Three days later.
“Big news!”
“Big news! A famous rich businessman from Yan Guo arrived in Osaka not long ago. It is said that he is searching for the Blue Spider Lily in the island nation and has offered a huge reward!!”
At a newspaper stand on the street.
Whether it was the *Mainichi Shimbun*, the *Asahi Shimbun*, the *Osaka Shimbun*, or even the newspapers that would become famous later, all of them had an article on the front page.
A Yan Guo businessman named Lu Chen had traveled across the ocean to the island nation in search of the Blue Spider Lily.
With the help of reporters, the story was depicted vividly.
“Hmm, so his sister has a disease that makes her unable to see sunlight? Only the Blue Spider Lily can cure it?”
“He really went through a lot for his family…”
Passersby gathered together, looking at the newspapers and chatting casually.
“He’s offering 300,000 yen!!! If anyone can find the Blue Spider Lily, wouldn’t they be carefree for the rest of their lives?!”
“Are Yan Guo merchants that rich?”
Some people noticed the astronomical reward offered in the newspaper.
This kind of thing always easily attracts the attention of ordinary people, just like when a lottery store hits a jackpot of hundreds of millions.
300,000 yen, the annual salary of the Prime Minister of Japan in the Taisho era was just over 10,000 yen.
This was an amount that could bring prosperity and wealth for the rest of one’s life.
“But, a disease that can’t see sunlight… it feels strange, doesn’t it?”
“Like a vampire in a novel?”
Another young man pondered.
“I heard that ghosts can’t see sunlight either… could it be…”
The Demon Slayer Corps wasn’t particularly well-known among the people, but there were still some who had heard of their deeds.
“He’s from Yan Guo, where are there ghosts? Nonsense.”
His companion scoffed.
“…”
The speaker wasn’t paying attention, but the listener was interested.
A man dressed in a suit, his complexion slightly pale, who passed by them suddenly stopped.
“Give me a newspaper.”
The man handed the newspaper stand owner a coin and eagerly looked at it.
To anyone, he looked like an elite white-collar worker.
But the more he read, the faster he breathed.
“Blue Spider Lily…”
“To cure the fear of sunlight…”
Familiar, too familiar!
If he had begun to doubt the existence of the Blue Spider Lily due to his many years of pursuit, this newspaper was undoubtedly a shot in the arm.
The Spider Lily exists, and it’s likely in Japan.
Otherwise, the Yan Guo man wouldn’t have traveled across the ocean.
And treating the fear of sunlight, it was precisely hitting his inner thoughts.
If he wasn’t afraid of exposure, Muzan would have wanted to ask the Yan Guo merchant right now, “Do you have a ghost in your family?!”
“No…”
“No, calm down, observe a bit more.”
Muzan calmed his emotions, folded the newspaper into his pocket, and turned to leave.
…
The next day.
In the evening, he bought another newspaper from the newspaper stand.
It was still on the front page.
Everyone loves to read about foreign merchants looking for treasures, and the newspapers were happy to oblige.
“According to the plant experts accompanying the Yan Guo merchant, the Blue Spider Lily only blooms during the day… and the flowering period is very short every year…”
“Over 500 people have claimed to have found relevant clues, and experts are currently verifying the information…”
Muzan didn’t care about those miscellaneous clues, he had been fooled more than once over the years.
But the newspaper raised a point: the Blue Spider Lily only blooms during the day!
This solved his thousands of years of confusion!
Why all these years of effort hadn’t yielded any results, it was like this!!!
Muzan felt enlightened, a relieved smile appeared on his lips.
He even wanted to thank the Yan Guo merchant, if it wasn’t for Lu Chen, he would still be in the dark.
Of course, as the ancestor of demons, his way of thanking people was usually to turn them into demons too.
As for the authenticity of this news, in Muzan’s view, it was simply too real.
Because every detail was tailored for him by Lu Chen, perfectly hitting the Demon King’s pain points.
…
After that, every few days.
The newspapers were constantly tracking (fabricating) the Yan Guo merchant’s treasure hunting journey.
Each experience was more twists and turns, and it seemed to be getting more real every day.
Especially a certain girl with pale golden twin ponytails who provided clues, she also received thousands of yen in rewards, pushing the people’s enthusiasm to its peak.
Muzan’s biggest expectation every day was to see what progress the Yan Guo merchant had made in finding the Blue Spider Lily.
Lu Chen’s biggest job every day was to stay at home and think about what content to write to fool Muzan.
Muzan originally wanted to get rid of the merchant sooner, but after thinking about it, he decided to wait and see how things developed, and it would be safer to intercept him at the last stage.
A week later.
One ordinary evening.
Muzan bought an *Asahi Shimbun* as usual.
Just seeing the picture on the first page made him freeze.
The front page of the news was an explosive piece:
“The search team has found the exact location of the Blue Spider Lily, and they will return from Tokyo Bay in a few days after collecting the Spider Lily.”
The accompanying picture was a blooming Spider Lily.
Although the color photos of the Taisho era were not very accurate, Muzan clearly saw that it was the Blue Spider Lily!! Not the most common red one!!
Found it!!
Muzan barely suppressed his excitement.
He reached out and touched the photo a few times, as if recalling the hardships and memories of thousands of years.
Then he immediately used the power of the Demon King to contact the remaining twelve Kizuki.
“Kokushibo, Akaza, Daki, Hantengu… meet at Infinity Castle immediately.”
“I have a task for you.”