From 1988 to 1995, Yinliu Village, a remote northern mountain village, was surrounded by mountains on three sides and a river on the fourth. A century-old well at the village entrance, an abandoned house on the back hill, a shadowy bamboo grove, and a mass grave formed its four centers of terror. They concealed a family curse spanning three generations and ancient secrets.
Main character
Chen Jiu: An orphan from Yinliu Village, raised by his grandfather, Chen Laoshuan. Tough and curious, he was born with Yin-Yang Eyes, which would awaken fully later. He was the last descendant of the Chen family’s Well Guardians, bound by fate to suppress the evil presence in the old well.
Core elements of horror
- The Red-Clad Old Woman: A century-old vengeful spirit, originally named Liu Hongzhuang. She was a woman who was drowned in the well in the late Qing and early Republican eras. Her resentment coalesced into a malevolent force, driven by revenge and a desire to guard the well’s hidden treasure.
- The Old Well: An ancient, sinister well connected to the Yin River. It hides a Mother-and-Child Yin Fiend, the Red-Clad Old Woman and a fetus spirit, along with ancient runes and the Chen family’s secret hoard.
- The White-Bearded Old Man: Originally named Liu Banxian, he was the Red-Clad Old Woman’s younger brother. A half-human, half-ghost guardian of secrets, he was neither good nor evil and knew every secret in the village.
- The Abandoned House: The Chen family’s ancestral home and the Red-Clad Old Woman’s residence in life. It conceals the source of the curse, the family diary, and protective talismans.
- The Bamboo Grove Spirits: Wrongfully killed villagers consumed by the old well’s resentment, now formed into a Yin Soldier Formation to guard the old house and well.
- Folk taboos: Never call out someone’s name at midnight; don’t let red clothes touch you; don’t linger by the well; don’t enter the old house; and don’t walk through the bamboo grove at night.
