Ailao Mountain: Ten Go In, Nine Never Return

A hundred years ago, a failed Spirit-Devouring Life-Extension Formation left Ailao Mountain cursed, with nine out of every ten people who entered never returning.

My name is Jiang Xun. Chosen by bloodline as the tenth person, I am also the final guide in this century-old curse. An anonymous email and half a formation diagram carved on red stone dragged me and nine strangers, each with their own hidden agenda, into the fog-shrouded Ailao Mountain. The bones of tomb robbers, the cries of herb gatherers, the fall of a couple livestreaming their trip: nine lives are being devoured one by one, following the formation’s path.

When the mute boy called me “big brother,” when the surgeon shed his disguise of immortality, and when my grandfather’s spirit repented within the formation, I finally learned that this curse began with a blood debt owed by our ancestors. Before the red stone formation’s core, I stood at a crossroads: become the next guide, or sacrifice a blood relative to end the curse.

When ten people enter the mountain, can only one really survive?