Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I was ugly-or perhaps terrifying. After He Qiong rescued me, he took me back to the demon realm. Even the most vicious demons looked at me with disgust, revulsion, and fear. Only He Qiong, perhaps out of pity and perhaps out of curiosity, treated me well. He named me Du Nan, which meant that all the hardships I suffered would one day be overcome.

He truly was terrible at naming things.

Du Nan-“crossing hardship.” Without hardship, there could be no crossing. The name sounded more like a promise that my troubles would never end.

Over the next several thousand years, my painful demon life proved that there would indeed be endless trials, great and small, for me to cross.

He Qiong’s reputation made all Three Realms keep their distance. For a time, his latest amusement was studying me. He really was extraordinarily kind to me. I succeeded in taking human form, no longer forced to disgust everyone with my true shape, only because he fed me immortal pills and transferred his cultivation into me until I could transform.

I would always remember that day. It was White Dew. Mist covered the mountain, and round beads of dew clung to tender blades of grass. Before He Qiong, I slowly unfurled a human body and looked at him from the brush, bewildered and afraid. The unfamiliar height and angle made me dizzy. He stared at me in astonishment and said, “Little monster, this is what you look like as a human?”

Then he draped his outer robe over me and turned his back.

Only after I understood beauty and ugliness did I realize that my human form was beautiful, perhaps because He Qiong had helped shape it with the purest power of the Demon King.

I never revealed my true form again after that.

Everything I knew about living among people came from He Qiong. He taught me, almost hand in hand, how humans and demons behaved: never appear naked before others, how to speak with people and demons, how to move through the world. He took me across the entire mortal realm for a hundred years before I finally understood its ways.

For a long time afterward, I believed he was mine and mine alone. He Qiong lived entirely as he pleased, and in the demon realm, where the strong devoured the weak, no one formed lasting bonds.

For all those years, I was the only person allowed to remain beside him. It gave me a terrible illusion. He Qiong was always so good to me, and it was impossible not to sink into his gentleness and care.

The demon realm was cruel and cunning, worshipping strength, and betrayal was commonplace. He Qiong had been alone for thousands of years, balancing the Celestial Realm above while remaining wary of rebellion below. I thought that if I stayed wholeheartedly at his side, he would at least be less lonely.

Then we met Feng Jue.

Only after meeting her did I understand that He Qiong had merely raised me as a pet.

That day was also White Dew, and mist covered the mountain. Feng Jue rested in her true form within a grove of parasol trees. She was a fiery red phoenix, her splendid tail feathers spilling between the towering branches like the finest brocade, glowing with the soft luster of jade.

Following behind He Qiong, I stared in wonder.

He Qiong smiled at my expression, tapped the ground with one foot, and said, “Du Nan, don’t envy her. Wait here. I’ll pluck her longest, brightest tail feather and make you a broom.”

For centuries afterward, I dared not remember what happened next. The instant He Qiong tore out Feng Jue’s feather, a phoenix cry pierced the grove. She transformed into a young woman in a blazing red gown and tumbled screaming from the high thicket. Her skirts spread like a brush loaded with vermilion dipped into clear water, the richest color bleeding outward. Just before she struck the ground, He Qiong caught her around the waist.

Before she had even steadied herself in his arms, she slapped him across the face. The sharp crack rang out. Murderous intent had only begun to rise in He Qiong’s eyes when she burst into tears, looped her pale arms around his neck, and pouted through her sobs. “You lecher! You pulled out my prettiest tail feather. By the laws of the phoenix clan, you have to marry me.”

She leaned back to inspect his face, then giggled and nestled sweetly against his chest. “I once swore that whoever plucked my tail feather would marry me if I liked him, and die if I didn’t. But since you’re so handsome, I’ll agree to be your bride.”

She transformed the feather he had taken into a bracelet and slipped it around his wrist. Beaming, she said, “It contains a fragment of my soul. Let it be our token of love.”

From that day on, Feng Jue replaced me at He Qiong’s side.