Fantasy: I'm in a discarded alchemy room, but I can turn trash into treasure!

It happened in the blink of an eye.

In a corner of the square, a tall, thin man in black seized the moment when Li Cangsheng picked up Xue You'er and lunged straight at Hua Meiniang.

He conjured a short blade of demonic energy in his palm and swung it at Hua Meiniang's crown.

This guy was one of the Heavenly Demon Sect guards who were watching over Hua Meiniang. He had just witnessed the Holy Maiden being held hostage and knew that he would not get away with it tonight. So he decided to kill the hostage, disrupt the scene, and escape in the chaos.

Qin Mo was still holding Hua Meiniang in his arms.

He tried to block, but there were seven or eight zhang between them, and it was too late.

"idiot."

A muffled thud.

Without even turning his head, Li Cangsheng unleashed a burst of demonic energy with his left fist, which struck the man in black squarely in the chest.

A crisp sound rang out as the sternum collapsed, and the man in black snapped in half, spitting out bits of flesh and blood. His body flew backward, knocking over three braziers.

The square fell silent again.

Li Cangsheng slowly put Xue You'er down and straightened his back.

He didn't look at the corpse; his cloudy old eyes were fixed on Qin Mo.

Qin Mo was also looking at him.

In the few breaths that the two stared at each other, the air seemed to grow cold.

"Holy Maiden... I cannot protect her."

Li Cangsheng uttered a mumbled, indistinct sentence.

Xue You'er lay on the ground, her Linghai acupoint sealed, unable to mobilize even a trace of demonic energy.

Upon hearing this, all the color drained from her face in an instant.

"Are you crazy?"

She desperately turned her head to look at Li Cangsheng.

No one answered her.

Li Cangsheng clasped his hands together, and the demonic runes on his dark red gauntlets began to spread at a visible speed.

The lines climbed from the boxing gloves up his forearm, followed the veins to his shoulder, and finally disappeared into his temple.

His aura was rapidly expanding.

The demonic power of the mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator surged upwards, surpassing the barrier of the peak mid-stage, and crashed fiercely into the domain of the late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

The ground began to crack.

The remaining braziers, stone pillars, and flagpoles in the square all creaked and groaned under this pressure.

"Run!"

Xue You'er's voice changed, "Heavenly Demon Heart Devouring Technique! He's activated a forbidden technique! He's entered a berserk state and will kill anyone!"

Qin Mo sensed the surge of power, and the hairs on the back of his head stood on end.

The whites of Li Cangsheng's eyes were disappearing, replaced by a murky dark red.

Those eyes no longer held reason or calculation; only a primal, pure urge to kill remained.

"Ugh..." Li Cangsheng opened his mouth and let out a low growl that didn't sound like a human.

Demonic energy exploded from his body, and thick, blackish-red waves of energy swept in all directions.

Those Heavenly Demon Cult members who hadn't run far from the edge of the square were thrown over by the shockwave. Two of them, who were slower to run, had their protective demonic energy shattered, and they collapsed to the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices and convulsing.

Bai Chenshuang summoned her flying sword and stood in front of Qin Mo.

The sword hummed, and the spiritual energy shield barely withstood the impact.

"Senior, this guy's cultivation level..." Bai Chenshuang's voice was very tense.

"Late stage of Nascent Soul."

Qin Mo gritted his teeth. "At least."

Li Cangsheng lowered his head, his shoulders heaving as he panted, like a trapped beast that had been provoked.

His gaze swept over all the living creatures in the square, finally settling on Qin Mo.

Then he moved.

The stone slab shattered, and the person transformed into a dark red afterimage as he crashed straight towards them.

Bai Chenshuang shouted sharply and unleashed a full-force slash with her flying sword.

The sword energy condensed into a white streak several meters long, slashing straight at Li Cangsheng's face.

Li Cangsheng swung his right fist.

The demonic runes on the gauntlets lit up, and a ball of deep red fist energy wrapped in demonic fire slammed into the center of the sword energy.

The sword energy shattered.

Bai Chenshuang's flying sword was bounced away by the residual force of that punch, tumbling three times in the air before finally stabilizing.

But the fist's energy did not dissipate; it struck Bai Chenshuang's chest directly.

"puff!"

Bai Chenshuang was sent flying backward, her back crashing through a half-collapsed earthen wall at the edge of the square.

Bricks and stones shattered all over the ground. She collapsed into the ruins, blood trickling from the corners of her mouth, her face deathly pale.

One punch.

The Nascent Soul Stage 1 Sect Master, who had just recovered to his peak, couldn't withstand a punch from Li Cangsheng in his berserk state.

Qin Mo's mind raced with thoughts.

run?

Holding Hua Meiniang, he couldn't outspeed a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

beat?

Even a mid-stage Iron Bone Realm cultivator cannot withstand an attack of this level.

After smashing Bai Chenshuang away, Li Cangsheng did not stop. He pushed off the gravel with both feet and pounced on Qin Mo again.

Qin Mo took three steps back and reached his right hand into his robe.

He held the ancient broken sword, which had just been reforged using six thousand strands of Qiankun Qi, in his palm.

The sword was jet black, without any luster, and its surface was faintly covered with indistinct Dao patterns.

He did not raise his sword against Li Cangsheng.

He turned his head and glanced at Xue You'er, who was still lying on the ground.

Xueyou'er was desperately trying to crawl out.

With her Linghai acupoint sealed, she even had difficulty turning over. Her ten fingers scratched white marks on the stone slab, and her fingernails split in two.

Qin Mo took three steps to her, grabbed her by the back of her collar with his left hand and lifted her up, while shoving the broken black sword into her hand with his right.

"What...are you doing!"

Xueyou'er screamed in alarm.

Qin Mo did not answer her.

The sound of the wind behind me was already right up to the back of my head.

Qin Mo twisted his waist and used the force of his burst of qi and blood to throw Xue You'er backward.

Xue You'er screamed and crashed into Li Cangsheng, who was lunging at her.

Li Cangsheng had lost his mind. When a living creature flew towards him, his only reaction was to utter a single word.

kill.

With a slap of his left palm, fingers spread wide, he gripped Xue You'er's shoulder with such force that her bones cracked.

Xueyou'er's face contorted in pain.

But she was holding the sword in her hand.

Driven by her survival instinct, she plunged the black blade into Li Cangsheng's right rib the instant she was grabbed.

The magic armor on the dark red gauntlets is said to be impervious to blades and spears.

The broken sword did not stop.

The ancient Dao essence surged within the sword, causing the demonic armor to crumble like rotten wood the instant it made contact.

The sword tip pierced into the flesh, all the way down until only the hilt remained.

"roar!"

Li Cangsheng roared.

It was the howl of a wild beast wounded by an arrow—rough, violent, and full of rage.

He suddenly exerted force with his left hand, which was gripping Xue You'er's shoulder, pulling her off the sword and then throwing her away.

Xue You'er's body traced an arc, crossing half of Bloodbone Town before disappearing into the darkness outside the town.

Qin Mo did not go to see it.

He picked up Hua Meiniang, channeled his energy into his legs, and rose up from the ground.

"Sect Leader Bai, let's go!"

Bai Chenshuang struggled to her feet from the ruins and caught up with them on her sword.

She pressed one hand to her chest, the aftershocks of the punch still churning through her veins.

Li Cangsheng looked down at the black hilt of the sword stuck in his side.

He reached out and grabbed it, pulling the broken sword out of his body.

Blood gushed out, but it was sealed by dark red demonic energy after only a moment.

The ancient evil energy was raging within him, but in his berserk state, Li Cangsheng couldn't even feel pain.

He raised his head, his bloodshot eyes locking onto the direction Qin Mo had fled.

A low growl rolled out from his throat.

With a heavy stomp of both feet, the stone slab shattered into dust.

He transformed into a streak of dark red light, relentlessly pursuing Qin Mo's trail.