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Chapter 261 - Whispers Beneath the Earth

While the rest of the world cycled between qi surges and stagnant calm, the spiritual tide on Xiaozhu Mountain surged for five full years before finally settling down.

Even after the qi rewards from advancing to the White Spirit Stage had faded, the spiritual energy atop the mountain remained dense. The sheer amount of accumulated qi over the years was staggering.

And since the world had not yet fully entered the late phase of the qi tide, occasional natural global surges still occurred.

Whenever that happened, Xiaozhu Mountain, thanks to Song Miaozhu's innate affinity with spiritual energy, would erupt with an explosive concentration of qi.

After all, multiple spirit dwellings were scattered across the mountain, each filled with Spirit-Gathering Fortune Doll tirelessly drawing in ambient energy.

There was no shortage of qi here, even in its liquid form. And within her treasury lay towering mountains of top-grade spirit stones. Song Miaozhu no longer paid much attention to the fluctuations of qi tides. Her focus had shifted.

Most of her energy was now devoted to absorbing artisan memories from spirit souls studying their insights, and creating new methods of spiritual awakening—each paired with the most compatible paper-crafted vessel.

Over the past few years, the Secret Art of Paper Crafting had grown substantially, filled with new diagrams and blueprints. Each one marked a new awakening method. But crafting was only the beginning. Using the Spirit-Appraising Bronze Mirror wasn't enough to evaluate them. They needed to be tested—personally and thoroughly—to understand their full potential.

So, every few months, the cultivators down the mountain witnessed another "commotion" from Xiaozhu Mountain.

In winter, pale fog would suddenly give way to enormous fire dragons roaring through the sky, turning the entire ancient town at the mountain's foot into a scene of summer. On clear, cloudless days, dark clouds would roll in from the mountain, soaking Xiaozhu Mountain and Yunwu Mountain in thick sheets of rain. The Xiao Li River, bone-dry during drought season, would swell abruptly overnight.

At night, tens of thousands of slender black shadows danced through white mist, twisting like demons under the moonlight. Even the old barbed wire fence—long rusted and practically useless for defense—would sometimes flash with golden brilliance, only to flicker back into decay.

Cultivators would stare at the mountain, then glance back at their own training grounds. The difference was… disheartening. Rumors that Master Song Miaozhu had ascended to immortality grew louder with each passing month.

Even The SEIU could no longer stay silent.

When it came time to renew the five-year lease on the underworld warehouse, Zhao Huoyan finally gave in and asked the question everyone had been dying to voice.

"Master Song… have you truly ascended?"

Miaozhu glanced at the message transmitted from her little paper servant's screen and raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think immortality comes so easily? I'm just testing new spiritual constructs. Didn't I sell you batches of spirit souls with those same abilities?"

Zhao Huoyan passed her answer along to The SEIU. There was a collective sigh of relief—followed by a heavier silence.

She hadn't ascended. They were all still cultivators… but the gap between her and them was starting to feel unbridgeable.

No one knew what realm she had reached, what level of dangerous or rare constructs she now commanded. And even though they had access to similar spirit souls, the spiritual tools they crafted were leagues below hers in effectiveness.

But no one dared ask. If she was willing to share, she would. She always set a fair price. If she was not willing, no amount of questioning would get past her.

After all, the entire nation's relic preservation relied on her relationship with the underworld. Making her unhappy was simply not an option.

Song Miaozhu, for her part, spared just enough attention to maintain the business arrangement. Then she returned to her own pursuits.

She had long since stopped selling new paper-crafted tools to The SEIU—especially not ones she had crafted herself.

That didn't mean business had slowed down. Sales of spirit souls were still a major source of income. And old products like Yin Paper Clothes and Spirit-Gathering Fortune Dolls continued to sell steadily. In fact, demand had grown.

Because by now, she had an army of one thousand little paper servants. Their spiritual awareness had reached the point where they could craft mid-tier items like the Fortune Dolls on their own.

Even if their quality was lower than hers, a few working together could produce solid results. It was more than enough to support her underworld ghost shop and her partnership with The SEIU. Production volume had even exceeded what she could previously achieve solo.

That gave her time to pursue higher research.

And she had made great strides. Once, she had envied cultivators of the previous era who could command the five elemental techniques. Now, her paper-crafted constructs could do the same.

She had created the Chixiao Paper Fire Fan, capable of summoning fire dragons or simply lighting a campfire. The Xuanming Paper Water Lamp could summon tidal waves or condense clouds to bring rainfall. The Qingluo Paper Vine Staff could control plant growth or launch vine-based attacks. And the Gilded Hollow Paper Sphere could coat objects in a layer of golden, diamond-hard protection.

These were the tools that made others whisper she had already become immortal.

In truth, it was simply the difference in cultivation, technique, and understanding.

The same spirit soul would produce vastly different results depending on the cultivator. Mastery of the craft, comprehension of the soul's nature, and compatibility of the vessel—all of these influenced the outcome. Miaozhu chose only the most fitting vessels, refined her own awakening methods, and imbued her creations with White Spirit-level energy.

Naturally, the resulting constructs were of far higher quality.

When used by a cultivator at the White Spirit Stage, these tools became truly formidable.

And now, she had just completed her latest creation: the Earth-Piercing Paper Drill.

She spared a moment to reply to Zhao Huoyan, mostly out of courtesy and gratitude for the steady stream of renminbi The SEIU was paying her.

Once she confirmed the drill's function matched what the Spirit-Appraising Bronze Mirror revealed, Miaozhu left her spirit dwelling eagerly, a gleam in her eyes.

She brought the Qingluo Paper Vine Staff with her, just in case she encountered any deep-rooted trees underground.

Standing beneath the old pagoda tree, Miaozhu gripped the vine staff in her left hand and the Earth-Piercing Drill in her right. Her spiritual energy surged.

At her command, the roots around her slowly shifted aside, revealing soft earth beneath her feet. A glow from the drill engulfed her form, and the next instant, she vanished into the ground.

There was no suffocating pressure as she had feared. The surrounding soil felt as soft and clear as water.

Any roots that might have blocked her path were pushed aside by the vine staff. The Earth-Piercing Drill carried her deeper, gliding through the soil like a fish through a pond.

She kept descending, beyond where tree and bamboo roots could reach, until she hit bedrock.

And then, suddenly, the world ahead of her lit up.

The shock of what she saw nearly broke her focus, causing the spiritual energy she was channeling into the drill to falter.

The stench of soil and the weight of the earth rushed in all at once. Miaozhu gritted her teeth, steadied her breath, and kept the energy flowing.

Only then did the crushing sensation begin to ease.

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