Minli secretly prepares to leave home for Never-Ending Mountain. She leaves work early and makes dinner for her parents, per usual. She leaves them a note alerting them of her departure and signs it: “Your obedient daughter, Minli” (31). She debates the accuracy of the word “obedient”—she knows that her parents would not want her to leave, but her parents also didn’t explicitly forbid her leaving. Still uncertain, Minli packs her belongings, which include survival tools, her bowl with the white rabbit, and her remaining coin. Finally, she sets off on her journey.

Minli leaves her village, unnoticed by her neighbors. When she reaches the base of Fruitless Mountain, she performs a set of small tasks based on instructions she received from the goldfish. First, she takes a rock from the mountain and rubs a needle with it 99 times. Then, she places a piece of bamboo and water in her bowl so that the bamboo floats. Finally, she asks the rabbit on the bowl which way to go and places the needle on the bamboo. The needle turns in the bowl like the needle of a compass and points the way, past Fruitless Mountain.