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

The moment Jiang Ye's blood droplets solidified into gears, they suddenly burst forth with golden light.

Ye Shuli turned her head to the side, blinded by the bright light, but heard the clicking sound of bronze parts meshing together—the data spear that should have pierced the heart was turning into liquid metal, flowing backwards along the blood hole in Jiang Ye's chest.

"Your family crest is quite heavy." Jiang Ye coughed up blood and laughed, his fingers gripping the spearhead that pierced his chest.

The bronze parts engraved with the character "Ye" suddenly trembled and detached from the Guardian's body, raining down on the leader of the Jealous Ones' bone sword.

Ye Shuli finally saw the true face of the dark figure.

The one pinned in mid-air by the data spear was none other than the Liu family elder who had been defeated by her in the battle for the Spirit Spring three months ago.

At this moment, black code kept overflowing from the old man's right eye, exactly the same as the 21st-century fluorescent code left behind when the Light Man collapsed.

"The monitoring system of the Godly Trial Grounds." The guardian's mechanical voice shook the stalactites on the cave ceiling. "You used an otherworldly virus to tamper with the memory crystals, making everyone believe you've secretly possessed the inheritance of the Spirit God."

Twenty-three bronze gears hovered around Elder Liu's temples, projecting how he injected fluorescent codes into the core of the trial grounds.

The scene also shows three masked men altering Jiang Ye's wolf bloodline test results—the three protectors under the leader of the Jealous Ones.

"So the curse on the Wolf Clan's forbidden land was fabricated by you!" Jiang Ye wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. After the berserk state subsided, his face was frighteningly pale, but his hands were still firmly protecting Ye Shuli's waist.

The bronze parts that had fallen to the ground suddenly spun around and formed a shield, deflecting all the poison needles that Elder Liu had suddenly shot out.

The onlookers finally began to stir.

The Crimson Cloud Sect Master, who had previously accused Ye Shuli of stealing forbidden techniques, was the first to unleash the Spirit-Binding Rope: "Elder Liu, wasn't this the same poisonous needle you used last year when you slandered my sect's disciples?"

A light curtain suddenly descended from the dome of the trial arena.

Seven hundred and sixty-four altered memory segments played simultaneously, showing the cultivators how hostility towards Ye Shuli was implanted into them.

Some people knelt down and covered their eyes, while others frantically hacked at the stone wall that revealed the truth.

"Stop cutting! These are the bones of spirits and gods." Jiang Ye tossed a piece of gravel to the most crazed swordsman with his toe. "These are the refining materials you offered 80,000 spirit stones for at the Northern Desert Black Market three years ago."

The swordsman's heavy iron sword froze in mid-air.

More cultivators began examining the stone wall. Amidst the rising and falling gasps, someone trembled as they read aloud the ancient seal script that had appeared on the surface of the spirit bone: "The seventh generation guardian spirit officer of the Ye family... Is this trial ground the ancestral property of the Ye family?"

Ye Shuli felt Jiang Ye's fingers suddenly tighten.

The scorch marks on the boy's palm from the blue light cube had not yet faded, and now fresh blood was seeping out again.

Just as she was about to use her modern medical knowledge to help him stop the bleeding, she discovered that the blood droplets were automatically arranging themselves into a miniature array.

"Have you had enough of the show? How about lending a hand?" Jiang Ye suddenly grinned at the void.

The spirit that had been testing his spirit appeared immediately, its hands still trembling as it held the medicine bottle: "How did you find me?"

"You smell like popcorn." Jiang Ye let the elf pour medicine powder onto his wounds. "Last time in the illusion trial, when you were a storyteller, you ate three buckets of caramel popcorn."

The monks' laughter eased the tense atmosphere.

As Ye Shuli looked at Elder Liu, who was being attacked by the crowd, memories of being framed by her colleagues in her past life suddenly surged up.

She instinctively reached for the Swiss Army knife hidden in her sleeve—a modern item she had always carried with her since her time travel.

"Use this." Jiang Ye suddenly handed over a jade pendant engraved with a wolf totem. "The virus code in the old man Liu's right eye should be afraid of the magnetic field of this thousand-year-old cold jade."

Ye Shuli stared blankly at the newly engraved character "Li" on the back of the jade pendant.

Before she could ask a question, the boy had already pushed her forward: "These are scraps I picked up last month in the wolf clan's forbidden area. The inscriptions are in the simplified characters you taught me... Be careful!"

The poisoned bone sword grazed past the tips of her hair.

The leader of the Jealous Ones broke free of his restraints at some point, and his entire right arm transformed into a stream of fluorescent data.

Ye Shuli suddenly remembered the 21st-century code when the Light People collapsed, and the titanium alloy blade of her Swiss Army knife plunged fiercely into those fluorescent lights.

"404 error." The leader suddenly emitted a mechanical electronic voice, and the mutated arm began to twist uncontrollably.

Taking advantage of the moment, Ye Shuli patted the cold jade between his eyebrows, and the collision between the modern metal and the mystical jade created a dark blue arc of electricity.

The God Guardians have finally moved.

The Ye clan emblem on His chest shone as brightly as the sun, and all the altered memory crystals were automatically corrected.

The cultivators watched as Ye Shuli repaired the damaged barrier of the training ground on her own, and watched her share the spiritual medicine that she should have kept for herself with her seriously injured rival.

"Miss Ye, we..." The Crimson Sky Sect Master was interrupted by a loud noise before he could finish speaking.

The dome of the trial arena cracked open, revealing a dazzling starlight, and countless bronze gears were pieced together to form a staircase leading to the heavens.

Jiang Ye suddenly stumbled and bumped into Ye Shuli's shoulder.

A deep, penetrating wound had appeared on his lower back, dark red blood staining his white robes in an arcane pattern: "That old man's poison... seems rather interesting..."

"You knew you would get hurt?" Ye Shuli tore open his blood-stained clothes and found that the skin around the wound had bronze patterns that were the same as those of the Guardian.

Jiang Ye smiled and pulled out a broken compass: "Wolf clan astrology indicates today is auspicious for..."

His words were interrupted by the Guardian's sudden declaration.

Nine rotating Ye clan emblems materialized at the fingertips of the mechanical deity, three of which slowly floated towards Ye Shuli's forehead: "The awakening of the spirits has arrived, the one destined by Heaven..."

The howling wind swallowed up the second half of the sentence.

The cultivators were horrified to see a colossal bronze gate appear at the end of the Heavenly Staircase, and the aura emanating from the cracks in the gate caused all the spiritual artifacts present to automatically submit.

Ye Shuli's modern electronic watch suddenly started counting down, and the blue light cube in her arms emitted an unprecedented buzzing sound.

The mechanical sound of the guardians grew louder and louder in the gale, and the three clan emblems on Ye Shuli's forehead suddenly merged into a bronze crown.

Jiang Ye poked the glowing crown with his blood-stained fingers, gasping as he was burned: "So now I really have to call you Your Majesty?"

"Shut up and heal your wounds." Ye Shuli pulled off the storage pouch embroidered with a wolf's head from his waist and poured out three anti-inflammatory pills in modern plastic packaging—these were Western medicines she had modified using her alchemy furnace.

Jiang Ye chewed on a capsule and muttered, "What happened to the promised fantasy world view...?"

The mangled remains of the leader of the Jealous Ones suddenly convulsed.

The data streams frozen by the cold jade suddenly shot into the sky, carrying poison needles, and exploded into a rain of fluorescent light above everyone's heads.

The moment Ye Shuli's watch countdown reached zero, the blue light cube automatically deployed its protective shield, melting all the poison needles into blue smoke.

"Is this never going to end?" Jiang Ye wiped the wolf totem jade pendant with the blood-stained hem of his clothes, then suddenly swung his hand and struck Elder Liu on the back of the neck as he was trying to escape.

The icy mist that burst open from the jade pendant revealed densely packed simplified Chinese characters—the very words Ye Shuli had taught him to write last month: "Evil will be punished."

The gear set on the chest of the God Guardian began to turn, and bronze chains suddenly descended from the Heavenly Staircase.

Three chains bound the leader of the Jealous Ones and his remaining followers, dragging them toward the faintly visible bronze gate at the end of the stairs.

Ye Shuli noticed that the black mist seeping from the crack in the door was corroding the chains, but the guardian had already turned into particles of light and dissipated.

"The transformation of the spirits and gods will occur after thirty-six new moon cycles." The guardian's voice echoed through the cave, and the spirit bones on the stone wall suddenly flew towards Ye Shuli, condensing into a miniature star map in her palm. "When the bronze gate is fully open..."

The second half of the sentence was interrupted by the continuous clang of swords.

The cultivators inserted their natal spiritual artifacts into the ground, performing the highest ritual in the cultivation world—swearing an oath with their artifacts to represent their unwavering commitment to Ye Shuli.

The Spirit-Binding Rope of the Crimson Cloud Sect Master automatically wrapped around her wrist, then timidly retracted into the shape of a bracelet.

"Miss Ye, about the battle for the Spirit Spring..." Before the swordsman could finish speaking, he was hit in the knee by a piece of gravel thrown by Jiang Ye.

The boy leaned against the stone wall, laughing unrestrainedly: "If you're going to apologize, offer something substantial. How about 80,000 spirit stones worth of refining materials from the Northern Desert Black Market?"

Ye Shuli suddenly pressed her hand to her chest.

The bronze crown emitted a vibration of a certain frequency, and the modern electronic watch automatically projected the overlapping part of the star map and the spirit bone star map.

When the two points of light overlapped at the confluence of the three rivers, a crumpled candy wrapper floated out from Jiang Ye's blood-stained clothes—it was the Alpenliebe candy wrapper she had given him when they first met.

"The wolf clan's astrological interpretation says the southwest is auspicious." Jiang Ye folded the candy wrapper into a paper crane, watching it turn a pale gold from the glow of the bronze crown. "Of course, it's mainly because..."

"Is there a wolf hot spring over there that can heal your injuries?" Ye Shuli interrupted, taking out a transparent sealed bag from her storage pouch.

Inside was a homemade first-aid kit containing a mixture of antibiotics and herbal powder, with a cartoon wolf head printed on the packaging that read "Essential for Time Travelers".

After the cultivators left one after another, the starlight began to peel away from the dome of the trial ground.

The blue light cube suddenly burrowed into Jiang Ye's wound, suppressing the spreading bronze patterns back under his skin.

Ye Shuli stared at the bloodstains on his lower back that were gradually congealing, and suddenly slammed her Swiss Army knife onto the Millennium Cold Jade.

“Come out.” She sneered at the air. “Since the leader of the Jealous Ones launched the sneak attack, you’ve changed your hiding place three times.”

The spirit, holding a bucket of popcorn, materialized, its electronic eyes flashing wildly: "What are you doing...?"

"The popcorn smell moved three times." Jiang Ye pulled open his collar to reveal the wolf totem on his collarbone; a kernel of popcorn was stuck inside the wolf fang pattern. "By the way, can you conjure up cola in an illusion?"

The elf suddenly exploded into countless points of light.

As Ye Shuli caught the falling bronze key, a 21st-century barcode appeared on the surface of the electronic watch.

As she used her Swiss Army knife to swipe open the barcode, the key suddenly projected a holographic map—a three-dimensional image of the confluence of three rivers.

Jiang Ye's wolf-like eyes suddenly turned into vertical lines.

He reached out and touched the ancient tree's phantom image in the hologram; data rippled where his fingertip passed: "I buried myself under this tree last month..."

The stairway to heaven collapsed with a deafening roar at that moment.

The modern items in both of their storage bags simultaneously emitted beeps, and Ye Shuli's electronic watch screen displayed a bright red 404 error code.

The blue light cube suddenly split into nine gears, colliding with the bronze crown and sparking a burst of electricity.

"It's time to go." Ye Shuli stuffed the first aid kit into Jiang Ye's arms, and as she turned around, her hair brushed against his still bleeding lower back.

The unhealed wounds suddenly revealed miniature bronze door patterns, which then disappeared into the blue light.

Jiang Ye chewed on the newly opened lollipop and tied the wolf clan jade pendant around Ye Shuli's waist.

The moment the jade pendant touched the bronze crown, the holographic image at the confluence of the three rivers suddenly became covered with dense annotations—all written in simplified Chinese characters: "Beware of traps" and "There is a scam here."

In the final moments before the starlight dissipated, Ye Shuli glanced back at the training ground.

The spirit artifacts that had submitted to the earth suddenly turned to the southwest, like thousands of arrows pointing to the truth.

Jiang Ye whistled, and the lollipop stick accurately struck a cracking stone wall, revealing a fluorescent code flashing inside.

As the first rays of dawn pierced through the crack in the cave ceiling, the blue light cube suddenly unfolded into the shape of a glider.

As Jiang Ye jumped up with a smile, the 404 code displayed on the digital watch screen turned into a countdown—the numbers for thirty-six lunar cycles were jumping wildly.