Even if tonight's kidnappers had been useless—unable to handle even one paper soldier, let alone all forty-nine—the outcome still proved one thing: her paper soldiers were formidable.
And she had forty-nine of them.
What's more, if she continued using the Secret Art of Paper Crafting to imbue them with spirit through the ritual of paper-cutting and awakening, their physical forms would keep growing stronger, their size increasing with each awakening.
Like her little paper servants, they could grow over time. The difference was that the soldiers developed in combat strength, while the little paper servants grew in spiritual sensitivity. Of course, Song Miaozhu had no plans to stop at just one unit of soldiers. That said, spiritual awakening and spiritual nurturing were two separate methods.
One came from the cultivation techniques of the previous spiritual era and was still viable. The other, spiritual nurturing, was a more modern discovery. Both could be used together to enhance the effectiveness of her paper crafts. Her little paper servants had already gained the ability to become invisible through spiritual nurturing. She was curious to see what abilities the paper soldiers might develop in turn.
So before returning them to the yin-wood box, she filled each soldier with abundant spiritual energy. The little paper servant stationed atop the courtyard wall still reported no visitors approaching from the mountain road.
As for the ones shadowing the kidnappers, they showed that the group had left Yuanshan Old Town and, for the time being, had not encountered any unusual activity. With things under control, Song Miaozhu returned to her workshop to continue crafting a fourth-rank paper robe.
She now had not just sixty little paper servants to maintain, but also forty-nine paper soldiers. Both the spiritual awakening and spiritual nurturing required considerable energy. Business at her underworld supply shop couldn't stop even for a moment. She had to earn every spirit coin she could.
She had just gotten halfway through crafting the robe when she spotted a familiar car pulling up the mountain path. Temporarily setting the paper robe aside, she closed the door to her workshop. When the doorbell rang, she quickly stepped out from under the old locust tree and went to answer it.
"Captain Zhao, please come in," she greeted.
Zhao Huoyan studied her for a moment. For some reason, Song Miaozhu felt different today.
After thinking it over, he realized her demeanor was calmer, more confident.
Unfortunately, woodcarving skills couldn't be mastered in a few short months. He still hadn't absorbed spiritual energy, much less opened his third eye. He couldn't see how far her spiritual platform had progressed.
Song Miaozhu, of course, had no idea that a single glance had sparked such speculation.
But with forty-nine bodyguards like no other, how could she not feel confident?
Her back was straighter now. There was no more need to cautiously probe the SEIU's intentions. She ushered him to the living room, served tea, then got straight to the point.
"Captain Zhao, I won't hide it. I do have a way to deal with the Japanese Ghost. What I need is for your team to compile and provide detailed information—locations where the spirits are lingering, and records of the Japanese soldiers who died in battle. I'll take care of the rest, one by one. However, it will take time. Possibly a lot of it. I hope you're prepared for that."
It had taken her an entire season of cursing to completely destroy the ghost behind the Golden Rose Resort's haunted mountain. Even now, with both her spiritual energy and curse arts improved, purging all the Eastern Wraiths in the country wouldn't be something she could do overnight.
"Master Song, we're already incredibly lucky that you're willing to help at all. I'll get the documents ready as quickly as possible. Please take care of yourself. If there's anything you need from us, don't hesitate to ask."
Zhao Huoyan stood and bowed deeply.
"As for what happened in Ghost Mountain, on behalf of the people of Lingcheng, thank you."
Although Song Miaozhu hadn't said it outright, she had now effectively admitted to being the one who resolved the haunting behind the Golden Rose Resort.
She noticed that Zhao Huoyan hadn't asked how she did it, nor did he try to involve himself in how she'd deal with the others. He showed no interest in prying into her secrets, and that made her feel much more at ease. Even if she wasn't worried about being targeted anymore, she was still tired of having to deal with hidden agendas and tangled social politics.
This kind of cooperation was perfect. She could do what she wanted, and the SEIU would stay out of her way. As long as everyone benefited in the end, that was enough. Since today's conversation had gone smoothly, a faint smile touched her lips.
"I'll wait for your files, then."
To be honest, foreign fugitives just weren't as satisfying to curse as Japanese Ghost were. The more of them she exorcised, the purer the soul power in the Underworld became, and the more new souls could be born. This land would grow stronger, more prosperous, and more full of talent.
After seeing Zhao Huoyan out, her phone chimed with a new message.
[Master Song, don't forget to check the SEIU app.]
It was from Zhao Huoyan.
She opened the app.
"One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand... two hundred thousand?!"
Her contribution point balance had shot up to over 201,000.
Back when she'd thought the SEIU was spiraling into self-destruction, she had already cashed out all her points for yuan. It should have been zero.
Now it read "201000."
Checking the records, she saw:
—100,000 points had been credited days ago, a reward for alerting the SEIU when they were making a wrong decision.
—1,000 points had been added for sharing the results of using spirit energy to nurture a gold ingot and a golden lotus, 500 points for each.
—And another 100,000 had just arrived, credited for "resolving the haunting behind Golden Rose Resort in Lingcheng."
She didn't care much for contribution points these days. The SEIU store had nothing she really wanted. But this time, at least they had handled things well. She hadn't even brought up payment because she never considered this helping the SEIU. She was hunting Japanese Ghosts to practice her curse techniques, not working for free.
The SEIU wanted the spirits gone to protect civilians. But the haunting wasn't their burden alone—it was a threat to everyone living on this land.
And Song Miaozhu lived here too.
Now that the SEIU had given her the reward for Golden Rose Mountain, it meant they hadn't taken her for granted. They remembered what she'd done and were willing to repay her, even without being asked.
That felt a lot better than the old days, when they tried to squeeze every drop from her while offering nothing in return. Even if she didn't care about the items in the store, she could still convert contribution points into yuan, then into hell coins, and use those to buy spirit stones.
Two hundred thousand contribution points translated into twenty million yuan—or ten million hell coins.
That could buy her ten supreme-grade spirit stones.
Enough to sustain her cultivation for a long while.
Not bad at all.