The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

The Qixia Sect and the Black Dragon Sect, both counted among the Five Great Sects, had always been at odds beneath a veneer of civility. Were it not for the Wangyou Sect acting as a buffer, the two would have already fought countless wars.

And black was the color revered by the Black Dragon Sect. As such, those who came to challenge the Drunken Immortal Tower, a Qixia Sect establishment, had all deliberately avoided the color.

Chen Dong's luck had interfered with his choice. The black he selected not only displeased the people of the Qixia Sect but also made him the immediate center of attention.

Hearing the commotion, Shopkeeper Li hurried down to calm the crowd. "It's not broken, it's not broken! This scroll is a Top-Grade Treasure Artifact; how could it possibly break? The Wang Family's son-in-law has truly reached the third floor!"

What he left unsaid was that the third floor and above were all under the purview of Chu Yan Zhenren. Since Chen Dong had passed through the restriction unharmed and hadn't been kicked out by the master, it meant he must have finished the second serving of Drunken Immortal Brew.

Hearing Shopkeeper Li's assurance, the patrons calmed down, but they remained utterly shocked.

The young woman from before, with tears in her eyes, lamented once more, "Why would a talented young man like him end up with Wang Xian'Er?!"

Her companion immediately mocked, "Didn't you just say he was all show and no go? Why the change of heart?"

The woman shot her companion a look and huffed. "Can't I feel sorry for myself? I have no idea what she has that I don't."

"With that scrawny body of yours? You can't hold a candle to Wang Xian'Er!" At that, the group roared with laughter, only to remember that Wang Xian'Er's maid was still present and quickly stifle their chortles.

Wang Wan'Er paid no attention to the surrounding chatter. Instead, she stared at the scroll, her hand covering her mouth in shock. She never imagined Chen Dong possessed such ability. In all her ten-plus years living in Drunken Immortal City, she had never heard of anyone ascending to the third floor so quickly.

On the third floor, Chen Dong found the layout was no longer open like the first and second floors. Instead, it was comprised of one private, quiet chamber after another.

Chen Dong walked down the hall. The doors to the first five chambers were already closed, so he entered the sixth.

The chamber contained only a low, square table, a meditation cushion, and two lanterns.

As soon as Chen Dong sat on the cushion, the door shut instantly, and the two lanterns lit up in succession.

A childish voice echoed in his ear, "To reach the third floor as a mere Fifth-Layer Qi Refining cultivator, your talent is truly impressive. A pity your realm is too low. Your journey ends here on the third floor!"

Seven jade cups, filled to the brim with wine, then appeared on the table.

The childish voice spoke again. "If you please."

Chen Dong lifted a jade cup and sniffed it first. The wine's pure, tranquil aroma cleared his mind. He then took a small sip, and the True Qi within him instantly surged to life. 'If I were trying to overcome a cultivation bottleneck,' he thought, 'this state would make it twice as effective with half the effort. It would be much simpler.'

However, Chen Dong currently had no such cultivation bottlenecks to speak of. His only issue was an insufficient accumulation of True Qi. He had already smoothed over all the difficult hurdles for his next breakthroughs; there was no need to do so again.

The wine in these jade cups was far more potent than the first two servings. Between that, the quiet chamber, and the residual effects of the first two Drunken Immortal Brews still in his system, Chen Dong decided to drink the cup and begin cultivating.

After a single Grand Circulation, Chen Dong easily broke through to the Sixth-Layer Qi Refining.

A method for replicating the third brew without relying on the Door-Cleansing Spirit Spring or the Washing Door Spirit Array also formulated in his mind.

Next, Chen Dong downed the remaining six cups in an instant and continued to meditate and cultivate.

An hour later, Chen Dong's cultivation had reached the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.

Amidst a soft gasp of disbelief from the unseen presence, Chen Dong opened the door and walked out.

Just then, the door to the first chamber opened, and a handsome man dressed in the robes of the Qixia Sect's Inner Sect emerged.

The man had been completely focused on refining the wine's potency, so he had no idea how long Chen Dong had been there. He could only sense from Chen Dong's aura that he hadn't yet reached the Foundation Establishment Stage.

But because Chen Dong was standing too close to the stairs leading to the fourth floor, the man said arrogantly, "You're in my way!"

Chen Dong glanced at the man out of the corner of his eye and, without a word, headed for the fourth floor. 'Based on how my luck has been going,' he mused, 'anything I say will just end up offending this guy. So why waste the energy? Fighting is forbidden in the Drunken Immortal Tower, so there's no reason to be afraid of him.'

Even though the man was at the Eighth-Layer Foundation Establishment realm, Chen Dong wouldn't necessarily be afraid of him outside the Drunken Immortal Tower either.

"Kid, didn't you hear me? When you reach the third floor, you're supposed to just find an empty chamber and sit down. Why are you still walking ahead and getting in my way?"

The man, named Fei Ji, assumed Chen Dong had only just arrived on this floor.

Chen Dong just shook his head and stepped onto the stairs leading to the fourth floor.

Fei Ji stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes locking onto the staircase. He began to wonder if he was drunk. A cultivator who hadn't even reached the Foundation Establishment Stage was actually ascending to the fourth floor?

Down on the first floor, the patrons had fallen deathly silent, staring at the scroll in horror. They were once again questioning the scroll's authenticity.

In less than two hours, the black dot on the scroll had now reached the fourth floor.

This was the mother of all shocks.

How was this possible? The Wang Family's son-in-law, a man whose cultivation realm was perceived to be so low, had just rocketed up to the fourth floor in such a short amount of time!

That 'I could do that too' attitude resurfaced among the crowd, because it was now obvious that the Drunken Immortal Tower was rigging the challenge.

After all, Feng Wei and Mu Qingzhu had spent three whole days on the third floor, and they were cultivators at Foundation Establishment Perfection who had entered the special realm of pill suppression!

Even Fei Ji, the Eighth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivator represented by the yellow dot that had just moved, had been on the third floor for ten full days.

Shopkeeper Li stood woodenly before the scroll. At this point, even he suspected that the treasured artifact was broken.