This is a story set in a remote mountain village in northwestern Hubei. Through the eyes of Wang Zhiyuan, a young man who has returned to his hometown, it reveals the secret his second uncle, Wang Mancang, has kept hidden for most of his life, along with the thousand-year-old taboo buried beneath Qingshui Village. Here you'll find real folk sorcery, such as spirit possession, seeking a substitute to take one's place in death, spirit-walking, and transferring spiritual power. You'll also encounter terrifying supernatural events, including coffin nails in beds, bloody footprints, and ghost soldiers marching through the land. And then there's Second Uncle and his band of “old reprobate fellow Taoists”: the old drunkard, the flower Taoist, and the mute butcher. They crack jokes and trade barbs as they use the homeliest methods to fight the most sinister things.
When science can't explain it, we choose to trust our ancestors.
But our ancestors never said ghosts could be cheaters, too.
