I pulled Jiang Shiyu and walked towards the old man, taking a deep breath before saying, "Old man, in broad daylight, how can there be ghosts?"
"You don't believe me?" The old man set down the firewood on his shoulders, clearly anxious. "I'm an old man, why would I lie to you? Half a month ago, a group of young people came up to climb the mountain. They thought the terrain was good and the view was nice. No matter how much I tried to warn them, they wouldn't listen. That night, they all died. Recently, a couple from the South came by, ignored my advice, and now someone in their family has died under mysterious circumstances."
Something felt wrong. While the White Tiger carrying the corpse was indeed a malevolent formation, it shouldn't be the kind of place to cause mass death in such a short time. As I had mentioned before, when a large number of people gather, the collective yang energy usually protects against evil spirits. However, there is an exception: when traveling by transportation methods like cars, planes, trains, and boats, the yang energy is unstable because it's not grounded, which is why accidents like seeing ghosts or plane crashes happen so often.
I reconsidered my previous doubts. The old man's expression was serious, his urgency genuine. I asked, "How did they die, exactly? Do you know?"
The old man hesitated, then said, "I told you it's haunted. Don't let your curiosity get the better of you. If you lose your life, don't blame me for not warning you." After that, he turned and walked into the mountain, leaving Jiang Shiyu and me standing in the wind, uncertain about what to do next.
Should we go or not? Our goal here was to turn the White Tiger carrying the corpse into a dragon's coil, which could easily be accomplished with the help of the Gray Immortal. Doing so would also help the Night Walker God and build some good karma. But looking at the old man, he didn't seem like someone trying to deceive us.
Jiang Shiyu frowned and looked at the White Tiger Hill. "Is it really that strange? Why can't I feel anything different?"
I activated my insight but didn't sense anything unusual either. Since I knew a bit of magic and wasn't easily frightened, I decided to head towards the White Tiger Hill. I advised Jiang Shiyu not to follow me, but she was insistent, saying, "Since we're here, we have to take a look. Besides, I don't want to go back and face that old Daoist. He looks like a rat—definitely not a good person."
I chuckled inwardly, thinking that his physical form probably reflected his true nature as a rat. Still, we didn't heed the old man's warnings and headed towards the hill. When we reached the foot of the hill, we saw that the area was desolate, with strange rocks scattered all around. There was a palpable sense of malice in the air. The hill was directly in the wind's path, and the gusts howled around us. As we know, the White Tiger, which represents the West and the element of metal, governs killing and violence. Among the Four Sacred Beasts, the White Tiger is the most ominous, and if it doesn't bow down, it will bring continuous calamities.
But something was strange: when we climbed over the hill and reached the other side, we found the ground was unexpectedly green, with lush grass growing abundantly. This was particularly odd, as this place—the mouth of the White Tiger—was supposed to be the most lethal area, where life and vegetation should not thrive. How could there be so much grass?
As we descended into the depression, I noticed a large pit about thirty meters wide in the center.
Suddenly, Jiang Shiyu pointed below and said, "Da Bao, look! That seems like a northwest-style cave dwelling."
I had already noticed it. The cave dwelling she was referring to was what we call a sunken-style cave. The process involves digging a square pit, then hollowing out four walls to create a courtyard, much like a traditional courtyard house. From the high ground, I could clearly see its entire structure. To me, it looked like a burial site.
I was surprised to see a cave dwelling here since, in my mind, such structures were typically found in northern Shaanxi, not here. To make matters more unusual, this dwelling was located in the White Tiger's mouth—an extremely strange place for it to be. Since we had found it, we couldn't just ignore it. If there were any malevolent spirits at play here, confronting them would also help accumulate merit.
We quickly descended and reached the cave dwelling. There, we saw a middle-aged couple carrying their luggage, preparing to leave. The woman had a dazed look, her eyes red and swollen from crying, while the man had a sorrowful expression.
I approached them and said, "Hello, sir. Is this your house? We're here for a mountain climb and happened to pass by. We're curious about these cave dwellings. Would it be alright to stay here for the night?"
The man, holding back tears, immediately shook his head. "You can't stay here. We regret it. We regret it so much..." Then, unable to bear it any longer, he crouched down, covering his head with his hands and crying in agony. The woman, too, cried harder.
I sighed, realizing that these were the same miners the old man had mentioned, who had encountered misfortune and were now trying to move away. Jiang Shiyu went over to comfort the woman, while I spoke with the man. He seemed emotionally drained and, after a few words, finally revealed the full story.
It turned out that they were a married couple from Zhejiang who had come here to work. With the price of gold skyrocketing, the husband had taken a job as a miner at a local gold mine. His reasoning was twofold: earning more money and hoping to find a way to secretly pocket some gold to get rich.
When they arrived in the area, they started searching for a place to stay. They found the cave, which appeared abandoned. They inquired around and learned that no one owned it, so they were thrilled to have found a place.
At first, everything seemed fine, but then an old man came rushing over and angrily shouted, "Are you crazy? Don't you value your life? You can't stay here! This cave is haunted!"
The couple, annoyed by the old man's outburst, asked why they couldn't stay. "It's abandoned, isn't it?" they protested.
The old man glared at them and said, "If you want to stay, fine, but don't come crying to me when something happens. This place is haunted!"
With that, the old man stormed off, leaving the couple bewildered.