Chapter 576: Spiritual Puppet

The creaking sound echoed in the empty hall as Xue Wei pushed open the heavy door. The door was made from a strange kind of black stone, and it seemed to have become smooth after being pushed open time and time again throughout the passing of time.

However, while the stone had become smooth, the ground had hollowed out from being walked too often, and the hall behind was desolate and empty.

Not only was it empty, it also seemed to have been abandoned many years ago, and a thick layer of dust had settled on the floor. The windows were no longer transparent and the dirt made it hard to see what was present inside.

Xue Wei could not help but furrow his brows as he looked at the empty hall. There were a set of stairs at the end of the hall, but even they were covered in dust and did not seem to have been used for a long time.

"Are you sure that these judges reside here?"

Xue Wei could not help but turn around and look at the others with doubt in his eyes. If they truly lived here, they should not have been able to make this residence abandoned to this degree.

Even if they had found out about Lan taking over the realm, they should at most flee, but the house had clearly been abandoned for countless years already, so how could this add up?

"They lived here, there is no doubt about it."

Mo Lian frowned as she looked around the hall. "I have never actually entered the house, but I often noticed them enter and exit when I came to discuss certain topics with them."

Xue Wei's frown deepened and he glanced at the branch leader, who also seemed completely confused by the sudden change.

Lan could not help but begin to reexamine his memories of the ox-headed experts they had encountered when they first entered, and his expression suddenly turned solemn.

"Would they push open the door when entering?"

Lan began asking questions about these judges, as if he had a theory, but needed to find enough evidence to base his guess upon.

"Yes, they would usually open the door when entering and exiting. Sometimes we would not be able to see how they had arrived next to us, but most of the time, they would calmly enter and exit through this door."

Lan suddenly rubbed the bridge of his nose as he seemed somewhat frustrated.

"They were spiritual puppets with a trace of the owner's soul."

Xue Wei and the two ghosts had never heard of such things before, so they all seemed confused and waited for Lan to continue to explain.

"They were not real beings, but puppets that had been created by spiritual energy. Unlike other entities made from energy, they do not have their own mind, as they are created to work only based on their creator's thoughts. At the same time, these puppets had likely been infused with a trace of the creator's soul, as that would explain how they could use the power of this realm to their own advantage."

Xue Wei was somewhat confused, but he also understood that if this was the case, then there was no longer any doubt that someone was urging all his actions from behind.

"Will the creator know everything about their actions?"

Xue Wei had already guessed the answer, but he still could not help but ask.

"Yes. And they will only act if they have been given direct orders from their master, so it seems that our entry into this realm has been prepared a long time ago. It also explains why this residence seem abandoned. These puppets has likely gone into hibernation the moment they crossed the door, and then woken up when a new order has been given."

"So, now that their owner, and the old sovereign of this realm, know that you have squeezed his position away, they have been called back by the creator?"

Xue Wei could not guess any other reason for these puppets to vanish like this, but he was also somewhat reluctant to let them leave just like that.

He understood that it would be impossible to get any information from them, as they were created as the most loyal subordinates to their creators, but he could still vent some of his frustrations and destroy them.

He did not believe that these spiritual puppets were easy to make, and considering that a sliver of the creator's soul had been implanted into these puppets made Xue Wei understand just how important they were.

Killing them would definitely cause damage to the guy who was hiding in the darkness, and Xue Wei was more than willing to see this mastermind behind the scenes suffer.

"They have been retracted by their creator."

Lan had already used his connection to the realm to search all over for these judges, but their disappearance was not out of his expectations.

"Since they are gone, we can't keep wasting time on worrying about them. I have no doubt that we will encounter them again later, as they seem to be rather important to our enemy."

Lan nodded his head, he completely agreed with Xue Wei's thoughts, but he also felt somewhat confused. Had this mastermind behind the scenes intentinoally summoned him to the Ghost Realm for the purpose of sealing his powers?

If so, this guy had worked hard for many thousands of years to prepare for Xue Wei and himself to enter his trap. Such a person was terrifying and he did not even know what his ultimate goal was.