Moving past this topic, they didn't linger any longer at this first turn.
Angela came to the front of the group and after a few seconds of pause, she suddenly pointed to the right.
Neither of the other two hesitated as they followed Angela's instincts and went down the right path.
They continued for five minutes just like the first passage and soon they reached another split that was just like the first. There was nothing special about this place at all, it was just a simple spilt that went left and right.
Angela came in front of the two directions again and after a pause, she pointed right again.
At this time, Momonga suddenly raised his hand and summoned a skeleton out of the ground. This skeleton was different from all the other ones that he had summoned before, this was just a simple white skeleton that didn't have anything special about it.
Momonga nodded at the skeleton and it walked down the left path instead.
Momonga also raised his hand to have the others wait while he performed his experiment.
After ten minutes, Momonga finally stood up from where he had been sitting with his eyes closed and said, "It's done, we can keep going now."
But Lin Fan couldn't help asking, "What was down the other path?"
Momonga said, "It's a simple array that leads to an infinite path. It isn't dangerous, but you'll definitely be trapped for a while if you don't know how to break through it. Still, it's better than what it could have been."
Lin Fan nodded at this and didn't ask any further since he knew what Momonga was referring to.
They headed off down the right path and just like before, they reached another split after another five minutes of walking.
Just like that, they continued following Angela through the maze. At first it was only ten splits, then it was twenty, then it became thirty and there still didn't seem to be an end in sight.
But eventually they did come to an end of the labyrinth after fifty splits.
Lin Fan couldn't believe what kind of luck it took to pass through this labyrinth, it was fifty 50-50 chance choices in a row! The chances of getting fifty right choices in a row was over a one in a quadrillion chance!
Just how lucky did one have to be to actually get all those right?
After thinking that, Lin Fan couldn't help looking at Angela with a bit of amazement since she had indeed gotten all of them right.
Lin Fan was even tempted to go to the jade lottery with Angela after this.
After they came out of the labyrinth, they arrived at the door of the castle where there was a person that was in a butler outfit that was waiting for them. However, the strange thing about this person was that he had just been standing there in a daze like he was a robot without any power. That is until the moment they came out of the labyrinth.
That person in the butler outfit suddenly jumped up and came to attention, quickly moving over to Lin Fan's group of three. He came in front of them and quickly gave them a deep bow before saying, "Congratulations on passing the fourth trial my master set. Please follow me to the fifth trial."
Lin Fan looked at this butler in surprise before turning to Momonga and asking, "Didn't you say that there were no living beings left in this realm? What is this then?"
Momonga pointed at the butler and said, "Look closely, that isn't a living being. It's nothing more than a puppet."
Lin Fan turned back to look at the butler and he saw that there was indeed something different about him. His clothing seemed like they had just been painted on and there didn't seem to be a divide between his clothing and skin, it was like a blend between the two.
It almost seemed like the clothes were a part of his skin itself.
Momonga saw the confused look on Lin Fan's face and he continued, "He's a high grade puppet, so he's designed to be no different from a normal living being. Normally one wouldn't be able to tell, but it's clear that this place is deteriorating and about to lose its power source."
Lin Fan didn't say anything else after that and began following the butler through the castle.
It had to be said, even though this castle had been left here for who knows how long, it was still well maintained. There wasn't even a speck of dust to be found in these giant corridors which must be especially hard since this entire place and this entire realm was made of rocks.
There were luxurious decorations that lined this castle, as well as all kinds of foliage which were all made of rocks which seemed strange. However, along the way, Lin Fan recognized several of the plants that were just placed in the hallway.
These plants were all famous rock attributed elixirs that were said to have wondrous effects when it came to being used on pets, but in this realm, they were just being used to decorate the halls.
Lin Fan really couldn't help feeling despair at this disparity in wealth.
While he was scrounging about, "risking" his life in these various cultivation realms looking for elixirs, there were people who were so rich that they didn't know what to do with their wealth. This really did bring Lin Fan's heart down.
They continued through the halls until they eventually reached a hall that seemed like it was the throne room for a king, but there was indeed a throne in the center of this room.
When they came into the room fully and saw the throne, they found that there was a familiar figure who was sitting right on that throne. It was a figure that was covered in a red armour that they had just seen.
At least if Lin Fan and Angela weren't familiar with this person, Momonga would be.
It was the former Ruler of this realm, Leo.
But when he saw them, he didn't react at all. All he did was wave the butler off before looking down over them. Judging by the way he looked at them, it was clear that he didn't recognize them.
Lin Fan whispered to Momonga, "Why doesn't he recognize us? Well at least you?"
Momonga whispered back, "This isn't the fragment of his soul, this is also a puppet just like the butler. It should have some final trial for us before we can meet the other fragment of his soul."
Lin Fan wanted to say something else, but the Leo puppet suddenly spoke, "Welcome and congratulations on making it to my final test. You have proven that you possess all the qualities to be the successor to my inheritance, but there's only one last quality that you must prove."
The Leo puppet then gave a snap of his finger before saying, "To show that you can become a true expert and take revenge for our realm, you must show your determination."
When the Leo puppet had snapped its finger, the butler had come back pushing two cages in. The cages were of different size, one big and one small. It was also seen through, so they could see that there were two creatures inside of it.
The two creatures that were inside had the appearance of bunnies, but there was something strange about their ears which had hands on the ends of them. Then based on the way they acted, it was clear that it was a mother and its child that were separated in the two cages.
The butler pushed the two cages all the way up to the Leo puppet's throne and left them there. It gave another bow to the Leo puppet before bringing out a dagger that he respectfully offered to the Leo puppet.
The Leo puppet took the dagger and the butler quickly moved off to the side.
The Leo puppet opened the larger of the two cages and reached in to grab the bunny beast by the neck, holding it in a way that it couldn't struggle at all.
Lifting that bunny beast, he turned back to Lin Fan and said, "Now, your test will be one of determination and this is how you will show it…"
When he said those final words, he took the dagger and slid it across the throat of the mother bunny beast in full view of the child bunny beast. The child bunny beast's eyes opened wide before it started thrashing against the cage without care for its own body.
After slamming against the cage several times, there were patches of blood that began covering its white fur, dying it completely red. Still even though it was clearly in pain, it didn't care at all as it continued slamming its body against the cage.
Just the cry of anguish that it had was enough to break anyone's heart, but there was one heart that it did break in particular. A certain spirit that had been standing there had wanted to charge forth and completely destroy this Leo puppet, but a certain lich stopped her.
The Leo puppet mercilessly threw the corpse of the mother bunny beast in front of the cage of its child before turning back to Lin Fan and reaching his hand out, offering the dagger to him as he said, "Now, it is time to prove your determination."
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶