If this had been a miniature memory of a paper craftsman, Song Miaozhu would have watched it over and over. But it had to be from a stonemason instead.
She experimented with it for a while. Each viewing of the vivid, immersive scene of the stonemason's work really did give her some hands-on experience with stone carving. When she picked up a chisel and faced a block of stone, she could even sense a little of that craftsman's mindset.
But it was of little use.
She had no foundation in stone carving at all. Even with experience, she couldn't apply it smoothly. And she certainly wasn't going to devote time to learning stonework from scratch. She had spent so many years in the underworld attending classes from ghost instructors, learning all sorts of skills, but they all revolved around paper crafting. Everything she studied had been for improving her mastery of the Secret Art of Paper Crafting.
This stonemason knowledge was, to her, wasted.
Still, she took the discovery seriously—that spirit souls born from destroyed unclaimed spirit artifacts might carry the memories and skills of their original creators.
Unclaimed spirit artifacts were so named because their creators were no longer alive, leaving them without any controlling cultivator. The skills infused into these creations often disappeared into history along with their makers.
Some of her ghost instructors possessed such lost techniques. Song Miaozhu couldn't learn them all on her own, so she often copied their notes and handed them off to her fellow master artisans in the elite circle—especially those who specialized in the same fields as the ghosts.
Most of the masters in her network had, in one way or another, received rare materials from her. She had put so much effort into it because it felt like such a shame to let those ancient skills vanish forever.
Even so, she worked quietly. Her ability to connect with the underworld wasn't something she could make public. If it attracted too much attention, it could bring serious trouble.
But if all unclaimed spirit artifacts could give birth to spirit souls carrying the memories of their original makers, then perhaps these lost arts had a chance to return to the world.
Lost arts were many. Fortunately, surviving pieces of craftsmanship were also plentiful. Preserving old artifacts was much easier than preserving knowledge itself.
Still, she only had one example so far—the river ox. There was no telling whether all unclaimed spirit artifacts could form spirit souls. The current spiritual tide had lasted several years, but spiritual energy still wasn't abundant enough to be called unlimited.
Other potentially unclaimed artifacts with spiritual potential hadn't yet been exposed to enough energy to trigger transformation. Most were old items—either in museums or in private collections. Even if they had traces of spiritual energy, they were far from the threshold needed to become spirit artifacts.
And the only Spirit-Seeing Bronze Mirror capable of identifying "unclaimed artifacts in the process of transforming" was in her hands. Not even Master Yang Shuqin, who forged the mirror, had one this powerful for personal use.
As far as she could tell, she might be the only one aware of this phenomenon.
She decided to act before others caught on to the value of unclaimed spirit artifacts. If she could find another item with the potential to transform, and feed it spiritual energy like she had with the river ox, she might get another spirit soul.
If that happened, it would all but confirm the theory.
With the resources she had, finding an old item that had little more than collectible value to others would be easy, even one with traces of spiritual energy.
But she wanted something tied to paper crafting—or at least somewhat related to it. If it did yield a spirit soul, the craftsman's memories might be more useful to her.
That made it much harder. Paper didn't preserve well. And paper crafting relics were even rarer.
Most paper crafts were used for rituals and funerals. No matter how exquisite, few people wanted to preserve or collect them.
Miaozhu scoured domestic collections, but also combed through auctions overseas. The item she found that most closely resembled paper craft was a shadow puppet box.
She came across it on the catalog of a foreign auction house—a Qing dynasty shadow puppet box, containing several hundred puppets.
The photos clearly showed an old item. Beautifully made. She fell for it at first glance. Though it hadn't yet absorbed any spiritual energy, and showed no signs of transformation, she couldn't resist it. Even if it couldn't become a spirit artifact, owning it might inspire new designs for her paper craft.
She placed a bid online and won the item.
It took half a month to arrive.
By then, Miaozhu had already reached the peak of the ninth stage of the Yellow Spirit Realm, but she still couldn't condense the spirit crystal needed for the next breakthrough.
This time, she understood the problem. Her skill and innovation in paper crafting had hit a plateau, and that was holding her back.
In moments like this, simply absorbing more spiritual energy wouldn't help. She needed to study the art, refine her designs, and build up new insights. When that foundation was solid, the breakthrough would come naturally.
There were no suitable new techniques in the Secret Art of Paper Crafting for her current level, so she placed her hopes on the incoming shadow puppet box. When she had first seen those elegant puppets, she had resolved to learn their crafting methods, and to use what she learned to make her own paper creations more refined.
So, when the box finally arrived, she eagerly opened it. But once she did, she noticed something odd. The shadow puppets inside were slightly different from the ones in the photos.
Where once there had been no traces of spiritual energy, now there was a faint glow on their surfaces. They had likely absorbed ambient energy during transit.
She raised her Spirit-Seeing Bronze Mirror.
"Unclaimed spirit artifact in the process of transforming."
These old shadow puppets did have the potential to become spirit artifacts. All they needed was enough spiritual energy. And that, Song Miaozhu had in abundance.
She rummaged through the box and selected the simplest puppet she could find.
It was a shadow puppet of a grand armchair. Unlike the human or animal puppets, it had no moving joints.
Among the puppets used to set up background scenes, it was one of the plainest.
Even so, its colors, patterns, and design were all quite refined.
Just a little more modest compared to the others.
Still, it carried the potential for transformation.
Miaozhu planned to use it to test whether all unclaimed spirit artifacts could give rise to spirit souls. After all, spirit souls only emerged after a spirit artifact was destroyed.
If no spirit soul appeared, the puppet would be lost for nothing.
So she had to choose the most "ordinary" one for the experiment, just in case it ended in disappointment.