Chương 113: Against The Heavens III: Side Characters Have Side Quests Too

The battle ended with the massive beast crashing into the earth hard enough to shake the surrounding trees. Xiao Fan lowered his fist and breathed heavily. Bai stood several steps away, her pristine white fur stained with dirt as frost spread beneath her paws, while the young White Flame Raven circled overhead before landing beside its wounded father. The little raven had been surprisingly useful during the fight.

It was far weaker than everyone else present, but that hadn't stopped it from diving into the battle whenever it found an opening, releasing bursts of white flame before immediately retreating behind its father. More than once, it had even spread its wings dramatically after landing a successful attack, white flames rising around its body as it stared down an opponent several times its size. Xiao Fan had initially assumed this was some kind of bloodline ability.

After seeing it happen for the fourth time when absolutely nobody was attacking it, he realized the bird simply enjoyed looking impressive. Strangely enough, the older raven did something similar. After forcing the opposing beast back, the older White Flame Raven landed atop a shattered tree, spread its enormous wings, and released a deep cry as white flames rolled magnificently across its feathers.

The older raven had fought efficiently throughout the battle, yet even he seemed to enjoy striking a pose after defeating an opponent. The little raven immediately copied him. Xiao Fan stared at the pair, surprised. What Xiao Fan didn't know was that such displays were perfectly normal among White Flame Ravens. Their flames weren't merely weapons; the brilliance and control of their white fire were important signs of strength, and adult ravens displayed them when intimidating rivals or attracting mates.

Young ravens naturally learned the behavior by watching their parents. The only problem was that this particular young raven was a bit too engrossed in the art, even more so than his father. The readers had noticed too.

"Guys, does this count as T-posing on the enemy's corpse?"

"Papa Raven: Behold, son. This is how you attract females. Baby Raven: Understood. Do it after every successful attack."

"Okay, that's actually kind of adorable."

"Still contributed 3% damage and 70% of the visual effects."

"Leave him alone, he's doing his best."

"I actually like him. Little guy has some spunk."

"That dive where he distracted the beast so Bai could freeze its leg was clean though."

"Yeah, jokes aside, the bird can fight." The White Flame Raven's father slowly approached Xiao Fan. Its injuries were clearly serious, but there was still enough pressure radiating from the enormous spiritual beast that Xiao Fan instinctively remained cautious. It stopped before him, looked toward its child, then lowered its head. Xiao Fan understood what he meant instinctively.

"You want me to look after him?" The raven gave a quiet cry. The little bird immediately objected with a much louder one. Its father ignored it.

"CAW!" Still ignored.

"CAW!" The older raven finally turned and pecked the bird directly on the head. The bird went silent.

"LMFAO."

"Ancient spiritual beast parenting technique."

"Talk shit, get pecked."

"I like how the bird was ready to fight that giant beast but immediately folded to dad." After one final look at its child, the older raven spread its battered wings and took to the sky. The bird immediately followed. The two white figures climbed above the forest, but the difference between them quickly became obvious. Even injured, the older raven was incomparably faster. The bird desperately beat its wings and cried after it, yet its father never turned around. Eventually, the distance became too great.

For a long moment, the little raven simply hovered there, watching the distant white figure disappear beyond the mountains. Shriek With the final cry, the little raven descended slowly.

"Don't worry, guys. Papa Raven just went to buy milk."

"I wonder if he's going to meet my dad there."

"Calling it now, Papa Raven returns 300 chapters later."

"Alive, right?"

"..."

"Right? Author?" The bird landed near Xiao Fan without its earlier swagger, its wings drooping slightly. Bai glanced at the young raven and hesitated before quietly moving closer. When the bird noticed her, however, she immediately turned her head away as though she had merely happened to wander over. Xiao Fan watched this continue for several seconds before shaking his head.

"You know, we're probably going to be traveling together." Bai gave a displeased snort and deliberately looked elsewhere.

"You were worried about him five minutes ago," Xiao Fan continued.

"I saw you freeze that beast when it attacked him." The fox's ears twitched, but she stubbornly refused to look at either of them. Xiao Fan smiled and decided not to push his luck.

"She's never beating the tsundere allegations."

"White fox spirit + tsundere. The author isn't even pretending."

"Just wait until Bai reaches the realm where she can transform into a human."

"Meanwhile, the bird is male, so he's safe from the harem."

"GOOD. Let him remain a cool bird." Xiao Fan crouched beside the young raven and looked him over properly. White Flame Ravens were already rare, and this one's bloodline was clearly exceptional; the white flames he had displayed during the fight were far stronger than what a spiritual beast at his cultivation should normally possess. As he considered what to do with him, Xiao Fan suddenly remembered Ning's request.

Ning had asked him to keep an eye out for a spiritual beast with a good bloodline, preferably an egg, though that had mostly been because buying one from a reputable source was absurdly expensive. Xiao Fan looked at the raven, who stared calmly back at him. An egg hadn't worked out, but this was probably better anyway.

"... He might actually be perfect for Ning." Bai's head immediately snapped toward him.

"What?" Xiao Fan asked, meeting the fox's stare.

"His father entrusted him to me; Ning wanted a spiritual beast, and he needs somewhere safe to stay. It works out." Bai gave a displeased snort and looked away. Xiao Fan smiled slightly.

"You know I can tell you're kind of happy about this, right?" Her snort became considerably louder. Before Xiao Fan could tease her further, the raven apparently decided that the conversation had gone on long enough without sufficient attention being paid to him. He spread his wings and released a small burst of white flame, raising his head proudly as the fire curled around his feathers. Xiao Fan stared at him. There wasn't even an enemy nearby.

"... Why are you doing that?" The raven merely lifted his head a little higher, evidently satisfied that the proper atmosphere had been restored. The comments exploded.

"WAIT. NING. OH SHIT, I FORGOT ABOUT THAT."

"THIS IS THE BIRD FOR NING?"

"HE ACTUALLY COMPLETED THE QUEST LMAO."

"Ji Ning really looked at Xiao Fan and went, 'This guy has stupid luck, maybe he'll find me something.'" Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"And he DID."

"That's still one of my favorite things about Ning. His faith in Xiao Fan's luck is genuinely ridiculous."

"Is it faith if he keeps being proven correct?"

"Quest reward better be good." One familiar username appeared further down.

"I'm telling you people again. Ning knows something."

"Oh god, he's back."

"LISTEN. Normal people don't identify the lucky protagonist and start giving him fetch quests."

"Ning isn't some hidden mastermind. The man didn't even own a storage pouch."

"Why does everyone keep bringing that up?"

"Because Xiao Fan pulled out THREE spares and Ning looked like he'd just witnessed generational wealth."

"That scene permanently killed the hidden-old-monster theory for me."

"Maybe he deliberately didn't own one to maintain his disguise."

"He was carrying thousands of spirit stones in a sack."

"DEDICATION TO THE ROLE."

"Seek help." Meanwhile, Xiao Fan was still examining the bird, completely unaware that an argument concerning Ji Ning's possible identity had once again begun somewhere. His attention soon shifted toward the corpse of the beast they had killed. The older Raven had taken nothing from it before leaving, and even its beast core had been deliberately left behind. Xiao Fan picked it up and immediately felt the dense bloodline power contained within. His eyes narrowed slightly. The Demon Subduing Sutra stirred.

The readers knew exactly what that meant.

"Oh, here we go."

"NEW BLOODLINE ABILITY?"

"I was wondering when he was going to eat the boss."

"Calling it now, this one's going to be good. That beast's bloodline was clearly strong."

"Battlebody came from the White-Haired War Ape, and that thing has been carrying Xiao Fan through half his life-and-death fights."

"Seriously.

'Gets stronger the more injured he is' should not have been given to a protagonist who gets critically injured every damn chapter."

"That's called synergy."

"Xiao Fan be eating good, that's all I got to say."... A few chapters later, Xiao Fan finally brought the White Flame Raven to Ning. Ning's eyes immediately lit up when he heard about its white flames.

"That's perfect. I can use that flame for alchemy. As expected of you, finding something like this." The readers were considerably less restrained.

"Never doubt protagonist RNG." There was, however, one condition. The bird would only follow someone he acknowledged. Ning nodded.

"Makes sense. You don't get a—... amon... without beating it first. Classic." Xiao Fan frowned.

"... What?"

"Nothing. You wouldn't get it." Hearing that, Xiao Fan just shrugged as he watched Ning try to get closer to the bird. The fight began shortly afterward. The bird attacked aggressively, white flames surrounding him as he repeatedly dove at Ning, only for Ning's eyes to glow blue as he used Shadow Steps to evade again and again. Strangely, even after several exchanges, Ning never counterattacked. Even Bai eventually nudged Xiao Fan questioningly.

"You're asking why he's only dodging?" The fox nodded. Xiao Fan casually ate another piece of Ning's jerky as he watched the fight.

"He's probably watching how he fights. How fast he is, what he does after he misses, things like that." The readers paused.

"Wait. Did Xiao Fan just analyze someone?"

"Who are you, and what have you done with our protagonist?"

"His usual answer is just 'I'll hit it harder.'""This is the second time he's done this, isn't it? First Qiu Han, now this."

"Qiu Han barely counts. Ning gave him so much information beforehand that even I knew how the guy fought."

"Still counts. Our boy is learning." The bird came around for another attack, and once again Ning simply slipped out of the way while watching him closely.

"You know, Ning would be really fucking annoying to fight."

"Seriously. You attack him, he dodges. You try something else, he dodges again. Meanwhile, he's memorizing all your shit. And you can't exactly stop showing him how you fight. What are you supposed to do, stand there?"

"The bird has shown him basically everything by this point. He is cooked."

"Yeah, I don't like where this is going for the bird." Then the white flames surrounding the raven suddenly compressed around his body as he shot forward like a blazing spear. This time, Ning barely avoided him, the flames passing close enough to scorch his sleeve. As the raven swept past, Ning finally drew his bow.

"Oh no."

"There it is."

"He finally decided to fight back." The fight ended surprisingly quickly after that. With every escape route cut off, the bird hovered in place for a few seconds before finally giving in and reluctantly descending. Ning lowered his bow without firing.

"That's such an annoying way to lose."

"Didn't even shoot the last arrow."

"The disrespect."

"Okay, I understand why Xiao Fan said Ning is scary now." The raven stared at Ning for a long moment before finally lowering his head. Then, almost immediately, Ning took out a Beast-Raising Pill.

"Follow me, and you won't lack resources. We'll grow stronger together." The bird swallowed it after thinking for a while.

"Beat bird. Feed bird. Acquire bird."

"Ah yes, the ancient Dao of carrot and stick I have not used since forever." A little later, Ning tossed Xiao Fan several high-quality beast cores.

"Your reward for the mission. It was nice working with you." Xiao Fan looked at them in shock. For once, he genuinely felt like he had received a normal mission with a fair reward. The readers did not share his definition of normal.

"Xiao Fan's side quest: bandits, hidden treasure, boss fight, new bloodline ability, rare spiritual beast."

"Ning's perspective: Thanks for getting my bird. Here's your payment."

"Best quest giver in the novel."

"Five stars. Would nearly die again." Xiao Fan had seen many strange things since becoming a cultivator. Fatty Li becoming temporarily shredded because he ate something delicious was still something that baffled him. He stood among the crowd watching a spiritual food competition, where Fatty Li had somehow ended up as one of the judges. Apparently, tasting and evaluating different spiritual dishes was considered legitimate training for a disciple of a spiritual cooking master. A plate was placed before Fatty Li.

He took one bite, and his eyes widened. Then, before Xiao Fan's increasingly confused gaze, Fatty Li's round body visibly contracted. Fat disappeared beneath tightening muscle, his shoulders broadened, and within seconds, the cheerful fat man had transformed into someone who looked capable of strangling a demonic bear with his bare hands. The surrounding spectators immediately became excited.

"The chiseled body's out!"

"This one's definitely scoring high."

"Look at the definition! That's at least an eight!" Xiao Fan stared. What the hell is going on? The readers weren't doing much better.

"I LOOK AWAY FROM FATTY LI FOR TWENTY CHAPTERS."

"WHY IS HE JACKED?"

"Forget Xiao Fan, Fatty Li has been doing his own side quests."

"Apparently his training arc was MasterChef."

"THE CROWD USES HIS ABS AS A RATING SYSTEM. LMAO" Later, Xiao Fan met Fatty Li at a nearby restaurant, one of their usual places to hang out. Well, it was their usual place now. Their previous one had been taken out of rotation after some random disciple picked a fight with Xiao Fan, which somehow escalated into enough trouble that the restaurant had to close for repairs.

"Fatty Li."

"Brother Xiao!" Xiao Fan looked him up and down.

"You've changed a lot." Fatty Li blinked before realizing what he meant.

"Oh! That's because of my special physique."

"... Physique?" Xiao Fan blinked. He knew about those. They were something like supernatural bodies, except apparently different enough to deserve their own classification. In Xiao Fan's opinion, cultivators really needed to stop making separate categories for everything. His life would be much easier if they just put all the weird abilities in one list and called it a day.

"That kind of thinking is so Xiao Fan, lol."

"He'll probably never get his wish. He's in a xianxia world, and we all know how things work here."

"By chapter 500, there'll be a hundred different kinds of special bodies, and somehow all of them will be completely different."

"Emperor Tyrant Spiritual Body," Fatty Li explained proudly.

"Brother Ning helped me discover it." Xiao Fan paused. So did the readers.

"Of course he has a special physique."

"THERE IT IS. I CALLED THIS CHAPTERS AGO. THE PROOF EXISTS."

"I knew it. You can't be the protagonist's fat friend without secretly having some ridiculous physique."

"Emperor Tyrant Spiritual Body is the most Fatty Li-ass physique name imaginable."

"Hold on. Did he say NING discovered it? Is everyone just going to brush past that?" Fatty Li happily continued, explaining how Ning had noticed his abnormal physical strength, tested how his body reacted under different conditions, and eventually realized there was more to Fatty Li's body than simple strength. The explanation was annoyingly straightforward once the readers heard it.

"So Ning noticed the fat guy was way stronger than he should be, tested him to figure out why, and found a hidden physique?"

"... Fuck. That's reasonable."

"I hate when Ning does something that sounds ridiculous until someone explains his thought process."

"Everyone else waits for heavenly phenomena to reveal hidden physiques. Ning just used common sense lol."

"Honestly, I like this more. Makes it feel like people besides Xiao Fan can have hidden opportunities too." Xiao Fan, meanwhile, smiled.

"That's good. I didn't expect you to use your physique for judging food, though."

"Hehe." Fatty Li rubbed his stomach.

"Brother Ning taught me that abilities don't have to be used the way everyone expects. If something works, why not find other uses for it?" His expression brightened as he leaned forward.

"So I came up with this myself! Different spiritual foods affect my physique differently, and the stronger the reaction, the easier it is to judge how well the spiritual energy was prepared. Pretty cool, right?" Xiao Fan considered it before nodding seriously.

"Very. You've really changed a lot. You've gotten stronger, found something you enjoy, and you're working hard at it. Now you're even coming up with your own ideas." He smiled.

"It's good to see." Fatty Li stared at him for a moment. Xiao Fan hadn't meant anything profound by it. He had known Fatty Li since they first entered the sect, and seeing his friend become stronger and more confident simply made him happy. Fatty Li, however, found himself thinking back to those early days.

He had been weak, timid, and had long since resigned himself to remaining another unremarkable face among the outer disciples, yet neither Xiao Fan nor Ning had ever treated him as though that was all he could be. Ning especially had helped him far more than Fatty Li had realized at the time.

He had taught him how to train properly, helped him develop the Food Qi Nourishment Method, encouraged him to use his cooking to build connections with other disciples, and later worked with him to understand the strange physique neither of them had even known he possessed at first. None of it had transformed Fatty Li overnight, but the small improvements had accumulated until the person sitting here today was almost unrecognizable from the timid disciple who had first entered the sect.

Fatty Li glanced around the restaurant at the other disciples eating and talking around them. Many weren't particularly talented or well-connected, and some probably weren't that different from the person he used to be, simply doing what they could while assuming there wasn't much more they were capable of. Yet Fatty Li had once thought the same thing. If the things Ning had taught him could help someone like him change this much, perhaps there was no reason they had to remain his alone.

"Uh, Fatty Li?" Xiao Fan looked at him in confusion, wondering why his friend's cheerful expression had suddenly become so serious. Fatty Li slowly raised his head, his eyes shining.

"I think I understand now."

"... What?" Xiao Fan had absolutely no idea what he understood. Neither did the readers.

"Oh no."

"That is NEVER a safe sentence in a cultivation novel."

"What the hell did Xiao Fan just awaken?"

"Did Fatty Li just have a Dao realization in a restaurant?"

"ABOUT WHAT?" The answer came several chapters later. A confused outer disciple stood among a growing crowd, staring at the unusually muscular Fatty Li before them.

"The Path of the Grind does not ask whether heaven favors you," Fatty Li declared solemnly.

"It does not ask whether your talent is high or low. It asks only one question." More disciples leaned closer. Fatty Li raised his fist.

"Did you do your reps today?" The chapter ended. The comment section did not survive.

"WHAT THE FUCK."

"HE STARTED A CULT. PATH OF THE GRIND 💪""WE MAKING IT OUT OF QI CONDENSATION WITH THIS ONE."

"WAIT, WHY IS NING'S NAME IN THE TEACHINGS?"

"Wasn't this supposed to be Fatty Li's thing?"

"Apparently Ning has been teaching this shit to people offscreen."

"First he discovers Fatty Li's hidden physique, now we find out he's been giving him some kind of cultivation philosophy?"

"I swear every time we learn something about Ning, I understand him less." And so, for the readers of Against the Heavens, the mystery that was Ji Ning only continued to grow.... A/N: Made the comments bold this time so they're easier to read. Also, this Omake is semi-canon, except for the negaverse part. We do not speak of the negaverse part. The next Omake will probably be the Tower, though that thing is pretty long, so it'll probably take around two or so Omakes to cover everything.

Somehow, this one also ended up much longer than I expected and took quite a while to write. Omakes are apparently not very good at staying small. Anyway, thanks for reading~