In the middle of the night there was a dead silence. Suddenly, the ruffling of bed sheets were heard, but no one woke up because they were all in a deep sleep.

Nan XiSheng got out of bed and looked towards the other end and saw that his senior brother was sound asleep.

Then, he stealthily walked out of the tent without making a single sound and started to head towards a certain direction.

The moment he went out, the "sleeping" Zero opened is eyes and also got out of bed.

[Host, it's time! Make sure not to mess this up, alright! If you do, it'll leave a stain on my records as well!]

'Yeah, yeah. I know, let's go and get this over with'

[...] The usually talkative system stayed silent because it could sense its host's turbulent emotions. It wondered why there was a bit of sadness and anger mixed within, however that was none of it's business because 005 was programmed to put the mission before everything. As long as it's host finishes the missions, 005 has fulfilled it's role.

Or that's how it's supposed to go, but as they spend more time together in the future, 005 would come to be able to even defy the creator for the sake of it's host.

Nan XiSheng kept on walking until he reached the end of a very tall cliff. Zero, who was behind him, saw that he bent down and dug up some kind of stone. The stone was very rich in color as it had a beautiful golden hue that can make you unconsciously attracted to it and like any other person, Zero felt the same. However, instead of "attracted", he felt more like it belongs to him, like it was originally a part of him, which confused him very  much. His entire being and soul was yelling "Give it back! Thief! Give back what's mine!", but at the very last second, he regained his rationality and didn't mindlessly attack Nan XiSheng.

Just as Nan XiSheng was going to sit down and meditate beside the jewel, Zero got into role and strutted out from behind the bushes like a typical villain.

"Well, well! What do we have here? The infamous trash coming out late at the night and sneaking around!" 

As if he had been electrocuted, Nan XiSheng suddenly jolted around and eyed Zero with extreme wariness, "S-Senior Brother Liu! I was training.."

"Oho? Then do you mind telling me what is that you are hiding behind you?"

Nan XiSheng revealed the stone that he was hiding and said, "It's just a stone.."

Zero pretended to have just identified it and exclaimed, "Oh my! Isn't that the core of a Nascent Soul stage beast? You're supposed to hand over all the goods to me! Junior Brother Nan couldn't have been thinking of keeping it to himself, right? Tsk tsk, what a disgrace!" 

Hearing this sentence, Nan XiSheng's heart dropped. He knew that this senior brother of his must've found out about the stone, but he wouldn't budge and just glared at Zero.

As is receiving a confirmation, Zero's eyes lit up, then he mocked, "Seems like I've been too easy on you these days? You damn brat, now you're even defying your dear senior brother, huh?!"

Then in less than a split second, Zero appeared behind Nan XiSheng and grabbed the stone from him. 

By the time he realized that the stone was gone from his hands, Zero was already back in his previous position, but with and extra object.

"GIVE IT BACK!", Nan XiSheng cried out as he rushed towards Zero with the intention of taking back the stone. However, due to his low cultivation, it was obvious who the winner would be.

Zero straightforwardly sent a kick towards the small figure rushing in, and he toppled backwards, almost falling down the cliff. With one hand barely hanging onto the edge, he eyed Zero with endless resentment.

"Y-you! How could a senior brother do this! If the sect ever finds our the--"

"IF the sect ever finds out. But why would they care for a small figure like you? So what if you're my junior brother? So what if you're the only other disciple of the sect master? In my eyes, everyone below me is nothing but trash, and you, are lower than trash. You're just a piece of sh*t waiting to be discarded. It's not my problem you were a threat to my position as the successor of the Celestial Sect. And if things ever get out of hand, I can just tell them you tried to keep this beast core for yourself, since it's the truth. Who's the guilty one now, huh?", Zero scoffed.

Zero slowly peeled his fingers one by one off the edge, and when he finally got to the last one, he looked down on Nan XiSheng with eyes that resembled someone who was looking at an ant.

"You only have yourself to blame for your bad luck. Hope you don't encounter me in your next life", Zero said while he smiled menacingly, "Oh, and if you do happen to survive this fall, don't be an idiot and challenge my authority. You'll regret it."

Then, Nan XiSheng fell of the cliff.

"LIU. FENG!", Nan XiSheng said through gritted teeth, "YOU'D BETTER PRAY TO NEVER MEET ME AGAIN, OR I'LL KILL YOU!"

Then the figure descended into the darkness beneath.

 *Plop*

Zero felt his legs go numb as he plopped down onto his knees and sat there in a daze.

'W-what did I just do...?', he though.

[Congratulations to host for completing the most crucial part of the plot! Keep up the hard work!]

'HARD WORK YOUR ASS! NOW I'M REALLY, REALLY SCREWED! Damn.. I was hoping to rack up some "good impression" points by not going too hard on the protagonist.. but it's all ruined! If I die.. what'll happen to second sister..? Will she be okay? Will she be lonely and sad without me? Will she have enough money to support herself? F*ck! Half of what I just said weren't even in the original script! What the hell, 005?!'

[Calm down, host! Gee, here's the good news. You're sister'll be fine. I forgot to tell you that those whom you need to save, or those who're part of your side quests will all be granted a few points of luck. Don't look down on those few points! Just by adding those, even a poor beggar will be able to evolve into a well off citizen. Shi LanHua's luck was originally at 30, which is the average, and after adding the 10 points of luck granted by the system, it's now at 40 and that can help her avoid countless of life-and-death situations.]

'T-that's good.. I don't think I could've taken any more bad news.. You know what? Let's just go back... wait a sec... you said good news.. then, there's bad news as well?'

[Yeah... Uhh... The reason your script got altered was because host derived from the original plot by sending rations over to the protagonist every night, and that caused him to subconsciously hold less hatred towards you. Therefore, in order to fill up the hatred points, I, your loyal system, had to rack my brains and come up with the best suited script possible. Now now, get some rest, you cant relax because everything isn't over yet]

'If you told me that was going to happen, I wouldn't have interfered... Damn it!'

- - - - - - - - - -

4 hours later

-At the foot of the cliff-

The boy who was presumably dead, slowly opened his eyes and sat up. His whole body was aching, but he still managed to take a look at his surroundings. 

Dark and gloomy.

Those were the words that came to mind.

Just a few seconds before he hit the ground, Nan XiSheng followed the path of the original story and successfully awakened his bloodline heritage.

Lingering hatred was still visible in his eyes, but as soon as he discovered the changes in his body, he directed his entire mind towards that.

Nan XiSheng scanned his brain and as expected, he received the ancestral memories all pure-breed dragons and a minimal percentage of half-breed dragons get. Nan XiSheng is a pure-breed one, despite the fact that they went extinct 6 years ago. 

Actually, these ancient beasts never appeared in front of humans with their real form, so everyone thought they all died thousands of years ago. That's why the big war was kept a secret and when it really occurred, the two species ACTUALLY got completely wiped out without alerting anyone, as the outside world wouldn't mingle in the business of an "extinct"race.

A dark glint flashed in his eyes as he thought of all the ways to torture Liu Feng once they got back to the sect. (Author: Mmm "torture".. huh? >///< Sorry, it's probably just me and my dirty mind)

'Nevermind', he thought, 'Let's just wait until the sect ranking tournament... "accidental" injuries are permitted, so no one will suspect anything.'

Although his body was aching, it wasn't actually that bad because Nan XiSheng is a dragon, and like all legendary beasts, dragons have extremely fast healing abilities. That might've been part of the reason he was able to survive the torture in the original book, despite having yet to awaken his bloodline.

Because his awakening cause such a big commotion and the aura of a dragon was spread thousands of meters away, none of the spiritual beasts came near him, which aided Nan XiSheng in his safe journey back up.

By the time he found his way back to the tents, everyone was already awake and eating breakfast.

- - - - - - - - - -

When Zero woke up, he noticed that the stone stolen from Nan XiSheng yesterday was gone, but he instinctively remained calm as he found a enormous change to his body. His soul felt many times stronger and his mind never felt clearer. It was as if everything was withing is grasp, and for some reason, it was a very familiar feeling. The only thing he lamented was the fact that his cultivation was still stuck at the pinnacle of immortal realm. Then, Zero produced an identical stone as the one that he stole yesterday, and threw it inside the storage bag.

'I wonder what that stone actually was'. The thought left as soon as it came, because Zero had other matters at hand and he didn't care to think too much about it. Whatever happens, happens.

After he exited his tent, Zero saw the person whom he nearly murdered yesterday sitting down at a table and eating quietly. 

Nan XiSheng seems to have noticed his gaze as well, because he paused his actions and looked up to stare at Zero with disgust and bitterness that seemed to come from the depths of his soul.

That look made Zero flinch a bit and he accidentally leaked some of his true feelings: sadness, fear, regret, helplessness, and happiness. He felt extremely guilty, he really did, but what could he do? It's either his life or his... no wait, Nan XiSheng had the protagonist's aura, so he wouldn't die anyways, but instead reap tremendous benefits from this. Not to say, this is basically the incident that triggers the start of his revenge.

The other party seem to be quite startled by the look he was given, but Zero quickly covered it up with his usual impassive eyes that seemed to be looking as if everyone was an ant in his eyes.

With a weird expression on his face, Nan XiSheng shook his head to dispel any doubts about the "truth" of last night and regained focus on eating breakfast. 

As soon as everyone saw Zero come out of his tent, they rushed up to welcome the "hero" who saved them all from a catastrophe yesterday. To his astonishment, the rest of the training session was extremely peaceful and in the end, they managed to hunt down 2 other Foundation Building realm beasts and lots of Qi Refinement realm beasts.

Pleasantly surprised with the loot they gained from this trip, Zero and the others headed back to the sect headquarters to report back.

When they arrived, he handed the bag which contained all of the beast corpses to the sect master, whom as always, was looking very nonchalant. 

Speaking of the sect master, he had a white beard and looked like any other old noble man, but there was a undiscernibly mysterious and otherworldly aura around him, which even Zero was unable to comprehend.

Zhang Yong, the sect master, took a brief glance at the contents in the bag and with a slight nod, he said, "Mmm, pretty good. Within the span of one week, you guys hunted a total of 21 beasts: 3 Foundation Building and 18 Qi Refinement. Not bad not bad, and of the 34 disciples who were dispatched, only 4 died and 30 returned. Liu Feng, Nan XiSheng, you two to remain here. As for the rest, you're dismissed. I'll ask someone to send over your rewards later. Envoy Wang, go and summon Shi LanHua, Zhou Fu, and Zhang Jing."

"Yes sect master!"

Following his instructions, everyone except for the sole two disciples of the sect master remained.

After a short period of time, Shi LanHua, Zhang Jing, and Zhou Fu all came. When they arrived in front of the sect master, they knelt on the floor just like Zero and Nan XiSheng.

Shi LanHua, also Zero's older sister, is the personal succeeding disciple of the first elder and also the "Flower Fairy" (Because Hua is "Flower" in Chinese) of their Meihua Peak. She's 23 years old this year, and while that may seem old for normal people, this is a cultivation world and that's already a really young age, especially for a genius like her who's in the peak of Spirit Transformation stage. 

Zhou Fu  is the personal succeeding disciple of the second elder, who also happened to be the master of Sword Peak, and he's of the same caliber as Zero. They're both the "arrogant young master" type of person, however he is more scheming and was smarter than the original host of Liu Feng, which's probably the reason why he became a "good brother" of Nan XiSheng in the original story. He's 24 this year, 8 years older than Zero, and in the peak of Nascent Soul stage. It's also rumored that he's very close to making a breakthrough.

Finally, Zhang Jing is a quiet young girl who's also the succeeding disciple of the third elder, master of the Jingling Peak. Although Zhang Jing and Zhang Yong share the same surname, they are not in the slightest bit related. She's the best friend of Shi LanHua, as the two got to know each other quite well. However, despite all that, she doesn't know the relationship between Zero and Shi LanHua, still thinking that they were dating, just like the rumors stated. And as always, Zero was completely oblivious to all this. Ignorance sure is bliss! She's the same age as Shi LanHua, and she's cultivated to the initial stages of Nascent Soul. 

Zhang Yong once again glanced over at them and asked, "Do you know why I made you stay back?"

'Heck no! This wasn't even in the script!', Zero silently replied in his heart, but he still retained a calm facade.

"I-Is it because we did something wrong and sect master wants us to repent?", Zhang Jing hesitantly asked.

The sect master just shook his head.

The tension in the air was visibly much less than before as everyone now knows that they're not in trouble. They all made a look of contemplation and after a while, Nan XiSheng was the first to speak up.

"Because you wish to discuss the matter of the upcoming secret realm with us?", the protagonist replied.

'Right! How can I forget about the secret realm!', thought Zero, 'But I thought he'd talk about it later on? After all, the secret realm is still half a year away...'

Zhang Yong nodded in satisfaction upon seeing that one of his disciples managed to guess his intentions, but his face still remained as impassive as ever.

"The secret realm opens every decade, and the next one is in half a year. While that may seem like a long time, it's actually not. So I need you all to practice as hard as you can because our sect received 20 slots this time and you 5 are the ones I chose to represent our sect. Each one of you will be leading 3 other inner disciples into the secret realm, and you will be fighting alongside them, so this is a big responsibility that's now placed on your shoulders! Don't ruin our prestige, and beat the crap out of all those who try to sully our name! We don't need scum who betray others for the sake of glory and wealth, so all I ask of you is to go out there and try your best. The fate of the Celestial Sect is on your shoulders."

"Yes sect master!", everyone shouted. Zero couldn't help but feel moved by those words, because since the day he was born, he was forced to understand how big of a responsibility it is to shoulder the burdens of a famous sect, family, ect. Now that someone's telling him that he doesn't need to carry all that, and instead, just go and have fun, it's a given that he'd feel emotional.

"Mmm, now go on. I won't be holding you here for any longer."

None of this was part of the original script, but it's not a big problem because it has absolutely no impact on the plot, so Zero chose not to speak up about the fact that Nan XiSheng was weak as heck and he'd only be a burden. After all, Zero doesn't want to seek death when he doesn't have to!

Speaking of sects, there are a total of 4 major sects in this world. First, there is the Celestial Sect, which our MC, Zero, resides in. This is just a sect specially created to train young geniuses into becoming powerful figures of the cultivation world. They don't really "specialize" in anything and they're more of an all rounder, which is the reason why the celestial sect divides their peaks into different sections: sword art, body cultivation, apothecary, music, ect. Even though that's how it is on the surface, over half the sect is made up of sword cultivators.

Next, there's the Nanhua Sect, which specializes in making all their offensive moves and secret arts look mesmerizing and seductive. They are extremely proficient in mind attacks and are able to control others using their techniques, which makes many extremely wary of them. However, just because their main form of attack, that doesn't mean they aren't capable of fighting others' head on. In fact, some of the stronger disciples have very high cultivation levels, while their bewitching techniques are just as good. Everyone from this sect is extremely graceful and every step they take can capture the hearts of many.

The Jingang Sect is one that has a long history of producing invincible and terribly strong body cultivators. Yes, like the name suggests, body cultivators are those who train their body to become as strong as heck. In other words, this is a sect filled with iron barbies and king kongs.

Finally, there's the Xunshou Sect which raises formidable beast tamers. Beast taming may seem like a lousy occupation because all the trainers just act as support and leave everything up to their beast. Once the beast dies, the owner also has no chance of living, right? Nope! If anyone thinks that beast taming is an easy job, they should go and experience the horrors of it. First of all, one has to have sufficient cultivation in order to tame a beast. Spiritual beasts are prideful creatures, and it's next to impossible to get one to completely acknowledge and remain loyal to you, unless your name is Zero and you're an animal magnet (referring to Arc 1.1). Most only submit to those who're stronger than them, or to cultivators whom they owe a debt to. The latter is the more likely option, because what are the chances of finding a beast that needs help, and even if you did, what are the chances that you can solve a problem that even it couldn't do so? Therefore, beast tamers must become strong enough to overpower their tamed beast, which now makes the beast someone who has to aid you in times of need, or just someone you'd dispatch to deal with small fries. 

Although everything might seem very harmonious and peaceful on the outside, the 4 great sects are always butting heads against each other and looking for any chance to take down an opponent. As soon as one of them reveals a weakness, the other 3 will directly swoop in and destroy it. I mean, who doesn't want to overpower their rivals and become number one?

In every secret realm, there are only 100 slots and each of the 4 great sects get 20. The rest are distributed into the smaller ones, who are in hope of getting lucky and not come out empty handed.

Truthfully, everyone participating in the upcoming secret realm had already met the other participants of the 4 great sects, due to an inter-sect exchange program. That means Zero's infamous reputation isn't only known in the Celestial Sect, but throughout the rest of the 4 great sects. However, he has the power to act haughtily, so no one from those who he had humiliated before carries the guts to confront him. Zero got into quite a few conflicts with the succeeding disciple of the Jingang Sect, Yang Zhelan, because Zhelan is an extremely honest, upright, straightforward and righteous character. Due to their conflicting personalities, they had a lot of bouts with each other, and are tied at a score of 47-47, of course, that's after Zero suppressed his cultivation to the initial stages of Nascent Soul. If he didn't, with his cultivation level at the peak of Immortal stage, killing Yang Zhelan would be as easy as swatting a fly.

Actually, only Zero knows that the real reason he's clashing with Yang Zhelan is because he tried to court his sister, Shi LanHua. And only Yang Zhelan knows that the reason he is fighting with Zero is because he thought that Zero and LanHua are dating...

What a huge misunderstanding...  ╮(￣▽￣)╭

And so, for the next 6 months,  Zero, Nan XiSheng, Shi LanHua, Zhou Fu, and Zhang Jing will start to go into hell training mode in order to be prepared to fight the other sects for the rare resources of the secret realm.