Looking at Qianniao, who was filled with confidence in Gu Qingfeng, and then at Lord Ma, who idolized Gu Qingfeng to the extreme, both Huadiexianzi, Mu Lingyao, and Qianling clearly knew that the words spoken by Qianniao and Lord Ma were true.
However.
They could not figure out how Gu Qingfeng had managed to do it.
If it were any other matter, making a prediction would be one thing, but this was the Tower of Stolen Gold—a place with a high degree of luck and great variability. Even they themselves, once they entered the tower, would not know how far they could ultimately go. So how had he predicted it?
They did not understand!
They truly could not understand.
Even if they racked their brains, they could not understand.
And at this moment, they had no mind to ponder this question, because Gu Qingfeng was already standing on the first layer of the Tower of Stolen Gold.
"My Great Lord!
Please, Your Excellency, don't get eliminated on the first layer!
Absolutely, absolutely not!"
Mu Lingyao clasped her hands together, praying inwardly.
Because this current gamble was no longer just a bet between Gu Qingfeng and the trio of Xuan Yun; it was also a contest between Mu Lingyao and the Golden Crow Liu Family. If Gu Qingfeng lost, Mu Lingyao knew very well that the Golden Crow Liu Family would seize this opportunity and do everything possible to make her lose face.
She could not lose!
Absolutely could not lose!
At the very least, she could not lose too disgracefully!
Mu Lingyao kept praying in her heart. Perhaps because she was truly too afraid of losing, when two teleportation arrays materialized on the first layer of the Tower of Stolen Gold, she didn't even dare to look. She simply closed her eyes.
After a while, Mu Lingyao still didn't dare to open her eyes. She asked, "Did that guy go up, or was he eliminated?"
No one answered her.
"Sister Huadie, why aren't you speaking?
Was he eliminated?
Just say something!
Let me brace myself!"
Still, no one responded to her.
What in the world was going on?
Mu Lingyao couldn't hold back any longer, yet she still didn't dare to look directly. Instead, she covered her eyes with her hands and peeked through the gaps between her fingers. She discovered that Gu Qingfeng's figure was not on the first layer of the Tower of Stolen Gold. Suppressing her anxious heart, she looked toward the second layer, only to find Gu Qingfeng's figure was still absent.
At that moment, Mu Lingyao's heart instantly sank halfway. Holding her breath, she looked toward the third layer, but still did not find Gu Qingfeng's figure.
If Mu Lingyao's heart had only sunk halfway before, then at this moment, it had sunk completely.
But Mu Lingyao still did not give up. A sliver of hope remained in her heart. Summoning her courage, she looked toward the fourth layer again. Even though she knew the hope was slim, she still wanted to try.
Unfortunately.
Gu Qingfeng's figure was not on the fourth layer either.
The last shred of hope vanished into thin air at this moment.
Mu Lingyao knew that if Gu Qingfeng's figure was not on the fourth layer of the Tower of Stolen Gold, then he must have been eliminated on the first layer.
"It's over. Completely over."
At that moment, Mu Lingyao felt the world spinning, dizzy and lightheaded, with tightness in her chest and shortness of breath. She could barely stand steady. This feeling was like betting her entire fortune, only to lose everything and become destitute.
That's right.
This was exactly how Mu Lingyao felt now.
"I clearly knew this guy was a boastful, unreliable blowhard, yet I…
still held a sliver of hope for him. Never did I expect…
never did I expect to fall for it in the end!
Why was I so blind as to trust someone with a messed-up brain!"
Mu Lingyao stamped her feet in anger, pounding her chest. Just then, Qianniao walked over and asked, "Sister Yao, what's wrong?"
"What do you think is wrong?
This guy's been eliminated now. Those people from the Golden Crow Liu Family will definitely seize this chance to make me lose all face!"
"Little Drunkard hasn't been eliminated!"
"Don't lie to me!
I saw…" Mu Lingyao looked toward the area to the right of the Tower of Stolen Gold. Anyone eliminated from the tower would be teleported there. But when she looked over, she found Gu Qingfeng's figure was not there.
"Huh?
Where's that guy?
Where did he go?"
"Little Drunkard is still up in the Tower of Stolen Gold."
"What?!
Impossible!
Did I just see wrong earlier?"
Mu Lingyao's spirits instantly lifted. She hurriedly looked over, thinking she must have misseen earlier. She started checking from the first layer again—second layer, third layer, and once more saw the fourth layer, still finding no sign of Gu Qingfeng. She looked several times in a row but could not see Gu Qingfeng.
"Qianniao!
Didn't you say that guy was still in the tower?
Why can't I see him!"
"Sister Yao, look higher up!"
Higher?
Mu Lingyao continued looking upward: fifth layer, sixth layer, seventh layer, eighth layer. Even when she reached the ninth layer, she still could not see Gu Qingfeng.
"Where is he?
Where exactly is he?
Why can't I see him!"
"Little Drunkard was just on the sixteenth layer."
"What?!
Sixteenth layer?
Impossible!"
Mu Lingyao simply refused to believe that guy could have reached the sixteenth layer in such a short time. With a mix of excitement and trepidation, she looked over, only to be greatly disappointed once again, because she did not see Gu Qingfeng on the sixteenth layer at all.
"Qianniao!
Didn't you say he was on the sixteenth layer?
Where is he?
Where?"
"Now I can't see him either."
"You little brat, are you deliberately messing with me?"
Mu Lingyao looked at Huadiexianzi beside her and found her looking up, her face filled with shock as she stared at the Tower of Stolen Gold, as if witnessing a divine miracle. Not only Huadiexianzi, but Qianling, Lord Ma, and the dozen or so people from the Little Luo Secret Realm—everyone present seemed to be the same.
Just as Mu Lingyao was feeling utterly bewildered, Little Qianniao's voice came: "Sister Yao, quick, look! I found Little Drunkard. He's on the twentieth layer! No!
He's already gone up to the twenty-first layer now. Ah!
Little Drunkard is so amazing, he's gone up to the twenty-second layer!"
Suppressing the shock and doubt in her heart, Mu Lingyao looked up again. Sure enough, she really saw a figure that was both familiar and strange on the twenty-second layer of the Tower of Stolen Gold.
It was a plain, unremarkable young man, dressed in attire worth two hundred million, standing on the twentieth layer of the Tower of Stolen Gold. He was casually eating a Daluo Yijing Marrow-Cleansing Pill while waiting idly for the teleportation array that was about to materialize.
Who else could it be but Gu Qingfeng!
Perhaps this scene was too exaggerated, too unbelievable, and too inconceivable for Mu Lingyao. She simply could not believe her eyes. She closed them, opened them, closed them again, opened them again, repeating this several times. Only after confirming she had not seen wrong did she feel as if struck by lightning. Her mind instantly went blank, and her thoughts froze solid.
That feeling of the world spinning and dizziness returned.
But it was different.
The earlier feeling was like betting her entire fortune and losing everything, plunging her into hellish despair. The current feeling was like after losing everything and becoming destitute, a giant pie suddenly fell from the sky and smashed right into her, hitting her so hard it felt like being resurrected from death, or like instantly shooting up from hell to heaven. Perhaps happiness had come too suddenly, or perhaps this surprise was simply too stimulating, causing Mu Lingyao to stand there dumbfounded like a statue, unable to regain her senses for a long time.