For a while, the older man couldn't wrap his mind around what he was looking at.
It was the silhouette of a tall and thin man wearing long and old white robes.
There were several loose strands on the old robe, and it looked extremely old, almost ancient.
The white of the robes was so stark that they almost seemed ethereal as they moved slightly in the wind.
Even more, the man wearing the robes was standing on the road with his bare feet, which also seemed far too white to be from someone that walked around with bare feet.
The hair of the man was extremely long and pitch black, heavily contrasting his stark white robes. His hair was so long that it even reached his legs.
But the most shocking thing was his face.
Several pure white bandages surrounded the upper half of his face, completely hiding his eyes. Only his nose, mouth, and hair were visible.
And his expression was scarily neutral. It was almost like the older man was looking at a statue instead of a living human.
Lastly, his aura was… haunting.
As the older man tried to feel the aura of the silhouette on the road, he felt like he was trying to lean on air.
It was like this person didn't have an aura!
By all intents and purposes, this man looked and felt more like an illusion or a ghost than a person.
The older man's mind shot through several scenarios and possible explanations.
But his thoughts were interrupted as he suddenly had to take a deep breath.
The distant "face" of the person had suddenly appeared right in front of him!
Then, the older man couldn't think anymore.
A bloody hole had appeared on his forehead, and his corpse fell to the ground.
At the same time, the surroundings of the corpse were warping and transforming, and an instant later, the older man reappeared on the spot with a bored look.
Everything had happened so fast that no one would have noticed all of this unless they had already been looking at the older man.
Of course, the older man that had reappeared wasn't the real one.
It was just an illusion created with light.
A couple of Spirit Senses washed over the area after feeling some Mana fluctuations, but they looked away again a second later.
There was nothing of concern happening near the front gate.
None of the Spirit Senses noticed the ghostly figure in white robes standing beside the older man.
This was Shang.
Or at least what he had turned into.
Shang didn't have any particular thoughts while doing all of this.
This was just routine.
His goal in life was to become more powerful, and everything he was doing right now was to achieve that goal.
The way he gained his power didn't matter anymore.
And there were plenty of jobs for people with no care for morals.
Shang turned towards the barrier and walked over.
Then, he summoned a small medal made of metal and put it on the barrier.
BZZT! BZZT!
Some lightning came out of the medal, and a second later, a hole opened up in the barrier.
Shang walked through the hole, put a second medal onto the inside of the barrier, grabbed the first medal on the outside, and then retrieved the second medal.
To explain, in the beginning, the first medal kept the hole open. If Shang took it away, the hole would close with him outside. Because of that, he put the second one on the inside to keep the hole open so he could grab the first medal.
After also retrieving his second medal, the hole behind Shang closed, locking him inside the barrier.
Shang simply stepped forward past the gate. The gate was only there for show, and Shang could easily step through the bars.
Shang slowly walked along a wide and majestic path toward the castle.
As Shang grew closer, the castle took up more and more of his world until it looked like a mountain.
The castle was over five kilometers tall and 15 kilometers wide.
Shang had seen many castles in his life, but this was still one of the biggest he had ever seen.
After a couple of minutes, Shang reached the entrance of the castle.
There was no one outside the castle and no one guarding the entrance to the castle itself.
It was almost like there was no one living in the castle.
Then, Shang knocked on the door.
A couple of seconds passed.
The door creaked open, revealing a neatly dressed older gentleman.
A small black afterimage appeared between Shang and the older gentleman.
Shang stepped inside, and the door behind him closed.
The butler had closed the door, and he acted like there was no one there.
Shang and the butler of the house were walking through the grand entrance hall and stepped into the first corridor to the left.
Some people were looking at the butler walking into the first corridor on the left and looked away again.
No one saw the actual corpse of the butler lying beside the front door.
The butler stopped in front of the first door and knocked politely.
The door opened, revealing a young woman with flowing green hair.
A black afterimage appeared.
One second of nothing happening passed.
The woman nodded, and the butler bowed politely.
The door closed, and the woman sat down in the middle of her room, entering meditation.
This was what every watcher had seen.
In their mind, the butler had talked with the woman with voice transmissions, and the two of them parted ways.
Even though people could talk with each other kilometers away, it was still a sign of respect to converse with them face to face, even if it was only done via voice transmission.
As the head butler, the old man only initiated a conversation when he could have eye contact with someone.
Sadly, none of the watchers noticed the woman's corpse in the corner of her room.
The butler continued walking towards the next door and knocked.
The same process happened again.
This continued for several minutes.
Eventually, the butler reached a bigger door than the others.
He knocked politely and waited with a warm smile.
The sounds of playing children could be heard through the door.
Eventually, a woman opened the door.
The playing kids in the room became quiet and looked to the door.
They were interested in seeing who was here to visit them.
Then, the kids saw a weird white figure behind the door.
A black afterimage appeared.
The kids returned to playing, and the woman closed the door again.
Everything seemed fine in the playroom.
Yet, there was no more life there.
Shang walked towards the next door without hesitation, like a machine.
This was not an easy job.
But that was also why it paid very well.
