With the faint struggle subsiding, Tanjiro's eyes lost their focus and began to dim.
His life fluctuations quickly faded away as well.
Tang An pulled the bedsheet up a bit to cover Tanjiro's head, then walked over to Zenitsu.
This guy had sleep bubbles popping from his nose and was muttering in his sleep.
Tang An acted swiftly. With one hand, he covered Zenitsu's nose and mouth; with the other, he held the kukri and pressed it down against the neck.
Zenitsu woke up with a start. Blood continuously gushed from his nose, mouth, and neck, the emotions in his eyes identical to Tanjiro's.
Fear and disbelief.
Tang An's movements were light, crisp, and decisive.
After Zenitsu died completely, Tang An pulled the quilt over him, then walked over to Inosuke and made quick work of him with a slash.
Having completely eliminated the three of them, Tang An went to the dark corner of the room, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Nezuko, who was fast asleep on the bed.
Ultimately, Tang An decided to let her go.
He still held onto a sliver of hope that Nezuko might adapt to sunlight in the near future.
After all, Tanjiro's death was a massive catalyst.
Who knows, Nezuko might experience a sudden outburst of hidden potential and become the Queen of Demons, making sunlight adaptation a breeze.
Whether in movies, anime, or novels, this trope was inescapable. No matter if they were protagonists or supporting characters, whenever their beloved died, they would experience a miraculous surge of power and become unstoppable forces capable of slaying Buddhas or gods.
Therefore, Tang An chose to spare Nezuko for the time being.
Without a sound, Tang An vanished from the treatment room. Next, he needed to hunt down supporting characters or antagonists like the Hashira and the Twelve Kizuki to trade for more dice-rolling chances.
There was no need for him to stay here any longer.
This hunt for the Child of Destiny and major supporting characters had gone surprisingly smoothly. It seemed he should find a way in the future to infiltrate the faction of the Child of Destiny and then launch a sudden assassination with a few strikes, which would greatly minimize unexpected mishaps.
Tang An had learned his lesson.
However, this element of surprise required the Child of Destiny to be heavily injured or caught off guard, preferably like Luffy before he grew up, so as not to waste effort.
Less than an hour later, Tang An sped to the nearest city and randomly checked into a hotel.
"Successfully hunted Kamado Tanjirou, the Child of Destiny of the Demon Slayer World. Rewarded with 4 dice-rolling chances, VIP Luck Value +1.
Successfully hunted Agatsuma Zenitsu, an important supporting character of the Demon Slayer World. Dice-rolling chances awarded based on circumstances; congratulations on obtaining three chances, Luck Value +1.
Successfully hunted Hashibira Inosuke, an important supporting character of the Demon Slayer World. Dice-rolling chances awarded based on circumstances; congratulations on obtaining three chances, Luck Value +1."
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Tang An opened the light screen and looked at the information displayed, the corners of his eyes curling up uncontrollably.
To ensure success, he had cut the throats of all three of them.
Tang An was ecstatic: a total of ten dice-rolling chances, which included one VIP Luck Value and two regular Luck Value bonuses.
Even if the other seven rolls produced junk, these three were guaranteed to yield good items.
"Start."
The fist-sized dice began to spin, and finally, the model airplane crossed four blank spaces.
"Do you wish to use Luck Value or VIP Luck Value?"
Glancing at the prompt on the light screen, Tang An narrowed his eyes and chose to use the Luck Value.
Dazzling light filled his vision, and once everything returned to normal, Tang An's eyes were filled with joy.
"Finger Pistol."
"Description: Finger Pistol is one of the Six Powers from One Piece. It gathers the user's entire body strength into their ten fingers, releasing a strike with hardened fingers in the blink of an eye.
The fingertips possess the attacking power of a bullet, easily piercing through the human body or even steel...
It can also gather the user's entire body strength into their toes."
Accompanied by a fit of convulsion-like shivers, Tang An impatiently absorbed all the knowledge and techniques.
After a shudder, a trace of disappointment hung on his face.
Because this, much like Shave and Moonwalk, required step-by-step training; his dream of instantly mastering an ultimate divine technique had been shattered.
"Continue."
Tang An quickly recovered his composure and began the second dice roll.
This time, the airplane crossed six blank spaces.
After a moment of contemplation, Tang An used his Luck Value.
"Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon."
"Description: Chant the incantation, 'Audacious evil being! Such minor tricks and you dare display your clumsiness before an expert! Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon, World Honored Ksitigarbha! Great Raksha Mantra, Prajna of all Buddhas! Prajna Paramhuma!'
Fear not the thousand-year-old Bai Suzhen, fear only Fahai with tattoos.
Note: Condenses a Heavenly Dragon in the palm, amplifying power according to the user's strength level..."
This was clearly another skill, but Tang An's expression turned somewhat peculiar.
It felt so chuunibyou.
It even required chanting spells when attacking. Judging by the incantation, it looked like a Buddhist divine ability, rather than a skill from a martial arts world, feeling much more like the supernatural abilities of a Xianxia world.
When it came to Buddhist techniques that left the deepest impression in Tang An's memory, it had to be the Tathagata Palm.
Especially the version in Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons directed by Stephen Chow, where that Tathagata Palm was terrifyingly powerful.
Condensing the true form of the Tathagata, it was actually larger than the Earth, and a single palm strike covered the skies as if it were an entire world.
This Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon amplified its power based on the user's strength level, meaning that as long as Tang An's power was great enough, unleashing a palm strike that condensed a thousand-meter or ten-thousand-meter heavenly dragon would be a piece of cake.
Suppressing the restlessness in his heart, Tang An felt burning enthusiasm.
He felt that this trashy cheat was truly all-encompassing, ranging from trivial matters to almighty capabilities--it had everything!
And this was just from using a regular Luck Value; he still had a VIP Luck Value left.
Following another bout of convulsions and shivers, Tang An began the third dice roll.
This time, he intended to use the VIP Luck Value directly.
The dice spun and jumped, the model airplane crossed three blank spaces, and as the VIP Luck Value was applied, a dazzling light flared and then vanished.
As Tang An looked at the description on the light screen, his face gradually flushed red, bordering on disbelief.
"Ki."
"Description: The cultivation system 'Ki' from Dragon Ball. Ki is the fundamental life energy within a living creature's body, which can be freely manipulated through cultivation and training.
Equivalent to Chakra in Naruto, Spiritual Pressure in Bleach, Haki in One Piece, internal energy and true qi in martial arts novels, spiritual qi in Xianxia, as well as primal physical strength, vital blood, life energy, and so on.
Ki is the fundamental root of all things, capable of driving the power systems and techniques of any world, provided one knows the application methods of those systems and techniques..."
Tang An's breathing was heavy, an uncontrollable wave of excitement.
Ki--it was actually the cultivation system Ki from Dragon Ball.
What kind of world was Dragon Ball?
That was a setting capable of effortlessly destroying planets and entire universes.
In comparison, the Attack on Titan world, the One Piece world, and the Demon Slayer world were low-tier among low tiers; people there could destroy an entire planet with just a casual energy blast.
He had actually drawn the cultivation methods and techniques for "Ki."
Furthermore, judging by the description, because "Ki" was the primal physical strength and life energy, it could empower the techniques of any world.
For example, Naruto's Susanoo, Chibaku Tensei, Almighty Push...
Or One Piece's Three-Color Haki...
However, there was a prerequisite: one had to acquire the techniques and application methods for those moves.
To put it simply, "Ki" could serve as a universal substitute for Chakra, Spiritual Pressure, True Qi, Spiritual Qi, and all other fundamental life energies.
This thing was an absolute jack-of-all-trades!
Previously, Tang An relied on external body conditioning; now, as long as he successfully cultivated "Ki," he would have mastery over both internal and external cultivation!
"As expected of a VIP Luck Value!"
After absorbing the cultivation methods and techniques of "Ki," Tang An looked at the Finger Pistol, Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon, and Ki lined up on the light screen, feeling that Luck Value was truly a wonderful thing.
"Seven chances left; it'll probably be hard to pull anything good from those."
Tang An had already prepared himself mentally and continued to roll the dice.