'What should come will always come. I will deal with it when it comes.' Shen Xu thought and put the matter at the back of his mind.
More than the future, his current situation was more worrying.
He was still at risk of becoming the male lead's concubine and living a life that was worse than death.
Before that happened, he had to figure things out.
With a rising sense of urgency, Shen Xu went to the library.
The library was less than ten square metres and didn't have many things.
It had a bookshelf on one wall, a low jade table, and two jade mats.
There were many jade cards on the bookshelf, but Shen Xu walked to the jade table.
"What's in this?" He wondered and picked a wooden box from the table.
Without delay, he opened the box and found a red pearl nestled in a bed of silk.
"Is it another space?" Shen Xu muttered in confusion.
He examined the pearl and found it was similar in appearance but smaller than his.
"Could it be a piece that broke from the original pearl?" He wondered but quickly discarded the thought.
If the piece had broken from the original, its surface wouldn't be so smooth. Also, Shen Xu felt the red pearl was somehow different from his own.
Unfortunately, he couldn't pinpoint the difference and could only keep examining it. After examining it for a while, he injected a strand of soul power into the pearl.
However, as soon as his soul power touched it, a suction force rose from the pearl.
Shen Xu felt like he was standing at the edge of a black hole, and extraordinary gravity was sucking his soul power into the hole.
He tried to stop the pull, but his efforts were in vain. The more he struggled, the more the sucking became ferocious.
In the blink of an eye, more than nine points of his soul power was sucked out, and he began to panic.
If all his soul power was drained, his soul would be damaged, and he may even die.
At a loss, Shen Xu ignored the pain in his head and struggled to hold on to his last bit of soul power.
Fortunately, the red pearl had a conscience.
Before his soul power bottomed out, the red pearl stopped draining him and turned into grey ash.
"That was too dangerous." Shen Xu muttered and touched his chest to relieve the lingering fear.
He had just transmigrated into the book and hadn't had a chance to do anything.
Although he didn't like his character, he wanted to live. He wanted to live a colourful life and die without leaving any regrets.
If he died now, he would have too many grievances. There was even a chance he would become a lonely ghost instead of entering the reincarnation cycle.
'I should be more careful in the future.' He thought and yawned from exhaustion.
His eyelids felt heavy, his body was sluggish, and his thinking was slower.
"I need to rest to restore my soul power." He thought.
Without a second thought, he left the red pearl space and reappeared on Zhen Yuan's bed.
A moment later, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. However, his rest wasn't as usual.
As soon as his eyes closed, a lot of information entered his mind.
The knowledge was jumbled up, but soon after, it organised itself into a form he could understand.
From it, he learned that his space and the pearl in the box were a form of inheritance.
The space was for growing spirit grass while the pearl in the box contained a cultivation method called the 'chaos flame cultivation technique'.
This cultivation technique could only be practised by people born with a chaos fire root, and Shen Xu happened to be one of those rare people.
'How come?' He wondered.
In the original book, Shen Xu had a mutated fire root called the divine fire root.
This divine fire root was extremely precious and turned his body into a natural furnace. Because of this, Shen Xu encountered a lot of trouble and was often hunted down.
When he thought of the troubles of being a natural furnace, Shen Xu shivered.
He didn't know if the original book misnamed the chaos fire root as the divine fire root. If that was the case, Shen Xu couldn't escape the troubles of being a furnace.
However, if the chaos fire root wasn't the divine fire root, he still had a chance to escape the troubles.
Until he discovered the truth, Shen Xu wanted to believe that his transmigration had caused the spirit root of the original body to change.
For now, he was happy that he had a space and a god-level cultivation technique.
With them, he could climb to a higher peak and have a chance to escape death at the hands of the protagonist.
When Shen Xu woke up, Zhen Yuan was sitting by the bed.
Shen Xu looked at the person and frowned. When he discovered the red pearl space, he thought about hiding in the space to avoid the protagonist and his harem.
However, he immediately rejected that idea.
He had done nothing wrong and didn't want to spend his life in hiding.
Although he thought this way, he still couldn't make up his mind about Zhen Yuan.
Shen Xu wanted a way out.
His character was not suited for betting everything on a single outcome.
However, when he woke up and saw the person, his mind calmed a little.
He didn't fall in love just because Zhen Yuan was waiting by his bedside while he slept, but he had a sudden insight into how things could be.
If he accepted Zhen Yuan's condition, the other would be single-minded towards him. Even if they didn't develop love for each other, they would have affection and loyalty.
'The greater the risk, the greater the gain…, or loss.' He thought and sighed again.
If he and Zhen Yuan fell in love, their marriage would bring him more happiness than he could imagine.
However, if they didn't fall in love, the marriage would be the proverbial albatross around his neck. Even if he fell in love with someone else, he wouldn't be able to get rid of Zhen Yuan.
'How to choose?'
"You are awake." Zhen Yuan said in an indifferent voice.
"How…" Shen Xu started, but his throat was dry, and he couldn't continue.
Zhen Yuan handed him a cup of water, and Shen Xu drank it greedily.
"How long was I asleep?" He asked.
"Three days." Zhen Yuan answered with a frown on his face.
When he returned to the hut, he found Shen Xu was already asleep.
At first, he didn't think anything was wrong and thought he was recovering from his injuries.
However, when the person didn't wake up after one day, Zhen Yuan started to worry.
He examined the young double and found his soul power was severely depleted.
Fortunately, soul power could be restored by rest. Otherwise, he wouldn't know what to do since he didn't have any soul-replenishing pills.
"Your soul power was severely depleted." He stated and observed the young double.
He saw that Shen Xu was not surprised, and he was a little bit curious. However, he didn't question him
After all, they didn't know each other well.
"Thank you for taking care of me these days."
"Have you decided?" Zhen Yuan asked without beating around the bush.
Shen Xu was taken aback and was at a loss for how to answer.
After thinking about it, he decided to beat around the bush to buy time.
"What will you do if you discover that you don't like me and don't want to spend a lifetime with me?" He asked.
"I am willing to take that risk."
After saying that, Zhen Yuan didn't continue.
He understood that everyone had their path and his way wasn't particularly suitable for others.
However, this was how he was.
On other things, he could compromise, but he really didn't want to enter a marriage with half a heart.
After waiting for a while without receiving an answer, Zhen Yuan sighed.
He was a little disappointed, but he understood Shen Xu's decision.
"It's fate that we met when you were at a low point. I could help this time, and maybe I will require your help in the future. You don't have to compensate me for the roof and pills. Please leave in the morning."
After saying that, Zhen Yuan stood up and walked to a cultivation mat placed in a corner.
The mat was worn out, but Zhen Yuan didn't care.
He sat cross-legged and was about to close his eyes when Shen Xu spoke.
"Let's get married." He said.
His hands were clenched, but his eyes were full of determination.
When he thought about it, he felt there were no guarantees in life.
In the original book, some couples were married for thousands of years but still betrayed each other.
Since someone who wanted to spend an eternity together had appeared, the least Shen Xu could do was take a chance.
If he lived without ever taking chances, he would live safely but never achieve the extreme of anything.
Although he didn't know Zhen Yuan, the fact that he was willing to make a lifetime contract was enough to show his character.
"I am willing to make a Taoist contract with you." Shen Xu repeated and slowly unclenched his hands.
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
When he looked at Zhen Yuan, there was no hesitation or indecisiveness in his eyes.
'For the first time in my life, I will take a brave step.' He thought.