I Share a Lifespan with the Dragon-Proud Protagonist

After transmigrating, Tao Xu looks at the clear spring, the acre of barren land, and the supreme inheritance in his portable space, and feels no happiness at all. This world reveres martial strength, where the weak are prey to the strong. With his scrawny arms and legs, and a treasure that could get him killed, how many days can he possibly survive? What’s more, there’s no food in his portable space, and he’s about to starve to death! With no other choice, he gives up half his remaining lifespan to forcibly bind himself to a good person and beg for protection. Xiao Tian was harmed by an evil cultivator, drastically shortening his lifespan. Though a fortuitous encounter allowed him to master a powerful art and become the renowned leader of the Jiutian Sect, by the time he reached the age of twenty, he had only one year left to live. When he follows a set of instructions into a strange secret realm, he finds no miraculous medicine to extend his life. Instead, a frail young man asks to make a life-sharing pact with him. “My lifespan only goes up to twenty. Are you sure?” “D-don’t even think about taking it back! You already agreed!” Someone actually volunteering to have a short life? Xiao Tian sighs and nods. “Fine.” After that... “Big Brother is the best! The strongest! The most perfect!” Tao Xu gazes at him with stars in his eyes. “No, A-Xu is the best.” Xiao Tian pats his head. Xiao Tian thought this would be a story about two people with short lives. He never expected that he and his A-Xu would journey side by side along the martial path, leaving the mundane martial world for a vast realm beyond, transcending the mortal and becoming saints, reaching the summit, and ultimately setting out in pursuit of immortality. A few things to know before you start: 1. This is a super-long, high-fantasy, power-progression epic in the style of a classic cultivation novel, about a couple bound together for life. Do not break up the couple or reverse who holds power in the relationship. If that’s not your thing, please don’t read. No writing advice, please. 2. The levels for martial artists and alchemists are the same: Postnatal (Human): Qi Condensation Realm (lifespan: 120 years), Meridian Opening Realm (lifespan: 120 years); Innate (Yellow): Mortal Shedding Realm (lifespan: 200 years), Dao Palace Realm (lifespan: 500 years); Martial King (Black): Core Establishment Realm (lifespan: 800 years), Spirit Nurturing Realm (lifespan: 1,000 years); Martial Emperor (Earth): Samsara Realm (lifespan: 5,000 years); Martial Venerable (Heaven): Divine Connection Realm (faces a tribulation every 10,000 years; surviving it grants another 10,000 years, so in theory one’s lifespan can match that of heaven and earth); Above Martial Venerable is Martial God, with the Immortal Realm and Transcendence. 3. Portable space levels: Human Rank: One mu of ordinary spiritual farmland; the spiritual spring has no special properties; Yellow Rank: One mu of ordinary spiritual farmland; the spring produces one drop of Emperor’s Nectar each month, which can revive the dead branches of withered medicinal plants and make them easier to cultivate; Black Rank: Adds one mu of spiritual farmland where one day equals one year, but accelerating time requires large quantities of spirit stones; the spring produces ten drops of Emperor’s Nectar each month; Earth Rank: The farmland evolves into a medicinal garden, and spirit stones can be used to accelerate time throughout; the medicinal properties of the spring’s Emperor’s Nectar grow stronger; Heaven Rank: Becomes a small world of its own. 4. Alchemy grades: They correspond to the martial arts levels and are divided into Heaven, Earth, Black, Yellow, and Human grades. Pills are further graded as low, middle, high, or supreme quality. Theme: Lovers who share the same ideals fight fate together, refusing to lose or give up.