This is in fact the puppet vessel Meng Hua, formerly of the “Eleven,” uses to walk the Waking Realm. To create a vessel capable of fully bearing her consciousness and power, the Herald spent more than three hundred days and slaughtered countless villagers and Wulin masters. Its hair is made of red thread and adorned with ornate gold, every detail crafted to please the Lady of the Veil.
It remains unclear whether “Veiled blossom” is simply another name for Meng Hua, a deliberate attempt to conceal her identity, or a name chosen to keep the Lady’s true identity unspoken. What is known is that worship of the “Merciful Lady of the Blossom Veil, who saves those in suffering” began only two or three years ago.
The Wulin has been in turmoil for years. Maskwalkers run rampant, while the Mandate is corrupt and weak, leaving ordinary people with no one to rely on. Their own struggles seem all the more powerless. And the more desperate the world becomes, the more precious Meng Hua’s charity appears.
The Lady of the Veil who appears in dreams is kind, compassionate, and beautiful. She offers comfort and guidance, and surely possesses boundless power to lead them out of this hopeless age. Those at the end of their road know how to cling to “grace” and “miracles.” For those who have yet to submit, one need only add fuel to the fire of their despair. Suffering itself will teach them to kneel. But faith was never the Lady of the Veil’s goal.
In her battle against Inanis long ago, her consciousness dissipated in the depths of the Discordance, only to be remade through the formless, shapeless Blight, whose sole instinct is to devour all things. She once sought to contend with the Blight. Yet two equally voracious beings cannot devour themselves, so how could either devour the other? Instead, they fused, perfectly compatible and mutually beneficial.
She longs to return to the Waking Realm and manipulate the countless lives within it, while the Blight’s instinct is to devour everything and turn all things into itself.
As for what awaits after her return, whether she slowly consumes the world and toys with its people, or unleashes a grand catastrophe that annihilates all things... she now lives as one with the Blight. What happens next is entirely up to her.
