The SEIU responded faster than expected.
The very next day, Song Miaozhu received another call from Zhao Huoyan.
To avoid her residence being tracked via her phone, she usually left it at the Anshou Hall Paper Shop, guarded by a little paper servant. She only took it with her when leaving Xiaozhu Mountain.
When the call came through, she stepped out of the spirit ward, transferred the phone to her hand, and answered.
As soon as she picked up, Zhao Huoyan's voice came through, "The SEIU has approved your request. Do you want me to bring over the catalog for you to choose from, or would you prefer to visit the SEIU yourself? You'll need to access the internal system to view the full archive and recent photos."
"Let's meet at Anshou Hall Paper Shop," Song Miaozhu replied without hesitation. "The sooner the better."
The SEIU headquarters was too far, and letting outsiders onto Xiaozhu Mountain wasn't ideal. The shop was the best middle ground.
They agreed to meet at 2 p.m.
Ten minutes before the hour, Song Miaozhu arrived at Huaihua Alley, riding her colorful paper phoenix. She wasn't the only cultivator capable of making spirit beasts into mounts. In theory, any spirit beast large and sturdy enough, with decent speed, could be used for riding.
Now that spiritual energy had been resurging for over a decade, cars and e-bikes had grown scarce. Replacing them were all kinds of spirit mounts, which could be powered by spiritual energy—practically free during periods of qi surges.
No one capable of cultivating a spirit mount would ever leave it idle.
But a personal mount space that included land, water, and aerial mounts? Only Song Miaozhu had that. In a world where flying mounts were still rare, her vibrant, intricately crafted paper phoenix was a flashy and luxurious ride. The moment she descended into town, she drew attention from all the cultivators nearby.
There was no open space for the phoenix to land in Huaihua Alley, so once it hovered over the Anshou Hall Paper Shop, she leapt off directly.
Gasps rose from the cultivators watching from afar.
Everyone knew that cultivating with spiritual energy gradually enhanced physical agility and strength. For most cultivators, jumping over a wall several meters high wasn't difficult. But jumping from that height and landing as smoothly as she did? That was something else entirely.
Even Zhao Huoyan, who arrived just after on a spirit paper swallow, paused. He was already a Tier One Green Spirit cultivator—one of the stronger ones in the SEIU's Lingcheng branch. He had landed cautiously on the locust tree outside the shop, then jumped down.
When he saw Song Miaozhu land from the sky with perfect poise, even he couldn't hide his admiration.
According to internal data, even the most physically adept cultivator on record couldn't match the agility she had just displayed. And clearly, that wasn't even her limit.
"Master Song seems to have grown even stronger," Zhao Huoyan thought, bewildered. "How is it that the more we invest in cultivating top talents, the further behind we fall?"
This question haunted many within the SEIU.
There was, however, a quiet theory. As the only known cultivator who still maintained a connection with the underworld and its spirits, Song Miaozhu might have received some unknown boon from the Underworld realm—something that allowed her to outpace everyone, even on her own.
But the trauma the underworld had once inflicted on the SEIU still lingered. No one dared investigate further.
"Chief Zhao?" Song Miaozhu opened the door to the shop and found Zhao Huoyan still dazed. Her voice brought him back to the present.
He snapped to attention and followed her inside, carrying his laptop.
The front room of Anshou Hall Paper Shop had already been converted into a comfortable reception space. Once seated, Zhao opened his computer and said, "This is the current artifact list the SEIU can provide. Once you make your selections, I'll submit them right away. They'll be delivered via our spirit paper kites. As long as you fulfill your end of the deal and share the method for granting new abilities to spirit items, the artifacts are yours."
Song Miaozhu gave a small nod and got to work without wasting words.
The SEIU's archive didn't contain the truly legendary, state-level relics she was familiar with, but it did include many items related to paper crafting—cut paper, ceremonial sculptures, paintings, paper carvings—all intricately made and highly compatible with her techniques.
The items might not have long historical provenance, but their craftsmanship met her needs exactly.
The SEIU was likely trying to cut costs, but they didn't realize that historical value meant nothing to her. Craftsmanship and type were all that mattered. What she truly needed was the potential for these items to evolve into spiritual constructs.
She took over an hour to choose from the thousand-item catalog.
Among her picks were over a hundred types of ancient paper—counted by the sheet. She planned to use the embedded spiritual essence in these papers to rapidly learn various ancient papermaking techniques. Once she succeeded, she would never run out of materials again.
She also selected many shadow puppets, along with works of calligraphy, paintings, and other paper-based handicrafts.
Each item had the potential to evolve into a masterless spirit object, and she only picked the most refined and intricate pieces in the system.
Within thirty minutes, the spirit paper kites had delivered everything.
After a thorough check, Song Miaozhu handed over the document she had prepared: "Notes on Unclaimed Spirit Items and Spirit Soul Research."
Not wanting to risk a sudden change of heart, she waited until Zhao began reading before quietly storing every artifact into her Thousand-Eyed Bodhi bracelet.
This wasn't the basic version where each bead held a single cubic meter of space. This was the upgraded Tier One Green Spirit version, cultivated by Master Wu Qingfeng himself. Each of its 108 beads now held ten cubic meters—plenty of room for her haul.
At the same time, she sent the signal to her little paper servants abroad to begin their mission.
Zhao Huoyan quickly finished reading the thin booklet. He now fully understood why she had requested these specific artifacts.
Looking back, she had never lied. When she said the items were for "reference and study," it had been completely true. Whether she was analyzing their craftsmanship or drawing on the spirit soul within to gain the memory and techniques of their original artisans—it was still a form of study.
In the end, it was their oversight.
But the cost? Far beyond just one thousand artifacts. These were one thousand artifacts capable of yielding spirit souls.