The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

Lu Sangjiu’s suspicions about the Heavenly Punishment Qi inside her grew.

’Is this... really just a remnant from suffering Heavenly Punishment after failing my Tribulation Crossing?’

’Or could it be that someone is actually helping me in this way?’

And as for who could mobilize the Heavenly Punishment Power... Lu Sangjiu narrowed her eyes. The only one she could think of was the true Heavenly Dao, whom she had never met.

’Although the Pseudo Heavenly Dao has seized a portion of the Heavenly Dao Authority, the fact that it hasn’t seized it all might mean the true Heavenly Dao is silently fighting back.’_

’It probably hasn’t been defeated yet.’_

’Perhaps from the moment I glimpsed the so-called ”Heavenly Secret” within the Heavenly Tribulation, I became a pawn in the conflict between the Heavenly Dao and the Pseudo Heavenly Dao.’_

’If that’s the case, then maybe what I thought was my rebellion against fate was actually just another destiny arranged by someone else?’_

She frowned slightly, unsettled by her own speculation.

But saving everyone was the more pressing matter. Lu Sangjiu stared blankly for a moment, and after confirming that it was indeed the Phoenix Bathing in Fire and that nothing seemed amiss, she hurried over to Shen Yuzhao.

First, she tried feeding him some Spirit Pills. However, she quickly discovered that while the pills were working and trying to repair his body, the healing speed couldn’t keep up with the rate at which the Abnormal Fire was burning him.

The Abnormal Fire within him was almost completely out of control. But before he fell unconscious, he must have used some method to protect his most vital spot, his Dantian.

Thus, even though the rest of his body was being ravaged by the Abnormal Fire, a faint trace of Spiritual Energy continued to circulate around his Dantian. In addition to protecting the Dantian itself, it also kept his body from being incinerated.

In this situation, feeding him Elixir Pills was only treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

To save Shen Yuzhao, she had to bring the Abnormal Fire back under control!

Shen Yuzhao was clearly incapable of doing it himself now, leaving Lu Sangjiu as the only one who could try.

’Maybe... I can use the Heavenly Punishment Qi to suppress it again?’

’But it’s uncontrollable. It all depends on whether the Qi itself is willing to help.’_

With that thought, Lu Sangjiu no longer hesitated and tentatively infused her Spiritual Power into Shen Yuzhao’s body.

The moment her Spiritual Energy entered him, it was ferociously attacked by the Abnormal Fire.

Fortunately, her own Spiritual Power reserves were vast, so even as some was burned away, she could still channel more into him.

But the process was excruciating for Lu Sangjiu, almost like being immolated herself.

At last, her Spiritual Energy successfully reached his Dantian. Just as Lu Sangjiu had hoped, that wisp of Heavenly Punishment Qi finally stirred.

It separated a sliver of its power, which followed Lu Sangjiu’s Spiritual Power into Shen Yuzhao’s body.

The out-of-control Abnormal Fire was brought under control almost instantly. It even showed signs of being extinguished by the new presence, cowering in a corner, no longer daring to act so brazenly.

Seeing this, Lu Sangjiu let out a small sigh of relief and quickly fed him some more Spirit Pills. This time, without the Abnormal Fire running rampant, Shen Yuzhao’s body finally began to slowly heal.

’But...’ Lu Sangjiu frowned slightly. She could feel that the power separated from the wisp of Heavenly Punishment Qi was not permanent. While it suppressed the Abnormal Fire, it also seemed to be quietly dissipating as it was burned by the flames.

Clearly, relying on external force like this wasn’t a long-term solution. Ultimately, Shen Yuzhao had to suppress and control it himself. Otherwise, even if his body was repaired now, he would have to suffer the agony of being burned alive again once the Heavenly Punishment Qi’s power faded.

At the same time, Lu Sangjiu also sensed that the Heavenly Punishment Qi inside her had shrunk slightly after she had shared parts of it with Luo Linlang and Shen Yuzhao.

Fortunately, the Spiritual Energy and Demonic Qi in her body seemed to have fallen into a routine cycle. Even with the Heavenly Punishment Qi’s power weakened, they showed no signs of rebelling.

Seeing Shen Yuzhao’s body gradually recovering, Lu Sangjiu stopped worrying about him for the moment and walked over to Li Qiancheng.

...Of everyone here, his condition was the most dire.

By burning his Life Span, he had left himself with a month to live at most.

And Life Span was one of the most difficult things to replenish.

They either had to find Elixir Pills or Spirit Fruits that could extend his Life Span, or they had to help him advance from the Nascent Soul to the Divinity Transformation stage as quickly as possible.

Advancing in just one month was nearly impossible. The only option was to first find a way to obtain Elixir Pills and Spirit Fruits that could extend his Life Span.

However, such Elixir Pills and Spirit Fruits were incredibly precious, and most could only be consumed once per person.

Lu Sangjiu mentally tallied up everything she knew of that could increase Life Span. She calculated that, at best, they could only add fifty years.

For an ordinary person, advancing from the Early-stage Nascent Soul to Divinity Transformation in fifty years was no simple task.

’So... to save Li Qiancheng, I first need to find Elixir Pills and Spirit Fruits for him, and then I have to help him raise his cultivation as quickly as possible. This is going to be a long-term battle.’_

While calmly thinking through these things, Lu Sangjiu fed Li Qiancheng some Elixir Pills.

Besides burning his Life Span, Li Qiancheng had also suffered some external and internal injuries, which was why he hadn’t woken up.

She fed him ordinary Elixir Pills. While they couldn’t save him immediately, they were enough to heal his external wounds and allow him to regain consciousness for a while.

After treating everyone one by one, Lu Sangjiu finally breathed a small sigh of relief. The next step was to wait for them to wake up.

Of course, she didn’t remain idle. She immediately went to the cave entrance and set up a temporary Barrier to prevent the Demon Flowers outside from invading.

With that, Domination Map, which had been holding on for so long, finally seemed to collapse from exhaustion. It fell to the ground with a PLOP, and even the body of the blade appeared to have dimmed.

Lu Sangjiu scooped it up with a pang of pity, gently stroking it with her fingers. ”I’m sorry... I woke up too late. You’ve worked hard.”

Domination Map twitched twice, as if responding to her.

Lu Sangjiu smiled softly. ”Alright, go back into my Sea of Consciousness and rest for now. There will be more times when we need to fight side-by-side.”

She already knew they were now inside the Forbidden Land. If they had only entered the outer edges, there might have been a way out.

But back then, Domination Map, in its desperate panic to save them, had fled deeper into the Forbidden Land.

This area had a natural one-way barrier; it allowed entry but not exit. Now that they were inside, the only way out was to tear through the barrier.

However... Lu Sangjiu had been here several hundred years ago as Gu Huang, so she knew very well that one had to be at least in the Body Integration Realm to tear through that Barrier.

The highest cultivation in their group belonged to Duan Xingyun, who was at the Divinity Transformation Stage. It was obvious that getting out on their own would be incredibly difficult.