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

The sparks from the blood-red spear striking the bronze fragments had not yet dissipated when a second whale's cry echoed from the depths of the spatial rift.

Jiang Ye's sword-wielding hand was suddenly covered in frost, and the phantom of the Big Dipper trembled and went out on the sword's edge. A kind of viscous darkness was eroding his spiritual energy circuits along the star trails.

"Retreat!" Ye Shuli grabbed Jiang Ye by the back of his collar and rolled three zhang away. The ground where they had just stood cracked open with spiderweb-like fissures.

What seeped out of the cracks was not magma, but a black, asphalt-like substance that corroded the vegetation within a ten-meter radius in the blink of an eye.

The guardian of the spacetime rift suddenly let out a sharp cry, and twelve pairs of light wings fully unfolded on its back.

He pointed his scepter at the crack and roared, "This is the domain I have guarded for three thousand years—"

“Old relics should stay in their coffins.” A soft male voice cleaved through the air, and a humanoid figure formed from black matter rose from the crack.

The newcomer was dressed in dark gold scale armor, wore a monocle with a taotie pattern on his left eye, and had seven skulls shrunk to the size of a fingertip strung on a chain wrapped around his fingertips.

Ye Shuli pressed her bleeding left shoulder, and the bronze fragment suddenly felt hot in her palm.

The artifact fragment obtained three months ago in Starfall Valley is now displaying the same geometric light patterns as Jiang Ye's star pattern.

"Seventh Special Envoy of the Time and Space Administration." The mysterious man chuckled as he stroked the chains. "Or, according to your understanding, it would be more appropriate to call me the Lord of the Abyss." He suddenly raised his foot and stepped on the guardian who was struggling to get up, and the twelve pairs of light wings shattered into light fragments like fragile glass.

Jiang Ye wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and the star trail drawn by his natal sword in the ground suddenly lit up: "You have chewing gum on the sole of your shoe." The starlight drawn by the sword's edge precisely struck the Abyss Lord's ankle, but was distorted into black specks of light the instant it touched the scales.

The Abyss Lord turned his monocle with interest: "The inheritor of Starfall Valley?"

"It's a pity your master didn't teach you that the Big Dipper's orbit shifts by 0.79 degrees at midnight." He casually flicked his finger, and suddenly the reflection of the Big Dipper appeared on Jiang Ye's chest, with all seven stars exploding simultaneously.

The bronze fragments that Ye Shuli flung out unfolded a star map in the air, channeling the explosive energy underground.

In the instant the ground collapsed with a deafening roar, she grabbed Jiang Ye and leaped onto the nearest rock: "The third skull on his chain is a Spirit Venerable level cultivator."

The Maw Lord paced back and forth, stepping on the Guardian's head. With each step, fragments of spacetime condensed into black lotuses: "Not bad observation skills."

However, I prefer the fluctuations of your spiritual energy when you struggle—they're so much like the time traveler who used gunpowder to blast open a spatial barrier three hundred years ago.

The guardian suddenly let out a trapped beast's roar, and its remaining wings of light ignited with crimson flames.

The turbulent currents erupting from the spacetime rift formed a vortex, but were shredded by chains that flew out from the Abyss Lord's sleeve just as they were about to touch him.

The seven skulls emitted a shriek simultaneously, causing blood to seep from Ye Shuli's ears and nose.

"Be careful of resonance!" Jiang Ye pulled off the jade belt from his waist and flung it into the air. The star pattern matrix he had carved three months ago resonated with the bronze fragment.

The three-dimensional barrier formed by the twelve intersecting star orbits barely withstood the sound waves, but spiderweb-like cracks had already appeared on the surface of the barrier.

The Abyss Lord suddenly appeared outside the barrier, his monocle almost touching Jiang Ye's face: "Do you know why we chose today?" He pointed his finger at the center of the crack, "Because tonight at midnight, this very land beneath your feet will be the projection point of the alignment of the seven stars three thousand years ago."

Ye Shuli suddenly pressed the bronze fragment into the wound on her left shoulder, and the gushing blood activated the star map hidden inside the fragment.

The Abyss Lord revealed a smile of prey caught in its net, and was about to reach out to grab the star map when Jiang Ye's natal sword suddenly pierced his left eye, which was covered by a monocle, from an odd angle.

The sword stopped three inches from his eyeball. The Abyss Lord chuckled, holding the blade between two fingers: "Commendable courage." Black chains wrapped around Jiang Ye's wrist along the sword, and seven skulls simultaneously opened their mouths to bite at his throat.

A third whale cry suddenly came from the spacetime rift, closer to the real dimension than the previous two.

The Abyss Lord hesitated slightly, and the skull on the chain even showed a look of fear.

In that instant, Ye Shuli's blood-stained fingertip touched the guardian's brow, and the fragments of light wings crushed by the Devouring Abyss Lord suddenly transformed into a rain of blood-red arrows.

"Go!" The Guardian, with his last strength, tore open a rift in spacetime, pushing the two forward before the turbulent currents, and roared, "Go to the Fallen Star Sea and find Priestess Minghe—"

Before the Maw Lord's cold laugh was swallowed by the turbulent currents, Jiang Ye saw the other party crush the Guardian's head with a single hand.

The seventh skull on the chain made a satisfied swallowing sound, while Ye Shuli's hand, clutching the bronze fragment, revealed the same divination patterns as those in the Starfall Valley ruins.

(Continued from above)

Jiang Ye crashed through three rocks before barely managing to steady himself, and silver light emanated from the cracks in his natal sword.

The lingering dark energy from the Maw Lord's sleeves continued to erode his meridians, and spiderweb-like black patterns appeared beneath the skin of his right arm.

"It's time to end this hero's act." The Abyss Lord walked towards Ye Shuli, stepping on the spatial turbulence. The skull on the chain suddenly expanded into seven hideous ghost faces. "Do you know why I left you until the end?"

The spiritual core of the time traveler from three hundred years ago...

Ye Shuli suddenly pressed the blood-stained bronze fragment to her brow, and the divination patterns obtained from Starfall Valley lit up on her skin.

The Abyss Lord staggered halfway through his sentence, and a fine crack appeared in the monocle in his left eye—the flow of spacetime within a ten-meter radius mysteriously slowed down by five times.

"Star trails reversed?" The Abyss Lord showed surprise for the first time, and black mist seeped from his chained hands.

The slowed-down spacetime fragments, like raindrops paused on a pause button, floated around Ye Shuli, forming a ring-shaped barrier.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jiang Ye inserted his natal sword into the crack in the ground, and the reflection of the Big Dipper suddenly appeared in the sky.

The remains of the guardian, crushed by the Maw Lord, emitted a faint light, resonating with the star map of Starfall Valley.

Geometric light patterns identical to those on the bronze fragment appeared behind Ye Shuli's ear, and the range of time-space deceleration suddenly expanded to a hundred meters.

"A mere trick." The Abyss Lord sneered, and the seventh skull suddenly spewed out purple flames.

The slowed-down spacetime turbulence boiled over again, and Ye Shuli's barrier emitted a crisp sound like shattering glass.

When Jiang Ye coughed up blood and got up, he saw that her skirt was being devoured by dark matter.

As their hands pressed simultaneously onto the bronze fragment, the star map obtained from Starfall Valley was suddenly projected into the real dimension.

Seven rotating star rings encircled the Devourer Lord, and Ye Shuli deliberately allowed the blood gushing from the wound on her left shoulder to soak into the core of the star map.

The moment the Maw Lord was trapped, the skulls on the chains suddenly began to tear at each other.

"Now!" Jiang Ye's sword slashed through the space-time rift, and the moment the Big Dipper's orbit and the meteorite star map overlapped, the Devourer Lord's monocle finally shattered completely.

Ye Shuli pretended to stagger and kneel down, but the bronze fragment hidden in her sleeve began to absorb the dark energy emanating from the other party.

When the Maw Lord teleported in front of the two, the chains were suddenly jammed by the Star Ring for 0.3 seconds.

In that brief moment, Jiang Ye's shattered natal sword suddenly broke into seven star nails, which were driven into the Big Dipper projection point beneath the opponent's feet.

Ye Shuli's blood-stained fingertips traced through the void, and the forbidden technique recorded in the Starfall Valley ruins was unleashed in the mortal world for the first time.

When the bronze fragments came into contact with the Maw Lord's scales, the projection of the seven stars aligned three thousand years ago enveloped the battlefield.

The residual blood flames of the Time Guardian suddenly ignited in Ye Shuli's hair, and the Devourer Lord let out a painful groan mixed with anger—seven hair-thin cracks appeared on his dark gold scales.

What seeped from the cracks was not blood, but viscous stardust.

The Abyss Lord stroked the cracks in his scales and chuckled, as millions of chains suddenly surged from the spacetime rift behind him.

As Ye Shuli pulled Jiang Ye back rapidly, she discovered that the surface of the bronze fragment had a mark that was exactly the same as the crack in the other party's scales.

"The game is getting more and more interesting." The Maw Lord's voice disappeared into the void along with the chains. "Remember, when stardust fills the cracks..." The last half of the sentence was cut off by the sudden closure of the spacetime rift, leaving only stardust forming the shape of the Big Dipper, with half a broken monocle stuck in the position of the seventh star.