Jianmen did not know how long his consciousness faded into the dark, before he all of a sudden found himself near the edge of a cliff over a giant tranquil lake, with cool breeze blowing, trees dancing with the wind, birds chirping and, expectedly but surprisingly, music from guqin playing.

There was a woman wearing a thin, white silk robe sitting on the edge of the cliff, with her back facing Jianmen. And when she heard Jianmen awake, she turned around, showing a face of Josephine Wong and said: “You’re awake. Good. I’ve been waiting.”

Jianmen stood up, rubbed his temples for a short moment, then sighed: “Who the hell do you take me for? Some fucking moron who can’t tell illusion from truth? Drop the facade.”

“Josephine Wong” in the traditional white silk robe and a guqin on her lap smiled: “Nice to see that you are clear in your head. This would make our conversation easier. But first, I could only manifest in front of you this way in forms that you have a certain amount of faith and belief in, it’s a - a limitation, you could say, of my ability to connect with you. The Grand Defiler also functions this way. I can take the form of your students, or Rash, or some others, but I can’t be Jimbo from the shop.”

Jianmen took another moment to sense everything around and took a careful look at this “Josephine Wong” and made sure that this was not an illusion created by the Grand Defiler to trick him: “Okay, what and where is this place? And why are you here?”

“This is a small realm created by your memories, your thoughts and your dreams. Consider it a limbo in a much more isolated manner. And it is where your room artifact is. ” The “Josephine Wong” said: “Kudos on the construction of that room, you got closer than anyone else.”

“But not close enough. Why are you here?”

“Is one meter away close enough? One centimeter? One millimeter? The thing is, you will never be there, you could only get closer and closer, at greater and greater cost with less and less reward, for a simple reason: you are not me, you are not the Will.”

“Fascinating story. Why are you here?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“For someone that frequently calls me a bitch, you are awfully short on patience.”

“Well, I’m sorry, I didn’t expect you to understand this - but nobody likes someone who always has others to do their dirty work!”

“I understand completely. And I am not here to explain myself to you. I am simply here to offer you a deal. And unlike what the Defilers typically do, you can have plenty of time to think it over.”

“Okay - since you’ve invited me here and presumably saved my life, I will give it a fair consideration.” Jianmen sighed: “It’s a godhood thing, right?”

“The God of Hospitality and Welcoming title suits you, there are other possible candidates, but they are nowhere near where you are.” This “Josephine Wong” said: “Also, do you know what happens when a god falls completely at the hands of Defilers?”

“I can’t say I do.” Jianmen let out a long sigh and sat down on the ground, playing with the grass: “This is kinda creepy, you know? If you want to connect, you’d better not make the scene something from their deepest memories. It’s really unsettling.”

“Connections can be made in various ways. Warmth and friendliness is one, fear and show of power is another.” This “Josephine Wong” smiled: “There’s a saying for humans I find quite true, ‘Knowledge is power’, right?”

“I suspect as much, but you should also know, fear and ironfist rarely buys you true royalty.”

“Agree to disagree.” This “Josephine Wong” ran her right hand through the strings on the guqin: “But, back to our topic - when a god is slain, the godhood loses some of its power, and a little of its order is lost. I couldn’t care less if it was one god slaying another, because then it’s just a transfer of that order. But when Defilers do it - the order will be lost to chaos.”

“So why have godhood at all? Why even allow fallible beings to gain control over this kind of power?”

“Because knowledge means nothing if there’s no mind to acquire it. It’s but the basic laws of knowing, and existing.”

“Okay. I promise I’ll think it over.” Jianmen nodded: “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get back to my business.”

“Yes, do think about it.” The “Josephine Wong” responded with a bright smile: “And, as a - what do you call it - an added bonus, a show of good faith, or an item of bribery, whatever, here’s the contract your human friends submitted.”

A small scroll flew from “Josephine Wong”’s hand, and when Jianmen grabbed it in his hand, he could feel that there’s a lot of familiar names on them - Pei, Nameless, Bruj, and many of the monks, exorcists and individuals with super powers.

“They fell.” Jianmen sighed.

“Yes, and their names would have been lost, if you had lost.” The “Josephine Wong” placed the guqin on the ground: “But you won, and here I am just in time to capture their names. When you go back, they will have their names back, and they will be remembered.”

“Thank you.”

“Consider it a token of my gratitude for slaying the Grand Defiler, even though you did it for your own selfish purpose. And just like gods, but in reverse, when Defilers are slain by agents of order, a little chaos will be lost. Yin and Yang, light and darkness, pretty fascinating, huh?”

“It’s like the world’s darkest joke.”

“And don’t thank me yet. ” The “Josephine Wong” said with a cunning smile: “When you get the time, why don’t you take a look at yourself?”