Among those who regularly hike the western hills outside Beijing, a saying is passed from mouth to mouth: Don’t walk the Dajue Temple Loop alone during the Shen hour. Don’t pick up tea on the Miaofeng Mountain incense trail at night. Don’t answer voices at Jiankou Great Wall. Don’t sit on strange stones along the Wangping Ancient Road. Never walk alone at night on the forbidden trail behind Tanzhe Temple.
These orally passed-down taboos have long been recorded in Investigations into Old Matters Beneath the Sun and the Gazetteer of the Capital Region:
“The western hills are threaded with ancient paths. From the Ming to the Qing, countless travelers met with disaster. Mists of confusion rise along the trails, and most who enter never emerge.”
Real ancient trails outside Beijing × Chinese-style rule-based horror
The Dajue Temple Loop, the ancient incense trail on Miaofeng Mountain, the wild Jiankou Great Wall, the Wangping Ancient Post Road, the forbidden trail behind Tanzhe Temple...
Every step along the bewildering paths recorded in ancient books is a deadly trap written into the mountains and rivers.
The signal drops to zero. Turn back, and disaster awaits.
I have entered the same ancient trail in the western hills six times, all to uncover a tea merchant’s three-hundred-year-old grievance and preserve a thousand years of order along these ancient mountain paths.
The writing is delicate, I like it [note]