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But...that was exactly the kind of company he needed right now.

Hao Xuan followed behind her without hesitation, passing through the rows of wailing skeletons that seemed to be rooted into the ground. They must have been thousands of years old but in this place, they could not perish.

The Old Witch saw his curious gaze and volunteered the information herself.

"Once...a long time ago, they were just like you. Mere mortals confident in their abilities sought out the Old Ones in their greed, looking for more power by any means necessary. Now they pay the price with an eternity of servitude."

But the reaction she was expecting did not come.

[I know what is asked of me, I always knew. But still I am here]

"You certainly are...but will you be any different than these ignorant souls?"

[Only time will tell]

"Kehehehe, time? Indeed, you are not wrong..."

Upon reaching the top of the stairs the Old Witch paused and stepped to the side, "Go on, I won\'t rob you of this pleasure-"

He could no longer see her face since it was covered by a mask of shadows but those soulless dreary eyes bore holes in his face trying to stare into his very soul, "-Unless you are afraid?"

Hao Xuan looked back at her calmly, [I am afraid of a great many things but you are not one of them] before stepping inside.

She cackled to herself while watching his figure being engulfed by the darkness that lay in the depths of the castle, "It is not I that you should fear."

When Hao Xuan stepped into the castle everything behind him disappeared. It was just as barren and desolate as it appeared to be from the outside but the problem was there were too many paths to follow.

And since he had no knowledge of this place nor its interior, all he could depend on was himself. And while he shuffled through his many memories Hao Xuan decided to ask her anyway.

[Must we continue this charade? Why don\'t you reveal yourself and lead me where I need to go? There isn\'t enough time for me to be doing something this foolish]

"However long it takes will depend on you," the Old Witch\'s voice echoed from a distance, "But the flow of time is different in this place, that is one of the reasons why you are here."

One second the voice was coming from the left and the other from the right. He couldn\'t detect any magic being used nor ability so it wasn\'t easy tracking her down either way.

[And what exactly do you want me to do here? Wander around until I walk into the right place?]

The sound of roaring laughter reverberated from every direction simultaneously, "You wish to meet the Old Ones, yes? Then go and find them! Lay your soul bare for all to see and only then will you be able to find traces of their powers."

"Follow it and you will find the resting place. Once you are able to satisfy one of them and receive their blessing you will be marked and only then can you enter the \'Halls of Austerity\'. Go now, do not linger needlessly!" and her voice slowly faded away.

Hao Xuan knew it was useless to try and persuade her since it might actually be out of her hands as she insinuated so, he went on his way.

There was a giant hole in the roof just a few meters away from the entrance which gave a pretty good view of the outside world. The only problem was that it was nothing like the place he saw moments ago.

There was a raging storm bubbling overhead with no end in sight.

Hao Xuan turned into the left hallway first since it was closer. He walked for half a minute but couldn\'t sense anything different so he turned around to pick another direction but it was gone.

It was the same hallway that continued without end in both directions and only then, only after triggering the trap did Hao Xuan remember something related to this place.

He had heard this from a wandering merchant in one of his other lives, about a place that existed outside of time where all of the Great Old Ones went to die. And sometimes a fortunate mortal would be able to find their way in.

\'It was a place where no mistakes could be made and death was too afraid to enter,\' the merchant said.

It held answers to questions that no one had even asked but most importantly, this was the place you would look for if you wanted to meet a being such as them in person.

[A place that death does not visit] Hao Xuan murmured.