The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

After everyone finished listening to Lu Sangjiu, Yan Zui spoke up. "I’ve made some inquiries with my sect over the past two days. The Nascent Soul Cultivator who came to serve as City Lord is one of our stewards."

"While I don’t know him well, we’ve had a few dealings. If I approach him, he should be willing to cooperate with us."

But Lu Sangjiu shook her head. "No, we can’t go to him directly about this."

"And why not?" Yan Zui raised an eyebrow. "Are you... suspecting my Joyful Union Sect?"

She wasn’t trying to stir up trouble, but the matter was extremely sensitive. No one wanted the investigation to lead back to their own sect, so Lu Sangjiu’s words inevitably put her on edge.

Before Lu Sangjiu could respond, Xie Ningyuan cut in. "It’s not about suspicion. We just need to be cautious about everything."

"Those of us present are from the Ten Thousand Buddha Sect, the Joyful Union Sect, the Seven Emotions Sect, and Lingyin Pavilion. That involves four sects in total."

"If we choose to unconditionally trust the Joyful Union Sect now, what happens when a situation arises involving another one of our sects? Should we extend the same unconditional trust then?"

"There are four Major Sects involved. What if the mastermind is from one of them? If we alert them, not only will all our efforts be for nothing, but we could also put everyone’s lives at risk."

"So, to be safe, the best approach is to treat everyone the same and keep this confidential. Only we can know about this. It cannot be leaked to anyone else, not even to people we think we can trust."

These people had all gathered because of Lu Sangjiu. She was the core of the group.

Now that Xie Ningyuan had stepped up to say the part that was bound to cause offense, it saved her from having to do so.

But he had a point. Even though Yan Zui still felt a little resentful, she couldn’t argue.

While she was silent, Feng Lin chimed in. "Mr. Xie is right. This is a serious matter. For everyone’s safety, secrecy is essential."

Among the group, Li Qiancheng and the other two were Lu Sangjiu’s senior brothers from the same sect. Xie Ningyuan also clearly had a close relationship with her. Strictly speaking, only Feng Lin and Yan Zui were the relative outsiders.

Therefore, Yan Zui was more receptive to Feng Lin’s support and reasoning at this moment.

Sure enough, her expression softened slightly. "Alright... but if I’m not the one to approach him, what’s your plan?"

Only then did Lu Sangjiu explain, "I’ve seen some ledgers about this in the City Lord’s secret chamber. The people capturing individuals from the Western Demon Realm operate on a cycle of about ten days."

"Every ten days, they transport a batch through Yuelin City. The last time a shipment passed through here was eight days ago."

"In other words, they should be passing through Yuelin City again in the next day or two. With the city on high alert, they can’t possibly sneak by with Demon Cultivators in tow. Their only option is to urgently seek out the City Lord for a new plan."

Feng Lin immediately understood her plan. "You want to lie in wait for them?"

Lu Sangjiu nodded, then glanced at Xie Ningyuan. "With him here, it won’t be difficult to keep a close watch on the City Lord without being detected."

"If he’s successful, it would be best to get the exact time those people plan to enter the city. That would make it much easier for us to lock onto them."

"If he can’t, we can’t just sit around and wait. So starting today, everyone needs to watch the passing caravans. Don’t let a single suspicious person slip by."

Yuelin City’s jurisdiction was vast. Checkpoints were set up not just in the city itself, but also at various points outside to inspect travelers.

After all, as a city bordering the Western Demon Realm, there was no room for carelessness.

So, if Xie Ningyuan came up empty, keeping a perfect watch would be difficult.

Still, they had to try their luck. What if they happened to run right into them?

Of course, if their luck was terrible and they came up with nothing, their only choice would be to play the villains for once: threaten the City Lord and have a ’nice chat’ with him.

As someone who had actually been abducted, Ah Ming volunteered some details about his captors to make the search easier.

"When they were transporting me, we were held in a carriage that had an Array Formation Restriction on it. It was pulled by very common, low-level horses."

"They drugged us beforehand and sealed our meridians. With the Array Formation Restriction on the carriage as well, they had multiple safeguards. Because of that, our escorts were just two Cultivators. Both were unremarkable Golden Core Stage cultivators who looked completely ordinary."

"The specific details might be different now, but I don’t think the general setup will have changed much."

He paused, then added with some frustration, "It’s just a shame I found a chance to escape before we even reached Yuelin City. I don’t know which route they usually take. Otherwise, this would be a lot easier."

After his escape, he had tried to find them again, but he was on his own and lacked power. It was nearly impossible to pick them out from the countless travelers on the road.

After all, the Demon Cultivators had their meridians sealed, making them look no different from ordinary people at a glance. No matter how sensitive Ah Ming was to Demonic Qi, it was no use.

Of course, no one blamed Ah Ming for this. Seeing his frustration, Shen Yuzhao offered a few words of gentle comfort, earning a look of immense gratitude from him.

Lu Sangjiu watched this unfold and thought, ’This guy really knows how to put on an act. If I hadn’t seen how mature and composed he was last night, I’d probably be comforting him too.’

’But now... hmm. I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear a thing.’

Xie Ningyuan was more than enough for the task of watching the City Lord. So, with the discussion more or less settled, he rose to his feet. "Let’s hope those people haven’t had a chance to see the City Lord yet."

After all, they had spent three days on Qingyue Mountain. There was no guarantee that their targets hadn’t already met with the City Lord. They could only leave it to luck.

Though Lu Sangjiu felt it was hardly necessary, she couldn’t resist adding a word of caution. "Be careful."

A faint smile touched Xie Ningyuan’s lips. "You too."

With that, Xie Ningyuan strode out of the inn without so much as a glance at anyone else.

Lu Sangjiu watched him go, her eyes following him until he was out of sight.

The moment was so telling that even Li Qiancheng, who was usually dense when it came to matters of the heart, sensed something was off. He couldn’t help but lower his voice and ask Lu Sangjiu, "Little Junior Sister, you and Mr. Xie..."

He was cut short by a jab from Luo Linlang’s elbow. "Don’t be nosy."

Li Qiancheng: ???

’Wait, aren’t you usually the nosiest one, Junior Sister? Why are you the one scolding me now?’

Lu Sangjiu heard them, but she pretended she hadn’t.

She then rose to her feet and said, "Alright, let’s get to work. Time to assign checkpoints for the stakeout."

With Ah Ming, there were seven of them left. With a total of twelve checkpoints, five would have to go unwatched. Everything would come down to luck.

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