I Have a Friend

The fortress's secret chamber was cramped and narrow, completely incapable of accommodating Jiumu's massive body. However, as a Heavenly Shaman, changing size was merely a trivial divine ability. Thus, he shrank down to the size of an ordinary mortal, appearing roughly the same height as Wei Yuan. The secret chamber had originally been prepared for Desolate Shamans, so with Jiumu and Wei Yuan sitting together inside, the room actually felt rather spacious and lofty. The two sat facing each other, the atmosphere freezing up in an indescribable stillness. Out of respect for the realm and might of a Heavenly Shaman, Wei Yuan decided to take the initiative. He tentatively asked, "Lord Jiumu, did you see anything?" Jiumu's expression turned exceedingly sour, and he snapped testily, "What could I see? What would I dare to see? What good would seeing anything do? It would be far better to see nothing at all!" Wei Yuan could not quite fathom why he was throwing a tantrum, so he could only sit quietly without moving. Jiumu took a deep breath to steady his emotions and said, "Let me tell you a story! I have a friend. He was originally a very clever and talented shaman, but he didn't have much ambition. He just wanted to live a good life, sleep every day once his belly was full..." It turned out to be a slightly long-winded tale. This friend of Jiumu's had stood out from a young age. He had always effortlessly met the goals set by his elders. Whatever shamanic arts he cultivated, he learned them the moment he was taught, and mastered them the moment he learned them—and then, there was no 'then.' He left it at that. This friend coasted entirely on natural talent, remaining forever among the first rate, yet never reaching the very top. But seeing how he looked like he wasn't trying at all, his elders became even more confident in him. They poured resources heavily in his direction, completely disregarding the development of the other geniuses in the realm. Those other geniuses fought tooth and nail, giving their absolute all, yet could only match Jiumu's friend, occasionally managing to surpass him for a brief moment. And the result of being surpassed that single time was that the resources allocated to Jiumu's friend were abruptly slashed in half! That friend had grown entirely accustomed to a life sustained by boundless resources. Every day, he needed to think about nothing else besides cultivating. When his resources were suddenly cut by half, he discovered he couldn't even eat his fill! Jiumu let out a deep sigh. "Can you imagine? Being hailed as the greatest genius of a nation for over a century, attaining Desolate Shaman in under two hundred years, and yet you can't even get enough to eat!" Wei Yuan was at a loss for words. Next, Jiumu's friend discovered another problem. When he attained Desolate Shaman, he had been greedy for grand perfection and expanded his mindscape world until it was colossal. As a result, its daily consumption was terrifying. If the supply of spiritual qi was insufficient, it directly drained the magic power from the shaman's body. The direct physical sensation of depleted magic power was biting, bone-chilling cold. Just like that, Jiumu's friend spent an entire century gripped by cold and hunger, until his mindscape world stabilized and once again allowed the Heavenly Shamans to see his peerless potential, whereupon his resource supply was finally restored. From then on, that friend could at least eat until he was half full. Then, continuing in that hand-to-mouth fashion, a few more centuries passed until, at the age of eight hundred, he finally brushed against the threshold of Heavenly Shaman. Jiumu let out another sigh. "Can you imagine? A genius—a genius hailed as a once-in-a-millennium prodigy across the neighboring nations—spending most of his time wondering what he was going to eat for his next meal, and where he could sleep tonight without freezing." Wei Yuan finally found an opening to interject. "Why didn't he come to the Desolate Realm?" Jiumu shot Wei Yuan a glare and snapped, "That was the cold of a depleted soul, not something you can alleviate by warming yourself by a fire or basking in the sun!" Wei Yuan dutifully held his tongue and continued listening to the story of this 'friend.' That friend drifted along in a muddle for nearly a thousand years. The sole driving force spurring him to rush toward Heavenly Shaman was to feed his mindscape world. Becoming a Heavenly Shaman meant taking command of a domain of heaven and earth, which would provide the foundation to sustain himself. That friend spent less than two hundred years at the perfection of Desolate Shaman before unexpectedly receiving the Ancestral Shaman's recognition. He successfully filled a vacancy and became a Heavenly Shaman. Jiumu let out yet another sigh, his expression complicated as he said, "At the time, he couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he thought. In terms of mindscape worlds, he wasn't ranked first. In terms of martial might and divine abilities, other Desolate Shamans surpassed him. In terms of background, he had only a modest backing, while his competitors included the direct grandson of the First Heavenly Shaman. In terms of military merit, he was even worse off, unable to make the top three. Yet in the end, he was the one who became a Heavenly Shaman, while the other geniuses of his generation are still stuck as Desolate Shamans to this day." "And why was that?" Wei Yuan's well-timed question significantly elevated Jiumu's favor toward him. Jiumu said, "Because he was clever enough, yet lacked ambition; he had ability, but wasn't some earth-shattering talent; because he could read the situation, because he had no principles, and because he knew that the one feeding him this bowl of rice was the Ancestral Shaman—not the First Heavenly Shaman, not the Second Heavenly Shaman, nor any other Heavenly Shaman." Jiumu gave Wei Yuan a meaningful look and said, "Why did he get to become a Heavenly Shaman? In the final analysis, it was because the Ancestral Shaman happened to need a dog at that moment." Wei Yuan had never imagined such a reality, leaving him utterly unable to comment. Jiumu suddenly grew agitated, waving his arms vigorously as he cried, "For a shaman so devoid of worldly strife, a shaman whose only desire was to get his meal, why can't he just enjoy a few peaceful days? Not only does he have to keep watch over battles all across the Desolate Realm every day, but monumental trouble constantly falls right onto his head! All he wanted out of his shamanic life was to eat his fill, drink his fill, lie flat, and slack off—is that so wrong?!" Wei Yuan pondered for a moment before asking cautiously, "I'm only asking out of curiosity, nothing more. But wouldn't your friend, having already become a Heavenly Shaman, want to accomplish some grand undertaking?" "A grand undertaking? Accomplish what grand undertaking, and for whom? This heaven and earth belong to the Ancestral Shaman, and the Desolate Realm belongs to everyone. Out of all the spiritual qi between heaven and earth, how much can a single Heavenly Shaman actually consume? When you only consume that little bit, why bother doing anything grand? Does pulling off a grand feat let you eat an extra mouthful?" This barrage of questions left Wei Yuan speechless and thoroughly stumped. Jiumu seemed to have a point. Since he consumed so little, why do so much? Not every shaman desired to go down in history and be remembered by posterity. Moreover, a Heavenly Shaman was just one individual; even if he gorged himself, how much could he possibly eat? From that perspective, pursuing grand undertakings was indeed a losing bargain. Jiumu calmed his temper once more and said, "What the Ancestral Shaman wants is an obedient dog, not a dog with grand ambitions." Silence fell over the secret chamber. After a short pause, Wei Yuan sought a new topic to glean a bit more of the Wu Realm's secret history. After some thought, Wei Yuan asked, "What sort of monumental troubles did your friend run into?" Jiumu flared up again. "Isn't it obvious? When some shaman wants to pull off an earth-shattering feat on your turf just to carve his name into the annals of history, whether it succeeds or fails, it's monumental trouble! And if that wasn't enough, trouble even falls straight out of the sky! Truly, blessings never come in pairs, while misfortunes never come alone; a shaman's life never sees an easy hurdle..." Wei Yuan fell silent once more. After venting all that, Jiumu's mood finally improved a little. He then asked Wei Yuan, "Do you have friends?" "I do." "Does that friend of yours have a lot of karmic luck?" "A fair amount." "Has your friend ever been to the Wu Realm?" "He has." "Has he been to the Desolate Realm?" Wei Yuan nodded. "He has." "The Wu domain is so vast, encompassing five entire realms of heaven and earth. Where couldn't he go? Why did he have to come to the Desolate Realm?" Jiumu finally posed his soul-searching interrogation. Wei Yuan let out a sigh as well. "He already visited the Nether Cold Realm, where he was thoroughly swindled. The Nether Shamans weren't satisfied with screwing him over once, so they did it a second time and kicked him back into the Wu domain. Exactly where he landed, I'm not sure either. Perhaps it happened to be the Desolate Realm?" Jiumu asked faintly, "Then why did he have to bring so much karmic luck with him when going out for a stroll?" Wei Yuan said, "Precisely because he possesses such immense karmic luck, he accidentally brought too much of it along when leaving the house!"