Distant Waters - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My name is Zhu. People call me Wu Zhu.

I am the Chief Shaman of this dynasty, and my years endure as long as its reign.

In prosperous ages, my body is healthy and strong. When the people suffer, I am wounded too.

So the princess marrying into the Fuqin Tribe is, in truth, good for me.

In fact, the emperor and the Chancellor were the ones who brought the matter of her marriage to me. I performed a divination and asked the heavens.

Great fortune.

According to the hexagram, this marriage would ensure at least a hundred years without war between the two peoples.

The princess hovered in front of me, looking like an ancient wild ginseng root that had taken human form.

I said, “Princess, you have never liked me, yet now you come to beg me. Most things in this world have nothing to do with feelings. They only have to do with status and ability.”

“I don’t dislike you,” the princess cut in.

Then she said sullenly, “Wu Zhu, I am one of your people too. You ought to grant my wish.”

“Who told you that?”

With one hand, I ground medicinal powder. With the other, I poured her a cup of tea.

“The one who sealed me here back then was the Human Sovereign, and I have only ever sworn pacts with each generation of Human Sovereign. Three wishes per person. If I had to grant every subject’s wish, I would have died of exhaustion long ago.

“So unless you become emperor, no.”

The princess took small sips of her tea, tears trembling on the verge of falling. She looked terribly pitiful.

“That is for beautifying the skin and preserving youth. If you drink it while crying, the effect won’t be as good.”

The result was immediate. The princess forced her tears back.

I casually pinched up a bit of medicinal powder and scattered it into the air. It drifted and swayed in the void.

A moment later, the powder gathered into a shape: the image of a woman with disheveled hair.

Seeing the princess’s mouth fall open, I said, “These are tangible things.

“Spells involving tangible things are easy. If you want to gather earth into a mountain or condense sand into a tower, that is because earth and sand already exist in this realm. No matter how powerful a spell is, it cannot create something from nothing. At most, it can move something or hide it. That is all.”

I withdrew my magic, and the medicinal powder scattered back onto the table.

“Intangible things, such as lifespan, are not difficult either. But the lifespans of all things born under heaven have a fixed count. If you wish to change that, there must be an increase and a decrease, a rise and a fall.”

The one who bound me here, tying my fate to the dynasty’s, was the founding ancestor, Emperor Zhaowu.

He was an emperor of rare and unmatched talent. When the moment came for him to vanish from this world, he was naturally even less willing than ordinary men to accept it.

For his final wish, he asked me to extend his life by five hundred years.

I tampered with the process a little. Tiny wounds began splitting open all over Emperor Zhaowu’s body.

“Your Majesty, you have a mortal body. To carry so much lifespan violates the way of heaven.”

I knew he would not stop.

In his life, he had accomplished all the things mortals could not. With this task before him, he was confident he could do the same.

He gritted his teeth, blue veins bulging on his forehead. “Continue.”

Emperor Zhaowu died horribly. That day, blood was everywhere on Zhaoyun Terrace. Outside of a battlefield, I had never seen so much blood.

Before he died, he said to me, “Ah Zhu… I am truly glad that you will still be able to see so many years to come.”

I gently closed his eyes. “Your Majesty, I am truly glad that you are dead.”

The princess sat before me. My gaze searched her face, trying to find some trace of Emperor Zhaowu’s bloodline.

But she looked so foolish. So naive.

She said, “Who would be willing to sacrifice themselves like that for someone else? No wonder there is a method, but hardly anyone lives especially long.”

She had not even thought of killing someone.

Too stupid.

I continued, “Spells that concern the human heart are the most difficult. You want love, but love has no weight and cannot be measured.

“Romantic love is true creation from nothing. A person can suddenly go mad for love. They can love one person today and another tomorrow. They can even love one person while also loving someone else.”

Now that I had reached the princess’s area of expertise, she nodded repeatedly.

“At times like this, one can only use the tangible to counterbalance the intangible, forcibly creating an equilibrium.”

Daylight fell through the window lattice. The shadows lay in staggered patterns, almost like an array, enclosing the princess within them.

“The spell I will teach you can make you obtain anyone’s true love. But at the same time, you will also fall hopelessly in love with that person.”

I was ready to watch the girl before me struggle, waver, and retreat.

But all I gained was the faint tremble of her lashes, as if some mistaken belief had been shaken loose.

The princess asked sincerely, “Is there no limit on the number?”

For a moment, I failed to control my expression.

I said, “There is no limit.”

“Then that’s wonderful, Wu Zhu. Such a simple thing. So even the way of heaven has moments when it lets people get a bargain! Usually, no matter how much you love someone, they might not love you back.”

She opened her palm, as though she was ready to absorb some magic on the spot.

“I’m ready. Teach me.”