"You're kidding me, right? What's going on?", Zero stuttered.

"Zhelan.. Is Zhelan okay?!", cried Shi Lanhua as she thought of the one she loved. When she thought of the man who would always greet her with a big bright smile as he cheerfully pursued her and how he might be injured, it was like her heart was being squeezed.

Without warning, she ran towards the raging fire and disappeared inside. As phoenixes, she had a natural immunity towards fire, so it didn't affect her whatsoever.

"Hua-er!", Zero cried out as he ran after his sister.

Not far behind, Nan XiSheng also followed him and the two ran after Shi Lanhua. Since there were only so many people who entered the secret realm, there was no "corpses littered everywhere" scene, but even so, it was close enough. The beautiful greenery had been morphed into a large forest fire and it was like hell had descended.

They had only been gone for a bit more than 12 hours at the very most, so how had all this happened in such a short period of time? Wasn't that woman surnamed Liu supposedly very powerful? How had this occurred under her watch?

Zero and Nan XiSheng had lost sight of Shi Lanhua's figure and could only retrace their previous steps in order to go back to Lady Liu's mansion.

"Whoosh"

Something flew past Zero and glazed his right cheek. After bending down to take a look, he realized that it was an arrow. Zero immediately whipped his head around, only to find that Nan XiSheng had already locked onto the target and was charging towards them.

Dozens of arrows rained down, yet none of them managed to hit him as he smoothly advanced towards the figure inside the fire. Not long later, there were sounds of groaning being emitted by an unfamiliar voice and Zero saw Nan XiSheng walk back with a stranger hung over his shoulders.

He then threw the unidentified being onto the ground and went to stand beside his darling with a proud look on his face. For a moment, Zero was almost under the impression that the other party was trying to seek praise from him, however, he quickly dismissed that ridiculous idea. That was the protagonist for god's sake! Even if he had slowly begun to accept that there were some slight differences when compared to the original novel, the main character had still have to keep his pride, right? For example, when the two were traveling together to find his sister, Nan XiSheng had always had an icy look on his face, just like in the original novel! That's why... how the hell did he manage to come up with such a strange idea?!

Little did Zero know, there weren't some "slight differences" between the original Nan XiSheng and the current one, the two were actually light years apart. If he had known about the kisses that XiSheng planted on him when he was asleep, Zero would've started to doubt life. Thoughts like: Who am I? What am I doing? Where was the promised "cold protagonist"? would be dancing around inside this idiot's head.

Although Zero's EQ was lower than a pig's, he still knew that Nan XiSheng definitely didn't hate him, however he never would have imagined that it was as much as love! He didn't even know where those unknown affections had come from! All he did was harass the protagonist a little, help give him some food every night, push him off a cliff, and cooperate together to find his sister! J..just which dimension did the word "love" pop out of?! If one were to describe Zero's impression of Nan XiSheng, he'd think of him as that one "cold on the outside but warm on the inside" friend every main character had. They had, after all, spent many years together at the same sect and it was impossible not to have even a glimmer of affection towards the other side.

"Speak, who are you, how did you enter this realm, where did you come from and what are your motives?", said Nan XiSheng as he glared at the pitiful, beaten up body on the ground.

"P-please don't kill me, s-sir!", the figure said in a high pitched voice. When they looked up, Zero and Nan XiSheng realized that it was actually a woman.

"Answer my questions!"

"A-ah! My name is Eleven and I came here because the young master ordered me to kill all living beings that are inhabited here! Oh, a-and I was sent here by a portal he opened! I've told you everything I know so p-please don't hurt me.." she said, without the slightest hint of hesitation as she threw her young master under the bus.*

*Meaning that she didn't hesitate to betray her master.

"Young master? Who are they?"

"Young master is.."

Before Eleven could finish her sentence her eyes turned red and looked like she was possessed as she said, "All is for the Goddess." Then, her body exploded into pieces and her blood splattered everywhere. Nan XiSheng quickly pulled Zero into his arms in order to protect him from being dirtied by the flying liquid.

"Are you okay?", XiSheng asked.

"Mmm", Zero replied.

He then noticed that they were in a very.. intimate position as he coughed awkwardly and crept out of the latter's arms. Zero still remembered when Nan XiSheng was a little kid who had barely managed to reach his chin, yet after a few years, the other party had already managed to grow at least half a foot taller than him! Zero was already at 175cm, but when compared to the 190cm Nan XiSheng, he could only sigh in jealousy.

"Anyways, do you have any clues on that last sentence Eleven said? I believe it was 'All for the Goddess', or something like that?", Zero asked Nan XiSheng.

"What shixiong said is right. From the looks of her and the appearances of these strange phenomenons, it seems like they are from a demonic cult of some sort that tends to stay off of the righteous path in cultivation."

"That is certainly the case, but what I found interesting is how quickly that girl named Eleven betrayed her so-called master. Wouldn't people like her normally be trained as death soldiers who would give up their lives for the ones they serve? Also, seeing that this is a demonic sect of some sort, they would tend to act even more fanatic and devote their very souls to their organization. Why didn't Eleven have the absolute loyalty of a follower? Also, just as she was about to speak about her master, it was like an automatic switch flicked on and her body functions shut down as she exploded."

"Perhaps this 'master' of hers planted some of his demonic qi into her body to monitor her actions?"

"I've thought of that as well, but it doesn't make sense to have her master plant a single strand into every one of their members, right? That would take forever, plus, it's so much less effective than just training soldiers that would give up their lives for you. Unless.."

"The master purposely wanted to expose such information, but when it got to a critical point, he decided to shut her up for good."

"Not only that, but her master also seems to be a very capable person if he is able to open a portal directly linking to this world. We've all witnessed how powerful Lady Liu is, so someone that can come in here undetected is definitely a force to be reckoned with."

The two kept on discussing the issue as they bolted towards Lady Liu's residence at full speed.

They had already mentally prepared themselves for the horrible sight that they were expecting to see, however, never in their wildest dreams would they have thought that her mansion was still in one piece. It was basically the only undamaged part of the entire secret realm, but after taking Lady Liu's strength into consideration, this was actually not that surprising. In the first place, anyone who can become the ruler of the core of an entire cultivation world definitely wouldn't turn out to be some weakling.

While everywhere else seemed to be hell on Earth, (figuratively speaking, not literally earth, cause this isn't earth) the lone mansion looked like a safe zone in those survival games Zero played back on Earth.

Speaking about Earth, even though Zero was always bored there, he couldn't help but become a little homesick. After all, it was the place where he grew up and lived most of his life. When he becomes stronger, maybe he'll pay a visit back to his home realm. That is, if he lives to see that day come. After all, though everything seemed pretty laidback all this while, being a task taker is no easy feat. The death rate itself often reaches as high as 70% for their first mission!

Not everyone was born to be a sly trickster, shameless protagonist, seductive beauty, pro hacker, multi-talented face slapper, or those other people you see in different quick transmigration novels. Many were just normal people who died and caught the attention of a system. Things like "counterattacking the scum male lead" or "face slapping the white lotus b*tch" aren't as easy as others portray them to be.

Even Zero, who's the protagonist of this sad novel I'm writing, almost died in the war that took place back in Arc 1.2. If not because he unnecessarily treated Nan XiSheng with more care than the original did, he would have died a hundred times over by now. Even so, such an act had resulted in the deduction of some points because it counted as an OOC violation, but Zero doesn't know that yet. Anyways, let's go back to the story~!

Seeing that the mansion itself was safe, that must've meant that Lady Liu and the others were alright. Breathing a sigh of relief, Zero and Nan XiSheng quickly ran inside the building.

"Hello? Is there anyone here?", Zero shouted.

Hearing the voice, a familiar figure descended the stairs at the speed of light and ran up to him.

"You guys are okay!", Yang Zhelan exclaimed, "Where is Lanhua?"

"... Hua-er didn't come here before us?"

"What do you mean? You two were the first ones to return! I don't know what happened, but there were these people all dressing in black who came out of nowhere and just started to attack us! Left with no choice, we managed to kill off some of them while Lady Liu put up a protective barrier around this place. You guys probably saw the situation outside, right? This place is the only safe area to be in at the moment."

Despite all that the other said, Zero only took in the first two sentences as his mind started to whirl into chaos.

'Hua-er isn't here? Where is she? We clearly followed her scent and it led us to the mansion, but now he's saying that we're the only ones that came? No.. then what about Hua-er?!'

Maybe Yang Zhelan noticed that the person in front of him was no longer listening to anything that he said, but he stopped talking and looked like he just realized something.

"Wait.. you said that you came here looking for Lanhua? Don't tell me..."

"WHERE IS SHE?!", Zero screamed as he grabbed Zhelan's collar with a ferocious look in his eyes.

"How am I supposed to know you dimwit!? You're the one who lost her! As a man, how could you even do that? I seriously don't know why she chose you over me, but you couldn't even do something as simple as protecting the one you love! I knew I shouldn't have left her well being in your unreliable hands! You are a disgrace to all men!" Yang Zhelan shouted back when he realized that the love of his life had gone missing.

"SHUT UP!" Zero threw him onto the floor as he turned to leave the mansion.

"Both of you, calm down this instant! Liu Feng, I prohibit you from leaving this place." Lady Liu said as she walked down the stairs, "We will find a way to get your sister back, so stop fighting. It's not making anything better!"

"But Hua-er, she--"

"I know! Shi Lanhua is a very important person to me as well. You think I'm not worried? But what's the use in getting so agitated? Will it do us any good in this situation? During these times, being calm is the key to achieving better results."

"I--"

"Wait, what do you mean by sister?", Yang Zhelan asked as he rudely cut Zero off in the middle of his sentence.

"..?"

"Didn't you hear Lady Liu say 'your sister'? What did she mean by that? Did she mean to say Shijie, instead? No... if that was the case then she would have said it in the first place..."

"I say, Yang Zhelan, do you have sh*t for brains? She's obviously laozi's elder sister! Why are you even asking about such a stupid thing?"

Yang Zhelan: "..."

Everyone eavesdropping from upstairs: "..."

Nan XiSheng: "(－‸ლ)"

They seemed to have just heard something extraordinary...

"Wait, what do you mean by your elder sister?", asked Yang Zhelan.

"She's my sister. What else could I possibly mean?! I say, how did Hua-er end up falling for such an idiot!"

"???"

It took a full five minutes for Yang Zhelan's brain to process all this information as he quickly stood up and grasped both of Zero's hands in his own and gave him a serious look.

Of course, Nan XiSheng wouldn't tolerate this action as he pulled Zero towards himself, shaking off Zhelan's hands.

The other coughed awkwardly as he hesitantly asked, "That is to say, you are my.. brother-in-law?"

"Hmph, don't think I've accepted you yet! Just because Hua-er likes you doesn't mean I do!"

"That's---"

"Sorry to bother you two, but can we please get on with the problem at hand?", Lady Liu, who was watching this drama unfold, interrupted.

"Sorry to bother you. Please go on.", the two said at the same time.

All this talk about in laws and stuff could be delayed, but they didn't even know if Shi Lanhua was safe or not, which caused worry to sprout in their hearts. She is a very sweet girl and practically everyone in the sect looks up to her as their Shijie and elder sister figure. If something really happened, then it'd truly be a catastrophe.

"I know the identities of those who are trying to invade us and I'm really sorry to have dragged all of you into this. Though I know that this would have all happened one day, I just didn't think that it'd all come so soon. If I had known, then I would have sent all of you out. These people come from a demonic cult that wants to destroy this world and sacrifice it's core to their goddess. You know the big crystal in the middle of this realm? That is the core of the secret realm and the entire cultivation world. If it is destroyed, then this realm will collapse, causing the cultivation world to be utterly obliterated along with it. However, those from the demonic cult don't care. As long as their goddess is satisfied, even death will not stop them from accomplishing their goals. I hope Lanhua is safe, but we also have to prepare for the worst case scenario and it is that she may have already been captured by the enemy. Although the chances are low, it's still a possibility. That's why we have to eliminate them first before dealing with anything else. Once the threat is out of the way, everything else will be fine. Liu Feng, you should know that the both of you cannot be hurt by fire, so she'd have an advantage in fights. That's why we can just calm down and think rationally while trying our best not to panic."

"Lady Liu.. how did you know we aren't affected by fire?"

"That's a secret for another time, child. First, let's organize you into groups. Liu Feng, Zhang Jing, Nan XiSheng, and Yang Zhelan, you four are the vanguards. When I instruct you to charge into their master's base, you go. Zhou Fu and Nie Yuan can stay back with me to protect our base in case of an invasion. Although I can probably resolve most of the enemies, there may be some unexpected cases, so I need some assurance. That fox, Chu Qiu, had either gone missing or is still stuck in the labyrinth. I sensed that the enemy had released some demonic beings into the maze, however, judging his strength, Chu Qiu will definitely be fine. 

Since I have been living here for almost my entire life and am very familiar with this realm, I have an inkling of where their young master may be located. I'm also pretty sure I know who's behind all these attacks. If it is who I'm thinking, then I must warn all of you to be very, very careful. Though their master isn't amazing in terms of strength, his intelligence is over the charts and he can outsmart any of his foes. Beside him is his trusted aide, a high stage god-leveled sword cultivator. Do not try to trick him into betraying his master because he was trained to be a death solider since birth. There is nothing in this world that will make his loyalty waver."

"G-g-god leveled?", Zhang Jing shrieked, "How in the world are we expected to win against that?!"

Lady Liu swept her eyes over Zero and Nan XiSheng and said, "Don't worry, you can definitely emerge victorious. The hardest part is that if Shi Lanhua is actually held captive by them, you'll need to find out a way to bring her back in one piece."

They all nodded in agreement. Although defeating a god-leveled cultivator is certainly hard, it's not impossible, especially with this 6.5 billion years old lady. However, if the other party decides to threaten them with their comrade's life, then they'll need to find a way to get her back to safety. If the enemy manages to escape, then it would be truly unfortunate.

"Alright, now that everyone understands the plan, let's take action!" With a wave of her hand, Lady Liu set up a teleportation array under their feet and Zero felt his body become as light as a feather while his surroundings started to warp. "Good luck and please, stay safe!"

'Seriously.. What happened to the proper stallion cultivation novel I was promised?'

[I wish I knew, but I don't. Why don't any of the other systems encounter this type of dogsh*t screwed up remake of the original plot, while I, a cute little system, have a host that seems to be pulled into trouble all the time?]

'This isn't even my fault, okay? I admit, there were some alterations that were caused by me, however for the most part, everything was on the right track! How would I have known that some mysterious organization would pop out of nowhere and start to mess up the storyline? Hey, at least I got rid of my villainous main mission!"

[But I have a really bad feeling about what's going to happen..]

'Hey, don't jinx it!'

[Jinx my a**! If the plot can get worse than it already is, then I'll livestream myself eating sh*t!]

'Do you even have a mouth?'

[No...]

'Then shut up and watch laozi complete his task with flying colours! Have you ever seen me not succeeding at a task?'

[...]

KaPi

The author has something to say: 
Next chapter is probably the last of the first arc. Sorry for not uploading often.. Because we have double the work during the coronavirus season, I just couldn't find the time to do this, but I'll try to write as much as possible! Thank you for reading my little novel!