The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

After a flurry of footsteps, silence fell once more.

However, Lu Sangjiu could clearly sense that the other person was still guarding the passageway up ahead.

She remained still, sorting through the information revealed in the two men’s conversation. ’I have reason to suspect they captured two of my companions: Feng Lin, and one of either Shen Yuzhao or Chi Yan.’

After all, there was no one else nearby at the time. It was highly unlikely that another four-person team just so happened to be in the area and suffer a similar fate.

As for the identities of these people... ’They’re clearly organized, disciplined, and have a premeditated plan.’

They called their leader ”elder,” which sounded like they belonged to some organization or sect.

They also mentioned opening an altar, which meant they knew of its existence within the Secret Realm long ago. Their objective was clear, and they had even prepared enough people to use as blood sacrifices to open it.

Finally, they said that the four of them had killed many of their people. There was only one possible answer... ’It has to be that small sect, the Qilin Sect, right?’

Although she didn’t know what they planned to do by opening this altar, the use of a blood sacrifice meant it couldn’t be anything good.

’No matter how you look at it, these guys fit the standard villain trope, don’t they?’

However, Lu Sangjiu was certain that the book had never mentioned a villainous sect like this.

With no other clues, she couldn’t analyze the situation any further.

She hadn’t wanted to get involved, but now that two of her teammates had fallen into their hands—and it sounded like they had been targeted from the start—she could no longer turn a blind eye.

Fortunately, no one else was around this time, so she didn’t need to hold back. ’All I have to do is silence every last one of them.’

At that thought, she moved. Using her improved Body Technique Feiyun Step, she burst from the shadows. Before the man could even react, she was upon him, severing his head with a single slash of her sword.

The entire sequence was impossibly fast. The only sound the man made was the dull THUD of his body hitting the ground.

Lu Sangjiu took the man’s storage bag and smirked. ”Killing people really is the fastest way to get rich.”

She looked ahead. The once-dark tunnel was now brightly lit by torches, and it split into two paths before her.

One path continued straight ahead, while the other, on the right side of the tunnel, was originally sealed by a door bearing an intricate Array.

However, the cultivator from before had just left through this door and hadn’t closed it behind him. Now, Lu Sangjiu’s path was clear if she chose to go that way.

The man had said there was a disturbance over there, but Lu Sangjiu couldn’t hear a thing from her position. ’Has it already been dealt with, or was it a false alarm?’

The enemy had only captured two people, which meant that besides her, one other person was still free. The disturbance might have been caused by him.

After a moment’s hesitation between finding this person and rescuing the others, Lu Sangjiu chose the latter.

’If the one who escaped is Shen Yuzhao, that would be good. His Abnormal Fire could be a great help. But if it’s Chi Yan...’ She felt a little bad for thinking it, but Chi Yan really wasn’t much use to her.

What’s more, she would have to be careful to hide her true strength around him and couldn’t go all out.

’Compared to that, it’s better for me to rescue the others first, then we can all look for the last person together.’

Her decision made, Lu Sangjiu no longer hesitated and continued forward.

Perhaps because the passage was narrow, they had only posted two guards at set intervals.

When Lu Sangjiu killed the first man, his partner was gone and she had acted quickly, so she hadn’t made much noise.

But when she encountered the next pair of guards, no matter how fast she was, she could only instantly kill one before the other managed to shout a warning.

By the time she killed the second man, guards from further back had already heard the commotion and were rushing over.

A total of six men surrounded her, from front and back. The ones in front saw she was using a sword and, likely assuming she was a Sword Cultivator, didn’t dare to engage in close combat. Instead, they attacked with Spells from a distance.

Amid the chaos, Lu Sangjiu heard someone shout, ”It’s her! She’s the one who killed the Seventh Elder! I saw it with my own eyes!”

Lu Sangjiu: ...?

’Who’s the Seventh Elder?’

She thought back. She hadn’t actually killed that many people along the way. ’It must have been one of the men I killed when I rescued Chi Yan?’

So she chuckled softly. ”In that case, your Seventh Elder... was pathetically weak.”

As she spoke, she had already summoned Duoduo. An Ice Wall from Duoduo rose up before her, blocking all of their attacks.

The six men couldn’t help but look astonished. ”This Ice Wall is incredibly sturdy... Attack again!”

Unfortunately for them, before they could launch a second wave of attacks, nine streaks of golden Spiritual Power, accompanied by the low hum of a dragon’s roar, burst through the Ice Wall and shot straight toward them!

The immense power, laced with Duoduo’s unique frosty aura, struck the front three men, sending them flying backward while coughing up blood.

When they landed on the ground, their bodies were frozen stiff, and they struggled to get back up.

Among the remaining three was the man who had claimed to see Lu Sangjiu kill the Seventh Elder. He was also one of the people who had been tailing her group.

He thought he had a complete grasp of their abilities, but seeing the power of Lu Sangjiu’s strike, his eyes widened and he stammered, ”How... How can you be this strong?!”

Although he had followed Lu Sangjiu for a while, it had been too chaotic during the beast tide, and he hadn’t followed them when they fell into the canyon. As a result, he had missed many of the moments when she had truly shown her strength.

He had mostly seen her slacking off or using clever tricks to deal with enemies, so he had always assumed she was the weakest one in the group.

Now that he had witnessed her true power, he finally realized... she might be the group’s real ultimate weapon!

”This is bad... We have to retreat!”

He was already at the very back, so when he turned to run, he was quite fast.

The others weren’t so lucky. By the time they reacted and tried to flee, Lu Sangjiu didn’t even have to act. Duoduo sent two consecutive Spells that froze them into blocks of ice.

Lu Sangjiu flashed forward and struck each of the two ice statues with her palm. The men’s bodies shattered like real ice, scattering across the ground with a CRASH.

The three men she had sent flying earlier were still breathing. Lu Sangjiu unhesitatingly delivered the finishing blows, reaping their lives.

As for the one who ran, Lu Sangjiu didn’t attack. She simply followed him.

’Hmm... I don’t know if there are more forks in the path ahead. It would be best to have someone lead the way, of course.’

She chased him all the way, but she didn’t encounter anyone else. She wasn’t sure if the fleeing man had taken the other guards with him or if there simply weren’t any more stationed here.

Finally, she rounded a bend and saw a tightly shut Stone Gate.

But before she could get a clearer look, several Spells came flying toward her!