The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

Silence. A strange, eerie silence.

Seeing Lu Sangjiu remain quiet, Jichen offered some gentle advice. ”Physical form and appearance are but illusions. Benefactor, as long as your heart is free of impure thoughts, this shouldn’t be a difficult task.”

Lu Sangjiu: ”...”

’The problem is, I’m not a monk. I can’t just clear my mind of all impure thoughts!’

”Wait a minute...” A look of confusion crossed her face. ”If physical form and appearance are just illusions, then why did you duck into the water when you opened your eyes just now?”

Jichen explained with great sincerity, ”I’m only in my twenties, so I haven’t reached that level yet. But you, Senior, are several hundred years old. You must have long seen through such vanities.”

Lu Sangjiu: ”...”

’Well, thanks a lot!’

’Not only did he remind me of my age, he had to put me on a pedestal too!’

A moment later, her face dark, Lu Sangjiu finally hauled him out of the water.

However, she kept her back to him, using a spell to lift him out. Then, with another wave of her hand, she dressed him.

Jichen said, ”It seems you haven’t seen through it after all, Senior. To think you’d still resort to such self-deception.”

To cast a spell with such precision without using her eyes, she would have had to use her Divine Sense to ”see.” And there was really... no difference between the two.

Lu Sangjiu: ”...”

’She was suddenly filled with regret. Why on earth did I use my precious Domination Map Blade to save this guy???’

’Is it too late to take it back?’

Of course, it was too late. She had already sworn a Heart Demon Oath.

A short while later, Lu Sangjiu brought him back to the Poison Master’s small courtyard.

The Poison Master saw them return—one looking innocent, the other with a dark glower—and immediately chuckled. ”Seems like something interesting happened, eh?”

Lu Sangjiu’s expression darkened further. ”Nothing happened! Stop wasting time and treat him!”

The Poison Master said, ”Oh,” and added, ”But the next part of the treatment requires him to be undressed. Do you plan on staying to watch, Senior?”

Lu Sangjiu: ”...”

Without saying another word, she turned and stormed out.

His mischievous streak satisfied, the Poison Master broke into a delighted grin and turned to treat Jichen.

Jichen asked, ”Are you Senior Poison Master? My master has spoken of you.”

The Poison Master didn’t ask who his master was. He just grunted an ”Oh?” and asked, ”What did he say?”

”I’ve heard that your fees are very high, and my injuries were severe... What price did Senior Gu Huang have to pay for you to save me?”

Hearing Jichen call her ”Senior Gu Huang,” the Poison Master raised an eyebrow slightly and muttered to himself, ”So it’s really not that kind of relationship, huh.”

After a moment’s thought, he grinned again and told him without a hint of concealment, ”She gave me her Demon Blade Dominator.”

Jichen froze. ”...Are you telling the truth, Senior?”

The Poison Master took the domination map right out of his storage bag. ”See?”

This time, Jichen truly believed him. He fell silent for a long while, lost in thought.

The Poison Master laughed again. ”How do you plan to repay such a great debt of gratitude? I’d say your looks aren’t half-bad. Why not offer yourself in marriage?”

He was only teasing, but Jichen answered in earnest, ”I am a Buddhist Practitioner. I cannot marry.”

The Poison Master raised an eyebrow and spouted glibly, ”That Buddhist Practitioners can’t marry is just something other people say. How do you know for sure that *you* can’t? Perhaps you can blaze a new trail?”

Jichen fell into deep thought.

Lu Sangjiu waited outside, planning to take Jichen back once he was healed, at which point she would go and retrieve Cangming.

Just then, however, she suddenly received a message from Fa Shan: ”Palace Master, Bai Sheng left a letter and went to the Beast Taming Sect alone! What should I do?!”

Lu Sangjiu shot to her feet. ”Why weren’t you watching her?!”

Fa Shan was clearly frantic. ”Something came up, and I had to deal with it. When I got back, she was gone! And it looks like she took my Demon Boat. At the Demon Boat’s speed, she’s probably already there by now!”

”I won’t make it in time if I rush over now, so I had to notify you first, Palace Master!”

Lu Sangjiu glanced back at the tightly shut door. ’The treatment should take several more days,’ she thought. ’I have time to deal with Bai Sheng’s situation first and still make it back.’

Without another moment of hesitation, she tore open a rift in space and instantly appeared in the main hall of the Beast Taming Sect.

There in the great hall of the Beast Taming Sect, Bai Sheng was already bound. The one who had tied her was none other than Luo Ming, the very person she had once trusted implicitly.

Standing before them was the same Body Integration Realm elder who had fought Lu Sangjiu before, his venomous gaze fixed on her.

”If you don’t want her to die, stand right there and don’t move!”

Bai Sheng’s eyes, full of guilt, met Lu Sangjiu’s. ”I’m sorry... Don’t worry about me. Go, quickly!”

Luo Ming immediately began chanting a Spell. The ropes binding Bai Sheng tightened abruptly, cutting bloody welts into her skin.

He warned coldly, ”Shut your mouth if you want to live.”

Pain flashed across Bai Sheng’s face, but she bit down hard on her lip, refusing to make a sound.

Fury blazed in Lu Sangjiu’s eyes as she witnessed this. ”Stop!”

The elder’s lips curled into a sneer. ”You two demonic heretics... such a deep sisterly bond you have. Speaking of which, do you know why she was willing to return?”

Lu Sangjiu said nothing, merely fixing him with a deathly stare.

The elder answered his own question. ”It’s because Luo Ming sent her a message, telling her he had discovered that Jin Ling’er was, in fact, practicing an Evil Technique. He said he finally realized we had wronged her all along.”

”He told Bai Sheng that the Beast Taming Sect now wishes to end this war between Immortals and Demons. However, the sect’s elders refuse to admit our fault, so someone needs to take responsibility for everything.”

”As long as she was willing to return and take all the blame upon herself, the conflict between Immortals and Demons could be put to an end for good.”

”BWAHAHAHA! And that fool, Bai Sheng, actually believed such a clumsy lie!”

The elder’s face was a mask of ridicule. ”She’s just so hopelessly naive. We did indeed discover that Jin Ling’er was practicing an Evil Technique, but so what?”

”Jin Ling’er was wrong, and she has already atoned for it with her death! But that doesn’t mean Bai Sheng wasn’t also wrong for colluding with a demonic entity like you!”

”How could we possibly let the utter humiliation the Beast Taming Sect suffered that day simply slide?”

”Today, we’re not just taking Bai Sheng’s life—we’re taking yours as well!”

”Demon Cultivator Gu Huang, are you ready to meet your end?”

Lu Sangjiu listened to it all with a blank expression, but her fists were already clenched tight.

’That fool, Bai Sheng... did she really think she could end the war between Immortals and Demons with her own life?’

’But how could that ever be possible!’

’The misunderstandings between Immortals and Demons have always existed. The incident with her and Bai Sheng was merely the spark that lit the fuse.’

’It wasn’t that they believed Lu Sangjiu wanted to destroy the Immortal Gates; it was that they were afraid Lu Sangjiu *would* destroy the Immortal Gates one day!’

’So, no matter what, as long as this animosity and misunderstanding persisted, a war between Immortals and Demons was inevitable.’

Lu Sangjiu looked at Bai Sheng, and scenes from their past flashed through her mind...

It had all started as such a simple friendship. Yet now, that very friendship had nearly cost Bai Sheng her entire life.