The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

When it came to acting, Lu Sangjiu had a real gift. Her impression of a fool was impeccable.

Unfortunately, Xie Ningyuan wasn’t buying it.

”The fact that I’m asking means I’m already certain you know her whereabouts. There’s no point in playing dumb.”

Seeing that Lu Sangjiu was determined to be stubborn, he continued, ”Do you know why I was at Luoya Mountain when we first met?”

’Hm? Now that, I genuinely don’t know.’

So she shook her head blankly. ”Weren’t you chasing a Flower Demon? Is that not it?”

”I was, but the Flower Demon wasn’t my original target.”

Xie Ningyuan narrowed his eyes and said slowly, ”...The Bodhi Bead Bracelet I gave her is on you, isn’t it?”

A jolt shot through Lu Sangjiu.

She finally knew where she’d slipped up.

’In the Dream Ruins, Xie Ningyuan said that Bodhi Pearl was his companion artifact, and that he was born with a Buddha Heart. He must be the reincarnation of some incredible figure.’

’And the facts proved it. The Bodhi Pearl looked ordinary, but it actually possessed heaven-defying power—it even managed to save my life from the Heavenly Dao.’

’With something like that, even if he’d given it away, Xie Ningyuan must have still had an unbreakable connection to it.’

’So, maybe from the moment I was reborn, Xie Ningyuan sensed the Bodhi Pearl’s location.’

’And from our very first meeting, he knew I had it.’

’At Luoya Mountain, he hid his cultivation to appear weak, making me lower my guard. Then he traveled with us to observe me up close.’

’He didn’t intervene casually when danger arose, just watched with cold detachment. But he always helped me at the critical moment to keep me from actually dying.’

’Thinking about it that way... Damn, this guy is way too cunning!’

’Fortunately, I’ve been pretty careful, so he hasn’t figured out that I’m Gu Huang herself. A true blessing in this mess.’

Xie Ningyuan watched Lu Sangjiu’s expression shift several times, the corners of his lips curling up slightly. ”It seems you’re as clever as they say. You figured it all out from a single sentence.”

Lu Sangjiu forced a smile. ”Uh... I think there might be some kind of misunderstanding between us.”

”The Bodhi Bracelet you mentioned is on me, yes, but I really don’t know where this Gu Huang person is! I just happened to find the bracelet by accident once. You have to believe me!”

Lu Sangjiu’s eyes were filled with sincerity. Xie Ningyuan just smiled faintly and said leisurely, ”Is that so? Then swear a Heart Demon Oath, and I’ll believe you.”

Lu Sangjiu: ”...”

’A joke? I’ve already survived a Heavenly Punishment, so maybe a Heart Demon Oath is nothing... like hell it is!’

’I’m already in such a miserable state. Do I really need to keep stacking debuffs on myself?’

’What’s the point of competing with Ye Zhiyao then? I’ll just end up getting myself killed!’

Seeing Lu Sangjiu’s silence, Xie Ningyuan raised an eyebrow. ”Scared?”

”If the Bodhi Bracelet was my only clue, would I have waited until now to lay my cards on the table?”

”That day, fighting the beast tide, you used the Netherworld Dragon Roar, didn’t you?”

Lu Sangjiu immediately denied it flatly. ”What Netherworld Dragon Roar? That was the Nine Dragon Roar!”

”I have seen the Netherworld Dragon Roar with my own eyes. Did you think I wouldn’t recognize it just because you altered it slightly?”

Xie Ningyuan added, ”What’s more... you know how to command Devouring Spirit Sand, and you recognize Spirit-killing Water and the Ruishui River.”

”A mere Foundation Establishment Cultivator, if she’d never had contact with Demon Cultivators, how could she possibly know so much about them?”

”You should know, the Demon Cultivators of the Western Demon Realm rarely interact with Cultivators these days, and Cultivators rarely even mention matters concerning Demon Cultivators anymore.”

Xie Ningyuan had truly been plotting this for a long time. One by one, he laid out every single mistake Lu Sangjiu had made.

’And I never expected that back at Luoya Mountain, Xie Ningyuan had been targeting me from the very beginning. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have known so clearly about things like the Spirit-killing Water.’

Clearly, there was no use denying it anymore...

Lu Sangjiu bit her lip. She didn’t deny it again. Instead, she asked, ”Why are you looking for her?”

Seeing that she had finally stopped denying it, Xie Ningyuan’s good mood returned, and his lips curled up. Then, he slowly and deliberately spat out four words: ”None of your business.”

Lu Sangjiu: ”...”

’She was thoroughly choked by those four words, staring at Xie Ningyuan in disbelief. ’Is... Is this really the Buddha Son???’

’He actually fucking swears now? Give me back my pure and innocent little monk, dammit!’

Lu Sangjiu thought back seriously, certain she hadn’t heard that the Ten Thousand Buddha Sect had replaced their Buddha Son.

However, when she was chatting with her senior brothers before, she heard them say that the Buddha Son of the Ten Thousand Buddha Sect had gone into seclusion three hundred years ago, and there had been no news of him in the Cultivation World since.

But it turned out this guy had been roaming the world under a false identity. No wonder there was no news of him.

Xie Ningyuan didn’t state his purpose, but Lu Sangjiu had her own suspicions.

’Either Xie Ningyuan thinks Gu Huang isn’t dead and, as the Buddha Son, wants to kill me for good to benefit the world.’

’Or he wants his Bodhi Pearl back.’

’Even though Xie Ningyuan and I aren’t that close, our relationship probably isn’t so bad that he’d hunt me down just to kill me, right?’

So, Lu Sangjiu decisively took the Bodhi Pearl from her neck. ”You want this, right? I’ll give it back to you.”

It belonged to Xie Ningyuan in the first place. It was already a great boon that it had saved her life once. Now that he wanted it back, Lu Sangjiu naturally had no reason to be reluctant.

However, when she held it out, Xie Ningyuan only glanced at it and didn’t take it.

”It no longer belongs to me. Since you obtained it, it is your serendipity. You don’t need to return it to me.”

Lu Sangjiu was baffled.

She was a little stunned. ”So, you’re not looking for her to get the Bodhi Pearl back?”

Xie Ningyuan looked at her as if she were an idiot. ”If I just wanted it, I would have snatched it. You don’t think I’m no match for you, do you?”

Lu Sangjiu: ”...”

’Harsh, but true.’

’I actually thought that as the Buddha Son, Xie Ningyuan would have his own principles.’

’That he felt he had to get something he’d given away back from the person himself, which was why he was asking for Gu Huang’s whereabouts.’

’But looking at the current Xie Ningyuan... Fine, I admit I overthought it.’

’He really isn’t the Jichen of the past anymore. To talk about robbing someone so matter-of-factly... he’s a damn bandit with no morals or principles!’

’Then... there’s only one possibility left. He really is going to pull the weeds and get rid of the roots for the sake of the Cultivation World!’

Lu Sangjiu swallowed, as if she had finally made up her mind. ”Alright, since you asked so sincerely, I’ll tell you... The truth is, Gu Huang is already dead!”

Xie Ningyuan’s eyes sharpened abruptly, but he said without hesitation, ”Impossible.”

”It’s true.” Lu Sangjiu said with great sincerity. ”Ten years ago, when I was still a mortal, I happened to run into a remnant of her soul.”

”She said she failed her Ascension Tribulation and died to the Heavenly Tribulation, with only a sliver of her soul holding on for a hundred years.”

”She saw my unusual bone structure and felt a connection with me, so she gave me the only thing she had left, the Bodhi Bracelet. She also passed on a few Cultivation Techniques to me... In a way, she’s like a half-master to me.”

Lu Sangjiu spouted this nonsense with a completely straight face, putting on a sorrowful expression. ”The poor thing... after she did all that, her remnant soul used up its last bit of strength and completely dissipated... I didn’t even have time to kowtow to her. Sigh!”