“Something’s not right. If this is the Realm of the Bridge Ruins, then why am I the only person here? Besides… this place seems too small. Furthermore, there is none of the Celestial Soil that the Crow Soldier Tribe Greatfather mentioned!
“Other than the ruins of that city, I haven’t seen any of the remains of the Bridge of Immortal Treading!” Meng Hao turned to once again continue his careful explorations of this world.
By the time another half month went by, Meng Hao’s face was grim. He stood in the very center of the world, looking at a stone stele.
The stele was cracked, but not broken apart. It was in relatively good condition, and on its surface could vaguely be made out some rather large characters.
“Harmony City….” said Meng Hao softly. A ponderous look appeared in his eyes. He suddenly thought back to the eight Immortals he had seen on his way here, as well as the woman, Demoness Zhixiang.
“Immortal Demon Sect. Masquerading as a puppet. Demoness Zhixiang, trying to evade a deadly chase….” Sinking into thought, Meng Hao sat down, crossing his legs.
“That Demoness Zhixiang comes from a Sect called the Immortal Demon Sect. She conned the Young Master of those eight Immortals out of his treasure. Then she turned herself into a puppet to evade their pursuit.
“After she fled, why would the eight of them pursue us again, looking flustered and exasperated…?” Suddenly, a look of concentration filled his eyes.
“Actually, she didn’t flee! She used some other method to trick her eight pursuers and lead them away. They quickly realized something fishy was going on and returned as quickly as they could. Although, if you look at it from that perspective… well, perhaps she did something completely different that I couldn’t possibly imagine. Or perhaps she came to the Realm of the Bridge Ruins on her own power, to explore it. The final possibility… is that she is actually among us Cultivators who came from the Western Desert!” Meng Hao sat there silent and unmoving. This Demoness was someone who was being chased by eight Immortals, and clearly had a sublime Cultivation base.
A person like this was someone that Meng Hao had no desire to provoke. There was little need for further analysis. Meng Hao determined he would need to be vigilant and on the lookout. Although the Western Desert Cultivators seemed to have been scattered, he had the feeling that his third guess was the most likely one to be true.
“Who is she hiding with….” thought Meng Hao. Suddenly, he looked up into the sky to see a dark figure approaching at high speed. This dark figure was not a Cultivator, but rather, an enormous rock!
The rock was no less than two thousand meters wide. It whistled down from up above, causing lightning to spring up wherever it passed, and shattered the air. It seemed as if some incredible crushing force were descending.
It moved with incredible speed as it bore down. A huge pressure formed, causing the land to shake. Meng Hao’s pupils constricted, and he was just about to retreat when he suddenly sensed that this two thousand meter wide rock was actually not going to strike into the world he was in. Actually, it became an arc, changing directions and shooting off into another area of the sky.
Meng Hao stared in shock before taking a deep breath as he watched the enormous rock slam into the blackness that lay at the border of this world.
As it did, the void of the blackness seemed to shatter, and a huge gap became visible. The rock sailed through it and then disappeared.
All of this happened in the short amount of time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Meng Hao had little time to think about the matter. When the rock disappeared into the black void, his pupils constricted and his mind felt as if lightning were crashing around inside of it. He suddenly thought back to when he had been approaching the Bridge of Immortal Treading, and had seen the gaps between the various bridge stones, and the dust therein.