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

As the bell tolled from the end of the underground river pierced the rock wall, Jiang Ye's back was stained with a large patch of blood.

Ye Shuli touched the sunken crack below his collarbone, and felt a stinging pain in her palm, which had been burned by the ice crystal fragments—this was a hidden injury left when she suppressed the rampaging psionic energy earlier.

“There’s running water to the southeast.” Jiang Ye’s breath brushed against her neck, the damp mist condensing into ice crystals. “That old man’s barrier can only hold the bronze puppet for half a quarter of an hour at most.”

Ye Shuli threw out three star-patterned nails to seal the entrance to the secret passage.

The moment the nail tip embedded itself in the crack in the stone, the gray mist clinging to the corpse of the defector suddenly emitted a shrill cry like that of a baby.

The seventeen corpses all turned towards their hiding place, and the soul-guiding lamp patterns on their necks illuminated the rock wall as if it were daytime.

"It's over." Jiang Ye coughed up blood mixed with icy shards, the veins on his forearm, bound by black iron chains, bulging. "Little Ye, listen up, I'm about to detonate the roulette wheel..."

Before the words were finished, the loud crash of the bronze puppet breaking through the barrier shook the cave ceiling, causing rubble to fall.

Just as Ye Shuli was about to activate the ice crystal fragment, she suddenly smelled a bitter medicinal fragrance—a kind of fluorescent vine was growing wildly along the rock crevice where they were hiding, instantly weaving into an emerald-colored barrier.

"Chew the hemostatic herb and feed it to him." As the aged voice came from above, Ye Shuli's dagger was already pressed against the other person's throat.

The white-haired old man held the blade between two fingers, his cloudy eyes reflecting the star-patterned burn marks on her palm. "Girl, if you use your spiritual power to activate the fragment again, this body won't last three breaths."

Jiang Ye suddenly grabbed the jade pendant at the old man's waist: "The Apricot Grove Pattern of Tian Shu Pavilion... You disappeared three hundred years ago..."

The old man flung off the black iron chains and tapped Jiang Ye's chest with his pestle: "Your spiritual veins are shattered into a sieve, yet you still dare to use the power of the wheel?" The deep purple liquid seeped into the wound along the chains, and Jiang Ye groaned as spiderweb-like ice crystals appeared on his skin.

The old man stuffed Ye Shuli's clenched fist into a warm medicine pouch: "The stagnant Yin energy in his body needs to be channeled with Nine Yang Ginseng, but the medicine is too potent and will burn his heart meridians." The old man took out a crimson root from the medicine basket. "Want to bet?"

"A bet." Ye Shuli crushed the golden pollen in the medicine pouch. "If his spiritual veins are damaged, I will use Ice Soul to rebuild them."

The old man suddenly burst into laughter, slamming his pestle heavily onto Jiang Ye's forehead: "Did you hear that?"

"If you keep playing dead, I'll freeze you into an ice sculpture." The previously unconscious boy suddenly opened his eyes, his blood-stained canine teeth gleaming in the darkness: "How did you know I was gathering spiritual energy, senior?"

"Your right hand has three life-saving talismans hidden in its meridians." The old man poured the Nine Yang Ginseng juice into Jiang Ye's throat. "Back then, your master stole my Hundred Herbs Brew, and he was just like this."

When the drug took effect, the Udumbara flower pattern on Jiang Ye's back shone like a branding iron.

Following the old man's instructions, Ye Shuli cut open the blood vessels in his wrist. Black blood mixed with ice shards gushed out, but was absorbed by the vines before it hit the ground.

As the seventh star pattern formed on Jiang Ye's chest, the shrieking sound from the direction of the underground river suddenly weakened.

"The puppets have receded." The old man wiped the frost from Jiang Ye's brow. "Girl, it's time to get back to your business."

Ye Shuli looked at the burn marks on her palm that had not yet healed.

The stinging sensation from the resonance between the ice crystal fragments and the bronze wheel now transforms into warm spiritual energy flowing through my veins.

She suddenly remembered the totems that the defectors had carved before they died—seventeen different star patterns, which perfectly filled the last gap in her psionic chart.

When Jiang Ye jumped off the stone platform, he almost knocked over the medicine furnace. The old man hit him on the knee with a pestle: "Don't you want the bone that was just set?" The boy grinned and took out a black iron chain. Most of the rust on the chain links had fallen off, revealing the star patterns hidden underneath.

"Did the senior deliberately lead us to the core of the Holy Land?" Ye Shuli stared at the bronze key dangling from the old man's waist.

The key's pattern perfectly matched the notch on the roulette wheel, and it was vibrating in sync with the frequency of the underground river bells.

The old man slipped a packet of powder into Jiang Ye's arms: "What you're looking for is beneath the third whirlpool of the Southeast Dark River." As he turned, half a charred fragment of a totem fell from his medicine basket. "Remember, when the Udumbara flower blooms to its seventh level, the Ice Soul will guide you to the true star trails."

Jiang Ye suddenly grabbed the old man's sleeve: "You know my mother, don't you?"

What she left behind...

"Shut up." The old man flicked his sleeve to shake off his hand, and his figure transformed into fluorescent vines that disappeared into the rock wall.

The moment the jade barrier vanished, Ye Shuli saw the bronze puppets lingering on the river a hundred feet away—the soul-guiding lamps on their necks were all turned southeast, as if welcoming some awakening being.

Jiang Ye's hand, which was spinning the wheel, suddenly stopped: "The water level of the Dark River has dropped." The black iron chain pointed to a spot on the rock wall, where a star map formed from bloodstains appeared.

The moment Ye Shuli touched the totem, the ice crystal fragments automatically flew into the depths of the rock crevice.

“Follow the fragments.” She pulled Jiang Ye’s bleeding wrist. “The star map shows the core area is…”

The unspoken words were swallowed up by the trembling rock beneath their feet.

As the ice crystal fragments smashed through the last stone barrier, the bronze dome unfolded in the darkness.

Looking at the rotating star pattern array in the center of the dome, Ye Shuli finally understood why the defectors were willing to risk their lives to restart the holy land—the groove at the array's core and the fragment of Ice Soul in her arms were clearly products of the same Xuanjing split.

Jiang Ye suddenly pressed the roulette wheel into her palm: "The powder the old man gave me can temporarily seal the leakage of spiritual energy." He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his canine fangs gleaming sharp in the starlight. "Later, I'll act as bait to lure the puppet away, and you can take the opportunity..."

"Shut up." Ye Shuli ripped off his haphazardly wrapped bandages, revealing faint golden veins beneath the new skin. "You still have two life-saving charms left, don't waste them on nonsense."

The boy chuckled as she pulled him toward the center of the formation.

The black iron chains collided with the ice crystal fragments, creating tiny sparks that trailed a winding path of light behind them.

As Ye Shuli inserted the last fragment into the groove, the dormant star patterns lit up one by one along the grooves of the bronze dome, like beacon towers being lit.

Jiang Ye suddenly pressed down on the back of her neck: "Look at the ground."

The blood-stained Udumbara flower was blooming beneath their feet. The moment the seventh petal unfolded, a crisp sound of ice shattering came from the depths of Ye Shuli's spiritual platform.

A long-dormant power surged along the veins of the star pattern, condensing into a translucent frost blade at her fingertips.

The sound of chains snapping came from the direction of the underground river, and the light of the seventeen soul-guiding lamps pierced the darkness.

Ye Shuli turned to look at the source of the sound, the icy blue light flowing in her pupils illuminating the entire dome.

"It's begun." She gripped the Frostblade tightly, and the star patterns at the array's core began to shrink towards the center. "Jiang Ye, help me guard the seventh star track."

The boy swung out a black iron chain to entangle the stone pillar at the center of the formation, the star patterns on the chain rings reflecting the glow of the dome.

When the first wisp of awakened power pierced through her spiritual platform, Ye Shuli heard an ancient chant coming from the depths of the icy plains—a sound of inheritance that even death could not sever.

The resonance between the ice crystal fragments and the bronze dome suddenly rose.

The Udumbara flower totem beneath Ye Shuli's feet burst forth with seven layers of light, and the frost blades condensed from spiritual energy suddenly exploded into millions of ice shards, enveloping her entire body in a cocoon-like ball of light.

Jiang Ye swung out the black iron chain and hooked it onto the stone pillar at the center of the formation. The chain links collided with the ice cocoon, creating fine sparks.

He stared at the star-patterned veins that were gradually climbing up the ice cocoon, and suddenly threw three bronze coins toward the dome—the blue smoke rising from the coins condensed into a protective barrier in the air.

"The seventh star track is about to shift!" Jiang Ye bit his fingertip with his tiger teeth and flicked the blood droplet towards the bottom of the ice cocoon.

The moment the blood droplet touched the ice surface, the previously chaotic star patterns suddenly began to recombine along a specific trajectory.

Ye Shuli, inside the ice cocoon, is undergoing a baptism of spiritual energy.

Three hundred and sixty acupoints felt as if they were being repeatedly pierced by ice picks, and the star patterns imprinted on the corpses of those who had defected were now taking shape, constantly overlapping and recombining deep within her mind.

As the last incomplete star pattern was completed, she suddenly heard a bell ringing from the depths of the icy plains—a sign of a breakthrough in her psionic level.

Suddenly, the stone pillar at the center of the formation cracked open with spiderweb-like patterns. Jiang Ye staggered and grabbed the end of the chain: "How much of the medicine powder that old man gave me is left?" He wiped his cheek, which was scratched by ice shards, and took out a jade bottle from his waist and sprinkled it into the crack in the barrier.

The golden powder, upon contact with the raging psionic storm, condensed into a buffering net of psionic energy in the air.

Suddenly, three marks appeared on the surface of the ice cocoon: Spirit Master, Spirit Venerable, and Spirit Spirit Master.

When the fourth Spirit King's mark lit up, the entire bronze dome creaked under the weight.

Jiang Ye's pupils contracted sharply. He recognized this as a sign of a leapfrog advancement—the absorbed energy from the Soul-Guiding Lamps was forcibly expanding Ye Shuli's spiritual veins.

"Hold on, girl!" The Healing Master's voice pierced through the rock wall. "Use Ice Soul to guide the excess spiritual energy to impact the Heavenly Pool Acupoint!" Emerald vines burrowed into the crack in the barrier, forming a second layer of protection around the ice cocoon.

Blood trickled from the corner of Ye Shuli's mouth.

Following the instructions, she channeled the raging spiritual energy to her brow, and the Ice Soul Fragment suddenly emitted a clear, melodious dragon's roar.

A barrier deep within the spiritual realm shattered, and the leaked spiritual energy transformed into an ice-blue beam that shot straight up to the dome.

When the fifth Spirit Emperor's Mark appeared, the raging psionic storm suddenly subsided.

Fine cracks appeared on the surface of the ice cocoon. Ye Shuli slowly walked out on the ice steps, and the ice crystals that had condensed on the tips of her hair tinkled with her movements.

She raised her hand and tapped lightly, and the struggling bronze puppet instantly froze into an ice sculpture.

Jiang Ye ripped open his collar, which was covered in frost, and the black iron chains trembled excitedly: "That was quite a show..." Before he could finish speaking, he was slammed against the rock wall by the overwhelming pressure of spiritual energy.

The icy blue light that flowed through Ye Shuli's eyes swept over him, and the wounds that had not yet healed scabbed over at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Suddenly, a ten-zhang-high water curtain burst open on the surface of the underground river.

Seventeen soul-guiding lamps rose from the riverbed, their wicks all bowing towards the direction where Ye Shuli was.

The healing master's pestle flew out from the water curtain and slammed heavily at Jiang Ye's feet: "What are you standing there for?"

Go to the Southeast Whirlpool to retrieve the Mystic Crystal!

The ice blade that Ye Shuli condensed at her fingertips suddenly turned towards a certain spot on the rock wall.

The icy blue blade grazed past Jiang Ye's ear, pinning the lurking spy in the shadows to the stone wall—a black-robed figure with a soul-guiding lamp pattern around his neck, holding a jade slip recording star patterns in his hand.

"Tell your leader," Ye Shuli shattered the jade slip, frost spreading along the black-robed man's veins, "If you dare send anyone to follow again, next time it won't be the communication artifact that gets frozen."

Jiang Ye picked up the unconscious man in black robes and threw him into the dark river. When he turned around, he saw the fragments of ice spirit dancing on Ye Shuli's fingertips.

The star pattern reflected in the fragment points southeast, perfectly coinciding with the direction described by the healing master.

The moment the two stepped out of the sacred ground, the psionic organization members lying in wait outside collectively retreated.

The detection compasses in their hands spun wildly, eventually exploding into fragments three zhang away from Ye Shuli.

An elderly man wearing a seven-star emblem tried to step forward, but was frozen in place by the sudden drop in temperature.

"The Inspector of the Psionic Association?" Ye Shuli glanced at the badge on the old man's chest, the fragment of Ice Soul tracing a warning path in the air. "When you allowed your subordinates to steal Ice Souls three months ago, you didn't expect the Udumbara flower to bloom in your own backyard, did you?"

Jiang Ye suddenly tossed a bronze compass into the crowd: "Catch!"

"The thirty-six monitoring artifacts you buried in the holy land—" he revealed his bloodstained tiger teeth, "are all frozen solid and sunk to the bottom of the underground river. Remember to pay a retrieval fee if you want to retrieve them."

The members of the psionic organization stared at the thirty-six shattered points of light on the compass, and finally, at the signal of the elder leader, they slowly retreated.

Ye Shuli noticed that the hems of their cloaks were embroidered with a dark pattern of Udumbara flowers—exactly the same totem that appeared when Jiang Ye recovered from his injuries.

The healing master's medicine basket appeared beside the stone pillar at the center of the formation at some point, with half a charred star-patterned rubbing lying quietly inside.

When Ye Shuli touched the rubbing with her Ice Soul, she vaguely saw a scene from three hundred years ago flash by—a woman with a soul-guiding lamp around her neck was drawing a star map, and her profile overlapped with the portrait in Jiang Ye's storage ring.

Suddenly, a huge wave surged up in the underground river to the southeast, and a thunderous sound of bronze chains breaking came from the depths of the whirlpool.

Ye Shuli pressed down on the suddenly trembling fragment of ice, sensing that some ancient, dormant being was awakening...