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

When Jiang Ye's tactical boots sank into the liquefied starlight, the phoenix mark on the back of Ye Shuli's neck almost burned through her skin.

She drew her dagger and cut off the hem of her skirt that was entangled by the star serpent, only to find that the torn fabric was instantly devoured by the rampaging void power.

"Don't touch the ground!" Jiang Ye suddenly swung out the steel cable from his tactical belt, which wrapped around the dome star map, using the momentum to swing the two of them into the air.

The liquefied starlight stretched into thin silver threads on the soles of his boots, like countless hands trying to pull them into the abyss.

Ye Shuli used the momentum to step on the twisted star vein, and the originally docile energy was now flowing back into the wound on her fingertip.

She suddenly noticed the direction of a blood-red crack—at the gap in the star trail that should have closed, faint purple runes were floating.

“Someone has rewritten the Guardian’s sealing array.” She pressed the phoenix mark onto the back of Jiang Ye’s tactical uniform, golden light spreading along the dark patterns to form a defensive barrier. “Seven steps to the southwest corner, use your explosive hidden weapon.”

Jiang Ye blew away the stray hairs obscuring his vision, and as he flicked open the hidden compartment with his tactical glove, he couldn't help but joke, "Shouldn't we say something like 'living and dying together' at this moment?" The black iron nail wrapped with the explosive talisman was precisely embedded at the intersection of the incantations, and sure enough, half of the lotus-colored sleeve that hadn't been pulled back was revealed in the sparks of the explosion.

The female cultivator from the Void Organization staggered out from behind the shattered star curtain, the jade hairpin in her hair falling to the ground.

She stared at Jiang Ye's back as he protected Ye Shuli, her knuckles turning white as she clenched her fists: "Why is she the one who gets the key's approval!"

I've been guarding this place for three hundred years...

Suddenly, the entire starry sky was torn open with a pitch-black rift, and chains carrying a stench grazed past Ye Shuli's ear.

The Void Explorer descended upon the bronze compass, the Soul-Devouring Orb embedded in the end of the chains frantically absorbing the rampaging energy: "Little girl, hand over the key projection!"

Ye Shuli spun around to avoid the second chain and discovered that the star vein touched by the Soul Devouring Pearl was rapidly decaying into black mist.

Jiang Ye suddenly ripped open the front of his tactical uniform, revealing a gilded pattern on his chest that echoed the phoenix mark: "Sister Li, how about we take a gamble?"

Two figures passed each other amidst the collapsing star trails.

Ye Shuli deliberately created an opening, causing the chains to wrap around her left arm. But the instant the Soul-Devouring Pearl touched her flesh, she flipped her wrist—the Phoenix Mark, carrying the rampaging power of the void, surged backward along the chains toward the bronze compass.

The moment the Void Explorers were forced to retreat, the thirteen hidden weapons that Jiang Ye had previously placed in various locations along the star trails detonated simultaneously.

The shockwave shattered the liquefied ground within a radius of ten feet, and countless golden phoenix feathers floated up from the splashing starlight, temporarily freezing the flow of time and space.

"Southwest Kun position, the star map reverses three cycles." Ye Shuli wiped the bloodstains from the corner of her mouth, grabbed Jiang Ye, and leaped towards the re-emerging star orbit hub.

Golden and silver light continuously seeped from their clasped palms, forcibly piecing together half of the incomplete array diagram under the collapsing dome.

The female cultivator suddenly let out a shrill scream, and purple-black flames rose around her as she rushed towards the array's core: "No one can..." Her full-force attack, burning her life essence, crashed into the barrier formed by phoenix feathers, and the backlash energy slammed her heavily into the liquefied starlight pool.

Ye Shuli suddenly felt the chaotic void power surging through her meridians quiet down.

The key projection slowly rotated in the center of the array, and the blood-red cracks were being repaired by golden light at a visible speed.

She turned her head to speak, but saw a large patch of dark red seeping through the right shoulder of Jiang Ye's tactical uniform.

"Just a superficial wound!" the boy casually tore off a piece of his shirt to bandage himself, a crushed piece of pastry popping out of his tactical belt. "See if you call this 'fight to the death'?"

The Void Explorer's bronze compass suddenly emitted a piercing buzz, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the surface of the Soul Devouring Orb.

His sinister gaze swept across the temporarily stable starry sky, his figure gradually fading into black mist: "We'll meet again soon, little phoenix."

Ye Shuli stared at the unclosed spatial rift where the black mist had dissipated, and then pressed the phoenix mark onto the unrepaired star track gap with her backhand.

As Jiang Ye chewed on his snack and leaned closer, he saw a familiar glint in her eyes—the look of someone discovering new prey.

Ye Shuli suddenly closed her five fingers, and the remaining void power at her fingertips condensed into a silver light blade.

She shattered the floating starlight fragments and charged straight at the Void Explorer amidst Jiang Ye's shout of "Save your spiritual power!"

The Soul-Devouring Pearl on the bronze compass suddenly burst open, and the fragments that shot out were actually carried by the light blades and pierced into the black mist in the opposite direction.

"Impossible!" The Void Explorer's voice cracked for the first time.

His hastily erected defensive barrier was shattered by the light blade as easily as cutting tofu, revealing his twisted, star-patterned body beneath his black robe—the starlight that should have been flowing was dimming at a visible speed.

Jiang Ye, with half a pastry in his mouth, leaped onto the tilted star track, his tactical boots popping out grappling hooks that snapped into the cracks: "It's normal for an old relic who should have retired three hundred years ago to be unable to keep up with the moves of the new era." The box of hidden weapons he threw disintegrated in mid-air, twelve black iron nails precisely pinning the hem of his black robe.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ye Shuli pressed the phoenix mark onto the core of the compass.

Golden-red flames swept upwards along the star-patterned veins, causing the black mist to sizzle.

The Void Explorer let out an inhuman howl, and the remaining mist shrank into a black kernel the size of a walnut, which suddenly burrowed into the still unclosed spatial rift.

"Ran away?" Jiang Ye deliberately crushed half of the bronze compass as he landed. "At least leave some souvenirs." He bent down to pick up the fragments, but his tactical gloves were scorched—the bronze shards were rapidly oxidizing into ash.

Ye Shuli suddenly turned around and threw out a light blade.

Seven steps away, the Starshine Pool exploded with a towering column of water, forcing the female cultivator from the Void Organization, who was trying to escape, to reveal herself.

The jade hairpin in her hair had long since shattered, and her long, loose hair was now being burned and curled by the purple flames she had released.

"Beast Trapping Formation, activate!" Ye Shuli slapped the ground with both hands.

The scattered phoenix feathers suddenly rose into the air, intertwining to form a golden cage that enveloped the female cultivator.

The purple flames bounced off the feathers and instead scorched her star-embroidered cuffs.

The Void Organization members, who had been watching for a long time, finally emerged from their hiding place.

The white-bearded elder at the head of the group trembled as he raised a bronze lamp: "Aqing, you actually altered the star trails to feed the Spirit Devouring Pearl!" The lamp reflected the dark red cracks that covered the star screen—proof of the female cultivator's secret sabotage over the past three hundred years.

The female cultivator pounded on the cage frantically, purplish-black blood seeping from between her fingers: "Why is she allowed to inherit the key!"

I've guarded the Star Pivot Palace for three hundred years, and I don't even have the right to touch the array's core! She suddenly froze, and the same star pattern as the Soul Devouring Pearl appeared on the side of her neck—those dark red cracks were spreading along her skin towards her face.

Ye Shuli ran her fingers across the phoenix mark, and golden light condensed into a thin blade in her palm: "When you plotted against the star veins and caused the annihilation of 36,000 auxiliary stars, did you ever think about today?" The tip of the blade hovered three inches between the female cultivator's eyebrows, reflecting the wildly pulsating purple flames in her pupils.

The entire starry sky trembled without warning.

Jiang Ye's compass needle in his tactical belt began to spin wildly, and he instinctively lunged towards Ye Shuli: "Ground!" The liquefied starlight suddenly formed a vortex, and the unrepaired gap in the star track emitted a terrifying suction force.

"Grasp something fixed!" The white-bearded old man inserted the lamp into the ground.

More than a dozen members of the Void Organization threw out their magical artifacts, but half of them were still swept towards the center of the vortex.

Ye Shuli inserted the phoenix feather into the star vein with her backhand, only to find that the energy that should have been flowing was rapidly solidifying.

Jiang Ye's tactical grappling hook plowed five deep grooves into the starlight ground: "The gravity source is moving!" The alarm built into his tactical suit blared, and his backup oxygen mask popped open automatically—a sign of a sudden change in air pressure.

Ye Shuli suddenly grabbed his wrist and forcibly connected their spiritual power through the phoenix mark.

The moment the golden barrier took shape, the dome of the Star Pivot Palace collapsed with a deafening roar.

The female cultivator's maniacal laughter was drowned out by the deafening sound of space tearing apart, and the white-bearded old man's bronze lamp shattered in response.

The last thing Ye Shuli saw was a silver torrent formed by countless fragments of star trails.

The two men's tactical uniforms fluttered in the turbulent water. Jiang Ye pulled out a crushed piece of mung bean cake and stuffed it into Ye Shuli's palm: "Want some sugar?" His voice was enveloped in the howling storm, but his eyes behind his tactical glasses shone with an astonishing brightness.

The moment Ye Shuli bit into the pastry, the Phoenix Mark suddenly erupted with unprecedented heat.

Darkness swallowed all perception.