The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

The first-floor hall was dead silent. The patrons were numb. That sudden black dot... it... it... it had reached the fifth floor.

Even Fengwei Fairy and Mu Qingzhu Fairy had taken a full ten days to reach the fifth floor, yet this black dot had done it in less than a day.

Even if a Zhenren were to speak up, they would all suspect some foul play was involved.

The bookies who had just opened bets on Chen Dong were stunned with happiness. It was a clean sweep—not a single person had correctly guessed the time it would take for him to ascend.

"Shopkeeper, I want to challenge the tower!" an eighth-layer Qi Refining Cultivator shouted loudly. If the Wang Family's son-in-law could do it, so could he.

"I want to challenge the tower too!" yelled another, a Sixth-Layer Qi Refining Loose Cultivator. He had originally come just to watch the excitement after hearing the rumors, but now that he saw this opportunity, he knew he had to seize it. 'Three hundred Spirit Stones is a huge sum, but as long as I can pass the fourth floor, I can join the Qixia Sect as an Inner Sect disciple. There will be plenty of chances to earn it back. It's so much better than being a Loose Cultivator.'

"Me too!"

"I'll challenge it too!..."

In just that moment, eight or nine Cultivators stood up. They didn't expose the apparent foul play; instead, they wagered three hundred Spirit Stones for a shot at the same opportunity.

Meanwhile, Chen Dong's Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation was now comparable to the Outer Appearance Realm. It was the first sliver of security he'd felt since arriving in the Wangyou Realm. Now, if he were to face one of the 'Eight Immortals,' he was confident he could hold his own against any of them—as long as it wasn't Zhuang Zheng.

Stepping onto the fifth floor, he felt as if he had entered a world made of a sea of flowers. It was a riot of color, with petals dancing in the air.

'Is this an Illusion Realm? No! A separate, small dimension? Not that either!'

After a moment of sensing his surroundings, Chen Dong concluded that it was an environmental change caused by the Washing Door Array. These were real objects, not an illusion, nor was it a separate space.

Looking across the sea of flowers, he saw two figures nestled within. It was Mu Qingzhu in a white gown and Feng Wei in a light-colored one. Two of the seven iridescent wine glasses floating before them were empty. Both women were meditating, refining the alcohol's power.

Sensing his arrival, Feng Wei opened her eyes and glanced over. 'Isn't that the man we suspected of spying on Mu Qingzhu? It's only been ten days or so, and he already has the aura of Late-stage Qi Refining. He even managed to catch up and reach the fifth floor... That Divine Sense must have been his! He had Divine Sense back when he was a mortal. What is his background...?'

The thoughts flashed through Feng Wei's mind in an instant before she returned to refining the wine's power. 'All sorts of strange Cultivators pop up in the Wangyou Realm; it has nothing to do with me. This isn't the time to get distracted. Beating Mu Qingzhu is what matters.'

Chu Yan Zhenren appeared before Chen Dong once more. With a casual wave of her hand, seven Glazed Wine Glasses materialized and floated in the air.

"Kid, the fifth floor of the Drunken Immortal Tower is completely different from the first four. If anyone without the strength of the Foundation Establishment Stage drinks this wine, their meridians will descend into chaos and they will explode and die. Even if your constitution is special enough to try it, you absolutely cannot be as reckless as you were before!"

Chen Dong bowed. "Thank you for the reminder, Senior!" Then, he picked up a glass and drained it in one gulp.

A hint of displeasure flashed in Chu Yan Zhenren's eyes before her figure vanished into the sea of flowers.

An astonishing potency exploded within Chen Dong's body. He was overjoyed as he refined the wine's power, turning it into wisps of True Qi that flowed into his Dantian.

'As expected of Drunken Immortal Brew,' Chen Dong thought, delighted. 'This is even faster than popping pills to recover my strength.' He was also surprised that he couldn't identify the medicinal ingredients used to brew it. Based on his knowledge, he knew he couldn't replicate it even if he tried to reverse-engineer the formula. 'They must have used ingredients I've never even heard of.'

'The first four floors were one thing, but the ingredients used on the fifth floor are far more advanced,' Chen Dong mused. 'Once I'm no longer in mortal danger, I must properly study the pharmacology and pill recipes of the Wangyou Realm.'

In less than four hours, Chen Dong drank the second glass. His strength had already recovered to the Outer Appearance Peak—the equivalent of Tenth-Layer Qi Cultivation in the Wangyou Realm. He was now just a single step away from the Inner Realm.

In a flash of insight, Chen Dong felt that this was not the true limit of the Outer Appearance Realm. Previously, upon reaching the Outer Appearance Peak, his strength would stagnate until he broke through to the Inner Realm. But this time, as he re-cultivated and reached the peak once more, he could feel that the Outer Appearance Realm still held untapped potential.

Thus, Chen Dong did not rush to break through to the Inner Realm. Instead, he used the True Qi converted from the wine's potency to continue his cultivation.

After drinking the third glass, Chen Dong could have broken through at any moment, but he chose to hold back.

The fourth glass, the fifth...

A day after Chen Dong had entered the fifth floor, the limit of the Outer Appearance Realm was finally shattered. He had entered the ultimate limit of the realm.

Chu Yan Zhenren, who had been watching Chen Dong, was stunned. "Eleventh-Layer Qi Cultivation! Impossible! Is this kid trying to walk the path of the Extreme Dao?"

After entering this new realm, Chen Dong felt that his previous state at Outer Appearance was pathetically weak. By comparison, his current strength at the Outer Appearance Realm was ten times greater than before. He could now fight head-on against his former Early-stage Inner Realm self. Even the perpetually weak golden lotus in his Sea of Consciousness brightened after this breakthrough. The four pillars of light within his Sea of Consciousness were replenished, and his pitiful one-meter Divine Sense exploded to a range of one hundred meters.

Chen Dong realized his lifespan had also been extended. Not only that, but his luck, which had been at zero, had grown by a sliver. If his luck upon arriving in the Wangyou Realm was zero, it was now one.

The gains were immense.

With a smile of satisfaction, he drained the last two Glazed Wine Glasses, then rose and walked toward the sixth floor.

Mu Qingzhu, who had been engrossed in refining the wine's potency, slowly opened her eyes. She frowned at Chen Dong's retreating back, her Dao Heart wavering slightly.