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

The double moonlight refracted by the ice enveloped the two embracing figures. Jiang Ye's Ice Soul Sword was stuck upside down in the ice five steps away, and the silver bell hanging from the hilt was still trembling slightly.

The ice pillar against Ye Shuli's lower back suddenly made a cracking sound. Her left hand, hidden in her sleeve, reflexively clenched the dark element crystal core until she realized that it was just the ice layer cracking naturally before she loosened her knuckles.

"What are you hiding in your sleeve?" Jiang Ye's nose brushed against her earlobe, his fingers already deftly slipping into the fox fur trim of her sleeve.

Just as Ye Shuli was about to raise her elbow to retaliate, the mischievous hand simply brushed away the ice shards clinging to her wrist.

Ye Shuli suddenly grabbed the jade buckle on his waist belt that had been slashed by a sharp blade: "Stop pretending. Before that leader disappeared, what did you put in his scepter?" The cold flames remaining on her fingertips branded a six-pointed ice flower shape on Jiang Ye's dark clothes, and the melted snow water was seeping into his collarbone.

Jiang Ye chuckled and wrapped the two of them in his cloak, the fur collar tickling Ye Shuli's nose: "It's just a tracking talisman I borrowed from the weapon-refining elder last time—hey, don't pinch me!"

The old man's talisman shop is in the third alley in the west of the city. The money for the talismans came from the money you deducted from my drinking money last month.

The black lines in the Snow Soul Spring suddenly twisted violently. Ye Shuli took the opportunity to push Jiang Ye away, her boot heel crushing the icicles that were forming three feet away.

As she bent down to pick up the half of the black iron wristband, the ice crystal pendant hanging from her hair just happened to cover the shock in her eyes—the charred benzene ring totem on the inside of the wristband was plated with an eerie silver edge by the moonlight.

When Jiang Ye pressed against her from behind, his warm breath, carrying the scent of cedar, brushed against the back of her neck: "This pattern looks familiar, it's like that... that honeycomb-shaped alchemy diagram you drew?" As he spoke, his Adam's apple brushed against her earlobe, while his right hand, holding the wrist guard, pressed precisely on the sixth carbon element of the benzene ring.

Ye Shuli suddenly turned around and grabbed his shirt, her other hand still clutching the dark element crystal core: "Jiang Ye, you'd better explain why you know about the benzene ring structure." The scorching heat from her palm seeped through the fabric, burning a coin-sized scorch mark on Jiang Ye's chest.

The Ice Soul Sword suddenly emitted a hum, and the cracks in the sky reflected on its blade were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Jiang Ye pressed the person against the ice pillar in this position, the white mist overflowing from his lips blurring their intersecting gazes: "Last month on the full moon, when you were drawing the periodic table by the hot spring pool..." The last syllable disappeared into the soft touch that suddenly covered him.

Ye Shuli bit his lower lip with a vengeful force, the taste of blood mingling with the chill emanating from the Ice Soul Sword, filling her mouth.

Jiang Ye's hand, which was around her waist, suddenly tightened, and the two of them stumbled and fell onto the ice platform covered with ferret fur.

The scattered golden bell-shaped ashes were swept up by the airflow, forming tiny silver vortexes around him.

"Don't move." Ye Shuli pressed down on his hand that was about to touch the sword. The cold flame that ignited at her fingertips illuminated the newly added dark pattern on the back of Jiang Ye's neck—it was clearly the same benzene ring totem as the one on the black iron bracer, except that each of the six vertices was inlaid with an ice-blue spirit stone.

A third loud crash of ice collapsing came from the direction of Snow Soul Spring, and Ye Shuli finally released the Dark Element Crystal Core with her left hand hidden behind her back.

The moment she tilted her head back and bit Jiang Ye's Adam's apple, the black mist that exploded when the crystal core fell into the ice crevice silently swallowed the projection of their intertwined fingers.

Frost condensed into flowers outside the Ice Soul Sword's barrier. Jiang Ye's fingertips twirled the ice crystal pendant hanging from Ye Shuli's hair. The scent of pine trees mingled with the lingering stench of blood: "The tracking talisman can last for three hours, enough for us to return to Silver Snow City and find the weapon-refining elder."

Ye Shuli gripped the swaying gold sash at his waist, the lingering cold flames on her fingertips tracing the outline of the periodic table on the ice: "The third alley in the west of the city?" She suddenly pulled him closer, the benzene ring totem on her black iron wristband gleaming with a ghostly blue luster in the moonlight. "You knew you'd run into people from the Netherworld Pavilion."

Jiang Ye groaned as he pressed his shoulder blade, which had slammed into an ice pillar. As his spiritual energy circulated in his palm, the distorted black mist outside the barrier suddenly condensed into a three-dimensional projection of the weapon-refining workshop.

The three-story wooden building loomed in and out of sight amidst the wind and snow, with bronze bells hanging from the eaves resonating with the Ice Soul Sword.

“The seventh day of last month.” He suddenly chuckled softly near her earlobe, “Someone blew up the kitchen while making ice with saltpeter, forcing me to buy thirty fire-repelling talismans on credit.” His long, slender fingers traced across the ice, revealing an ochre ledger next to the periodic table. “Page eight, item three—you crossed out the money for the drinks yourself.”

The moment Ye Shuli raised her knee to strike his abdomen, a crisp sound of ice breaking suddenly came from outside the barrier.

The benzene ring totem on the black iron wristband suddenly became hot, and the dark pattern on the back of Jiang Ye's neck emitted an icy blue light, freezing the approaching black mist into dust.

“A catalyst.” She suddenly grabbed Jiang Ye’s hand as he tried to draw his sword, cold flames igniting a benzene ring structure on the ice. “Modern alchemy uses catalysts to accelerate reactions. If we inject fire element into the sixth carbon position…”

Jiang Ye's sword hilt suddenly reversed, and the chilling aura of the Ice Soul Sword etched a six-pointed star into the array diagram.

When Ye Shuli pressed the dark element crystal core to the center, the originally static array suddenly began to rotate at high speed, and blue-purple lightning burst from their clasped palms.

The moment the barrier shattered, Jiang Ye, with Ye Shuli's waist in his arms, leaped into the air.

The ice below collapsed with a roar, and the Snow Soul Spring water, carrying black mist, shot into the sky, only to be broken down into pure spiritual energy upon touching the array diagram.

"Three hours." Ye Shuli gasped as she slumped onto the sled formed from the Ice Soul Sword, the golden bell on her wrist absorbing the dissipating energy. "The Elder's talisman shop opens at Chen Shi (7-9 AM), and there are still..."

Jiang Ye suddenly bit the ice crystal pendant in her hair, his warm lips brushing against her earlobe: "Enough to do more important things." He activated his spiritual power in his palm, and the sled traced a silver path in the moonlight, the frozen black mist along the way blooming into hexagonal frost flowers on the ice surface.

When the wooden door of the third room in the west alley of Silver Snow City was kicked open, the weapon-refining elder was dozing in front of the furnace.

Jiang Ye threw out the black iron wrist guard, which landed precisely in the quenching pool. The serpentine emblem of the Netherworld Pavilion appeared in the rising smoke.

“An improved tracking talisman.” Ye Shuli slapped a piece of parchment with a benzene ring structure drawn on it on the counter. “It needs to be able to absorb the enemy’s spiritual energy fluctuations in reverse.” The cold flame that ignited at her fingertips illuminated a spot in the ledger, where ochre handwriting showed a suspicious transaction involving black iron three months ago.

The elder's cloudy pupils suddenly contracted, and the crimson gold sand flying out of the furnace condensed in the air into a dark pattern on the back of Jiang Ye's neck.

When the sixth ice-blue spirit stone lit up, the catalyst powder hidden in Ye Shuli's sleeve suddenly ignited, turning the entire room a deep blue.

When the drumbeat of the hour of Xu (7-9 PM) sounded, the two were repairing the black iron wrist guards on the top floor of the inn.

Jiang Ye held the carving knife and injected fire spirit essence into the sixth position of the benzene ring, while Ye Shuli mixed the catalyst powder into cinnabar and carefully outlined the array pattern.

“This way, you can circulate spiritual energy three times faster.” She suddenly pressed down on Jiang Ye’s bleeding wrist, and the catalyst, upon contact with the blood, suddenly exploded with sparks. “But if you don’t control it properly…”

The snowflakes drifting in from outside the window suddenly hovered in mid-air, and the dark patterns on the back of Jiang Ye's neck resonated with his wristband.

When Ye Shuli touched the dark patterns with her cinnabar-stained fingertips, the elemental energy of the entire Silver Snow City suddenly began to flow in reverse.

The moment the Ice Soul Sword was drawn from its sheath, the improved tracking talisman hidden in Ye Shuli's sleeve suddenly burst into flames.

Ashes spelled out the Netherworld Pavilion's secret order in the air: "The Reverse Yuan Plan has been launched; the operation will conclude at midnight."

Jiang Ye's sword tip flicked up the burning talisman paper, and in the firelight, the shadows of two people's intertwined fingers were reflected: "Looks like someone's eager to see our new formation diagram."

Ye Shuli flicked the catalyst out the window, and the once calm night sky suddenly revealed countless fluorescent patterns.

Those intertwined benzene ring structures enveloped the entire city, each node shimmering with the same light as the dark lines on the back of Jiang Ye's neck.

“It’s not tracking.” She suddenly crushed the golden bell on her wrist, the dissipated spiritual energy condensing into a phantom of an elemental analyzer in her palm. “They’re collecting our spiritual energy fluctuations.”

The array on the ferret carpet suddenly floated into the air. The catalyst accelerated the circulation of spiritual energy, but it also revealed the hidden Netherworld mark.

As the sixth ice-blue spirit stone began to flash, a huge inverted six-pointed star appeared on the floor of the entire inn.

The moment Jiang Ye's Ice Soul Sword pierced the array's core, the dark element crystal core in Ye Shuli's hand suddenly cracked.

The phantom of the Netherworld Pavilion leader appeared in the crystal core fragments, and the serpentine emblem on his black robe overlapped with the benzene ring totem on the black iron bracers.

"Watch out!" Ye Shuli suddenly tackled Jiang Ye to the ground, and the catalyst powder exploded above their heads, creating a barrier.

The poisonous needles formed from the Netherworld Mark struck the barrier, corroding the wooden beams and creating honeycomb-like holes.

The moonlight was suddenly swallowed by the black mist, and the elemental energy of the entire street began to flow back wildly.

Jiang Ye felt a sudden, sharp pain in the dark lines on the back of his neck. He reached back and pressed down on Ye Shuli's hand, which was drawing the blocking array: "It's midnight."

The chilling aura of the Ice Soul Sword froze the crumbling barrier, but made the reverse-rotating array diagram even clearer.

Ye Shuli suddenly bit her fingertip, smearing the blood mixed with catalyst onto the sword blade: "Since we're going to reverse the Yuan, let's give them double the energy!"

When the Netherworld Pavilion's closing spell was fully revealed, Jiang Ye's sword had already pierced the array's core.

In the spiritual energy storm fueled by the catalyst, the two clasped hands pressed simultaneously against the center of the inverted six-pointed star, and the violent energy fluctuations instantly distorted space.

Jiang Ye and Ye Shuli warily observed the unusual elements around them. Suddenly—