Otherworldly Flowers on the Changhe River

In Sanskrit, Mahamanjusaka means “the flower that ferries souls.” It blooms along the road to the Yellow Springs or at the edge of the celestial realm, guiding souls onward. Its flowers and leaves never meet, making it a symbol of “heartlessness” and a metaphor for missed connections and lost origins in the human world. Few know that it grows beside the Three Crossings River in the underworld, where it dutifully ferries the dead and protects “those who live a single lifetime” from falling into reincarnation.

Mu Xingchen: Like plum blossoms whose fragrance comes from enduring bitter cold, she grew strong through hatred, and all the flowers in the world lost their color to her. The first woman to become a “puppet” in the history of the Dark River, she was destined to “sink beneath the sea of stars.” In the fleeting moment when he understood and accompanied her, perhaps life and death were simply one grand flowering.

Su Changhe: Leading the Dark River to the other shore was the mirror image of his obsession. “Only Su Muyu must not die” was his naivete. Changhe and Muyu shared a purpose, but not a path; the turbulent jianghu and imperial court made the road long and arduous. And it is never the final straw alone that breaks the camel’s back.

The head of the Su family, Su Changhe, deserves a journey of his own, too, with a companion along the way. Though flowers bloom and leaves fall, forever destined to miss each other, and though some things in this world can never be attained, Changhe and Xingchen’s unexpected journey together is the best of their lives.