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

I want to ask, do you know where those older brothers and sisters who came to the village before are now?

"I know, they're over there, look!"

Following the direction the little boy pointed, Shen Jingshu and the other two looked towards the other side of the field. In the fields, many men and women, young and old, were busy, seemingly bending over to plant rice.

"Thank you, little one. Go ahead and share the candy with your friends."

"Thank you, sister!"

The little boy responded, turned around, and skipped away to share the candy with his friends.

Shen Jingshu slowly stood up, her gaze falling on the field. With her exceptional eyesight, she recognized the two figures working diligently from a distance—the missing Lin Feng and Ye Shuang. Covered in mud, they mechanically bent over planting rice seedlings, looking somewhat comical.

Lin Yueru and Xuanfeng followed Shen Jingshu's gaze and, to the naked eye, only saw a group of people engrossed in farming, with nothing out of the ordinary. Lin Yueru, filled with doubt, turned to Shen Jingshu: "Junior Aunt, over there... are there people you know?"

Shen Jingshu chuckled lightly: "Yes, two acquaintances. Let's go take a look."

"it is good."

The three walked along the narrow path beside the field until they reached the edge of the field.

Meanwhile, in the paddy field, Lin Feng and Ye Shuang were still numbly bending over, repeating the action of planting rice seedlings again and again.

Even as the three approached, the two people in the field remained oblivious, mechanically repeating their rice-planting actions. The villagers working around them ignored the three strangers who had suddenly appeared, focusing only on their tasks.

As they drew closer, Xuanfeng finally recognized the two faces and exclaimed in surprise, "Aren't these Fellow Daoists Lin and Ye from the Special Management Bureau? What are they doing here?!"

A chill ran through him. He had long heard of Lin Feng and Ye Shuang's strength; they were among the best in the Special Management Bureau. If even they were trapped here, one could imagine how dangerous this maze was.

Shen Jingshu stepped forward, flicked her fingertips, and sent two streams of pure spiritual energy into the two people's bodies respectively.

The moment the spiritual energy entered their bodies, Lin Feng and Ye Shuang froze, as if their movements had been paused. After a moment, the two slowly straightened their hunched backs, their eyes blank as they looked around at their surroundings, then down at the rice seedlings they were holding, and then at the muddy paddy field beneath their feet. Their faces were confused, and they couldn't tell where they were.

Shen Jingzhu's voice rang out: "Snap out of it, you two. Are you planning to stay here and continue doing farm work?"

Upon hearing the sound, Lin Feng and Ye Shuang looked up at the three people on the ridge. The moment they saw Shen Jing Shu, their faces lit up with joy.

The two were determined to rush up the paddy field ridge, but the mud in the paddy field was slippery and difficult to walk on, and every step was extremely difficult. They didn't care at all about the mud that covered their bodies.

"Master Shen! It's you! You've finally arrived! We're saved!"

The two scrambled out of the paddy field in a disheveled state. Ye Shuang instinctively wanted to go forward, but when she looked down and saw that she was covered in mud, she stopped abruptly. Shen Jingshu took a half-step back without making a sound.

"Let's find a place to clean up first."

"Okay, okay! There's a pond over there. Let's wash off all the mud first," Lin Feng quickly replied.

"Go ahead and wash yourself clean, then we can talk in detail."

The two walked quickly toward the pond, jokingly teasing each other about their disheveled appearance.

After a quick wash, the mud and water off their bodies were mostly rinsed off, and the group regrouped.

Shen Jingshu spoke up: "Tell me what happened, what exactly happened?"

Lin Feng sighed heavily, his expression filled with lingering fear: "Master Shen, a few days ago, the bureau received a tip that something unusual had happened in the Xiaowang Village area, so Captain Chen sent the two of us to investigate. When we were in the town at the foot of the mountain, we heard the locals talking about the strange things happening in the village, saying that all sorts of eerie noises often came from the night."

We found Xiaowang Village by referring to the map, but as soon as we stepped into the village, we were pulled into this illusion. At first, we were still clear-headed, groping around for a way out and desperately searching for the array's core, but no matter how we searched, we found nothing.

Later we discovered that everyone trapped here was repeating the exact same actions day after day, endlessly. Over time, our minds were subtly assimilated by this force, our consciousness gradually blurred, and eventually we, like the people here, worked at sunrise and rested at sunset, mechanically following suit in the fields, almost completely lost in the illusion.

"It felt like my soul was imprisoned inside my body by some external force. My mind was still somewhat clear, but my hands, feet, and body were completely out of my control," Lin Feng said with lingering fear. "Fortunately, Master Shen arrived today. If it had been any later, we probably would have completely lost our minds and become mindless zombies like the others in the village."

Hearing this story, Lin Yueru felt a chill of fear. She secretly rejoiced that she had invited Shen Jingshu to come along. Even the two cultivators from the Special Management Bureau, both of considerable skill, were trapped here and had no solution, nearly dying forever in the illusion. If only she and Xuanfeng had gone into the mountains, the outcome probably wouldn't have been much better.

Xuanfeng's expression grew increasingly solemn, and his fingertips unconsciously tightened around the magical artifact at his waist.

After Lin Feng and Ye Shuang finished explaining the whole story, everyone present fell silent.

In the surrounding alleys, villagers still come and go, women mend clothes, children play, and farmers work in the fields, creating a false impression of peace and tranquility. But everyone knows that everything before them is just an illusion woven by a magic array; this seemingly peaceful village is actually a prison.

Putting all that aside, the most urgent task is to break through the illusion and find a way out.

Everyone immediately focused on observing their surroundings. Lin Yueru was the first to notice something was wrong and whispered, "Have you noticed that everyone here is dressed strangely? They don't look like modern clothes at all; instead, they resemble ancient styles."

Shen Jingshu succinctly pointed out the key point: "It's not modern clothing, but ancient-style cloth clothing. It doesn't have any specific dynastic characteristics, so I guess it should be from the era in which the person behind it lived."

Everyone nodded in agreement. They had been so focused on dealing with the crisis when they entered the formation that they hadn't paid much attention to the details. But now, as they observed more closely, they realized that the villagers' clothing was old and outdated, completely out of step with the times, yet vague and indistinct, making it impossible to pinpoint the exact era. It all seemed fake and eerie.

"Let's split up." Shen Jingshu quickly arranged the plan. "Everyone, search different parts of the village, focusing on any trapped outsiders. Their clothing and demeanor will definitely be different from these illusory figures. You have a 15-minute time limit. Regardless of whether you find anything, everyone return to this big tree."

"receive!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Feng and Ye Shuang headed towards the alley on the left side of the village, while Xuan Feng and Lin Yue Ru went to the right side.

The group dispersed, but Shen Jingshu remained standing, not in a hurry to act.