Li Zhenzhen

For as long as Li Zhenzhen can remember, her world is shrouded in darkness. Blind since birth, she is robbed of the simple freedom to live as others do. Shoved, cursed, detested, her life is defined by the cruel treatment of others. All of it can be summed up by a small bag of copper coins, the price of her fate. Rebellion is a thought she never entertains. She has never even heard of rebellion. To her, it seems everyone lives the same way, like rootless reeds drifting aimlessly on a vast, indifferent river, carried by the currents of fate, destined to sink into its depths. So, when she was sold to that family as a servant and slave, she said nothing. When they promised her to a sick, deranged man, she said nothing. On their wedding night, when the crowd closed in, knives in hand, she remained silent. She simply lowered her head, exposing her fragile neck, like a sheep waiting for slaughter. Then, in that moment of helplessness, another blade intercepted the knives. A young man pressed a short sword into her hand, and in that instant, she realized there was another way. The people who once tormented her now kneel before her, trembling at the sight of the blade in her hand, just as she had once trembled before theirs. Later, someone asks the Lunar Goddess why she chooses the path of a swordswoman. She never answers. Instead, she gently touches her sword. It is the only tool she has ever needed to survive in this world.

Li Zhenzhen doesn't hate those who come after her. After all, she has taken the lives of their loved ones to settle a debt, and so they have every right to seek revenge. In this world, everything was settled with a balance of blood. Some debts were repaid with kindness, others with vengeance. Life and death were always a transaction. Her only regret is that the moment of death comes too soon. She couldn't pack her things and leave for the South with that man. Throughout her life, she has had many roles. She is the elusive swordswoman, the Lunar Goddess; she is the villain who slaughtered warriors; she is the keeper of secrets, the one forever in debt. But when it comes to the end of it all, she doesn't want to be any of these things. She simply wants to be herself. The untainted Li Zhenzhen. Much like the flowers she planted. The Moonflower, born from the mud, unnoticed by the world, yet still bowing to the moon and sleeping with the wind. If there is a next life, she hopes to be nothing more than a flower.