When he arrived at the hot springs, he was surprised at how similar it was to the ones in Japan, as it carried a very warm and relaxing sensation.

He took off his towel then stepped into the water and leaned back onto the cool rocks.

The other men seemed to have just noticed his appearance and went over to where he was.

"Hey, hey! Did you know? The girls were on the other side of this fence! Let's go take a little peep at them!"

Pu!

Zero nearly choked on his own saliva.

Peep? Are you kidding me? As if his sister would ever let them do so, and if he actually tried to peek at her bathing, Zero would directly go up and instantly murder him. Even if that didn't happen and no one discovered their movements, that woman was probably in there as well. Do these idiots seriously think that they will succeed at this?

"Yang Zhelan, if you dare peep, I, your father, will personally come and beat you up!", bellowed Zero half seriously, "That goes for the rest of you too!"

"F*ck! Try me! I still haven't repaid you for the humiliation this morning!", Yang Zhelan yelled as he launched an attack at the unprepared Zero.

"What the f*---", cried Zero while dodging to his left.

"Watch out!", warned Nie Yuan.

???

Zero looked towards the place he was falling and it just happened to be that Nan XiSheng was right beside him.

Bam!

The two collided into each other, and landed themselves in a very... suggestive position.

"Pfffftt", some tried to hold in their chuckles, while others, like Yang Zhelan, didn't give the two any face and were roaring with laughter, "Serves you right!"

Zero blushed in embarrassment and anger as he quickly got off the other party.

'Whew! At least my hair didn't come loose', he sighed in relief and touched the hair that was still tied up in a ponytail, despite the fact that they were bathing.

When dressed as a Celestial Sect disciple, Zero's standard look would be to have his hair tied up and wear a forehead headband. It may look pretty plain and a dress up that any other disciple would use, but truthfully, both the forehead headband and hair tie he wore were embedded with magical properties. The headband would help him disguise his true appearance and natural hair color, which was baby blue, and slowly fades into a pure shade of snowy white. 

He looks beautifully handsome, so basically, he's beautiful, but not in the overly girly way, but in the more manly and handsome, yet somewhat delicate manner. He also carries a red flame shaped cinnabar on in the space between his eyebrows, matched with ruby colored eyes that shine like jewels.

On the other hand, the latter is used to conceal his god leveled cultivation. When he ascended, he already broke his old hair tie because it's suppression power was too insufficient. Yes, he could just suppress it himself without the need to rely on external factors, but it would take a portion of his attention just to maintain it, therefore he enchanted his hair tie instead.

Zero only had one thing express for all this, "Pretending to be a villain is so damn troublesome!"

Back to the present, Zero turned to look at Nan XiSheng, but found that he was staring right at him, more specifically, his back.

"What are those?", he asked with a piercing gaze that seemed to be able to directly see through everything. It was as if all his secrets were laid out right in front this man.

Zero's heart skipped a beat as he realized that this was a public bath and that his scars would be seen as soon as he got out of the water.

However, the good news, if any, is that no one other than Nan XiSheng saw them.

He quickly dove back into the water and resumed his relaxing position.

"Why do you have those wounds on your back?", Nan XiSheng asked again, his tone appearing gentler than the first.

"Why do I have to tell you?", retorted Zero, while having shivers go down his spine from Nan XiSheng's display of "gentleness".

"I want to know."

"I don't want you to know."

"... Did someone hurt you?"

"Arrghh! You're so annoying! I got it because I accidentally fell when I was young. There, I answered your question, now just shut up okay?!"

Zero then turned around and went back into his resting position. He absolutely didn't want to lose all the (near nonexistent) hate points he had worked his ass off to gather from the protagonist! That is, until he found a replacement for his position as a [Villain].

Suddenly, he felt something wet and soft on his back, so he quickly whipped around, only to find Nan XiSheng as natural as ever.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"That wet and soft sensat... nevermind.", Zero stopped midway because he noticed how wrong that sounded.

Then, they both went silent for the rest of the time and he didn't notice the fact that Nan XiSheng's lips had curled into a smile.

'I wonder how many more secrets you're hiding...', Nan XiSheng thought to himself, 'I won't kill you until I strip you bare and uncover all the mysteries hidden inside~' 

When he thought of the scars on Zero's body, he unknowingly felt anger boiling inside him, however he returned to a state of coolness short after. They were clearly enemies, and he was supposed to hate him, but why was it that every time he tried to think of taking revenge, he couldn't bear to do so? The scars seemed to have been left there quite a long time ago, around 12-13 years earlier, perhaps? Zero was only at approximately 3-4 years of age at that time, and any idiot on the street can tell that those wounds clearly weren't caused by an 'accident'.

'What was his childhood like? Was he mistreated? What is the true him? What do I not know?' The more he thought about it, the more curious he got, and the more he desired know about this strange fellow. The more he thought about all this, he realized, that he really didn't know all that much about his senior brother. The more he thought about it, the deeper he fell into the pit called obsession which he would never be able to climb out of. When had this started? The thirst to gain more knowledge on a single person...

Perhaps it was when they just met, or maybe when he saw the other's acts of kindness when they were secretly bringing him food every night. Even when Zero pushed him off the cliff, despite all the mockery he'd shown, his eyes couldn't hide the pain, self-blame, and agony he felt, and in the moment when Nan XiSheng had fallen, Zero accidentally let some of it leak through.

It was the same sight the next morning, when they met. That same look was reflected in his eyes for a second, just a second, before they returned to normal. Whenever the other side bullied him, he always seemed to be in pain. Zero thought he was able to hide it well, but who was Nan XiSheng? Someone who had grown up in the slums and experiences all sides of this world. He is able to detect even the slighted fluctuations in one's mood, so obviously, even thought Zero's acting had practically no flaws, Nan XiSheng was still capable of using his intuition to locate and unravel even those feelings which Zero had thought he buried deep inside.

Either way, it doesn't change the fact that he had been completely captivated by this senior brother of his. That's why, he won't do anything to him for now, not until he finds an answer for all the actions that Zero does. 

After all, they still have all the time in this world.

Unknowingly, the hate bar, which originally still had a bit of hatred points left inside, became completely emptied out, and that greatly alarmed 005.

[Host, Host! Y-your hatred points! They're empty! Afterwards, I went to check on the good will bar, and it's slowly rising! QAQ]

*cough cough* 'WTF?! How come? I've practically been spouting insults at him every chance I could get! Could the protagonist possible be... a hidden M?' (M = Masochist)

[I don't know! But I do know that if you don't fix this problem, we're pretty screwed! Aaahh!! I'm still too young to die!]

'Young my ass! I should be the one to say that! Nevermind, this could be a piece of good news as well. I guess it's time to find a new [Villain] and cut off all ties with Nan XiSheng'

[N-new [Villain]?! What do you mean? Don't tell me... you actually want to throw your role onto someone else?! I knew something was fishy when you asked me about that! Don't you know that in order to transfer the [Villain] title onto anther individual, they must suit all the conditions that Liu Feng originally had and also have a completely full hate bar from Nan XiSheng? Forget about getting a full hate bar, it's already hard enough finding someone with the same status as you! I only said it was 'possible' to do so, but did you know that the percentage of succeeding is less than 1%?! Heavens, I really did get a crazy host!]

The 'crazy' Zero: ...

'You have no right to say that, you motherf*cking lazy bum who knows nothing but to sleep all day!'

The 'motherf*cking lazy bum who knows nothing but to sleep all day' 005: (ಥ﹏ಥ)

[*Cough Cough* Ahem.. uhh... like system, like host... I guess? ♪~ ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ]

'Scram! (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻'

[Yessir!]

After everyone finished taking a warm soak in the hot springs, they put on their nightgowns and headed back into their allocated rooms.

While the other pairs were sound asleep on their respective beds, Zero and Nan XiSheng were standing in front of their bed with a face full of black lines.

"I-I'm going to sleep.", said Zero, who was the first to break the silence.

"Ok"

The two laid down in bed and although Zero was a bit nervous at first, since it was his first time sharing a bed with someone else, he quickly adapted to it and not long after, his breathing became steady and light sounds of snoring could be heard.

Nan XiSheng, who was still unable to fall asleep, turned over and Zero's face came into view.

Now that he studied it more closely, Zero was actually very good looking. His face value alone can basically topple over countries and make countless amounts of people fight for it. Too bad, his dark brown hair and brown eyes create a neutral feeling, canceling out all of his original handsomeness. 

He reached out to touch the other person's lips and surprisingly, they felt very soft.

Mmm, very very soft. And a bit plump.

After a while, he stopped fiddling around with Zero's lips and noticed that he still had his hair tied up and was also still wearing his forehead headband.

When Nan XiSheng reach out out to take it off, a magical barrier appeared and it was obstructing his hand.

'Weird... I should already be at Intermediate Nascent Soul Stage, which is the realm that Senior Brother Liu is also at, but for some reason, there's a barricade blocking me from touching his headgear. Now that I think about it, Senior Brother had never taken those off before, has he? Looks like I once again discovered something new~', he thought to himself.

Deep within, a sense of urgency rose up because that meant that his senior brother's true realm is actually much higher than his, unless the barrier was created by some other bigshot. Either way, the current him is too weak. He must get stronger, or forget exposing senior brother's secrets, his might as well be discovered first!

He took one last look at the figure on the other side of the bed and started cultivating.

- - -

*Chirp Chirp*

It was bright outside, with light illuminating inside a certain room. Two figures were on the bed within: one sitting with his legs crisscrossed and the other sound asleep.

[Host! Get. Your. Ass. Up. Right. Now! What time do you think it is?]

'Yeeeeeeees mooooooom. Stooooooop naaaaaging', he replied in a half-awake tone, slurring each word. 

"Oh, you're awake", came a voice from beside him

?!?!?!

Zero jolted up and saw the familiar face of the protagonist and was so shocked that he fell straight out of the bed.

"W-what are you doing in my bed?!", he cried out.

"We're supposed to be sharing a bed, dumbass."

Zero suddenly recalled yesterday's events and he blushed furiously due to the shame.

"R-right. I'll just go eat breakfast..."

"Wait. I'm coming too."

"O-okay..."

The two headed to the main lobby, only to find that all the other groups had assembled and were already eating.

"FengFeng! Here!", Shi LanHua said while waving.

Both Yang Zhelan and Nan XiSheng's brows wrinkled in irritation as the former glared at Zero, while the latter sent a slightly bitter looked directed at Shi LanHua.

However, the two in question didn't notice the stares they were getting as Zero directly plopped down beside his sister.

To make matters worse, he sent Yang Zhelan, who was sitting across from them, a triumph look, which made other party's face turn red in fury.

Yang Zhelan interpreted that look as a declaration of war over Shi LanHua's heart, while Zero merely meant to provoke the other to tell him, 'See? My big sis loves me the most. If you want to marry her, you'd have to get past I, your future brother-in-law, first!'

Wait... why did he call himself 'future brother-in-law'? Arrghh! His big sis ain't getting married to nobody! That damnable Yang Zhelan must've deliberately messed with his line of thoughts!

In a fit of rage, the two started to have an eating contest to see who could eat more, which caused them to be bloated by the end of it.

"Alright everyone! It's the second day of my trials! Aren't you excited for what's going to happen next? Remember, once you pass the second trial, you can choose whether to take on the third one, or collect your gift and leave."

Everyone nodded indicating that they understood the rules.

"Good. Now, let me introduce to you, the second test!", the mysterious woman said as she turned the other way, as if welcoming someone... no, something.

"ROOAAARRRR", came a thunderous cry from a certain figure that was flying in the sky.

Everyone gasped at the sight.

It was a Wyrm! Said to carry the blood of dragons, Wyrms are ranked right underneath all the legendary beasts, which makes them one of the most powerful beasts in the world! The one right in front of them was an Icefire Wyrm, so it wielded the powers of both ice and fire without having them conflict with each other, which is a major accomplishment even among those of its kind!

However, its next action completely baffled them.

The gigantic Wyrm that seemed as if it could instantly crush them to death was actually carrying a storage ring and it flew straight up to the woman, knelt down, then obediently handed it over. Then, the terrifying creature curled up into a ball beside her and just lay there, unmoving, as if it was a pet that's quietly awaiting the orders of it's owner.

Then the woman closed her eyes and suddenly, many things like pill cauldrons, art supplies, archery bows, blank talismans and such had appeared. After seeing all these materials, some of the smarter ones among the group seemed to already have an idea of what the next trial was going to be.

"As you can see, these are all things that you would need for people to create things that match ones supporting occupations. Every martial artist and cultivator need to not only focus on their advancement in strength, but also how well their skills in some other aspects may be. After all, these so-called 'useless' or 'extra' skills may come in handy at times of need. Since all of you have passed my first trial, you should at least be above those incompetent idiot that only know the word 'fighting' right? Therefore, hopefully everyone here should have at least one supporting occupation. If not, you directly fail and you can scram."

Everyone once again nodded in confirmation as they were all geniuses from their respective sects and would obviously have a supporting occupation. Take Yang Zhelan as an example. His supporting occupation is beast taming, though that can also be taken in as a main occupation for those of the Xunshou Sect, because he believes that having a partner with you can be equivalent to an extra lifesaver. Of course, Zhelan wouldn't do anything as lowly as abandoning his beast companion just to survive. It's just that sometimes, two are better than one.

"Alright, since everyone looks like they have a basic idea of what we're doing, I'll tell you your main assignment."

They all head their breaths, anxious about her next words.

"For those proficient in pill refining, one must be able to create a pill which I am satisfied with, so do your best to whip out the best possible one you can make. For the beast tamers here, all you have to do is tame little wyrmy behind me"

...

What the f*ck?!

All you have to do? Little wyrmy? If you're gonna spout bullsh*t, at least do so in a more realistic manner! Unlike you, we're not some OP deities that are over a million years old! Tame? Tame your mother!

Even with the obviously uncomfortable expressions they wore, the culprit still went on as if everything was totally normal, "Next, archers must be able to hit at least 10 of the 50 targets I will be presenting to you. Do not underestimate the pitifully low amount! The targets will each be moving at very high speeds and you only have 1 minute to complete your task. Painters, just create a painting that is capable of summoning a team of 10 000 soliders, okay? Also....."

...

Once again, silence reigned over the group.

Are you crazy?

Did your head get stuck in a door today? Ordinary painters, no, even guru painters are only able to call forth approximately 1000 soldiers after exhausting all their qi, and here you are, wanting us to summon 10 times that amount?! Also, why do you look like you're going easy on us?

Mom, I want to go home!

"..... Finally, for those who create talismans I want you to create a defensive talisman that is able to block one of my attacks."

Chu Qiu, the only person with a talisman making supporting occupation, sighed in relief because his task was probably the easiest out of all the others. Everyone else sent him looks of envy, as they almost fainted when they heard their own ridiculous trial.

That's what they though until they heard what she said next.

"Oh by the way, one of my attacks is strong enough to instantly kill an immortal cultivator! So I wish you all good luck!"

...

SAY THAT EARLIER!

Chu Qiu wanted to cry a river of tears because he just fell into the abyss from cloud nine. 

What easiest task?!

I'd be lucky enough not to die from that attack!

Meanwhile, all those who had been jealous of his good karma are now taking joy in his extreme misfortune. Some even sent him looks of pity, which only increased the grievances in his heart.

"So... who wants to go first?", the beautiful lady asked with a devilishly playful smile.

KaPi

Author-sama is in! Thank god I'm not too late as it's still X-mas for me!
Therefore, I'd like to wish you all a very merry Christmas!
Enjoy and have a happy holidays~