The Primordial Chaos Twin Blooms: one, the celestial maiden Manzhu, the Vermilion Blossom of the Heavenly Realm, governs memory and the renewing of incense; the other, Shahua, the spirit of the Netherworld Leaf, oversees the purification of resentment and baleful energy.
Because their power over life and death threatened the old order, the Heavenly Emperor and Netherworld Lord joined forces to divide them. Blossom and leaf were parted, never to meet again for all eternity.
When celestial punishment fell, Manzhu plunged into the River of Forgetfulness to guide souls across. Bound by fate, Shahua broke through a secret realm to save her.
At their first encounter, they were cursed to “live and suffer together”: when her blossom blooms, his leaf withers; when his leaf grows, her blossom fades.
They guide a general burdened by obsession, awaken a tomb-keeper who has waited three hundred years, and resolve a scholar’s resentment over his failed ambitions. With every soul they guide, the time they can spend together as fleeting apparitions grows by the time it takes one stick of incense to burn.
Ancient inscriptions lie beneath the Bridge of Helplessness, and the seed of the Chaos Twin Bloom is buried at the heart of a tide of resentment and baleful energy. The realms of Heaven and the Netherworld lay a vast trap, seeking to destroy the twins at the River of Forgetfulness.
Manzhu sacrifices her immortal bones; Shahua burns through his very essence. “Even if blossom and leaf can never share the same frame, I will stay by your side in life and death!”
When the twins’ essences merge, a blossom red as raging fire and a leaf green as jade appear on the banks of the River of Forgetfulness. Only then do the Three Realms understand:
The flower of the Other Shore was never an ill omen. It is salvation by fate, reaching across life and death.
“Other Shore, Other Life, Series 01: A tragic xianxia romance fused with intangible cultural heritage. Blossom and leaf reunited, never parted in life or death.”
