35: Column-level questioning

After the conversation with Kagaya concluded, Lin Luo followed a servant through the corridor and arrived at an open courtyard.

In the courtyard filled with blooming Wisteria flowers, five swordsmen with extraordinary Auras were already waiting. Seeing Lin Luo arrive, all eyes turned to him—

Himejima Gyomei stood still as a rock with his hands pressed together, his prayer beads turning lightly between his fingers; Uzui Tengen's extravagant ninja attire shimmered, and his movements while handling the Kunai were rhythmic; Tomioka Giyu leaned against a pillar with his sword, his water-patterned Haori fluttering slightly in the wind; Shinazugawa Sanemi’s sharp gaze swept over Lin Luo like a wind blade, his knuckles unconsciously tapping the sword hilt; Kochou Kanae stood beside her younger sister, the purple butterfly in her hair shining alongside the Wisteria flowers.

The moment Lin Luo stepped into the courtyard, five sharp gazes landed on him simultaneously. The Aura naturally emitted by the Pillars surged toward him like a tide, yet he merely raised an eyebrow slightly and calmly strolled over to the Butterfly Sisters.

"It seems I'm not very welcome?" he whispered to Kanae.

Shinobu playfully stuck out her tongue and lowered her voice: "They don't believe you could seriously injure an Upper Rank Demon." Her lively eyes darted around, deliberately casting her gaze toward Shinazugawa Sanemi, who had the strongest Aura in the field, clearly intending to provoke a confrontation between the two.

This blatant little action made Kanae shake her head helplessly, but she didn't speak up to stop her.

Shinazugawa Sanemi's knuckles suddenly stopped tapping the sword hilt, and the invisible tension in the air seemed to tighten with it. He stepped forward, his sandy hair moving slightly in the wind, his sharp, knife-like eyes piercing straight at Lin Luo.

"Hey." His voice wasn't loud, but it carried immense pressure, instantly dissipating some of the faint fragrance of the Wisteria flowers in the courtyard. "I heard you almost slaughtered an Upper Rank?"

As his words fell, even Himejima Gyomei's turning prayer beads paused slightly. Tomioka Giyu was still leaning against the pillar, but his gaze had retracted from the Void Realm; Uzui Tengen stopped flipping the Kunai in his hand, raising an eyebrow with interest.

Lin Luo met Shinazugawa's gaze, his face showing neither the anger of being offended nor the urgency to prove himself. He simply nodded calmly: "Pure luck."

Shinazugawa Sanemi's sneer was particularly jarring in the quiet courtyard. He looked around, his gaze sweeping over the faces of each of his colleagues before finally nailing itself onto Lin Luo.

"Everyone present," his voice suddenly rose, sharp as a blade, "has proven themselves by stepping over the corpses of countless Demons and achieving solid battle merits, which is why they deserve to stand here and deserve the title of 'Pillar'!"

He abruptly stepped forward, and a palpable sense of pressure erupted around him, locking onto Lin Luo.

"What about you? Aside from a few vague rumors, we can't feel a shred of decent Killing Intent or a swordsman's sharp edge coming from you! How are we supposed to believe that you didn't just get incredibly lucky, or even..." He paused, then mercilessly spat out the last few words, "...that you're simply lying?"

Shinobu blinked from the side, a smile of anticipation playing on her lips. Kanae gently tugged on her sister's sleeve, her gaze holding a hint of reproach, but mostly a calm composure of waiting to see what would happen.

Facing this near-insulting accusation, Lin Luo merely let out a soft chuckle. He raised his hand, casually brushing away a Wisteria petal clinging to his sleeve, his movements so relaxed they were entirely out of place with the tense atmosphere.

"Mr. Shinazugawa, and everyone else," his gaze calmly swept over the group, his tone still gentle, "luck certainly played a part in surviving that encounter. I have never denied that."

He tilted his head slightly, directing his gaze toward the lush Wisteria trellis in the corner of the courtyard. Sunlight filtered through the leaves and flowers, casting dappled shadows on his face, obscuring his expression.

"However," he shifted his tone slightly, his voice still steady but gaining an indescribable weight, "if attributing a feat like 'seriously injuring an Upper Rank' entirely to luck, wouldn't that..." He paused, then met Shinazugawa Sanemi's sharp gaze once more, "...also be a form of disrespect to the term 'Upper Rank,' and to all the swordsmen who have fallen to them in the past?"

"Hmph! Silver-tongued!" Shinazugawa Sanemi narrowed his eyes, the rhythm of his knuckles tapping the sword hilt quickened, and a cold curve lifted his lips. "You keep talking in circles because you don't dare answer directly! So, are you admitting that the report was false?"

Silence fell over the courtyard, broken only by the faint sound of the wind rustling the Wisteria flowers. The Pillars showed various expressions, but the initial contempt and doubt in their eyes when looking at Lin Luo seemed to have quietly mixed with a hint of scrutiny.

"Is it, though?" Lin Luo smiled noncommittally, his gaze sweeping over the crowd again. The smile seemed to hide something, yet also nothing at all.

The atmosphere froze, like a taut bowstring.

At this moment, Kochou Kanae appropriately stepped forward, gently but firmly breaking the silence: "Mr. Shinazugawa, and everyone else, I am willing to believe in Mr. Lin Luo's strength. The news of him seriously injuring an Upper Rank is not unfounded."

Shinobu immediately nodded as well, her tone cheerful yet supportive: "Mhm, I also trust my older sister's judgment."

However, this lukewarm "belief" clearly failed to quell Shinazugawa Sanemi's doubt; instead, it was like adding fuel to the fire.

Shinazugawa Sanemi's knuckles suddenly clenched the sword hilt, turning white. He pressed forward another step, his Aura like a sharp blade about to be drawn.

"Belief?" He practically ground out the word, his gaze sharply sweeping over the Butterfly Sisters before finally nailing itself onto Lin Luo. "Kanae, your kindness is misplaced! A Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps cannot be assessed based on 'belief'!"

His voice echoed in the courtyard, carrying an undeniable decisiveness.

"My sword only recognizes the strong! My eyes only believe the truth that I witness!" He suddenly raised his hand, pointing directly at Lin Luo. "You! If you truly have the strength to seriously injure an Upper Rank, prove it to me now! Use your sword, not these pretentious words!"

The tension instantly reached its peak.

Tomioka Giyu, who had been silent all this time, finally moved away from the pillar he was leaning against, his water-patterned Haori fluttering slightly in the wind. He spoke calmly, his voice flat: "Shinazugawa, the Master has already given his conclusion."

"Hmph!" Shinazugawa Sanemi snorted coldly, not even looking at Tomioka Giyu. "Tomioka, this doesn't concern you!"

Himejima Gyomei pressed his hands together and softly chanted a Buddhist Invocation, tears streaming from his tightly closed eyes, but he did not speak to intervene. Uzui Tengen folded his arms, his extravagant attire shimmering in the sunlight, a hint of amusement on his lips; he clearly enjoyed the conflict.

Kochou Kanae frowned slightly, intending to say something more, but was stopped by a small gesture from Lin Luo.

Lin Luo met Shinazugawa Sanemi's almost blazing gaze, and the smile on his face deepened slightly. He ignored Shinazugawa and instead turned his attention to Uzui Tengen, who was watching from the sidelines.

"Mr. Uzui," Lin Luo's voice remained calm, even carrying a casual, conversational tone, "I hear you are proficient in Ninjutsu, especially skilled in explosives and mechanisms?"

This abrupt question startled everyone, and even Shinazugawa Sanemi's accumulated Aura momentarily stalled.

Uzui Tengen raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised, but still gave a flamboyant toss of his head: "Of course! My Ninjutsu is truly extravagant and powerful!"

"In that case," Lin Luo nodded, his gaze sweeping the courtyard before landing on an ancient tree nearby, thick enough to require two people to embrace it. "Could you judge what level of precise control is required to instantly sever its internal main trunk without damaging the bark?"

Before his words finished, Lin Luo casually raised his right hand, pointing his fingers like a sword, and made a sweeping gesture toward the lush, ancient tree nearly ten meters away.

There was no sound of wind, no burst of Qi, and no visible sign whatsoever.

The next moment—

Crack... Boom!

A dull snap, originating from deep inside the tree, clearly reached their ears. The ancient tree's massive crown shook violently, and the branches and leaves at the top began to wilt and yellow at a visible rate, as if its vitality had been instantly drained, yet the bark remained completely intact, and not even a single leaf was shaken off.

The deathly silence in the courtyard was broken by an invisible shockwave.

Shinazugawa Sanemi's hand, resting on his sword hilt, suddenly released, his pupils contracting sharply. He had seen strong individuals before; every Pillar possessed the strength to split stone tablets. But the scene before him completely exceeded his understanding of "power"—there was no slash, no flow of light from a Breathing Technique, not even Killing Intent, as if Death itself had silently brushed past the ancient tree from ten paces away.

The extravagant smile on Uzui Tengen's face froze completely. As a ninja skilled in explosives and mechanisms, he understood better than anyone the terrifying control this implied—he had seen destructive power many times, but to so precisely and thoroughly dismantle life force from the inside without harming the outer bark in the slightest... this was simply beyond the scope of swordsmanship or Ninjutsu!

"Amitabha..." Himejima Gyomei's fingers, which were twisting his prayer beads, suddenly stopped. Tears streamed continuously from his tightly closed eyes. His superhuman perception "saw" not physical destruction, but the ancient tree's vibrant life force being forcibly extracted and annihilated in an instant by some cold, unfamiliar Rule Power. This force was completely different from the Demonic Wickedness or the grand righteousness of the Breathing Techniques he knew, carrying an indifference almost akin to the Heavenly Dao.

Tomioka Giyu had long since lowered his crossed arms, and his usually expressionless face was now filled with unprecedented solemnity. His gaze was sharp as a blade; for the first time, he truly placed Lin Luo in a position requiring his full attention and scrutiny. This was not any school of Breathing Technique he was familiar with.

Shinobu covered her mouth, and after the initial shock, a hint of understanding and deeper curiosity flashed in her lively eyes. In Kanae's slightly widened beautiful eyes, besides the expected astonishment, there was a subtle trace of worry—she understood better than her sister that the appearance of this kind of power within the Demon Slayer Corps might bring more than just assistance.

Lin Luo slowly retracted his fingers, as if merely brushing away a speck of dust. He looked at Shinazugawa Sanemi again, his tone still peaceful:

"Now, regarding the question of luck, can we discuss it in a different way, Mr. Shinazugawa?"

Shinazugawa Sanemi's face was ashen, his chest rising and falling slightly. His previous agitation and doubt were replaced by a deeper sense of shock and suspicion. He stared intently at Lin Luo, his voice squeezed out from between his teeth, filled with the difficulty of having his understanding overturned:

"You... that wasn't a Breathing Technique! Nor was it a Blood Demon Art! You and those strange people who call themselves 'Relevant Authorities'... the method you used is the same source as theirs! You are... a Cultivator?"

He uttered the last three words with extreme difficulty, yet also with a sense of sudden confirmation. As soon as he spoke, the eyes of the other Pillars instantly changed. If before it was shock at an unknown power, now it was the realization that Lin Luo possibly represented another vast system, completely separate from the Demon Slayer Corps' millennia-long struggle against Demons.