Chapter 541: 541
Xue Wei and Lan had been standing in the middle of the courtyard, but when the young-looking ghost left, they instantly moved to a wall . The reason they moved with their backs to a wall was to ensure that no one could sneak up on them .
The courtyard was surrounded by silence . There were no sounds of any kind, as there were no beasts, not even insects, alive in the Ghost Realm .
The ghosts, which should have been patrolling within the manor, had all turned into nothingness as the young-looking ghost had dissipated and consumed their soul power, making it so that they had been eroded of their self, and become energy that slowly became part of someone else .
Death had always been frightening, but it was not at a point where Lan would fear it . He had been living in the Divine Beast World back when he was young, and there one could turn to the Ten Courts of Hell to drag the dead back .
Even when Li Zhiqing died, he was not too panicked, as he held the knowledge of the Ghost Realm .
It was not before he entered the Ghost Realm that he realized just how many souls had ceased to exist and instead become the food for others .
When he first realized this, his heart was full of intense pain and fear . He had been able to wait those thousands of years as he knew that he would be able to enter the Ghost Realm and get her back eventually, but after knowing that he might have lost her forever, he did not know what to do anymore .
It had taken all his willpower to maintain his sanity and not let the fear take over his mind . What would he do if she truly vanished from his world?
It was not before the branch leader told him that he knew her that Lan's suspended heart slowly settled back in place .
He had expected himself to be extremely impatient, but when he found himself in the situation, he did not actually mind waiting a bit longer .
He had understood Li Zhiqing's position in the Ghost Realm and knew that she was not experiencing any danger . Her position was at a point where no one could threaten her, and since he had already waited so many years, it was not a big deal waiting a bit longer .
The two did not speak . They kept their senses alert as they looked around, but nothing happened . They did not know how much time had passed before they heard the arrival of a group of people, and their eyes flashed with a cold gleam .
They were not sure who had arrived . While they were expecting it to be the branch leader and his men, they dared not assume it, and thus they took a defensive stance .
A group of ghosts appeared in the entrance to the courtyard, and they finally heaved a breath of relief as they saw the figure in the middle .
The branch leader had appeared, and he had brought a whole group of guards alongside him . He looked around the courtyard, which was in a rather miserable state . There were many signs of the previous battle, scorch marks from the lightning attacks, broken stones everywhere; some had been crushed, others cut .
The branch leader's face was as if covered by a dark cloud, his expression cold, and his lips pressed into a tight line .
His eyes roamed across the destruction in the courtyard, and then they landed on Xue Wei and Lan . Their wounds had slowly started to heal as they had consumed a few healing pills while waiting, but the clothes were turned into rags, and the blood was starting to dry .
While the living beings were a rather sorry sight as their bodies were full of injuries, the eyes of the branch leader lit up in excitement .
While he knew that they were living beings, it was different to see the actual difference . If it were not because he needed a good relationship with these two to leave the Ghost Realm, he would have spent some time to do some dissections and understand the body of a living being much more thoroughly .
Xue Wei and Lan looked somewhat helpless . They naturally noticed the excitement in the branch leader's eyes and how the excitement turned to disappointment .
They did not need to ask to understand his thoughts, and while it was somewhat chilling, they understood why he had such thoughts .
This was, after all, the Ghost Realm . It was not a place where living beings could visit, so when one managed to arrive, they were naturally the subject of the stronger ghosts' curiosity .
Even so, it was somewhat awkward to be the subject of others' wish to examine the structure of their bodies .
Clearing his throat, Xue Wei stepped forward . "One of your subordinates decided to make use of the chaos to try and benefit . His aim was Lan . I assume that he expected Lan to be an invention I had made and that he could kill me to remove all tracks . Unfortunately, he seem to have noticed the blood spilling from my wounds and will have guessed that things are not as simple as he expected . "
Xue Wei's brows furrowed as he began explaining what had happened . He was very well aware that this person would come back at some point for the sake of gaining some benefits, but he was likely to be even more alert this time and would most likely go for both him and Lan .
Lan was the initial target, but Xue Wei had bled even more than Lan, proving that the two of them were different . No one would let go of such a tempting treasure . Even if the ghosts did not know what it meant to have a body made from flesh, they had an instinctive urge to get it for themselves .