"That's no concern of yours, Junior Brother," Duan Xingyun said coldly.
"Since you want the Snow Mysterious Ginseng to save someone, Junior Brother, you should offer something of equal value in exchange."
"I hear you recently acquired a Lotus Pill, Junior Brother. Its effects are comparable to the Snow Mysterious Ginseng. Let's trade for that."
Bai Heng's expression soured. "Absolutely not," he refused flatly. "I was saving that for Ayao to advance her cultivation."
"Besides, the Snow Mysterious Ginseng must be refined into an elixir pill to have effects comparable to a Lotus Pill. The ginseng by itself is nowhere near as valuable!"
Duan Xingyun didn't argue. "That's fine," he said lightly. "You can take your time deciding, Junior Brother Bai. Do you want the Snow Mysterious Ginseng to save a life, or would you rather hold on to your Lotus Pill?"
With that, he turned and said, "Qian Cheng, Little Jiu, we're leaving."
"Wait!" Bai Heng gritted his teeth. He glared at Duan Xingyun, his expression shifting, but in the end, he tossed the Lotus Pill to Lu Sangjiu.
Then he spoke coldly, "The Snow Mysterious Ginseng."
From the look in his eyes, Lu Sangjiu had no doubt that if Bai Heng ever got the chance, he would gladly kill her.
'But it didn't matter. They weren't on the same side, anyway. Offending him now or later was all the same.'
'Just some Divinity Transformation Stage scum. Does he really think I'm scared of him?'
And so, under his murderous gaze, Lu Sangjiu swiftly put away the Lotus Pill and handed over the Snow Mysterious Ginseng.
"Thank you, Master Bai. I wish Senior Sister Ye a speedy recovery!"
Bai Heng left without looking back, leaving only a parting shot: "When Ayao wakes up, if I find out you were lying, I will not spare your life!"
Duan Xingyun's anger flared, but before he could react, Lu Sangjiu gently tugged on his sleeve.
"Master, there's no need to be angry for my sake. I wasn't lying, after all. He won't have a chance to kill me even if he wants to."
'Of course, whether I'll create an opportunity for him in the future when none exists... well, that's hard to say.'
After calming Duan Xingyun, Lu Sangjiu returned to Red Peak with the other two, then used the excuse of needing to heal to go back to her own cave-abode.
Back at her residence, she activated the restrictive wards in her courtyard. Only then did Lu Sangjiu truly relax. She flopped onto her bed and began to calmly think about Ye Zhiyao.
Since coming to the Seven Emotions Sect, not counting the year she'd spent in secluded cultivation, she had tried to make a move on Ye Zhiyao three times in the remaining six months.
The first time, she'd planned to launch a sneak attack from behind. But just as she was about to strike, a rock fell out of the sky and, with perfect aim, smacked her on the head, knocking her out cold.
The second time, she'd tried to push her off a cliff. But the moment she got close, a freakish gust of wind suddenly kicked up, nearly sending *her* over the edge instead.
The third time was this one.
She had tried to use a demon beast to eliminate Ye Zhiyao, but after knocking Ye Zhiyao unconscious, the beast ignored her and turned on Lu Sangjiu instead.
If her own skills hadn't been decent, she feared she would have been the one to end up in the demon beast's maw.
These three attempts finally made her accept the reality of the situation: whether she did it herself or tried to use others, she could not kill Ye Zhiyao.
This was the protection of the Heavenly Dao over Ye Zhiyao, its Child of Fortune.
The story of how she knew Ye Zhiyao was the Child of Fortune began over a hundred years ago.
Back then, she had been a Transcendance Tribulation Stage Cultivator. While undergoing her Ascension Tribulation, she had unexpectedly glimpsed this world's truth.
To put it simply, this world was a novel, and Ye Zhiyao was its female protagonist.
As for Lu Sangjiu... well, she didn't even qualify as a supporting character. She was just a background tool, a character who died before the protagonist was even born, leaving behind a vast inheritance for her.
What left Lu Sangjiu most speechless was how this so-called protagonist was just too "kind"—so kind that she showed mercy to villains and urged good people to let go of their hatred, causing the deaths of those around her again and again.
And even though the "novel" did its best to glorify Ye Zhiyao, Lu Sangjiu saw the protagonist's true nature with piercing clarity, which was why she loathed her from the bottom of her heart.
She couldn't understand why everyone else had to march to their deaths, one by one, manipulated by fate just to fulfill the protagonist's destiny.
Lu Sangjiu was furious, but she had already reached the end of her destiny as written in the novel—she was going to die in this Heavenly Tribulation.
Unwilling as she was, she had no power to resist the Heavenly Dao. That was, until she discovered the bracelet on her wrist was no ordinary item. At the critical moment, it was the bracelet that snatched her from the Heavenly Dao's clutches and swallowed her into its own space.
She slept for a hundred years inside the bracelet's space. When she woke up, her body had been remolded, her appearance drastically changed, and all her cultivation was gone.
Having lost everything, Lu Sangjiu's first thought upon waking was clear: she had to kill Ye Zhiyao. For herself, and for all the other "tool" characters, she would defy the heavens and rewrite their fates.
After all, if Ye Zhiyao didn't die, all the fortune of this realm would be concentrated on her, and no one else would ever be able to ascend.
The only problem was, she had become a mortal without any cultivation, while Ye Zhiyao had already been a disciple of the Seven Emotions Sect for several years. To put it bluntly, Lu Sangjiu couldn't beat her.
Furthermore, the bracelet that had saved her showed no other extraordinary qualities. She couldn't even re-enter its space. It looked so ordinary that it didn't even seem to be a Magic Treasure.
With no cultivation and no Magic Treasure to rely on, Lu Sangjiu's only choice was to first find a way into the Seven Emotions Sect.
The Seven Emotions Sect had seven main peaks. Lu Sangjiu chose to join Red Peak.
The reason was simple enough: within the Seven Emotions Sect, only the lineage of Red Peak was portrayed as entirely villainous in Ye Zhiyao's story.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, as they say. Besides, from what Lu Sangjiu had seen in the story, she didn't think the people from Red Peak were bad at all; in fact, she found them quite to her liking.
"Tsk... Since I can't kill her thanks to the Heavenly Dao's protection, it looks like there's only one method left."
Lu Sangjiu took a deep breath. "...Seize her opportunities and fortune, no matter the cost!"
'Once Ye Zhiyao's fortune and opportunities are diminished enough, she'll no longer be the Child of Fortune. At that point, I might not even need to kill her; this world's shackles will already be gone.'
'Come to think of it, many of her destined opportunities are related to me... And in the original fate, I'm already dead. That means I'm outside of destiny's design now. Perhaps I really do have a shot at competing with her.'
The more Lu Sangjiu thought about it, the more she felt this path was viable, and her spirits lifted.
"Hmm, if I remember correctly, her next big opportunity is..."
She narrowed her eyes. "What a coincidence... It's the cave-abode I left behind."
The only problem was, back when she was at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage, she had set up numerous restrictive wards in that temporary cave-abode.
Now that she was only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, she was afraid it would be too dangerous to try and enter on her own.
'It would be better to stick close to Ye Zhiyao and ride her coattails. The protagonist's halo should give me a better chance of success.'
For the next few days, Lu Sangjiu used the excuse of recovering from her injuries and did not leave her residence.
However, her "recovery" was just a pretext. The blood she had coughed up wasn't from Bai Heng's oppressive aura, but rather a lingering effect of the Heavenly Punishment dealt by the Heavenly Dao.
Even though her body had been remolded, the effects hadn't been fully purged. She would still cough up some blood from time to time, but for now, it wasn't life-threatening.
Lu Sangjiu remained behind closed doors, plotting what excuse she could use to accompany Ye Zhiyao when the time came.
She never expected that a few days later, Ye Zhiyao would actually come looking for her...