My Shadow Is Long Aotian

Jiang Xuan was an orphan with no family and no friends. He was timid and frail, and the eight words "dull, boring, lonely, and all alone" summed up the first half of his life.

One day, curled up in his tiny rented room, Jiang Xuan took out the cheap cake he'd bought for himself, lit a candle, clasped his hands, and made a wish for his twenty-second birthday:

I hope someone will come along who celebrates my birthday with me.

The good news: His wish came true. He gained a companion who was all his own.

The bad news: His companion was his own shadow.

The good news: His shadow was self-aware and could talk to him.

The bad news: His shadow was a braggart who loved showing off and hated the weak-willed Jiang Xuan.

The good news: His shadow couldn't hurt him.

The bad news: His shadow had to consume his vital energy to stay alive.

Jiang Xuan's shadow had a short temper and was moody and unpredictable. He claimed to be the overpowered protagonist of a fantasy novel, immensely strong and looking down on all creation. He believed that might made right and despised weak, useless people like Jiang Xuan most of all.

Jiang Xuan: Oh.

But you're my shadow.

The shadow was weird and awkward. When Jiang Xuan was bullied, he'd mock him as a coward and a wimp, then appear and beat the bully black and blue.

When Jiang Xuan fainted from low blood sugar, he'd grumble and call him a nuisance while doing everything he could to get him to the hospital.

Jiang Xuan really liked his shadow. His presence gave him one of the few sources of warmth in his life.

The only problem was,

when the shadow was happy, he drained Jiang Xuan's vital energy.

When he was angry, he drained it too.

*

Lu Changyin was the overpowered protagonist of a cultivation world. Born a heaven-blessed genius, he was exceptionally gifted and adored by all, and at a young age his cultivation had already surpassed that of practitioners in all six realms.

Later, his life strayed from its destined path. He fell from immortality and became a demon, killing anyone who stood in his way, until he became a being whose very name inspired terror.

Later still, he ended his own life atop a snow-covered mountain.

When he opened his eyes, he had become the shadow of the coward standing before him, trapped at his side with no way to leave. He'd spent his former life being admired and followed by everyone; now he had to follow around some little brat. Lu Changyin found Jiang Xuan more and more irritating.

Lu Changyin had forgotten that in his previous life, he had fallen into demonic corruption because of the very coward he now despised.

He had also forgotten that Jiang Xuan was the one he had treasured most, the person he would protect at the cost of his life...

P.S.:

A gentle, frail, unloved, and somewhat stubborn little sweetheart who is a bit pitiable (not his original personality, but affected by powerful outside forces), Jiang Xuan, x a grumpy, gloomy, overpowered protagonist who loves licking his wife's boots, Lu Changyin.

It's actually a sweet little story. Both are each other's first and only love, happy ending.

A past-life-and-present-life story in a nonstandard sense.

Theme: Time and space cannot stop me from coming to love you