The paper figure standing on the deserted mountain road was not the real Liu San, merely one of his paper figures.
Facing Liu San's paper figures, Yang Jian had no way of telling which was real and which was fake.
But real or fake, all the paper figures were under Liu San's control.
"Yang Jian, I'm truly sorry to make you come all this way."
The Liu San before him spoke apologetically. "As you can see, I've run into a small problem. All my paper figures have been deployed, yet the issue still hasn't been resolved. Instead, something happened to me. All the paper figures scattered throughout these mountains have lost their ability to move."
As he spoke, he pointed at his feet. "I can't walk."
"Hit by a supernatural curse and nailed in place?" Yang Jian asked.
Liu San said, "This has to do with our previous conversation. Do you remember when I told you there used to be a mortuary in the area under my jurisdiction? It was left over from the Republican Era. Although it had long been abandoned, the people living nearby all knew that an old man once lived there. The old man had no name. The locals only knew him as the corpse keeper."
"Some supernatural rumors from the Republican Era made me curious, so I began investigating this corpse keeper. In the end, I found a lead."
"There is an old wooden house in these mountains. It was the last place the corpse keeper appeared."
Yang Jian continued listening.
Liu San said, "However, I was attacked by something supernatural when I entered that old house. I'm trapped inside, and the paper figures that came to support me were affected as well, losing their ability to move one after another. I suspect the old