Chapter 331: The Chen Clan Illusion Array Opens! Tourists: Easy, We’ve Memorized The Whole Path!
The weather had already turned cold. Even in the south, many places had started wearing long sleeves, and in some places people were even wearing thin jackets.
As the weather grew colder, aside from specific places, many scenic spots also began to enter the off-season.
Many people, because of work, life, and other reasons, did not manage to travel even once throughout the year, and wanted to seize the last bit of time to take a good trip.
Liu Yifei was like that. He had long come across many videos about the Chen Clan and had been drawn in many times, but because of life, even though he lived in Qingming City, he had never had time to visit.
This time he had a holiday, and the Chen Clan happened to be lively, with the labyrinth project opening today, so early in the morning he brought his girlfriend from Qingming City.
In the taxi, his girlfriend looked at the scenery outside the window and said, “Now that the new year is over we finally came to the Chen Clan to have some fun. If it got any colder, I would be too lazy to step out the door.”
“It’s not that cold yet,” Liu Yifei said with a smile.
Adults are sometimes not in control of their own lives. They have to think first about simply getting by, so for many people, going to work is their first priority.
The driver heard them and said with a smile, “You two tourists, actually you can come to the Chen Clan even in winter. The outside weather does not affect the Chen Clan. You must have seen the news about the Chen Family Head arranging feng shui and changing the Chen Clan’s climate, right?”
“Is that real?” Liu Yifei asked reflexively.
He and his girlfriend had both seen that video. At first some people said that the talk about the Chen Family Head burying feng shui stones and arranging feng shui arrays was pure nonsense.
Feng shui as such had never been proven.
But with the repair of the Wudang Thunderfire Alchemy Peak feng shui formation, with the Chen Family Head publishing feng shui geography science, and with the Chen Family Head being awarded the title of Scholar of Daoism, everything became different.
You had to know, this Scholar title was on par with those academicians in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, fully deserved.
Moreover, that feng shui geography science book had already been validated by countless experts.
So the matter of the Chen Family Head burying feng shui stones and arranging feng shui arrays to change the climate was increasingly accepted, and many people had posted online about how the Chen Clan’s climate stayed consistently comfortable without much change.
More and more people began to believe that the Chen Family Head’s feng shui arrangements had altered the climate around the Chen Clan.
The driver smiled and said, “Not only is it real, you had better bring a short sleeve, otherwise even with just long sleeves, you might feel too hot when playing around in the Chen Clan. If you go up the back mountain to drink spirit spring water, you might get all sweaty from the heat.”
Liu Yifei exchanged a glance with his girlfriend.
Coming from their area, they already had to wear a thin jacket. Who would have thought that here at the Chen Clan they would need short sleeves?
At this point the driver suddenly took out a printed blueprint and handed it to Liu Yifei. “Today the Chen Clan labyrinth project opens. If you make it out of the labyrinth successfully there is a reward. This is the path map for the Chen Clan labyrinth. Keep it, it might help.”
Taking the path map, Liu Yifei smiled and said, “Master, this is the same path map posted online by that blogger Wei Hang, right?”
The driver nodded. “Yes, it’s that one. You tourists can also view this path map on your mobile phones, but the phone image is too small, and when you zoom in you cannot see the whole thing clearly, so it’s easy to misread. With this printed map you can see better. For tourists taking taxis today, we drivers are all giving one for free.”
“Thank you, master.” Liu Yifei had already managed to grab an experience ticket for the Chen Clan labyrinth, so this was just right.
The car soon reached Shangyuan Village and drove into the village.
Because Liu Yifei had not gotten a Chen Clan feng shui room, he had only secured an accommodation room in the village.
After getting out, he and his girlfriend really could feel the difference in air and temperature.
The air here was very good, and the temperature felt extremely comfortable. Wearing a jacket actually felt a bit hot.
This was absolutely different from the outside. When he got off the high-speed train earlier, he knew exactly what the temperature in Linhe County was like.
It was nothing like as warm as here.
This also indirectly proved one thing, that the Chen Family Head’s feng shui array to change the climate was real.
If not, then in the same county, how could you explain the temperature here being this comfortable, this different?
This kind of thing would definitely be impossible elsewhere.
It was just a bit awkward.
They really had not brought short sleeves.
The key was, with so many tourists coming, had no one noticed this issue and posted related videos online?
People really kept their mouths shut.
Thinking this, he wanted to post a video to remind other tourists that when you come to travel at the Chen Clan now, you must bring a set of short sleeves.
But after thinking about it, he gave up that idea. This kind of awkward situation should not be faced by only himself.
Everyone should come all the way here and then realize they need short sleeves. Only if everyone is awkward together is it fair.
As soon as this thought came, he froze.
Could it be the other tourists were thinking the same way?
In fact he did not know there was another reason.
The weather had only just turned cool, so this kind of issue was not yet taken very seriously. Even if some tourists posted videos, ordinary accounts would not get much attention.
Liu Yifei took his girlfriend to handle the check-in procedures, and right where the procedures were done, they saw that a clothing supermarket had opened next door.
What surprised him even more was that the clothing supermarket was selling short sleeves, and many tourists were going in and out, while the sales staff were extremely busy.
This made his eyes light up and he immediately took his girlfriend toward the supermarket.
A completely unexpected surprise.
Not far away, Ming Di and the village chief Guo Zhen were watching the booming business at the clothing supermarket.
Guo Zhen was becoming more and more impressed with Ming Di. Really, who would have thought to open a clothing store in the village?
When this idea was first raised, some villagers thought it was wildly imaginative.
After all, with the wrong location, opening a clothing store seemed guaranteed to lose money.
However, after discussing it with the Chen Clan, the clothing supermarket opened.
After all, the village relied on the Chen Clan for a living, and most importantly, the Chen Clan held 30% of the village industry shares.
Combined with the shares held by Ming Di, this already exceeded the combined shares of all the others in the village.
No one had expected that once the clothing store opened, business would be so booming.
At this point many people understood. When tourists came to the Chen Clan, given the weather and temperature, most would arrive in long sleeves and jackets.
Especially as the weather later grew colder, this trend would become more obvious. Who would think that in the Chen Clan’s climate they would need short sleeves?
So now, most people who came to the Chen Clan to visit had to go to this supermarket to buy a set of short sleeves; otherwise, going up the Chen Clan back mountain would be suffering.
As for later, once the Chen Clan’s special climate became widely known, many tourists still would not specifically bring short sleeves in winter and would still come to this supermarket to buy.
So this clothing supermarket was guaranteed profit.
Having thought it through, everyone had to admit Ming Di’s vision.
After buying a set of short sleeves, Liu Yifei also checked in with his girlfriend and changed into the short sleeves.
Then he checked the time and hurried to the Chen Clan labyrinth.
Since he had gotten a ticket, he naturally wanted to experience it as soon as possible.
Huang Tao was the same. Because the Chen Clan labyrinth would open this morning, he had also arrived early at the project site.
He had gotten word that there would be a special event for the opening of the Chen Clan labyrinth.
The first 10 tourists to clear it smoothly would not only receive a reward of 50,000, but also a special commemorative plaque engraved with the words “Chen Clan Labyrinth Solo Break Formation.”
It would also state which number they were among those who broke the formation.
Only the top 10 could have this honor, so many diehard fans of the Chen Clan wanted to compete for it.
Especially those who had grabbed the first batch of experience tickets. With the best competitive advantage, they were definitely going to fight for it.
He planned to aim for top three, guaranteeing at least top one among his circle, then post a moments or Douyin video to attract attention.
Crucially, he could show off to his colleagues.
…
In the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall of the Chen Clan, after preparing medicinal cuisine at Uncle’s Kitchen, Chen Han came here and saw the pious Mahadra offering incense.
As the other party offered incense, he received prompts that his wish power had increased.
These past few days, Mahadra had come almost every day to offer incense devoutly.
And since that night of the Chen Clan Dreamscape, Mahadra had actually been able to provide 4 points of wish power.
This showed his piety had grown.
Daoist Priest Li would arrive tomorrow. At that time Mahadra would become a foreign member of the Daoist Sect.
When Mahadra returned to the Demon Realm, the Daoist Sect would send some people back with him to help him build a cultivation Daoist temple.
Whether those people would be formal members of the Daoist Sect was not his concern.
He simply regarded this as an act of spreading and inheriting culture. The rest had nothing to do with him.
He only hoped that the temple built in the Demon Realm would enshrine the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation.
Crucially, he had given Mahadra a manifestation scroll and made that request. Mahadra would certainly not refuse, since during this period he had been offering incense specifically to the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation.
Mahadra was now a loyal believer of the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation.
In that case, helping the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation expand into the outer domain and spread his radiance there ought to earn some reward, right?
After Mahadra finished offering incense, Chen Han also left the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation Hall and headed for the labyrinth.
By the time he arrived, the place was already packed, surrounded by many people.
Some were tourists visiting the Chen Clan today.
Others were people who had only secured labyrinth experience tickets, such as those from Linhe County.
Many of them had already visited the Chen Clan several times, and would only come again when the Chen Clan opened a new project or when they were inviting a girl out.
Otherwise they would not come often. No matter how beautiful the scenery, you get tired if you see it several times in a short period.
Unlike that jerk exposed a while back, who went on blind dates with 15 girls in 15 days and took them all to the Chen Clan, to the point where he could basically be a Chen Clan tour guide, and his videos even got a bit popular on Douyin.
When Chen Han arrived, many members of the Chen Clan were already there.
For example, Chen Lin, who as Hall Elder of the work hall naturally had to attend and see if any parts of the labyrinth needed reconstruction.
And Chen Xiaoyan, who was responsible for distributing today’s rewards and commemorative plaques.
Chen Qing was also there, and he and his team had to go into the labyrinth.
Although there were special devices that could scan QR codes to show the way ahead, if some people were not quick-witted enough to realize they should scan, and ended up trapped inside, they would need to press the help button on the special device.
Then the team would locate them and send someone for rescue.
Crucially, there was a special magnetic field and energy influence inside the labyrinth that completely blocked outside signals.
Even though the special devices were placed quite close to each other, the help signal could still only transmit a short distance, so their team had to patrol inside the labyrinth.
The Chen Clan had taken all this into account.
At the entrance of the Chen Clan labyrinth a small platform had been set up for the project opening ceremony.
Xiao Yu and Xiao Mi were serving as hosts.
By the time Chen Han arrived, the two had already warmed up the atmosphere.
Seeing that the time was right, Xiao Yu took the microphone and announced the start of the event. “Next, the Chen Clan labyrinth is officially open. Tourists who successfully grabbed tickets will be given a special device bracelet.”
“This special device has a special function. It can scan the QR codes installed at various locations in the labyrinth. If you get trapped, just scan and you can see the path to take next.”
“Of course, if any unexpected situation occurs, you can press the help button on the special device. Our Chen Clan staff will rush to the rescue as fast as possible.”
“And for this special device, as long as you scan, it will record one scan for help information. As long as you make it out after breaking the formation without scanning for help even once, you will receive our ‘Chen Clan Labyrinth Solo Break Formation’ commemorative plaque.”
“Of course, don’t think about forming a team to rely on one person scanning QR codes to get the correct path while the others slip through. People around the scanner will also be counted as having requested help once.”
“So tourists who want the solo break formation commemorative plaque will instead have to be careful of people nearby trying to sabotage them this way. If possible, for the sake of the plaque, proceed alone.”
“Of course, if you are trapped together somewhere and someone cannot resist scanning, others should retreat to a safe range to avoid being affected. As for the range, the special device will provide a prompt, so please check it yourselves.”
“And today, being the first day of the Chen Clan labyrinth, the Chen Clan also has a special reward event. The first 10 tourists to break the formation will receive special ranking commemorative plaques and a 50,000 bonus.”
As soon as she said this, the tourists who had grabbed first-day experience tickets burst into excited chatter.
They all immediately checked the path maps in their hands, eager looks on their faces, full of confidence.
Those who had not secured tickets and were only there to join the fun were very regretful.
After all, without a ticket they had missed this event completely.
Chen Han watched the tourists’ expressions and could clearly guess what they were thinking. Only after entering the labyrinth would they realize that the path map in their hands was just a scrap of paper.
At this moment, Xiao Yu spoke again. “Also, do you see the screen over there? The names and times of the top 10 will be displayed there continuously.”
“Only when someone surpasses the top 10 will the ranking be updated. Of course, you can also enter a name at that console to look up your own or someone else’s ranking.”
This caused an even greater sensation among the tourists.
It meant that as long as the Chen Clan remained popular, if you got a rank, your name could remain displayed online and be discussed endlessly.
With such honor, they wanted to compete even more.
Especially Wei Hang. Because he had created the Chen Clan labyrinth path map, he had gained a wave of fans and experienced the benefits of riding the Chen Clan’s popularity.
Now with this ranking, if he could get first place and link it with the path map he had drawn, he would not only gain reputation but also greater benefits and more followers.
First place was his for sure.
After the introduction, Xiao Yu smiled and asked, “Next, the Chen Clan labyrinth is officially open. Due to its special nature, after the first person enters, there will be a delay before the second can enter. So, who would like to be the first to enter and experience the labyrinth?”
Many hands shot up at once.
Both Liu Yifei and Huang Tao wanted to go first.
But Wei Hang stepped forward first and called out to everyone, “Everyone, a quick self-introduction. My name is Wei Hang. I am a professional maze player. Many of you should know me and have seen my videos, so I hope you can let me go first. Thank you.”
This introduction immediately stirred up a commotion among the tourists.
“It’s him, the one who posted the Chen Clan labyrinth path map.”
“That’s right, it’s him. I clicked into his profile when I watched the video.”
“So he came too. Makes sense, since he made the path map, how could he not come clear it himself?”
“…”
Xiao Yu looked at Wei Hang, naturally recognizing the online video about the Chen Clan path map.
He had ridden a lot on the Chen Clan’s popularity.
At the same time, she felt a bit sorry for him, seeing all those tourists holding the path map he had made.
What would happen when they realized the Chen Clan labyrinth was nothing like the map in their hands?
She had gone in herself. Without the special device she could not have gotten out. That path map of his was completely useless.
Wei Hang was going to become the clown.
Those tourists and netizens who realized they’d been fooled would rush his account and accuse him of grandstanding.
Thinking of that scene, it did seem a bit pitiful.
Wei Hang, unaware of this, took advantage of the moment and went on stage. Staff from the Chen Clan handed him a special device bracelet. “Sir, please cooperate with us to enter your identification information. Keep the device safe in case you get trapped and need help.”
Wei Hang dismissed this. He had memorized the labyrinth path already and did not even need to carry a map like ordinary tourists.
They underestimated him as a professional maze player.
So after receiving the special device bracelet, he went to his assistant and began recording a video. “Haha, I have received the Chen Clan labyrinth special device bracelet. This thing is for help requests if you get trapped.”
“But for me, such a simple labyrinth path does not require this. You all know my strength. First place is definitely mine. I will come out in the fastest time.”
“Of course, this special device bracelet is certainly helpful for other tourists and is a very humanized setup by the Chen Clan.”
Watching Wei Hang record, many people felt unconvinced, including Liu Yifei and Huang Tao.
They had also memorized the path map. As if this labyrinth mode was beyond them.
However, since the path map was released by Wei Hang and he was the first to step up, there was nothing they could do.
Fortunately, in this event, being the first to finish was not decided just by who entered first; it depended on completion time.
Once they went in, they would simply clear as fast as possible. As long as they were faster than him, they could say they had beaten the professional maze player Wei Hang.
And then they could brag: a professional maze player is nothing special.
They were not alone. Many other tourists felt the same.
With the path maps in hand, already memorized backwards and forwards, each of them believed they were going to be today’s champion.
“Everyone, watch my performance,” Wei Hang said, taking the recording phone from his assistant. Under the guidance of the Chen Clan members, he entered the labyrinth.
At the same time he continued, “You can see I have entered the Chen Clan labyrinth. You all remember the path map I posted. After walking a bit forward, two forks will appear.”
As Wei Hang walked, two forks indeed appeared soon in the recording.
“For the first fork, you take the left side,” Wei Hang said confidently, walking left with a big smile. “Then you go straight for about 30 meters, turn, and you will see four forks… huh… what is going on…”
Confidently narrating while filming, he suddenly froze. His phone, as if under some magnetic influence, turned the entire recording into snowflake patterns.
Had the Chen Clan activated some kind of electronic jammer to ban filming inside?
Was that necessary?
For such a simple labyrinth path, filming was pointless. Walking it a few times would be enough to figure it out, not to mention he had already cracked the path.
He could mention this in the video later to draw more traffic.
Thinking this, Wei Hang kept going forward. But when he turned the corner and saw what lay ahead, his expression turned as if he had seen a ghost.
“Impossible.”
…
（Tickets, tickets, tickets!）
