A flower, a spirit, a story...
Every flower is nurtured by the blood of countless souls.
Every soul tells a heartrending tale.
A wistaria's vow to wait a thousand years; an imperial princess's corpse, her soul undying as she waits for her beloved to return so they can journey to the underworld together; twin souls bound to one another, living and dying together, with only one surviving, yet remaining faithful until death...
All the spirits you cannot see, all the affairs of the world beyond the flowers, gather here!
You who mock the world's foolishness and the stubbornness of mountain spirits and demons... Do you know that for just one smile from you, I would become a soul beneath the flowers and endure the world's most painful torture? But I think the cruelest punishment of all would be losing you...
The divine hunt the spirits, the divine forsake them. Hunt the spirits of all things, and if you are willing to sacrifice, I will grant your heart's desire!
Worship the spirits, serve the spirits, devour the spirits...
Devour your spirit, fulfill your wish!
Ever since a demon flower set up shop outside my home to trade in souls, the Lord of the Underworld has started trading souls too. If it means tasting the most delicious, purest spirit in the world, what's wrong with going against one's principles? Even the Lord of Mount Tai, who truly governs life and death, can no longer sit still. If even the self-righteous Lord of the Underworld can shamelessly imitate that demonic red flower and defy the laws of the Three Realms, then he has no need to stick to the rules either.
Since the gods withdrew from the Ruins of Kunlun, these three great powers have become increasingly brazen. To claim the purest spirits, they bicker every other day and fight every third day, leaving humans, demons, and spirits to suffer and complain. To quell the public anger and avoid tainting the purest spirits and getting more than they bargained for, the three powers established rules: whoever arrives first has priority, they must not interfere with one another, and they must not break soul contracts governing life and death or alter the pivots of fate. If anyone breaks a life-and-death contract, the offender will be handed over to the other party for punishment for a minor violation. For a serious one, the offender's master must come in person to apologize and accept whatever punishment is dealt. Sealing away the spirit and paying with one's life would not be too much.
Thus, the Three Realms enjoyed a thousand years of peace. But a thousand years later, a book detailing the divine hunt and the Flower Abode was published, and the owner of the Flower Abode broke their contract with the Lord of Mount Tai and had to come in person to apologize.
And so it began, unfolding from the twin-soul contract signed by the spirit-offering child Zi'ang.
A fantasy story I wrote a long time ago, recording the people I once knew and met along the way...
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