Tower of Stolen Gold.
The Forty-Fifth Layer.
After reaching this layer, the Nouveau Riche found a random spot, ate a Great Law Yi Jing Marrow-Refining Pill, and waited unhurriedly.
This layer would evolve one hundred thousand formations. These hundred thousand formations were not generated all at once but continuously, layer by layer, like ripples spreading across the surface of a sea.
After a moment, Gu Qingfeng took a puff of Spiritual Tobacco and stood upon one of the formations.
In an instant, the formation activated, teleporting him, and the next moment his figure appeared on the Forty-Sixth Layer.
Was it over?
No.
And it wouldn't be over.
The Forty-Seventh Layer evolved three hundred thousand formations. Gu Qingfeng passed through smoothly.
The Forty-Eighth Layer evolved four hundred thousand formations. Gu Qingfeng passed through smoothly again.
The Fifty-Second Layer evolved eight hundred thousand formations. Gu Qingfeng still passed through smoothly.
The Fifty-Fourth Layer evolved one million formations. Gu Qingfeng yet again passed through smoothly.
When his figure appeared on the Tower of Stolen Gold's Fifty-Fourth Layer, the entire venue erupted in an uproar.
Although the highest record since the tower's construction was the Sixty-Third Layer, ever since the rules were modified a thousand years ago, the highest record over the past millennium had been the Fifty-Fourth Layer.
In other words, when Gu Qingfeng stood on the Tower of Stolen Gold's Fifty-Fourth Layer, it meant he had reached the highest record line of the past thousand years.
The crowd inside cheered and shouted, each seeming more excited and thrilled than the last.
To witness someone breaking the Tower of Stolen Gold's highest record of the past millennium with one's own eyes was indeed a cause for celebration.
However.
Beyond the cheers, there was more shock, envy, and jealousy.
Shock, because no one could have imagined that such a mortal utterly devoid of cultivation, a Nouveau Riche whose speech and conduct were so flamboyant, could actually stand at the highest record of the past millennium.
Envy, because the prize for the Fifty-Fourth Layer was as high as ten billion.
That was a full ten billion Immortal Stones!
How could one not be envious?
Jealousy, because everyone knew that after today, this flamboyant Nouveau Riche would surely become famous overnight in the Dual-Pole Celestial Domain. Wealth and beauties would then come rolling in, endless in number.
"Heavens above!
This guy actually broke the highest record of the past thousand years!
This is just too insane!"
At this moment, Mu Lingyao was at a loss for words to describe her excited heart, babbling incoherently in her thrill.
As for Flower Butterfly Immortal and Qian Ling, their hearts were equally complex. If they had previously harbored doubts about whether Gu Qingfeng was once a Great Old Master, those doubts had now vanished. They were certain that Gu Qingfeng must have once been a Great Old Master, and an extraordinary one at that.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to ascend to the Tower of Stolen Gold's Fifty-Fourth Layer, for it required a vast and powerful divine sense, as well as unparalleled comprehension.
A person's comprehension might be innate and difficult to change later, but there were no shortcuts for divine sense. To make one's divine sense powerful, it could only be slowly tempered and accumulated bit by bit.
In their minds, Gu Qingfeng must have once been a Great Old Master with profound cultivation. Perhaps due to some reason, he lost all his cultivation, but that was only his cultivation. His divine sense remained immensely powerful, and his ability to deduce was beyond what ordinary people could imagine.
At the same time.
The senior experts from the various Secret Realms were also discussing Gu Qingfeng's identity. Before this, they had all thought Gu Qingfeng might just be a Nouveau Riche who got rich overnight and became swollen-headed. But now, having witnessed Gu Qingfeng ascend to the Tower of Stolen Gold's Fifty-Fourth Layer with their own eyes, they realized they had misjudged and underestimated him.
"Could it be that this person really was a Great Old Master before?"
A group of the Tower of Stolen Gold's stewards were also discussing.
Elder Luo, his brow deeply furrowed, stared at Gu Qingfeng's figure on the tower and said gravely, "Whether this person was a Great Old Master before, this old man cannot say. But one thing is certain: he is definitely not a simple Nouveau Riche. A Nouveau Riche could never ascend to the Tower of Stolen Gold's Fifty-Fourth Layer."
"Even if he really was a Great Old Master before, if he lost all his cultivation, his immortal spirit body should still remain. He couldn't possibly have degenerated into a mortal's flesh-and-blood body."
"Perhaps he is a reincarnated person."
"But the problem is, there's no trace of the turbid aura of reincarnation on him!"
"This..." They speculated, but none could offer a definitive explanation.
Elder Luo said, "The world is vast, filled with endless mysteries and unknowns. We are but frogs at the bottom of a well in a corner of the Great Wasteland. How could we possibly comprehend all the myriad phenomena of life between heaven and earth?"
On the Tower of Stolen Gold.
After reaching the Fifty-Fourth Layer, Gu Qingfeng did not stop. He continued upward.
Although the formations increased exponentially after the Fifty-Fourth Layer, for Gu Qingfeng, it presented no real difficulty. The only difference was waiting a bit longer, because the more formations there were, the longer they took to generate.
The Fifty-Fifth Layer evolved two million formations. Gu Qingfeng passed through smoothly.
The Fifty-Sixth Layer evolved three million formations. Gu Qingfeng still passed through smoothly.
The Sixty-Second Layer evolved nine million formations. Gu Qingfeng passed through smoothly once more.
As Gu Qingfeng advanced layer by layer up the Tower of Stolen Gold, the cheers and discussions within the venue grew quieter and quieter. Until, when Gu Qingfeng's figure appeared on the Sixty-Third Layer, the venue fell silent once again. No one cheered anymore, nor did anyone discuss.
The Sixty-Third Layer. This was the highest record since the Tower of Stolen Gold was built, a record set thousands of years ago before the cultivation-level rules were implemented. After the rule modification, thousands of years had passed with no one able to reach the Sixty-Third Layer again.
Today.
Finally, someone had broken the Tower of Stolen Gold's highest record of all time.
And this person was a mortal with no cultivation whatsoever.
Cheers?
Everyone was beyond cheering, because this scene was simply too insane. So insane it made them feel as if they were in a dream, a feeling that left them breathless.
Discussion?
Everyone was beyond discussion.
This mortal with no cultivation had already ascended to the Tower of Stolen Gold's Sixty-Third Layer. Was there any point left in discussing whether he was some Great Old Master or not?
What if he was?
What if he wasn't?
Did it make any difference?
He had already ascended to the Tower of Stolen Gold's Sixty-Third Layer. Even if he really was just a flamboyant Nouveau Riche, he was a legendary, God-like Nouveau Riche!
The legend of the Nouveau Riche did not end there. It continued.
The Sixty-Fourth Layer, the Sixty-Fifth Layer...
The Sixty-Seventh Layer...
The Seventy-Second Layer, the Seventy-Third Layer...
At this moment.
Everyone gathered at the Tower of Stolen Gold—whether they were Common Immortals seeking wealth or joining the excitement, Elegant Immortals seeking fame and fortune, seasoned seniors with vast experience, or knowledgeable experts—all of them raised their heads, eyes wide, mouths agape, staring up with stunned expressions. Like statues, they just stared, could only stare, having forgotten to breathe, forgotten to think, their minds already a complete blank.