Chapter 464: Pinkie Finger!

　　Soon, the eaves were gone. Next, Meng Hao’s gaze came to fall upon the steps leading up to the palace building. After that were the columns. Next, the wall coverings.

　　It didn’t take long for a previously extravagant palace building to be completely blank and clean. The main structure was there, but now, it looked completely different, to a very shocking degree.

　　Every single thing that could be taken off of the outside surface, was gone….

　　Were it not for the restrictive spells and seals protecting the inside of the palace building, Meng Hao would tear down the entire structure. Trying to contain his excitement, he looked over at the next palace building. Filled with excitement, he leaped toward that building and began to dismantle it.

　　As for the Immortals who built these palace buildings, before their consciousnesses merged into the bridge, they placed the restrictive spells and seals in place because they were well aware that people might be interested in the items within. However, they had never imagined that someone like Meng Hao would happen to make his way into this place. He wasn’t interested in the treasures inside, but rather, wanted to plunder the construction materials….

　　Time passed by. With bustling industriousness, Meng Hao proceeded along from one palace building to the next, completely dismantling their exteriors, leaving them stark and bare…. The only thing left behind were the bare palace structures; anything that could be pried up was taken by Meng Hao.

　　Even the grass on the ground seemed to have absorbed some of the Celestial Soil Qi. Seeing how extraordinary it was, he collected it up without hesitation.

　　“If I don’t keep grabbing stuff until my hands cramp, then my name isn’t Meng Hao!” he said, his eyes gleaming as he wrenched up a floor tile. If any of Meng Hao’s acquaintances saw him now, they might think they were looking at a stranger. The look in his eyes was completely different than the coldness that usually resided there.

　　This was a part of his personality that he kept buried deep within, the part of him that lusted after anything valuable.

　　Despite having reached his current level of Cultivation base, one cannot forget about the matter in which he owed Steward Zhou three pieces of silver 1. Of course, after beginning to practice cultivation, the fervor he had shown toward that silver had shifted to cultivation resources.

　　For example, Celestial soil. At the moment, there was nothing he was more passionate about than Celestial soil.

　　After all… aspirations are a good thing. With aspirations, Meng Hao could be happy despite being tired or in pain. Right now, he was like a locust in human form. Every extravagant palace building that he encountered would be seemingly engulfed in a storm. After the storm passed by, the building would be completely bare.

　　Gradually ten buildings, twenty buildings, thirty buildings… after two hours had passed, more than seventy palace buildings had been completely dismantled by Meng Hao.

　　His expression was one of excitement, and he was breathing heavily. At the moment, there weren’t even thirty buildings left. Meng Hao was just getting ready to go at the rest of the buildings with a final spurt of energy, when Zhao Youlan suddenly staggered out from a large palace building on the opposite side of the basin.

　　After she emerged, the entire palace building collapsed with a rumbling sound. Zhao Youlan looked excited. The tiny Zhixiang perched on her shoulder appeared even more excited. Shockingly, she held a small green flask in her hand.

　　“It took two hours to get this one item,” said Zhixiang excitedly. “However, this small flask is a treasure that once belonged to one of the nine most preeminent of the Immortals. Two hours is a long time, but it was worth it. Precious darling, we must quickly go to the next… uh…? Huh? What?” When her gaze fell upon Meng Hao, her eyes went wide and she gaped. She even rubbed vigorously at her eyes, not daring to believe what she was seeing.

　　When Zhao Youlan saw the strange scene, her eyes also went wide as they filled with astonishment and shock.

　　Both of them… could do nothing other than be completely shocked. The tableau that faced them now was completely different from that which they had seen before entering the palace building earlier.

　　The previously lush and verdant grass in the area was completely gone. Only bare, uneven ground remained….

　　The Celestial tiles were nowhere to be seen. The floors were completely barren….

　　The auspicious beasts protecting the palace buildings, so imposing and extraordinary, had vanished….

　　The columns, carved with dragons and phoenixes, were now missing….

　　The matchlessly extravagant wall decorations, which had once covered the outside of the palace buildings, were as bare as if they had been swept over by a fierce tempest….

　　There were thirty or so palace buildings which retained their original appearance. However, the other seventy or more had become nothing more than empty frames…..

　　Completely clean; spick-and-span.

　　Demoness Zhixiang stared in shock, and began to murmur to herself subconsciously, “Is the Heavenly Hound from Planet East Victory here? Or the Locust Immortal of Planet North Reed?”

　　Everything was too bare, as if it had been licked clean by a dog, or swept over by an army of locusts.

　　Even as Zhao Youlan and Zhixiang were struck motionless from shock, they saw Meng Hao standing in front of an intact palace building, viciously prying up a floor tile with a flying sword. The sword was broken and twisted, and seemed to emit shrieks of humiliation.

　　A bang could be heard as the floor tile popped up. Meng Hao waved his sleeve to collect it up. Licking his lips, he used the same techniques he had picked up while dismantling the other seventy buildings to continue his work. The floor tiles were sturdy, but once you got one up, collecting the rest was simple.

　　Meng Hao had long since caught sight of Zhao Youlan and Zhixiang. However, he didn’t spend any effort paying attention to them. He was immersed in his work of prying up the floor tiles. The two women watched on, stupefied.

　　Zhao Youlan was breathing heavily, her phoenix-like eyes filled with disbelief. It was as if this was her first time ever seeing Meng Hao. How could she ever have imagined that the cold, astute, vicious, and merciless Meng Hao, would do something like this?

　　“This guy really might have some Heavenly Hound blood in him. Or maybe he really has practiced some of the cultivation of the Locust Immortal. Dammit, he doesn’t even leave the floor tiles behind.” Zhixiang was panting. She could see the concentration in Meng Hao’s eyes, which caused her to feel a bit suspicious. “Isn’t he afraid of the curse?”

　　Zhao Youlan stared at the strange scene and suddenly started to think that this new Meng Hao was actually more terrifying than the usual Meng Hao. The fervor with which he was dismantling the palace buildings was beyond her comprehension. Because of that, she found the situation even more horrifying.

　　This was even more the case when Meng Hao finished with the floor tiles and then took away the guardian lions. After that, he cut down the pillars and then started to pull off the wall decorations. Zhao Youlan took a deep breath.

　　She almost couldn’t believe it. In fact, she was certain that if Meng Hao somehow found his way to the Five Poisons Tribe, something completely terrifying would occur. It would probably only take a few hours for the entire Tribe to be uprooted and wiped clean.

　　Zhixiang was filled with misgivings and hesitated for a moment. Finally, she called out, “Um, hey… Fellow Daoist….”

　　“Stop bothering me!” said Meng Hao, not even turning his head. He ripped a wall decoration off, then pulled out a flying sword to continue his work.

　　“You know,” replied Zhixiang immediately, “the big main hall in the center is made from even better material. That Celestial soil is even more refined.”

　　Her words caused Meng Hao to suddenly pause in the middle of pulling off a wall decoration. He turned to look over at Zhao Youlan and Zhixiang.

　　Zhixiang immediately continued, “Compared to the main hall, all the other materials in this place are like trash. The Celestial soil over there… um, the floor tiles over there are worth a hundred times more than the ones over here!

　　“Fellow Daoist, you’re clearly innately skilled and beyond ordinary. You have unique hobbies and are obviously a great man, an amazing hero! I think we really need to cooperate one more time, what do you think?

　　“You dismantle the main hall, and I’ll open the restrictive spells. That way, your dismantling work will go even faster. Then, we can split the treasures inside fifty-fifty. What do you say?”

　　When Zhao Youlan heard Zhixiang’s words, her face grew taciturn. There was no way she could associate the terms ‘great man’ and ‘amazing hero,’ with Meng Hao. The only thing she could see was a monster of dismantling.

　　Meng Hao’s eyes glittered, and he said nothing for the space of a few breaths, and then said, “Just wait a moment.”

　　“No problem,” replied Zhixiang excitedly. “Fellow Daoist, I understand that you need to meditate for a moment to rest yourself. No problem at all. As for me I can….” Suddenly, her eyes went wide with disbelief. As soon as Meng Hao finished speaking, he went back to ripping the wall decorations off. Only, this time, he went at it even faster than before.

　　Zhixiang was breathing heavily as she watched Meng Hao sweep over the palace building, and then moved onto the next one. In the following hour, the rest of the thirty or so remaining palace buildings were completely swept clean. Finally, he looked over at the nearly hundred palaces in the area Zhao Youlan and Zhixiang had come from, and a look of regret appeared on his face.

　　He looked back toward the majestic palace building in the center. “Is that the main hall you mentioned?” he asked.

　　The palace building was surrounded by walls, inside were four majestic structures that were completely beyond ordinary. Meng Hao’s professional eyes swept the place over and noticed that the floor tiles were nearly two square meters and shined like gold. The Celestial Soil Qi that they emitted was thick to the extreme.

　　Then he noticed the columns, which were thick and solid. The wall decorations were transparent like jade, shocking to the extreme. He glanced at the palace building’s main door and could tell that the Celestial Soil Qi that it emitted was incredibly dense.

　　Under Meng Hao’s professional gaze, the places on the walls that were appropriate to begin deconstructing were apparent. As for the floor tiles, he quickly identified the best one to start with. He also took note of which roof tiles to take without disturbing the restrictive spells.

　　His sharp gaze fell upon Zhao Youlan, causing her to take a deep breath; she suddenly felt as if her clothes were being stripped away. Noticing that Zhixiang wasn’t paying attention, she casually lifted up her hand and held up her pinky finger. When she was sure that Meng Hao saw it, she slowly lowered her pinky finger.

　　Off to the side, Zhixiang had an expression of admiration on her face.

　　“So, it turns out this guy has a specialty. His name is Meng? He seems to be a Grandmaster of dismantling ancient Immortal palaces without touching the restrictive spells.”

　　1. The fact that he owed three pieces of silver was mentioned in chapter 1 and a couple other chapters later on.