The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

To have Gu Jue get in his face and ask a question like ”Are you up for it?”—Xie Ningyuan felt the man was purely trying to provoke him.

Sneering, Xie Ningyuan shot him a sidelong glance. ”Think I’m not up to it? Why don’t you try, then?”

Lu Sangjiu exclaimed, ”Wow, how are you going to ’try’? I’m actually a little curious to see this.”

Gu Jue calmly picked up a bite of food and placed it in his bowl. ”Never mind. I don’t like to bully the elderly.”

Xie Ningyuan: ”...”

’In my eyes, Lu Sangjiu and Gu Jue are only in their twenties, while I’m already several hundred years old. It’s actually a bit hard to refute being called ’elderly’.’

Lu Sangjiu, who’d been caught in the crossfire: ”...”

’Kids these days really don’t know how to respect their elders. What’s wrong with being a few hundred years old? At least he’s still alive and kicking. Who is he calling old?’

She forced her down-turned lips into a smile. ”It’s fine. If Mr. Gu isn’t going, the two of us can manage just fine.”

’Hmph. So you look down on the elderly? Fine, this old-timer won’t play with you youngsters anymore!’

Gu Jue, however, didn’t notice Lu Sangjiu’s petty thoughts. He just shook his head and said, ”If you two insist on going, I’ll have to go too.”

Otherwise, given Xie Ningyuan’s current condition, he honestly couldn’t rest easy.

After a pause, he added, ”Of course, I still think it would be best if we didn’t go at all.”

Lu Sangjiu immediately made the final decision. ”Great! We’ll set off tomorrow, then!”

Gu Jue: ”...”

’Fine,’ he thought. ’I knew I couldn’t talk her out of it.’

Meanwhile, when Miao Miaomiao heard that Yan Zui was inquiring about her mission, she was momentarily stunned, but then she smiled.

”She really does love to insist on the most ridiculous things... But it doesn’t matter. As long as she goes, it’s fine.”

As she spoke, she glanced at the female disciple who had come to report. ”Let them reveal the details to her.”

And so, that evening, Yan Zui arrived to see Lu Sangjiu.

”I found out what it is. The mission she accepted was about a series of bizarre deaths of women in Yuelin City.”

”The sect determined that there might be an Evil Cultivator active in the area, but because the victims’ cultivation was only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, the mission’s assigned Level isn’t high.”

”But I also discreetly inquired with the people who went with her, and they also said they did indeed sense traces of Demon Cultivator activity at the time.”

”But since none of them were hurt, it’s assumed that even if there was a Demon Cultivator, their Level wouldn’t be too high.”

”Miao Miaomiao was likely greedy for the credit, so she didn’t report it to the sect upon her return. She also told the other female disciples not to tell anyone, so this part of the story should be true.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Sangjiu rubbed her chin. ”If she told them not to tell anyone, then how did you find out, Ms. Yan Zui?”

Yan Zui’s face immediately turned smug. ”I’ve been in the sect much longer than she has. No matter how clever she is, she can’t make them disregard me completely. I just had to threaten them a little, and their tongues loosened right up.”

”You can rest assured. I questioned them separately, and because I was worried they’d be dishonest, I used a few little tricks to verify their stories repeatedly.”

”All the details they gave matched up. It’s impossible that they conspired beforehand to lie.”

Lu Sangjiu looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. ”Alright, I understand. Thank you, Ms. Yan Zui. The three of us will set out tomorrow. I guess that means... we won’t be able to see you at the Holy Daughter selection.”

Yan Zui didn’t seem to mind. ”That’s fine. It’s not like you could help much even if you were here. You’d just be watching the spectacle.”

And so, the next day, Lu Sangjiu left the Joyful Union Sect with Gu Jue and Xie Ningyuan in tow.

Miao Miaomiao, who had been secretly keeping tabs on them, didn’t have her people follow them any further after learning of their departure.

After all, with the Joyful Union Sect’s grand event about to begin, having her people leave at such a time would risk arousing suspicion.

’In any case, as long as she’s left the Joyful Union Sect, that’s all that matters. Whether she actually went to Yuelin City isn’t that important.’

「In the blink of an eye, it was the day of the Holy Daughter selection.」

Whether it was the sect’s deliberate arrangement or not, the two favorites, Yan Zui and Miao Miaomiao, were scheduled to appear last.

Sword Bu Gui had been invited as a guest to observe the ceremony, but... he wasn’t seated out front. Instead, he was inside Hua Jianzhi’s soft-curtained canopy.

Facing the stares of so many Joyful Union Sect disciples, he felt like he was on pins and needles.

”Um... perhaps I should go outside? It doesn’t feel right for me to be in here...”

Hua Jianzhi, reclining on a soft divan, lifted one of her long, bare legs and casually draped it over Sword Bu Gui’s lap.

”Oh? You feel something isn’t right?”

Now even more flustered with her long leg resting on his, Sword Bu Gui was at a loss for words. ”...”

He opened his mouth, his face flushing red, and finally stammered, ”...In public, we should be mindful of our repu—”

Before he could finish the word, Hua Jianzhi pushed herself up, leaned against him from behind, and grabbed his chin. ”Oh? Mindful of our what?”

Sword Bu Gui: ”...”

This time, he was too scared to say anything at all.

Though a red curtain veiled them, the people below could still basically see what was happening. At once, they couldn’t help but start gossiping in hushed tones.

”My, who would have thought the ever-so-serious Supreme Elder had a side like this.”

”What’s so great about that Sword Cultivator? He has no romantic sense at all. Why doesn’t the Supreme Elder consider me?”

”Waaaah, I’m available too!”

As these hushed discussions reached Sword Bu Gui’s ears, his face burned even hotter.

At the same time, he felt a sliver of relief... ’At least my disciple left early and didn’t see this. I haven’t lost face completely, right?’

’Right. When Liu Xi came back to see me, she only stayed for a day before leaving again. And Gu Jue has been here for several days but has hardly left his courtyard. That means neither of them has seen me and Hua Jianzhi together.’

’My reputation is safe!’

However, what he didn’t know was that the people enjoying the drama weren’t just the ones out in the open; there were others in the shadows, too.

Lu Sangjiu, Gu Jue, and Xie Ningyuan were perched on top of a wall, covered by Lu Sangjiu’s enlarged Thousand Faces of Life, their auras perfectly concealed.

Even with a Body Integration Realm expert present, as long as that person wasn’t actively paying attention, they wouldn’t discover the trio hidden in the corner.

Thus, Lu Sangjiu was savoring the drama with great relish, even turning to discuss it with the other two every now and then.

”I never thought Sword Master Bu Gui had a side like this. This trip was totally worth it!”

Gu Jue: ”...”

’I never expected it either,’ he thought.

Xie Ningyuan, on the other hand, gloated, ”It’s normal. Sword Cultivators are all repressed like that. They may look all prim and proper on the outside, but you never know what they’re like in private. Maybe some are even wilder than Sword Master Bu Gui, right, Gu Jue?”

Gu Jue: ”...”

’Even though I know he’s taking a jab at me,’ Gu Jue thought, ’given the circumstances... I don’t really have a leg to stand on to refute him.’

Lu Sangjiu gazed at the stage and clicked her tongue. ”It’s a shame that red curtain is in the way. It would be even more fun if we could clearly see Sword Master Bu Gui’s expression right now, hehe.”

Gu Jue: ”...”

He really couldn’t stop himself from saying a word in his master’s defense.

”I feel like... maybe we should focus on the actual mission? After all, we didn’t sneak all the way back here just to watch the gossip about my master, did we?”