Monument to All Living Beings

Is it a thorny rose or a skull?

Red fog billowed, its chill sinking to the bone.

Dawn was gone. In the darkness, crows perched on dead trees lining both sides of a ten-mile-long street, while murder took root.

Beneath their feet was soil soaked in blood. Nailed to dead tree stumps were the headless corpses of infants.

Unceasing by their ears were resentful cries, the wails of ghost babies.

And there were thorny roses blooming atop skulls, broken steles where crows nested, blood haze stretching for thousands of miles, and white-robed ghosts playing suona horns as sorrow filled the sky.

"Beneath lie the long-dead,

Lost in endless darkness.

They sleep beneath the Yellow Springs,

Never to wake again for a thousand years."

From the moment they entered the ghost realm, the white-robed ghosts sang these same lines all the way through.

After years of drifting through the martial world in a daze, Hua Xi, who believed in fate more than anyone, showed Li Chen'ai, lonely and wretched, a world of birdsong and flowers. She helped everyone trapped in dire straits break the chains of fate. In the end, she chose a path where death was all but certain. She said, "If someone has no way to do anything for the people suffering, then so be it. But if they can, then they must do whatever it takes for a world of lasting peace and prosperity. They must persevere through every setback and never regret even if they die nine times over."

To stop the divine bone from being stolen, Hua Xi forced the ill fortune that surrounded her into a barrier to protect it. In the end, she was left with no spiritual power. She thought peace had finally come, but Li Chen'ai locked her in prison and forced her to open the barrier. He bound her collarbones and left her to be devoured by evil souls day and night, until she was tortured to death.

After Hua Xi died, the barrier was broken. Her tremendous misfortune engulfed the mortal world, leaving the people destitute and wailing everywhere, while the demon clan rose to power.

"In my heart stands a mountain, a sacred mountain. For thousands of years, I stood at its summit and watched the mortal world: countless lights in homes, mountains and rivers thriving forever. Now that my body and soul are gone, bury me atop the sacred mountain. Do not erect a stele. Plant some flowers instead. No one needs to come visit me. I will watch over the entire mortal world."

The thirteen rulers of the provinces came in a mighty procession to the foot of the sacred mountain and built a temple there, the Temple of the Sacred Mountain. Red ribbons hung from the old trees outside, while incense burned without end within.

"Mother, what's on that mountain?"

"A stele to the people of the world."

"Who is buried there?"

"A jinx."

(P.S. No transmigration, no System, traditional xianxia. The quoted poem is from 'Driving Out the Eastern Gate,' by an anonymous poet of the Han dynasty.

Content notes:

1. The heroine is a little rude at first, but only to certain people.

2. At first, the heroine looks out for herself. Later, she fights for all.

Theme: Protect all living beings, and let harmony spread for a thousand miles.