Liaozhai: Tiancanling

"Tiancanling" is set in Tiancanling, a forbidden land in western Beijing during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. It tells a suspenseful and strange story intertwined with fog, monsters and human hearts. Jin Xiucai, the owner of a grocery store, was forced to enter the Tiancan Mountains in order to deliver a letter from home. Before leaving, he received a peach wood charm from the head of Xuandao Road and told him to "don't look back when the fog comes, and don't enter the temple when you see it." Little did he know that this charm would lead him to uncover the secrets hidden in the mountain for twenty years. After entering the mountain, Jin Xiucai unexpectedly became friends with the panic-stricken businessman Jiang Dafu and the eager hunter Hu Erlang. The three of them strayed into a mass grave in the thick fog, and broke into the strangeness of the abandoned mountain temple. They also fell into many misunderstandings because of a half-bloody jade pendant and a mysterious woman with phosphorus powder on her sleeves. From the fantasy of "ghosts beating on the wall" to the mystery of "Migui Temple", they gradually discovered that behind the rumors of "hidden monsters in the mountains" was a shocking conspiracy between the old monk of Maitreya Temple (actually a weasel spirit) and the local squire king to perform human sacrifices in the name of "seeking children" and "changing their luck" - in the past twenty years, more than a hundred villagers have been sacrificed, and all sins have been blamed on the tiger fairy who guards the spiritual energy in the mountains. At the end of the story, the thick fog in Tiancan Mountain gradually dissipated, leaving only the ruins of Maitreya Temple as a warning to future generations. After Jin Xiucai completed the entrustment of the family letter, he found out that the recipient of the letter was the scholar transformed by the tiger fairy. The other party gave him a "heart-guarding talisman" and left behind the motto "The human heart is more dangerous than demons. Guarding the heart is to ward off evil spirits." This battle spanning humans, demons, and ghosts is ultimately a test of human nature - the fog will dissipate and evil spirits can be eradicated. Only by keeping one's heart can one find clarity in the chaotic world.