Heaven and Earth possess great beauty yet remain silent; the four seasons follow clear laws without discussion; all things have established principles without explanation. This is the meaning of divinity to the mortal world—clear laws and established principles. It is the order of changing seasons, birth, aging, sickness, death, and all creatures and spirits.

She always believed that the divine did not display their power in the mortal realm, and did not respond to human prayers. The order was already established, all things both generating and restraining each other and any favoritism would destroy this order.

After becoming the divine monitor maintaining the mortal realm’s order for this millennium, one day a reckless, senseless youth suddenly burst into the celestial court, furiously cursing, each word directly challenging the mortal order.

She asked her colleague what was happening. The colleague smiled and said, “Goddess of Fate, this is an old policy left by the previous divine monitor. It was meant to give mortals a chance to correct errors, so a path to heaven was left open. This mortal has the Mars bloodline, making him among the easiest of people to ascend.”

She thought so it’s the Mars bloodline. But recently, the mortal world has been peaceful without major chaos. The order was operating smoothly, and even this Mars bloodline holder was living steadily within his destiny, not doing anything excessive before reaching the celestial court.

Why would this mortal make such unnecessary trouble?

She said, “Human nature is inherently greedy and insatiable. No matter what they receive, they are never satisfied and always want more. Why let them come up here? This path need not remain open.”

Her colleague shook his head, reminding her that to cancel a policy left by the previous divine monitor, Xi He, she needed sufficient reason and could not act arbitrarily.

Looking at the youth’s angry eyes below the court, she said, “Very well, then I shall descend with him for a time.”

The youth saw her emerge and seemed stunned. He asked her, “Who are you?”

“I am the divine monitor of this millennium. My name is Zi Ji,” she replied.

Zi Ji was her name ten thousand years ago before her ascension. All she could remember from that time was this name.

Her initial purpose for descending to the mortal realm was to prevent mortals from ascending to heaven without cause.

This youth, He Jia Feng Yi, was one generation of the Mars bloodline she had established. The destiny of the Mars bloodline was genius, power, sincerity, and early death—few with this bloodline lived past forty. He Jia Feng Yi was also physically weak from birth, perhaps the reason for his dissatisfaction with his fate.

He said, “Now that you’re in the mortal realm, this is my territory. Lady Zi Ji, I happen to need a servant. Would you deign to accept?”

He seemed quite displeased with her, intending to mock her. She thought, this is indeed just an ordinary person who resents his fate.

“I can,” she agreed readily.

From then on, she accompanied He Jia Feng Yi, always together. Although he said he wanted her as a servant, he never made her do any servant’s work. On the contrary, he often took care of her.

“Why aren’t you wearing shoes again?” At a marketplace, he ran over and placed shoes before her feet, looking up to ask, “Do you not know how to wear shoes?”

During her moment of hesitation, he pressed his temples, bent down, and helped her put on the shoes. Then he straightened up, took the basket of fruit from her hand, and sighed deeply, “Look at this basket of fruit you bought. Only the top layer is good; everything underneath is rotten!”

“Don’t you know there are swindlers in the world? No, that’s not right—aren’t swindlers also part of your design?” He examined her for a moment and smiled, “Armchair theorists.”

Turning around, he continued as he walked, “Which shop did you just buy from? I’ll go demand justice for you.”

She thought that living in this world was ultimately different from designing its order, but as a deity, she hadn’t erred. After all, under her design, this youth had grown up exactly as she needed—kind and sincere.

Great power, when placed in such hands, would not spiral out of control.

Add the constraint of early death and the heart would not be corrupted by worldly tribulations, making the power even more secure.

She was satisfied with her order.

He Jia Feng Yi had been physically weak since childhood. A simple wind, rain, or chill could threaten his life. Only during the mild weather of spring and autumn did he have the energy to travel far. She accompanied him to exorcise evil spirits. In many places they passed through, people lived in extreme hardship, sometimes barely surviving. He would say, “Divine One, look at this world you’ve arranged.”

She would reply that the world naturally had majestic mountains and deep valleys, as well as ravines and rivers. People were born with differences in status, physical strength, happiness, and misfortune—this was normal. Moreover, hadn’t he come to save these unfortunate ones?

He Jia Feng Yi would become somewhat angry, asking what if he didn’t save them? What if he harmed them instead?

She would say, you won’t. You’re not that kind of person.

At such times, He Jia Feng Yi often had nothing to say. Later, he said he felt that when she looked at him, it was like Nüwa looking at a perfect clay figurine she had tossed out.

“You’re always like this, sitting on high.”

Later, alongside He Jia Feng Yi, she also met another figure from her designed destiny—Ghost King He Simu. In the Ghost King’s fate, she was born an evil spirit, the most desireless of evil spirits, perfectly suited to become the leader of ghosts born from obsession. Only with such an evil spirit controlling the ghost realm could the divine feel at ease.

He Simu fulfilled her wishes, becoming a very competent Ghost King.

“The ancestor wants to live as a human; she loves the mortal world. Is there no way for the Ghost King to become mortal?” He Jia Feng Yi once asked her.

“No.”

“Must it be impossible?”

She was somewhat puzzled and responded, “Why should there be? The current order runs smoothly without any errors. Since there are no errors, why complicate matters unnecessarily?”

He Jia Feng Yi looked at her for a long time. In his eyes, she saw contempt.

He said, “Coward, you should go back.”

This was the first time she heard him tell her to leave. In the many years that followed, he seemed to have given up on persuading her, sometimes even saying that he had been young and impetuous, often advising her to return to heaven earlier.

But she could still see the deeply hidden contempt in his eyes, never fading over the years.

Yet she didn’t feel she was wrong. In the mortal realm, everything she witnessed, even He Jia Feng Yi’s existence, proved the perfection of her order. But seeing this look in his eyes still made her inexplicably sad.

She wouldn’t leave. Being divine, she wasn’t someone to come when called and leave when dismissed. He Jia Feng Yi let her be, still going everywhere with her as she gradually became familiar with this world. Now it was the frail He Jia Feng Yi who depended on her.

Each time he fell ill, suffering and tossing in bed, she always felt distressed. When he mentioned his approaching death, she was even more reluctant to discuss it with him.

He seemed to find it ironic, saying, “Isn’t this what you designed?”

Yes, this was her design. She didn’t feel it was wrong.

She just increasingly felt sorrowful.

The Mars bloodline would continue to be passed down, and there would be more people like He Jia Feng Yi in the future—rebellious, sincere, and kind, ultimately dying under fate’s decree. He was just an ordinary person among countless mortals.

But now he was more than just a number to her.

His death wasn’t the disappearance of a numeral but a void in life that could find no compensation.

She accompanied He Jia Feng Yi through the ghost realm’s conflicts. When seeing He Simu and Duan Xu, she suddenly realized that Duan Xu and He Simu resembled He Jia Feng Yi and herself.

He Simu was no longer a perfect piece in her perfect order; He Simu had become her.

All the separations of life and death, the sufferings and pains of the world, seemed to happen to her. When she began to feel pain from her proudly crafted order, everything started to become chaotic.

She knew He Jia Feng Yi’s keenness; he had detected her confusion.

So he seized the opportunity, acting contrary to his usual self, pressuring her.

When she grasped He Jia Feng Yi’s hand, she saw a smug smile on his face. She suddenly realized that perhaps for all these years, He Jia Feng Yi’s disillusionment, resignation, and acceptance had all been false. He had just been waiting.

He was waiting for her to develop feelings for him.

Waiting for her to be crushed and hurt by the order she had designed with her own hands. Waiting for her to begin to waver, to doubt, to compromise.

“Coward.”

That’s what he called her then, and that’s what he called her later. He said, are you so afraid of imperfection? In this world, from evil spirits below to divinities above, what is perfect?

An order without emotion is merely arrogance.

After twenty years away from the celestial court, she returned to heaven. Seeing her, her colleague smiled and asked, “So, Divine Monitor, are you closing the entrance?”

She shook her head and said, “No, I am changing the order.”

In the new order, those with the Mars bloodline, upon reaching thirty, could choose to relinquish their power for longevity or keep their power with a shortened life. If the Ghost King found a true-hearted lover willing to exchange life for life, they could become mortal, losing their power but gaining reincarnation.

“It’s been too long since we visited the mortal realm. Perhaps we should go down more often,” she said.

Her colleague was somewhat surprised, remarking that the Goddess of Fate had changed greatly after her journey.

Perhaps there would be more changes.

Some years later, He Jia Feng Yi was walking on a street as autumn cooled the air, the ginkgo trees turning golden.

Amid the bustling crowd, He Jia Feng Yi suddenly spotted a familiar face.

She stood in the crowd, quietly watching him.

He walked over and asked, “Divine One, what brings you here?”

“To see if there are any flaws in my new order,” she replied in the same calm, detached tone as before.

He Jia Feng Yi looked at her for a moment, then smiled and walked beside her. “Would you like to see the ancestor? She often mentions you. She’s very happy now…”

The vendors along the mortal streets called out noisily, and the air was filled with the fragrance of osmanthus. She realized that in the ten thousand years she had forgotten, she had once lived in such a mortal world.

Confused by the red dust of the mortal realm, she had come specially to join it.