Everyone present knew that not long ago, a Nouveau Riche who called himself the Great Lord had won a staggering one billion eight hundred million Immortal Stones in the gambling den.
It was said this self-proclaimed Great Lord Nouveau Riche possessed no cultivation whatsoever, yet on Floating Sky Island, he had first dispersed a celestial spell with a puff of spirit smoke, then scattered Li Zhengshi's Immortal Spirit with a single offhand remark, and later frightened four Taibai Golden Immortals to death with a mere shout of authority.
As for the true identity or background of this self-proclaimed Great Lord Nouveau Riche, no one knew.
Opinions varied wildly.
Hearing that this Nouveau Riche had also come to the Tower of Stolen Gold today, the crowd naturally looked around, finally spotting the young man seated upon that extravagantly luxurious Nine Firecloud Crimsonflame Tigers' Grand Chariot.
At this moment,
this Great Lord was reclining in a wide, comfortable chair, body tilted, legs crossed, dressed in a purple-gold black python robe, wearing cloud-piercing boots, a string of one hundred and eight purple-gold green-eyed Buddha beads around his neck. His left hand toyed with two Di Sha Mysterious Orbs, each of his ten fingers adorned with a star-whorl storage thumb ring, and a purple-gold white jade pipe emitting dense spirit smoke was clenched between his teeth.
It must be said, this outfit worth two hundred million was truly an eyesore, especially under the sunlight, where it glittered with a dazzling array of colorful lights, enough to make one's vision swim.
Almost everyone gathered at the Tower of Stolen Gold was seeing this Nouveau Riche for the first time. At first glance, most shook their heads and sighed.
What kind of Great Lord was this? He was nothing but a thoroughly smug and forgetful Nouveau Riche.
Throughout the entire Great Wasteland, there was no Great Lord as ostentatious as him.
However,
everyone was deeply puzzled, because they could all see that this Nouveau Riche indeed, as the rumors said, possessed no cultivation at all. So how exactly had he frightened four Taibai Golden Immortals to death with a single shout?
This question baffled everyone. Even the experienced, well-traveled Seniors present had no idea.
Of course,
they weren't concerned with this issue. In the eyes of those Seniors, lacking cultivation didn't necessarily mean lacking fortune. Perhaps this Nouveau Riche possessed some profound fortune unknown to outsiders. With powerful fortune, frightening four Taibai Golden Immortals to death was nothing remarkable; frightening forty Chenxing Golden Immortals to death wouldn't be strange either.
The current question was whether this Nouveau Riche's mind was sound, whether his sanity was intact. At least, this was the case for Old Master Luo, the Grand Steward of the Tower of Stolen Gold, since he was now tasked with presiding over the fairness of a wager. Whether the Nouveau Riche was mentally sound also determined whether the wager was valid.
"In the Great Wasteland, there are many who have lost their cultivation and subsequently gone mad," Old Master Luo stated gravely, staring at Gu Qingfeng. "All those who are mentally unsound suffer from confused Heart-Mind. To prove whether this person is mad, all I need to do is probe his Heart-Mind a little, and it will become clear."
Hearing this, Mu Lingyao immediately grew worried, because she herself didn't know whether Gu Qingfeng's mind was truly sound. Earlier, she had claimed he was insane purely to prevent him from having to perform those ten million kowtows. Seeing Old Master Luo prepare to probe Gu Qingfeng's Heart-Mind, Mu Lingyao burned with anxiety. She sent a secret voice transmission, asking, "Sister Huadie, what do we do now?"
Huadiexianzi also shook her head. If this wager confrontation had only involved the Golden Crow Liu Family, perhaps they could have muddled through. But now that Xuan Yun and the others had brought out Old Master Luo, this matter would likely be impossible to gloss over. She replied, "Now we can only pray that his mind is truly unsound. There's no other way."
"Young man, come here," Old Master Luo beckoned, signaling for Gu Qingfeng to approach. "Let this old man probe your Heart-Mind."
"Probe my ass! There's no need for probing, and no necessity for it either."
As soon as Gu Qingfeng spoke, Xuan Yun immediately stepped forward and shouted, "You dare not let Senior Luo probe your Heart-Mind, which proves you have a guilty conscience! Your mind is perfectly fine!"
Liu Feng also stepped forward to berate him, "Exactly! He must have something to hide, not daring to let Senior Luo probe him!"
"This Lord never said his mind was unsound, did he?" Gu Qingfeng drank a cup of wine and said, "Everyone, stop staring at me. I can tell you plainly: This Great Lord's brain has no problems whatsoever, and my mind is absolutely sound!"
No one expected Gu Qingfeng to suddenly declare his sanity intact, especially Mu Lingyao. In her mind, she had struggled back and forth for so long precisely to muddle through and render the previous wager invalid. Under these circumstances, any normal person would cooperate and play dumb, wouldn't they?
At least make it look convincing to others.
Even if he didn't play dumb, he shouldn't declare his mind sound, right?
Didn't that equate to telling everyone that he acknowledged the previous wager with Xuan Yun and the other two?
Not only had Mu Lingyao not expected Gu Qingfeng to say this, but even Xuan Yun and the others were caught off guard, filling them with immense delight. They immediately stepped forward and shouted.
"This Nouveau Riche has admitted it himself! Mu Lingyao, what more do you have to say?"
Faced with Xuan Yun's accusation, Mu Lingyao indeed had nothing to say. What could she say?
She could say nothing. She just stared at Gu Qingfeng, silently cursing that this fellow must be missing a screw in his head.
"Honored Seniors, you all witnessed with your own eyes just now that as soon as this Nouveau Riche heard Senior Luo was going to probe his Heart-Mind, he immediately admitted his mind was sound. In other words, there is nothing unfair about our previous wager!"
After proclaiming this loudly to the crowd, Xuan Yun turned and stared coldly at Mu Lingyao. "Mu Lingyao, I remember clearly—you were the one who personally said, 'a bet is a bet, honor your losses.' Since that's the case, have that Nouveau Riche kneel before the three of us now and kowtow ten million times!"
"Kneel and kowtow!"
Bai Yufei and Liu Feng also stepped forward, followed by members of the Golden Crow Liu Family, who shouted in unison, "A bet is a bet, honor your losses! Kneel and kowtow!"
The Golden Crow Liu Family had brought many people. Their shouts were deafening, their momentum formidable.
Though Mu Lingyao felt unwilling, she was helpless. She looked at Huadiexianzi, who also had no idea how to respond.
Noticing that Gu Qingfeng had suddenly stood up from his chair, Mu Lingyao immediately ran over and said, "You… are you really going to kowtow ten million times for them?"
"Kowtow my ass!" Gu Qingfeng stretched luxuriously. "I say, young lady, haven't you gotten one thing wrong?"
"What thing?"
"Listening to you all jabbering away earlier nearly confused me too. I thought about it for a long time afterwards before I realized—damn it, haven't I not even entered the Tower of Stolen Gold yet? How have you all decided I've lost?"
Hearing this, Mu Lingyao thought carefully. It was true! Earlier, she had been so focused on arguing with Xuan Yun and the others that she had completely forgotten Gu Qingfeng hadn't even set foot in the Tower of Stolen Gold yet.