Liu Yunbo

Biodata

Background

Childhood as Guan Jun

Originally named Guan Jun, Liu Yunbo came to Tangwazi Village with his mother at the age of ten. According to his account, the villagers mistreated them as outsiders. His mother spent more than two months clearing farmland on the eastern mountain, only for their neighbor Auntie Li to seize it 33 37.

He was sickly as a child, and his mother tried numerous folk remedies without success. An elderly man eventually taught him unconventional arts that improved his condition. Liu Yunbo maintained that he initially harmed no one, but the villagers accused him of practicing evil arts and repeatedly harassed his household. He blamed their persecution for his mother’s death 37.

Military Service and the Demon Cave

Liu Yunbo served in the army alongside Wu Baoku, Tang Xiansheng, and two other men. A photograph shows the five in camouflage uniforms, standing with their arms around one another. After leaving the army, they visited Tiger Waist Mountain, where the village chief reportedly saved them in the Demon Cave. Their close friendship later collapsed over treasures 14 15.

Liu Yunbo purchased a bronze bell from the village chief roughly two years before Li Yao’s investigation. Old Wu had taken a book from the same village without paying 15.

The Huaiyuan Road Fire

Ten years before the main events, Liu Yunbo gave the security guard at 2386 Huaiyuan Road a yellow paper figure, supposedly to protect him. The guard subsequently experienced A Hundred Ghosts Cry at the Door: anguished crying spread through the compound until it could be heard outside nearly every household 44.

Liu Qingzhu started a fire to prevent the curse from killing everyone in the building. The fire nevertheless killed roughly half its residents; Liu Qingzhu lost an eye saving the guard, whose face was badly burned 44 45.

Accounts of Liu Yunbo’s own fate conflict. Old Tang claimed that he died in the fire, while Sixth Uncle claimed that Liu Qingzhu was the one who died. Liu Qingzhu later denied being dead but refused to clarify Liu Yunbo’s condition 6 7 19.

Appearance

Liu Yunbo initially appears as a short, fat, middle-aged man whose broad shoulders and steady footsteps reassure Li Yao 5.

• Build: Short, stocky, and solidly built 14.
• Distinguishing mark: A knife scar on his right cheek 14.
• Coffin appearance: Found standing upright with his eyes closed and a paper-white face inside a black coffin 37.

Personality

Liu Yunbo presents himself as approachable and reassuring. At their first meeting, he laughs off Li Yao’s expectation of an elderly ghost catcher, invites him inside after hearing Sixth Uncle’s name, and offers protection. His calm manner initially wins Li Yao’s complete trust 5 7.

His treatment of the villagers reveals a deep, enduring vindictiveness. He recounts his mother’s persecution in an even voice, yet Li Yao detects murderous intent beneath that composure. When challenged about punishing numerous households, he insists that all the villagers participated in driving his mother to her death 37.

He also uses promises of protection to conceal dangerous curses. Both the security guard and Li Yao receive yellow paper figures described as lifesaving charms. He undermines Li Yao’s trust in Liu Qingzhu by accusing him of starting the fatal fire without explaining that it was intended to stop the curse 37 44 48.

Abilities & Skills

Animated Paper Constructs

Liu Yunbo fights Liu Qingzhu through magically animated paper creations 24.

• Sends a demon child carrying a letter. Accepting it breaks Little Six’s hand and causes the room’s windows and glasses to shatter; Liu Qingzhu warns that discarding it would cause a death 24.
• Counters Liu Qingzhu with a paper figure that climbs the building and throws a huge rock into the eighth-floor apartment 24.
• Is seen tearing paper and muttering inside his damaged third-floor home while the duel continues 24.

Paper-Figure Curses

Liu Qingzhu identifies the Coffin-Affixed Paper Figure as an ancient cursing art and a specialty of Liu Yunbo 37.

• Liu Yunbo admits burying burial-companion paper coffins around Tangwazi Village ten years earlier to punish its residents 37.
• Yellow paper figures connect him to A Hundred Ghosts Cry at the Door, despite his claims that they protect their recipients 44 45.
• Liu Qingzhu states that Liu Yunbo’s curse weakens Li Yao’s yang energy, making encounters with supernatural beings more frequent 48.

Yin-Energy Cultivation

Liu Qingzhu interprets Liu Yunbo’s moving black coffin as the arrangement “a man hides in the coffin, ghosts enter the door” 37.

• Uses the coffin to cultivate yin energy, according to Liu Qingzhu 37.
• Employs the coffin-shop owner as an intermediary in the paper-coffin operation 37.

Supernatural Diagnosis and Countermeasures

Liu Yunbo attributes Route 13’s later crashes to drowned ghosts seeking substitutes, distinguishing them from the first crash, which he considers an accident 5.

• Claims that Li Yao cannot simply leave the route after driving it 5 12.
• Gives Li Yao protective objects and instructions intended to counter the reservoir’s supernatural influence 5 12.
• Proposes making a drowned ghost and a supposed fire ghost counteract one another by attaching bloodstained linen to Liu Qingzhu’s door. His description of Liu Qingzhu as dead is later contradicted 12 19.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Black-bead bracelet — Given to Li Yao with instructions to wear it on every shift and return after work on the lunar fifteenth. Its dozen or so beads gradually turn vermilion, soften, and rot. Li Yao’s cousin says they resemble human eyeballs, but their material is not confirmed. Liu Yunbo attributes the decay to absorbing an evil presence while averting disaster 5 6 10 11 12.
• Bloodstained white linen — Supplied as a replacement countermeasure after the bracelet deteriorates. Li Yao ties it to Liu Qingzhu’s eighth-floor door and completes his next route without incident 12.
• Bronze bell / clock — Purchased at Tiger Waist Mountain and sent to Old Wu’s bus company. Delivery records identify Liu Yunbo as the sender. Multiple people die kneeling before it, including a hired occult master 13 15 16.
• Yellow paper figure — Given to Li Yao in Tangwazi under the claim that it can save his life. Liu Yunbo tells him to keep it close and hide it from Liu Qingzhu; it later disappears 37 44.
• Second volume from the Demon Cave — Liu Qingzhu says Liu Yunbo obtained it before him. Its identification remains uncertain: the associated book is called Tales of Yin and Yang Dwellings by Liu Qingzhu, Wondrous Art of Dream Stealing by Bai Fan, and Seven Essentials of Corpse Driving by Old Wu 37 40.

Relationships

• Li Yao — Initially treats Liu Yunbo as his principal protector. Discovering that he sent the deadly bronze bell destroys that trust; accepting his later yellow paper figure exposes Li Yao to another curse 5 13 37 48.
• Sixth Uncle — Recommends Liu Yunbo to Li Yao. Liu Yunbo twice says that he is helping Li Yao for Sixth Uncle’s sake 4 5 37.
• Liu Qingzhu / Old Liu — Neighbor and occult rival. They exchange magical attacks, dispute one another’s accounts of the fire, and compete for the book from the Demon Cave 24 37.
• Wu Baoku / Old Wu — Former army comrade turned sworn enemy. Old Wu does not initially recognize the name Liu Yunbo because he knew him as Guan Jun 15 33 39.
• Tang Xiansheng / Old Tang — Former army comrade. Old Tang directs Li Yao toward Liu Qingzhu and claims Liu Yunbo died in the Huaiyuan Road fire 6 14 15.
• His mother — Raised him through illness and hardship. Her death is the stated motive for his revenge on Tangwazi’s villagers 37.
• Auntie Li — Neighbor whom he accuses of stealing his mother’s farmland 37.
• Coffin-shop owner — Works for Liu Yunbo and bows to the black coffin containing him 37.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Route 13’s Apparent Protector

Li Yao meets Liu Yunbo after mistakenly visiting Liu Qingzhu’s apartment. Liu Yunbo explains the supposed cycle of drowned ghosts seeking replacements, supplies the black bracelet, and schedules a meeting for the lunar fifteenth. After the bus nearly enters the reservoir, he provides the bloodstained linen and reassures Li Yao that the bracelet has already protected him 5 11 12.

The Bronze Bell Investigation

The courier’s identification of Liu Yunbo as the bell’s sender turns Li Yao’s benefactor into a suspect. Investigation at Tiger Waist Mountain uncovers his military ties to Old Wu and Old Tang, followed by the revelation that the former comrades became enemies over treasures 13 14 15.

Liu Yunbo subsequently emerges from the underground Tiger Demon Temple ahead of Liu Qingzhu. Their rivalry erupts into a magical duel at the Huaiyuan Road compound, injuring Little Six and forcing him and Li Yao to flee 24.

Guan Jun and the Paper Coffins

A photograph among Guan Jun’s mother’s possessions establishes that Guan Jun and Liu Yunbo are the same person. Li Yao later finds him inside the coffin-shop’s black coffin and hears his explanation for the village’s paper-coffin deaths 33 37.

Before Li Yao leaves Tangwazi, Liu Qingzhu claims to have instructed the village chief how to kill Liu Yunbo that night. No death is confirmed; Li Yao later trades Liu Yunbo’s identity and location to Old Wu for information about Route 13 37 39.

The Yellow Paper Figure’s Threat

The security guard’s testimony reveals that Liu Yunbo’s earlier “protective” paper figure was connected to the curse behind the Huaiyuan Road disaster. Li Yao then discovers that his own figure is missing. Liu Qingzhu confirms that Liu Yunbo has cursed him and urges finding Mr. He before the lunar fifteenth 44 48.

Notable Quotes

“What a coincidence. I’m Liu Yunbo. But you’ve got it wrong. I’m not old, and I can’t catch ghosts!” 5

“That’s right. I buried all these burial-companion paper coffins ten years ago. Far too many of these villagers deserve to die!” 37