Stepdaughter of a wealthy family? The little darling of a Beijing tycoon

As she spoke, she took a step toward the bushes not far ahead.

The three immediately followed, and upon closer inspection, they saw half a charred and blackened fragment of a yellow talisman lying among the tangled withered branches and grass.

The edges of the talisman were curled and carbonized, stained with a strong yin energy. Ordinary practitioners of metaphysics would not be able to make such a malevolent talisman.

Lin Feng crouched down and carefully picked up the broken talisman. The moment his fingertips touched it, a chilling aura pierced his fingertips, making them numb. His expression turned solemn: "It's a Yin Sha Soul-Locking Talisman! It's specifically used to trap living souls and nourish evil formations. It's a forbidden talisman of the evil path, and no one from the orthodox Xuanmen would ever use it."

Ye Shuang added in a low voice, "This kind of talisman technique is obscure and insidious, and has been lost for many years. Ordinary martial arts practitioners simply do not know how to make it. The person who set up the array is definitely not an ordinary rogue cultivator, but an evil cultivator who deliberately cultivates evil arts and uses living people to nourish evil spirits."

Chen Hai's face darkened completely.

If it were just an ordinary mountain forest evil spirit, the team members could handle it. But when it involves an evil cultivator who deliberately practices evil arts and sets up a demon-nurturing formation, the nature of the matter changes completely.

No wonder six villagers disappeared month by month, no wonder two professional team members went missing as soon as they entered the mountains. This is not an accidental supernatural event at all, but a deliberate act of evil by a person!

"Keep moving forward." Chen Hai's expression was solemn. "Following the residual aura of the runes, we should be able to find traces of the missing team members."

The four set off again. With Shen Jingshu leading the way, the originally treacherous mountains and forests became much safer.

The white fog along the way thinned considerably, all the confusing illusions disappeared, and the surrounding malevolent energy was also kept out by an invisible force.

As they ventured deeper, scattered footprints, broken branches, and fragments of the team members' emergency equipment gradually appeared on the ground.

After walking for about ten minutes, Lin Feng suddenly shouted in a low voice, "There are people ahead!"

Everyone immediately focused their attention and saw two figures lying on the ground in the open space ahead, their bodies covered in mud and dry branches, their faces as pale as paper, their eyes closed, and their breaths so weak that they were almost imperceptible.

These are the two Special Affairs Administration members who went missing three days ago!

"Found them!" Chen Hai strode forward, bent down to check on the two, and breathed a sigh of relief. "They still have a faint breath, but they have been invaded by evil energy and their minds are trapped, so they are in a deep coma. Their lives are not in danger for the time being."

But before she could finish speaking, Shen Jingzhu's voice suddenly rang out, carrying a cold warning: "Don't touch it."

Chen Hai paused, instantly stopping his outstretched hand.

"They've been placed under a demonic seal." Shen Jingshu approached slowly, her eyes cold. "This isn't a simple coma; it's bait deliberately left by an evil cultivator. Using the two team members as bait, they set a trap. Anyone who touches it to try and save them will be instantly locked onto by the demonic seal, and their spiritual power and yang energy will be instantly drained by the formation, turning them into new offerings for nurturing evil."

Upon hearing this, Lin Feng's heart skipped a beat. He immediately focused his attention and examined the area. Sure enough, he could vaguely see a very faint black mark between the two people's eyebrows, hidden under their skin. It was extremely difficult to detect and was extremely dangerous.

"What a vicious scheme!" Lin Feng gritted his teeth. "They deliberately left us alive to lure us into their trap."

Ye Shuang frowned deeply: "The other party has been watching us from the shadows, controlling every move of the entire formation. From the moment we entered the mountain, the whole rhythm has been within his calculations."

Deep in the mountains, at the end of the deathly thick fog, it seemed as if a pair of eyes hidden in the darkness were coldly watching the four people who had broken into the formation.

Shen Jingshu raised her eyes and looked towards the heart of the mountain forest where the black mist was thickest and the malevolent aura was heaviest, a cold glint flashing in her eyes.

She could clearly sense that at the very center of the formation, a pure yet violent Yin energy resided, and the source of that energy was quietly waiting for them to come to them.

"It's just bait, nothing to worry about."

Shen Jingshu spoke calmly, raising her fingertip to condense a wisp of pure, warm golden light, which she then flicked gently.

Two beams of golden light landed precisely between the foreheads of the two unconscious team members, and the black demonic seal hidden under their skin instantly hissed and disappeared in a flash.

After doing all this, she turned to the three tense-looking people and said softly, "The trap has been broken. Rescue the people, and then—we'll go and meet the person who set up the trap hidden in the shadows."

The moment the Demon-Attracting Seal completely dissolved, the tense bodies of the two unconscious team members suddenly relaxed, their weak breathing gradually became steady, and the bluish-black demonic aura on their faces slowly faded away.

Lin Feng immediately stepped forward, took out a mind-calming talisman from the team's spare talisman, and placed it between the two men's foreheads. He then fed them a medicine to stabilize their breathing and reported in a low voice, "Captain, their lives have been completely saved, but their mental energy is severely depleted, and they will need to rest for a few days before they can wake up."

"First, move the people to the relatively safe outer perimeter," Chen Hai quickly ordered, his eyes chillingly cold. "Once we've dealt with the core of the formation, we'll immediately evacuate them."

The biggest crisis right now is never the illusionary killing trap, but the evil cultivators who are hiding in the shadows and controlling everything.

After quickly settling the two missing team members, the four men once again ventured into the deepest part of the mountains and forests.

The deeper one ventures into the forest, the thicker the fog becomes, obscuring the sky. Ancient trees intertwine and block out all sunlight. The malevolent aura surrounding them is no longer a cold, gentle breeze, but has transformed into a tangible black mist that surges and rolls, clinging to the skin and causing a piercing, burning pain.

If an ordinary person steps into this place, they will lose all their yang energy and go insane in no time.

Lin Feng and Ye Shuang remained on edge the entire time, constantly striking to disperse the swirling, malevolent winds around them. However, the further they went, the more alarmed they became.

This powerful array, stretching for miles, is nested layer upon layer, endlessly generating life. The cultivator who set it up and their mastery of array formations far surpasses that of ordinary Xuanmen cultivators.

"The key point of the formation is just ahead." Shen Jingshu suddenly stopped.

As everyone looked up, the dense forest suddenly opened up, revealing a vast, flat valley floor.

In the very center of the flat ground stood a simple altar made of piled stones. Around the altar were eight dark, gloomy wooden pillars, with dried hair, yellowed talismans, and long-blackened, dried blood threads wrapped around them.

Six blurry, transparent figures were tightly bound to wooden pillars by blood-red threads, their bodies stiff and their faces filled with sorrow.

These are the lingering souls of the six villagers who have been missing month by month for the past six months.

Their souls were imprisoned, devoured day and night by malevolent energy and drained by the formation, becoming nourishment for the malevolent forces, never to be reincarnated.

At the very center of the altar, an extremely dense mass of black malevolent energy slowly swirled and condensed, and in the center of the malevolent energy, a figure in black robes sat vaguely.

The man was wrapped from head to toe in a large black robe, with his hood pulled down low to completely cover his face. He was surrounded by black mist and exuded an aura of decay, malice, and death.

Upon noticing the four people intruding, the man in black slowly raised his head.

No face was revealed, only a deep darkness, and a hoarse, dry voice, like sandpaper rubbing, echoed faintly from the bottom of the valley:

"I never expected that a mere secular municipal bureau could actually infiltrate the heart of my formation."

"What I didn't expect was that there would be such a young child."

The black-robed man's voice was mocking and contemptuous as he casually sized up Shen Jingshu: "Judging from your cultivation, you're quite skilled. I wonder which sect or school you belong to, daring to break my illusion, destroy my bait, and ruin my important plans?"

Lin Feng clenched his fist, channeling his inner energy, and coldly shouted, "You have harmed innocent villagers, imprisoned souls, illegally set up forbidden formations, and disrupted the feng shui of this area. You have already violated the prohibitions of the Xuanmen sect and the laws of the secular world. Stop your actions immediately and submit to the law!"

"To be brought to justice?"

The man in black robes let out a low, eerie laugh, a laugh so cold and manic that it shook the surrounding black mist to churn wildly.