At this moment, there was about half a month left until Riezel's dimensional travel would come to an end.
Having bid farewell to all acquaintances from the Swordsmith Village and the Demon Slayer Corps, Riezel had done everything he could.
Since there were no more demons left for him to kill and his status had also reached the limit of Level 5, with all basic abilities at SSS, further growth was difficult.
As a result, Riezel planned to simply wander around this world and give himself some relaxation during this half month's time.
Since arriving in this world, he had endured three months of suffering for the evolution of Sun Breathing, followed by two months of training the Hashira without any real rest.
It was the same in the world of Danmachi—for a hundred consecutive days, he fought in the dungeon almost without rest.
Even in the Akasha Continent, he honed his swordsmanship and trained relentlessly, rarely stopping.
When this dimensional travel ended and he returned to the Akasha Continent, he felt that he might once again have to hustle for something. Given the situation, the remaining half month of dimensional travel was probably his rare opportunity to relax.
With such a rare chance, Riezel didn't insist on doing anything else, only wanting to stroll around and then bid farewell to this world completely after half a month.
*Ding—ling—*
It was the familiar sound of wind chimes.
When the sound of the wind chime rang out, Riezel, who was already asleep, found himself in a place he had been to before.
It was the mountaintop that faced the sun, towering into the clouds, making the sun appear very close, as if within reach.
"Wait... this dream again?" Riezel muttered in a surprised tone.
"You know, this is the mountain closest to the sun that I've ever seen, and it's also my favorite place."
Accompanied by these words, a figure seemed to emerge from the sun itself and approached Riezel slowly from the front.
He had black hair edged in red, tied up high in a ponytail, maroon irises in his eyes, and wore a yellow kimono with a red haori draped over it. He also bore a flame-shaped mark on his forehead and had a sword at his waist.
Seeing the figure's appearance and demeanor, Riezel instantly knew who he was.
"Tsugikuni Yoriichi..."
Yes, he was none other than Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
"Hello."
Yoriichi greeted Riezel with a typical samurai bow, his face displaying a composed expression.
"This is our first time speaking face-to-face, isn't it?"
Upon hearing this, Riezel smiled faintly.
"Can't help it..." Riezel shrugged casually. "Last time I was here, you only demonstrated Sun Breathing to me unilaterally and then left. When else would we have had the chance to talk?"
In the first place, the fact that the two of them could converse like this was, in a sense, quite bizarre.
After all, Yoriichi was someone from the Sengoku period, who had passed away centuries ago.
For him to appear in someone else's dreams, engage in conversation, and even pass on his Sun Breathing to others—Riezel knew that if he were to mention this to others, they would undoubtedly think he was losing his mind.
However, Riezel knew that the Yoriichi before him wasn't a figment of his imagination or an illusion, but truly the genuine Yoriichi himself.
Because in this world, hell truly existed, and there seemed to be heaven too. After people died, they could be reincarnated, and souls could linger in this world without simply disappearing.
In the original work, Tanjirou had been encouraged and awakened by his deceased family members several times during near-death crises. When many important characters died, they also saw their loved ones and friends who had passed away earlier, joining them on their journey to heaven or hell.
Knowing this, Riezel had never doubted that the Yoriichi he had seen in his dream before was mere imagination or an illusion.
Likewise, the Yoriichi before his eyes right now was also genuine—the soul of the remarkably talented swordsman from the Sengoku period who still lingered in this world after his death.
Five months ago, using Lower One Enmu's Blood Demon Art, Yoriichi took advantage of it to teach Riezel his Sun Breathing within the dream.
Now, five months later, Yoriichi had once again entered Riezel's dream to meet him.
"This time, I came to thank you."
Yoriichi spoke while looking at Riezel with earnestness.
"At first, teaching you Sun Breathing was just a casual attempt, but I never expected you to actually defeat Kibutsuji Muzan, which fulfilled my regret... I'm really grateful."
It was indeed something that surprised Yoriichi greatly.
Originally, he had never intended for Riezel to defeat Muzan.
In his lifetime, Yoriichi had actually been quite easygoing and had never thought about deliberately doing anything.
If it weren't for his elder brother's love for swordsmanship and desire to become a great swordsman, Yoriichi would never have touched a sword.
If it weren't for his wife being harmed by demons, he also wouldn't have joined the Demon Slayer Corps and embarked on the path of Demon Slayer.
Not only was his Demon Slayer Mark inborn, but he also understood and awakened the Transparent World and the Selfless State from childhood. Moreover, he grasped the principles of the breathing style so naturally that he had never deliberately created or pursued them.
In the end, due to various twists of fate, he became a swordsman feared even by Muzan and seen by others as powerful as a god.
Yoriichi also had never even considered passing down Sun Breathing.
He believed that whether it was him or anyone else, they were just small characters in the long history of humanity, not as great as people thought. Even if he didn't deliberately pass it on, someone would eventually reach the same level as him.
—Those who master their trade all arrive at the same place.
It was a phrase Yoriichi often spoke before his death, meaning that all those who reached the pinnacle would ultimately arrive at the same endpoint.
With this in mind, Yoriichi believed that regardless of how future eras might change or the myriad paths taken along the way, they would all still end up at the same destination.
For this reason, there was no need for excessive worry—one could simply go with the flow and await the day when life would come to a close.
All of this was Yoriichi's perspective on life.
With such a perspective, even if no one else could master his Sun Breathing, Yoriichi never worried about the potential loss of his breathing style. Even if it were lost, it wouldn't matter to him since he didn't consider his Sun Breathing particularly great in the first place.
In other words, with such an attitude, Yoriichi logically shouldn't have reappeared centuries later in Riezel's dream, suddenly imparting his Sun Breathing to him and interfering in the world of the living.
However, when Tanjirou encountered Riezel on the Mugen Train, and Riezel demonstrated frightening talent and potential, particularly after noticing Riezel had almost learned Kyoujurou's breathing style, Yoriichi eventually stepped in and entered Riezel's dream.
"I am a useless man."
Yoriichi lowered his gaze, his eyes seemed to be in a daze.
"In my life, I failed to protect everything I cherished and couldn't fulfill my duties as a human being. Even though I was born strong, possibly to defeat Kibutsuji Muzan, I messed up at the most crucial moment."
"If I had slain him back then, the tragedies of the next few centuries wouldn't have happened. My elder brother wouldn't have turned into a demon, Master wouldn't have died, and all those who knew Sun Breathing wouldn't have been killed because of my failure."
"Everyone said I'm powerful, even revering me like a god, but I couldn't even accomplish the one thing that absolutely had to be done..."
"Someone like me, who is useless in every way, doesn't deserve to be mourned by future generations."
Yoriichi's only and greatest regret during his lifetime was not being able to kill Muzan.
As a result, when he saw Riezel, he finally decided not to stand idly by, not to go with the flow, and not to just let things happen naturally anymore.
In short, he decided to take a bet.
Needless to say, the reason he appeared in Riezel's dream and demonstrated Sun Breathing to him was for this purpose.
In the end, his bet was right.
Yoriichi tilted his head slightly toward Riezel.
"You are someone more competent than I am. You've fulfilled the trust to carry out my decision, even when I had given up on myself."
"I'm glad I entrusted everything to you back then."
"So before I leave, I want to thank you, no matter what."
After hearing Yoriichi's words, Riezel nodded slowly.
"So... are you leaving now?"
"Yes." Yoriichi replied with a faint smile on his composed face. "Now that my regret and obsession, which kept me lingering in this world for centuries, have vanished, it's time for me to move on."
In this world, although souls could linger and spectate the living, speaking in dreams was all they could do. After all, the dead should not continue to linger but should instead enter the cycle of reincarnation.
Now that Yoriichi's regret and obsession had disappeared, he was ready for the next phase of his life.
If it weren't for wanting to thank and bid farewell to Riezel, Yoriichi might have left long ago.
"Is that so?"
Riezel pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked something surprising.
"Before you leave, could you help me with something?"
Such a sudden request took Yoriichi aback.
"My help?" Yoriichi replied, somewhat troubled. "While I'd like to agree outright, I've been dead for many years. What help could I possibly offer you?"
Upon hearing this, Riezel smiled faintly.
"Don't worry, it's a simple one, and we can do it right here."
With that, Riezel extended his hand, and soon enough, Hermit materialized in his palm.
"Could you spar with me, just this once?"
Gripping the hilt of Hermit, Riezel asked with a hint of excitement in his voice.