My Friend is a Geomancer (0) Prologue

I have a friend I’ve known for a long time, so I’m aware of his somewhat legendary (?) journey down a path I’m not even sure how to describe—some kind of “master” role, perhaps. Not only does he have people sponsoring and supporting his work, but the nature of his job seems a bit like searching for “treasure lands” or something similar (?).

The reason I call it legendary is because the process was pretty hilarious. He was suddenly “chosen” by his ancestors and “sold off” by his parents—let’s just skip that part for now.

Due to the nature of his work, he often ventures into deep mountains, whether in Taiwan or mainland China, always diving into the wilderness.

Here, I’ll briefly share something he once told us that feels a bit similar to the content in this series of “I’m a Search and Rescue Officer for the US Forest Service, I have some stories to tell”.

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My friend often tells us, “You have to respect the mountains, and at the same time, don’t be too curious. Too much curiosity in the deep mountains can get you killed.”

When the first story in this series came up, I mentioned it to him, and this was his take (paraphrased):

“Usually, the mountains don’t reveal things so directly like that. In Taiwan, they’re often called mo-shin-zai (magical trickster spirits), or some refer to them as chi-mei (mountain goblins). The reason I say not to be too curious is this: Imagine you’re hiking, following a normal trail, looking at the scenery around you, and suddenly you spot something that doesn’t belong there. What would you do?”

“What do you mean? What’s ‘something that doesn’t belong’? A naked woman? Hahahaha”

“If a naked woman appeared in the deep mountains, I’d say 9 out of 10 people would run away immediately.”

“Let me give you an example. Back when I was still an apprentice and being dragged around by my uncle, we were hiking a trail, and I saw a floor lamp in the forest beside us.”

“…What? A floor lamp? Was it lit?”

“No, it wasn’t lit. It was a bit far off, about 50 meters away, with vines and weeds growing over it.”

“You’re telling me you could even make that out?!”

“I just happened to spot it, okay? And at the time, I wanted to walk over and take a closer look, so I called out to my uncle. He immediately stopped me and said, ‘Good, it’s better to let you see it with your own eyes first—it’ll make the lesson stick.’ Afterward, my uncle explained that just like human hunters set traps, ‘certain things’ in the mountains do too—things like this.”

“When you stray from the path you’re supposed to take and head toward it, you’ve fallen into their trap.”

“Like how mo-shin-zai lure people away?”

“It’s even weirder than that. The things in the mountains can’t be judged by normal logic, and it’s not clear what the purpose of these traps is. Sometimes, you trigger one and nothing happens to you, but maybe a team or person on the other side of the mountain—someone you don’t even know—ends up in trouble.”

“What? What kind of logic is that?”

“It’s like how some people think, ‘Oh, if the first person I see today is wearing red, I’ll eat a sandwich.’ You get that kind of logic, right?”

True TAIWAN Horror story