Xiao was in a bit of a conundrum. As a reader of the original story in which he had now taken the place of the protagonist, he was naturally well aware of most plot points and the like, having read very far into the book. He was rather proud of his memory in that regard, for he had been reading several books of the same sort at the time, each with more than a thousand chapters, yet he still managed to remember with clarity many details of the story.
For example, he was well aware that the next plot point would be a classical dive into a secret realm. Those were rather common in the cultivation novels that he had read. Most often, they were separate spaces, some sort of miniature world where ambient energy was more abundant, allowing for special herbs to grow in abundance and for beasts to develop, thus making these secret realms rather attractive to cultivators.
The realm in question, which was the first of a rather long list of them throughout the story, differed from the norm in certain aspects. It possessed the aforementioned qualities, but it also had its own intelligent population, which teetered on the edge of sapience... Not quite intelligent enough to be considered fully sapient, but still plenty cunning not to be regarded as beasts or monsters.
They were plentiful inside the realm and possessed the means to make it difficult for any invaders to pillage their resources. After all, it was indeed their land to begin with.
In the original story, the protagonist would discover what seemed like a great opportunity within the realm. At the time, however, he would be unable to seize it before having to leave the realm, being forced to find a way back in at a later date to claim the opportunity.
With his knowledge, he was debating whether to attempt to take that opportunity early, eliminating the need to return later, or to be safe and follow the natural script. The problem was that he would need to separate from the group early or seek their assistance.
The Myriad-Arm Sect was a safe haven for him, and would be for a while longer. He couldn’t just perform terribly like this, especially since the chance to explore the realm was an opportunity that Elder Gang would give him because the old man saw promise in him. Otherwise, why would an outer disciple be granted the right to explore the realm? Or even just a newly assigned inner disciple, for that matter?
He was reluctant to ask for his ghostly master’s assistance in making a decision, uncertain how to explain why he knew this in advance. He did not know what the spectre would think if he revealed that he was, in fact, not the real Xiao Chen, but a body snatcher.
Of course, he could make up some more lies, but he did not feel very confident in coming up with something convincing right now…
The only other option would be to somehow get the assistance of his fellows. Edrick would certainly be invited to enter the secret realm, too, after all, and that guy was incredibly strong…
Apart from this, the secret realm was also supposed to be the moment when he, the protagonist, would get close to the second harem member. Yin, moving from a cold shoulder to a heated relationship in an instant.
Xiao was no longer very interested in that. Sure, most of the harem members had great qualities, but for some reason, the author would never make use of those qualities. They would just introduce the fact that the girl was super incredible and unique, only to then do nothing with it.
So even though those qualities could be used by Xiao, he knew very well that not having access to them would change nothing for him.
He had Ai, and was very satisfied with just her.
“Xiao, you look preoccupied” said the emerald apparition.
“I am thinking about the future, Master Chengzhe” being all by himself, Xiao responded aloud.
“Is that so? Ah, the youth... Always seeing further ahead, huh? Thinking about getting yourself more women?”
“No”
“What a shame, if you are thinking about remaining monogamous, then you should invest in a fitting dual cultivation technique. I believe that there are quite a few good ones”
The ghostly master stayed the same through and through.
After a little while longer of back and forth, Xiao returned to pondering. Of course, there was always the option of more closely following the plot and simply returning later to claim the prize, but it seemed like a bit of a waste of his future knowledge. What good was knowing the events to come if you were going to content yourself with following them rigidly?
‘Mmh… The world is still quite different from the story. It is a real world after all… Maybe instead of going for what the protagonist went for, I should try to explore places that the story did not? There could be more treasures to be found like that… And then I can return later to claim the original stuff… That sounds pretty good’ Xiao rubbed his chin. Indeed, Edrick had earned himself a bloodline in the nearby woods, something that was never mentioned in the book.
So by that logic, there could be countless treasures and opportunities hidden beyond the lines written in the story.
‘I might go for this then. It's much safer, and I don’t lose out on anything’ he nodded with a slight smile before looking up to see Chengzhe floating in the air, seemingly observing the sect from a higher point of view.
‘Are you sensing something, Master?’ he sent his thoughts to the spectre, who confirmed it with a nod.
“From the looks of it, your Elt friend is receiving a guest” said the emerald ghost.
‘What sort of guest is it for you to sense them from so far away?’ his master was supposed to have fairly restrained senses and capabilities currently, so it had to be quite the presence for him to take notice.
“It’s nothing much, I simply was not expecting to sense an architecture cultivator. They are… Rather rare”
‘An architecture cultivator…?’