My current favored solution is for the Dirt Nap to have been a restless sleep, that he was in some way linked to Ye Zun, and whenever YZ got restless/more energy/whatever SW would awaken only enough to re-suppress YZ, then it's back to naptime. And that this happened a BUNCH of times, like 10-20, enough for SW to have a real sense that time is dragging by him, but not enough for him to have a Methos-like sense of history and loss.
He could also have had periods, every few thousand years or so, when he had to spend significant time awake and moving around--the ruins around YZ's Pillar seem to belong to several different periods and even cultures.
10,000 years vs. Dirt Nap
My current favored solution is for the Dirt Nap to have been a restless sleep, that he was in some way linked to Ye Zun, and whenever YZ got restless/more energy/whatever SW would awaken only enough to re-suppress YZ, then it's back to naptime. And that this happened a BUNCH of times, like 10-20, enough for SW to have a real sense that time is dragging by him, but not enough for him to have a Methos-like sense of history and loss.
He could also have had periods, every few thousand years or so, when he had to spend significant time awake and moving around--the ruins around YZ's Pillar seem to belong to several different periods and even cultures.