Surprisingly Enough(NOT), Common Sense Is Overpowered in a Cliché Cultivation World (Patreon)

68. Hero saves the beauty.

It was a cliché among clichés, a grand cliché if you will. In the Dao of clichés, it ranked supreme, right beside the 'you have eyes but can't see Mt. Tai' cliché.

A distraught beauty chased by the bad guys encounters a passing hero who saves her and defeats the bad guy, the end result being the beauty smoothly falling into his arms afterward.

There were too many damn cultivation novels with the exact same plot. So, it would be false to say that Ning was surprised upon encountering this at all. He even had the urge to roll his eyes at the sheer predictability of it all.

After Ning and the group smoothly separated from the merchant, they swiftly headed toward Red Moss City. Since the distance between them was a little less than 20 miles, they decided to just use their movement techniques to swiftly arrive at the city.

Their journey was mostly uninterrupted, unlike with the carriage where they were attacked relentlessly by monsters. Partly, this was due to their swift ability to avoid any approaching beasts, and the other factor was that they were free from the burden of protecting others.

Alas, all good things must eventually come to an end. Just as they rushed toward Red Moss City, not far away, they suddenly heard a fierce battle not far away.

"Let's take a detour," Murong Shuo, ever the reliable leader, swiftly made the judgment.

Conflict between people happens all the time, be it due to treasures or conflicting opinions. And in this world, where superpowered beings ran wild, the preferred way to solve the problem was through the casting fist.

"Okay," everyone nodded at the suggestion. It was unwise to stick their nose into matters that didn't belong to them.

Of course, with the protagonist in the party, there was no way that the situation would be that simple. The moment everyone nodded, a change occurred in the field.

In a shining bright light, a figure rushed out of the forest with a sickly pale complexion, and there were some blood splatters on their white clothes.

"Fellow Daoists, please help me. I am being attacked." It was a girl who seemed to be using an extremely valuable escape talisman. Within a few breaths, she had quickly arrived near the group, crossing the distance of tens of feet in an instant.

Seeing the group appearing hesitant, the girl quickly spoke, "I am from the Wei Family."

Wei Family... the family that issued their current mission.

Murong Shuo, Xiao Fan, and the other three glanced at each other, their eyes full of surprise. Such a coincidence?

Of course, Ning also seemed surprised, but inwardly, he was complaining about this cliché.

I thought that the travel arc was finally over, but it seems not. Plus this setup is too perfect to be a mere coincidence...

"What should we do?" Murong Shuo asked the others. Everything had become complicated due to this introduction. "We are going to go to the Wei family for the mission after all..."

The six of them communicated in an instant, coming to an agreement.

"My father is the current head of the Wei Family. As long as the fellow Daoists help me, he will surely reward you all." The injured girl, who seemed to have taken a recovery pill, quickly persuaded. Seeing the group's hesitation, she quickly proposed benefits, one thing that would surely move the people's hearts.

"How about we decide while escaping..." Ning had just spoken when, suddenly there was a large thud.

"P-please..." The girl from the Wei Family had chosen to faint at this exact moment,

"QUICK! Help her!" Everyone hurried towards the fallen girl. Liao Ting took the lead in checking on the injury of the girl. She was proficient in healing.

"I got ignored," Ning muttered as he watched the two girls quickly assess the damage.

*Snicker*

"First time?" Xiao Fan snickered at Ning who was crestfallen at being ignored.

"Oh Heavens! Sarcasm? I didn't know Brother Fan was proficient in this ancient art. Whoever led you astray?" Ning naturally couldn't let the protagonist have one up on him.

"Who do you think it is?" Xiao Fan glared at the perpetrator.

"Hmm? I dunno. Why are you asking me?" Ning ignored the glare with ease. He had gotten accustomed to being glared at so hard that it might as well burn a hole through him.

"I wonder..."

"So, what's the plan?" Ning stirred the conversation in another direction.

"What do you mean?!" Xiao Fan felt that the glance Ning was giving him was quite meaningful.

"Well, I already know you are going to help her. So, what's the best course of action? Should I attack the chaser at once, or should I wait for them to monologue?" Ning was ready to let out some steam that had accumulated due to the recent stress.

"You..." Xiao Fan was speechless. "Why do you think I want to help her?"

"Because you are bullhead—hey!" Ning dodged the swift jab Xiao Fan sent his way. "I meant an upright guy like you will take action."

"Right..." Xiao Fan rolled his eyes.

"So, the plan?"

"Let's act according to the situation." After spending a month with this guy, Xiao Fan had also picked up a thing or two. Especially, having a plan in a worse-case situation certainly helped them in the past.

"Aye, aye Captain." Ning faux saluted.

Xiao Fan pointedly ignored the guy used to his weird metaphors and antics. If Ning knew what Xiao Fan thought, he would argue that his sense of humor was too advanced for their brain to comprehend.

Seeing this, Ning just smiled.

Xiao Fan may seem like a generic protagonist, but precisely so, he was a relatively kind-hearted person. Of course, the premise was not to piss him off, which most people seem to fail to do.

"T-thanks." With the cultivator's physique, it did not take long for the girl to regain her consciousness. It did help that the girl only suffered from bloodloss which could be healed with a blood replenishing pill.

"Pretty..." Someone murmured.

Ning glanced at the back. The whisper was because, after taking the healing pill, the originally sickly pale girl started to return to her former shine.

Glancing at her, Luo Jing, the resident arrogant, had his eyes brightened. It was not only him; even Murong Shuo and Xiao Fan seemed to have been taken aback.

"So, this is the fabled jade beauty? It's no wonder those novels have paragraph upon paragraph describing the beauty."

If he had to be honest, even Ning was surprised by the beauty of the girl. Of course, that was the extent of the surprise.

What did you expect, that in the trope "hero saves the 'beauty'," the girl would not be a beauty at all?

"Men..." Seeing this, Pan Xue and Liao Ting couldn't help but mutter, seeing the three being surprised by the beauty.

"We are from the Pure Qi sect here for a mission issued by the Wei Family. So, rest assured girl, I would help you." Luo Jing, who had been keeping quiet till now, suddenly spoke up, his back straightened, his expression proud.

Ning and the others glanced at each other and finally agreed with Luo Jing. "Yes, just like this guy said, we will help you."

"Thank you, I am Wei Ling. You will definitely be rewarded for this life-saving grace." Wei Ling tried to bow but was quickly stopped by the two girls.

"Sister Wei Ling. You need to rest," Liao Ting spoke with growing concern. She was certainly the most kind-hearted of the group.

"How about we continue this conversation while we escape..." Ning once again brought up his suggestion to not just stand here and wait for the enemy. 

Of course, such a logical suggestion was shown a middle finger by the world as it was at this moment that, four figures rushed towards the group. Three men and one woman quickly appeared in front of them.

"You guys, can you leave? We have something to discuss with the girl behind you." The one who spoke was the woman with fifth-stage cultivation. She wore a sultry red dress, showing her cleavage as she winked at the group.

"L-lai Wen. Y-you, how dare you break the agreement." Wei Ling, though still weakened, screamed at the woman with fire in her eyes.

"Agreement? Ah, You meant that piece of paper we signed. It's cute how you think we will follow that." Lai Wen smiled, her eyes filled with mirth. Then, she turned towards the group, "How about you guys leave?"

"Sorry. We can't turn a blind eye to four people ganging up on a single girl." Murong Shuo stepped forward. He took the negotiation approach, seeing the group of four was stronger than he thought. Beside the woman, there was a scar-faced man whose cultivation was on par with him.

"You lot don't have anything to do with this. Leave, or else you will regret it." A scar-faced man brandished his knife, his sixth stage qi coiling slightly.

"Hmph! This young master is protecting this girl, back off. You don't know who you are messing with." Luo Jing stood up and spoke in that arrogant tone of his.

Scarface man narrowed his eyes, "I hope all of you think properly. If you give up that girl, you will obtain our friendship."

Ning was quietly watching this bloody plot unfold. He had no desire to interrupt or take an active part in this plot. Rather, he was too busy inwardly making snarky comments.

Your friendship? Double it and give it to the next person.

Ning felt he was being too snarky today, but he was too damn tired to care. Moreso, when this plot seemed too cliche that it hurt his brain just to follow through. No, he was not salty that everyone ignored his suggestion. Anyone saying otherwise was lying...

While the other five didn't have as much mental gymnastics going on as Ning's, since they had already agreed to protect the girl, they were not tempted by the offer of the scar-faced man. Especially since they were promised a reward as well, and no matter from which angle they looked at this man, he looked sketchy as heck.

In the end, this was after all a face-seeking world. One would obviously trust a beautiful girl rather than a scarred, sketchy-looking man. Heh, something doesn't change even in another world...

"Sorry, we have already agreed to take Miss Wei Ling to her house. So, we could not accept your suggestion." Murong Shuo's stance was firm.

The group of four glanced at each other, seemingly coming to an agreement in an instant.

"Everyone, why don't you take some rest." The red-dressed woman's tone was very soft and comfortable to listen to.

The instant she spoke, the qi surged as the group suddenly felt drowsy, their thoughts slowing down in the process.

"Since you guys decided not to accept our friendship. We can only strike first. As long as we kill this girl, there is no need to worry about the agreement." The scar-faced man accelerated toward Wei Ling, his knife glowed slightly.

But just as he was about to finish her, the qi suddenly fluctuated in the air. The source was none other than the resident protagonist.

"Heaven Shattering Fist! Second Form: Sky shatter." With a resounding boom in the air, Xiao Fan had somehow broken out of the trance and arrived in front of Wei Ling, just blocking the attack.

The force between the two prompted a large bang. That was enough to break whatever technique Lai Wen had used on Wei Ling.

"X-xiao Fan." Wei Ling stuttered, glancing at the wide back of the protagonist.

"Stay back!" Xiao Fan ordered as he mobilized his qi.

"How did you break free from my control? With my charm technique, even a late-stage cultivator needs at least a few seconds to break through!" Lai Wen couldn't help but be surprised.

"I just snapped my fingers." Xiao Fan answered, his fingers blue with injury.

"You! You inflicted pain upon yourself to come out of the trance. Impressive." Lai Wen once again used her technique.

"Don't think the same trick will work twice." Xiao Fan was prepared, as he swiftly recovered from the technique.

"Still, you are alone right now. You can't beat us. Nine Slash Art!!" The Scar-faced man once again attacked the protagonist.

"Heaven Shatter!!!" Xiao Fan blocked the attack, their collision prompting even the air around to fluctuate visibly.

"Char-no!!!" Lai Wen wanted to use her technique to break the flow when an arrow swiftly reached her.

[Turtle Shell Armor]

"LAI WEN!!" The Scar-Faced man turned back. Xiao Fan used the split second to launch his attack.

"Shit!" The man flew backward. Lai Wen quickly moved to save him, her armor formed a golden protective layer blocking all of the arrows attacking her.

"I never said I was alone. Look again." Xiao Fan smirked.

The two mob characters who were clearly too unimportant to even be mentioned had been taken out by someone. 

Nonetheless, it was Ning who took the chance to even out the playing field.

"Another one? How did you get out?" Lai Wen shouted. Her precious confident gait was nowhere to be seen.

"You really expect me to monologue about my abilities? Only dumb people do that." Ning couldn't understand their thought process.

"Hey!" Xiao Fan glared at Ning at the friendly fire.

"Of course, except you," Ning added.

"Let's retreat." The scar-faced man decided at this moment.

"B-but." The woman tried to veto but was quickly stared down.

"Let's go." The scar-faced man picked up two fallen bodies and turned towards the two of them. "I hope you do not regret this."

The scar-faced man chose to retreat, leaving such words behind.

"This guy really is acting as disposable mook A," Ning thought, his hands never stopped shooting the arrows which seemed to be depleting the barrier produced by armor.

Miss Wei glanced at that man, her eyes full of hatred.

But she didn't speak to two of them to take action. She already knew that protecting her was already showing much kindness.

Ning, who had been observing everything, nodded. This girl was unexpectedly sensible.

Ning threw a healing pill to bother Wei Ling and Xiao Fan.

"Thank you." Wei Ling mumbled as she took a deep breath. It had been a hard day for her.

"That guy was stronger than I expected. Especially at the end, I suddenly felt a sense of danger." Xiao Fan mumbled; clearly, his protagonist sense was good at detecting dangers too.

"He probably had some trump card," Ning added.

If it was a novel, this would be the cut scene where the new villain would show their powers and stun everyone while acting as a goal for the protagonist to overcome. For this reason, their strength was clearly heightened at the moment.

Of course, with unexpected help from Ning, they had fumbled their bag hard.

"Yeah. Let's wake up everyone." Ning and Xiao Fan got to work.

After explaining the situation to the group, everyone departed quickly. It was a day filled with too much action for their tired brain to process.

Ning ran as his thoughts quickly turned.

For the protagonist to quickly outgrow everyone, there are two main factors. One was their astounding luck, and the second was enemies just like the scar-faced man. That guy was definitely a chain-type villain who would serve as an adequate exp pack for the protagonist.

As expected of a tournament arc, numerous enemies are showing out of nowhere...

Ning sighed.

...

Thanks for reading~

Will be a slow week. My exams are on the horizon.