A Light Touch on a Drizzly Dream

Legend has it that he ascended to become an immortal at a young age. A host of arrogant challengers, convinced they were his equals, took offense and came one after another to test their skills against him. When a little fairy maiden who had admired him for ages heard about it, she put on a heavy layer of makeup and joined the crowd, hoping to catch his eye for just a fleeting moment. After he had trounced all the provocateurs and finally noticed her, he merely furrowed his brow, beckoned with a finger, and said coolly, “You, the ghost. You’re next.”

For tens of thousands of years, the famously unromantic Prince Hanfei had never once brought up a female immortal, yet he was perfectly willing to become her dog. The beings of the Four Seas and Eight Wildernesses speculated endlessly about who this immortal maiden could be. Only centuries later did they learn she was nothing more than a mortal.