A magical journey of a sharp-tongued woman and a goofy man

"...Have you hit a tough nut to crack?" Jiang Ye's teasing, mixed with the whistling wind, sent a jolt of electricity through Ye Shuli's ears as his Adam's apple brushed against her earlobe.

The illusory image of the Taixu Mirror suddenly expanded into a three-zhang-long halo, and the unfamiliar star map reflected on the mirror surface swept the two into a dark blue vortex.

Ye Shuli felt a burning pain on the back of her neck as the inheritance mark exploded in her spiritual veins, creating a thousand waves.

She made a backhand gesture to form the Xuanbing Technique, but the moment the seal was formed, it was crushed into stardust by an invisible force—this was the second time. The inherited power, which should have been docile, was now like a cat with its fur standing on end.

"Don't use your spiritual power!" Jiang Ye suddenly pulled her into his arms, and the lightning talisman transformed into a golden bell shield, barely blocking the ice spikes falling from above.

The boy's fingertips brushed against the spiritual veins on her wrist, the reversed spiritual energy burning his fingertips, making them tremble: "This thing is mimicking your moves."

As if to confirm his words, twelve illusory figures leaped out from the Taixu Mirror.

The "Ye Shuli" figures, formed from ice crystals, wielded Xuanbing swords, the blades swirling with the very magic she had just crushed.

The mirrored space began to distort, and blood-red runes appeared on the dome—a spirit-devouring array left behind by a powerful being three hundred years ago.

"Plagiarism is shameful!" Jiang Ye threw out seven lightning talismans, forming the Big Dipper Formation. The lightning struck the illusory figure, but it was like a mud ox sinking into the sea.

The mirror image at the forefront suddenly revealed a sinister smile, and the sword blade, imbued with both lightning and fire attributes, thrust forward—a killing move that combined the techniques of the two.

Ye Shuli spun around to avoid the fatal blow, but her hairpin was severed by the sword energy.

As her black hair fell loose, she caught a glimpse of the jade pendant swaying at Jiang Ye's waist suddenly glowing faintly—it was a piece of junk she had bought from the black market three days ago, and now it was resonating with the core of the Soul Devouring Array.

"Three steps to the Kun position!" She pulled Jiang Ye and rolled into the gap in the array pattern. The combined attack of the mirror image hit the afterimage, causing a spiritual explosion.

The boy belatedly touched the jade pendant, discovering that the crooked engravings were absorbing the blood-red color of the array: "So this is a key?"

"It's more like bait." Ye Shuli stared at the Taotie pattern that appeared on the surface of the jade pendant, and the inheritance mark suddenly stirred up a sharp pain in her sea of ​​consciousness.

Countless fragments of memory slashed at her soul like sharp blades. She staggered and supported herself on Jiang Ye's shoulder, grasping at a fleeting glimmer of inspiration amidst her dizziness—before each new move was combined with those mirror images, the star map at the edge of the Taixu Mirror would shift by three inches.

Jiang Ye suddenly grabbed her icy fingers and pressed them onto the jade pendant. The Taotie pattern instantly came to life and wrapped around their wrists: "Want to take a gamble?" The familiar madness flickered in the boy's eyes, the same look he had when he lured away three demonic beasts on his own when they first met.

The moment the twelve mirror images surrounded her again, Ye Shuli bit her tongue and smeared her blood essence on the jade pendant.

The illusory image of Taotie roared and tore through the array barrier. The star map of the Taixu Mirror suddenly spun wildly, twisting the entire space into a kaleidoscope-like passageway.

On the verge of her consciousness being torn apart, she heard Jiang Ye's breathy voice, tinged with laughter: "If I turned into a butterfly..."

"I'll pluck all your scales!" she retorted fiercely, but instinctively shielded him behind her as the torrent of spiritual energy swept over them.

The mark of inheritance burst forth with a dazzling silver light, and the restless power suddenly and obediently flowed into her palm, condensing into a broken bronze key.

At the end of the fall was a suspended bronze altar, with chains on all eight dragon-carved pillars pointing towards the central jade coffin.

Ye Shuli ran her fingers over the cracks in the broken key and suddenly realized that it matched the cracks in Jiang Ye's jade pendant perfectly.

In the dim light of the luminous pearl, the star map on the surface of the coffin was slowly reassembling, and the positions of three stars were exactly the acupoints where the inherited power in her spiritual veins was blocked.

The star map on the bronze altar swirled with an eerie, ghostly light. Ye Shuli's fingertips traced the cool patterns on the surface of the jade coffin, and the stagnant inherited power within her spiritual veins suddenly trembled violently.

The jade pendant at Jiang Ye's waist emitted a buzzing sound, resonating with something deep within the coffin, causing the chains on the dragon pillar to rattle.

"Southeast Xun position, seven steps." Ye Shuli suddenly grabbed Jiang Ye's wrist and retreated quickly, and twelve ice prism mirrors burst from the ground where they had just stood.

The phantom image that appeared in the mirror was several times more solid than before, and it possessed both the chilling power of the Mystic Ice Technique and the violent power of the Thunder Talisman.

Jiang Ye flicked out three lightning talismans, forming a triangular array. However, the lightning was swallowed up the moment it touched the mirror: "This plagiarist even has an upgrade patch?" Before he finished speaking, the mirror images suddenly made hand seals in unison, and chains of ice and lightning darted out like venomous snakes, forcing the two of them to the edge of the altar.

The moment Ye Shuli's lower back collided with the dragon pillar, the inheritance imprint in her sea of ​​consciousness suddenly rippled.

The fragments of memory shattered by the Soul Devouring Array were reassembled, piecing together the correspondence between the star map and the meridians of the human body.

She gripped the broken bronze key tightly, the sharp edge piercing her palm, and the blood droplets that fell onto the surface of the jade coffin transformed into flowing runes.

"It's a fractal array!" She tore off the silk ribbon binding her hair and drew symbols in the air. The blood-stained silk unfolded into an octagonal array under the influence of her spiritual power. "Each attack replicates our spiritual power fluctuations, but the replicas have a thirty-six-breath delay."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ye's eyes lit up, and the lightning talisman flickered in his fingertips, leaving afterimages: "Trying to trick me into using my skills, huh?" He suddenly leaped towards the center of the mirror array, deliberately suppressing the lightning around him to only 30% of its power.

As expected, the twelve mirrors simultaneously released a weakened version of the lightning spell, but the boy unleashed his true killing move the instant the lightning struck him—seven lightning talismans linked together, transforming into a dragon that precisely hit the lower right corner of each ice prism mirror.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ye Shuli inserted the bronze key into the crack in the jade coffin, and the power of inheritance surged along the acupoints on the star map.

Just as Jiang Ye's back, scorched by lightning and fire, crashed into her arms, she had just finished completing the last array rune.

Suddenly, a beam of light shot into the sky from the altar, and the mirror array twisted like melting ice cream in the intense light. The moves that had been copied hundreds of times turned into a rain of spiritual energy and fell down.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch..." Jiang Ye grimaced as he tried to straighten up, but Ye Shuli pressed down on the back of his neck and pushed him back onto her shoulder.

The woman's slender white fingers brushed against his charred clothes, the coolness of the Xuanbing Technique seeping into his burned skin: "What are you trying to prove?"

Do you think you're lightning-struck wood?

The boy chuckled softly, his breath reddening her white earlobes. "Isn't this just giving Master Ye time to cast a spell?" His voice suddenly trembled at the end—Ye Shuli was using her spiritual power to repair the hidden injuries to his spiritual meridians. The tingling sensation, as if his meridians were being soaked in ice and snow, almost made him drop the half-broken thunder talisman.

The suspended bronze key suddenly emitted a clear, melodious dragon's roar, and the eight dragon-coiled pillars responded by rotating.

The fragments of the broken chains coalesced in the air into a sandy passageway, at the end of which emerged a bronze gate carved with ancient totems.

Ye Shuli's mind was clearer than ever before, and the blocked power of inheritance had transformed into a babbling brook, condensing into translucent star patterns in her palm.

"Want to hold hands?" Jiang Ye shook his left wrist, which was wrapped in Taotie patterns, the remaining golden patterns still absorbing the spiritual energy dissipating from the air.

Ye Shuli sneered and flicked her sleeves as she walked forward, but the moment she stepped into the Star Sand Passage, her right hand was enveloped by the boy's warm palm.

The flowing starlight suddenly became soft, like a silken tapestry woven from moonlight, spreading across the road ahead.

The Taotie beast head on the bronze door opened its vertical pupils as it sensed the key. Ye Shuli suddenly stopped Jiang Ye's hand, which was about to push the door open: "Wait." She pointed her fingertip three inches from the beast's nose, where there was a star pattern exactly the same as the inheritance mark. "That powerful being... died from a backlash."

As if to confirm her judgment, a mournful cry of utter destruction suddenly came from inside the door.

Countless light butterflies poured out from the cracks, each wing imprinted with fragmented memories: a shattered sect, a blood-stained star chart, and a nebula that exploded when the spiritual vein self-destructed... Jiang Ye suddenly clutched his chest, the jade pendant burning as if it were melting into his ribs, and the light butterflies began to frantically devour the spiritual power of the Star Sand Tunnel.

Ye Shuli slammed the bronze key into the gap in the door, and the power of inheritance transformed into silver chains, pulling the two of them into a vortex.

In the instant of weightlessness, she saw a strange phenomenon reflected in Jiang Ye's pupils—behind the bronze door was not the Temple of Inheritance at all, but a crystal coffin floating in the void, and the person inside had the exact same eyebrows and eyes as her.

Crimson runes suddenly covered the surface of the crystal coffin, and a kind of timeless pressure crushed the spiritual energy shield.

Despite the excruciating pain, Ye Shuli heard her bones cracking, yet she still gripped Jiang Ye's wrist tightly.

As the mark of inheritance began to peel away from her skin, the crystal coffin lid suddenly shattered, and the protruding skeletal fingers pierced straight towards her spiritual core—