The world of Manzhu and Shahua gave everyone a jolt.
It was a world of blood-red and pitch-black. There was light, but it was dim.
To their astonishment, they discovered that Manzhu and Shahua were actually two flowers.
One was Manzhu, the other Shahua.
When the wind swept through this world, the Manzhu flower swayed and transformed into a woman. She gazed up at the sky and murmured softly.
"They all say that you and I will never meet, that we will miss each other in every lifetime. They do not know that this is how we remain together for eternity.
"We were once ancient souls upon the Three Lives Stone. For a thousand years, we kept each other company, watching mortal bonds, joys and sorrows, reunions and partings, life and death, and the cycle of reincarnation.
"That day, the Buddha said we had to enter the mortal world. I asked him about our marriage bond. He closed his eyes and said we were destined to meet only once in a lifetime.
"I asked the Buddha: a thousand backward glances in a past life earn a single brush of shoulders in this life.
"A thousand brushes of shoulders in a past life earn a single encounter in this life.
"A thousand encounters in a past life earn a single acquaintance in this life.
"A thousand acquaintances in a past life earn a single understanding in this life.
"A thousand moments of understanding in a past life earn a single love in this life.
"Was that truly so?
"The Buddha smiled without answering.
"I fell upon the far shore of Wangchuan and took root beside the Santu River. It was gloomy and bitterly cold here.
"There was only a bridge, and the old woman upon it, who tended a pot of