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

Qin Mo reached for his storage ring; it was still there.

The three substitute talismans lay quietly inside.

He stood up and looked up at the outside of the altar.

There were no cities or guiding platforms in the distance; twelve enormous stone gates stood at the edge of the blood-red wasteland.

Qin Mo picked up the broken bone at his feet, his shoulders and back tensing up little by little.

The wrong talisman sent him to a completely different place.

At this moment, he stood alone in the center of the mountain of corpses, the stench of blood rising into the sky, and all sound transmission around him was cut off.

Qin Mo had just steadied himself when a sharp pain shot through the back of his neck.

Several black chains emerged from beneath the skeleton and bound his hands and feet.

The chain was engraved with intricate soul patterns. As soon as it tightened, the divine aperture was struck by a chilling force.

Qin Mo's vision went black, and his shoulders and back tensed instantly.

"The Soul-Locking Chains are specifically designed to bind the primordial spirit. Qin Mo, you can't escape this time."

Xiao Yue walked out from the altar, holding a chain in his hand, his gray robe stained with several bloodstains.

Qin Mo slowly raised his head: "You came in with Cuo Que Fu too?"

Xiao Yue gripped the chain handle tightly: "The young master ordered me to send you to the Eighth Palace of the Yellow Springs, so of course I want to watch you die with my own eyes."

The soul runes on the chain lit up again, and the cold power drilled into Qin Mo's divine aperture along his arm.

The Qiankun Transformation Furnace began to rotate, and the fire suppressed the power, allowing Qin Mo's vision to clear again.

Xiao Yue was unaware and continued to tighten the chains.

"This is the Yellow Springs Ruins of the Twelve Palaces of Xuantian. It's teeming with corpses and demons outside, and there's an anti-air formation around the altar. How can you, a mere Qi Refining Level 5 cultivator, possibly survive?"

Qin Mo glanced down at the chains binding him and twitched his fingers slightly.

The power of the Iron Bones Extreme Realm was squeezed out inch by inch from between the bones.

The chains made a soft clattering sound.

Xiao Yue's smile vanished.

"You just said that Xiao Tianci sent you to kill me?"

Qin Mo raised his hand and gripped the chain with his five fingers.

Xiao Yue hurriedly activated his spiritual power: "Don't move! This Soul-Locking Chain is a top-grade spiritual artifact!"

Before he could finish speaking, Qin Mo exerted force with both arms at the same time.

Click!

The first link of the chain broke.

Xiao Yue's eyelids twitched, and he poured all his spiritual power into the chains.

The soul runes flickered wildly, and the black energy clung to Qin Mo's skin, drilling into it. A needle-like pain immediately shot through his divine aperture.

Qin Mo did not let go.

The Qiankun Transformation Furnace spun faster and faster, swallowing up all the soul power that entered the body.

At the same time, his arm muscles tensed, and his bones made a heavy creaking sound.

Second and third sections.

The Soul-Locking Link has been broken.

Xiao Yue's expression finally changed, and he raised his hand to retrieve the magical weapon.

Qin Mo grabbed the broken chain, crushed several pieces of bone under his feet, and lunged forward, pulling Xiao Yue directly in front of him.

The two were now only half a step apart.

Xiao Yue raised his palm and struck Qin Mo in the chest.

Qin Mo dodged to the side, his right knee slamming into the man's abdomen.

With a dull thud, Xiao Yue's protective spirit armor dented on the spot.

The armor plates shattered along the cracks, his body curled up in a ball, blood foam gushed from his mouth, and his feet flew off the ground, crashing onto the edge of the altar.

Qin Mo lifted his foot to follow.

Xiao Yue had just propped himself up on one side when Qin Mo grabbed his shoulder and pressed him back down onto the stone steps.

"You're right, this is indeed a suitable place for murder."

Qin Mo pressed his thumb on Xiao Yue's dantian.

The color drained from Xiao Yue's face: "You can't kill me! I'm a member of the Xiao family's secret guards, the young master won't let you get away with this!"

Qin Mo tightened his five fingers, pressing the Qi of Heaven and Earth into his palm.

The spiritual energy within Xiao Yue's dantian immediately scattered, and the protective spiritual light that had just been formed was extinguished.

"He sent you here so that he could tell you something."

Qin Mo looked down at him, her hand sinking downwards: "What I fear least is him not letting me go."

Xiao Yue opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Qin Mo tore open the tattered spirit armor on his chest and pressed his palm into his dantian.

Xiao Yue's body convulsed violently, and his fingers scraped several white marks on the stone steps.

A moment later, Qin Mo pinched out a golden pill.

The surface of the golden core shimmered with sharp golden light, and Xiao Yue's divine sense still lingered within it.

Qin Mo circulated his Qi of Heaven and Earth to directly erase that wisp of divine thought.

"Metal-attribute Golden Elixir"

He held the golden elixir for a few moments, then stored it in the furnace's spatial storage.

Xiao Yue's throat bobbed: "What exactly is your cultivation level?"

Qin Mo did not answer.

He took Xiao Yue's storage ring and then took out two escape talismans, a black token, and half a piece of animal hide map from the other man's body.

Xiao Yue's breath had dissipated, and his body lay motionless on the stone steps.

Qin Mo scanned the storage ring with his divine sense.

There weren't many spirit stones inside, and most of the pills were for healing. Only a few talismans and half a map had some value.

He spread the map on the ground.

The animal hide was carved with twelve gate towers, the eighth of which was marked with a blood-red circle and three ancient characters written next to it.

Yellow Springs Ruins.

The route on the map is only half complete; the location of the altar is covered by a mass of black ink.

Qin Mo tried to touch it with his Qiankun Qi, and the black ink immediately dispersed, revealing a route leading to the depths of the gate.

At the end of the route was a faint bone claw mark.

Qin Mo lowered his brows.

The trials of the Twelve Palaces of Xuantian are clearly not simply a contest of cultivation levels.

The wrong talisman sent him to the Yellow Springs Ruins, and Xiao Yue had laid an ambush beforehand. With so many corpses piled up outside, this place would never allow anyone to pass through safely.

He put away the map and his gaze fell on the golden elixir in the furnace.

The four types of golden pills—water, fire, earth, and metal—have been collected, but one wood-attribute pill is still missing.

As long as the Five Elements Golden Elixir is completed and then forged with the spiritual energy of the Yellow Springs Ruins, there is a chance to break through to the true Five Elements Golden Body.

By then, even a Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn't be able to easily harm him.

Qin Mo looked down at Xiao Yue's corpse and reached out to take the jade pendant from the other's waist.

The back of the jade plaque is engraved with the character "Xiao," and there is a dark red bloodline along the edge.

"Xiao Tianci".

He crushed the jade pendant into pieces, and the fragments fell through his fingers.

The wind outside the altar suddenly stopped.

All that remained was the soft sound of crumpled bones rolling around.

Qin Mo looked up.

The black mist covering the wasteland is approaching the altar.

The mist moved slowly along the ground, and wherever it passed, the scattered bones trembled, and several skulls were dragged into the mist by an invisible force.

Qin Mo put away the animal hide map and gripped the Thunder Sound Sword in his right hand.

Deep within the black fog, two points of red light first appeared.

Immediately afterwards, the head of a mastiff covered in black fur emerged from the mist.

A vertical crack appeared on its forehead, revealing its fangs, and dark red liquid clung to its mouth.

When the four limbs landed, the stone steps of the altar trembled slightly.

Its back is covered with grayish-white bone spurs, one after another, arranged along its spine to its tail.

With each step, the claws left deep marks on the stone surface.

Qin Mo tightened his grip on the sword.

The Soul-Devouring Mastiff didn't pounce immediately; it just lowered its head and sniffed the blood on the ground.

A moment later, it raised its head, its red pupils passing over Xiao Yue's corpse and landing on Qin Mo.

The oppressive aura of a Golden Core cultivator at the Great Perfection level pressed down.

The stone steps beneath Qin Mo's feet cracked, and the Qiankun Huasheng Furnace in his dantian began to rotate.

The Soul-Devouring Mastiff opened its mouth, and a low rumble rolled from its throat.

Its target was the metallic golden core that Qin Mo had just put away.