Under the shade of a tree, Song Miaozhu lounged with a cat in her lap while her diligent little paper servants carried her suitcase inside, carefully sorting and organizing all her belongings.
Once everything was properly arranged, they moved to the basement to prepare a secret chamber. From the ghost shop's warehouse, they brought in a set of table and chairs, along with seven-colored spirit paper, brushes and ink, cinnabar, glue, and scissors.
Only after everything was ready did Song Miaozhu set the cat down."Go play on your own for a bit."
She paced the courtyard twice, pried up a smooth square slab of bluestone that looked about the right size, and washed it clean in the pool. Then, carrying the rinsed stone, she descended into the basement.
It was time to begin cultivating the Paper Soldiers, a higher-tiered technique evolved from the standard little paper servant method.
This secret art didn't require advanced craftsmanship, but it did demand significantly more spiritual power. After months of cultivation, her spiritual reserves still weren't quite enough to fully execute the technique in one go. However, with the help of a supreme-grade spirit stone, it might just be possible.
Right now, the SEIU was swamped with internal chaos. No one had time to monitor her. It was the perfect opportunity to try the secret art.
A single supreme-grade spirit stone cost one hundred million hell coins.
Up to now, Song Miaozhu had barely managed to save two hundred million. Just enough to exchange for one stone. She had been reluctant to spend it before, intending to save up more and experiment cautiously later. But after last night's provocation from the SEIU and her morning curse ritual, she went ahead and redeemed one.
It was worth every coin.
Small as it was, the spirit energy contained in a supreme-grade spirit stone exceeded that of upper-grade stones by at least a hundredfold.
Even more remarkable was the purity of its energy.
The moment she drew a thread of spirit energy into her spiritual platform, she felt completely recharged. The spiritual power spent during her earlier curses was instantly replenished. The delay between output and recovery was so short it might as well have not existed.
This astonishing recovery rate made her realize it might be feasible to begin practicing the Art of Soldiers from Paper ahead of schedule.
What surprised her even more was that, while crafting a paper garment afterward, the spiritual energy from the supreme-grade stone condensed into crimson spirit crystals much faster than usual.
The stone wasn't just for recovery—it actively enhanced her cultivation.
Technically, using it solely to replenish spiritual energy would be wasteful. It was more cost-effective to use it for long-term cultivation. But right now, what Song Miaozhu needed most were stronger means to protect herself.
So, without hesitation, she absorbed a trace of energy from the stone and stored it in her spiritual platform.
Then, she stacked sheets of spirit paper in the following order: white, yellow, red, green, blue, purple, and black. Gluing them together, she cut them into human figures about seven inches tall.
Each session required her to cut forty-nine paper soldiers.
After preparing the full set, she selected one and began the spirit-pointing ritual required by the Paper Soldiers.
The process demanded simultaneous incantation and energy infusion.
"Aid the weak and shield the helpless.Soldiers born from paper,Three souls to the left,Seven spirits to the right,Rise without delay,Obey my command!"
There were six lines in total, and the pace of chanting had to sync perfectly with the flow of spiritual power. Only by finishing both simultaneously could the ritual succeed.
It was far from easy.
During her first attempt, her infusion speed was too fast. By the time she got through the second line, the crimson spirit crystal had already lost seventy to eighty percent of its energy. Though her spiritual platform still held reserves from the supreme-grade stone, it wasn't enough to complete the process.
Distracted by the failure, her thoughts scattered. Her energy wavered, and the paper figure burst into flames, reduced to ashes in an instant.
The other forty-eight figures, untouched by the ritual, self-destructed along with it.
In this art, all forty-nine had to be completed as a group. A single failure meant the entire batch failed.
Still, a failure wasn't the end. She could try again.
Song Miaozhu glued together fresh paper and began cutting another batch.
Once the forty-nine figures were ready, she started the ritual anew.
This time, she sped up the chanting while slowing the energy flow. She managed to finish all six lines right on time.
A faint spiritual glow shimmered around the paper figure, though it flickered and quickly dimmed.
She searching the Secret Art of Paper Crafting manual and found the issue.
"Chanted too fast. Energy wasn't fully absorbed."
So she repeated the process.
From afternoon until evening, she kept adjusting her pace, refining both rhythm and power flow.
Eventually, she got the hang of it. By the end of one spirit-pointing, the glow around the paper soldier had stabilized.
Although the light was still fading slowly, this was normal. The technique had to be completed at midnight, when Yin energy was strongest and Yang energy weakest.
The hour hadn't come yet. Because the entire ritual had to be done in a single hour at midnight, she would need a massive reserve of spiritual power. To prepare, she used the time to practice several more rounds.
When the clock on the wall reached eleven, she used an upper-grade spirit stone to recover, then drew another trace of supreme-grade energy and stored it. She gave her little paper servants clear instructions.
"During the hour of midnight, do not disturb me for anything. If something urgent happens, handle it yourselves."
She trusted her little paper servants. They were connected to her spirit. They would make the right decision. If she failed to spirit-point even one paper soldier, she would have to start over.
And there was no time to start over.
Tonight, she had to succeed in one go.
After her instructions, Song Miaozhu retrieved the paste prepared earlier and began crafting.
She glued the seven-colored spirit paper in order, cut out forty-nine seven-inch paper soldiers, and began chanting and channeling energy.
"Aid the weak and shield the helpless.Soldiers born from paper,Three souls to the left,Seven spirits to the right,Rise without delay,Obey my command."
By the time she finished the third line, her personal spiritual power had run dry. Fortunately, the supreme-grade spirit stone's energy surged in just in time, allowing her to complete the ritual.
This time, the glow around the paper soldier solidified completely.
With each successful ritual, she would immediately replenish her energy using the supreme-grade stone, store a trace in her spiritual platform, take a deep breath to steady herself, then move on to the next.
She wasn't rushing. Her only goal was precision. The moment her focus wavered, she paused to calm her heart before continuing.
Thanks to this, things went smoothly. One by one, the paper soldiers awakened.
Finally, she reached the last one.
"Don't get excited. Don't get excited," she muttered, pacing the room twice to calm her nerves. Then she completed the final spirit-pointing ritual in one breath.
At that moment, the glow around all forty-nine paper soldiers brightened together.