The old man was very welcoming when he heard I was here to inspect the land.
He told me everything he knew in a lively rush, leaving nothing out.
I barely said a few words before he had explained the whole story from beginning to end.
After hearing it, I was stunned too. "It's that vicious?"
The old man nodded. "Isn't it? That's why it's been abandoned for so many years. We don't let the kids play there. Last time, some foolhardy businessman bought the land. He fled less than half a month after construction started, and someone even died. You'd better forget about it. Don't go there. Even the powerful masters who come here have to burn three sticks of incense before they can leave safely..."
The old man went on and on, making me curious about the place as well.
We had gone there during the day and hadn't sensed the slightest trace of malignant aura. It had even seemed like a rare geomantic treasure.
Yet in the mouths of the locals, it was an incredibly ominous place.
"Sir, so you're saying that place has ghosts?"
"Heh! More than ghosts—it's King Yama's Hall. When I was little, my mother told me that the Drum Tower had been burned by heavenly fire, opening the gates to King Yama's Hall. Anyone who went there at night would die inside. It's dangerous as hell. That place has been abandoned all these years, but people have still died there one after another. Several powerful masters have come, but not one of them could solve it. It's far too dangerous. Don't inspect it anymore. It's fine to just leave the place abandoned..."
After hearing the old man out, it seemed that place really was cursed.
And it had not been cursed for just