My mind raced as I said in a low voice, "Mo Caiwei, why is your village called Paper Man Village?"

I had never understood the origin of the name Paper Man Village.

Since entering the village, I had indeed seen several paper figures, but they didn't seem to have much to do with the village itself.

I didn't believe that the village would have such a name for no reason.

Mo Caiwei lowered her voice and replied, "Legend has it that the village was built by paper figures."

Mo Caiwei continued, "I used to wonder why this place was called Paper Man Village. Later, someone told me..."

"The original site of Paper Man Village was a naturally formed corpse burial ground, where the bodies buried here wouldn't decay for a hundred years."

"Before the Four Vein Sorcerers moved here, people who were buried here didn't use coffins to contain the bodies. Instead, they wrapped the dead in paper, and drew eyebrows and eyes on the paper according to the features of the corpse. The bodies buried here were like lifelike paper figures."

"Every so often, someone would dig open the graves to take a look."

"If the paper on the corpse hadn't changed at all, they would wrap another layer of paper on the body."

"If the paper on the corpse looked like it had been stained with blood, it meant that the body wouldn't turn into a jiangshi (Chinese hopping vampire). Then, they would collect the paper, put the body back in a coffin, and bury it again."

"That's how the name Paper Man Village came about!"

I asked calmly, "Were those who wrapped the corpses in paper the original inhabitants of this place? Where did they go?"

"I don't know." Mo Caiwei shook her head. "The name Paper Man Village is just a legend. No one has ever bothered to verify it."

Just as I was about to speak, a sense of crisis suddenly arose in my heart. I drew both my sabers at the same time, pointing them behind me, the tips aimed at Jiu Ci, whose one hand was hanging down.

Jiu Ci, standing at a distance with his body half-turned, opened his mouth and spoke with the voice of the Skin Peeler: "Li Po, you dare to scheme against me?"

"It's not the first time I've schemed against you. You'll get used to it." I didn't take the other party's killing intent to heart at all. "Did you lose?"

I was deliberately provoking the Skin Peeler. She couldn't win a three-on-one fight. Bone Carver and the others hadn't chased after her, so the Skin Peeler must have used some kind of secret technique to hold them back on the mountain.

The Skin Peeler said sharply, "Whether I win or lose, it won't stop me from peeling your skin."

I said indifferently, "Can your hand still move? I deliberately left Jiu Ci, whose hand was poisoned, behind so that you could seize his body. Don't even think about peeling my skin until you force out the snake venom from his hand. And do you have time to force out the snake venom now?"

The Skin Peeler gnashed her teeth in anger, but there was nothing she could do to me.

When Bone Carver left me, Jiu Ci, and Mo Caiwei together at home, I found it strange.

It wasn't until the three of them appeared that I understood one thing: Bone Carver and the others wanted the Skin Peeler to take over the body of either Jiu Ci or Mo Caiwei.

Although I didn't know why they had to do this, I still took a gamble and left Jiu Ci, whose hand had been injured by snake venom, behind. As long as the Skin Peeler dared to take over Jiu Ci's body, she wouldn't be able to fight me in the short term.

She could only cooperate with me.

Before the Skin Peeler could speak, I said bluntly, "I'm not going to waste time talking nonsense with you. Now, there are three ghost gods to deal with us. If you and I cooperate, there's still a chance of survival. If we continue to stalemate like this, we'll just be killed by the three of them."

The Skin Peeler took two deep breaths and said, "Alright, I'll cooperate with you. Ahead of you is a death gate. You can knock on the door by using the method of calling ghosts by clapping the door. As for what to do after you go in, that's up to you."

I said in a deep voice, "Where's the door knocker?"

The Skin Peeler sneered, "It's on the tree in front of you. If you want to knock on the door, hurry up. I can only trap them for a quarter of an hour. Half the time has already passed. If you dawdle any longer, Bone Carver and the others will come down. Both of you will die a horrible death."

Calling ghosts by clapping the door meant going to knock on the gate of an abandoned house.

When sorcerers encountered ordinary ghosts, they could call the ghosts out by knocking on the tomb door three times with a stone.

But if they encountered places like ancient houses or large tombs, sorcerers wouldn't dare to knock on the door easily. No one knew what they might knock out of the door. If they weren't careful, they might even be taken into the door themselves.

I took a few steps forward, put my hand on the tree trunk, and felt around for a few times. Finally, I found a protruding spot. I closed my fingers and pulled down, and sure enough, I pulled out an iron ring from the tree.

But I was in trouble holding the iron ring. How should I knock on this door?

Jianghu (martial world) people were very particular about knocking on doors: how many light knocks, how many heavy knocks, and how long the intervals were all represented different meanings.

If I knocked wrong, we might have to start fighting at the door.

The Skin Peeler urged me from behind, "Aren't you audacious? How come you don't even dare to knock on a door? If you're going to do it, hurry up, otherwise, we'll turn around and kill our way back. Don't waste time here!"

I said coldly, "Shut up! No one thinks you're a mute if you don't talk!"

As I spoke, I gently knocked on the door ring twice, then stood aside and looked at the fuming Skin Peeler with a half-smile.

The Skin Peeler gritted her teeth and said, "Are you trying to die by knocking on the door like that?"