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

"Wait a minute."

Zhao Gang stepped onto the Heavenly Pride Platform and turned to look at the Guide.

"I felt too constrained in the regular challenges; they weren't very interesting. I want to change my contract to a life-or-death pact."

The discussion in the square immediately stopped.

The guide frowned.

"The execution platform is indiscriminate, regardless of injury or death. Once the contract is sealed, no one has the right to interfere. Have you thought it through?"

"Is someone at the fifth level of Qi Refining even worth my time to think about?"

Zhao Gang shouldered the heavy sword and gestured with his chin towards Qin Mo.

"Do you dare?"

Cang Wuji stood in front of the crowd, his voice very low.

"Zhao Gang, since you've signed a life-or-death contract, don't give him a chance to step down."

Zhao Gang turned his head to the side.

"Sect Master, rest assured, I will first break his arms and legs, and then destroy his dantian."

With a flick of her wrist, Shen Ruoyan's short blade slid into her palm.

"Cang Wuji, do you think everyone in our Cloud Rain Palace is deaf?"

Cang Wuji glanced at her.

"Come up on stage and compete, each according to their own ability. If you're scared, take him back to Yunyu Palace now."

Gu Yingxue looked at Qin Mo.

"Ordinary prodigies who fail in the challenge will only lose their spot. On the life-or-death arena, protective talismans and life-saving artifacts are all prohibited."

"Disciple understands."

"Zhao Gang has cultivated the Azure Dragon Body Refining Technique, making his strength far surpass that of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators. That heavy sword is also a high-grade spiritual weapon."

Qin Mo met her gaze and nodded.

"You can watch from below."

Qin Mo took another step forward, his voice barely audible to her.

"He doesn't even have the right to let me use my spiritual power."

Gu Yingxue loosened her grip on her sleeve.

"Go."

Qin Mo stepped through the crowd and placed the golden token in front of the guide.

"Change to a life-or-death duel."

The guide stared at him for two breaths.

"Do you realize how far you fall short of Zhao Gang?"

"Qi Refining Level 5, Foundation Establishment Peak."

Qin Mo pressed his palm print onto the contract.

"It's clearly written on the sign, there's no need to read it again."

A burst of laughter erupted from all around.

"This guy is really courting death."

"They're signing a life-or-death contract despite being separated by a whole cultivation realm, and the Cloud Rain Palace isn't stopping them?"

"Zhao Gang's Zhenyue Sword weighs eight thousand catties, and it killed a late-stage Foundation Establishment Ironclad Rhinoceros just last month."

"If Qin Mo can withstand a sword strike, I'll eat the stone bricks in the square."

Zhao Gang grinned when he heard this.

He also pressed his palm print, and two blood-red lines rose from the contract, falling into the golden tokens of the two men respectively.

The guide put away the contract.

"A life-or-death pact is made. The stage will open in 15 minutes."

Qin Mo didn't move: "Just gambling with your life isn't quite the same."

He looked at the members of the Azure Dragon Sect.

"Let me add another condition. Whoever loses has to kneel in the square, kowtow three times, and then bark like a dog three times."

Zhao Gang slammed the heavy sword into the ground, causing several fine cracks to appear on the white jade floor.

"They'll all die on the stage, how can they still kowtow?"

"Then finish kowtowing first, then die."

Qin Mo patted his sleeves.

"What, a Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator facing a Qi Refining Fifth Level cultivator, are you still afraid of losing face?"

The fat on Zhao Gang's face twitched.

"Okay, I agree."

Cang Wuji said, "Words are not enough; let's put it in a contract."

The guide's expression darkened.

"What do you take this philosophical discussion as?"

Cang Wuji took out a high-grade spirit stone and flicked it onto the long table.

"The Heavenly Pride Platform allows both parties to enter into a separate betting agreement. This is a rule of Xuan Tian City; if I remember correctly, it's correct."

The guide put away the spirit stone and unfolded the contract again.

"It's a voluntary agreement between both parties, so I won't interfere. If the loser fails to fulfill the agreement, the gold token will be confiscated on the spot, and the sect will also record it on their list of dishonest individuals."

Qin Mo pressed down the second palm print.

Zhao Gang followed suit and stamped the document.

The news quickly spread throughout the square.

Disciples from various sects who were originally preparing to enter the city turned back.

The area around the arena of life and death was packed with people, and even the windows of several nearby pavilions were all open.

On the second floor of the Star Gazing Pavilion, Shangguan Yue put down her teacup.

The woman sitting opposite her wore a blue veil, and a compass engraved with star patterns sat on the table.

"Is this the Qin Mo you mentioned?"

Shangguan Yue leaned back in her chair.

"When did the Goddess of the Luo River start caring about other people's business?"

Luo Zhiwei adjusted the compass.

"It's rare to see someone at the fifth level of Qi Refining sign a life-or-death contract."

She looked out the window at the execution platform.

"Zhao Gang possesses abundant vital energy and a dragon pattern hidden on his right arm. Qin Mo will surely be defeated within thirty moves."

"The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion can calculate fate, but it can't predict his fist."

"You're betting on him to win?"

Shangguan Yue raised her hand, took out a jade box, and pushed it to the center of the table.

The box lid opened, and nine purple grass leaves unfurled, the spiritual patterns on the leaves flowing along the roots.

Luo Zhiwei stopped adjusting the compass.

"Nine-Turn Soul-Nourishing Grass?"

"I obtained it from the Taixu Relics Palace a few days ago."

"It can even be used to preserve the soul after the Nascent Soul is damaged, and you're gambling with this on a Qi Refining cultivator?"

Shangguan Yue picked up her teacup.

"If you dare not, give me back the box."

Luo Zhiwei raised her hand to press down on the jade box.

"There's no reason to take back what's offered to you."

She took out a glass bottle.

A drop of golden spiritual liquid was suspended inside the bottle. As soon as the stopper was removed, the star-patterned compass on the table began to rotate on its own.

Shangguan Yue sat up straighter.

"You're really willing to part with the Jade Essence of Creation."

"Since the Nine-Turn Soul-Nourishing Grass has been displayed, I have to offer something of equal value."

Luo Zhiwei placed the glass bottle on the table.

"If Qin Mo wins, the Jade Marrow is yours. If Zhao Gang wins, the Soul-Nourishing Grass is mine."

"make a deal."

Shangguan Yue closed the jade box and turned her gaze back to the life-and-death arena.

She had personally examined Qin Mo's bones and muscles, and had also circulated her Qi forty-eight times with him.

Zhao Gang's physical cultivation was not even enough to loosen Qin Mo's muscles and bones.

Three bronze bells rang out from below the stage.

A crimson array of lights rose around the arena of life and death.

Zhao Gang gripped the Zhenyue Sword with both hands, and his peak Foundation Establishment spiritual power surged out along the sword, causing large cracks to appear on the platform.

"Qin Mo, kneel down and kowtow."

"I can save you two broken bones."

Qin Mo stood still, without even rolling up his sleeves.

"Your nonsense weighs more than your sword."

Zhao Gang clenched his teeth, and the stone bricks beneath his feet collapsed on the spot.

The heavy sword whipped up a whirlwind and slashed down towards Qin Mo's head.

Some people in the audience had already closed their eyes.

Qin Mo didn't retreat even a step.

He raised his right hand, his five fingers meeting the blade.

clang!

The sound of metal clashing echoed throughout the square.

The Zhenyue Sword rested in Qin Mo's hand.

The sword's edge was only half a foot away from his forehead, and he could no longer press it down.

Zhao Gang's arms were tense, and the veins on his arms bulged.

The eight-thousand-pound sword, combined with the spiritual power of a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator, was actually caught by Qin Mo with one hand.

"That's impossible!"

He shattered the stone bricks beneath his feet, channeling all the spiritual energy from his dantian into the sword.

Qin Mo gripped the sword's edge with his five fingers, his wrist remaining perfectly still.

The discussion in the audience completely stopped.

The cultivator who had just boasted about eating stone bricks had his mouth agape, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down several times, but he couldn't utter a single word.

The mocking smile on Cang Wuji's face froze.

Gu Yingxue picked up her teacup, concealing the smile on her lips.

Inside the Star Gazing Pavilion, Luo Zhiwei stopped manipulating the compass.

She looked down at the compass.

The star pattern representing Zhao Gang was spinning wildly, but Qin Mo's side showed no reaction, and even the secrets of heaven could not be probed into it.

"You already knew his background?"

Shangguan Yue took a sip of tea.

"It's too late to ask now."

On the stage of life and death, Qin Mo raised his eyes.

"Is that all the strength you have?"

Zhao Gang let out a low growl and pulled his sword back with both hands.

The sword remained completely still.

Qin Mo twisted his hand.

Click!

The Zhenyue Sword broke in two.

The broken sword blade fell to the ground, creating a deep crater on the stone platform.

Zhao Gang gripped the remaining half of the sword hilt and took several steps back.

His chest heaved, sweat beaded on his forehead, and his earlier sneer was gone.

Qin Mo casually tossed aside the broken blade and walked towards him.

"Kneel down."

"You'll break two fewer bones."