The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

They reached the small town on the border of the Western Demon Realm just as dusk was falling.

Several Integration Stage Cultivators had once joined forces to erect a Barrier around the Western Demon Realm, preventing any Demonic Qi from leaking out. Thus, despite being able to see the realm’s border from the sky above this small town, not a single wisp of Demonic Qi was present.

At some point, Lu Sangjiu found herself floating alone in mid-air, gazing into the distance. A wave of complex feelings washed over her.

’It’s really been a long, long time since I’ve been home.’

’It’s just a shame the Moon Palace of the past has long since been fractured, and my old palace is now occupied by others.’

Lowering her gaze, Lu Sangjiu recalled the scattered records she’d once found about the Western Demon Realm. They stated that a disagreement between Fa Shan and Cangming had erupted into internal strife. Ultimately, after more than half of the Moon Palace was destroyed, Fa Shan took a portion of its people and left.

Cangming, meanwhile, stayed behind with an even larger group of people. He repaired the Moon Palace and renamed it the Cold Crow Sect.

’In other words, Cangming is the master of the Moon Palace now.’

Lu Sangjiu recalled how the Qilin Sect had used Cangming’s unique Blood Evil Curse to injure Xie Ningyuan. Then, her mind turned to the thicket of doubts surrounding the time she had accidentally triggered a Heavenly Tribulation.

Recalling Cangming’s perpetually defiant face, she suddenly felt... she’d never truly seen him for who he was.

’Truth be told, Cangming started following me even before Fa Shan.’

’I rescued him from the hands of some wicked men, and he willingly followed me from that day forward.’

’There was a bit of an age gap between us, so I always treated him as a junior. Though we never formalized it, our relationship was like that of a master and disciple. He was, for all intents and purposes, someone I personally trained.’

’I don’t know when it started, but at some point, our relationship gradually grew distant.’

’Thinking back on it now, I can’t even recall the last time we happily shared a drink and conversation.’

’The one who conspired with outsiders to harm me... could it have been him?’

Since her rebirth, she had been far enough from the Western Demon Realm. So, while she thought of it occasionally, she was usually too preoccupied with the matters at hand to give it much thought.

But today, with the Western Demon Realm so close, she found herself unable to stop the flood of old memories.

She was staring blankly when Ah Ming, at some unknown point, climbed onto the roof of the inn. He glanced in the direction she was gazing and called out to her, "Ms. Ajiu, what are you looking at?"

They had just settled into the inn, but Lu Sangjiu was nowhere to be seen when they went downstairs to eat. He only spotted her when he came outside, floating high in the air as she gazed into the distance.

Flying and brawling were forbidden in most cities, but this was the closest town to the Western Demon Realm, and also the most chaotic. There was no one in charge and absolutely no order.

Ah Ming knew what this place was like and worried that Lu Sangjiu floating in mid-air was too conspicuous and would attract trouble. When she didn’t respond, he wasn’t discouraged and simply called out again, "Ms. Ajiu, if you’re interested in what’s over there, you can come down and ask me! Don’t stay up so high, it’s too flashy!"

He could already feel several hidden gazes fixed on them, making him distinctly uncomfortable.

Ah Ming’s words snapped Lu Sangjiu back to her senses. She finally retracted her gaze and her thoughts, turned, and landed on the roof. She then walked over and sat down beside Ah Ming.

After casually setting up a sound-insulating Barrier, Lu Sangjiu finally asked, "What is the Western Demon Realm... like these days?"

Ah Ming didn’t notice her phrasing. He simply thought about the state of the Western Demon Realm and replied, "A hundred-odd years ago, the Cold Crow Sect and the Divine Tomb Sect were more or less evenly matched. Recently, however, the Cold Crow Sect has become the sole dominant power."

"Cangming... is very powerful."

’Of course he’s powerful. I trained him myself, after all.’

’Fa Shan, on the other hand... although he’d also been with me for a long time and was the most loyal to me, his Cultivation Technique was of its own unique school. It was gentle, much like his own temperament, so I couldn’t really help him with it.’

’It was within my expectations that Fa Shan would be no match for Cangming.’

The only thing that surprised her in the slightest was her next question. "If that’s the case, why hasn’t Cangming attacked the Divine Tomb Sect? Or thought about absorbing it entirely?"

’Cangming is defiant and extremely warlike. I would have thought his style would be to lie low for a time, then slowly encroach on the Divine Tomb Sect’s power before finally absorbing it completely.’

At the mention of this, Ah Ming fell silent for a moment, then shook his head. "No. I heard... that Cangming still holds some regard for their past relationship, so he hasn’t pushed the Divine Tomb Sect into a corner."

Lu Sangjiu raised an eyebrow slightly. Regard for their past relationship? That was a novel way of putting it.

As she recalled, Cangming and Fa Shan’s relationship had never been good. In fact, Cangming’s words were often laced with disdain for Fa Shan.

’Of course, perhaps I was just being subjective. It wasn’t impossible that he truly did have some lingering sentiment.’

After that, she chatted idly with Ah Ming for a while longer, hearing mostly about the various forms of chaos in the Western Demon Realm. The orderly nation she had worked so hard to build was, in the end, gone.

Only Luo Linlang, Shen Yuzhao, and Feng Lin ate dinner in the main hall downstairs. The rest, to avoid causing unnecessary trouble, remained holed up in their rooms.

When Lu Sangjiu and Aming came in, the other three hadn’t finished eating. Upon seeing them, Luo Linlang immediately beamed and waved a hand in greeting. "Little Junior Sister, hurry over! The food here is really good. Come and try some!"

Lu Sangjiu smiled, walked over to sit beside Luo Linlang, and immediately heard her send a telepathic message, "It seems we’ve come at a bad time. I hear there’s been a lot of movement from the Western Demon Realm recently."

The Western Demon Realm had purchased its initial period of peace at the cost of freedom.

In the past, Cangming and Fa Shan, representing the two major powers of the Western Demon Realm, signed a treaty with the Immortal Gates. The Demon Cultivators of the Western Demon Realm would henceforth not easily set foot outside their borders, and in exchange, there would be a truce.

But in the past century, after the Western Demon Realm had time to recuperate and rebuild its strength, it was no longer content to remain in such a passive position.

On top of that, the Great Array sealing the entire Western Demon Realm was simply enormous. Even though several Integration Stage Cultivators had created it together, after so much time, it was inevitable that loopholes and weak spots would appear in places.

So, occasionally, people began to sneak out of the Western Demon Realm, some for freedom, others to seize resources.

Some managed to return successful, while others were discovered and killed by Cultivators.

Of course, there were also Cultivators who ventured into the Western Demon Realm to obtain precious resources that could only be found there; their fates were the same as those of the Demon Cultivators.

But these were all just minor skirmishes. In order not to disrupt the superficial peace, it was best not to bring them out into the open.

So, everyone pretended not to know. No matter who gained an advantage or suffered a loss, both sides would quiet down and act as if nothing had happened.

What Luo Linlang meant by the Western Demon Realm’s "frequent movement" lately was that Demon Cultivators were frequently leaving the realm to come here to kill and plunder.

Although plenty of Cultivators guarded the border of the Western Demon Realm, the frontier was vast, and this wasn’t the only town adjacent to it. Once their forces were spread thin, a truly impenetrable defense was impossible.

Thus, if a High-level Demon Cultivator were to sneak out, as long as they didn’t commit a large-scale massacre, they would have absolutely no qualms about killing eight or ten people.

What Luo Linlang was worried about now was whether they would become one of those unlucky souls...

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