The High Mountaintop View sits atop the Holy Path Mountain.

A rundown two-story Taoist temple stands alone at the mountaintop, its original color long faded, leaving only endless gray. An old Taoist priest kneels on the prayer mat inside the temple in front of the deity statues. He looks at the young lass seated on the floor beside him, his face lost in despair.

"My Disciple, your Master is soon to die... Put down your alchemy furnace and talk to me," he pleads.

"You better not die yet..." Alodia, not raising her head, casually responds.

She is holding a small bronze tripod in her hand, from which a faint blue smoke with flashes of a hint of gold occasionally emanates.

"The Elixir of Life will be ready soon. Once you drink it, you can live for another year."

The Taoist priest, Chai, is dumbfounded. In his mind, the thought 'just let your Master die' runs again and again.

Twenty years ago, Chai, then ninety years old, found this little girl by the Holy Path River at the foot of the mountain. In the village, those willing to adopt her planned to take her as a child bride. The old priest couldn't stand the idea and, having no other choice, brought her up the mountain. He expected to have peacefully passed away at a hundred years old. But, this girl seemed like a deity descended to earth, miraculously coming up with a life-extending elixir that prolonged the old priest's life repeatedly, dragging him through to a hundred and ten! Now, Master Chai can't keep up with this young girl anymore!

"My Disciple, your Master has stayed with you for an extra ten years, ten long years... And my cultivation hasn't progressed anymore. Today, you're twenty years old, no longer a child. Please, let your Master go, let me ascend to immortality..." Master Chai, filled with silent bitterness, can't help but raise his tone.

After he finishes speaking, he sees Alodia slowly rise silently and walk toward the outside of the Taoist temple.

"Hey, hey, hey, my Disciple..."

A pang of concern strikes Taoist Master Chai. He does it! He hurts the little girl's feelings.

For that medicinal pill, she busies herself for half a year, creating talismans and collecting herbs. The better part of the mountain has been made bare by her.

Taoist Master Chai felt guilty, "My Disciple, if anything bothers you, let us discuss it, mentor and student. Don't just leave."

Hearing this, Alodia stops in her tracks. She turns around, her expression as usual.

"Master, I am going out to prepare your grave so that your body does not rot here in the temple."

For the second time that moment, Master Chai feels stunned again.

So, it turns out he is over-worried. As he comforts his battered heart, he begins to worry about the local people at the foot of the mountain. He knows that when this girl descends the mountain, she will be fine, but the ordinary people will suffer.

Taoist Master Chai sighs deeply, "Little Disciple, don't go. I still have things to tell you."

"Okay," answers Alodia. She calmly strolls back, reclaiming her previous seat.

Only then does Taoist Master Chai, with a solemn expression, retrieve a small wooden divination box from his robe pocket. The box bears the following inscriptions: treacherous path, galloping horse, escaping man, lost sheep, comparable tiger, risky beach, overturned boat, wind-flipped waves, late Spring, withering flower, and frosted heaven. He hands the divination box to Alodia.

"I have divined for your family, and I'm afraid they're the worst possible sign. They suggest disorder in the household and threat of imminent danger. Your family's surname is Chambers, and you have six older brothers. Five of them are already divorced, and the marriage of your youngest brother is on the rocks. He is bound to part ways with his wife in seven days. If he, your youngest brother, also divorces, the bad omen will inevitably come true, and there will be no solution. Your family will be doomed to a fate of disaster, with no marriages for descendants. All will grow old and die alone."

Master Chai narrates with great emphasis and heavy emotion, with every word bleeding sentiment.

But Alodia remains utterly unaffected. With indifference, she takes the divination box, scanning it from top to bottom before returning it back to Master without any expressions.

"Are we supposed to inherit any sort of throne in our family?"

"What?!"

"No? Then, it's okay to die alone."

Cough, cough—

In astonishment, all Master Chai can only do is cough continuously. The divination box in his hand trembles in tune with his cough. The girl is really indifferent to reason! With face red from coughing, he points shakily at Alodia.

"It's not a throne, but your family, cough... cough... cough..., is wealthy."

Upon hearing her Master's answer, Alodia's dark eyes light up.

"How wealthy?"

Master Chai lowers his head in thought. He does not know how wealthy 'wealthy' is, but he has to make this young girl believe that her family is genuinely wealthy. Master Chai strokes his snow-white beard, pretending to be knowledgeable.

"Very wealthy... Rich enough to build three hundred golden statues of our ancestors."

With that description of wealth, an expression finally appears on Alodia's calm face. She cracks a smile, revealing two small dimples on her fair cheeks.

"Alright! I will descend from the mountain and inherit my family property!"

"Right! Right! Right!"

Master Chai nods with satisfaction, but he counter-reacts swiftly.

"No! It's not about inheriting your family's wealth but stopping your sixth brother from divorcing! Once the Life-ending Destiny forms, your family wealth will also vanish. As a member of the family, you will not only suffer from financial losses but will also be unable to accumulate wealth. Your life will be filled with hardship. At most, stopping your sixth brother can only delay destiny's formation for three years. The only real solution is to help all your brothers reunite with their wives and remarry within these three years."

Upon learning that she will also fall into poverty, Alodia becomes restless. Rubbing the furnace tripod in her hands, she purses her lips. Dissatisfaction is clearly reflected on her face. With reluctance, she sighs in resignation.

"Alright, then."

She turns her head to look at Master Chai and bows to him with her hands folded in front of her.

"Master, my permission is now yours. You can die now. Rest assured, I will earn money to build you a golden statue."

"?%!"

Master Chai is once again dumbstruck. Well, she doesn't have to be in such a hurry! However, Alodia's consent finally lifts the burden in his heart. He knows that he shouldn't let Alodia find her family. It is against the principles of Taoism. But this little girl is the person he cannot let go of the most in this mortal world. Allowing her to return to her family is the only solution he can think of to resolve the fear in his heart — of leaving her alone in this world.

Breathing his last, Master Chai slowly closes his eyes. His soul gradually ascends. As he ascends, he remembers a crucial message he's yet to share with her!

Breaking out in cold sweat, Master Chai shouts out from the air, "Disciple, never violate the lust prohibition. You have a lonely star's fate! If anyone touches you, he will die——"

His voice drifts into the void, unsure if Alodia heard his warning...

As instructed by her master, Alodia goes to the police station to report his death. Then, she digs a pit on the mountain and buries him. On the urn holding his ashes, she pastes thirty-three talisman papers to ensure that neither people nor insects will dare approach him.

Having taken care of everything, she is now descending the mountain. She is dragging a homemade plank cart and holding the black cat raised in the temple in her arms.

At the base of the Holy Path Mountain is the Great Path Village.

As soon as the villagers see Alodia, they scatter and flee.

“Run! Alodia is coming down the mountain! Don't let her open her mouth!!!”

Alodia is the person from Great Path Village who everyone avoids like a plague!

She often descends the mountain to beg. Initially, the villagers feel compassionate for her, offering her food and vegetables. However, this young girl's way of expressing gratitude is unique, as she blurts out things like Your family is going to experience a disaster, Your family is going to lose money, or Your child is from the neighbor's family. What's more terrifying is that all these unlucky predictions are accurate! The villagers are utterly terrified of her, wishing they could cut off their ears whenever she opens her mouth. Wherever Alodia goes, it is as though a zombie is passing through – there is no chirping of birds, no signs of life.

She drags her little handcart, leisurely walking on the rural roads. The rumbling sound of the cart's wheels echoes in the quiet village at dusk. The villagers hide in their homes, locking every possible door. Each house seems like it has triple protection. They sneak peeks through the door cracks. Hearing the exterior sounds, terrified that the dead-taking sound of the cart's wheels will suddenly stop at their doorstep. Luckily, Alodia never pauses. She passes by every house, going further and further, drifting more and more off-course until she reaches the edge of the village. She finally stops at an enormous courtyard of red bricks and green tiles. She reaches out and knocks on the courtyard gate.