Do You Recognize This Formation?

As night slowly fell, Gather Wealth Village, lacking any lights, seemed wholly soaked in black ink. One could not see their hand before their face, forming a stark contrast with the bustling night market of Sunset Glow Town.

Amid the pitch-black darkness, a figure vaulted over the wall of a courtyard and, as familiar as if returning home, made his way to the household's back door.

Carefully piercing a layer of window paper, the figure pulled a bamboo tube from his waist and inserted it through the hole.

"Phew~"

With a gentle puff, gray smoke flowed through the bamboo tube and into the utter darkness.

About five minutes later, the figure stood, opened the window, and flipped into the room. The whole sequence was as smooth as drifting clouds and flowing water, without the slightest delay. When he climbed back out, he had a little boy of around three in his arms.

On a rooftop not far away, Fang Qiuyue watched the entire process with a face full of astonishment. She bit her tongue to keep herself from asking, "Senior Brother, how did you know he would definitely come steal this family's child today!?"

After the figure ran out of Gather Wealth Village, Jiang Beiran waved to the five junior sisters, and they quietly followed after him.

This was Jiang Beiran's capture plan: when these people committed their next crime, they would trail the child thief and strike straight at their lair. It was far faster than investigating and opening a case. One could say this was a method of solving crimes brought about by the criminals' excessively low cost of committing them.

The moment the thief entered the village, Jiang Beiran had discovered that he was merely an ordinary person who had never cultivated. As long as the six of them kept a little distance and concealed their auras, there was no chance of being discovered.

Though the thief had never cultivated, his legs were quite swift. In merely a cup of tea, he ran ten li and slipped into a forest.

Jiang Beiran and the others immediately followed. Although shrubs and trees obscured their view in the forest, they had already locked onto the thief's aura, so keeping up with him was easy.

Hm? His aura disappeared?

Just as Jiang Beiran rounded a large tree to continue the pursuit, he suddenly discovered that the thief's aura ahead had vanished without a trace.

Liu Zijin and the others noticed it as well. They all stopped in confusion and looked toward Jiang Beiran.

"It seems we've entered a Formation Technique," Jiang Beiran replied after looking around.

"Entered a Formation Technique?" Fang Qiuyue asked in surprise. "Someone set up a Formation Technique in this forest?"

"Mhm." Jiang Beiran nodded as he picked up a stone and tossed it into the distance.

"Then what should we do now, Senior Brother?" Liu Zijin asked, already somewhat used to relying on him.

"Since we've entered someone else's formation, naturally we must break it. Is anyone among you skilled in Formation Techniques?"

The five junior sisters all shook their heads in unison.

Water Mirror Hall specialized in music and did not teach Formation Techniques, so they could be said to know absolutely nothing about this field.

"Then we're finished. I don't know how to break formations either. Let's wait here and starve to death."

"Ah!?" The five junior sisters cried out together. "Senior Brother, you don't recognize Formation Techniques!?"

"What's so strange about that? I'm a Blue Heart Hall disciple. I don't study Formation Techniques."

After hearing that, Fang Qiuyue could not help muttering inwardly, Blue Heart Hall doesn't teach weaving or medicine either.

"This Formation Technique... was probably set up by those child-stealing thieves, right?" Yu Guishui asked while holding her two younger sisters. She was genuinely a little frightened now.

"There's no need to doubt that. If they hadn't set it up, that thief couldn't have run out of the formation so easily just now."

In truth, Jiang Beiran had not expected a mere gang of Human Traffickers to know how to set up a formation. Formation Techniques were an exceedingly profound field of study; even among Cultivators, few were proficient in them.

Still, Jiang Beiran was not worried about encountering any major unforeseen event. After all, if there truly were an expert here, the system would have already presented options to warn him. Since it had not appeared, the problem was clearly not serious.

After thinking for a while, Fang Qiuyue said, "Since that thief could run out, then as long as we find the correct route, we can rush out too, right?"

Jiang Beiran looked at her with approval. "Smart. Then let's split up and search. It's better than standing here and waiting to die."

So Senior Brother knows how to praise people too? Fang Qiuyue felt secretly delighted.

After assigning each of the five girls a direction to investigate, Jiang Beiran also walked toward the area he had chosen.

Du... Life... Jiachen, paired with Charge, Assistant, Heroic... Impressive. Startling Insects, one-seven-four. That thief actually set up a Yang Escape Nine Configuration—it's the Minor Sixfold Mind-Seizing Formation.

After observing the surrounding arrangement for a while, Jiang Beiran quickly recognized the formation the thief had laid out, and he could not help feeling surprised. He had thought it was merely an ordinary Bewildering Formation, but it turned out to be a Mind-Seizing Formation capable of stripping its targets of perception. This was a decidedly high-end Formation Technique.

Unfortunately, the person who had arranged it was far too inexperienced. He was clearly not proficient enough with Mysterious Doors and Hidden Armor, so he had only produced a defective imitation with form but no substance.

Otherwise, if this Minor Sixfold Mind-Seizing Formation had been fully arranged, Jiang Beiran believed that the moment he entered it, his soul would have been hooked away and his spirit seized.

Casually picking up a small pebble from the ground, Jiang Beiran aimed at a tree in the [Dui] position and threw it.

With a "pfft," a bird's nest shattered on impact, frightening Yu Guizhui, who was searching for a path below. She hurriedly hugged her head, crouched down, and cried, "S-Senior Brother! There's a trap! A trap just tried to shoot me!"

Jiang Beiran replied, "It's fine. Just be careful. It won't kill you."

Yu Guizhui nearly wanted to go over and punch Jiang Beiran twice. She had not even known where that attack came from just now. It was obviously a powerful hidden weapon; if it had struck her, half her body might have been blasted away.

Hearing that her younger sister had been attacked, Yu Guishui called out, "Second Sister, watch every step you take. This place must be very dangerous."

"Got it~" Yu Guizhui answered before continuing forward to scout the path.

After knocking down the bird's nest, Jiang Beiran gained a preliminary understanding of how the formation had been set based on the changes in its formation field. He then took a Bronze Toad from his Universe Ring and shook it twice in his hand.

"Clang~" "Clang~"

Hearing the sudden sound of metal striking metal, Fang Qiuyue, not far away, drew her White Rainbow Sword and roared, "What Petty Criminal dares lurk there! If you have the guts, come out and fight me face-to-face!"

Yet after holding her sword pointed out for a long while without seeing a single figure emerge, she asked quietly, "Senior Brother, what was that sound just now?"

"I'm not sure either. Perhaps it was a wronged ghost demanding lives. Have you heard ghost bells being shaken? That was the sound."

Fang Qiuyue's little face immediately turned pale with fright. She quickly crouched down and begged in a low voice, "Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable, shelter all without exception, shelter all without... wuwuwu."

Hearing Fang Qiuyue burst into tears with a wail, Jiang Beiran nearly laughed out loud. He truly had not expected Fang Qiuyue, who radiated such righteous dignity, to be so afraid of ghosts.

At the same time, three options appeared.

[Option One: Step forward and hug Fang Qiuyue, comforting her and telling her not to be afraid. Completion Reward: Star Shattering Dragon Palm (Earth Grade Middle Rank)]

[Option Two: Tell Fang Qiuyue that there are no ghosts in this world. Completion Reward: Shifting Steps (Yellow Rank Middle Grade)]

[Option Three: Mock Fang Qiuyue for being so timid. Completion Reward: Random Basic Skill Point +1]

PS: I've noticed that every time I reach a round number, I end on an option. Am I truly a naturally gifted master of chapter breaks? (Too bad I'm a coward.)