The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

They plummeted downwards. Under Lu Sangjiu’s confused gaze, he suddenly touched his forehead with two fingers.

A glimmer of spiritual light flashed from between his brows. A nearly transparent, soft mask peeled off his face, and he caught it in his palm.

The moment the mask came off, Lu Sangjiu stared at the completely different face and, her expression one of utter shock, blurted out, ”...It’s you?!”

Despite their perilous situation, he seemed completely unruffled. Hearing Lu Sangjiu’s words, he simply gave her a faint smile.

”Mr. Lu has finally recognized me. It’s been some time. I trust you’ve been well.”

With the mask off, his voice changed as well. Before, it had sounded vaguely familiar, but now Lu Sangjiu recognized it instantly.

A second wave of surprise washed over her face. ”...Xie Ningyuan!”

This face was not the same as the Xie Ningyuan she had last seen. Since he had already removed the mask, she figured this must be his true appearance.

Although she had long known Xie Ningyuan used a Magic Treasure to alter his appearance, she never would have imagined... that this would be the face beneath the mask!

However, Xie Ningyuan didn’t notice her second round of astonishment, as he was busy chanting a Spell at the transparent mask.

When the Spell ended, the mask abruptly expanded, covering them both like a blanket.

Lu Sangjiu clearly felt that as soon as the mask covered them, her and Xie Ningyuan’s auras vanished almost instantly.

The dragon’s roar from the bottom of the cliff faltered for a moment, as if wondering how the prey that was about to be its meal had suddenly vanished.

After concealing their auras, Xie Ningyuan took out a long whip. With a light flick, it hooked onto a protruding rock on the nearby cliff face.

Their descent halted abruptly, leaving them dangling from the cliff face.

At this point, Lu Sangjiu finally recovered from the series of shocks.

She couldn’t help but glance at Xie Ningyuan again. Her mind was brimming with questions, but in the end, she only managed to ask one. ”...Why save me?”

Xie Ningyuan turned to look at her, his refined, handsome eyes arching slightly with a gentle smile. ”Didn’t you already know I was a Buddhist Practitioner, Mr. Lu? Buddhist Practitioners are compassionate by nature. Do I need any other reason to save someone?”

Lu Sangjiu’s lip twitched almost imperceptibly. ’The old him might not have needed another reason,’ she thought, ’but judging by his behavior back on Luoya Mountain... the man he is now most certainly does.’

’Come to think of it,’ she mused, ’his true face is far more deceptive than his disguise.’

His features were strikingly handsome, and his eyes were so clear they seemed to hold no secrets, creating the illusion of a pure and kind soul.

’Though I could hardly say I knew him well before, I always felt that back then, he was exactly as he appeared.’

’But now... It’s only been a few hundred years. I have no idea what could have happened to him to change him so drastically.’

Unfortunately, with her current identity, she couldn’t possibly voice any of these questions.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Sangjiu finally managed to calm the complicated emotions that had surfaced upon meeting an old acquaintance.

”In any case, thank you for stepping in to save me.”

Without waiting for his reply, Lu Sangjiu surveyed their surroundings and smoothly changed the subject. ”So... what do we do now?”

’Now that I know who he really is,’ she thought, ’it’s best not to play my trump cards if I can help it.’

’After all, if it’s really him, his cultivation is at least at the Late-stage Divinity Transformation. He was definitely concealing his true cultivation earlier.’

’Even suppressed to the Foundation Establishment Stage by the Secret Realm, he’s absolutely not someone to be trifled with. I can just sit back and ride his coattails.’

Xie Ningyuan had been scanning the area and had already picked out a place to land.

He didn’t say a word, simply answering her question with his actions.

He loosened his grip, and the two of them dropped another short distance.

He quickly secured their position with the whip again, then swung them gently over. The two landed lightly in a recess on the cliff face.

The gap was just large enough for the two of them to stand.

The feeling of solid ground beneath her feet was incredible. Lu Sangjiu’s heart settled a little, and she immediately peered down below.

Before, they hadn’t been close enough to the bottom of the cliff, and their view had been obscured by clouds and mist.

Now that they were near the bottom, they could finally see the situation below clearly.

A massive, pitch-black creature lay coiled at the base of the cliff. It looked something like a dragon, but also something like a serpent.

After a moment, Lu Sangjiu spoke in surprise. ”Is that... a giant serpent that failed to Transform into Jiao?”

It had begun to take on the appearance of a Jiao, but judging by its aura, it hadn’t completed the transformation. It also appeared to be injured.

Xie Ningyuan hummed in agreement. ”The Secret Realm has suppressive laws. It was impossible for it to break those laws to Transform into Jiao and advance its rank.”

Lu Sangjiu observed it for a moment, then frowned. ”Even though it failed, it’s currently in a state infinitely close to the Fifth Rank... We’d best not provoke it.”

The White Jade Toad from before was so difficult to handle mainly because of its potent poison.

This giant serpent, however, isn’t venomous. Its cultivation is only slightly higher than the White Jade Toad’s, and it’s also injured.

If Lu Sangjiu and Xie Ningyuan were to team up, they could probably take it down, though it would take some effort.

But since their presence was already concealed, it was better to let sleeping dogs lie.

Besides, she was still anxious to get to the Secret Realm Center. If they were delayed here for too long, she feared she would once again fall a step behind Ye Zhiyao.

Fortunately, Xie Ningyuan wasn’t one to stir up trouble either. He didn’t object to Lu Sangjiu’s assessment, just humming in agreement. ”Let’s rest for a moment. We’ll climb up together shortly.”

Although they couldn’t fly, a Cultivator’s physique was formidable. As long as the mask concealed their auras and kept them hidden from the jiao-serpent, climbing up wouldn’t be too difficult.

The space was too cramped to meditate, so they could only stand and swallow Elixir Pills to recover their energy.

After a while, Lu Sangjiu suddenly remembered the Ten Thousand Yang Pill and couldn’t help but ask, ”Mr. Xie, I wanted to ask about last time... why did you give me the Ten Thousand Yang Pill?”

Xie Ningyuan replied casually, ”I saw you try to get it a few times, so I figured you must need it badly. It was no trouble for me, so I grabbed it for you.”

Lu Sangjiu: ”...”

That phrase, ”no trouble for me,” was a slap in the face.

Heaven knew what she had gone through trying to get that Ten Thousand Yang Pill. To say it was a life-or-death struggle would be no exaggeration, and she had still failed in the end.

Yet for Xie Ningyuan, it had been ’no trouble at all’?

She couldn’t understand. She couldn’t help but probe, ”Then... when you took it, you didn’t feel anything special?”

Xie Ningyuan tilted his head, his deceptively innocent face showing genuine confusion. ”Anything special? What are you referring to?”

Lu Sangjiu: ”...”

’So that’s a no, then.’

She heaved a heavy sigh in her heart, then shook her head. ”It’s nothing... But the Ten Thousand Yang Pill is a Seventh-grade Elixir. Since you got it, Mr. Xie, why didn’t you keep it for yourself instead of giving it to me?”