After leaving the Tower of Stolen Gold, Bai Susu did not hesitate, nor did she dare to delay, preparing to fly back to celebrate Gu Qingfeng's ten-trillion prize. However, before she could return to her waterside pavilion, she saw her attendant Xiao Ya hurriedly running over.
"Xiao Ya, why are you here alone? Where is he?"
"He went back."
"Went back? Where to?"
"On the way, he said he was too tired from all the commotion today and wanted to go back to sleep first. He told me to let you know he'd talk after waking up."
"Do you know where he went to rest?"
"This... I don't know either."
Huadiexianzi, Mu Lingyao, Qiānlíng, and Qianniao also followed. Upon hearing that Gu Qingfeng had gone back to rest, Huadiexianzi said, "He booked a garden estate on Golden Jade Island. He might have gone back there to rest."
"Since he's tired, let him rest then."
Bai Susu pondered for a moment before instructing, "Xiao Ya, arrange for some people to guard Golden Jade Island. Relay my order: no one is to disturb his rest."
"Alright, I'll go handle it now."
After Xiao Ya left, Huadiexianzi and the others followed Bai Susu back to the waterside pavilion. A table full of delicious delicacies had been prepared, which now went to Mu Lingyao and the others. However, none of them had any appetite, especially Mu Lingyao, who had many questions burning in her heart, desperate for answers.
"Sister Susu, did you know the Great Old Master before?"
"We met once."
"Only once?"
"He previously won 1.8 billion in the gambling city, and I happened to be there at the time, so we chatted for a while."
Mu Lingyao asked curiously, "Then do you know who the Great Old Master is?"
"No."
This left Mu Lingyao utterly bewildered. Not only her, but Huadiexianzi, Qiānlíng, and Qianniao also found it hard to believe. Earlier at the Tower of Stolen Gold, when they saw Bai Susu bowing to Gu Qingfeng, they thought she knew who he was. After all, who would be foolish enough to bow without knowing the other's identity and background? Especially Bai Susu, who was a Nine Heavens Enfeoffed Lo Supreme Immortal. Yet, they never imagined Bai Susu truly was such a 'fool'.
"Sister Susu, you've only met the Great Old Master once, and you don't even know who he is. Why did you bow to him with such great respect?"
"Facing a Great Old Master, shouldn't I bow?"
"Sister Susu, you believe he is a Great Old Master?"
"Don't you believe it?"
It wasn't that Huadiexianzi and Mu Lingyao didn't believe. If they hadn't believed before, after witnessing Gu Qingfeng's terrifying power with their own eyes, they dared not disbelieve. It was just that they had never seen or heard of any Great Old Master in the Great Wasteland who was a mortal with a flesh-and-blood body. Even if one's cultivation went awry, causing loss of power, an Immortal body couldn't possibly degrade to a mortal one.
"I've said it before: the Great Wasteland is vast and boundless, the myriad heavens and worlds are infinite. The Dual-Pole Celestial Domain is but a corner of it. We are merely frogs at the bottom of a well. Just because we haven't heard of or seen something doesn't mean it doesn't exist between heaven and earth."
Bai Susu spoke softly, "Moreover, in this Modern Era, with the revival of all things, who knows how many ancient existences have quietly awakened from slumber? It's just that we don't know about them."
"Good heavens!"
Mu Lingyao felt her scalp tingle and clicked her tongue in amazement. "Sister Susu, are you saying the Great Old Master is one of those awakened ancient existences?"
Both Mu Lingyao and Huadiexianzi, including Qiānlíng, had heard that in the Modern Era, with the revival of all things in nature, those ancient existences from the Ancient Era, the Primordial Era, or even the Archaic Era—whether sleeping or sealed—had begun to awaken.
"I was just making an analogy. As for what kind of existence he truly is, I don't know either."
Bai Susu seemed to remember something and asked, "Ling'er, I heard you found him in the Flowing Sands Minor Secret Realm?"
Qiānlíng nodded, not hiding the truth. "At the time, we from the Xiaoluo Secret Realm were training there and happened to find him lying in a swampy mire. We saw he still had signs of life, so we brought him back."
Bai Susu asked, "Before you found him, how long had he been unconscious in the Flowing Sands Minor Secret Realm?"
"That's not very clear. Judging by the environment around him, he must have been unconscious for a very, very long time."
"I think that Great Old Master must be an ancient existence! He must be!"
Mu Lingyao declared, "The natural environment inside the Flowing Sands Minor Secret Realm is extremely harsh. Forget mortals—even if we enter without using Immortal power to protect ourselves, our flesh would rot in a short time. Yet that guy, with a mortal body, was unconscious there for a long time. I think he must be an ancient existence who sealed himself away to survive the Calamity in the past. Now, in the Modern Era with the revival of all things, he has awakened along with it."
The reason many ancient existences revived during the revival of all things wasn't that they died and came back to life, but that they broke free from their Seals and awakened.
The Great Wasteland had experienced many eras. At the end of each era, earth-shattering Calamities would occur. To survive these Calamities, many great powers would Seal themselves away in advance.
As for when they would awaken after being Sealed, whether they could awaken at all, or even if they could survive—these were all unknowns. Because once a Calamity occurred, heaven and earth would cycle, the great Dao would be reborn, and no one knew what the world would become after the Calamity.
Put this way, Mu Lingyao's speculation wasn't without reason. Perhaps that Great Old Master had Sealed himself in the Flowing Sands Minor Secret Realm to survive a past Calamity. During the Calamity, the Flowing Sands Minor Secret Realm vanished. But with the dawn of the Modern Era and the revival of all things, the Flowing Sands Minor Secret Realm reappeared, and that Great Old Master gradually awakened from his Seal.
Bai Susu asked again, "Did he ever tell you about his identity?"
Qianniao replied, "Sister Susu, Little Drunkard—no! The Great Old Master—after he woke up, he couldn't remember anything from before. He even forgot who he was."
Mu Lingyao said, "I've heard that those ancient existences, because they were Sealed for too long, often suffer mental disorders, brain problems, and memory loss."
Huadiexianzi said solemnly, "But his mind doesn't seem disordered. His brain seems perfectly fine, no different from a normal person."
Then she asked, "Qianniao, you've known him the longest. When you were in the Xiaoluo Secret Realm, you didn't notice anything abnormal about him, right?"
Qianniao tilted her little head and thought. "Apart from liking to brag, the Great Old Master wasn't abnormal in any way."
"Maybe he really can't remember his past."
"Actually..." At this moment, Qiānlíng suddenly spoke up. "He..." Seeing Qiānlíng's hesitant expression, Bai Susu asked, "What about him?"
"He... probably isn't mentally disordered. His brain has no problems either. He hasn't forgotten his past. He just... doesn't want to bring it up."
"Ling'er, how do you know?"
"I..." Qiānlíng thought it over carefully and decided to speak. "He told me privately that he just doesn't want to mention his past."
"Then did he tell you who he is?"
Qiānlíng shook her head. "He didn't say. He only told me... his surname is Gu. The Gu of eternity."