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

Ye Shuli's deerskin boots crushed half a withered leaf, and the detector vibrated in her palm until her hand went numb.

Fifteen steps away, the vermilion gate twisted into a wave-like shape, and the entire Ye family ancestral home seemed to be encased in flowing amber. Through the barrier, one could see more than a dozen clansmen tearing at each other's necks with their bare hands—dark green light spots swirled in the bulging blue veins.

"A plastic wrap barrier?" Jiang Ye poked the rippled air wall with his sword sheath, and was forced back half a step by the rebounding force. "Your Xuanmen family's anti-theft measures are quite punk."

"Shut up." Ye Shuli threw out three improved revealing talismans, and dense array patterns appeared in the blue flames of the burning talismans.

She suddenly crouched down, her fingertips tracing the dried brown liquid in the cracks between the blue bricks. "The torrential rain seven days ago washed this place away, but the remnants of the blood curse can still form a closed loop..."

The detector suddenly emitted a sharp beep, and the pointer swung wildly between the two markings: "Poisonous Mutant" and "Ancient Dragon Trapping Formation".

Ye Shuli's pupils constricted sharply. Her improved bloodline sealing system was supposed to isolate all hereditary Gu poisons, unless—

"Ah Ye!" She suddenly ripped open Jiang Ye's dark-patterned belt and pulled out the bronze fragment he kept close to his body amidst his strange cry of "Isn't it in broad daylight?"

Half a month ago, when they were repairing the clan's protective artifact, this fragment engraved with the Ye clan's emblem was soaked in cinnabar mixed with her blood.

At this moment, blood beads seeped from the edge of the fragment, and half an inch of mycelium grew after it fell to the ground.

Jiang Ye suddenly clutched his chest. His early-stage spiritual power surged uncontrollably toward the quantum entanglement talisman at his waist, and array patterns identical to those of the barrier appeared on the talisman's surface.

“Two-way parasitism.” Ye Shuli bit her fingertip and drew a blood array on the blue brick. The modern molecular structure diagram and the ancient array diagram overlapped in her mind. “Someone used the Ye family bloodline as a culture medium and transformed the Dragon Trapping Array into a living Gu nest.”

The sound of porcelain shattering came from inside the barrier. An old man with white hair suddenly crashed into the transparent barrier, and the dark green light spot on his chest had spread to his chin.

Ye Shuli recognized him as her third uncle, who was in charge of the library. The old man mouthed the words "three-legged" repeatedly.

Jiang Ye suddenly grabbed her and flipped her over in mid-air, causing the ground where they had been standing to crack in a spiderweb pattern.

Three bronze tripod legs broke through the ground; they were the components of the clan's protective artifact that they had personally repaired last month. At this moment, however, they were covered in a foul-smelling, sticky liquid, and half a talisman paper covered with modern chemical equations was stuck to the top.

"Young Miss, be careful!" A blood-covered girl rushed out from within the barrier, her thrown copper coin sword striking the cauldron's legs and sparking. "The dungeon's Gu worms have all come alive! They've devoured the guardian spirit..."

Ye Shuli's Ice Soul Appraisal Technique was automatically triggered. She saw that what was wriggling in the girl's wound was not a Gu worm at all, but a miniature version of the Dragon Trapping Array.

Suddenly, a bright red DNA strand diagram popped up on the detector screen—these arrays were rewriting the host's genes.

"I need the actual measurement data of the four cardinal directions." She patted the quantum entanglement talisman on Jiang Ye's back, and the light and shadow of the modern surveying instrument and the ancient compass were simultaneously projected into the air. "Taking the ancestral home as the origin, the moisture-proof chip I replaced last year is buried under the seventh brick in the southeast corner. It can..."

Before the words were finished, the three legs in the northeast suddenly spewed out a thick, dark green mist.

Jiang Ye spun around and swung his sword to cleave through the poisonous mist. The spiritual energy generated by the sword's movement tore a tiny crack in the barrier's surface.

Half of a charred notebook fell out of the crack, and Ye Shuli immediately recognized it as the first experimental record she had written after transmigrating.

"Xiao Li, look!" Jiang Ye used the tip of his sword to lift the notebook. The molecular formula she had drawn herself on the yellowed pages was flashing in sync with the array patterns on the surface of the tripod. "These bastards have reversed the formula for the anti-Gu potion you developed!"

Ye Shuli suddenly snatched the bronze fragment and pressed it onto the barrier, causing her improved bloodline sealing system to collide violently with the ancient formation.

The detector screen displayed a large number of error codes, but at a certain moment, the complete coordinates of the array core flashed—pointing to the ancestral remains that should have been resting in the ancestral temple.

“It’s not modification, it’s symbiosis.” She plunged the blood-stained hairpin into a crack in the ground. The modern laser emitter embedded in the hairpin resonated with the earth’s spiritual energy. “Someone is using the remains of the Ye family ancestors as a converter, connecting my technological creations with ancient esoteric formations…”

A deafening explosion suddenly erupted within the barrier, and a mushroom cloud filled with circuit board fragments rose from the direction of the ancestral hall.

Ye Shuli staggered and grabbed the boundary marker, feeling a familiar vibration in her palm—it was the countdown before her bloodline sealing system, which she had just upgraded last month, self-destructed.

Jiang Ye suddenly grasped her trembling hand, the warmth of his palm emanating through the quantum entanglement rune: "Remember that 'Cyber ​​Array Fusion Guide' we found in the void rift? You said back then the author must be a lunatic..."

After the detector emitted its last mournful cry, it went completely black. Ye Shuli looked at her clansmen who were beginning to crystallize inside the barrier, and suddenly grabbed Jiang Ye's wrist.

On the skin exposed from his sleeve, glowing patterns that perfectly matched the array patterns of the barrier had appeared at some point.

The glowing patterns on Jiang Ye's wrist suddenly intensified, enveloping the two of them in a pale golden halo.

Ye Shuli's eyelashes trembled in the bright light, and the DNA strand diagram flashing in front of the detector's black screen overlapped with the patterns on Jiang Ye's skin on his retina.

“When did you…” She gripped Jiang Ye’s wrist, the embers of the modified revealing talisman landing on his throbbing pulse.

"The time I shielded you from the Gu worms in the void rift." Jiang Ye used his sword sheath to pick up a drop of semi-congealed blood from the ground. The dark red liquid floated in a double helix structure. "At the time, I felt the wound was burning hot, and I thought it was an allergic reaction to your newly developed hemostatic spray."

Ye Shuli suddenly ripped off the wrist guard on his right arm, revealing that the tooth mark scar from three months ago had turned into dark gold array patterns.

Her fingertips traced the intricate patterns, the modern integrated circuit-like arrangement making her temples throb – this was clearly the blueprint for her failed "spiritual energy converter" from last month.

The sound of crystals shattering came from within the barrier again, and half of Third Uncle's face had turned into transparent crystal.

Jiang Ye suddenly slapped the quantum entanglement talisman on his chest. The talisman absorbed the array patterns on his arm and projected a three-dimensional array in mid-air.

"The young lady's moisture-proof chip." He pointed to the projection in the southeast corner, "My spirit energy converter." He then pointed to the broken tripod legs in the northwest, "Plus your exploding laser hairpin—"

"Resonance frequency!" Ye Shuli suddenly pulled off the laser emitter on the hairpin, and the jade hairpin, made with modern machinery and ancient methods, split in two in her palm.

The pale blue beam of light penetrated the array projected by Jiang Ye and sparked when it collided with the electronic pulse of the moisture-proof chip at the position of the seventh wall brick.

Jiang Ye's sword suddenly emitted a dragon's roar, and the spiritual power of an early-stage Spiritualist flowed into the crack in the ground along the sword's edge.

The quantum entanglement symbol trembled violently, scorching the ground within three meters of the two people into a charred black.

Ye Shuli loosened her collar and pressed the miniature reactor hanging close to her body onto the boundary marker—this was the last piece of modern equipment she brought with her when she traveled through time.

"The southeast moisture-proof chip activates its electromagnetic field, the northwest laser hairpin is adjusted to 7.6 MHz." She bit her blood-stained hair between her teeth, her fingers rapidly tracing patterns in the air. "Jiang Ye, your spiritual power flows through the Shaoyang Meridian, the energy output of the quantum talisman is controlled at—"

"I know, I know, the same operation as when we blew up the Gu worm's lair last time." Jiang Ye's sword suddenly pierced between the two, and spiritual energy flowed onto the surface of the quantum entanglement talisman, burning it with a burnt smell. "It's just that this time the explosive yield has to be multiplied by three, right?"

The crystallization within the barrier had spread to the waists of the younger clansmen. Ye Shuli, gazing at the overlapping coordinates of modern equipment and ancient array patterns in the projection, suddenly pressed her forehead against Jiang Ye's back.

The boy's taut muscles emanated a reassuring warmth, mixed with the scent of gunpowder and fresh grass.

"It's about to begin." The moment she pressed the laser emitter, Jiang Ye's sword, imbued with spiritual energy, slashed towards the southeast corner of the wall.

The electronic pulses from the moisture-proof chip collided with the laser beam in mid-air, and the resulting electromagnetic storm made the bronze tripod legs vibrate and hum.

Ye Shuli's deerskin boots crushed three blue bricks, and the shockwave from the combination of modern machinery and Xuanmen formations blew off her silver hair ring.

Jiang Ye's complaints were drowned out by the sound of the explosion. The quantum entanglement talisman on his back suddenly floated into the air, twisting the spiritual energy of the two of them into a spiral-shaped pillar of light.

"Now!" Ye Shuli grabbed Jiang Ye and rushed towards the boundary marker, the beam of light crashing into the mushroom cloud in the direction of the ancestral temple.

Suddenly, countless cracks appeared on the surface of the barrier, spreading out like a spider web pattern on tempered glass struck by a stone.

Jiang Ye's sword suddenly flew out of his hand and split into twelve sword shadows in the air.

The spiritual power of a beginner spiritualist surged threefold at this moment, and the sword tip precisely pierced into each node of the array pattern.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ye Shuli injected reactor energy into the bloodline sealing system, causing the improved electronic barrier to tear open from the inside.

"Break!" The two shouted in unison, and the barrier emitted a crisp sound like shattering glass.

The spiritual energy carrying the circuit board fragments surged out, pulverizing the nearest bronze tripod legs.

The crystallized tribesmen fell one after another, and the crystal shell on Third Uncle's face cracked with spiderweb patterns.

Jiang Ye suddenly grabbed Ye Shuli and rolled on the ground, and dark green vines sprouted from the ground where they had been standing.

Charred skeletons rose from the ruins of the ancestral hall, and the red light in the eye sockets of the ancestors, who should have been sleeping, flickered like electronic components.

"Young Miss!" The girl, her face covered in blood, struggled to crawl over. The copper coin sword in her hand was broken in two. "In the dungeon... those formations are still mutating..."

Ye Shuli's detector suddenly restarted automatically, and the DNA strand diagram on the screen was refreshing three times per second.

She suddenly grabbed Jiang Ye's wrist and pressed the array pattern on his arm against the detector's sensing area—the sparks that erupted the moment the modern machine read the ancient array scorched her bangs.

"The core of the array has shifted." She channeled the remaining energy from the reactor into the hairpin handle, and the laser beam pierced through the blue bricks at Third Uncle's feet. "Someone moved the core array pattern to..."

Jiang Ye's sword sheath suddenly deflected the flying bronze fragments, and his back slammed heavily against the boundary marker. The blood he coughed up gleamed with an eerie green light.

Ye Shuli's Ice Soul Appraisal Technique was automatically triggered, and she discovered that the spiritual energy flow within the boy's body was reversing.

"Don't touch me!" Jiang Ye suddenly pushed away the clansmen who tried to help him, the array patterns on his arm already spreading to his neck. "This thing is copying the barrier array patterns... Xiao Li, your laser hairpin!"

Ye Shuli turned the laser emitter to maximum power, and the pale blue beam swept across Jiang Ye's bulging veins.

In the sparks that flew when modern technology collided with the spiritual power of the esoteric sect, the boy suddenly bit his tongue, and a drop of blood mixed with spiritual power landed precisely on the detector screen.

“The Southeast Moisture-proof Chip still works!” His bloodied fingers traced the 3D projection. “Connect my spiritual energy converter to the reverse loop of the seventh node—”

"You want to draw the array pattern onto yourself?" Ye Shuli pressed the tip of her hairpin against his chest, the laser beam scorching the fabric of his shirt. "This is suicidal..."

"You said that last month when you helped me detoxify the poison." Jiang Ye suddenly grinned, revealing his tiger teeth, the bloodstains at the corner of his mouth making his eyes shine even brighter. "'The conservation of energy is a universal truth,' and now it's time to pay the price."

The remaining energy of the barrier suddenly began to converge on Jiang Ye, and the array patterns on his arm shone brightly.

Ye Shuli gritted her teeth and embedded the reactor into the crack in the boundary marker. The last pulse of the moisture-proof chip and the laser beam struck the boy's heart at the same time.

In the blast wave powerful enough to blow off the roof, Jiang Ye crashed through half of a broken wall.

He coughed up blood and raised his right hand; the bulging lines on his skin were slowly fading.

Ye Shuli's detector emitted a crisp beep, and the DNA strand diagram on the screen returned to a normal double helix.

“It’s temporarily suppressed.” She tore off a piece of fabric from her sleeve and pressed it against Jiang Ye’s bleeding hand. “But the core of the formation…”

The remaining bronze tripod legs suddenly burst open, and a bottomless crack appeared in the floor of the ancestral home.

The sound of metal scraping could be heard from the thick fog, and the outline of a giant machine could be vaguely seen.

Just as Ye Shuli was about to activate the detector, the thick fog was suddenly torn apart by some force.

The moonlight illuminated the dark gold patterns on the hem of the black robe, and the newcomer's deerskin boots were from the same modern shop as the pair Ye Shuli wore.

He raised his hand and waved it lightly, and the remaining barrier energy condensed into physical chains, lifting the rescued clansmen back into the air.

"A decent fireworks display." A synthesized voice, laced with a cold laugh, ripped through the black robe as fingers beneath Ye Shuli's black robe gently caressed the first-generation detector she had developed. "Unfortunately, the explosive yield of the improved Bloodline Sealing System is still 0.7% lower than the calculated value."

Ye Shuli's pupils contracted sharply—the old scars on that person's palm completely overlapped with the scars left by the laboratory explosion before she transmigrated.