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

The roar of the bronze gears caused gravel to fall in a flurry. Ye Shuli grabbed the sulfur bomb from Jiang Ye's waist and hurled it towards the Big Dipper.

In the smoke and dust kicked up by the explosion, the barcode brand behind the Guardian's ear glowed with a ghostly blue light—three months ago at the black market auction, they had seen this brand appear on the bodies of half-demon slaves being sold.

&34; Moving back to back. &34; Jiang Ye wiped the bloodstains from the corner of his mouth, the blood-stained bandage gleaming with golden light as he performed hand seals.

The wound on his lower back was still bleeding; it had nearly cost him his life three months ago when he tried to retrieve the star map pendant that had been stolen from the auction house.

The phantom of the wise man of the Divine Temple appeared in the cracked pillar of light in the dome of the underground palace. Ye Shuli stared at the rotating bronze gears and suddenly pulled Jiang Ye towards the load-bearing pillar in the southeast corner.

Three arrows, shrouded in black mist, grazed the tips of hair and embedded themselves in the stone wall—the dark messenger, who should have turned into asphalt, instead emerged halfway from the shadows of the wall, and the dark source points surging beneath his black robes had expanded to twice their previous size.

"Take this." Ye Shuli slapped the dark energy crystal into Jiang Ye's palm, and the auction house's anti-counterfeiting watermark on the crystal's surface suddenly projected a Big Dipper constellation.

The moment the seventh star lit up, Jiang Ye pressed the star map pendant into the crack in the ground, and the azure spiritual energy rushed towards the core area of ​​the temple along the patterns on the floor tiles.

The Dark Messenger let out a laugh that sounded like glass rubbing together, and the entire underground palace suddenly turned upside down.

While in a state of weightlessness, Ye Shuli grabbed the guardian's wrist, and the frequency of his pulse was exactly the same as the Heart-to-Heart Curse that Jiang Ye had been under three months ago.

Several chains formed from black mist pierced the air and attacked. Jiang Ye used a blood-stained bandage to wrap around Ye Shuli's waist and forcefully swung her towards the direction indicated by the star map.

&34;Will the tragic drama continue? &34;The dark messenger's black robe transformed into a flock of crows, their sharp claws tearing through the protective shield that Jiang Ye had just formed.

Ye Shuli crashed into the bronze gate in the core area, watching Jiang Ye being slammed against a stone pillar by the neck wrapped in black mist. The image of him enduring heavenly lightning to protect her three months ago suddenly flashed before her eyes.

The divine runes on the bronze door sensed the sudden heat emanating from the dark crystal, but Ye Shuli turned around, drew her bow, and nocked an arrow.

As the arrow imbued with purifying power pierced through the flock of crows, the sulfur bomb hidden in Jiang Ye's sleeve simultaneously exploded.

The inferior techniques learned in the black market years ago, combined with the temple's spiritual power, temporarily trapped the Dark Messenger in the spiritual power vacuum created by the explosion.

"Go!" Jiang Ye coughed up blood and stuffed the star map pendant into her collar. The tooth mark on his palm from three months ago suddenly glowed.

Ye Shuli grabbed his collar and slammed him against the bronze door. The bloodstains on the two of them fit perfectly into the grooves on the door.

The moment the azure torrent of spiritual energy engulfed them, the asphalt that the Dark Messenger had transformed into had already spread to their feet.

Within the golden light of the Divine Awakening Array, Ye Shuli saw blood droplets seeping from Jiang Ye's wounds float into star trails.

Over the past three months, details that had been deliberately ignored suddenly came together—the fluctuations of the Heart-to-Heart Mantra on the Guardian, the slave branding at the black market auction, and the perfectly timed escape opportunities that appeared every time they were in dire straits.

The bronze pillar in the core area began to rotate, and Jiang Ye suddenly groaned and knelt on one knee.

Ye Shuli turned her head and saw that the same tattoo as the guardian's neck appeared on his back, and the black market barcode was gradually peeling off in the azure spiritual power.

The roar of the Dark Messenger came from outside the array, and the floor tiles of the entire temple were cracking.

Don't get distracted. Jiang Ye tore open his blood-soaked outer shirt, revealing a groove on his chest that perfectly matched the star map pendant.

Ye Shuli crushed the last three dark crystals. The backlash caused blood to seep from her ears and nose, but it also pushed the formation to its limit.

When the beam of light descended from the top of the bronze pillar, she finally saw that the old and new scars on Jiang Ye's body formed a complete Big Dipper Demon-Exorcising Array.

The moment the Dark Messenger's claws pierced through the array barrier, Ye Shuli grasped Jiang Ye's hand, which was forming a hand seal.

The auction house's anti-counterfeiting watermark suddenly rose from the skin of the two people who were touching, turning into golden runes that wrapped around the Dark Messenger's wrist.

The foundation of the entire temple began to shake, and the star map on the dome of the core area was rotating and reassembling at a speed that defied the laws of nature.

A deep blue starlight shone in the depths of Jiang Ye's pupils, and the pendant around Ye Shuli's neck suddenly became incredibly hot.

She felt the long-dormant power of the void stirring in her dantian, while the divine crystal suspended in the center of the formation was forcibly merging three forces from different sources... (Main text)

The star chart pendant on Ye Shuli's fingertip suddenly shattered into powder.

She slammed the remaining dark crystal in her palm against her chest, and the auction house's anti-counterfeiting watermark and the tooth mark Jiang Ye had left on her shoulder three months ago lit up simultaneously.

The three forces tore at her meridians, causing a burning pain, but they also allowed her to see the writhing star trail cracks beneath the Dark Messenger's black robe.

"The Big Dipper is in the Tian Shu position!" Jiang Ye suddenly roared, as blood-stained bandages tangled around three poisoned arrows.

Three months ago, when they were surrounded in the alleys of the black market, they also used garbage cans as cover, leaning against each other.

Ye Shuli's pupils contracted as the newly peeled barcode tattoo on Jiang Ye's back resonated with the brand on the side of the Guardian's neck.

Azure spiritual energy, mixed with black mist, formed a hurricane around Ye Shuli.

When the Dark Messenger teleported to the gap in the formation for the eighth time, she suddenly plunged a fragment of the star map into her heart.

The backlash spell unique to auction house transaction contracts surged along the bloodline, instantly binding the Dark Messenger's true form hidden in raven feathers.

"How dare you use my rules against me?" The asphalt-like body twisted violently, and the bronze gears on the temple dome suddenly stopped turning.

Taking advantage of the moment, Ye Shuli shattered the floor tiles beneath her feet. The purifying power she had accumulated in the Star Chart Pendant over the past three months transformed into a beam of light, precisely piercing the vital point through which the Dark Messenger had transferred the damage using the Black Market Slave Contract.

The blast wave ripped off Jiang Ye's outer garment, revealing a star-shaped scar on his chest that perfectly matched the groove of the bronze door.

Ye Shuli staggered towards the core area in the heatwave. When her hands, burned by spiritual energy, pressed against the eye of the divine rune array, the burnt smell of Jiang Ye shielding her from the heavenly lightning three months ago suddenly resurfaced in her nostrils.

Countless fragments of memory emerged within the light screen projected by the bronze pillar.

Looking at the Heart-to-Heart Curse pattern appearing on her left wrist, Ye Shuli suddenly understood the truth behind Jiang Ye's unusually fast recovery speed after each injury—this fool had actually planted the life-extending Gu he bought on the black market into his heart meridian.

As the intense light from the divine crystal tore through the skin, Ye Shuli heard Jiang Ye coughing up blood from the outer array.

She ripped the necklace off her neck with her backhand, and the star map fragments she had snatched from the auction three months earlier cut her palm.

When the purifying power of the mixed blood curse was injected into the crystal, all the bronze gears in the core area suddenly rotated in reverse.

"Shu Li!" Jiang Ye slammed his blood-stained hand onto the array barrier, and the teeth marks from three months ago shone with a faint blood-red light under the surge of spiritual energy.

Ye Shuli turned her head amidst the energy storm and saw that below the young man's collarbone, which was corroded by the black mist, the demon-sealing seal she had carved to suppress the Heart-to-Heart Mantra was fading.

The sudden burst of suction from the divine crystal ripped her hair ribbon apart.

Ye Shuli stared at the auction house contract runes that appeared in the darkness, then suddenly stuffed the last three dark crystals between her teeth and crushed them.

As the black mist mixed with blood surged into her dantian, she finally saw the complete Big Dipper Demon-Sealing Array formed by all the scars on Jiang Ye's body.

As the ground in the core area began to collapse, the slave brand on Jiang Ye's back completely peeled off.

Ye Shuli seized the light refracted by the divine crystal and drew a reverse contract array by hand amidst the torrent of energy.

Amidst the piercing screams of the Dark Messenger, the auction house's watermark and the temple's divine runes collided, sparking shimmering golden light.

"Now!" Ye Shuli roared as she crushed the dark crystal at her heart.

Jiang Ye suddenly ripped off the bandages, and seventy-two blood-stained bronze gears flew out from the penetrating wound he had inflicted three months ago for the Star-Seizing Map.

When the gears fit perfectly into the gap in the dome, the divine crystal finally burst forth with the complete brilliance of the Big Dipper.

The asphalt body of the Dark Messenger evaporated into fragments of the contract in the intense light.

Ye Shuli slumped down in the center of the formation, watching as the auction house imprint that had appeared on her palm was covered by star trails.

When Jiang Ye rushed over the pile of rubble, she discovered that the Demon-Sealing Seal under the young man's collarbone had transformed into a golden emblem certified by a god.

"Your back..." Ye Shuli raised her hand and pressed it against Jiang Ye's chest, where blood was seeping from the teeth marks from three months ago.

The young man grasped her trembling fingers and pressed them against the back of his neck, where the temple servant's mark, identical to that of the guardian, appeared.

A sudden shower of light fell upon the core area.

As the twelve bronze doors opened simultaneously, Ye Shuli saw a divine mark appear on her forehead in the reflection of Jiang Ye's pupils.

She raised her hand to touch the young man's still bleeding lips, but the sudden tremor of the temple foundation caused her to fall into his arms.

"Congratulations on passing the trial." The phantom of the Sage of the Divine Temple coalesced within the pillar of light, his scepter pointing to the golden emblem beneath Jiang Ye's collarbone. "The companion star mark of the Lord of the Big Dipper is rather impressive than the slave contracts on the black market."

Ye Shuli felt a chill on her neck.

The star map pendant that originally belonged to the auction house has now been transformed into a crystal inlaid with fragments of divine essence.

She turned to look at the collapsing underground palace and discovered that all the bronze gear fragments were engraved with the Big Dipper formation pattern identical to Jiang Ye's scars.

Jiang Ye suddenly groaned and knelt on one knee, the fading barcode mark appearing on his back.

When Ye Shuli reached out to help him, she noticed that half of a bloodstained bronze gear was still embedded in the unhealed wound above his tailbone—the very same hidden weapon he had blocked for her three months ago when they broke out of the auction house.

As the last floor tile sank into darkness, Ye Shuli gripped Jiang Ye's hand tightly amidst the drifting dust of light.

The divine crystal felt slightly warm in her dantian, and the meaningful look in the wise man's eyes before the phantom disappeared made her suddenly realize that this so-called divine awakening might have been foreshadowed as early as that rainy night three months ago.