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

1.70 Spiritual Beast

[A village had reported the appearance of a “talking beast”, one that stole food, insulted villagers, and appeared only at night. While they had managed to fend it off, the creature continued to pester them.

Investigate the matter, and if possible, capture the beast.

Reward: 75 Spirit Stones for investigation; 200 Spirit Stones if captured and presented.]

The mission itself sounded simple, basically the kind of beginner “investigate the suspicious activity” quest every RPG throws at you.

Under normal circumstances, Ning would have ignored such exaggerated claims, but the detail that it could speak made it worth investigating.

After all, in the cultivation world, speech was not something ordinary beasts possessed.

Only demonic beasts that had reached the Purple Mansion stage could gain the ability to speak. However, with the village being close to the Pure Qi Sect, any such beast would never dare invade. The prestige of the Golden Core cultivator at its helm was not merely for show.

Alternatively, a creature with an exceptionally powerful bloodline might display such an ability prematurely. And given that this beast merely raided the village and could be fended off by the villagers, this was the more likely explanation.

With this expectation, Ning arrived at the village early to scout things out.

At its center stood a yellow tree, hence the village’s name.

It was a simple place. The strongest cultivator present was an elderly man barely at the early stage, his qi thin and unstable. The rest were ordinary mortals.

The moment Ning stepped into the village, he was surrounded.

“Immortal! You’re finally here!”“Please save us!”“That beast has been tormenting us for days!”

Before Ning could respond, the only cultivator at the second stage of Qi cultivation raised his hand.

“Enough. You’re all confusing him.”

He turned to Ning. “We are glad to have you. I am Gu Ping. We issued the mission.”

“Can you explain the situation in more detail?” Ning asked, immediately beginning to gather information.

The villagers began speaking over one another.

“It steals food from the granary!”“It appears at night and shouts at people!”“It argues!”“It insults people for no reason!”“It called me useless!” one man shouted indignantly.“That’s not even the worst of it!” another added. “It called Old Zhang bald!”

Old Zhang, who was indeed bald, looked ready to declare war.

Ning listened silently, his expression unchanged.

A talking beast that stole food and insulted villagers…

The situation was becoming increasingly absurd.

“Where is it?” Ning asked.

“At the granary, Immortal! It always comes back there!”

“I see. Take me there.”

Ning arrived at the granary.

Like the rest of the village, the granary was unremarkable at first glance.

Ning did not trust first impressions.

With calm, deliberate steps, he inspected every corner, beam, floor, and crate alike, his Pure Eyes active, searching for the faintest trace left behind.

At length, he paused beside a stack of wooden boxes. There, faint and almost careless, were several claw marks.

He crouched and examined them closely. They were shallow. Uneven. Lacking force.

“Not large,” he said quietly. His fingers traced the spacing between the marks, his gaze steady and analytical. “The claws are small. The weight behind them is light. At most, the size of a small beast.”

He straightened, his eyes sweeping across the silent granary.

“I can’t sense any demonic qi at all. Perhaps it’s capable of concealing it,” Ning muttered, donning his metaphorical detective hat as he tried to deduce what he could. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to go on.

Seeing Ning behave so professionally, the villagers felt relieved. After all, he looked young. Not that they would ever say it, he was an immortal from the sect, and therefore someone to be revered.

“Alas, it’s a pity the Yellow Tree Spirit didn’t take action,” one young villager sighed.

“How can you say that?” the woman beside him, likely his mother, chastised.

Ning paid their words little attention.

After all, he had already used his Pure Eyes on the tree and found nothing unusual.

The reason he had checked was simple. This world was steeped in spiritual energy. Given enough time, even ordinary trees and rocks could become extraordinary.

In fact, venerating something within a village as a guardian deity, offering respect and faith, was a tradition that stretched far back.

In ancient times, when beasts ruled these lands, there was a tale of a village attacked by a towering creature over a hundred feet tall. The villagers were powerless, but the ten-thousand-year-old tree they worshipped manifested great power and repelled the beast.

It was said that the villagers’ faith and devotion had allowed the tree to become spiritual and strong.

Of course, cultivators later concluded that the tree itself must have already been extraordinary, assuming the tale of its age was true.

This marked the beginning of the tradition of worshipping objects as sacred. Most of these objects were trees or stones, partly because the first such story involved a tree, and partly because trees and stones endure long enough to accumulate spirituality.

In fact, this tradition was not limited to mortals. Some sects practiced it as well. The Pure Qi Sect was one such example; it was said that a guardian beast was enshrined within the sect.

In any case, Ning could rule out stuff like ghosts since there was no Yin Qi. 

“So, would you like to rest for a while?” Gu Ping asked, as it was still morning.

“There’s no need. I’ll keep watch,” Ning replied, shaking his head. “You all continue your work. Since I’ve taken this mission, I’ll do my best.”

“Just as we thought, the immortals of the sect are indeed kind.”

The villagers quickly bowed, believing Ning was acting out of concern for them.

In a way, that was true.

But mostly, Ning simply didn’t want to risk missing the beast and prolonging the mission unnecessarily.

For the remainder of the day, Ning quietly activated the Turtle Breathing Technique and found a good hiding spot, close enough to respond quickly, yet far enough to retreat if the worst were to happen.

Soon, night fell. The surroundings grew quiet, and the air was still.

“Hmm… is the beast not going to appear today?” Ning muttered, half-heartedly invoking the cliché that something interesting happens precisely when nothing seems to be happening.

It was already one o’clock, so he was willing to try anything.

It seemed his luck was not bad, or perhaps the cliché had worked. He soon detected a presence attempting to enter the granary.

However, instead of caution, Ning felt… confused.

The aura was extremely weak.

Not just weak, it was so insignificant that it barely registered as anything beyond a normal animal.

Ning frowned slightly.

A beast capable of speech should not possess such a feeble presence. Even a spirit beast would exert some degree of pressure.

This… was something else entirely.

“Old! OLD!” the creature suddenly shouted.

Ning’s expression turned strange, his lips twitching. This was indeed a beast capable of speech.

It was green, with a red beak.

A parrot.

Ning quickly approached. The parrot seemed startled and tried to flee.

But Ning was faster. Using his mastered Shadow Steps, he closed the distance in an instant and caught it.

Ning stared at the parrot.

The parrot stared back.

“So… that’s it?”

“That’s it! That’s it!” the parrot echoed.

Ning took a deep breath.

Behind him, several villagers had cautiously gathered and peeked inside.

The moment they heard the parrot speak, they gasped in unison.

“It talks!”“It really talks!”“It’s definitely a demon!”

The parrot immediately turned its head toward them.

“Demons! Demons!” it shouted. Then, after a pause, “Bald.”

Old Zhang nearly collapsed on the spot.

Ning closed his eyes briefly.

This was his mission.

This… was what the sect had sent him to deal with.

A parrot.

At once, everything made sense.

The villagers had discovered a creature capable of speaking, panicked, and allowed the rumors to spiral into absurdity. There was no hidden, overpowered bloodline beast lurking in the shadows.

It was simply that the villagers were ignorant; they had never considered that an ordinary animal could mimic human speech.

Seeing the “beast” struggling in the grasp of the sect’s immortal, the villagers burst into cheers.

“The demon has been captured!”“As expected of the immortal’s might!”“Bald! But I have hair in my heart, you stupid beast!” The last comment clearly came from Old Zhang.

A short while later, the situation was under control.

The villagers gathered together, looking both relieved and confused.

“So… it’s not a demon?” the chief asked cautiously, glancing at the captured parrot.

“No,” Ning replied.

“It just talks?”

“…Not exactly,” Ning said flatly. “It does not truly speak. It is repeating sounds it has heard before,” Ning explained. “It does not understand what it is saying.”

The villagers exchanged glances.

Then they looked at the parrot.

The parrot puffed up proudly and shouted again:

“Bald! Bald! Bald!”

Old Zhang nearly fainted.

“…Then why does it only insult me?” he asked weakly.

Ning glanced at him, then recalled how his head shone when the light struck it at just the right angle, and arrived at the only possible conclusion.

“…Because you are the most memorable target.”

Old Zhang: “…”

That somehow made it worse.

...

Explaining the entire charade had been… something. Especially the part where he had to convince them that he hadn’t simply grabbed a random parrot and declared it the mission target.

Fortunately, it was Si Sihua whom he reported to and who verified the mission’s completion. The expression on her face as he recounted the entire story was quite amusing, which Ning considered a small positive.

Another positive was the reward.

Two hundred Spirit Stones, for handing in a parrot.

As for whether the sect might feel this wasn’t quite the “rare beast” they had in mind when issuing the mission, Ning wasn’t particularly concerned. After all, it wasn’t unusual for something ridiculous to happen in the sect every other day.

Ning had assumed the rest of his day would be uneventful, but that changed when someone contacted him through his communication talisman.

“You sure took your time. I’ve been waiting for a while.”

It was Xiao Fan. He stood beneath a tree, one hand resting behind his back, the other loosely at his side. His robes stirred faintly in the breeze, his expression indifferent.

“Ah, sorry. I was on a mission,” Ning replied. “I came back as soon as I heard you were waiting.”

Xiao Fan nodded. Beside him sat a familiar white fox, its fur smooth and pristine, its eyes sharp with quiet intelligence.

But that wasn’t what caught Ning’s attention.

It was the raven perched on a nearby branch.

Its feathers were pure white, like freshly fallen snow.

One of its eyes bore a thin scar, giving it a slightly fierce, weathered look despite its otherwise elegant appearance.

Noticing Ning’s gaze linger on it, the Raven remained silent, maintaining an aloof posture, though the occasional sidelong glance betrayed its awareness.

“Is this the spiritual beast you found for me?” Ning asked.

Xiao Fan’s lips curled slightly. “Took longer than expected, but yeah. Mission accomplished.”

The raven tilted its head, its clear eye studying Ning with calm indifference.

Ning crossed his arms. “So? You’re not going to introduce me?”

Xiao Fan pushed himself off the tree. “White Flame Raven,” he said. “A fire-attributed beast. As a Raven, it’s naturally intelligent, and as its name suggests, it produces a rare white flame.”

Ning’s eyes lit up slightly. “That’s perfect. I can use that flame for alchemy.” He smiled faintly. “As expected of you, finding something like this.”

“It’s nothing,” Xiao Fan said lightly.

Then the Raven let out a sharp cry, and Xiao Fan coughed before continuing.

“…Of course, as an intelligent and rare beast, it has its conditions.”

“Conditions?” Ning raised a brow. “Go on.”

Xiao Fan’s gaze shifted toward the Raven.

“It seeks strength,” he said simply. “It will only follow someone it acknowledges. In other words, you have to defeat it.”

Ning nodded slowly. “Makes sense. You don’t get a Pokémon without beating it first. Classic.”

Xiao Fan paused.

“…What?”

Ning waved it off. “Nothing.”

Xiao Fan ignored his comments and gestured toward the Raven. “This is the person I told you about,” he said. “He’s ready to fight you.”

The Raven gave a slow, deliberate nod.

…

In the open field, the White Flame Raven did not attack immediately. It stood still for a breath, its single clear eye fixed on Ning with sharp intensity. The faint white flame flickering along its feathers grew steadier, brighter.

Then, it flapped its wing and dived straight at Ning. The temperature around him spiked instantly, heat pressing against his skin like a sudden wave.

Ning's eyes glowed a brilliant blue as he watched the incoming raven.

Shadow Steps shifted his position just enough for the Raven's first pass to miss by a hair’s breadth. The flame grazed past his shoulder, the air hissing where it passed.

The Raven curved mid-flight and came again, this time lower, its wings tucked tight as it dove.

But Ning's perception in the same realm was very high; he once again used the fifth move that every problem possesses in anime.

He dodged the attack yet again.

The same thing happened two more times.

Xiao Fan sat on the field, chilling. In his hands was the jerky that Ning had given him. For him, it was rare to be the one relaxing and watching others fight.

The fox beside him nudged him and barked.

For others, it might have been unintelligible, but Xiao Fan, having lived long enough with this fox, seemingly arrogant on the outside but warm inside, could tell what it was asking.

“You’re asking why Ning is just dodging and not taking the opportunity to attack?” Xiao Fan asked.

The fox nodded.

“Are you worried about Ning?” he teased.

Of course, the fox responded by releasing a burst of icy wind that froze him slightly, but Xiao Fan was already used to it.

“It seems you quite like him. Were you lured by the food?” Ning always gave various ice-attributed snacks or dishes to the fox, which had earned him quite a bit of goodwill. It was just his usual modus operandi.

The fox snorted through their spiritual connection. Xiao Fan could tell that, at the very least, Ning gave her proper food, not just one type that she disliked.

“Barbecue isn’t bad, right? Right?” Xiao Fan only knew how to make barbecue. Since he was often attacked by beasts, his cooking had become quite proficient in that area. So he was quite offended by the fox’s distaste for his food while showing favoritism toward Ning’s dishes.

“Anyway, as for your earlier question, it’s simple. Just as the White Flame is testing Ning, Ning is also observing the limits of the white flame. The connection goes both ways,” Xiao Fan said.

The fox nodded and snorted.

“You mean, could he capsize the boat? That’s not possible,” Xiao Fan said, shaking his head. “I’ve seen his fights. He’s a force to be reckoned with. You haven’t seen him fight others. What’s scary about him is his ability to pull people into his traps. And the White Flame has already fallen into it.”

...

On the field, the White Flame Raven grew increasingly aggressive.

Its attacks became sharper and more frequent, its flames burning brighter with each pass. However, Ning continued to dodge, never retaliating.

At the same time, his mind was working.

The Raven’s speed was high, especially in short bursts. Its flames were not wide or explosive, but condensed and focused, making them more suitable for piercing attacks. Its control over its flames was refined, but not yet mature. More importantly, its temperament was prideful. It became more aggressive when it failed to land a decisive hit.

Ning had already begun forming a complete understanding of it.

The Raven let out an irritated caw, clearly dissatisfied.

Then, its flames surged.

This time, it activated its bloodline ability to its fullest potential.

White flames condensed tightly around its body, compressing inward until it resembled a blazing spear. The air distorted from the heat as it shot forward with far greater speed than before.

Even Ning’s expression turned slightly serious.

He moved, but this time he did not completely evade.

Instead, he adjusted his body just enough to redirect the incoming trajectory. The flame brushed past him, scorching his sleeve, but he remained unharmed.

At the same moment, his hand moved.

A bow appeared in his grip.

He fired.

The first arrow was not aimed directly at the Raven, but slightly ahead of its path.

The Raven twisted instinctively to avoid it.

The second arrow followed.

Then the third.

Then the fourth.

Now Ning had gathered enough information. It was time to end it.

Each arrow limited the Raven’s movement. Every path it attempted to take was cut off in advance. The space around it gradually shrank due to positioning.

The Raven tried to ascend, but an arrow forced it downward.

It attempted to escape to the side, only to find its path blocked.

Forward, backward, each option was systematically denied.

Its movements, once fluid and dominant, became increasingly restricted.

The White Flame Raven flapped its wings harder, flames surging as it tried to break free.

But it could not.

Within moments, arrows had embedded themselves into the ground and airspace around it at precise angles, forming an invisible cage.

Ning stepped forward calmly.

Another arrow was drawn.

This time, it was aimed directly at the Raven.

The Raven froze mid-air.

Its instincts warned it clearly.

There was no path left.

If it advanced, it would be struck.If it retreated, it would be struck.If it stayed still, it would still be struck.

For the first time, it hesitated.

The white flames flickered, but then they weakened, seeing no blind spot.

Ning lowered his bow slightly.

He did not release the arrow. The pressure disappeared.

The Raven slowly descended, its wings beating more gently now.

It landed in front of him.

Defeated.

“Good.” Ning exhaled softly, his thoughts settling.

The White Flame Raven possessed strong potential. Its attribute was powerful, its instincts sharp, and its control was already above average for its stage. However, it lacked experience in structured combat and was easily guided into unfavorable positions.

The Raven looked at him again, then nudged him lightly.

“Alright, alright,” Ning said. “Eat this. It’s a Beast-Raising Pill.”

He gently patted the Raven and took out a pill he had prepared long ago. “This will help improve your cultivation. Follow me, and you won’t lack resources, we’ll grow stronger together.”

The Raven, having already been defeated, lowered its head slightly and let out a soft caw before swallowing the pill.

Almost immediately, a warm energy spread through its body. Its feathers trembled faintly as its cultivation began to rise. Having never consumed such a pill before, the effects were especially pronounced.

It let out a pleased cry.

Seeing this, Ning smiled faintly.

After demonstrating strength, it was only natural to offer rewards.

After all, this was nothing more than the classic carrot-and-stick approach.

“It seems you two are getting along well,” Xiao Fan said.

In this world, there was nothing that bridged the gap between two beings faster than beating each other half to death.

“Yes,” Ning nodded, then he remembered something. He reached into his storage pouch and tossed something over.

Xiao Fan caught it instinctively.

A small bundle.

Inside were beast cores.

Several of them.

“This is your reward for the mission,” Ning said. He already knew what appealed to someone like Xiao Fan. Moreover, these beast cores were something he had obtained from his master, so their quality was exceptionally high. “It was nice working with you.”

Seeing such a reward, Xiao Fan felt it had all been worth it-

Falling into a bandit ambush, defeating them, discovering clues of a hidden treasure, and tracking it down… only to find two powerful beasts fighting over it, one of them the parent of the White Flame Raven.

Seizing the opportunity while they were distracted, he took the treasure.

Then, at last, joining forces with the Raven to defeat the opposing beast, but due to its injuries, the White Flame Raven had been left on the verge of death, entrusting him with its offspring, i.e., this White Flame Raven. 

“Then, I will accept it,” Xiao Fan said.

He truly felt that Ning was one of the better quest-givers. There was no hassle, no unfair treatment.

For once, he actually felt like a normal disciple.

...

Thanks for reading~