From 1970 to 1975 in this county in western Hunan, Chen Shoushan, a 24-year-old temporary collector of the cultural center, took the fragmentary copy of "Yin Yang Miscellaneous Notes" left by his grandfather and three magical artifacts and embarked on the road of collecting folk literature. He abides by the iron law of not fighting the law and not intervening in cause and effect, and relies on his half-hearted skills to identify evil and avoid danger. He gets a glimpse of the true background of Hunan and Guizhou folk customs from the evil roads in Meishan, paper ghosts in Dong villages, Gu shadows in Miao territory, and secret happenings in the suburbs. Finally, he returns to Meishan, completes the reconciliation with his grandfather and the mountain spirit, and spends five years writing a book on guarding the mountain hidden at the bottom of a box.
