The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

Inside the inn room.

Lu Sangjiu took on the air of a grand inquisitor, sitting in the main seat.

Li Qiancheng sat beside her, with Luo Linlang and Shen Yuzhao standing on either side. As for the young Demon Cultivator, he had pulled up a stool and was sitting in the corner, cracking melon seeds.

Well... Luo Linlang had given him the melon seeds, and he had accepted them readily enough.

The young Demon Cultivator had just been brought over. He’d already told Lu Sangjiu everything he knew, so he had nothing to do with the current proceedings.

Ye Zhiyao sat on a small stool just over a meter in front of Lu Sangjiu, looking small, pitiful, and helpless. Facing the gazes of the four of them, she seemed to be nervously gripping her knees.

Lu Sangjiu didn’t waste any words. She asked directly, ”Speak. Who is the person behind True Monarch Liu Feng?”

Ye Zhiyao shook her head. ”I don’t know. In all my time here, I’ve never seen his superior show their face. They have a special method of contact and only communicate through that.”

She paused, as if afraid Lu Sangjiu wouldn’t be satisfied, and added, ”However, I did happen to overhear their conversation once. I couldn’t hear the specifics, but I could faintly make out that the other person’s voice was a man’s.”

A man?

’He can keep True Monarch Liu Feng in check and is also tangled up with Qin Miao of the Body Integration Realm. He’s most likely also at the Body Integration Realm... or maybe even the Transcendence Tribulation Stage.’

’Add the fact that it’s a man, and the number of possibilities dwindles.’

After a moment of silence, Lu Sangjiu asked again, ”Has True Monarch Liu Feng always been in charge of the Demon Cultivator trade here?”

These matters didn’t involve Ye Zhiyao’s personal interests, so she was sensible enough not to try and deceive Lu Sangjiu.

She nodded. ”I believe so... From their conversations, it sounds like he’s spent most of his time over the past year at the Fang Family’s residence.”

Lu Sangjiu asked, ”Besides this place, are there any other locations where this kind of trade is happening?”

Ye Zhiyao shook her head. ”That, I don’t know. At least, I’ve never heard True Monarch Liu Feng mention it.”

Lu Sangjiu didn’t waste her breath on questions Ye Zhiyao couldn’t answer. Instead, she switched topics. ”What do you know about the Demon Flowers they’re cultivating?”

Ye Zhiyao’s expression was one of pure innocence and pity. ”I was only brought here half a month ago. At first, True Monarch Liu Feng was very wary of me. It’s already quite something that I know this much. How could I possibly know more?”

Luo Linlang couldn’t help but chime in, ”You’re aware you were only captured half a month ago, yet your cultivation increase certainly doesn’t look like it’s only been half a month.”

She pursed her lips and said mockingly, ”I’m afraid you spent that entire half-month in bed, right? No wonder you don’t know anything.”

She simply couldn’t stand Ye Zhiyao, especially now that she had the gall to act pitiful in front of them. It made her despise the woman even more. She’d feel antsy if she didn’t get a few verbal jabs in.

Luo Linlang’s words made Ye Zhiyao’s face turn livid on the spot. It would have been one thing if it were just the three women, but Li Qiancheng and Shen Yuzhao were also present.

Hearing Luo Linlang’s remark, Li Qiancheng’s expression stiffened. He gave a light cough and began to ”tactically” drink some water.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuzhao blushed crimson, lowering his head so far he looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground, utterly mortified.

With the two of them amplifying the atmosphere, Ye Zhiyao naturally felt even more humiliated.

”Luo Linlang! Show some respect when you speak! I already told you, my cultivation rose because True Monarch Liu Feng fed me a Sixth-grade Elixir!”

’She wasn’t lying about that, but it was only half the truth.’

’The truth was, after getting a ”taste” of her, True Monarch Liu Feng had become infatuated with her body. To enhance the effects of their dual cultivation, he had fed her a Sixth-grade Elixir to forcibly raise her cultivation level.’

’Combined with their non-stop dual cultivation day and night, plus some Elixir Pills she had from her master, Bai Heng, she had successfully stacked her way to the Nascent Soul realm three days ago.’

’Of course, the protagonist’s halo certainly played a part. A normal person probably couldn’t advance to the Nascent Soul realm so easily, no matter how many pills they popped.’

’It seemed that... without Gu Jue, the male lead she’d been obsessed with, Ye Zhiyao had become much more uninhibited.’

’In the book Lu Sangjiu had read, she had maintained her principles, only engaging in dual cultivation with her Divine Sense. Now, she had offered up her physical body as well. Wouldn’t her cultivation naturally increase faster?’

’In a way, wasn’t this a blessing in disguise?’

Lu Sangjiu thought this to herself but couldn’t be bothered to get entangled with her over such issues.

So, just as Luo Linlang was about to retort with another taunt, Lu Sangjiu cut her off. ”Alright, Second Martial Sister. How her cultivation rose has nothing to do with us. Why argue with her about it?”

Luo Linlang was, of course, very willing to listen to Lu Sangjiu. Hearing this, she just pouted and said no more.

Ye Zhiyao, however, was still angry. Her expression soured as she looked at Lu Sangjiu. ”I know you’ve never liked me, that you even want to kill me. But since we’ve reached an agreement where we each get what we need, why must you let her insult me?”

Lu Sangjiu raised an eyebrow. ”And what makes you think I let her insult you?”

She found it rather amusing. ”Besides, it’s a little late to be trying to maintain your image, don’t you think? No one here is interested in that act.”

Ye Zhiyao: ”...”

She was so angry she was about to say more, but Lu Sangjiu cut her off impatiently. ”Do you want to leave here or not?”

Those words made Ye Zhiyao swallow what she was about to say. ’She’s right,’ she thought. ’I should just give her the information she wants so I can get away from these people.’

Thinking this, Ye Zhiyao finally calmed down again. She pursed her lips and said, ”What else do you want to ask?”

Lu Sangjiu countered, ”That depends on what else you know. As long as it’s related to this matter, I want to know everything.”

Ye Zhiyao frowned, carefully recalling the events of the past few weeks. After a good while, she said, ”I really don’t know much.”

”Aside from what I’ve already told you, I can tell you two more things.”

”First, after True Monarch Liu Feng was put on the Joyful Union Sect’s wanted list, a woman came to see him.”

”I overheard a little of their conversation. It seemed the woman was his partner in some capacity, and they had a dispute over the matter of the Joyful Union Sect’s wanted notice.”

”As she was leaving, the woman said, ’Tell the person behind you that if this is how insincere you’re going to be, then our partnership ends here.’”

Hearing this, Lu Sangjiu immediately realized that the woman Ye Zhiyao was talking about was probably Qin Miao.

’So they really are two separate factions. But they had a partnership before?’

’For some reason, though, that partnership now seems to be on the verge of collapse.’

As she was thinking, Ye Zhiyao began to speak of the second matter.

”Second is a Nascent Soul Cultivator who appeared here before.”

”I saw him twice. I don’t know his exact identity, but I could tell he practices Body Cultivation... I suspect he’s a Cultivator from the Golden Elephant Sect.”

”I heard True Monarch Liu Feng call him He Zheng.”

He Zheng? Lu Sangjiu was sure she’d never heard that name. She looked at her martial brother and sister beside her, but they also shook their heads in confusion.

Lu Sangjiu thought for a moment, then took out a Communication Talisman to contact Chi Yan and ask if he knew of this person.

Chi Yan’s reply came back quickly.

”Of course I know him! He Zheng is my Martial Uncle. Why are you asking about him?”