Upon hearing Kurozawa's question, Kanae gently rubbed the corner of her eye and shook her head, saying, "It's not from a fight, just some lingering effects." The faint red streaks in her eyes were quite noticeable, and Kurozawa had seen them.
"My Higan Suzume Eye can stimulate dynamic vision to its limit, but it puts a heavy burden on my eyes."
Kurozawa recalled the moment Kanae's eyes turned blood red and knew what she was referring to as the Higan Suzume Eye: "Abilities that provide explosive boosts seem to have significant side effects. If Total Concentration is maintained for too long, the body's tissues will tear. The Demon Slayer Mark can even directly take a person's life."
Kanae stopped rubbing her eyes and seemed to be feeling a little better.
She nodded in agreement, her voice filled with emotion: "Yes, to win against Demons, we have to use these abilities that come at the cost of damaging our bodies."
"However, compared to the Demon Slayer Mark causing sudden death, my side effect is that excessive use might lead to blindness. That's also why I want to learn Fighting Spirit."
"If I ever lose my sight, without the aid of Fighting Spirit perception, I estimate I'll have to withdraw from the front lines of combat."
The discomfort in her eyes had now disappeared, but the crimson tint that had stained her eyes remained permanently. The moment this redness covered her entire pupil would be when Kanae went blind.
"You need to be careful. According to the records of the Demon Slayer Corps, no Marked Swordsman has ever lived past the age of twenty-five. Without exception, they all died suddenly before reaching twenty-five."
Kanae looked at the winding dark markings on Kurozawa's face, a hint of worry appearing in her eyes.
Although she didn't agree with Kurozawa's approach to life and handling things, he was a comrade she had fought alongside, so Kanae still felt concerned for him, especially since Kurozawa was already quite close to the age of 25.
Compared to Kanae's worry, Kurozawa was unconcerned: "That's not necessarily true. The records of the Demon Slayer Corps aren't necessarily completely accurate."
As far as he knew, Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the peak of the Demon Slayer world and a naturally born Marked Swordsman, had lived to old age without being affected by the Demon Slayer Mark.
In Kurozawa's view, the so-called curse of the Demon Slayer Mark was simply because the swordsmen bearing the Mark weren't strong enough to withstand the explosive boost the Mark provided, which ultimately destroyed their bodies.
Just like Kanae's eyes, the extreme dynamic vision put a considerable burden on them, but if it were Kurozawa, even if the side effects weren't completely eliminated, his tolerance would definitely be much stronger than Kanae's.
Thinking of this, Kurozawa's gaze suddenly shifted. He looked at Kanae and slowly said, "Kanae, your Flower Breathing is a derivative Breathing Technique of Water Breathing. How about you teach me?"
A cool breeze blew through Kanae's hair, and she wore a surprised expression: "Don't you know you can't simultaneously use Breathing Techniques of different attributes?"
Swordsmen had attempted this long ago, practicing multiple Breathing Techniques of different attributes simultaneously. This idea was good because different attribute Breathing Techniques had different characteristics. If one mastered more Breathing Techniques, switching between them according to the situation could handle more complex combat scenarios.
However, without exception, those swordsmen eventually gave up on this approach.
The reason was simple: in combat, Breathing Techniques couldn't be stacked. A swordsman could only use one Breathing Technique at a time. Practicing two Breathing Techniques would require a lot of time and energy, yet would only provide half the combat power. With that time, specializing in one Breathing Technique was clearly more beneficial.
Of course, some genius swordsmen, after reaching a certain level of strength and finding it difficult to progress further, attempted to cultivate other Breathing Techniques. But even the most genius swordsmen were only exceptionally talented in a certain Breathing Technique and couldn't rapidly master multiple Breathing Techniques simultaneously. Take Kanae, for example. She initially trained in Stone Breathing with the Stone Pillar but made no progress and couldn't even get started.
It was only after creating Flower Breathing, with the correct Breathing Technique, that Kanae's training speed soared, reaching the Pillar level as if taking a plane, but she had now also encountered a bottleneck.
Facing Kanae, Kurozawa said seriously, "I know, but I still want to try."
"I, Kurozawa, am exceptionally talented. Just Water Breathing is no longer enough for me."
Seeing Kurozawa's serious expression, knowing he wasn't just having a sudden whim or joking, Kanae finally hesitated and said, "There are no taboos about teaching Breathing Techniques, but Flower Breathing is a Breathing Technique I created for myself, perfectly suited for me, and can only be cultivated by women."
When she created Flower Breathing, she considered her body structure and altered many routes for the flow of energy. Many ways of circulating energy could only be done by a female body.
So even if Kanae taught Kurozawa, he wouldn't be able to learn it. This was a fundamental difference in their bodies.
After thinking a bit more, Kanae suggested, "If you really want to try, you can go learn Flame Breathing or Thunder Breathing. Water Breathing is tough and enduring, but it's much less effective in terms of lethality."
Both Flame Breathing and Thunder Breathing have extremely powerful instantaneous burst power, and Kanae felt that Kurozawa's fighting style was very suitable for these two Breathing Techniques.
Kurozawa rubbed his chin and smiled, "We can talk about those later. Actually, I want to learn Flower Breathing because I'm interested in the Higan Suzume Eye. I think it should be a Breathing Technique skill, not a regular Sword Form."
Being able to enhance dynamic vision and slow down the enemy's actions wasn't very helpful to Kurozawa because his Fighting Spirit's predictive ability in this area was clearly better than the Higan Suzume Eye.
However, when Kanae used the Higan Suzume Eye, it wasn't just her dynamic vision that improved. Kurozawa could sense that her physical attributes also experienced an explosive increase. The instantaneous increase was even slightly more than the boost provided by the Demon Slayer Mark. However, the Demon Slayer Mark was a permanent enhancement, while the Higan Suzume Eye was a short-term extreme burst, each with its own characteristics.
After all, it was the final mystery of a Breathing Technique, and its effect was enviable.
Throughout the history of the Demon Slayer Corps, there haven weren't many swordsmen who could comprehend the final mystery. They were all without exception exceptionally talented individuals. Even most of the Demon Slayer Pillars found it difficult to comprehend the final mystery.
"You already have the Demon Slayer Mark, which is very dangerous. Do you still want to learn the Higan Suzume Eye?" Kanae's mouth slightly opened in surprise when she heard Kurozawa's true objective. She couldn't help but continue, "The side effects of the Higan Suzume Eye aren't just blindness; it also causes hidden injuries to the body. I already have many hidden injuries within me that are difficult to heal."
Any ability that provides an explosive boost will cause damage to the body. Adding the side effects of the Demon Slayer Mark and the Higan Suzume Eye together, Kanae felt that Kurozawa was truly a reckless madman who didn't care about his life.
Kurozawa patted his sturdy chest and said, "You don't need to worry about that for me. I have great confidence in my body's tolerance." With a physique more than ten times stronger than ordinary people, and a body stronger than Demons in all aspects except regeneration, Kurozawa didn't believe he couldn't withstand those backlashes.
Hearing the deep, powerful sound, Kanae was half-convinced: "I can teach you, but the method for using the Higan Suzume Eye is very troublesome. Whether you can learn it or not depends on you."
Seeing Kanae relent, Kurozawa grinned: "I, Kurozawa, am exceptionally talented. A mere Breathing Technique mystery is easily within my grasp."
No matter how difficult it was, as long as he could get started, nothing would be a problem.
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