Only after reading the comments beneath the post did Song Miaozhu realize how much had happened during her isolation.
She could still imagine it—artifacts left exposed in the wild, unnoticed by people, absorbing spiritual energy during the surge and transforming into ownerless spiritual items.
With such a massive influx of spiritual energy, it was only a matter of time. Cultivators couldn't possibly absorb it all in time, so it gradually dispersed, getting absorbed by ancient artifacts scattered across the land. Their transformation was inevitable.
Back when Song Miaozhu first informed The SEIU about spirit souls and ownerless items, she had also warned them that the Water-Suppressing Stone Rhinoceros, once transformed, would gain water-manipulation abilities. Her goal was to urge them to excavate and secure the remaining stone beasts in advance.
She hadn't expected the one in Jiangcheng Museum to remain dormant, while the one in Lingcheng—never found—would awaken, transform, and trigger a flood.
Fortunately, The SEIU's cultivators managed to subdue it and extract its spirit remnant in time.
China, with its vast land and long history, held countless artifacts. If too many of them awakened and turned into spirit-bound items, the resulting chaos could be considerable.
Still, thanks to her early warning, The SEIU had prepared in advance. At the very least, no disasters broke out in any of the nation's major museums.
That was more than could be said for other countries, where museum artifacts became rogue spirit items and stirred up all kinds of unrest.
Most of the current incidents reported in domestic news involved buried or undiscovered relics. Once transformed, they emerged and caused disturbances.
The SEIU responded swiftly. They made public the truth about spirit souls and ownerless items, then encouraged all cultivators to go out and eliminate them to harvest spirit souls.
With spiritual cultivation now widespread in China, there were far more cultivators available to handle the situation. Compared to other nations, tracking down or destroying rogue items was significantly easier.
At first, several countries—America included—actually felt lucky that many of their artifacts had been lost over time. But once China publicly revealed that eliminating ownerless spiritual items yielded valuable spirit souls, they finally understood just how much they had lost.
Now, these rogue relics were both a headache and a treasure trove.
They caused chaos, yes, but they also drew cultivators like moths to flame.
All in all, the disruptions hadn't gone so far as to destabilize society.
Realizing this, Song Miaozhu felt a little more at ease.
The artifacts in her possession were all high-quality, producing excellent spirit souls. She had more than enough for herself. Unlike other cultivators, she didn't need to scour the country looking for rogue items to eliminate.
Compared to that mess, Song Miaozhu was more concerned about the spiritual tide.
According to online chatter, the surge phase of the recent spiritual tide had ended a month ago. Since then, the world had entered a calm phase, with no new outbursts of spiritual energy.
And yet, Xiaozhu Mountain was still overflowing with energy.
In the past, the rise and fall of spiritual tides had always been global and synchronized. Why had Xiaozhu Mountain become an exception this time?
Though she had yet to uncover the cause, she felt immensely relieved that she had sealed the mountain's energy with the Ninefold Paper Spirit Cage. Otherwise, the secret would have already gotten out.
If the world learned that spiritual energy was still flowing here, Xiaozhu Mountain would become a prime target.
She pulled up an old Spiritual Energy Weekly bulletin released by The SEIU a month ago. A timestamp caught her attention.
"July 8, 16:34. Spiritual tide enters calm phase..."
With the Academic Spirit Dew she drank daily from her blue-and-white Rain Dew Bottle, her memory had become sharper than ever.
That timestamp—it was exactly one year after she advanced to the White Spirit Step.
She remembered it clearly. One of her little paper servants had been keeping time for her then.
"Don't tell me… that whole year-long surge happened because I advanced to White Spirit Step?"
The thought crossed her mind instinctively.
According to ancient cultivation texts, it wasn't unheard of for a spiritual tide to be triggered by a cultivator's breakthrough. This typically occurred in the mid-to-late stages of a spiritual era.
At that point, natural spiritual surges became less frequent, and those triggered by high-level cultivators became more common. Breakthroughs by powerful individuals could even draw extra energy as a reward.
Eventually, the natural surges would vanish completely. Only high-level breakthroughs would stir the tides.
When the world could no longer provide enough energy for a breakthrough, the spiritual tide would enter its final calm—a state known as the Dharma Ending Era. Spiritual energy would dwindle until it became nearly extinct.
"Are we already entering the mid-to-late phase of the spiritual tide?" Song Miaozhu felt her chest tighten.
This calm phase had already lasted a month, and it showed no signs of ending. The fact that her mountain still surged with energy matched the phenomenon described in ancient records—where breakthroughs came with additional spiritual gifts.
Even though Xiaozhu Mountain had more spiritual energy than she could ever use, she felt a sense of urgency creep in.
"I really need to start stockpiling spirit stones..."
Besides selling Yin Paper Crafts and Spirit Paper Crafts, she decided to open up another source of income.
She checked her spiritual platform for excess spirit souls.
Between the evil-repelling and peace-warding souls, she had over three hundred. These were leftover from when she developed the Evil-Repelling Awakening Technique and the Peaceful Awakening Technique.
Now that she could make Gold Paper Bells and Peace Gourds without consuming spirit souls, they were no longer useful to her. Perfect for selling. She could convert them to spirit stones and prepare for the unknown future, whenever that End of Dharma might arrive.
With that in mind, she instructed a little paper servant to contact Zhao Huoyan via WeChat.
Back when certain museums mysteriously recovered China's lost artifacts, many had speculated she was behind it. Only The SEIU knew the truth, and she never bothered denying it.
She had already shared the information about spirit souls with them. Denying her involvement would have been pointless.
As the official cultivator organization of China, The SEIU would never openly clash with her—unless something went seriously wrong at the top. Though she wasn't a member, she was still the face of China's global cultivation presence.
And more importantly, there was no one else, not even an individual cultivator, who could buy that many spirit souls from her.
The SEIU wouldn't expose her stockpile of relics, and they had the resources to acquire her excess souls. There was no better buyer.
That was why, despite disagreeing with some of their decisions, she still chose to collaborate with them at critical moments.
Profit mattered most.
Likewise, because she regularly supplied The SEIU with crucial information and valuable spiritual items, they tolerated her tough stance from time to time.
Over the years, they had reached a kind of unspoken balance. They weren't close, but they understood each other.
She sent her offer via WeChat:
[Miaow Zhu]:I've got 163 evil-repelling spirit souls, 4 million contribution points each. Also 172 peace-warding souls, 6 million each. Interested?
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Damn, isn't this time span for spiritual revival too short? Just how many years from the first spark and we already step into 'late-stage'?