"Isn’t that so! The whole town was scared out of their wits after they got back." The innkeeper sighed, "I wasn’t very old back then, maybe a teenager, still half a kid, so they didn’t take me along when they went, and I didn’t see with my own eyes what it was all about.

But judging by the way those people looked when they returned, it was indeed a bit serious.

Later on, the Taoist said his spiritual power was too weak to handle it and needed to consult his master to see how to resolve the matter.

A few days after he left, he came back with some runes for us, told us to burn them, boil the water, and have the town’s people drink it. He also set up a formation around our town to protect us.

He said his master told him that there was an Earth Spirit in that valley, who disliked being disturbed during its meditation. If disturbed, one would suffer or even be killed.

As long as our townspeople didn’t disturb the meditating Earth Spirit and with the formation outside our town, we could live peacefully.

Since then, our town has been boiling talismanic water every month, sharing it with everyone, and no one has gone to that valley again.

In fact, it’s not just the valley; we avoid even that direction. No one wants to accidentally and inexplicably be cursed again.

More than twenty years have passed, and I’m now quite old. Some young people in our town weren’t even born when those events happened, and they don’t really believe it. They only drink the talismanic water because the elders insist.

But some of the older folks who experienced it back then still keep up the habit to this day.

Anyway, over the years, we and the Earth Spirit in the valley have indeed kept to ourselves, and there have been no problems since. Everyone believes the talismanic water is effective, so they still go to the Daoist Temple regularly to get runes to boil water with."

He sighed again and waved his hand: "I think those people were really scared by the events back then. Even after more than twenty years, they still come here monthly to have me help boil talismanic water for everyone. It shows that they haven’t moved past it in their hearts.

I’m really just worried that if you mention anything about Evil Spirits, it might stir something up in them and scare you guests too, and that wouldn’t be good."

Zhu Yu listened to the innkeeper recount the events of those years, silently calculating the years in his mind. When he finished, he nodded to show understanding and then asked, "Boss, your ancestors have lived here for generations. In the generations before, didn’t they offend the Earth Spirit? Why did it start disliking your presence only twenty years ago?"

"There’s no such thing as ancestors." The innkeeper was about to speak when a woman in a narrow-sleeved cloth garment emerged from the back, wiping her hands with the apron tied around her waist, speaking loudly and straightforwardly.

She was about the same age as the innkeeper, with her hair simply tied at the back and wrapped in a cloth scarf.

It seemed she was the innkeeper’s wife, also the cook who had just prepared the food for them.

"Wife, please keep it down..." The innkeeper was more cautious than his wife, quickly waving his hand, not stopping her from speaking with the guests but fearing trouble. He pulled his wife to a bench and whispered, "There are still two tables that haven’t left yet!"

The innkeeper’s wife glanced at the two tables, nonchalantly waved her hand, "Those two groups are probably already drunk and won’t notice. Don’t worry."

Then she turned to Lu Qing and Zhu Yu, "You two young masters may not know, but we don’t have such a thing as ancestors here!

The longest any of us has lived in this town is just over twenty years.

The only ones born here are those in their twenties or younger, the rest of us migrated from all over.

We don’t really know anything about any Earth Spirits or celestial beings from before then."

"This area seems quite desolate. If you’ve all been here only about twenty years, doesn’t that mean when the Evil Spirits incident happened... you hadn’t been settled here long?

Given that, and this place isn’t particularly prosperous, with the rumors of Evil Spirits, why didn’t you just move elsewhere?" Zhu Yu asked curiously.

The innkeeper’s wife eyed her, then glanced at Lu Qing and the runes and Fu Lu beside them, "Are you guests from outside Lan Country?"

"Indeed, the two of us are traveling around and heard about the beautiful scenery of Lan Country, so we came to see it for ourselves." Lu Qing smiled lightly and nodded.

"No wonder you’re not familiar with things here." The innkeeper’s wife exchanged a look with the innkeeper. Clearly, the generosity of the piece of silver from earlier had been communicated between them, so the innkeeper’s wife spoke frankly, "I also advise you, the mountains and rivers of Lan Country are indeed beautiful, and you can explore as you wish, but remember to stay away from the capital, don’t go to crowded places."

"Don’t say it like that. We’ve been holed up here for so many years; who knows what it’s like outside now. There’s no need to scare the guests and make them unnecessarily nervous..." The innkeeper, being more cautious than his wife, interjected.

"What kind of situation could it be? As long as the king remains the same, what difference does it make?" The innkeeper’s wife clearly held a grudge against their confinement here, but since they were discussing the king of Lan Country, she instinctively lowered her voice, almost grumbling, "Even though they’re outsiders with no land... but who’s to say what the capital looks like now...

In these matters, a little more caution can’t hurt, right?"

"From what I’m hearing, you originally had homes and land elsewhere, but it was taken, forcing your displacement and migration here?" Lu Qing quietly asked, "Was it taken by the government?"

"If that weren’t the case, who would willingly leave their home, abandon a good place, and not leave even when there are rumors of Evil Spirits nearby?" The innkeeper sighed, shaking his head, "For more than twenty years, we never considered moving and thought... since this place has Evil Spirits, we’re afraid, but those government people should be too. They wouldn’t want to come to such an ominous place, so as long as we avoid the Evil Spirits, we can live peacefully."