Southwestern Tales of the Strange

The remote forests of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Chongqing conceal countless taboos that the old people refuse to talk about. A bear crone knocks at night. The river seeks a substitute. A desolate mountain lends a path to strangers. An ancient coffin opens its old eyes. The rules handed down by our ancestors were never superstition. They were how generations stayed alive. Chen Ye, a young man returning from the city, takes up the old duty of guarding the mountains that his grandfather left behind. Again and again, he stumbles upon the eerie and the resentful things hidden in the wilderness for a hundred years. Only at the very end does he see the truth: There are no evil ghosts in the wilds that harm people, only living people who know no reverence, are insatiably greedy, and bring misfortune upon themselves. This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.