A colony of killer ants was wiped out just like that, with the number of casualties at a minimum.

"I am tired." Pan Xue and Liao Ting both collapsed after the heavy battle. Having to hold such a horde with only the fifth stage of Qi cultivation had naturally taken its toll on them.

With how heavy-handed their last few attacks were, it was a miracle they had not fainted. It was fortunate because there could only be one sleeping beauty at a time.

Murong Shuo, who had the highest cultivation, also seemed a bit worn out. Being the tank was not easy after all. If not for his mastery over his yellow-grade martial art, he would have surely been torn in half by the Killer Queen.

Compared to them, Ning and Luo Jing seemed fine. Luo Jing, whose superpower was being rich, only used talismans as a means of attack which, while costly, was effective nonetheless.

"It's so unlucky that we came across a migrating colony of killer ants," Murong Shuo couldn't help but sigh.

In recent years, it was very rare to come across a single killer ant around these parts, especially not around thirty of them, with various levels of cultivation. The leader of the colony was even at the seventh stage, which was quite impressive in these parts.

So, having such an encounter, it was not wrong to say that they had really bad luck.

"Yup, this whole mission has been a clusterf*ck. First, a fire bear, then the three-eyed raven, and now this. We just can't catch a break," Pan Xue couldn't help but cuss out.

Evidently, their encounter rate was too abnormal. Moreover, since they were following a well-trodden path where the encounter rate should be the lowest.

"Thankfully, Xiao Fan was able to kill the leader of the colony, and Ning was able to handle most of the ants with his archery." Speaking of this, Murong Shuo couldn't help but look at the two youngest members of the group in a different light.

Leaving aside Ning, whose support had been invaluable, just the finishing move of Xiao Fan deserved respect.

Luo Jing snorted loudly hearing that, "Xiao Fan just got lucky; otherwise, I was this close to killing it for daring to cross my path."

Everyone just automatically filtered out the arrogant bastard, too tired to pretend to even care.

Ning fed the tired protagonist a qi-replenishing pill as he walked towards the charred corpse of ants, ready to do his job.

"I don't know how you still have the energy to move since you have been shooting arrow after arrow," Pan Xue couldn't help but say as she watched Ning chant a series of incantations.

"It's likely due to his pure Qi," Liao Ting responded. "Nonetheless, it is quite praiseworthy that Junior Brother still pays attention to pacify the souls of these deceased monsters. I never thought of doing so, especially since it would prevent the birth of ghosts." Liao Ting was certainly impressed by this new junior brother of hers.

"He is indeed quite thorough." Murong Shuo also stood up ready to assess the damage caused due to the battle.

"Eh. Whatever. I am going to take a nap." Pan Xue yawned audibly as she finally put down her halberd which she seemed to have been holding the entire time.

[Soul Ferrying Scripture]

After traveling for so long, Ning did not hide his soul-ferrying activities. He did not go in-depth regarding it and merely stated it as something to prevent the accumulation of resentment from forming ghosts later on.

While he could not gain any merit for anything that he had attacked, it did not apply to those killed by his teammates. So, this journey was turning out to be quite fruitful indeed.

After fifteen minutes, Ning finally ferried the last remaining soul, so he moved to his next agenda.

"I will go check up on the injured ones. I still have a few medical ointments; I will see if that will help."

The group members were not surprised. It was not the first group of monsters they had encountered, and it was not the first time Ning had done such things. They could only sigh that this junior of theirs was really too gentle.

...

Xiao Fan was meditating when he suddenly felt a presence looming before him. "What is it? I am gonna kick you if you jump-scare me again..."

The only person who could sneak up on him was naturally Ning, who tried to spice up the boring days by mildly trolling the protagonist. It was nothing much but just enough to get the brooding protagonist to get going.

Of course, the protagonist caught on to it quickly and retaliated with his own set of scares. Unfortunately for him, Ning had trained his nerves under the pressure of his master who he learned the art of jumpscaring others from.

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"You still haven't forgotten about that, brother Fan? It was an accident, I swear."

"Really?" Xiao Fan nodded as if it made sense. Not. He glared hard at Ning.

"Yup." It's the truth. He was innocent. Ning blinked his eyes innocently to prove it too.

"So, why are you here?" Xiao Fan asked, no demanded.

"I needed your favor-" Ning had just uttered the word when Xiao Fan cut it off.

"No."

"Come on! It's related to my practice." Ning knew that Xiao Fan would pay attention if he said it like this.

As expected, Xiao Fan clicked his tongue before glaring at Ning. "Ch! Say."

"Aw! You do care..."

"Shut up. If you are just here to piss me off then don't blame me for being rude." Xiao Fan was ready to throw hands.

"Chill, brother Xiao Fan." Ning stopped his teasing, as his expression suddenly hardened, going full serious on the conversation. "As you know, I am an archer, so my weakness is in close combat. I want to solve that."

"So, you want me to teach you close combat techniques?" Xiao Fan raised one of his eyebrows to convey his doubts.

"Well, not exactly. I have been practicing a fist technique to overcome the weakness of close combat, but unfortunately, I encountered a bottleneck. I need your help to resolve this." Ning was serious.

"I am not accomplished enough to teach you. You should ask Brother Shuo instead." Xiao Fan shook his head.

While Xiao Fan may be arrogant, he was not arrogant enough to say he was qualified to teach others.

"Only you can help me with this technique."

"Hmm?" This gained his interest again.

"Look at this." Ning started to perform a set of movements.

Xiao Fan found them familiar, extremely so.

"This is [Heaven Shattering Fist, first form, Mountain Shatter]?" Xiao Fan recognized his signature martial art.

"Yes, I learned it from the Martial Arts Pavilion. Initially, I practiced it with just a fluke mentality, but I was able to practice it to this stage with a hint of luck. But, now I am stuck, and so I need your help." Ning explained truthfully.

Looking at his progress in his panel, [Heaven Shattering Fist (Starting: 299/300)], Ning had indeed reached a bottleneck. He was just a step short of learning the next form, but this step always seemed just out of his grasp, as if it was not intended for him.

Seeing this, Xiao Fan was stunned, shocked that anyone besides him could practice this incomplete martial art.

"How did you do it?"

"Eh. You mean the technique. While I might not be as talented as you, I was able to gradually figure out the pathway of the technique with a lot of experimentation. It took me months of effort, but I was able to recreate the first two moves."

Xiao Fan was stunned, and he couldn't help but blurt out, "You madman!"

"Hey! Pot meet kettle. You don't need to insult me, y'know." Ning didn't like getting insulted out of nowhere. Especially, since it was rich coming from the xianxia protagonist incarnate.

"I didn't expect you to be so rash. With the way you tried to figure out the martial art, you will undoubtedly suffer from qi deviation." Xiao Fan was shocked by the guts of the guy before him.

While qi deviation will not occur on the first sign of a mistake, if one continued the wrong practice continuously, it was almost guaranteed. So, it was not without reason that Xiao Fan called Ning a madman.

"I took proper precautions. Plus, I am sure you can't lecture me since you probably brute-forced it as well." Ning felt that he was wronged.

"As if, I just had an epiphany..." The moment he said it, Xiao Fan regretted it. Especially, seeing the grin of the guy before him.

"Epiphany, huh?"

Why was he not surprised? Epiphany was the stuff of legends, said to meld the heart of the cultivator and the heavens to grant clarity of epic proportions. Such things were the bread and butter of the protagonist.

Xiao Fan sighed. Since he had said it, he could not take it back anymore, "Yes. I had an epiphany when I was fighting against a stronger beast during my outer sect days. So, I did not use your method."

Classic powerup in the time of need. Ning nodded at that.

"Then that's even more of a reason to ask you." Ning doubled down on that.

"Nope. I have never taught anyone. If something goes wrong due to my teaching, that would be a disaster." Xiao Fan truly thought so.

While he was indeed reluctant to teach his signature art to others, the main reason why he denied was due to his qualifications. Teaching martial arts should only done by a master of the arts otherwise it would do more harm than good.

Ning may have some sass beneath his gentle exterior, but he was indeed a good guy. He did not mind carrying him after he fainted, nor taking care of him when he overexerted due to his cultivation technique.

It even extended to cooking food or giving him pills to heal him. At some point in their travel, Ning had become the team mom in doing so. Thus, even though Xiao Fan was often irritated by this guy, he was not petty enough to wish harm upon him.

"You don't need to worry about that. I will bear full responsibility," Ning reassured Xiao Fan, calmly stuffing a mid-stage ant demon core in his hand.

Xiao Fan glanced at the core stunned.

Was he getting bribed?

"What is this?!" For the first time in his entire life, Xiao Fan had come in contact with the art of receiving bribes. It was usually his opponents who used this tactic to one-up him, so now, being on the receiving end, it felt strangely euphoric.

After all, it was not every day that something sweet like this just fell into his lap. Well, not without going through some sort of motion first.

"Lesson Fee?" Ning blinked his eyes, calmly taking out another one of the cores.

"I still don't think it's appropriate," Xiao Fan refused yet again, weighed down by his own principles.

But Ning could see that this time the rejection was not firm enough. He knew that the cores seemed to have a special attraction to the protagonist.

"Brother Xiao Fan, please." Ning stuffed another fourth-stage demon core into Xiao Fan's hand.

"It's not about money..." Xiao Fan reminded himself harshly as he reluctantly tore his gaze away from that demon core.

"Brother, please." Another third-grade demon core was stuffed.

"You can't tempt me-" Xiao Fan was interrupted by another third-grade demon core...

"Brother Xiao Fan, please. I will take full responsibility," Ning spoke with unwavering determination.

Seeing the unwavering gaze, Xiao Fan finally realized that underneath the playful demeanor was a stubbornness reminiscent of himself. And only he himself knew how stubborn he was.

So, he finally caved in with a defeated sigh. "Okay, I will teach you the Heaven Shattering Fist. With this, at least you won't try that reckless method..."

"Thank you, brother. You can keep these cores for yourself," Ning spoke with a bright smile.

Xiao Fan swallowed hard upon hearing that.

...

..

It's not that I don't want to refuse, but the other party gave too much.