Chapter 156: Mugen Train — Encountering Three Little Rascals!
Before Douma could hand the blueprint over to Muzan, Muzan severed his arm remotely and took the blueprint from his hand, studying it carefully.
Under Ren's masterful sketching skills, the blue spider lily in the drawing looked almost lifelike. Muzan's eyes were instantly drawn to it.
"This is what the Blue Spider Lily should look like!"
"This is what the Blue Spider Lily should look like!"
"Ren, oh, Ren… Although I failed to capture you, this blueprint of yours has truly opened my eyes!"
What Muzan didn't know was that Ren had never actually seen a Blue Spider Lily.
He had simply imagined one from scratch.
Who knew? When Muzan eventually discovered the truth behind Ren's drawing, he might just be furious enough to cough up several mouthfuls of old blood.
"My lord, since Ren said that the spider lily can only bloom during the daytime, I have an excellent idea," Douma said.
"Go on," Muzan replied.
His words were few and far between, which only made them all the more precious.
"I can send my followers out to collect these flowers that only bloom during the day. Combined with Ren's blueprint and this particular trait, I believe we can make them bloom again!"
It had to be admitted—Douma's idea was genuinely excellent.
It had essentially opened an entirely new world for Muzan.
However, Muzan had ideas of his own. He certainly wasn't willing to admit that one of his subordinates had thought of something he hadn't.
"How foolish. How many followers do you have? And how long would it take them to find the flowers?"
Douma let out a light chuckle.
"Then what exactly does my lord have in mind?"
Muzan answered, "Have Enmu hypnotize those humans and make them search for the Blue Spider Lily."
With a wave of Muzan's hand, the immense pressure weighing down on Akaza instantly vanished.
Muzan immediately said, "Akaza, I will give you one chance to atone for your mistake. Go and support Enmu immediately. I don't want him dying aboard the train."
Akaza drew a deep breath before nodding heavily.
"Yes, my lord."
Muzan then explained his plan in detail.
The primary objective remained the same: find the Blue Spider Lily.
Douma would mobilize his followers to search for it. Akaza would locate Enmu, after which Enmu would use his Blood Demon Art to control humans and have them conduct the search.
Finally, Kokushibo would be instructed to think carefully about whether, after living for so many years, he had ever encountered a flower that only bloomed during the day.
In order to obtain the Blue Spider Lily, Muzan mobilized every subordinate at his disposal.
"Drru~"
One after another, the sounds echoed through the chamber as everyone was once again sent out of the Infinity Castle.
Dawn was approaching.
A golden sphere of light rose above the mountain peaks. The first rays of morning sunlight pierced through the clouds and spilled across the earth, laying a golden carpet over the world.
The temperature of the ground began to rise.
Then, a steam train belching thick clouds of smoke suddenly thundered into view, racing from east to west.
Inside one of the train cars, Ren finally opened his eyes after sleeping through the entire night.
He felt completely refreshed.
It had been a long time since he'd slept so peacefully.
Ren immediately called over one of the attendants and asked where the train had reached.
The attendant paused before answering, "Sir, this is the Mugen Train. We're heading west, and the final stop is Kinkei Station."
"Oh."
Ren nodded.
Then he paused.
"What did you just say?"
The attendant repeated himself.
"The final stop is Kinkei Station."
Ren stared at him.
"The sentence before that."
"Sir?"
"Never mind. You can go back."
"Of course."
The attendant left.
Only Ren remained restless.
With the Regression State, how could he possibly have forgotten something someone had said directly to him?
He had heard it perfectly clearly.
This was the Mugen Train!
If this was the timeline he remembered…
[Activating Regression State…]
[Rewinding…]
[Regression complete. Generating results…]
This timing seemed awfully coincidental…
Wululu—
After the train passed another station, Ren suddenly heard an extremely familiar voice.
"Oh! Whoa! Aha! Amazing! The inside of this steel beast is absolutely incredible!"
A rough male voice rang out, accompanied by the rapid banging of something against the glass.
"You're going to break the window! Keep it down!"
"What do you know? You're a steel beast! I'm trapped inside your belly, so I have to save myself! Can't you see that this steel beast is already groaning in pain?!"
The commotion from the neighboring carriage grew louder and louder, soon disturbing the passengers around Ren.
The surrounding passengers wore increasingly impatient expressions.
Yet there were also a few people who remained completely expressionless, standing out from everyone else.
Ren watched the scene carefully, a vague feeling rising in his heart.
At the same time, he noticed that the rough voice was getting closer.
Soon, three extremely familiar figures appeared before him.
This really was the Mugen Train!
Standing in front of Ren were none other than Tanjiro Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Inosuke Hashibira!
And Nezuko was there too, inside the wooden box strapped to Tanjiro's back!
The timing couldn't have been better.
Rather than arriving too early, Ren had encountered them at precisely the right moment.
He seized the opportunity immediately.
Originally, Ren's plan had been to help his elder brother escape and then allow himself to be captured. All he could do was pray that things wouldn't happen too quickly.
But now, the timeline had finally caught up.
The Mugen Train incident was unfolding at exactly the right point—not too early and not too late…
A torrent of memories instantly surged through Ren's mind.
Every detail of the Mugen Train arc surfaced in his consciousness.
The scenes were so vivid and lifelike that it felt as though everything were happening right before his eyes.
Ren raised his head.
At that exact moment, Tanjiro and the others happened to notice him as well.
The moment Tanjiro saw Ren, his eyes lit up and he excitedly greeted him.
"Senior Ren… No, Dragon Hashira-sama!"
"Eh—?! How is that possible?! Dragon Hashira-sama was already captured by demons and eaten! How could he possibly be on this train?!"
Zenitsu cried out in panic.
"Could it be that we're seeing Dragon Hashira-sama's ghost?! We're doomed! I knew we shouldn't have come! We're going to die here! Aaaaaah!"
Inosuke snorted.
"Look at you, yellow hair! What a coward. This is my master. Even if he escaped and became a ghost, he's still my master!"
The three of them immediately started talking over one another.
Fortunately, every word they said was related to Ren.
Ren smiled and explained, "Tanjiro, Nezuko, Zenitsu, Inosuke. Hello. I'm Ren."
"AAAAAAH! It really is Lord Ren's ghost!!"
Zenitsu jumped straight into the air.
Inosuke immediately smacked him on the head.
A heavy breath escaped from beneath the mouth of his boar mask, and his voice was filled with anger.
"What are you talking about?! This is my master! He can talk, which means he's still alive! How dare you curse my master!"
Tanjiro breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.
"Looks like Inosuke isn't stupid enough to think that Teacher Ren is a ghost. He really does seem to like Teacher Ren."
But then Inosuke suddenly became gloomy.
"It must be because I miss my master too much. I've started hallucinating!"
Tanjiro:
"..."