The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

After taking care of all that, Lu Sangjiu felt a weight lift off her shoulders.

She then looked at Master Qian He. ”I’m sorry, Sect Leader, for putting you in a difficult position... From now on, I am no longer a disciple of the Seven Emotions Sect. As for my master and my senior brothers and sisters, I must ask you to please take good care of them.”

Master Qian He shook his head in shame. ”...I am the one who has failed you.”

As the Sect Leader, he knew she had been wronged, yet he could not fight for her justice. In the end, he could only watch helplessly as she was forced out of the Seven Emotions Sect.

’I’m so ashamed.’

In any case, without Ye Zhiyao constantly causing trouble, the rest of the proceedings moved along quickly.

Most people chose to agree to the peace talks, but it was no longer appropriate for Lu Sangjiu to hear the specific details of the negotiations.

Lu Sangjiu was self-aware enough to know that there was no point in staying, as it would only arouse others’ suspicion. So, she took the initiative and said, ”In that case, once all you seniors have decided on a location, you can just inform me. We’ll be leaving now.”

Their meeting was being held in the Joyful Union Sect. As Lu Sangjiu and her group left the main hall, Yan Zui, who was waiting outside, immediately led them to the sect’s guest rooms to get settled.

After Yan Zui left, the group gathered together once more.

Duan Xingyun: ”Little Jiu, you just left the sect like that. Where are you planning to go now?”

Lu Sangjiu laughed heartily. ”It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but aside from the time I spent in the sect before reaching Foundation Establishment, I’ve basically never gone back since.”

”So really, nothing’s changed. The world is my home now. There’s nothing wrong with being a free and unfettered Loose Cultivator.”

After a pause, she looked at Xie Ningyuan and smiled faintly. ”Besides, this one here isn’t part of the Ten Thousand Buddha Sect anymore, either. I have him with me. With our combined abilities, do you really need to worry?”

Hearing her say that, everyone finally felt a little better.

Then, Xie Ningyuan spoke up. ”However, for now, after the Immortal-Demon peace talks succeed, we still need to figure out how to deal with He Guang... He won’t let this go easily.”

”All he wants is for a lot of people to die so that their Spiritual Energy will return to the world for him to use.”

”So if his attempts to sow discord fail, the forces he’s been secretly cultivating will most likely take action themselves.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Duan Xingyun said, ”But as long as the peace talks are successful and our Cultivation World joins forces with the Western Demon Realm, I don’t think his forces will be a match for us, no matter how powerful they are.”

The group discussed the matter for a while longer, but Xie Ningyuan noticed that Lu Sangjiu seemed a bit distracted.

”What’s wrong? Is something on your mind?”

Lu Sangjiu glanced at him. ”I...”

She looked around at the concerned gazes from the others and finally said, ”Actually, before Cangming let me return, he planted a Love Gu in me.”

”A Love Gu?”

Everyone’s expression changed instantly.

Luo Linlang asked nervously, ”What’s a Love Gu? Is it harmful to you?”

Gu Jue spoke with a grave expression, ”I’ve read about it in a book. The Love Gu is divided into a mother and child. The Mother Gu is planted in the person who casts the curse, while the Child Gu is planted in the person they love.”

”The Mother and Child Gu Worms can sense each other, allowing them to feel one another’s emotional changes and experience each other’s joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.”

”But... the person with the Child Gu is also under the control of the person with the Mother Gu. With a single thought, they can make the other person experience pain so unbearable they can neither live nor die.”

”They can even control the other person’s life and death with a mere thought.”

As Gu Jue spoke, everyone’s expressions grew more grim.

Li Qiancheng said urgently, ”Then what do we do? How can this thing be removed?”

Gu Jue shook his head. ”I’d imagine you’d need someone with a higher cultivation than the caster’s, right? Only then might it be possible.”

Cangming is at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage, which means they would need to ask another Transcendance Tribulation Stage Cultivator for help.

Gu Jue immediately said, ”Come back to the Lingjian Sect with me. We can have my master ask the Old Ancestor. The Old Ancestor will definitely be willing to help you!”

But Lu Sangjiu shook her head. ”Not now.”

”Cangming’s condition for agreeing to the peace talks... was me.”

”If I remove the Love Gu now and don’t go back to him, then everything we agreed upon will be null and void. All our efforts will have been for nothing!”

Luo Linlang hesitated. ”So... that Cangming is in love with you?”

Lu Sangjiu glanced at Xie Ningyuan, slightly embarrassed. ”Ahem... Yes.”

They wanted to ask more, but Gu Jue was there, and he still didn’t know that Lu Sangjiu was Gu Huang. So, there were many questions they couldn’t bring up.

Gu Jue frowned. ”But if you don’t remove it, don’t tell me... you’re really planning to go back to Cangming?”

”Fellow Daoist Lu, the fate of the three realms is important, but you can’t sacrifice yourself for it.”

Lu Sangjiu quickly waved her hands. ”It won’t come to sacrificing myself...”

Before she could finish, Xie Ningyuan, who had been silent all this time, suddenly grabbed her arm. ”Come with me.”

Xie Ningyuan pulled Lu Sangjiu into his room and immediately set up a Barrier to block all sound.

Seeing his serious expression, Lu Sangjiu couldn’t help but cough lightly. ”You... don’t be mad.”

She tugged his sleeve cautiously. ”I didn’t mean to hide it from you. I was just planning to tell you after we sorted things out in the main hall.”

Xie Ningyuan frowned. ”I’m not mad about that. I can understand why you waited until now to tell me.”

”But the problem is, you say it won’t come to sacrificing yourself. So why don’t you tell me, how do you plan to solve this?”

”You used yourself as a bargaining chip. That means no matter when you two have a falling out, these so-called peace talks can be overturned. There’s no solution to this!”

”If you had told me earlier that this was your deal, I wouldn’t have taken you to the main hall just now!”

Lu Sangjiu coughed lightly. ”Actually... he was originally going to detain me. The fact that I was able to get out at all was already me winning a lot of leeway for myself.”

”In other words, at the time, it wasn’t a question of whether I wanted to make the deal. I *had* to. So naturally, all I could do was try to get the best terms for myself.”

”Of course I thought about what you said... So my plan is to stall for a while. Once the Western Demon Realm and the Immortal Gates have joined forces to kill He Guang, I won’t have any lingering worries.”

”When that time comes, if Cangming still insists, then worst-case, we’ll all just join forces and kill him, too.”

”Anyway, don’t worry. No matter how crazy Cangming is, he still has to give me some face.”

”He might detain me, but he definitely won’t force me to do anything. So... it just means I’ll be stuck with him for a while without my freedom. It’s no big deal.”

Xie Ningyuan took a deep breath. ”No big deal?”

”Everything you’re saying is based on nothing but your own optimistic speculation!”

”The moment his actions deviate from your predictions, you could die at any time, do you realize that?!”

”And there’s something crucial about the Love Gu that Gu Jue didn’t mention... If the person with the Mother Gu dies, the person with the Child Gu will die as well!”

”If you don’t get rid of this Gu poison as soon as possible, the moment Cangming dies, you’ll die right along with him! Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?!”