Chapter 164: Thunder Dragon
What is this?
Enmu was utterly stunned.
He walked alone along the long corridor.
Before he could even steady himself, a powerful gust of wind nearly blew him off his feet.
Looking down at the endless expanse of white below, Enmu had no idea what lay beneath it.
"Strange…"
Enmu murmured to himself.
He had never encountered such an unusual dreamscape.
It was almost as though he shouldn't have stepped into this area at all.
Enmu remembered clearly that the moment he had taken a single step inside, the entire environment had changed.
It was as if the core of this dream didn't welcome his arrival…
This was the first time Enmu had ever encountered something like this.
He continued walking down the corridor.
During that time, the wind grew stronger and stronger.
Fortunately, Enmu managed to resist the force of the gale, preventing himself from being blown away completely.
Time passed slowly.
About a minute later, Enmu finally stopped.
He looked up.
A gigantic palace stood before him.
Yes.
A palace.
Enmu was somewhat confused.
Logically speaking, the stronger a person's mind and the richer their spiritual power, the harder it should be to approach the core of their dream.
Furthermore, the dream core could give rise to various scenes.
For example, the Flame Hashira's dream core was simply a sea of flames.
As for an ordinary person's ordinary dream core, there might be nothing inside at all.
But Enmu had never truly encountered a dream core that took the form of a palace.
[Is this Ren's dream core?]
Enmu's expression instantly changed to one of astonishment.
If the Flame Hashira's dream core was merely a sea of fire, then what level did this palace represent?
Was this really a place that Enmu could enter?
For the first time, Enmu felt nervous inside a dreamscape that he himself had created.
But after thinking about it carefully, he became somewhat unwilling to back down.
In a dream I created myself, am I really going to let Ren bully me?
Damn it!
After making up his mind, Enmu frowned and strode into the palace in one breath.
The moment he entered, a magnificent hall came into view.
With a crisp ringing of a bell, the entire hall seemed to come alive, beginning to tremble faintly.
Yet Enmu didn't retreat.
Instead, he continued forward on his own.
A long passage stretched through the center of the hall.
On both sides stood endless rows of tall pillars.
They were red, cylindrical, and arranged in perfect lines on either side, stretching endlessly into the distance like an ocean of crimson.
Their surfaces were smooth, with gold decorations embedded along both sides, creating a striking contrast.
But what attracted the most attention was the tops of the pillars.
More precisely, the two pillars closest to Enmu.
They weren't empty.
Unlike the others, each of these two pillars had a long beast coiled around it.
But Enmu couldn't identify what kind of creature it was.
The beast wrapped around the pillar on the left possessed antlers like a deer, a camel-like head, rabbit eyes, a serpentine neck, a clam-like belly, fish scales, eagle talons, tiger paws, and the ears of an ox.
Enmu couldn't determine what kind of creature it was.
But it definitely wasn't human.
It had to be some creature he had never seen before.
The creature on the pillar to the right looked very similar to the one on the left.
The only difference was its color.
Several thunderclouds floated beside it.
Beneath those thunderclouds, several thick, lifelike bolts of lightning had been carved into the stone pillar.
The creatures depicted there were enormous.
Enmu practically had to crane his neck just to see their entire forms.
An indescribable sense of shock surged through him.
His instincts told him that he seemed to have encountered a powerful opponent…
And for some reason—
When Enmu stared at the creature before him, he felt as though it was staring back.
Its overwhelming presence and fearless attitude nearly scared Enmu into wetting himself!
Enmu even felt that the terror this beast gave him was stronger than the fear Muzan inspired.
Suddenly—
While Enmu was still exploring Ren's spiritual palace, a thunderclap exploded.
The second dragon appeared.
On the pillar to the right, vivid thunderclouds suddenly materialized outside the palace.
The vast, boundless sky instantly darkened.
The calm, clear weather changed in an instant.
Dark clouds pressed down on the city, making the entire palace tremble as though the overwhelming pressure from the heavens was about to crush it into dust.
It had appeared.
A sea of lightning surrounded the area, transforming the entire environment into a roaring ocean of thunder.
The wind howled violently and raged without end.
A gigantic creature gradually emerged from within the clouds, appearing and disappearing as its enormous body was concealed by the rolling thunderclouds.
It was a Thunder Dragon.
A Thunder Dragon that had appeared at some unknown point in time.
At the end of the path Enmu had walked down, Ren's figure slowly emerged.
There was no weapon in his hands.
He wasn't even carrying his Nichirin sword.
Yet, for some reason, the terrifying aura radiating from his body was no weaker than that of the Thunder Dragon in the sky.
In fact, it was even stronger!
The moment Ren saw Enmu, his heartbeat suddenly accelerated.
Of course he knew that someone would eventually come looking for his dream core.
But he hadn't expected Enmu himself to come.
And he certainly hadn't expected his opponent to find him in such a short amount of time.
What surprised Ren even more was that Enmu seemed completely terrified.
He simply stood there frozen, unable to move, utterly at a loss.
What was going on with this palace?
And where had that Thunder Dragon in the sky come from?
Where had all these things appeared from?
Ren slowly closed his eyes.
You have deeply entered the dreamscape!
[You have activated the Transparent World!]
[A transparent world unfolds before your eyes!]
You have activated the Regression State!
You begin reconstructing and deducing everything that happened previously within your mind.
[…]
[You discover that your spiritual power has broken through its limits. The Memory Palace before you is precisely your spiritual core!]
[Your thoughts become clear. You have achieved enlightenment, awakened your spiritual core, and obtained an inner world!]
At that instant, Ren entered meditation.
The palace beneath Enmu's feet became even more solid!
[Your spiritual power has increased.]
Your resistance to pressure has increased.
[Everything you have learned will be displayed within the Memory Palace. The Thunder Dragon before you is the embodiment of Thunder Dragon Breathing!]
[…]
Ren opened his eyes again.
This time, he had essentially figured everything out.
So Enmu had wanted to find his dream core, only to be intercepted here by the Thunder Dragon.
Ren didn't know what to say.
The answer was already right in front of you, yet somehow you still couldn't reach it!
Even Ren himself hadn't expected his dream core to be this powerful.
Meanwhile—
The moment Enmu discovered Ren, he immediately cried out in horror.
"What kind of monster are you?!"
"Me?"
Ren pointed at himself.
"A monster?"
"That's right! A monster!" Enmu shouted in panic. "How could a human's dream core possibly reach this level?!"
What a joke!
An airborne city almost as vast as the Infinity Castle.
Skybridges stretching across the heavens.
Countless objects floating in midair.
How could something like this possibly be the dream core of an ordinary human?!