In the beginning of time, the god Zhuyin sought to benefit all living things. Using the power of nature, he nurtured the seed of a divine herb, naming it Zibo, and planted it on Zhong Mountain, tending it day after day. Later, because it was cold-natured, he replanted it at Bei Huan Temple.
Perhaps after absorbing the incense offerings and receiving the protection of Buddhism, it learned to take human form and became a demon. It did evil without restraint, reveling in slaughter and wreaking havoc among mortals. It was a great calamity.
The god Zhuyin blamed Zibo for its devastation and summoned the divine clans to destroy it. Then, using their hands, he eliminated it, leaving behind only a seedling as tiny as a baby.
The divine clans could do nothing but leave it alone. Zhuyin took pity on it, removed its evil threads, and raised it once more.
Hundreds and thousands of years later, evil threads coiled around it, giving rise to Yuanzhou, whose face was uglier than a lamprey's and whose wails sounded like a crow's cries.
When it laughed, starlight blazed; when it wept, a vengeful spirit wailed. Perhaps it had the gods' protection, but it could never escape the cycle of cause and effect.
When they met again, within the Boundless Realm, a dance onstage astonished the city, while a hidden flower waited below.
The divine tree of the northwest is called Zibo. Its fruit resembles that of the privet, and its bark is white, not yellow. It is also called little barberry, and can be found everywhere today.
Theme: Good and evil seep into and taint one another
