A warm breeze blew, and birds sang among fragrant flowers.
Green mountains rolled across the distance, while a stream murmured nearby.
Yu Fang stood beside the stream, her face dark. She bent to scoop up some water and drank it, then said gravely, "It's real. If even the Six Thieves can be deceived, whoever possesses such power has no need to trap us in an illusory formation. They could simply strike."
Lu Shouyi sat cross-legged on a nearby rock, his brows knitted. Hearing her, he sighed. "It isn't that simple."
He pointed into the distance.
Amid the lush greenery stood a cluster of houses and a village.
Lu Shouyi said, "Once we leave that Village Town and travel ten miles, we fall into a bewildering formation and end up back on the outskirts of the Village Town."
"Some formation must have transported us here," Yu Fang said, her words coming faster. "We were ordered to protect the marquis, yet we're trapped here. If we delay much longer and something happens to him, we'll have a great deal to answer for."
"I'm afraid this was no simple transportation. This place..." Lu Shouyi opened his eyes and looked around. "You've searched it inside and out and questioned the villagers. You must have noticed it too. This place closely resembles something described by my sect. It may well be a realm cut off from the world. In other words..."
"A Beyond the Mundane!"
Yu Fang's expression changed drastically. Then she sighed. "When I was an outer disciple, I heard an inner disciple say that beyond the mundane lay a Peach Paradise, poised between illusion and reality. But we couldn't even imagine the sort of beings who dwell in the Beyond the Mundane. Why would we provoke one for no reason? Could it be