Amidst the swirling black smoke, Lei's body was sent flying backward, then slammed hard against a large tree.
*Bang!*
Lei crashed into the tree. After a thunderous sound, the tree snapped and toppled backward.
Bai Ye did not pause. He located again, and then...
Teleportation!
Bai Ye's figure flickered, instantly appearing before Lei. He raised the Nanming Lihuo Sword in his hand and thrust it forward.
Lei quickly dodged. The Nanming Lihuo Sword struck the broken tree trunk behind him, instantly cleaving it in two.
After creating distance from Bai Ye, Lei couldn't help but gasp for breath.
Bai Ye turned around and looked at Lei again.
"Is it about time to end this?" Bai Ye said. "Jumping around won't save you."
*Bang!*
The moment Bai Ye finished speaking, he leaped forward again, slashing forward with the Nanming Lihuo Sword.
Lei swiftly raised his hand, and a large amount of spider silk erupted from his fingertips, quickly forming a web for defense.
Bai Ye curled his lips.
That spider silk wouldn't be able to block the Nanming Lihuo Sword!
But then...
The spider silk that Lei had condensed suddenly turned blood red, and then...
*Clang!*
The Nanming Lihuo Sword in Bai Ye's hand struck the spider silk. He then forcibly dragged the silk, slicing across Lei's neck, accompanied by a crisp clanging sound.
Lei's expression turned ferocious, and he roared at Bai Ye, "This is the hardest silk, you can't cut it, can you!"
As he spoke, Lei pushed the spider web, shoving Bai Ye away!
Bai Ye retreated several steps. He glanced at Lei and said, "Twelve Kizuki, you do have some substance after all!"
Twelve Kizuki represented the twelve strongest demons below the Demon King.
Thinking of it that way, Bai Ye felt it wasn't entirely surprising that Lei could withstand a strike from the Nanming Lihuo Sword.
At the same time...
Lei suddenly released a large amount of spider silk, encasing himself in a cocoon. "Let me show you my strongest Blood Demon Art, Thread Rotation!"
Instantly, the cocoon enveloping Lei began to spin at high speed.
The next moment, spider threads shot out in all directions.
The hardness of the spider threads increased sharply, and their power naturally multiplied several times.
*Boom, boom, boom!*
The flying spider threads struck the ground, shattering it instantly. They hit trees, and the trees snapped.
In that moment, the spinning spider threads swept out like hundreds or thousands of blades, scattering in all directions with no blind spots, intent on shredding everything around them.
Bai Ye took a breath and raised the Nanming Lihuo Sword in his hand.
"While you could withstand one strike from the Nanming Lihuo Sword, it's not too surprising, but..." Bai Ye said. "You used all your strength to block that one strike, while I..."
Bai Ye slowly let go. The Nanming Lihuo Sword did not fall to the ground but hung suspended in the air!
"I haven't even used my full strength yet!"
Instantly, the Nanming Lihuo Sword erupted with light.
"Lihuo Shocks the Heavens!"
In an instant, the radiance bursting from the Nanming Lihuo Sword spread out in all directions like flowing mercury!
The radiance was azure blue, swaying in the wind, like a raging inferno.
In an instant...
Within the flame-like radiance, countless swords rose up!
Each fiery sword spread out in all directions, suspended in the air, arranged in a miraculous formation.
That was, unmistakably...
A sword formation!
Lihuo Shocks the Heavens (Using Lihuo to form a sword array, integrated offense and defense).
Bai Ye waved his hand. "End it!"
*Boom!*
As Bai Ye's voice fell, the burning Lihuo Sword suddenly exploded, and then...
A pillar of azure fire instantly engulfed the surroundings, soaring upward, transforming into a fiery column that reached the heavens.
The chosen ones still wandering on Mount Natagumo looked up at the sky in astonishment.
At the foot of the mountain, the Demon Slayer Corps' rescue finally arrived. Tanjiro Kamado and Inosuke, supporting Zenitsu Agatsuma, looked towards the direction of the mountaintop, their faces filled with horror.
It was an incredibly spectacular sight, an azure pillar of fire reaching the clouds.
The mountain forest looked as if a giant hand had carved out a section of it.
Even the clouds in the sky were shattered by a portion of the fiery pillar as it shot upwards.
In the mountain, Lei's face was filled with terror.
His proud spider silk was completely vulnerable before the Lihuo of the Nanming Lihuo Sword. In the blink of an eye, it was engulfed by the azure flames.
The cocoon formed by the spider silk not only served for offense but also provided excellent defense.
But...
It was all meaningless!
The spider silk wrapped around Lei began to melt rapidly. Soon, Lei's body reappeared, engulfed by the flames.
The burning sensation and intense pain twisted Lei's expression.
He felt death!
This was a feeling difficult for demons to experience, as demons possessed infinite life as long as they were not killed. As Twelve Kizuki, they mostly played the role of hunters.
This was the first time Lei felt the approach of death.
Pain, unwillingness, ferocity, fear, struggle, and then...
Lei suddenly became calm.
Lei remembered his childhood, his frail body that always saddened his parents. Despite their best efforts, they couldn't restore his health.
Then...
That Demon King appeared. He granted Lei's wish and turned him into a demon.
After becoming a demon, he was no longer frail.
He possessed infinite life.
His parents no longer had to worry constantly, no longer had to be despondent because of him.
But why did they want to kill him?
Because he was a demon?
Why? Why?
Why!
He had become a demon for them, so they wouldn't have to worry anymore, yet they wanted to kill him?
Why!
These were not his parents, certainly not. True parents would not want to kill him.
But he missed them, he truly missed them...
Lei looked up at the sky. In that moment, he seemed to see his young self, held in his parents' arms, his father smiling gently, his mother whispering stories, lulling him to sleep.
Then...
Lei closed his eyes, his body incinerated!
"You have completed the restricted zone mission: Defeated the controller of the Spider Demon family, the Lower Rank Five of the Twelve Kizuki. You have received mission rewards: Demon Blood x1, Random Blood Demon Art (Spider Demon) x1, Shard of God Stone x15."
"All restricted zone missions are now complete. Survivors will be returned to the Mount Natagumo (Supernatural) area in three minutes. Please prepare yourselves."