Eight Little Paper Figures

Eight Little Paper Figures

The whole of Chiyou Valley covered an enormous area. Under the shroud of darkness, I could faintly sense miasma constantly seeping out, giving off an uneasy feeling. Inside the iron canister, the Black and White Worms made clattering sounds.

I said, "Once it gets dark, the poisonous miasma comes out. Tonight we'll find somewhere to rest for the night first, then enter the valley tomorrow morning."

The mountains within Hunan were slightly different from those in Guizhou. The mountains here were shorter. But there were plenty of caves in the mountains. It didn't take us long to smoothly find a cave where we could shelter from the cold wind.

Ma Erlei first lit a dry branch and threw it into the cave, and thick smoke billowed inside. Before long, poisonous insects crawled out. There were dozens of faintly reddish poisonous centipedes, and more than ten golden-tailed scorpions with golden tails.

Looking at the poisonous centipedes and golden-tailed scorpions slithering out, I felt quite a bit. Once dried in the sun, these poisonous insects were all medicinal materials that could be sold for money.

The thick smoke drove away the poisonous insects inside the cave, and only then did the three of us enter to rest. Ma Erlei skillfully sprinkled a kind of insect-repelling powder at the cave entrance, so we could spend the night in peace.

We lit a bonfire, roasted the food we had brought with us, and made do with a rather decent meal. After walking mountain roads all day, all three of us were somewhat exhausted. We chatted for a few sentences, then prepared to sleep and rest.

"Xiaodao, the temperature in the mountains gets very cold at night," Ma Erlei said. "If you're afraid of the cold, lean against me."

Xiao Yudao rolled her eyes at Ma Erlei and said, "Forget it. You're covered in black scales. I don't want to be next to you."

Ma Erlei didn't get angry. He said, "Then lean against Brother Kunlun. The two of you can keep each other warm."

I hurriedly said, "I've got corpse stench on me. It's better if I stay farther away from her. We'll build the fire bigger tonight, and it won't feel cold."

The three of us quickly fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, Xiao Yudao suddenly pushed me and asked, "Da Xiao, did you hear someone crying?"

I rubbed my eyes, tilted my ear, and listened for a while, then said, "There's no crying. Could you have heard wrong?"

Xiao Yudao was a little nervous and asked again, "Could it be a little ghost crying?"

I listened for a while longer, but still heard nothing, so I said, "To tell you the truth, ever since I got the Three-Corpse Snake Gu, I can see half-solid Gu insects with the naked eye, and I can also see ghosts. If there really were a little ghost crying, I'd definitely be able to hear it."

Xiao Yudao said firmly, "I'm definitely not hearing things. That sound is not far away. It's making me restless and upset. Come outside with me and take a look."

I glanced at the soundly sleeping Ma Erlei, and could only nod and agree to Xiao Yudao's request. I pulled a burning stick from the bonfire, while Xiao Yudao gripped her firewood knife, and the two of us left the cave.

A gust of cold wind blew over. The firelight swayed twice and went out at once. Xiao Yudao hurriedly took out a fire striker, shook it twice, and there was light again.

"Xiao Ma, I still don't hear any crying. Are you sure you didn't hear wrong?" As we walked, I listened carefully the whole way.

"It's up ahead." Xiao Yudao pointed ahead firmly.

The wind blew with a whooshing sound, and my palms were covered in cold sweat. Running out in the middle of the night, I kept feeling gusts of eerie wind. In the end, we stopped at the entrance to Chiyou Valley. Xiao Yudao quickly put out the fire striker and pulled me behind a rock to hide.

"Do you see it? It's right up ahead," Xiao Yudao said, her body trembling as she spoke.

I looked in the direction she indicated. Under a wild osmanthus tree stood a strange person whose whole body was stark white. I called him strange because his body was too white. And at that very moment, a strange whimpering cry came over.

I sucked in a breath of cold air. Xiao Yudao really hadn't heard wrong. In these wild mountains and old forests, there really was someone crying, and crying very sorrowfully at that.

"Da Xiao, do you think he's a person?" Xiao Yudao's breathing began to grow rapid, and when she spoke, she became extremely cautious.

I rubbed my eyes. Just then, the clouds in the sky scattered, and moonlight poured down. That stark-white strange person suddenly turned his head and looked toward us. Xiao Yudao and I covered our mouths at the same time.

That strange person with the stark-white body actually had a green face.

"It's a Paper Effigy!" I forced myself to calm down and whispered beside Xiao Yudao's ear.

Its body was pasted together from white paper, and its face was pasted together from green paper. This kind of Paper Effigy was specifically burned for the dead. I believed I absolutely hadn't seen wrong. It was a Paper Effigy.

In the wild mountains and desolate ridges, a crying Paper Effigy had actually appeared. Even though I was bold, I still felt cold sweat pouring down my back.

"Why is he crying so sadly?" Xiao Yudao was much braver than I had imagined.

That Paper Effigy glanced toward us, then its body ran swiftly, heading straight for us. I quickly pulled Xiao Yudao along, turned, and ran. The Paper Effigy cried with whimpering sounds.

Under the moonlight, seven Paper Effigies leapt out from the dense forest. Including the one from just now, there were eight in total. They all had bodies made from white paper and faces pasted with a sheet of green paper, with features outlined on the face. The proportions of those features were extremely mismatched.

Eight Paper Effigies surrounded Xiao Yudao and me in the middle. The two of us halted. Xiao Yudao asked, "How did so many paper figures suddenly appear? What power are they relying on to run?"

I looked carefully, then shook my head and said, "I'm not sure. It might be some kind of shamanic art that drives paper figures." Ma Huoxin was a corpse herder and could drive zombies along the road. If Paper Effigies could pass through the forest by some mysterious power, that was also possible.

Suddenly, two sheets of white paper flew out, heading straight for our faces. I cried in alarm, "They want to kill us!"

Once white paper pasted itself over the face, and several layers were pasted on, it would block air from entering the body, and a person would be suffocated alive. The original strange "ying-ying" cries had also turned into "ge-ge" sounds.

The cunning Paper Effigies had first arranged for one to play pitiful and make "ying-ying" crying sounds, luring us out. After we came out, the remaining paper figures jumped out from the dark to take our lives.

"Light your fire striker! Paper things are definitely afraid of fire!" I hurriedly shouted, taking the firewood knife from Xiao Yudao's hand. I shouted loudly at the paper figures, "You're nothing but paper figures. Let's see how much strength you really have."

As soon as my words fell, the paper figures pounced over, with paper constantly flying out from their bodies. Xiao Yudao got the fire striker lit, but the flame was extremely weak. The paper figures leapt forward from both sides, and white paper pieces swarmed toward us.

That white paper was strange too. After it stuck to my arm, my entire arm became incomparably heavy. Two sheets flew onto my face, as if they were alive, wanting to embed themselves into my face.

I forcefully tore off the white paper pieces. Two paper pieces were fast and accurate, directly wrapping around Xiao Yudao's hand. The fire striker in her hand fell to the ground, gave off a few sparks, then went out.

I turned around, embraced Xiao Yudao, and forcefully tore away the paper on her arm. Just then, another large mass of paper flew over and stuck to my back. My back grew unbearably heavy, and my body couldn't withstand it. I dropped to one knee on the ground.

Several more sheets of white paper stuck to my throat and began to contract with force. The air in my throat grew less and less, and my eyes rolled white. Xiao Yudao's clear eyes looked at me. She wanted to turn back to save me, but she herself had also been controlled by the fluttering white paper and had no way to move at all.

I cursed furiously in my heart. Damn it, if I died at the hands of eight Paper Effigies, it would truly be too humiliating to put into words. Gathering the last of my strength, I screamed wildly, "Blood Infant, get the hell out here! This young master's about to be killed!"

I used all my strength to strike the canister on my body. A cloud of black mist emerged, and the Blood Infant revealed himself. His red eyeballs rolled, and he cried out happily, "You should've called me out earlier. I haven't eaten in ages."

The Blood Infant let out a shrill cry. Blood seeped from his arms, and his whole body, like a monkey, nimbly leapt out and landed on a Paper Effigy. Lowering his head, he bit down.

Strangely enough, after the Blood Infant bit it, the Paper Effigy's body went limp and collapsed directly to the ground. When the Paper Effigies saw the Blood Infant appear, they changed back into "ying-ying" crying sounds, abandoned Xiao Yudao and me, turned, and ran toward Chiyou Valley. I let out a breath of relief, tore the paper from my neck, and sat on the ground coughing violently. The paper pieces on my body also fell to the ground with it.

"Don't run! I'm not full yet," the Blood Infant said, chasing after them.

Xiao Yudao was also still shaken. She sat on the ground, panting heavily, then suddenly shouted, "Oh no! Erlei is alone in the cave."