Old Man Li finished speaking and led us into the village.
Li Family Village wasn't large, with only a few dozen households, but it had an ancient feel.
Upon entering, we noticed several houses adorned with white cloth and white lanterns.
A faint scent of burning paper also permeated the air.
I carefully surveyed the village.
Though small, the village was shrouded in a pervasive chill.
As soon as we entered, a cold feeling set in.
The temperature was at least four or five degrees lower than outside the village.
From a professional standpoint, the village's feng shui wasn't bad, nor was it in a shadowy location.
Yet, the Yin energy here was incredibly dense.
This indicated that the village was indeed afflicted by malevolent spirits. Without eradicating them, even if they stopped killing people, over time, the villagers would gradually fall ill and have their lifespans shortened.
Soon, we arrived at Old Man Li's house.
Old Man Li's home was an old stone house, roofed with black tiles, with a small courtyard in front.
Old Man Li invited us in and then said,
"Come in! I'm alone in here!"
We nodded and entered one by one.
The room was simply furnished, with only a table, a few stools, and rattan chairs.
The lighting was dim, not bright.
On the wall of the main hall hung a family photo: Old Man Li, his son and daughter-in-law, and a little granddaughter.
Noticing me looking at the family photo, Old Man Li said with a happy expression,
"This is my son, daughter-in-law, and my little granddaughter. Aren't they lovely!"
Hearing Old Man Li's words, I nodded,
"Very lovely. Old Man Li, don't they live with you?"
Old Man Li shook his head,
"No, my son and daughter-in-law bought a house with a mortgage in the city. They only come back to see me during holidays! If this evil can't be removed, I'll have to flee down the mountain tomorrow."
As he spoke, he used a chicken feather duster to wipe the photo.
After wiping the photo, Old Man Li didn't hesitate further.
He said to us,
"You should stay at my house tonight and don't go out. The evil spirit dug up is too ferocious. You are all still young. You should notify your superiors to come and deal with it. It would be bad if you lost your lives."
Old Man Li still didn't believe in our abilities and feared we would be harmed by those evil spirits.
Old Mo waved his hand,
"Old Man Li, you underestimate us. We were sent here together and naturally possess skills. Don't be fooled by our youth; we can truly deal with Yin and malevolent entities. Just tell us in detail how that ghost appeared. You don't need to worry about the rest."
Old Man Li didn't argue further and sighed deeply,
"It's all because of the road construction. Otherwise, so many lives wouldn't have been lost..."
Old Man Li lit his old pipe.
Then, he meticulously recounted the entire sequence of events and how those people had died.
Old Man Li said that when they were building the road, they dug up a stone tablet on the back mountain. The stone tablet was covered with inscriptions, but the villagers working on the road were mostly farmers with little education, and very few could recognize the inscriptions. Some said it was an ancient tomb. Others said it was a mountain god's tablet and should not be disturbed.
However, a daring bachelor said that the road construction was important. Having a good road would help him find a wife. Regardless of what kind of tablet it was, he directly began to chisel it. As a result, after the stone tablet was chiseled open, a strong Yin wind immediately swept through. The mountain wind howled "hu hu hu." Beneath the stone tablet, black liquid flowed out. The stench was extremely foul, like the water from a decaying corpse.
Some villagers panicked, saying that perhaps they would be retaliated against for damaging the mountain god's tablet. The bachelor villager was dismissive. He used his shovel to clear away all the black water from beneath the stone tablet. Apart from a few broken jars and that black liquid, there was nothing else.
However, no one expected that less than half an hour after the stone tablet was chiseled open, the villager who had done the chiseling suddenly collapsed on the ground, shivering and foaming at the mouth, without any warning. Seeing this, the villagers stepped forward to provide aid, thinking he had an epileptic seizure. But as the villagers approached, that villager suddenly went mad, biting anyone who came near. He bit three or four people on the spot. Finally, with no one daring to approach him, he grabbed the hammer used for chiseling and struck his own forehead twice, killing himself...
After this incident, all the villagers in Li Family Village were thrown into a panic. A perfectly healthy person suddenly went mad and then beat himself to death with a hammer. Everyone connected it to the stone tablet. Because of the death, the villagers also reported it to the police. The police arrived and took statements. The body was transported to the funeral home down the mountain. They also notified people from the cultural relics bureau, who, after examination, determined the stone tablet had no value. However, the road construction was temporarily halted.
But the matter was far from over. By the next morning, another villager working on the road died. On the third day, another died. On the fourth day, one more died. After four consecutive deaths, the villagers were completely panicked. Some said they had chiseled a ghost tablet, while others said they had chiseled a mountain god's tablet. Many villagers, fearing for their lives, fled down the mountain overnight. Only Old Man Li and another villager went to Mount Wudang to invite a Taoist priest to expel evil spirits. As a result, two junior disciples of Li Chunlong came. Not only did they fail to expel the ghost, but the villager who had accompanied Old Man Li to invite the priest was also found drowned in the village pond that morning.
The successive deaths plunged the entire village into fear. Those who could flee had mostly fled. Now, only some lonely and elderly people remain in Li Family Village, quietly waiting for death...