Chương 40: 1.40 That time I teamed up with the protagonist and kicked ass

"I am Ji Ning," Ning said calmly.

"I'm here to exterminate the Red-Eyed Spirit Rabbits that your family posted as a mission to the sect." As he spoke, Ning glanced once more at the wooden nameplate hanging above the gate. Mi Family. There was no mistake. This was definitely the right place. So, what was the confusion? The middle-aged man who had opened the door hesitated, his expression turning awkward.

"I see," he said carefully, "but there is already an outer-sect disciple staying with our family."

"…What?" Ning froze. After painstakingly choosing this mission, after all the work Senior Sister Si Sihua had put into filtering and registering it for him, someone had beaten him to it? Glancing at Ning's slowly darkening expression, the man hurriedly added, "I believe there must be some misunderstanding!" Ning took a breath, forcing himself to remain calm.

"May I ask," he said evenly, "when this outer-sect disciple arrived?"

"Two days ago," the man replied.

"Two days ago?" Ning frowned.

"That doesn't add up. The mission was only posted four days ago, and I spent those remaining days traveling here nonstop from the sect." The timeline simply didn't match. After all, one had to be in the mission hall to accept a mission. The man blinked, then realization dawned on his face.

"Yes… yes, that makes sense." He straightened and clasped his hands.

"I am Mi Zheng, head of the Mi Family. This must indeed be a misunderstanding." He turned sharply to a guard nearby.

"Go. Call Mi Shuxin here. I want an explanation." Then he turned back to Ning and bowed slightly.

"Please forgive us. I will resolve this matter immediately." Ning smiled faintly and waved it off.

"It's fine. I don't mind." Internally, however, he was already calculating. If the family head felt guilty, accessing those Pure Qi Sutra annotations would become much easier. This wasn't utilitarian thinking but purposeful efficiency. Ning nodded to himself, fully convinced that he wasn't doing anything wrong. Soon, hurried footsteps approached. A young man in his early twenties entered the courtyard.

His cultivation was only at the second stage of Qi Condensation, and his eyes darted about nervously the moment he saw Ning. One look was enough. Ning already knew this was the culprit.

"Shuxin," Patriarch Mi said coldly, "explain. Now." Mi Shuxin fidgeted under his father's gaze. After a moment, he caved.

"I… I saw an outer-sect disciple causing trouble at a tavern," he said hesitantly.

"The place was so chaotic it had to close for two days. I thought… instead of letting things escalate, I invited him back to our home and asked him to help deal with the rabbits." He swallowed and continued, "That way, we wouldn't need to pay full mission rewards. That outer sect disciple only asked for the annotations, so if he was able to solve the problem, we don't need to pay for the sect mission at all. And even if something went wrong, Uncle Mi Shing is around…" The courtyard went deathly silent.

"…You did what?" Patriarch Mi's face twisted with fury. Not only had Mi Shuxin tried to exploit the sect's system, he had attempted to deceive two outer-sect disciples at once.

"And you dared mention your uncle?" Patriarch Mi roared.

"It's just outer-sect disciples!" Mi Shuxin blurted defensively.

"With Uncle Mi Shing, they couldn't do anything!" That was the last straw. For some reason, Ning heard a Fah sound effect as Patriarch Mi stepped forward and punched Mi Shuxin straight to the ground. The dull impact echoed through the courtyard as the young man crumpled, clutching his stomach.

"I will deal with you later," Patriarch Mi said coldly. He turned to Ning and bowed deeply.

"I sincerely apologize for the trouble caused by my rebellious son." Patriarch Mi had risen from poverty himself. He understood one thing very clearly: Never underestimate other cultivators, especially those who can be admitted to sects. Even with an inner-sect disciple like Mi Shing backing them, offending two outer-sect disciples without reason was sheer stupidity. Worse, it could turn potential allies into lifelong enemies, for no benefit whatsoever. Alas… Patriarch Mi sighed inwardly.

Shuxin really takes after his uncle in the worst ways. Mi Shing was also arrogant and stubborn, and didn't have any confidants in the sect. It was because of this that when Mi Shing went to a long-term mission, they could only issue a mission to the sect. Just then, footsteps sounded from inside the residence. A young man stepped out, wearing outer-sect robes. The moment Ning saw his face, his expression darkened. Patriarch Mi noticed instantly, and his heart sank. Oh no.

"Is… is there a problem?" Patriarch Mi asked cautiously.

"There is," Ning said slowly, his tone heavy.

"And it's a rather big one." After all, he can't very well say you are housing a jinx. He already had a bad feeling when Mi Shuxin mentioned a tavern being shut down for two days. Now, seeing him here confirmed it. With the protagonist involved, this mission was almost guaranteed to spiral out of control, and that usually meant one thing: Danger escalation. As if responding to his thoughts, A shrill scream echoed from outside the compound.

"They're here!"

"The rabbits have attacked!" The calm courtyard became rowdy in an instant. The Red-Eyed Spirit Rabbits had arrived.... The group quickly made its way toward the spiritual farm. The farm was not located within Redhorn Town itself, but in a low-lying valley in the mountains behind it. Surrounded by hills, the trees provided ample shade, and the entire area was perpetually shrouded in fog.

"Please wait, I will unlock the formation," Patriarch Mi said as he took out a jade talisman and infused it with spiritual energy. The fog around them immediately thinned. Although the formation installed here was the cheapest kind, capable only of confusing linear sight with no lethality, it was still quite useful. Meanwhile, Ning struck up a conversation with Xiao Fan.

"So, you stumbled upon this place after completing a mission, right?" Xiao Fan, who thought he had been dragged into another round of shenanigans, was startled. He then replied, "Yes. I took a mission to exterminate a bandit group, and after completing it successfully, I came here to rest at a tavern. I later found some rare annotations of the Pure Qi Sutra, so I decided to stay." Ning nodded.

So basically, after completing a mission, he stayed in a random town, found something useful, and then picked up a random side quest that turned into another mission. Classic protagonist behavior.

"I see. I'm here to complete the mission as well. How about you help me? We can share the reward," Ning said. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. The two were casual acquaintances; Ning had sold Xiao Fan a few things at low prices before, so the request wasn't presumptuous. Especially with Xiao Fan around, the mission would probably be tough as hell.

"If you don't mind, sure," Xiao Fan said, once again surprised by Ning's tact. Normally, stealing missions led to serious feuds within the sect. Even though Xiao Fan hadn't intended to do so, it still counted. Yet instead of getting angry, Ning was actually eager to have him join and even share the reward.

"Y-you're a good guy," Xiao Fan said emotionally. Did I just get a good-guy card from a protagonist? Damn. Just as the two were talking, the formation fully opened, and the situation became clear. The screech came again, sharper this time, layered, dozens overlapping into a single chilling cry. From the fields beyond the Mi Family's fences, shadows surged forward. Rabbits. Too many of them. They burst from the tall grass like a living tide, red eyes glowing in the dark, teeth bared, fur bristling with demonic qi.

Some were the size of dogs, others closer to calves, and a few, clearly mid-stage spirit beasts, moved with terrifying coordination, their bodies wrapped in faint crimson mist. Ning's breathing slowed instantly.

"Forty," he muttered, eyes narrowing.

"At least."

"Heavens! What can we do?" The guards began to panic. Even Patriarch Mi was stunned by the sheer number. But before despair could fully set in, Xiao Fan stepped forward.

"Everyone, don't waste time. Take battle positions."

"Yes!" Patriarch Mi snapped back to his senses and ordered the guards to form up. As the guards readied their weapons, the fight began. Xiao Fan rolled his shoulders. His red gloves brimmed with spiritual energy. He took a deep breath and said, "Let's start."

"First, let's talk strategy," Ning said, calming the protagonist who looked ready to solo everything.

"You're clearly a close-range fighter. Stay at the front. I'll cover you from behind with my archery."

"As long as you don't hit me, go wild," Xiao Fan said, his eyes twitching, clearly not trusting Ning's archery skills. Ning didn't argue. Time would tell.

"Charge ahead. Xiao Fan, I choose you." And just like that, Ning unleashed Xiao Fan upon the rabbit horde. The front line, mostly mortal and early-stage spirit rabbits, charged without hesitation, while several mid-stage beasts lingered behind, eyes sharp, clearly coordinating the assault. Ning had already retreated to higher ground.

"Alright," he muttered, nocking an arrow. Red-Eyed Rabbits. Speed-type demon beasts. Their hind legs supported explosive acceleration, and their teeth were razor-sharp. Ning's eyes twitched as he recalled the information. In this world, even cute things like rabbits could kill you. Re: Zero didn't lie to me. Xiao Fan grunted as he surged forward. He leapt. His foot slammed into the ground. Boom! The earth cracked outward as his fist followed, a clean, brutal punch that met the first rabbit head-on. Bone shattered.

The body flew. Two more lunged. Xiao Fan pivoted, elbow snapping out with ruthless precision. One rabbit collapsed midair. His knee rose, crushing the skull of another before it could even squeal. No wasted motion. A pure, efficient killing machine. Ning's bowstring sang. Thwip. Thwip. Two arrows flew. One pierced a rabbit's eye. The other struck low, severing tendons and sending its target tumbling. A third arrow followed, its tip coated in poison. The rabbit landed… and froze.

"Ah," Ning said cheerfully as it stiffened.

"Paralysis poison. Nature's pause button." Xiao Fan advanced without looking back. Another rabbit sprang from the side. Ning's spatial sense rippled, the air shifting faintly.

"On your right," he called. Xiao Fan adjusted his step by a fraction. The claws missed. His fist didn't. Crack. The beast dropped. A mid-stage rabbit suddenly leapt high, qi flaring violently as it aimed for Xiao Fan's head. Ning's expression sharpened. He drew out a specially prepared black boar tusk arrow meant for mid-stage beasts. Taking a deep breath, he swirled qi around it. [Spiral Arrow] He loosed, not at the rabbit, but at the space just ahead of it. The arrow arrived first.

The rabbit twisted instinctively, Too late. It collapsed midair, impaled cleanly through the eye. Xiao Fan paused briefly, then resumed slaughtering the remaining rabbits.

"Hey, a little thanks would be nice," Ning called out.

"Tsk." Xiao Fan clicked his tongue, redirecting his irritation into the beasts. Another wave surged forward, unaware. Xiao Fan stepped into it. Each strike landed with deliberate force, no excess, no hesitation. When surrounded, he broke outward. When pressured, he advanced. When struck, he absorbed it and returned the favor with interest. Ning constantly repositioned using Shadow Steps, firing arrows whenever Xiao Fan created an opening. One rabbit leapt for Xiao Fan's blind spot. Ning sighed.

"You know, situational awareness is very important." The arrow punched through its spine. Xiao Fan caught another rabbit by the throat, slammed it into the ground, and finished it with a short, brutal strike. Blood splattered his sleeve. He didn't react. At one point, five rabbits attacked simultaneously. Two fell midair to Ning's arrows. Xiao Fan crushed a third with a knee, snapped the fourth's neck with a twist, and ducked under the fifth, Which Ning finished from thirty paces away.

For a brief moment, they stood back-to-back, more by coincidence than intent. Xiao Fan's breathing remained steady. His gaze was cold. Ning stretched his shoulders.

"Preserve your spiritual energy. Your spiritual energy control isn't that precise."

"Oh, shut up. I'm just warming up," Xiao Fan muttered.

"Here. Take this qi-replenishing pill." Ning handed one over while swallowing another himself.

"…" Xiao Fan silently accepted it, the pill dissolving instantly as he circulated his qi. The two had cleared quite a bit of rabbit. Moreover, glancing at the side, Patriarch Mi and the guard were also holding their own. After all, most of the aggro had been drawn by the two of them, to the point that only a few early-stage and mortal rabbits targeted the others. It was better this way, because they would only get in the way.

In the Mi Family, there were only three early-stage cultivators and one fourth-stage Qi cultivator, Patriarch Mi. The rest were merely mortal martial artists. Still, the respite was only for so long. A single mid-stage rabbit screeched sharply, a command. The rest charged in desperation. Xiao Fan clenched his fists. Ning drew his bow and grinned.

"Same plan?"

"Yes." Xiao Fan stepped forward. Ning released. Fists moved like iron. Arrows fell like judgment. And the field ran red. … It was a first for Xiao Fan.

"Up." A rabbit leapt high, its mouth stretching unnaturally wide, jagged teeth bared like a predator ready to tear apart anything in its path. Used to the commands by now, Xiao Fan launched another attack. [Heaven-Shattering Fist: Rock Shatter] The punch caved the rabbit's skull into fragments. Glancing to his right, Xiao Fan saw Ning, who had once seemed unassuming during their trades, revealed as someone entirely different. That gentle visage was gone. Cold. Calculated. Efficient.

Like a programmed machine, Ning fired arrow after arrow. Each shot seemed random, yet always landed at the perfect moment, striking vital points and killing most enemies in a single blow. Red-Eyed Rabbit. Three on the left, mortal realm. One on the right, early stage. Dispatch method? Overpower the mortals with standard shots. Use Spiral Arrow on the early-stage one. Reliable. Too reliable. Xiao Fan felt strangely at ease.

Whenever he had teamed up with others in the past, they always turned out to be somewhat unreliable. Either they were too arrogant and never listened to suggestions, or they were fair maidens who somehow always seemed to attract even more trouble. With such dependable support, he became even more aggressive. Qi coiled like a dragon around his fists as he smashed another rabbit into a spray of blood. Eventually, the incoming tide slowed. The remaining rabbits hesitated.

"It seems it's over, just as I thought," Xiao Fan said, smiling, a terrifying sight with half his face smeared in blood.

"They weren't that menacing after all."

"You just had to jinx it," Ning muttered, shuddering. At that moment, a shriek exploded through the air, so loud it generated visible pressure.

"This is..." Patriarch Mi froze mid-motion, eyes wide with despair. A rabbit nearly the size of a human stepped forward. Its body was ripped with muscle, its eyes glowing an eerie red. A late-stage Red-Eyed Rabbit.

"Late stage… it's over," a guard collapsed.

"We're done for," another whispered. The aura of a single rabbit alone was overwhelming. Ning swallowed and looked at Xiao Fan.

"See what you did." Xiao Fan looked wronged.

"I didn't do anything."

"You did. You just don't know it," Ning snapped in exasperation. A normal mission to hunt a mid-stage Red-Eyed Rabbit, with only a couple of early-stage ones, had somehow escalated into something where even a late-stage beast appeared. This was all because of the protagonist's halo. But before he could complain, the air shifted. Ning felt it first, not sound, not sight, but movement. Without hesitation, Ning kicked Xiao Fan away, using the momentum to roll away as well. Claws tore through cloth and skin alike.

Pain flared, but shallow. Too close.

"You okay?" Xiao Fan shouted, glancing at the menacing rabbit that had accelerated so quickly.

"It's just a flesh wound," Ning grimaced. Fortunately, he had already reached the skin-refining level in body refinement; otherwise, the attack would have been far more than just a flesh wound. The rabbit moved again.

"Move right." Xiao Fan reacted on instinct, twisting his torso as a blur tore past where his spine had been a heartbeat earlier. The ground exploded behind him, dirt and stone shredded by claws moving too fast to track. The rabbit landed silently. Too silently. Ning's spatial sense screamed.

"Left, now!" Xiao Fan ducked. A crescent of air ripped over his head, slicing through a tree trunk behind him like paper. Ning drew and fired despite the pain. Thwip! The arrow never reached its target. The rabbit swatted it out of the air. It blurred again. Ning used Shadow Steps to barely dodge the accelerating beast. Xiao Fan was there instantly, stepping between Ning and the rabbit, fists raised, stance compact. The rabbit lunged. Xiao Fan met it head-on. Fist and claw collided with a crack like splitting bone.

Xiao Fan slid back a full step, boots carving trenches into the soil. Blood trickled from his knuckles, but the rabbit recoiled too, eyes narrowing. Fast. Strong. Smarter than the rest.

"Don't chase it," Ning said, already moving.

"It's circling, forcing reactions." Xiao Fan nodded once. The rabbit vanished again. Ning closed his eyes for half a second, ignoring sight and focusing entirely on distance, on any movement at all.

"Now follow my directions," Ning barked.

"Three meters, low!" Any ordinary man would hesitate to follow such obscure commands. Xiao Fan wasn't ordinary. He stomped down hard. The ground cracked, qi surging through his legs. The rabbit was forced into visibility mid-pounce, its trajectory disrupted just enough. Ning fired again. The arrow grazed its flank. The poison didn't act immediately, but the rabbit felt it. It screeched, sharp and furious, and abandoned finesse entirely. It charged. Straight at Ning.

"Switch!" Ning shouted. Xiao Fan intercepted, taking the impact full-on. Claws raked across his fist, tearing the gloves slightly. He grimaced, but didn't retreat. Instead, he stepped into the rabbit's space, his elbow smashing into its chest. The rabbit kicked him violently, sending them both skidding apart. Ning was already drawing his last prepared arrow, the one soaked the longest in poison. His hands shook slightly. Not fear. Fatigue. The rabbit blurred again. Too fast. Ning didn't track it with his eyes.

He tracked where it had to be.

"Two steps behind you," he said evenly. Xiao Fan twisted mid-motion, feinting left, The rabbit appeared exactly where Ning sensed it. Xiao Fan's fist slammed into its jaw. The poison arrow struck a heartbeat later, burying deep into the rabbit's shoulder. The beast shrieked, its movements stuttering for the first time. Xiao Fan surged forward. The rabbit beast, using its final bit of strength, accelerated as well, ready to end it all. But just as its claws reached Xiao Fan, a golden beam hit its legs.

The power of the attack couldn't penetrate through, but the resulting force was enough to make it stumble. [Spell: Golden Finger] It was Ning, his hand raised with two fingers extended, shaped like a gun.

"Now, it's your turn." Xiao Fan didn't hesitate. A straight punch to the sternum. A knee to the abdomen. A final blow, all his weight and qi driven through a short, brutal strike, The beast convulsed. Its eyes dimmed, and its body collapsed to the ground. It was dead. But no sooner than the beast took the last breath, then, all at once, a large pile of items appeared out of nowhere beside the corpse. Ning stared, stunned. It looked exactly like loot dropping out of thin air after a boss fight in an RPG.

Then he glanced at Xiao Fan, who had delivered the final blow.

"Ref! This guy's using hacks. Do something."