Chapter 2: Alchemist

Zhen Yuan heard the young man and suddenly remembered his adoptive father. When his father was alive, he used to say that he was so ignorant that the only way he would ever marry a wife was by saving a beauty. Without meaning to, Zhen Yuan smiled at the memory, and Shen Xu's heart skipped a beat. He had never seen such a beautiful smile and his lips also curved upwards. "I am good-looking, and I have a good figure. You will be making a profit by marrying me." He continued. Unfortunately, Zhen Yuan was not so easy to confuse. He didn't plan to seek the ruthless Dao, but he was not yet interested in the young man on his bed. "What's the use of a good face and figure? Are they worth spirit stones?" He snorted. Shen Xu was flabbergasted. 'Wasn't he worth as much as spirit stones?' He glared at the young man in resentment but still kept a smile on his face. "Ofcourse, I am better than spirit stones." He said and puffed out his chest. "Is that so? What can you do?" "I can cook. I guarantee that I cook the best food in the world." "I use bigu pills." Zhen Yuan said without hesitation. "Bigu..." Shen Xu started and then remembered what bigu pills were. Since he had just transmigrated, he was not used to the new world and had to keep reminding himself of the world's common sense. Fortunately, his opponent did not pick up on his gaffe and only saw the disgust on Shen Xu's face. "What's the look on your face?" Zhen Yuan asked. "If you eat the food I cook, I guarantee you will never take another bigu pill for the rest of your life." Shen Xu declared proudly. "You make too many guarantees." "I have the confidence to make the guarantees." Zhen Yuan sighed and didn't care. He hadn't eaten since his parents died and didn't plan to start now. Whether the young man could cook or not made no difference to him. "What else can you do?" Shen Xu frowned at that. He was most confident about his cooking skills and didn't know what else could entice the opponent. "I can also make good wine." He said. He wasn't as confident as when he declared his cooking skills, but he still had some confidence in this area. "I don't drink wine." Zhen Yuan rejected, and Shen Xu began to have second thoughts. Even if he needed a person outside the book to escape the fate of loving the protagonist, his standards were not low. At the moment, the handsome person in front of him was becoming less and less attractive. After all, he didn't want to live a life without food and wine. Also, he did not forget how the person kicked him while he was injured. "I don't need someone who can cook or make wine. If there is nothing else you can do, you are useless to me." Shen Xu gritted his teeth and frantically said, "I can also warm the bed." After saying that, his body froze in shock. 'Wait..., what did I just say? Warm the bed?' Until this moment, he didn't think about the technicalities of forming a love line with a man. In his previous life, he had admired women but had never been in a relationship with anyone. After coming to the book world, his gender changed, and he was no longer a man. Although doubles could also marry a wife, they were mostly married by men as concubines. This meant that their role was set in stone. If he formed a love line with the person in front of him, Shen Xu would be the bottom and would eventually give birth. When he thought about it, he was very resistant. He could barely accept being with a man, but he rejected the idea of being pregnant and giving birth to a child. 'I can't do this.' He thought, and his eyes filled with panic. While he was indulging in his panic, Zhen Yuan was watching him. He saw the crazy flash of emotions on the other's face, but he didn't care. In the end, everything the other offered were things he could do without. "It's easier to leave your clothes and boots as compensation." He said and stood up. "Wait..." Shen Xu tried to grab his arm, but Zhen Yuan avoided him. However, Shen Xu did not give up. "We can get married first and then get to know each other. If we don't like each other, we will break the marriage and go our separate ways." He suggested. Although he shuddered at the thought of children, Shen Xu was more unwilling to get entangled with the protagonist. For the time being, it was safer to marry the stranger in front of him and figure things out as time went on. Fortunately, the man didn't like him. If he was lucky, the man would never like him, and their marriage would be chaste. When he thought of that, Shen Xu became more confident and was determined to form a love line with the young man. "There is nothing I want from you, and I don't like you." Zhen Yuan was not moved and intended to leave. "I am an alchemist." Shen Xu suddenly said. Until this moment, he had forgotten that his identity was more than that of his past life. It was not until he was desperate that he remembered that the original owner was an alchemist and a poison refiner. However, he didn't intend to reveal his identity as a poison refiner. After all, the two were strangers, and he needed to keep some cards close to his chest. "Are you really an alchemist?" "I am a second-level alchemist." He declared proudly, and Zhen Yuan looked at him inquisitively. From what he could see, the young double was at the twelfth level of the qi refining realm. If this cultivation level was true, and the alchemy level was also true, it meant the double's soul power was higher than his cultivation realm. Although this situation was not unheard of, it was rare because it was more difficult to improve soul power than cultivation level. Only genius-level talents would choose to cultivate in this way. "How old are you?" He asked. "I am fifteen." "Fifteen?" "What do you think? Won't you make a big profit if you marry me?" Zhen Yuan looked at the proud face, and his lips involuntarily curled upwards. "You are right. I will make a profit if what you say is true. However, I only take top-grade pills." "Don't worry. There are at least five top-grade pills in every furnace I refine." Although he said it with a confident look, Shen Xu was a little panicked. He had the memories of the original owner, and he knew how to refine pills, but knowing and doing were different things. If he was asked to refine pills, he didn't know if he could do it. Most importantly, the original owner was only average and could barely produce high-grade pills, let alone top-grade pills. However, Shen Xu decided to keep up the charade and figure it out later. 'He is lying about the top-grade pills, but he is indeed an alchemist.' Zhen Yuan observed but didn't call him out on the lie. In fact, Zhen Yuan rarely took pills. This was not because he didn't need pills but because his cultivation was different. The pills he needed were not common and were not readily available in pill shops. Although he could specially order the pills, there were many difficulties involved. One, he didn't have many spirit stones. Zhen Yuan had talismans that could be sold for spirit stones, but he lived in a small village. The closest town was also small, and he didn't dare to sell too many talismans. Doing so would attract trouble, and he didn't want to have too many eyes on him. Otherwise, someone would notice his peculiarities sooner or later. The other difficulty was that there was only a second-level alchemist in the closest town. The alchemist was average, and Zhen Yuan doubted he could make the pills he needed. Even if his skills were better, Zhen Yuan needed third-level pills that could only be made by a third-level alchemist. Finally, even if there was an alchemist and he had enough spirit stones, Zhen Yuan would still be hesitant to make orders. This was because ordering too many of the pills he needed would make the alchemist curious, which could cause trouble for him. "What do you think?" Shen Xu asked, jolting him out of his thoughts. Zhen Yuan looked at the person and made a decision. "I will believe you if you refine a pot of healing pills." He said, but Shen Xu was prepared for this. "I was robbed, and my storage bag was taken. I don't have a pill furnace or spirit grass." Zhen Yuan frowned when he heard that and then glared at the young double. 'What Taoist partner? He is just a debt collector.' He thought while Shen Xu smiled brilliantly. "If you don't believe me, I can make an oath. The tao knows that I am an alchemist." He said, and Zhen Yuan almost rolled his eyes. However, even without confirming anything, he had already made his decision. The young double was only fifteen, and his cultivation was already at the peak of the qi refining realm. This meant his cultivation talent was extraordinary, and his alchemy skills wouldn't be much worse. Although Zhen Yuan could see that the young man had an ulterior motive, he also had a hidden agenda in agreeing to the marriage.