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

The fluorescent fungi in the cave went out in droves as the chains rattled.

Ye Shuli grabbed Jiang Ye by the back of his collar and pressed him against the rock wall, the modified compass emitting a piercing buzz in her palm.

The illusory lotus shadows floating beneath her skin suddenly solidified into geometric patterns of the Mandelbrot set. She stared at the birthmark on the back of her hand—this was the third time she had seen modern mathematical symbols appear in this other world.

"The stench of a Netherworld Cult protector's decaying bones." Jiang Ye slashed his palm with his lightning-patterned blade, dark red blood seeping into the ground along the blade. "I smelled the exact same scent when I cut off his right arm three days ago."

The moment the pool water rippled with a bloody mist, Ye Shuli finally saw the source of the chain sound.

A massive bronze cauldron, three zhang tall, slid out from the shadows, its body bound by black iron chains that were being pulled into the ground by some force.

Half a rotting human face emerged from the black mist gushing from the cauldron, the missing right arm still clinging to Jiang Ye's lightning-type spiritual energy.

"You have destroyed the foundation of my Netherworld Holy Cult..." The black mist solidified into a humanoid form, and the fragrance of decaying bone flowers suddenly intensified. "Then use your lives to fill the gap in the offerings for the Nine Nether Cauldron!"

Jiang Ye suddenly burst out laughing.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and used his lightning-patterned blade to pick up the glowing mycelium on the ground: "Three days ago you said you wanted to use me to create a corpse puppet, but you ended up losing an arm."

What are you planning to give this time?

The head? "The explosive talisman hidden in the sleeve had already quietly slid to Ye Shuli's feet."

Ye Shuli pressed her hand, which was burning hot from the birthmark.

Those chaotic patterns were breaking down the trajectory of the flowing black mist. She suddenly discovered that the Klein bottle pattern on the cauldron and the pattern on the rock wall formed a Möbius strip structure—this was not an offensive magic weapon at all, but a space conversion device.

"Close your eyes!" She suddenly snapped off the jade pendant around her neck and smashed it into the pool.

The principle of total internal reflection learned in modern physics class came into play at this moment, and the remaining fluorescence of the jade pendant fragments was refracted into dazzling white light.

Jiang Ye swiftly flicked out the Thunder Pattern Blade, the blade precisely piercing the bronze bell hanging from the cauldron's handle.

The maniacal laughter of the remnants of the Netherworld Cult came to an abrupt halt.

The dark realm he painstakingly created was torn open by physical light spots, and Ye Shuli took the opportunity to throw out the improved compass.

The magical artifact, inlaid with a modern compass, adhered to the body of the cauldron, its pointer jamming the closing spatial rift.

"You think destroying the teleportation array will save your life?" A skeletal hand emerged from the black mist, its overwhelming pressure causing stalactites to crumble and fall. "Even if I were to fall from my cultivation level, killing two Spirit Realm cultivators would still..."

Ye Shuli suddenly staggered and knelt on one knee, blood seeping from the birthmark on the back of her hand.

This act of feigned weakness caused the black mist to surge with excitement, but it failed to notice that her left hand, hidden in her sleeve, was drawing a non-Euclidean geometric diagram with blood—those floating lotus phantoms could just fill in the missing dimensions of the Klein bottle.

As the remnants of the Netherworld Cult poured all their spiritual power into the Nine Nether Cauldron, Ye Shuli slammed the array diagram against the rock wall.

The topological model constructed by modern mathematics reacted violently with the mystical formation, and the entire cave suddenly folded up like a crumpled piece of paper.

The spatial cracks on the cauldron rotated uncontrollably in reverse, beginning to devour the caster's body.

"Now!" Ye Shuli grabbed Jiang Ye's wrist and pressed it against the hilt of the Thunder Pattern Blade.

A dazzling burst of lightning erupted between their overlapping palms, and the lingering scent of decaying flowers on the blade suddenly became a coordinate for reverse tracking—this was a backup plan that Jiang Ye had deliberately left in the other's wound three days ago.

The screams of the remnants of the Netherworld Cult and the sound of chains snapping rang out simultaneously.

The Nine Nether Cauldron exploded amidst the spatial distortion, but the flying bronze fragments mysteriously hovered in mid-air before touching Ye Shuli.

The patterns on the rock wall that had absorbed Jiang Ye's blood beads suddenly came to life, sucking all the dangerous items into the suddenly appearing spatial vortex.

Jiang Ye, panting, slumped down in the mushroom patch, the lingering lightning on his fingertips illuminating his suddenly pale face: "Wife, what you just drew wasn't...?"

The sound of chains rejoining echoed from deep within the cave.

The bronze fragments that had been sucked into the vortex were slowly emerging from the reflection in the pool. Suddenly, the birthmark on the back of Ye Shuli's hand became so hot it was almost burning—the fragments of the Nine Nether Cauldron, which should have been destroyed, were automatically reassembling in a certain mirror space.

The lightning at Jiang Ye's fingertips suddenly surged into a bluish-purple arc of electricity.

Ye Shuli pressed the blood-stained compass into his palm, and the chaotic patterns that decomposed the trajectory of the black mist suddenly lit up with silver light.

Suddenly, countless vines in the shape of Klein bottles sprouted from the mycelium beneath their feet, firmly locking the bronze fragments that were reassembling into their reflection in the pool.

"The Three Powers Return to Origin!" The moment Jiang Ye shouted, three dark golden runes appeared on the surface of the Thunder Pattern Blade.

The blood droplets emanating from the birthmark on the back of Ye Shuli's hand automatically condensed into a dodecahedral structure, resonating with the explosive talisman placed at the Netherworld Sect branch altar three days ago.

The phantoms of the remnants of the Netherworld Cult emitted shrieks from the spatial interlayer.

His dissipating black mist was torn to pieces by the vines of the Klein bottle, each piece reflecting the scene of his right arm breaking off three days ago—this was the causal loop created by Ye Shuli using a non-Euclidean geometric array.

"How dare you..." The remaining black mist suddenly solidified into a hand that reached out to grab Ye Shuli, but was burned to ashes by the inscription on the lightning blade when it touched her hair.

Jiang Ye coughed up blood and laughed. His lightning-type spiritual power, along with the reflection of the bronze cauldron fragments, wove an impenetrable electric net above the pool.

Ye Shuli suddenly threw the improved compass into the air.

The compass embedded in the center spun wildly, connecting all the backup plans that the two had laid out over the past three days into a complete killing formation—the explosive talisman ignited the coordinates of the Corrupting Bone Incense that Jiang Ye had deliberately left behind, the inscriptions on the Thunder Pattern Blade activated the Klein Bottle pattern on the rock wall, and the blood-painted dodecahedral structure finally filled the last gap in the space conversion device.

The screams of the remnants of the Netherworld Cult pierced the cave.

His physical body was simultaneously annihilated in both the real and mirror spaces, and thousands of vengeful spirits emerged from the dissipating black mist.

The souls devoured by the Nine Nether Cauldron transformed into golden specks of light, gathering into a dazzling star map at the top of the cave.

Jiang Ye staggered and used the lightning-patterned blade to support his body.

His blood-stained clothes suddenly glowed with a silvery-white light, and the bottleneck of the initial stage of the Spirit Master was cracked by the spiritual power feedback from the salvation of the dead souls.

The temperature of the birthmark on the back of Ye Shuli's hand suddenly rose, and the floating lotus phantoms began to absorb the mysterious power dissipating from the star map.

The cave suddenly trembled violently.

The once eerie pool water became crystal clear, revealing an ancient altar covered in sword marks.

Ye Shuli stared at the sundial device in the center of the altar, her pupils suddenly contracting—the sundial's markings were actually made with calculus symbols.

"No wonder the Netherworld Sect wanted to seize the Nine Nether Cauldron." Jiang Ye wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his lightning-patterned blade lifting a fragment of bronze from the water's surface. "This thing can convert the souls of the dead into spatial energy; they want to rebuild..."

Seven bronze lamps suddenly rose from the mycelium.

An elderly man with white hair and a youthful face emerged from behind the stalactites, and the jade pendant hanging from his waist resonated with Ye Shuli's improved compass.

The old man raised his hand and tapped lightly, and the star map that was about to dissipate suddenly solidified into a physical scroll that fell into the pool.

"Three thousand years." The old man's voice carried an emphasis of temporal displacement. "Back then, three hundred Spirit Venerables sacrificed their lives to seal the Netherworld Blood Sea in this mirror space." He flicked a golden light from his fingertip, and a three-dimensional geometric projection suddenly appeared on the lotus birthmark on the back of Ye Shuli's hand.

Jiang Ye subconsciously took a half-step to block Ye Shuli, but the Thunder Pattern Blade automatically returned to its sheath with a hum.

Seeing this, the old man chuckled and pushed the star map scroll towards them: "The fact that a young cultivator can break Klein's sealing array saves this old man the trouble of taking action."

Ye Shuli suddenly pressed her temple, which was throbbing with pain.

The mysterious power surging into her sea of ​​consciousness allowed her to see the entire altar—it wasn't a sundial at all, but clearly an anchor point connecting different times and spaces.

The starlight absorbed into her body circulated automatically, causing her bottleneck as a spiritual master, which had been stagnant for half a year, to loosen.

"Watch out!" Jiang Ye suddenly grabbed her and lurched her to the right.

The once clear pool water suddenly boiled, and hundreds of bronze fragments shot out from the reflection, only to turn into points of light and dissipate upon touching the star map scroll.

The jade pendant that flew out from the old man's sleeve hovered above the two people's heads, purifying the last remaining nether energy into pure spiritual energy.

Suddenly, a crisp sound of shattering glass came from Ye Shuli's body.

The accumulated spiritual power broke through the shackles, and the pressure of the initial stage of spiritual master made the mycelium tremble.

The lightning patterns on Jiang Ye's wrist automatically spread to his neck, and the hidden injury he suffered three days ago was completely healed under the starlight.

The old man suddenly drew mysterious runes in the air.

A rain of light began to fall from the cave ceiling, the starlight carrying sealed memories automatically flowing into their meridians. "The Netherworld Cult is nothing but a minor ailment," he said, turning towards the gradually fading altar. "Three days from now at midnight, bring the Klein bottle to Listening Snow Cliff—it's time for you to see the true world."

The seven bronze lamps went out as the words were spoken.

Ye Shuli bent down and picked up the star map scroll from the pool, discovering that the words "Beyond the Boundary" were engraved on the back in oracle bone script.

Jiang Ye toyed with the jade pendant that had suddenly appeared in his palm, his expression suddenly turning strange: "How did the old man know we dug one up last month...?"

The last spots of light from the mycelium suddenly converged into an arrow, pointing towards the cave exit.

The stalactites that had absorbed spiritual energy began to fall off, revealing the rock face behind them, which was covered with modern mathematical formulas.

The temperature of the birthmark on the back of Ye Shuli's hand gradually returned to normal, but the starlight flowing in the scroll continued to transform her meridians.

When the first ray of moonlight shone into the cave, the sealed altar had completely disappeared.

Jiang Ye sheathed the Thunder-Patterned Blade at his waist and reached out to support Ye Shuli, who was unsteady on her feet: "Wife, do you think there might be those glowing fungi at Listening Snow Cliff?"

"Give me back my notes on 'Non-Euclidean Geometry and Spiritual Circuits' first." Ye Shuli slapped his hand away, but a faint smile appeared in her eyes.

The two figures' intertwined shadows were reflected on the rock wall engraved with formulas, those symbols from another world and the modern era shimmering faintly in the moonlight.