Although the White-Haired Female Demon had previously shown deep-seated hatred towards Kurozawa, gnashing her teeth and wishing she could kill Rui herself whenever Rui was mentioned,
when Rui stood before her and spoke, the White-Haired Female Demon's body trembled slightly. She forced a smile and replied, "Rui, this swordsman is different from the others."
"Mother can't handle him. You help Mother deal with him."
As the White-Haired Female Demon spoke, she ran towards Rui's side and stood behind Rui, watching Kurozawa warily. However, she occasionally winked at Kurozawa.
Kurozawa was slightly stunned, then burst into laughter.
Hedging her bets, this White-Haired Female Demon couldn't be sure he could really kill Rui and didn't dare to fall out with Rui, so she put on this act.
At this moment, Kurozawa withdrew his gaze from the White-Haired Female Demon and focused on the young boy, Rui, observing Rui carefully.
Unlike the Demons he had seen before who would easily show terrifying and distorted faces, Rui's appearance was quite delicate and lovely. His skin was incredibly white, possessing a strange beauty that felt as if it would shatter at a touch.
Just looking at such a young boy, many people would likely not see him as a threat.
His appearance was too harmless.
"I heard you're looking for family."
"What do you think of me? How about me being your father?"
Ignoring the look from the fence-sitting White-Haired Female Demon, Kurozawa smiled lightly.
Rui tilted his head, then glanced indifferently at the White-Haired Female Demon behind him. Kurozawa's information could only have come from her.
Staggering back from that glance, the White-Haired Female Demon's face showed some panic. "Rui..." She wanted to argue.
"Shut up," a flat voice came from Rui's mouth. Immediately, he looked at Kurozawa beside him, and the aura around him gradually became dangerous.
Kurozawa chuckled, "If you don't say anything, I'll take it as your agreement. But that's a bit rude, isn't it? Let Father teach you a lesson."
In the shadows of the trees, Kurozawa's smile was chilling.
"Father, someone is bullying me."
Facing Kurozawa's provocation, Rui glanced at the wooden house behind him, then spoke calmly.
The moment he finished speaking, the loosely closed wooden door suddenly exploded.
*BOOM!* A tall, burly figure burst out from within, leaping into the air directly towards Kurozawa, then gripping his thick hands together and slamming down on Kurozawa's head from above.
His gaze sharpened, and the flow of air between Kurozawa's nose and mouth suddenly quickened. His body entered Total Concentration mode, his attributes improving by about 0.3, reaching 0.9.
Leaning back, Kurozawa's body, with a flexibility that didn't match his appearance, assumed an iron bridge pose, narrowly dodging the heavy hammer of the downward-smashing hands.
*THUD!* The burly figure struck the ground, emitting a dull sound and sending up large amounts of shattered rock and dust.
At the same time, Kurozawa braced himself against the ground, his legs above, then chopped down fiercely.
With a *CRACK*, the sound of bone breaking entered everyone present's ears. The burly figure's head was directly smashed into the ground, leaving only a bloody back of the head exposed.
Using the force of his downward leg chop, Kurozawa leaped up again.
Reaching out a hand, Pitch-Black Aura surged forth.
"Insignificant characters shouldn't get in the way!"
*BANG!* With a fist carrying immense force, the ground vibrated intensely with one punch, and dust flew everywhere. Throughout this entire process, Rui watched calmly, showing no intention of helping.
From within the lingering dust and smoke, Kurozawa shook the blood from his hand and walked out step by step.
At his feet lay the corpse of a burly Demon, greenish-black and covered in knotted muscles, which was dissolving into black and red ashes.
This Demon was not weak in strength and its attacks were fierce. Unfortunately, it met Kurozawa, whose methods were similar but stronger in every aspect, and could only be easily killed.
"Father..."
Rui looked at Kurozawa walking out of the dust, his habitually dead and calm eyes brightening slightly.
"What, sad that your father was killed?" Kurozawa reached out and beckoned to Rui.
Unfortunately, Rui was completely unmoved, his expression still calm and indifferent. It seemed difficult to provoke him.
Kurozawa took a deep breath, just as he was about to attack forcefully, Rui finally spoke.
He looked at Kurozawa, showing no intention of avenging his father.
"In a family, every member has their duties."
"As a father, you must shield the family from wind and rain. If there are evil people threatening the mother or bullying the children, the father must step in to resolve it."
"If he can't resolve it, he doesn't deserve to be the father of this family."
Rui stared intently at Kurozawa, "You just said you wanted to be my father. Alright, I accept."
Huh? Kurozawa, who had just become an unexpected father, was completely bewildered and couldn't keep up with Rui's train of thought.
"Your previous father just died, and you're going to acknowledge the killer as your father? Bah, abandoning the darkness for the light? Concealing hostility within filial piety?" As Kurozawa struggled with how to describe it, Rui took a step forward, stretched out his hands, and made a gesture of embracing.
"I acknowledge your strength. Join my family. As father, we can live happily and harmoniously together."
Demons with twisted values have truly bizarre ideas. Can a father be changed just like that? Kurozawa stood still, ignoring Rui's outstretched hands.
"Sorry, you want me as your father, but I don't think much of you."
His voice still lingered in place, but Kurozawa's figure had already moved. In an instant, his muscles ripped and veins bulged, visually resembling Rui's previous father somewhat.
"Sigh," Rui murmured softly.
"The family members I've set my sights on will all eventually join my family."
From its small palm, countless shimmering threads suddenly shot out, blocking Kurozawa's movements from all directions.
Clang! His Nichirin Blade was drawn, held diagonally in Kurozawa's hand.
It can cut Nichirin Blades? Maybe those swordsmen just weren't skilled enough. Kurozawa wanted to test it himself.
Stopping abruptly, Kurozawa tilted his head, dodging a thread. At the same time, he raised his Nichirin Blade and slashed at the threads that continued to cut towards him from behind.
*Clang!* With one slash, a shower of sparks erupted from the point of contact, accompanied by a grating, metallic screech that made one's teeth ache.
The threads Rui shot out were indeed as hard as steel.
No, not just that. A crack appeared on the blade of the Nichirin Blade, and as Kurozawa applied force, the crack rapidly widened.
Crack! With a crisp snap, Kurozawa's wrist went slack. The upper half of the blade fell to the ground. When he came back to his senses, the Nichirin Blade was only half its original length, shorter than even Kurozawa's forearm.
"This..."
"It broke so cleanly?"
Kurozawa gave a helpless smile, then reattached the hilt to his waist. To deal with Rui's hardened threads, he shouldn't have met them head-on. He should have deflected the force with subtle sword-holding techniques. But Kurozawa wanted to test their sharpness, and meeting them head-on caused the Nichirin Blade to break outright.
Getting cut by this stuff would definitely be extremely dangerous.
Looking around, countless incredibly hard threads were woven into a net, and he had become the prey trapped within it.
"Your sword is broken. There's nowhere left to run."
"Just be my father obediently, and you can continue to live."
Rui spoke absurd lines in a threatening tone. Earlier, due to the dust obstruction, it hadn't seen Kurozawa use the Pitch-Black Aura to kill the burly Demon. It thought he was just an ordinary Swordsman.
"That won't do. Family bonds maintained through threats are simply too fake."
"Big Brother here doesn't like fake things like that."
*Boom!* A fiercely burning Pitch-Black Aura surged from Kurozawa's palm, reaching up to his elbow.
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