five nature transformations: Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind, and Earth.
These little trinkets were already toy-level for him, but they could still be used for fun at this moment.
The main reason was that with Tanjiro's current level, the gap was too large for him to fight Upper Rank Five alone, and it wouldn't serve as effective training.
It would be better for him to help the Sound Pillar against Upper Rank Four, or help Zenitsu and Inosuke against Upper Rank Six, as that would provide better training and unleash more potential.
That's why he deliberately stepped in to take on Upper Rank Five.
"Mr. Adam. You..."
Before Tanjiro could voice his concern, Adam interrupted:
"Don't worry, if there's really no other way, don't forget I can still fly away."
"Alright, then Mr. Adam, please be careful."
Tanjiro gritted his teeth and turned to rush towards Zenitsu and Inosuke. Zenitsu and Inosuke's Senzu Beans were almost used up, and without help, the consequence would be total annihilation.
Although the Senzu Beans they carried were not few, they couldn't withstand the consumption of being severely injured every few seconds.
"Oh? A fan that can fan out flames, it's somewhat similar to Hantengu's Karaku clone's fan."
Seeing his Blood Demon Art destroyed again, Gyokko twisted his body and showed an interested expression towards Adam.
This human Doctor couldn't fight, but he had a lot of strange things in his hands. Earlier, his Water Prison was destroyed by one of his weapons, and now he had taken out a fan that could fan out flames.
This made him think of the Upper Rank battle when he fought Hantengu.
That old man Hantengu always appeared timid and fearful, as if he was the most pathetic existence in the World and everyone else was an abuser.
But in reality, he could split into four clones when attacked, each with its own ability. One of them had a fan that could release strong winds capable of pulverizing people.
He could also combine the four clones into one, unleashing four abilities. He had been defeated by Hantengu after his fusion.
"But this little ability can't stop me."
Gyokko once again used his Blood Demon Art, releasing a large army of modified fish monsters.
Each of those fish monsters was seven or eight meters tall, and just by looking at them, one knew their strength was not weak, incomparable to the palm-sized sharp-toothed sticky fish from earlier.
"Eat him!"
Upon receiving Gyokko's command, the fish monsters surged towards Adam like mad.
Adam showed no panic at all, simply continuously waving the Bashosen in his hand.
With his first wave, a hurricane swirled, knocking the fish monsters head over heels.
With his second wave, a flood appeared out of nowhere, engulfing all the fish monsters that had not yet gotten up.
With his third wave, an ear-piercing thunder rumbled across the sky, striking directly into the flood. The fish monsters all began to turn red and emit smoke.
With his fourth wave, the flood disappeared, and the ground instantly caved in, burying the cooked corpses of the fish monsters deep underground.
"So powerful!"
Seeing Adam wave the fan in his hand and solve his fish monster army in just a few moves, Gyokko's eyes instantly lit up.
If he could obtain this magical fan, perhaps he could surpass Hantengu in the next Upper Rank battle.
With a twisted smile on his face, Gyokko instantly teleported away, reappearing behind Adam, reaching out to stab through Adam's heart.
The pot connected to his body was also one of his Blood Demon Arts; it could not only hold the human corpses he collected but also allow his main body to perform short-distance spatial movement.
In his opinion, while the fan in Adam's hand was powerful, Adam himself couldn't fight. He was like a baby holding a gun; as long as he got close, he could easily send Adam to his death.
However, just then, Adam's lips curled into a smile.
"gold cloth!"
Immediately, the golden Ophiuchus cloth completely covered Adam's body.
"Ouch!"
When Gyokko's hand touched the gold cloth, not only did it fail to pierce through, but it also fractured his own arm.
Fortunately, he was a demon, so such an injury could heal instantly.
"I forgot to tell you, my items include not only weapons but also a lot of armor."
Adam backhanded with the fan, sending Gyokko flying.