Meng Hao's pupils constricted. He was in front of Zhao Youlan, and the person the Bridge Slave girl was charging toward was none other than him.

As the words came out of Zhao Youlan's mouth, the tiny person magically appeared once again on her shoulder. The little figure's expression was one of anxiety as it performed an incantation with both hands and then pointed forward.

Instantly, a red flower materialized in front of Meng Hao. Shockingly, on each petal of the flower could be seen the face of the girl. As soon as it appeared, the flower began to disintegrate.

At this point, Zhao Youlan coughed up a mouthful of blood. The body of the tiny person on her shoulder flickered and grew even more blurry; it seemed to be extremely exhausted.

At the same time, the charging girl's body suddenly stopped in place. An expression of pain filled her face and she let out a soundless scream. Then, her face grew even more vicious, and a fearsome aura exploded out of her. Everything in the area suddenly flickered, and the surrounding mist seethed.

"Quickly… use your Dancing Sword Qi to cut her down!! Don't let her get near us…."

At this critical moment, Meng Hao's eyes filled with resolve. He caused the Alcohol Qi to surge out, and then caused the congealed Sword Qi to emanate out as well. The two of them merged together into a shocking sword-shaped amalgamation of Alcohol Qi. It shot through the air toward the girl's head, then passed directly through it.

Her body trembled, and the mist around her churned. Suddenly, she stopped. The vicious expression on her face disappeared to be replaced by a look of catharsis.

"Daddy, mother…." she said softly. "Are you still here…? Where are you…? Why did you leave me alone here…? It's been so long… so long…." The girl no longer seemed evil, but rather, lonely and helpless. Murmuring the entire time, her body slowly disappeared.

In the spot where the girl had disappeared, a slender strand slowly took shape.

Meng Hao was touched by the girl's words, and suddenly thought back to Han Shan's story regarding the Bridge Slaves. Sighing, he reached out and grabbed the slender strand.

The other Bridge Slaves off in the distance didn't seem to have noticed anything, and continued to move off into the distance.

After they were gone, the grayness disappeared, as did the mist. Strangely, there was no tempest this time.

After the colors returned to normal, Meng Hao's eyes flickered. He clenched his fist and once again punched out. Simultaneously, Zhao Youlan's lips opened and a beam of white light shot out of her mouth toward Meng Hao.

The two magics slammed into each other and a huge boom rattled out. Both parties fell back. The tiny figure on Zhao Youlan's shoulder performed an incantation with both hands, preparing to once again materialize the power of her bizarre flower.

It was at this moment, however, that the Alcohol Qi once again began to roil within Meng Hao.

Immediately, the tiny figure stopped moving and stared at Meng Hao. As of now, Meng Hao could see that this figure was shaped like a woman. She was extremely beautiful; not even Zhao Youlan could compare.

She sat on Zhao Youlan's shoulder, looking very much like a Nascent Soul. However, she was far more limber than a Nascent soul, plus, her body emanated a pleasant aura very much like Celestial soil.

There was a thin, transparent line connecting her hand to Zhao Youlan's body. It appeared that Zhao Youlan currently had no mind of her own, but rather, was being controlled as a puppet.

As of this moment, Meng Hao felt rather confused. He wasn't sure exactly what was going on between Demoness Zhixiang and Zhao Youlan.

Zhixiang suddenly smiled and then spoke in a charming, melodious voice: "Little bro, your Dancing Sword Qi could definitely hurt me. In fact, there's a seventy percent chance that it could slay my Immortal Divinity. However… in the end, your Cultivation base just isn't strong enough to evade my final counterattack before dying.

"In that case, what's the point of us fighting? This place is one of the locations where the Bridge Slaves live. Instead of one of us dying, why don't we explore the place together? What do you say?"

He looked over at the tiny Demoness Zhixiang. For her to call him 'little bro,' didn't seem very appropriate. However, he had to admit that what she said made sense.

"Just now, her actions against the Bridge Slave weren't fake," he thought. "I was closer, but she still took action to protect herself. She thought I simply had one strand of Sword Qi, but when she found out that wasn't the case, she changed her mind." He glanced over at the mist in the basin. When it came to the bizarreness of the mist, regardless of whether it was in terms of experience or technique, he simply wasn't powerful enough to handle it on his own. Joining forces with her wasn't necessarily out of the question.

As he was considering the matter, Zhao Youlan looked at him and frowned. Inwardly, she said: "Big sis Zhixiang, this guy is endlessly crafty. Plus, he's cruel and merciless, completely cold-blooded. Also his decisiveness is incredible. If you work with him, you have to be very cautious."

Zhixiang's reply echoed out inside of Zhao Youlan's mind. "Well, now I know that you really do love your big sis, my precious darling."

Zhao Youlan blushed.

Sensing that her face was growing red, Zhixiang laughed, causing Zhao Youlan's blush to deepen.

"Little bro, what do you think? There are plenty of treasures here. Big sis isn't greedy. I just want half. You can have the rest. What do you say?" With that, the tiny figure on Zhao Youlan's shoulder laughed lightly. She lifted a hand and pointed toward the mist. A strand of Qi shot toward the mist, causing it to seethe and then slowly grow thin. Zhao Youlan's body shot down into the mist.

"If you agree, then come on over. Big sis is waiting for you!" Demoness Zhixiang's voice carried with it a touch of allure, causing Meng Hao to frown again. Then, his eyes glittered. Filled with caution, and keeping the Sword Qi prepared, he followed down into the mist.

They flew down in single file, piercing through the mist. Eventually they were able to make out the basin, and the luxurious buildings. Each of these buildings was completely constructed from Celestial soil, filling the basin with a thick aura of Celestial soil.

"Immortals used to live in this place," said Zhixiang from her position on Zhao Youlan's shoulder. "It's one of the palaces used by the ninety-nine preeminent Immortals as a guard garrison for the Bridge of Immortality. After the bridge was destroyed, the ninety-nine Immortals died and merged into the Bridge of Immortality. They wished to restore the bridge and its position in the world. When they came back to life, they had no physical bodies. However, their palaces remained, filled with treasure." As they neared the palaces, a glimmering shield suddenly appeared, blocking their way. A powerful aura radiated out, emitting thick pressure along with magical shadows.

Zhao Youlan spit out a mouthful of blood, and Demoness Zhixiang lifted her right hand and waved it toward the blood.

"Congeal!"

Immediately the blood turned into a red mist which then formed into a gigantic red flower. The flower floated forward and touched the shield. As soon as it did, it sank into the shield, merging into it.

The entire shield began to distort. In the blink of an eye, veins seemed to spread out through the shield. It began to flicker rapidly and then, dissipated. The power that blasted out upon its dissipation caused Meng Hao to narrow his eyes. He would not have been able to break this shield unless he used the Dancing Sword Qi.

"I've suppressed the defences," said Zhixiang, "but it will only last for four hours. All of the palace structures here should have garrison treasures. Little bro, as you can see, there is a main hall in the center, with palace buildings stretched out on either side. You take one side, and we'll meet in the middle.

"As for how many treasures you can acquire, that will depend on your own skill." Zhixiang laughed, and Zhao Youlan gave Meng Hao a cold glance. Then, they headed directly for the palace buildings on the right side.

Meng Hao looked at the suppressed shield and the giant red flower floating there in mid-air. It was this flower which was suppressing the power of the shield, allowing them to enter.

"Four hours? I can't trust her on that point. At most, it will probably last for two hours." Meng Hao's eyes glittered. After a moment of observation, decisiveness filled his eyes and, without hesitation, he shot forward toward the group of palace buildings on the left.

"With my Cultivation base, I would normally never be able to get into a place like this. Whatever treasures are in the buildings, they are not things I could take. If I get too greedy, then I might end up paying a horrific price.

"Therefore, I will stick to my original plan. I don't need treasures, I just need Celestial soil!" Eyes shining brightly, his body flickered and he appeared in front of one of the palace buildings. After looking it over carefully, he saw that the main door was shut tight with the power of some type of sealing.

Meng Hao did not spend time thinking about how to open the door. A flying sword appeared in his hand and he knelt down. Rotating his Cultivation base, he used the flying sword to try to pry up one of the floor tiles. Unfortunately, a cracking sound could be heard as the flying sword snapped in two.

Frowning, Meng Hao's body flickered as he flew up to the roof and began to try to pull up one of the roof tiles. Unfortunately, the roof tile was extremely tough, and no matter what he did, he couldn't pull it up.

"This stuff is really sturdy," he thought, his eyes flickering with sharpness. He rotated his Cultivation base with full power, causing the Time Sword Formation to appear and unleash its power on the tile. A moment later, he pulled up on the tile. Crack! The tile was pulled up successfully by Meng Hao.

His heart pounded with excitement. The tile was only the size of a hand, but the entire thing was made from Celestial soil. He put it away and immediately began to use the same method to continue dismantling the building.

Very quickly, all of the tiles on the palace building's roof had been collected up by Meng Hao. Next, he went to work on the floor tiles. It didn't take long before they were all placed into his bag of holding.

"Rich! I've really struck it rich!" Panting, eyes gleaming, Meng Hao's eyes next moved to the palace building's guardian lions. Having successfully collected them up, he next looked over at the building's eaves.