With a faint smile, Meng Hao stopped and didn't get any closer.

The old man frowned and exchanged a look with the young woman. Then he focused his strength on controlling the magical items in front of him, and causing the sea of flames to descend once more.

The seahorse roared, and a blue light spread out from its body. It seemed to be going all out; the light exploded in all directions, and everywhere it passed turned into ice, even the sea of flames. The ice sealing caused the old man's face to fill with shock. His pearl completely froze over, after which he shot backward at top speed. He grabbed the young woman and then made to leave. Unfortunately, he had been injured, and the blue light was too fast. At the moment, he seemed incapable of escaping….

An expression of struggle appeared in the old man's eyes, but it lasted only for the time it takes a spark to fly off of a piece of flint. He looked at the young woman, preparing to throw her back into the blue light to block its way.

In that moment, Meng Hao lifted his hand up and pointed his finger out. The expanding blue light suddenly stopped moving, allowing the old man and the young woman to escape from the area.

At the same time, Meng Hao waved his hand again, causing a Wooden Time Sword to fly out. It shot like lightning toward the seahorse, and stabbed it through in the blink of an eye. It was only one sword with seven sixty-year cycles of Time power, but as soon as it pierced the seahorse, a bloodcurdling shriek could be heard, and the seahorse began to wither up.

Its eyes filled with terror, and it began to sink down into the water. However, even as it did, Meng Hao let a certain bit of aura seep out, which caused the seahorse's eyes to go red. It instantly charged him again. The old man and the young woman watched on in astonishment as the Wooden Time Sword stabbed it through seven or eight more times.

The howls of the seahorse echoed out in all directions as its body rapidly withered. In a short moment, it was transformed into a desiccated corpse floating on the surface of the sea….

Meng Hao neared the corpse of the seahorse, then pushed down on it with his right hand. Immediately, a Demon heart flew into his hand. Up in midair, the old man and the young woman looked at Meng Hao with complex expressions. They looked as if they were on guard, especially when it came to the shocking sword he had used.

When Meng Hao looked up at them, the old man pulled the young woman into a position behind him, and also began to rotate his Cultivation base. He then clasped hands and bowed to Meng Hao.

"Many thanks for your assistance, Fellow Daoist," he said, slowly backing up at the same time. He was obviously terrified of Meng Hao's sword. "That mid-grade Demon heart is yours. If fate ever allows us to meet again, then I'll definitely repay you."

Meng Hao shook his head. "Don't be in such a hurry to leave," he said. Then he sent the Demon heart flying toward the shocked old man, who caught it without even thinking about it. He looked at the Demon heart and then looked back at Meng Hao, his heart filling with anxiety and doubt.

The young woman stared fixedly at the Demon heart in the old man's hand and began to pant. The hatred deep in her eyes flickered again; she was obviously well aware of what the old man had almost done to her earlier.

"Fellow Daoist, you…." the old man said hesitatingly.

Choosing to not beat around the bush, Meng Hao said, "The two of you have pretty strong Cultivation bases. That Demon heart seems to be virtually the same as a mid-grade Spirit Stone. Why do you care so much about it?"

His words left the old man completely at a loss. The young woman also looked at Meng Hao with a quizzical expression.

The old man was quiet for a moment, then looked at Meng Hao and said, "Fellow Daoist… don't tell me this is your first time in the Milky Way Sea?"

Meng Hao nodded.

The old man took a deep breath, then muttered a few things to himself as he put the Demon heart away.

"You're right," he then said. "The spiritual energy in this Demon heart is similar to a mid-grade Spirit Stone. However, one mid-grade Spirit Stone couldn't buy you any Demon hearts at all!

"In the Three Sects' Seahold, there are special locations that purchase Demon hearts.

"As for the exact value, it fluctuates. If I recall correctly, when I last left Seahold, one low-grade Demon Heart was worth 500 low-grade Spirit Stones!

"There were even some places that would pay 1000!"

When Meng Hao heard this, it didn't matter that he had such a high Cultivation base, his mind filled with a roaring sound anyway. His bag of holding contained about 80-90,000 low-grade Demon hearts. If you calculated it out, they were worth… 80-90,000,000 low-grade Spirit Stones.

That number sent great waves crashing about inside of Meng Hao's mind. His brain trembled, and he almost couldn't believe it. During his entire life, he had never possessed so many Spirit Stones. He immediately began to breathe heavily.

"How much did you say?" he blurted without even thinking about it.

"Low-grade Demon Hearts range in value from several hundred to a thousand Spirit Stones…." said the old man. He didn't seem to think anything about Meng Hao's reaction was strange. Anyone who heard about the matter for the first time would be astonished.

"What about mid-grade Demon hearts?" Meng Hao followed up immediately.

The old man hesitated for a moment and rubbed his bag of holding, but continued on with his explanation: "Their value fluctuates too, but not too much. One mid-grade Demon heart is worth about 10,000 low-grade Spirit Stones!"

Meng Hao's mouth went so dry that he couldn't speak. Within his bag of holding were more than 30,000 mid-grade Demon hearts. After he calculated the number, his mind once again filled with roaring.

Now, he suddenly understood why people risked their lives to come here.

"I'm rich!" he thought. "I really am super rich!" Meng Hao couldn't control the excitement that exploded out within him. The fact that his lifelong desire had suddenly been fulfilled caused his heart to begin to pound rapidly.

The old man looked at Meng Hao and continued, "Of course, there are even more rare Demon hearts, the high-grade variety. I'm actually not sure exactly how much they are worth, because they only appear in auctions.

"However, I do remember that at the last auction I attended, a high-grade Demon heart was sold for the incredible price of 670,000 Spirit Stones!"

When Meng Hao heard that, he went even more wild with joy. He had nearly 10,000 such high-grade Demon hearts in his bag of holding. All of a sudden, he felt as if an enormous golden ingot had fallen directly onto him.

Moments later, though, his face suddenly flickered when he remembered that among the seven or eight Demon hearts he had used to test out the duplication powers of the copper mirror, four had been high-grade Demon hearts.

He suddenly felt a twisting stab of pain in his heart.

"That means… I… yet again wasted more than 2,000,000 Spirit Stones? Fudge! That's…." He had the sudden impulse to scream and curse. After taking a few deep breaths, he told himself that it wasn't any worse than the matter with the 2,000 ultra high-grade Spirit Stones. After a bit of time, he calmed himself.

"Is there a type of Demon Heart even more precious than what you've already mentioned?" he asked. "Something similar to ultra high-grade Spirit Stones?" He happened to have exactly just such a Demon Heart in his bag of holding, the one he had acquired from the Whitebone Lily giant.

The man thought for a moment and then replied, "No such thing exists. Well, perhaps my Cultivation base isn't high enough, or maybe I just have never encountered someone with access to such riches. However, in the Third Ring, there is something called a Whitebone Demon heart. They are incredibly rare precious treasures. Something like that would be priceless."

Meng Hao's heart trembled. He was almost certain that the Demon heart in his bag of holding, the one that was the size of an infant's hand, was the Whitebone Demon heart that the old man had just mentioned.

"One more thing," said the old man. "And probably the most important. In the Three Sects' Seahold, most items can only be purchased with Demon hearts. That's another reason why I value them so much.

"With this mid-grade Demon heart, I now have enough saved up to acquire Fortification Pill Powder. With that my… my apprentice can safely continue on through the Core Formation stage." Having finished speaking, the old man backed up and bowed once again to Meng Hao.

Meng Hao gave a faint smile, and nodded. He was in an excellent mood now, and the only thing he could think about was going to Seahold to trade his Demon hearts for Spirit Stones.

"With so many Spirit Stones," he thought, "I feel quite confident that I can… duplicate a hundred Wooden Time Swords that contain seven sixty-year cycles of Time. Then I can unleash the third form of the Lotus Sword Formation!" He took a deep breath and suppressed his excitement. He well knew that no one other than him would ever be able to possess one hundred Wooden Time Swords. Be it in the past, or in the future, it would be something completely rare, perhaps even absolutely unique.

It was only because of… the copper mirror, and its Heaven-defying duplication ability. Without that, it would be impossible to forge one hundred Wooden Time Swords. Every time he attempted to seal Time into the swords, a failure would leave the sword completely destroyed. Furthermore, the rate of failure was simply far too high.

"Actually, I might even be able to duplicate the Time Sword tip!" he thought, the brightness in his eyes growing even brighter. He was just about to turn and leave, when suddenly, the young woman gritted her teeth and then, seemingly throwing all caution to the wind, clasped hands and bowed toward Meng Hao.

"Senior," she said, "please allow me to offer my respects."

Meng Hao had already begun to leave when he heard the young woman's words, and looked back.

Simultaneously, the old man's face flickered, and he reached an arm out to hold back the young woman. A cold gleam of killing intent appeared in his eyes.

"Fellow Daoist, my apprentice is immature, please forgive her. Farewell!" With that, he grabbed the young woman and prepared to leave. He had already sealed her Cultivation base, making it impossible for her to speak. However, her eyes radiated despair, almost as if she wished she could die as the man pulled her away.

Meng Hao frowned. He had already realized that these two people were not apprentice and Master. In fact, based on his experiences, he had already formed some speculations about the old man's true motivations.

Originally, he didn't want to interfere, but after seeing the despair in the young woman's eyes, he suddenly recalled the image of another woman.

"The look in her eye back in the Black Sieve Sect Blessed Land was exactly the same as this," he thought.1

"Hold on a moment," he said. Sighing to himself, he suddenly appeared directly in front of the old man.

The old man's face flickered again. He hadn't sensed anything at all just now. Moments ago, Meng Hao had clearly been behind him, but now, all of a sudden, here he was. The old man's heart began to thump.

"Let her finish," said Meng Hao. The old man had just given him some valuable information, so Meng Hao wasn't willing to simply attack him.

The old man stood there silently for a moment, then loosened his grip.

A tremor ran through the young woman as her Cultivation base was restored. An unprecedentedly bright light appeared in her eyes, a light filled with hope. She once again gave Meng Hao a deep bow.

"Senior, it's your first time to the Milky Way Sea. There are many things you don't know, and the Three Sects' Seahold has very strict rules. Regarding where to stay, outsiders would have a very hard time figuring out matters on their own.

"Senior, I grew up in Seahold, and know the place inside and out. If it would please you, I'm willing to act as your guide. I can save you a lot of time, if you're willing."

It was in the Black Sieve Sect Blessed Land that Meng Hao arrived just in time to prevent Xu Qing from being raped