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

A crimson vortex slowly rotated above the Xingtian Platform, while dark purple thunderclouds, carrying the oppressive force of the Spirit God Contract, plummeted downwards.

Ye Shuli lowered her eyes to look at the countdown ticking on her collarbone. The number 23:14:32 was etched into the cracks of the bluestone slab, and the pungent smell of the python scale armor, a symbol of a veteran powerhouse, wafted towards the back of her neck.

"How about we just flip this lousy platform over?" Jiang Ye conjured a sliver of sword light at his fingertips, a half-caught piece of rotten vegetable clinging to his sleeve. "That old man's judge's pen looks pretty valuable..."

Ye Shuli grabbed his wrist with her other hand, and the spiritual crystal condensed into cold, sharp edges in her palm.

The moment she looked up, the twelve broken fragments of the lie detector lamps suddenly floated up, refracting the blue light patterns of the vaccine's spiritual power model.

"Before the judge's pen sweeps across a person's collarbone, shouldn't he first present evidence?" A cold voice cut through the thunder, and the floating spirit stone fragments suddenly turned to point at the old man in python armor. "Article Thirty-Seven of the Xuantian Pavilion: Those who provide false evidence shall be subjected to the Heart-Eating Thunder Punishment."

Whispers arose from the crowd, and several cultivators who had been holding up the teleportation jade slips silently took a half step back.

The ashes of the remaining paper cranes in the teahouse on the west side were blown by the wind and swirled, sparking tiny sparks as they collided in the gaps between the old man's python scales.

The veteran powerhouse's Adam's apple bobbed twice, and the Xuan Tian Python's scales suddenly stood upright, emitting a metallic scraping sound: "The Spirit God Contractor is surrounded by death energy, this is irrefutable proof!" The thirty-six Binding God Chains surged in response, and the broken sword from the ancient battlefield that Ye Shuli had touched in the ruins appeared at the end of the chains.

Jiang Ye suddenly chuckled, flicking a piece of osmanthus cake wrapped in oil paper from his palm: "You're quite the storyteller, aren't you? Did you get tainted by candied hawthorn last time?"

A burst of laughter erupted from the second floor of the herbal medicine shop, where the shopkeeper was pressing the poison-testing stone against the phantom of the Binding God Chain.

As the image of the broken sword collided with the spiritual light surrounding Ye Shuli, creating a wisp of green smoke, the three masked men suddenly tore open their outer robes, revealing inner garments embroidered with the emblem of the Spirit Medicine Pavilion.

"Wait!" Ye Shuli suddenly shattered the countdown projection at her feet, and the azure reagent tube pierced through the thunderclouds, casting a shadow. "Since we're going to convict, why not have the wise man from the Spirit God Ruins examine the causal threads?"

The air suddenly froze, and most of the jade slips that had been suspended in the air fell to the ground with a series of crackling sounds.

The phantom of the Xuan Tian Python behind the old man in python armor suddenly raised its head, its golden eyes fixed on the shimmering spirit crystal on Ye Shuli's wrist.

The clear sound of jade clattering came from the roof of the teahouse. The silver-threaded gloves of the guardian spirit brushed away the thunderclouds: "Thirty miles north of Xingtian Terrace, the wise man is studying the Heavenly Secrets Stele." The bronze compass hanging from the guardian's waist suddenly pointed at the old man, and dark patterns of the same origin as the Binding God Chain appeared on the surface of the compass.

"Nonsense!" the veteran powerhouse suddenly roared, the ink from his judge's pen condensing into the character "Forbidden" in the air. "How dare the Heavenly Secrets Stele..."

His last words were drowned out by the sudden surge of sound.

The herbal medicine shop owner carried out a poison-testing cauldron that was half a person tall, and inside the cauldron was the image of the wise man inspecting the Spirit Medicine Pavilion last month; Jiang Ye pulled out a copper gong from somewhere and banged it, shouting "The sightseeing convoy departs at Shenshi (3-5 PM)"; even the rumor-mongers huddled in the corner pulled out blank jade slips and began to inscribe them with shining eyes.

Ye Shuli pulled Jiang Ye onto the poison-testing cauldron, sparks flying as the spiritual crystal struck the cauldron's rim. "If any of you present witness the wise judge's assessment, the Ye family will compensate you three times the spiritual energy consumed today."

The crowd surged forward like a beacon tower being lit, and the cultivator leader's heavy iron sword was driven heavily into the ground: "Go!"

Thirty miles is nothing more than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea! "More than thirty cultivators behind him simultaneously formed hand seals, and the blue light of the teleportation array swallowed half of the Xingtian Platform."

The old man in python armor suddenly pressed down on the convulsing head of the Xuan Tian python, and the black mist seeping from the tip of the judge's pen quietly wrapped around the ankles of the three masked men.

When the last teleportation array light came on, Ye Shuli saw half a blood-red jade talisman flash through the gaps in the old man's python scales. The pattern on it completely overlapped with the curse mark on the Binding God Chain.

The countdown in the thunderclouds suddenly twisted into a blood-red arrow, pointing straight towards the Heavenly Secrets Stele in the north.

As the blue light of the teleportation array dissipated, the 307 Heavenly Secret Tablets began to ooze a pale golden liquid of cause and effect.

The bronze compass at the waist of the spirit guardian suddenly flew into the depths of the stele forest, and the liquid splashed along the way condensed in mid-air into an image of Ye Shuli repairing the magic array of the Spirit Medicine Pavilion.

“Cause and effect don’t lie.” The wise man’s aged voice came from the top of the monument. The stone tablet he was standing on suddenly flipped over, revealing a dense array of curse runes on its back—completely identical to the blood jade runes in the python scales of the veteran powerhouse.

The cultivator leader's heavy iron sword clattered against the instep.

Suddenly, the three masked men tore open their inner garments embroidered with the emblem of the Spirit Medicine Pavilion, revealing a black mist curse mark writhing around their hearts.

Jiang Ye casually stuffed the osmanthus cake into the mouth of the stunned rumor-monger: "Try it?"

It's much sweeter than a lie.

The python scale armor worn by the veteran expert suddenly shattered, and the fragments cut his right hand, which was about to draw a teleportation talisman.

The guardian spirit's silver gloves ripped five bloody marks in mid-air, and the Heavenly Secret Tablet reflected the scene of him secretly sneaking into the cursed altar three months ago.

“A mere newly promoted spirit practitioner…” Dark red spiritual power surged from his cracked fingernails, transforming into nine black pythons coiled around vengeful spirits.

The nearest cultivator leader was about to draw his sword when his left arm was instantly corroded, exposing the white bone.

Ye Shuli flicked out three azure reagent tubes. The moment the modern chemical formula lit up the tube walls, it collided with the spiritual crystal, producing a bluish-white flame.

The black python twisted into charred remains in the firelight, but her right shoulder had been corroded by resentment, leaving a bloody hole the size of a palm.

"Hide behind the seventh monument!" She kicked away Jiang Ye, who was charging towards her with a bronze gong in hand, and her Spirit King-level aura shattered the ground within a radius of ten feet.

The veteran powerhouse's decaying right hand grasped the last black python's tail, and the vengeful spirit suddenly swelled into a colossal beast that devoured the heavens.

The thirty Heavenly Secret Tablets simultaneously emitted a buzzing sound, and the Causal Liquid was poured down on the giant beast's head like a torrential rain.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ye Shuli pressed the Spirit Crystal into the blood hole, and the blue light of the DNA double helix structure spread throughout her body along her blood vessels.

When the giant beast's sharp teeth were only half an inch away from her throat, her left hand, bound with modern molecular chains, suddenly pierced through the vengeful spirit's chest cavity.

The dark gold Spirit King pattern flashed by on the side of her neck.

The black blood spat out by the veteran powerhouse corroded a large hole in the Heavenly Mystery Stele, and the solemn face of the Spirit God Guardian suddenly appeared in the broken inscription—the shattered remnants of the vengeful spirit were quietly seeping into the cracks in the ground.

"Shuli, your eyes..." Jiang Ye froze on the spot, holding half a piece of osmanthus cake.

When Ye Shuli wiped the bloodstains from the corner of her mouth and turned around, the dark gold patterns that remained deep in her pupils had disappeared, and only a crack-shaped lightning mark had appeared inside the spiritual crystal in her heart.