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

70. Start of the Competition~

Time always seemed to be a blur in the world of cultivation; it was hard to keep track for many cultivators who were busy meditating. Six days had already passed since the group had first arrived at the Wei family mansion, and today was the day of the competition.

"Heavens! I told you to avoid pulling all-nighters again..." Xiao Fan chided, his playful grin contrasting with Ning's groans. 

"Leave me alone," Ning retorted, shooting Xiao Fan the stink eye. "And did you really have to wake me up with a cold bucket of water on my face?"

Without waiting for a response, Ning continued, "Wait, don't answer th—"

"Yes," Xiao Fan interrupted him midway, sporting a shit-eating grin on his face. How rude.

"Ugh, why did I have to tell you to wake me up?" Ning lamented that he missed having alarm clocks at hand. He would have preferred the chime of a bell any day over being splashed with water first thing in the morning. Let me tell you, it was not a pleasant experience by any means...

"Is it not because you holed yourself in your room for the last few days without saying anything to others? If not for me, everyone would probably forget you even exist now," Xiao Fan quipped with a smirk. It was not every day he got to one-up Ning, so, without a shadow of a doubt, he was going to savor this victory.

"True, true. But hear me out, counterpoint, wasn't my choice to seclude the right choice?" Ning naturally couldn't let this brooding guy get the upper hand, lest his perfect record tarnish.

Aside from occasionally coming out to scope the surroundings, Ning had holed up inside the room. And, heavens, was that not the right choice? 

Day after day, Ning could hear the sound of fists clashing, qi surging, and much more. Shouts like 'Leave trash!' 'A toad lusting after the swan meat' 'I will have my vengeance!', etc., had become rather common throughout the mansion.

It didn't take him long to figure out that Xiao Fan had already launched his protagonist magic, i.e., pissing people off with the most menial of tasks. 

Nonetheless, Ning just ignored it all, satisfied reading his notes, cultivating, and experimenting, all the while drinking tea in leisure.

"Oh, think that's funny, do you, Ning?" Xiao Fan scowled, partly because he failed in his endeavor to one-up the guy before him and partly because his words cut surprisingly deep.

"In my defense, I did tell you to hole up as well," Ning said, carefully managing his bangs to cover his 'birthmark'.

Xiao Fan cringed, remembering that. At first, he did plan to do so until he was obstructed again and again. "Those sh*theads seemed to have some beef with us. They have been challenging not only me but others as well."

The shitheads that Xiao Fan spoke of were of the younger generation of the Wei Family. They had been rampant ever since their group had arrived at the mansion, challenging everyone.

Ning calmly blew off the meditation incense, "They're probably upset that the adults trust us more for the competition. Teen pride, you know. Though I guess you've given them a lesson in the past few days."

Xiao Fan smirked at that.

"You bet I did." Xiao Fan once again affirmed that punching bullies was probably his favorite pastime by now since they came at him like a moth to a flame. "Speaking of which, why did they ignore you? I couldn't help but punch them after they kept hounding me every single day."

"It was quite elementary, my dear Watson," Ning brushed off the pointed look Xiao Fan gave him, clearly not understanding the reference. He instead opted to continue, "I just ignored them the first few times, but the moment they got a bit too handsy, I just reported them to patriarch Wei. Let's just say, after that, they didn't dare approach me."

Xiao Fan bawked at that answer. Literally.

"I could do that the entire time?" Xiao Fan's voice was barely above a whisper. His eyes went blank as if figuring out the way the world works for the very first time.

"Duh," Ning glanced at Xiao Fan having the galaxy brain moment, and got to rationing the pills. "No matter how they clamor, at the end of the day, they must bow down to their patriarch."

"..."

"It probably helped that I might have inadvertently shown my master token, and just so happened to say how some of the family members were acting a bit too aggressively." Ning grinned, satisfied with his preparation.

"..."

So, Ning stood up, walked towards the protagonist, and then placed his hands on his shoulders. "Haters gonna hate. We can't do anything to stop that, but what we can do is choose the way to deal with it. Violence is not the only way to deal with them."

Pleased with imparting some wisdom to the protagonist, Ning walked past the protagonist, who seemed to dwell on his words.

"Violence is not the solution, huh?" Xiao Fan muttered slowly, his expression contemplative.

"Aren't you coming?" Ning shouted, bringing Xiao Fan out of the trance.

"Wait a sec..." Xiao Fan had just spoken when he was interrupted.

"Whoever comes last is the chicken," Ning shouted and then dashed outside.

Xiao Fan sure as heck sobered up after that. He glanced at the fading back and snarled. "Fudge! You cheated!"

And so, the duo just made it to the competition in the nick of time, though cutting it remarkably close.

...

"You guys sure took your time," Murong Shuo said, though not unkindly. While he had the build of a giant, he was still kind at heart. It could be seen with how he was waiting for them outside the arena in his lonesome.

"It was Ning. He took too long," Xiao Fan was being petty at this moment.

"Betrayal..." Ning mumbled, glaring at Xiao Fan, before bowing slightly. It was not his fault that he won the race. Still, since the crux of the matter was undoubtedly linked to him, he owned up to it.

"I'm sorry, brother. It's my fault," Ning spoke and smiled apologetically, "I was cultivating till the night, and that left me more tired than I expected, so I overslept a bit."

Listening to that, Murong Shuo's eyes softened a bit. "Don't beat yourself too much. The competition has not started yet, so it's not that late." He pointed towards the arena as they walked towards their place. "Also, preparation is a virtue. Especially, I could see that you have gained a lot from this seclusion."

Ning's aura was already edging towards the sixth stage. Aside from Murong Shuo and Xiao Fan, his aura had the faint tendency to overwhelm the others in the group.

"The spiritual fest did help a lot. It took longer than expected to digest it all. If not for Xiao Fan waking me up by pouring cold water over my face first thing in the morning, I would probably have been late."

"That's not a nice thing to do." Murong Shuo turned to Xiao Fan.

"It's not-" Xiao Fan glared at Ning. How dare this guy spill the beans...

Ning naturally ignored the glare, instead turning to scope out the field.

The arena competition was held in the largest square in the city. The number of people present was at least a hundred, with several cultivators also mixed in. After all, this bout was between the two most influential groups in the city. 

One side was the traditionally powerful Wei Family, and the other side was the newly emerging casual cultivator alliance. It was a fight for the ownership of the spiritual lake that was recently found.

Thirteen Versus Thirteen. 

Thirteen people from each group competed against each other, all of whom were under forty years old. Whoever wins the most will have the final victory. 

Generally speaking, this was a common method used by two cultivation forces with similar strengths to resolve their contradictions. It was to show the strength of the younger generation, the future of the family.

And yes, as surprising as it may sound, anyone below forty was considered the younger generation. It was simply because the age from 14 to 40 was considered the golden age for cultivation. Not only would their blood and qi be the most vigorous around this time, but progress came much easier to them. 

It was said that after crossing forty, the hope of building a foundation would drastically decrease. Not only that, the strength of the cultivator would also experience a slow decline. And that was only for the foundation-building stage; if one wanted to reach a realm such as Golden Core, one must build a foundation before the age of 30.

However, it was found that the spiritual energy of the world had a faint tendency to recover, so the golden age might experience a change shortly.

Glancing at the arrangements, Ning couldn't help but think, "As expected of a Xianxia world." Such an arrangement was truly something straight out of those novels he had read about.

Currently, they were walking towards the side of the Wei Family which was ironically on the right side of the arena.

Looking at the high platform, Ning glanced at a man who seemed to have gone through the thick winds and waves of the cultivation world. He was the ninth-stage expert who had gathered the surrounding casual cultivators to form an alliance to fight against the Wei Family.

"So, he is the 'bad guy' of this week," Ning just glanced at the man for only a brief second before quickly turning his head, not interested in attracting that guy's attention.

As for the reason for calling the alliance leader a bad guy, it was simple really. According to the Wei Family patriarch, that man was vicious, not caring about rules and attacking their younger generation in secret to lessen the competition.

It matched the reason why Miss Wei was attacked as well since she was also a strong contender in the competition.

But Ning took all this with a grain of salt. 

While it was true that the Wei Family was schemed by that guy, it was hard not to think about whether the Wei Family themselves had done so as well. A family that has been around for hundreds of years, if they don't have enough repertoire of tricks, they would have perished long ago.

But it was not his place to judge. Just like how he was currently ignoring the elders of the Wei Family and the members of the cultivation alliance glaring at each other as if wanting to tear each other to shreds.

Ning was busy sizing up his competition, trying to find out his opponent's weaknesses and strengths, by the way they carried themselves or by the weapon they had in their hands. Such things may unexpectedly be the key to winning this battle, so he was quietly observing everything.

"Mou, you guys are late." Liao Ting, Pan Xue, Wei Ling, and Luo Jing were already in their seats.

"Yes, how dare you make me wait." Naturally, Luo Jing glared at Xiao Fan. Even if it was not Xiao Fan's fault, he would not miss to criticize him. They got along as well as a xianxia protagonist and arrogant young master.

This time, Ning interrupted the incoming brawl, "It's my fault. Sorry. I got too immersed in cultivation last night."

"There is no need, junior brother." The three girls shook their heads, accepting the reason. It could be seen that Ning had left a favorable impression on them.

"That's okay." Yes, Luo Jing too. It probably helped that Ning had saved his ass multiple times with his bows and arrows during monster attacks.

"Thank you." Ning smiled and sat down on his seat which was placed at the end.

After a minute or two, three gongs sounded throughout the field, bringing everyone's attention towards the field.

"It's starting," Murong Shuo gathered their group and spoke with unprecedented seriousness, "This is a feud between two cultivation forces, so you guys might face unexpected tricks. If you cannot handle your opponent, give up. Don't hold on to your pride unless you want to suffer."

"Yes," everyone nodded, albeit Luo Jing was a bit reluctant to do so. Naturally, everyone ignored the arrogant guy, something that was becoming increasingly common these days.

Meanwhile, Ning glanced at Murong Shuo with bright eyes.

"While Murong Shuo's strength is quite average, he is indeed an experienced man. It seems I need to raise his evaluation in his profile," Ning mumbled inwardly, feeling that their 'leader' was indeed a rare man who seemed to have some sense in this world.

...

A/N: Thanks for reading~