The Great Dao View sits atop Great Dao Mountain.
A rundown two-story Taoist temple stands alone at the mountaintop, its original color long faded, leaving behind only endless gray.
Inside the temple, in front of the deity statues, an old Taoist priest kneels on the prayer mat. He looks at the young lass seated on the floor beside him, his face clearly 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---"
Mo Qian, not even raising her head, casually responds.
She is holding a small bronze tripod in her hand, from which a faint blue smoke emanates and occasionally flashes a hint of gold.
"The Elixir of Life will be ready soon. Once you eat it, you can live for another year."
The Taoist priest Chai, "......"
Just let your master die...
Twenty years ago, Chai, then ninety years old, found this little girl by the Great Dao 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 man couldn't stand the idea and, having no other choice, brought her up the mountain.
He was meant 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 man's life again and again, dragging him through to a hundred and ten!
Master Chai simply can't keep up with this young girl...
"My disciple, your master has stayed with you for an extra ten years, ten long years, and my cultivation hasn't progressed. 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 finished speaking, he saw Mo Qian slowly rise up, silent, and walk towards the outside of the Daoist temple.
"Hey, hey, hey, my disciple--" a pang of concern struck Taoist Master Chai.
It was done… He had hurt the little girl’s feelings.
For that medicinal pill, she busied herself for half a year, drawing talismans and collecting herbs. The better part of the mountain has been made bare by her.
Taoist Master Chai felt guilty, "My disciple, if there is anything, let us discuss it mentor and student. Don’t leave."
Hearing this, Mo Qian stopped in her tracks.
She turned around, her expression as usual, "Master, I am going to prepare your grave so that your body does not rot in the Daoist temple."
Taoist Master Chai, "…"
So, it turned out he was just over-worried.
As he comforted his battered heart, he began to worry about the local people at the foot of the mountain.
When this girl descends the mountain, she will be fine, but the common people will suffer...
Taoist Master Chai sighed deeply, "Little ancestor, come back, I still have things to impart to you."
"Okay."
Mo Qian acknowledged and then calmly strolled back, reclaiming her previous seat.
Only then did Taoist Master Chai retrieve a wooden divination stick from his Taoist robe pocket, a solemn expression on his face. The stick bore the following inscription: Path treacherous, horse goes, man goes far, lost sheep stuck, tiger equals. Risky beach, boat over, wind flips waves, late Spring, flower withers, heaven descends frost.
He handed the divination slip to Mo Qian.
"I have divined for your family, and I'm afraid it's the worst possible sign. It suggests disorder in the household and the threat of imminent danger.
Your family's surname is Gu, with six brothers above you. Five of them are already divorced, and the marriage of the sixth brother is so volatile that he is bound to part ways with his wife in seven days.
If he, the sixth brother, also divorces, the omen sign will inevitably come true, and there would be no solution. Your family will be doomed to a fate of disaster, with no marriages for descendants and all destined to die alone."
Master Chai narrated with great emphasis and emotion, with every word bleeding sentiment.
But Mo Qian remained utterly unaffected. With indifference, she took the divination slip scanning it 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, let's just die alone."
"!!! Cough, cough—"
Master Chai was taken aback, coughing continuously, the divination slip in his hand trembling in tune with his cough.
The girl really is impervious to reason!
His face turned red from coughing; he pointed shakily at Mo Qian, "It's not a throne, but your family cough cough...is wealthy."
Hearing this, Mo Qian's dark eyes lit up, "How wealthy?"
Uh, very wealthy...
Master Chai lowered his head in thought. He did not know how wealthy the forecast "wealthy" was, but he had to make this young girl believe that her family was genuinely wealthy.
Master Chai stroked his snow-white beard, pretending to be profound.
"Very wealthy, rich enough to build three hundred golden statutes of our ancestors."
At this, an expression finally appeared on Mo Qian's calm face.
She cracked a smile, revealing two small dimples on her fair cheeks, "Alright! I'm going to descend from the mountain and inherit my family property!"
"Right, right, right."
Master Chai nodded with satisfaction, but he reacted swiftly.
"No! It's not about inheriting property, it's about stopping your sixth brother from divorcing! Once the Life-ending Destiny forms, family wealth will also vanish. As a member of the family, you will also suffer from financial losses and be unable to accumulate wealth, your life will be filled with hardship.
Stopping your sixth brother, at most, can only delay the formation of destiny for three years. The only real solution is to help all your brothers remarry and get back their wives within these three years."
On hearing that she too would fall into poverty, Mo Qian became restless.
She pursed her lips and rubbed the furnace tripod in her hands, her face full of reluctance.
After a long hesitation, she sighed in resignation, "Alright, then."
Then she lifted her head to look at Master Chai, and bowed to him with her hands folded in front of her, "Master, you can die now, I will earn money to build you a golden stature."
Master Chai, "......" Well, she doesn't have to be in such a hurry......
However, upon hearing Mo Qian's consent, the burden on his heart was finally lifted.
He shouldn't have let Mo Qian go find her family, it was against the principles of Taoism. But, this little girl is the person he couldn't let go of the most in the mortal world. Allowing her to return to her family side could perhaps resolve the fixations in his heart.
With a deep exhale, Mr. Chai slowly closes his eyes.
His soul gradually ascends.
As it continues to ascend…
Suddenly, he remembers a crucial message he's yet to share with her!
Breaking out in cold sweat, Mr. Chai shouts out from the air, "Disciple, never violate the Color Precepts. You have a lonely star's fate, if anyone touches you, they will die——”
His voice drifts into the void.
Unsure if Mo Qian heard his warning...
…
As instructed by her master, Mo Qian went to the police station to report.
Then, she dug a pit on the mountain and buried her master. On the urn holding his ashes, she pasted thirty-three talisman papers to ensure that neither people nor insects would dare approach her master.
Having taken care of the aftermath, she was dragging a homemade plank cart, holding in her arms the black cat raised in the temple, and descending from the mountain.
At the base of the Great Path Mountain is the Great Path Village.
As soon as the villagers saw Mo Qian, they scattered and fled.
“Run, Mo Qian is coming down the mountain! Don't let her open her mouth!!!”
Mo Qian was the person from Da Dao Village who everyone avoided like a “plague”.
She would often descend the mountain to beg. Initially, the villagers had compassion for her, offering her food and vegetables.
However, this young girl's way of expressing gratitude was unique, as she would blurt out things like,"Your family is going to experience a disaster", "Your family is going to lose money", "Your child is from the neighbor's family"...
What's more terrifying is that all these unlucky predictions always came true.
The villagers were utterly terrified of her, wishing they could cut off their own ears whenever she opened her mouth…
Wherever Mo Qian went, it was as though a zombie had just passed through – there was no chirping of birds, no signs of life.
She dragged her little handcart, leisurely walking on the rural roads. The "rumbling" sound of the cart's wheels echoed in the quiet village at dusk.
The villagers hid in their homes, locking every possible door, each house seemed like it had triple protection.
They would sneak peeks through the door cracks, hearing the exterior sounds, terrified that the "dead-taking" sound of the cart's wheels would suddenly stop at their doorstep…
Luckily, Mo Qian never paused.
She passed by every house, going further and further, drifting more and more off course, until she reached the edge of the village. She finally stopped at an enormous courtyard made of red bricks and green tiles.
She reached out and knocked on the courtyard gate.
