"Well, well, if it isn't the illustrious Young Lord Bai Yufei, Young Lord Xuan Yun, and Young Lord Liu Feng?"
Mu Lingyao was not only fiery in temperament but also someone who loved to be in the limelight, and she was a person who always repaid grievances in kind.
Earlier, Bai Yufei and Xuan Yun had left her speechless and had secretly mocked her for being unreasonable and bullying others with her influence. If Gu Qingfeng had failed to reach the Twenty-Seventh Layer of the Tower of Stolen Gold and lost the bet, that would have been one thing. But now, not only had Gu Qingfeng reached the Twenty-Seventh Layer, he had directly ascended to the very top of the Tower of Stolen Gold.
This made Mu Lingyao feel immensely proud and honored, and she considered it a great face-saving matter.
Even though, by all accounts, she had only known Gu Qingfeng for a few days, Mu Lingyao still felt it was very face-saving. After all, she had publicly stood up for Gu Qingfeng earlier, and everyone knew their relationship was extraordinary, at the very least, they were in the same group.
Under such circumstances, how could Mu Lingyao not be proud?
She had caused quite a stir many times as a child, but those were all minor incidents. Moreover, she had once gotten into big trouble for seeking the limelight, and since then, she had rarely made such a spectacle of herself.
However.
Today, Gu Qingfeng had ascended to the Eighty-First Layer of the Tower of Stolen Gold, breaking the highest record in history.
As Gu Qingfeng's friend and fellow group member, Mu Lingyao felt it was absolutely necessary to make the biggest spectacle in history.
Most importantly, she could take this opportunity to teach those three hypocrites, Xuan Yun and the others, a harsh lesson.
Thus.
She stepped forward, deliberately jumping onto the top of the grand carriage, and teased, "Just now, this Young Lady remembers you all looking so spirited and swaggering, so impressive!
Why are you all so quiet now, like quails, completely wilted and done for?
Come on!
Weren't you all so cocky?
Keep being cocky, why aren't you being cocky anymore?"
Bai Yufei, Xuan Yun, and Liu Feng's faces were ashen. They hung their heads low, and despite the anger in their hearts at Mu Lingyao's mockery, they had no face left to retort.
"Young Lady Mu."
At this moment, Old Master Dan Lei stepped forward and said, "Yun'er and the other two have already recognized their mistake. Please, Young Lady Mu, do not stoop to their level."
"Yes, we have already reprimanded them, and they deeply regret it."
Immediately afterward, Senior Bai Teng of the Prestigious Bai Family and Senior Liu Kaiyun of the Golden Crow Liu Family also stepped forward to plead for leniency on behalf of Xuan Yun and the other two.
"Three Seniors, it is not that this junior insists on stooping to their level. You should ask them what exactly they did earlier."
Mu Lingyao first paid her respects to the three elders, then continued, "This wager was not initiated by our Great Old Master; it was proposed by your three Young Lords."
"Our Great Old Master initially did not want to gamble with them, but the three Young Lords insisted on forcing our Great Old Master to bet with them, saying that refusing would be admitting cowardice. In the end, our Great Old Master had no choice but to agree to this unfair wager."
Recalling the cause and effect of this bet, Mu Lingyao couldn't help but laugh as she spoke. She was simply overjoyed. "You said you wanted to bet, so bet. Betting one kowtow wasn't enough; the three Young Lords said they wanted to bet bigger, opening their mouths to wager ten million kowtows."
"Heavens above!
That's ten million kowtows!"
One had to say, Mu Lingyao's skill at sarcasm was truly formidable. Standing atop the grand carriage, she seemed to feel it wasn't enough, so she ran right up to Xuan Yun, Bai Yufei, and the others and asked, "Actually, I've always wanted to ask the three Young Lords: when you bet so big, did you never consider you might lose?
Did you never think about how you would get out of this mess if you lost?
Hmm?
Come, tell me about your thought process. This Young Lady is really curious!"
Being mocked and ridiculed like this by Mu Lingyao, Bai Yufei, Xuan Yun, and Liu Feng trembled with rage, yet they still dared not raise their heads to refute anything.
"I think you probably never considered you might lose, right?
If you had, you wouldn't have dared to bet ten million kowtows, right?
Did you think our Great Old Master truly couldn't reach the Twenty-Seventh Layer of the Tower of Stolen Gold?
Hmm?
Heh heh heh heh!"
Mu Lingyao was very pleased, so pleased she wanted to laugh out loud. It had been a long, long time since she had been this cocky.
"Let me tell you, not only did you think our Great Old Master couldn't reach the Twenty-Seventh Layer, even this Young Lady never imagined our Great Old Master would be this formidable!
Not only did he reach the Twenty-Seventh Layer, he reached the Fifty-Fourth Layer, breaking the highest record of the past millennium. Then he reached the Sixty-Third Layer, breaking the highest record in the Tower of Stolen Gold's history. Finally, he effortlessly ascended to the Eighty-First Layer, becoming the first person in the several thousand years since the tower's construction to reach its summit."
Although Mu Lingyao here was somewhat stealing the spotlight and acting like a fox borrowing the tiger's might, today she was determined to borrow that tiger's might for once. Old Master Dan Lei and the others wanted to speak up to plead, but Mu Lingyao simply didn't give them a chance, continuing to mock Xuan Yun and the other two.
"I ask you, are you convinced or not!"
As she spoke, Mu Lingyao suddenly remembered the earlier events and couldn't help but chuckle. "You tell me yourselves, aren't you just asking for it? Earlier, I said our Great Old Master had mental issues and suggested we void the bet. But what did you do? You all jumped out one by one, swaggering as you refuted this Young Lady."
"You said this Young Lady was unreasonable and bullied others with influence?
You even invited Steward Luo to come out and uphold justice?
You insisted on forcing our Great Old Master to bet with you. And now? How does it feel?
Stunned, right?
In a pickle, right?
Played too big, right?
Still want to bet?
Tell me, if this isn't asking for it, what is?"
"If at that time, you hadn't been so despicable—I'm not asking you to be kind or righteous, just a little less despicable—if you had possessed even a shred of good intention, it wouldn't have come to this, right?"
While Mu Lingyao was over there mocking and ridiculing, the crowd was also buzzing with discussion. They had all been present earlier and knew Mu Lingyao was speaking the truth. They all believed Xuan Yun, Bai Yufei, and Liu Feng had brought this upon themselves, dug their own graves, and thoroughly deserved it.
Hearing the crowd's discussion, Xuan Yun and the other two knew they had completely lost face this time. If there were a crack in the ground, all three would have immediately crawled into it. They deeply regretted it!
They regretted why they had gambled with Gu Qingfeng in the first place, and regretted even more why they hadn't run when Gu Qingfeng reached the top of the Tower of Stolen Gold. If they had run, even though they might not be able to hold their heads up in the future, that would only be in the future. It would still be better than being humiliated in front of this huge crowd right now!
Beside them, the faces of the people from the Lotus Secret Realm, the Prestigious Bai Family, and the Golden Crow Liu Family also alternated between green and pale. After all, Xuan Yun and the other two were their juniors. Now that their juniors had done something so shameful, they, as elders, were also humiliated.
Although they were furious in their hearts, they could only grit their teeth and endure it. Not only could they not open their mouths to refute, they had to put on an apologetic face and hope to resolve the matter.
Perhaps having had enough fun and made enough of a spectacle, Mu Lingyao smiled at them and said, "Three Seniors, this junior understands your meaning and can completely empathize with your feelings. I also know that for the sake of the three Young Lords, you have already disregarded your own dignity. If it were this junior who had made the bet with the three Young Lords, there would be nothing to say. Even just out of respect for you three Seniors, this junior would not make an issue of it. But the problem is...
The one who made the bet with the three Young Lords wasn't this junior; it was our Great Old Master."
"This junior is merely borrowing the tiger's might, using our Great Old Master's feat of reaching the Tower of Stolen Gold's summit to step forward and make a spectacle, and mock them a little these three illustrious Young Lords. Now that the mocking is done and the spectacle has been made, this junior will take her leave first."