Flowers Bloom Across the River: A Thousand Years in Wangchuan

Step onto the road to the Yellow Springs, and you will sink into the River of Forgetfulness, never to return.

By the River of Forgetfulness, at the head of the Bridge of Helplessness, at the foot of Yin Mountain, dim, gloomy light and clusters of ghostly fire illuminate the river. Within its waters, man-eating fish and poisonous toads bare their teeth and claws without pause, as if ready to tear apart any soul attempting to cross. Beyond the River of Forgetfulness lies the Bridge of Helplessness. Along the riverbank bloom flowers whose blossoms are visible but whose leaves are not, like two people fated to meet yet denied a future together, close beside each other but never able to meet. Beside the river stands the Three Lives Stone, its characters as red as blood. Four words are carved upon it: “May you reach the other shore soon.” The Three Lives Stone records the past, present, and future lives of everyone who passes by. The Bridge of Helplessness stretches over the River of Forgetfulness, and at its far end stands the Lookout Terrace, where one can gaze toward home from afar but never return. Before forgetting everything from this life, you may take one last look at home from the terrace. Beside it stands Granny Meng, carrying a bucket of Meng Po’s Soup. She gives every passerby a bowl of the soup, brewed from the waters of the River of Forgetfulness. Drink it, and you will forget this life completely. The love and hatred, the gains and losses of a lifetime all vanish without a trace with that bowl of soup. Those you cared for in this life and those you hated in this life will be strangers in the next, meeting without recognizing each other...