Do you recognize this formation?

As night slowly descended, the absence of lights made Gather Wealth Village seem as if it were submerged in black ink, so dark that one couldn't see their hand in front of their face. This formed a stark contrast with the bustling night market of Sunset Glow Town.

Amidst this pitch darkness, a figure vaulted over a courtyard wall and, as if familiar with the layout, approached the back door of a house.

Carefully poking a hole through a sheet of window paper, the figure drew a bamboo tube from their waist and inserted it.

"Hoo~"

With a light puff of breath, gray smoke flowed through the tube into the extreme darkness.

About five minutes later, the figure stood up, opened the window, and climbed into the room. The entire operation was fluid and seamless. When the figure emerged again, they were cradling a small boy, about three years old, in their arms.

On a nearby rooftop, Fang Qiuyue, who had witnessed the entire process, was filled with astonishment. She bit her tongue, barely managing to suppress the urge to ask, "Senior Brother, how did you know he would definitely come to steal this child today!?"

Then, as the figure fled Gather Wealth Village, Jiang Beiran beckoned to his five Junior Sisters, and together they quietly gave chase.

This was Jiang Beiran's capture plan: to track the child thief the next time they committed a crime and strike directly at their lair. This was much faster than investigating and filing a case, and it could be said to be a method of solving crimes brought about by the low cost of crime.

When the child thief entered the village, Jiang Beiran had already discovered that he was just an ordinary person who hadn't cultivated. Therefore, as long as the six of them maintained a slight distance and concealed their auras, they wouldn't be discovered.

However, although the thief hadn't cultivated, his legs were quite fast. In just the time it takes for a cup of tea to brew, he had run ten miles and disappeared into a forest.

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

'Huh? The aura disappeared?'

Just as Jiang Beiran was rounding a large tree, preparing to continue the pursuit, he suddenly noticed that the thief's aura ahead had vanished.

Liu Zijin and the others also noticed this, stopping in their tracks and looking at Jiang Beiran with bewildered expressions.

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

"Entered a formation?" Fang Qiuyue exclaimed. "Someone set up a formation in this forest?"

"Mm," Jiang Beiran nodded, picking up a stone and tossing it into the distance.

"Then, Senior Brother, what should we do now?" Liu Zijin asked, already accustomed to the situation.

"If we've entered someone else's formation, we naturally have to break it. Does anyone among you specialize in formations?"

The five Junior Sisters shook their heads in unison.

The specialty of Water Mirror Hall was music, not formations, so they were completely clueless in this regard.

"Then we're done for. I don't know how to break formations either. We'll just starve to death here."

"Ah!?" The five Junior Sisters cried out in unison. "Senior Brother, you don't know formations either?"

"What's so strange about that? I'm a disciple of Blue Heart Hall; we don't study formations."

Fang Qiuyue couldn't help but mutter to herself, 'That Blue Heart Hall doesn't even teach weaving or medicine.'

"This formation... it must have been set up by those child-snatching thieves, right?" Yu Guishui asked, holding her two younger sisters. She was genuinely scared now.

"There's no doubt about that. If they hadn't set it up, that thief just now couldn't have escaped the formation so easily."

Actually, Jiang Beiran hadn't expected a mere group of human traffickers to be able to set up a formation. Formations were a profound field of study, and very few cultivators were skilled in them.

However, Jiang Beiran wasn't worried about encountering any major trouble. After all, if there were truly any powerful figures here, the system would have already given him options to remind him. Since it hadn't, it meant the problem wasn't too serious.

At this moment, Fang Qiuyue, after thinking for a while, said, "Since that thief could escape, as long as we find the correct route, we can break out too, right?"

Jiang Beiran listened and said with a gratified expression, "Clever. Then let's split up and search. It's better than standing still and waiting to die."

'So Senior Brother can praise people too?' Fang Qiuyue felt a little pleased in her heart.

After assigning each of the five people a direction to go, Jiang Beiran also walked towards his chosen area.

'Du... Sheng... Jia Chen, combined with Chong, Fu, Ying... Amazing, Jing Zhe one seven four. These thieves have actually set up the Yang Escape Nine Formations, it's the Minor Sixfold Mind-Seizing Formation.'

After observing the surrounding layout for a while, Jiang Beiran quickly recognized the formation set up by the thief, and he couldn't help but be a little surprised. He had initially thought it was just an ordinary Bewildering Formation, but he hadn't expected it to be a Mind-Seizing Formation that could strip away the target's senses. This was quite a high-level formation.

It was a pity that the person who set it up was too inexperienced. Their use of Mysterious Doors and Hidden Armor was clearly not skillful enough, so they had only managed to set up a flawed product that had form but no substance.

Otherwise, if the Minor Sixfold Mind-Seizing Formation had been perfectly set up, Jiang Beiran believed that the moment he entered it, his soul would have been snatched away.

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

With a "poof," a bird's nest was broken. Yu Guizhui, who was searching for a path below, was startled and quickly ducked, covering her head, and shouted, "Sen... Senior Brother! There's a trap! A trap just tried to shoot me."

Jiang Beiran heard her and replied, "It's fine, just be careful. It won't kill you."

Yu Guizhui heard this and felt like punching Jiang Beiran twice. Just now, she didn't even know where the attack came from. It was clearly a very powerful hidden weapon. If it had hit her, half her body would probably have been blown away.

Hearing that her sister was attacked, Yu Guishui shouted, "Second Sister, pay attention with every step you take. It's definitely very dangerous here."

"Got it~" Yu Guizhui replied and continued to scout ahead.

After knocking down the bird's nest, based on the changes in the formation's position, Jiang Beiran had a preliminary understanding of its layout. Then, he took out a Bronze Toad from his Universe Ring and shook it a couple of times.

"Clang~" "Clang~"

Hearing the sudden sound of metal clashing, Fang Qiuyue, not far away, drew her White Rainbow Sword and roared, "Who goes there! If you have the guts, come out and fight me head-on!"

But after holding her sword and pointing for a long time, no one appeared. She then asked in a small voice, "Senior Brother, what was that sound just now?"

"I'm not sure either. It's probably the sound of vengeful spirits calling for lives. Have you heard of ghost bells? It's that kind of sound."

Fang Qiuyue's face turned pale with fright upon hearing this. She quickly crouched down and whispered a plea, "Immeasurable Heavenly Venerate, protect all, shelter all... Wuwuwu."

As Fang Qiuyue cried out "Waa!", Jiang Beiran almost burst out laughing. He truly hadn't expected the righteous and awe-inspiring Fang Qiuyue to be so afraid of ghosts.

At the same time, three options popped up.

[Option 1: Step forward, hug Fang Qiuyue, and comfort her, telling her not to be afraid. Completion Reward: Star Shattering Dragon Palm (Earth Grade Middle Rank)]

[Option 2: Tell Fang Qiuyue that ghosts don't exist in this world. Completion Reward: Shifting Steps (Yellow Rank Middle Grade)]

[Option 3: Mock Fang Qiuyue for being so timid. Completion Reward: +1 Random Basic Skill Point]

PS: I noticed I always write options when reaching an integer number. Am I truly a gifted cliffhanger master? (Too bad I'm a coward)