"???"
Song Miaozhu immediately opened the SEIU app.
In the community section that had launched alongside the contribution shop, a video was exploding in popularity. It was the first thing she saw.
[Lou Junchi, Classical Music Composer from Jiangcheng SEIU: I just wanted to create good music. Why should I pay the price for certain reckless people in the Central SEIU? [Video]]
In the video, Lou Junchi calmly explained the underworld's punishment notice and the full context of the incident.
Only at the end did his tone turn sharp as he accused:
"I don't understand. Master Song clearly warned you how powerful the underworld is, and how much they resent interference between yin and yang. She even refused to provide the Grade Four Yin Paper Clothes for developing ghost recruits. So why didn't you listen?
Why, knowing the risks, would you still provoke the underworld?
We're talking about the Eighteen Levels of Hell here. Master Song said the punishments in the underworld are even more terrifying than the legends online. And now we're supposed to suffer through them for decades?
Are our lives not worth anything?
Are the lives of those ghosts who still loved their country in death also meaningless?
Even now, the masterminds behind this scheme, and the ones who knew the truth, are only concerned about their own ten or twenty years of lost lifespan. They came barging in on Master Song not to apologize, but to save themselves.
No one has come forward to admit fault.
And yet they're still trying to challenge the underworld, still trying to send some so-called petition to the Underworld City Court. Master Song refused, but they won't let it go.
They claim it's to learn about cultivation and becoming immortals, but I think some of them are just afraid of death. They're old, have no worthwhile skills, and now they want to exploit the underworld for shortcuts and selfish gain.
People like us, who were kept in the dark, are the ones paying the price. Our sins are already recorded. There's no taking it back. All I want now is to cultivate properly, do good deeds, try to live a bit longer, and earn some positive merit.
If I succeed in cultivation, that's great. If not, then at least when I enter the underworld later, life in Fengdu City might be a little easier.
As for the SEIU's nonsense? I'm done.
There's spiritual energy everywhere. Any artisan can absorb it. We don't need to join the SEIU to cultivate."
In the comments section, SEIU members from around the country who had been reporting the dream visitations from the ghost messengers and only received "under investigation" as a reply from the Central SEIU were now furious.
After learning the consequences of their sin grades, none of them could stay calm.
Many of these SEIU members had advanced rapidly in cultivation. They had always been people who followed their passions, choosing crafts and traditions in a modern world that had long abandoned such pursuits. Without a deep inner calling, they wouldn't have stuck with it.
Now that something had happened, they weren't the type to stay silent. nAnd most of them had opened their spiritual vision. They could see ghosts. That meant all of them, without exception, had been involved in recruiting ghost members. At minimum, they were now burdened with Level Six Evil.
After hearing Lou Junchi describe hell's punishments, their hair stood on end.
Fear turned into rage in the comments:
[@Central SEIU, say something! Why are you playing dead now?"=]
[I've got a friend at the Jiangcheng police station. Heard they've been up all night tracking down some woman named 'Song Miaozhu'. I thought she was the mastermind! Turns out she warned you and you didn't listen. And now you're going after her?]
[No wonder Master Song's still just a contract member. If I'd known the higher-ups were this shady, no amount of benefits could've lured me in.]
[Tongue-ripping, steam cages, mountain of blades, boiling oil... I can't even handle one. Now I have to go through six, each lasting six years? I'd rather my soul scatter now and be done with it!]
[Don't suicide! Master Song said that's another evil—'disrespecting life.' A 3rd Degree Minor Evil!]
[@Central SEIU, answer us!]
[Stop tagging them. They'll just ban Lou's account.]
[One Lou falls, ten thousand Lous will rise!]
[Now's not the time to be dramatic.]
[I'm reposting this, just in case.]
[Download and save it. Before it disappears.]
[The ringleaders lost twenty years of lifespan. I checked—those committee members are all over 70. After this deduction, some of them probably have one foot in the underworld already. Why would they care about us now?]
[Even if they survive, they need to be removed from office. The underworld's punishment list doesn't lie. If the SEIU tries to shield them it's rotten to the core. I'll be out of here so fast I'll leave a smoke trail.]
[Lou is brave. A role model. Aren't you afraid the SEIU will come after you later?]
[Scared of what? Spiritual energy is back! Who knows who'll hold the power next?]
...
As Song Miaozhu scrolled through the names and comments, she suddenly saw the post was gone.
Lou Junchi's account was also offline.
She asked Zhao Mumu and the others, and it was the same on their end.
"Looks like the Central SEIU caught wind of it and shut it down," Zhao Mumu said.
"This is getting ugly," Chen Shuanghe added. "There's going to be serious fallout inside the SEIU."
Song Miaozhu sighed. This might actually work in her favor. The ones most obsessed with exploiting the underworld would be too busy cleaning up their own mess to target her again.
Even if they still harbored ill intent, they wouldn't dare make a move for now. If anyone came after her now, the whole SEIU would suspect something. She had finally earned herself a bit of breathing room, some time to grow stronger.
She should have felt happy about this, but she didn't. The SEIU definitely had its problems, but as an organization, it still served a valuable role.
It had gathered cultivators from across the nation, compiled data, and studied cultivation methods.
It helped regulate the community and research spiritual energy more effectively.
But now, with this mess, the SEIU had lost public trust. If all cultivators became independent, instability would rise. They already understood so little about cultivation. Things would only slow down further from here.
This wasn't a good outcome.
All she could hope for now was that there were still people like Zhao Huoyan at the Central SEIU—clear-headed, principled people—who could step up and bring things back in order.
Otherwise, the SEIU really was finished.
Worry was one thing, but that was the end of it. Song Miaozhu still knew exactly what she had to do next.
"No more chatting. I need to pack."
After hanging up the call, she summoned her little paper servants to start organizing. She herself opened the ticket app to book a ride home. The future of the SEIU, the future of the cultivation world—none of that was in her hands.
Power and influence only ever belonged to the strong.
All she could do now was cultivate. Carve out her own path. Build true strength. Only then would her voice matter. Only then could she steer things toward the future she wanted.