Chapter 3

At first, the Demon Emperor tried to force himself on me, both to taste mortal pleasure and to humiliate me.

The Azure Empress of ancient legend appeared in my dream and chased him until he fled with his arms over his head.

He snapped his fingers until he nearly rubbed the skin raw, but the scene would not change.

She drove him out of my dream. Only after the scene shifted and I was admiring flowers from a walkway did he creep back, unable to keep his smile in place.

“I must admit that yours is the most detached, resilient spirit I have encountered in all these ages, whether human or divine.”

“Does praising me make your humiliation and defeat seem more dignified?” I asked honestly.

He nearly attacked me in his rage.

One look at the rippling dream brought him back to his senses. Curious now, he asked, “The Azure Empress reduced you to this. How can you conjure her at the height of her power in your dream and feel nothing?”

“The woman in my dream is not the one who threw me into the well.” I always answered his questions. “When I first heard of her deeds, I thought she was extraordinary. I admired her deeply. I imagined her heroic bearing and longed to see it.”

“The woman who threw me down here is not that Azure Empress to me. Perhaps, like my husband, the ancient empress truly died when she sacrificed herself for the Dao.”

Once he realized that, without my permission, he could do nothing outrageous in my dreams, he took pleasure in smaller ways of making me miserable.

When I traded, he sold me counterfeit goods and sent buyers to make trouble.

When I fished, he made the smallest possible fry take my hook, then struggle free.

When I rode in a carriage, he made a wheel come loose, sending the runaway carriage tumbling into a river.

When I swam out, he stood on the bank with his arms folded and a smile on his lips.

I lay on the bank, gazing at a sky I knew was false.

“Thank you,” I told him.

His smile faltered. Then he sneered. “Have you grown addicted to my tormenting you?”

I allowed his tricks so long as he did not cross the line for one reason: he was the only variable in my dreams, the only person I could not predict.

“How long have I been here?” I asked.

“Days? A dozen days? Months? Years?” he asked in return.

He, too, had long since lost count of time in his endless imprisonment.

But however many dreams one dreamed, the day would come when they grew tiresome.

Once, as I passed a familiar walkway, the dream shattered and exposed the real world outside it.

In the darkness, I told him, “I am a little tired.”

“Tired already? I don’t even know how many years I’ve been shut away here!”

“I will have a good sleep. No dreams this time.” I sighed.

Then, without waiting for his reaction, I lay down and slept.

It turned out I had always been able to do it.

If I wanted no dreams, there were none.

When I woke, he asked, “Do you know how long you slept?”

I did not. How could I?

So I shook my head.

He gave a self-mocking smile. “Neither do I.”

“But it felt as though tens of thousands of years had passed.”

“Wei Ge, listen to me. I know a way to get you out.” For the first time, his voice was solemn. “But after you leave, you must cultivate using the method I teach you, until one day you can return here.”

“Then you will free me.”

I refused.

“Why?” He sounded ready to stamp his feet.

“You told me you were born a demon, born to destroy all creation and kill every living thing.”

“Bullshit! I made that up! When I was first born, my nature did drive me to destroy the world. I’m hardly better now, but I no longer think that way!”

“Then what evil do you want to commit?” I asked.

“I will rob the world of pleasant dreams and leave it with nightmares forever!

“I will kill every hypocritical god!”

I lay down to sleep.

“Wait! I won’t kill them! I won’t do it!”

I sat up. “You know you cannot deceive me.”

He was about to offer assurances when I settled into a comfortable position and fell asleep.