The Mysterious Village and Its Guardian Spirit

My family lives in a rural area, and at the entrance to our village, there's another village's residential area. The story I'm about to tell takes place in this village.

From a young age, my parents warned me not to speak carelessly when entering the crossroads near our home, to avoid attracting any malevolent entities. (In the past, burials were common, and there were several graves nearby.)

According to the older generation, a highly respected Taoist priest was buried near this crossroads. He was renowned in our region. Before his passing, he foretold that his spirit would reside beneath a certain tree near the crossroads (our village has an ancient and prominent tree), and he emphasized that this tree should never be cut down.

In our region, when a Taoist priest passed away, he would often transform into a guardian spirit of sorts. I can't remember the exact name.

Once a Taoist priest assumed this role, children in the vicinity were advised not to be noisy during the night. Making a commotion would attract the spirit, and he might play pranks on the children. Essentially, the Taoist priest serves as a guardian of this area, although my memory is a bit fuzzy.

However, there's a mix of good and bad. The malevolent spirits, after assuming this role, could cause trouble in the area. Unfortunately, after a few years, this particular Taoist priest turned malevolent. Typically, he wouldn't harm the local residents but would target passersby.

There's also a house near this crossroads, situated right at the bend in the road. This family has had a recurrent issue. Large trucks or cars would drive directly into their front gate, even if the drivers claimed not to have hit the accelerator, and they couldn't brake in time. They've changed their gate multiple times due to these incidents. The drivers frequently reported feeling like their vehicles were inexplicably drawn toward this location.

In the end, the family had no choice but to invite a Taoist priest to perform some rituals, essentially asking the deceased Taoist priest not to cause any more trouble. They vowed to provide proper offerings.

Over the years, there have been no reports of vehicles crashing into their gate.

When I was a schoolchild, I passed this place every day. It left me so scared that I'd rush home right after school, without paying any attention to anything else, as long as there was still daylight.