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

The barrier formed by ice crystals emitted a soft cracking sound, and the dark lines on the back of Jiang Ye's neck moved as if they were alive.

Just as Ye Shuli finished drawing the third stroke of the blocking array in her palm, a chain covered with barbs suddenly emerged from the black mist, aiming straight for her throat.

"Watch out, madam!" Jiang Ye blocked with his sword, the blade rubbing against the chain and sparking indigo blue.

He twisted his wrist to dissipate 70% of the force, but was still knocked back three steps and slammed into the ice wall, the taste of blood rising in his throat.

Ye Shuli pulled the person away from the second wave of attacks, her fingertips stained with blood as she drew a benzene ring totem on the ice.

The fragments of the dark element crystal core suddenly floated in mid-air, absorbing all the poison needles that corroded the wooden beams: "Are all the puppets of the Netherworld Pavilion dead?"

Send a shadow guard who doesn't even have a physical form?

The shadowy figure let out a hoarse laugh, and more chains emerged from beneath the cloak.

Jiang Ye suddenly realized that these chains weren't metal, but countless twisting runes: "No wonder spiritual attacks were ineffective; this thing is the materialization of magic!"

"You've reminded me." Ye Shuli suddenly kicked over the bronze lamp next to her, spilling scalding hot lamp oil onto the chains.

Modern chemistry knowledge flashed through her mind. She grabbed some catalyst powder and threw it into the sparks: "Explode!"

The heatwave blew off half the roof, and the chains of the dark figure were scorched.

Taking advantage of the situation, Jiang Ye used his Ice Soul Sword to pick up fragments of the floor, frost spreading along the scorch marks: "As expected, we need to use both physics and chemistry—by the way, what you said about potassium permanganate last time..."

"Shut up!" Ye Shuli threw out three hidden darts to interrupt the shadowy attack. The catalyst coated on the tips of the darts met the phosphorus powder remaining in the air and exploded in a blinding white light.

The shadowy figure let out a painful roar, and when its cloak was burned through, half of its face covered in runes was revealed.

Jiang Ye's pupils constricted sharply: "It's the weapon refiner who went missing from the dark market! The restriction patterns on his forehead..."

"Who cares who he is!" Ye Shuli tore off the blood-stained hairband and wrapped it around their wrists, the blood seeping into the Ice Soul Sword along the gold embroidery: "Do you still remember the resonance frequency of the reverse hexagram?"

Count to three and stab at the southeast corner simultaneously!

The shadowy figure suddenly spread its arms, and the shadows of the entire street began to boil.

Ye Shuli's newly condensed dark element suddenly went out of control, and the backlash of spiritual power caused her to spit out blood.

Jiang Ye used his body to block the shadowy tentacles that were attacking her, and three bloody marks were instantly corroded on his back.

"Are you crazy?" Ye Shuli pressed her trembling hand against his wound, and the dark element and ice spiritual power collided to create fine snow.

When she saw the snowflakes shining brightly in the shadows, she suddenly grabbed Jiang Ye's wrist: "These shadows are swallowing up the light!"

Jiang Ye wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and the Ice Soul Sword suddenly plunged into the moonlight at his feet.

Frost spread along the path of light, indeed forming patches of light at the feet of the dark figure: "No wonder he dared not leave the shadowy area under the roof beams!"

The shadowy figure let out an angry shriek, and more chains came from all directions.

Jiang Ye suddenly ripped open his collar to reveal a dark pattern, and charged straight at the chains: "Come on!"

Didn't you want to merge energy?

"Idiot!" Ye Shuli's angry curses were drowned out by the explosion.

Jiang Ye deliberately let the chains wrap around his right arm, and when the dark patterns and incantations came into contact, they burst into lightning.

The shadowy figure suddenly froze for half a second, enough time for Ye Shuli to smash the catalyst bottle in his shadow.

As the smoke rose, Ye Shuli finally saw the point where the dark figure connected with the shadow on the ground.

Her bloodied fingertips began to trace an elemental fusion array, ice crystals and dark currents swirling into a vortex in her palm—

(Continued from above)

Ice crystals and dark currents burst forth with dazzling light in Ye Shuli's palm as she slammed the fusion array hard into the ground.

The residual phosphorus powder from the catalyst suddenly burned violently, illuminating the shadowed connection point in the southeast corner in minute detail.

"Seven inches to the southeast!" Jiang Ye threw his Ice Soul Sword, which was covered in frost flowers, and the tip of the sword pierced the writhing dark spot with precision.

The shadowy figure let out an inhuman howl, and thick black liquid seeped from under its cloak. The shadows along the entire street writhed wildly like a scalded snake.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ye Shuli threw out three hidden darts, and the catalyst bottles attached to the ends of the darts exploded in mid-air.

The blue smoke and phosphorescent flames intertwined to form a net, firmly pinning the dark shadow to the place where the moonlight was strongest.

With a hissing sound of corrosion, the shadowy figure's left shoulder began to carbonize and peel off.

"How dare you—" The hoarse voice suddenly turned sharp, and the black shadow's mutilated arm plunged into his heart.

Dark purple runes surged along his veins, instantly swallowing up the light source of the entire night sky.

The Ice Soul Sword that Jiang Ye had just picked up suddenly felt incredibly heavy, and black blood seeped from the frost patterns on the hilt.

Ye Shuli dragged Jiang Ye towards the burning remains of the bronze lamp, only to find the flames strangely lying flat on the ground.

The fragments of the dark elemental crystal core suddenly went out of control, slashing three bloody gashes across her waist. "He's absorbing all the energy!" She pressed down on her surging blood and qi, then suddenly felt a half-eaten osmanthus cake inside her clothes—something Jiang Ye had forced on her two hours earlier.

Jiang Ye suddenly groaned and knelt on one knee, dark lines creeping up his face.

He thrust the Ice Soul Sword into his left shoulder with a backhand motion, frost flowers mixed with black blood splattering onto Ye Shuli's skirt: "Use my blood to draw an array!"

His incantation resonates with my dark patterns!

Ye Shuli's pupils suddenly contracted.

Within the ice crystals that spread with the blood, dark patterns mirrored the incantations of the shadowy figures.

She tore open her skirt, soaked in blood, and used the frost-covered ground to draw a modified six-pointed star array.

When the last stroke connected with Jiang Ye's dark pattern, the entire ground suddenly rose with a ghostly blue fluorescence.

"Lower your head!" Jiang Ye suddenly pounced on her, three shadowy spears grazing her hair.

He slammed his back against the broken wall, coughing up blood, but a mocking smile played on his lips: "Boss lady, your improved formation seems to be missing something..."

"Shut up!" Ye Shuli smashed the blood-stained osmanthus cake into the center of the formation.

A sweet, cloying aroma mixed with the smell of blood soared into the sky, and the wisps of smoke from the catalyst suddenly condensed into countless ice needles.

Just as the shadowy figure was about to disappear into the darkness, all the ice needles suddenly changed direction and followed the trajectory of the osmanthus syrup, piercing into the major acupoints all over his body.

A clear sound, like shattering glass, echoed between heaven and earth, and the dark curtain that shrouded the night sky cracked open with spiderweb-like fissures.

Ye Shuli dragged Jiang Ye into the brightest part of the moonlight, looking at the half of his face etched with dark patterns: "Do you trust me?"

Jiang Ye hooked his bleeding fingertip around her little finger: "I'll believe you even in my next life."

Ye Shuli suddenly bit her tongue, spraying her blood essence into the center of the improved array.

The moment the formation absorbed the moonlight, she pushed Jiang Ye into the formation's core, then leaped up to face the final attack of the dark figure.

The fragments of the dark elemental crystal core exploded in his palm, enveloping him in essence blood and piercing through the heart of the shadowy figure.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment.

The dark figure remained frozen in place, still in a tearing posture, with silvery-white light gushing from the hole in its chest.

Jiang Ye's dark markings suddenly detached from his skin, solidifying into chain shapes under the moonlight, firmly binding the disintegrating remains of the black shadow.

The lanterns that had been extinguished along the street lit up one by one, and the light spots crawled along the frost-covered ground, covering the shadowy figures.

"You...have no idea..." The shadowy figure's final roar was swallowed by a sudden flash of white light.

As the light faded, only half a piece of cloth embroidered with the Netherworld Pavilion totem slowly drifted down.

Jiang Ye staggered and caught the exhausted Ye Shuli, and the two slid down the broken wall and sat down in the frost-covered ground.

His bloodied hand traced the corroded wound on her back, his icy spiritual energy mingling with dark elements to weave a strange net of light: "If it hurts, bite my shoulder."

"Are you acting out a story?" Ye Shuli scoffed, tilting her head and pressing her forehead against his throbbing carotid artery.

The sound of morning bells drifted from afar, and as the first rays of dawn pierced the clouds, she suddenly grabbed Jiang Ye's wrist: "The color of your dark tattoo has changed."

Jiang Ye looked down at the golden patterns that had re-emerged into his skin, and was about to say something when he suddenly coughed violently.

Golden glints mixed with blood splattered onto the frost flowers, instantly condensing into tiny runes.

Ye Shuli ran her blood-stained fingertips over the runes, her pupils suddenly contracting—these runes perfectly matched the restrictive incantation of the shadowy figure.

The morning breeze lifted the half-piece of the Netherworld Pavilion cloth, revealing dark red medicine stains on the back.

Ye Shuli suddenly remembered what the hunched old man who sold her the catalyst in the dark market three days ago had said: "Miss, this medicine will change color if it comes into contact with royal blood."

As the eastern sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn, neither of the two embracing noticed that a golden ray of light was quietly seeping into the soil from among the frost flowers.

On the altar of the Netherworld Pavilion, a hundred miles away, seven soul lamps suddenly lit up with a ghostly blue flame at the same time.