The words motorcycle echoed loudly in Song Miaozhu's mind, practically shaking her soul. She now truly admired Master Zhang Yunxi.
Since the spiritual revival, many elderly people had regained their youthful physical strength. But very few, like Zhang Yunxi, had also reclaimed a youthful mindset. Song Miaozhu had not met anyone else like her.
She pushed her carefully prepared tea aside and opened the milk tea and cake that Master Zhang had brought. To be honest, she found herself preferring these flavors anyway.
Sipping the milk tea and nibbling on cake, even with the lines of age still visible on Zhang Yunxi's face beneath the sunglasses, Song Miaozhu relaxed. The age gap faded into the background.
Still, she didn't forget the real reason for their meeting. "Master Zhang, about the gold ingot you mentioned…"
Zhang Yunxi seemed to remember only then. She pulled her backpack from behind her and placed it on the table. From it, she took out a wooden box. When she opened it, there inside was a small gold ingot, crafted from golden paper.
"This is the one! I used spiritual power to nurture it for quite a while and noticed nothing unusual. But last week, I sensed a strange energy inside it—neither spiritual power nor yin energy.
"It reminded me of the feeling I used to get from hell coins held by ghosts, but I wasn't sure. That's why I asked someone to introduce me to you," Zhang Yunxi explained.
Both of them understood the unspoken context. Right now, Song Miaozhu was widely known among cultivators as the only person still capable of contacting ghosts from the underworld. Song Miaozhu fixed her gaze on the paper gold ingot. With a single glance, she saw through it.
"You're right. This one does contain ghost lifespan. About... one hundred hell coins' worth."
This was a third-rank ingot, capable of holding the equivalent of one hundred thousand hell coins in ghost lifespan. What it currently held was only about one-thousandth of its full capacity, which was why the energy felt so faint.
"That's amazing!" Zhang Yunxi was thrilled. "This means I can keep nurturing ingots to accumulate a stockpile of hell coins. I'll be living in style even after I die!"
Song Miaozhu felt a flicker of envy. If her own gold ingots could do the same, couldn't she create a cycle? Nurture gold ingots to generate hell coins, trade them for spirit stones, absorb the spiritual energy, then use it to nurture more gold ingots... a perpetual machine?
"How long did it take for the ghost lifespan to appear?" she asked curiously.
"It took three months for the first trace of it to show up. And then, to reach the current amount, it took about a week," Zhang Yunxi replied honestly.
These days, the wealthiest living person in the underworld was probably sitting right in front of her. Everyone knew her paper-crafted items were sold in the ancestral shops of the underworld, raking in an untold amount of hell coins.
Song Miaozhu did a quick calculation. Leaving aside the cost of nurturing the ingot at the start, if it took a week to generate just 100 hell coins, then it wasn't worth envying.
The efficiency was far too low. She could earn 100 hell coins just by selling one first-rank ingot. Folding one didn't even require her personal effort—her hundred little paper servants could all make them.
Still, what wasn't valuable to her could be extremely meaningful for others.
Previously, there were only two known ways to acquire Spirit Fortune: one was through official issuance from the Fengdu Prefecture, and the other was through the converted longing of one's living relatives.
Neither could be obtained while still alive.
But now, the gold ingots nurtured by Zhang Yunxi could transform spiritual power into ghost lifespan. The conversion rate was just painfully low.
After the excitement passed, Zhang Yunxi's expression grew serious. "Master Song, about the second-degree offense... does that really mean I'll have to serve two years in the first and second layers of the underworld?"
Since the revival of spiritual energy, her life had become vibrant and fulfilling again. Her future had looked bright, yet now, because of a misstep into something she should not have touched, she had suddenly incurred a heavy karmic debt.
Two years of punishment in the underworld was a terrifying thought.
Song Miaozhu nodded. "Yes. Karmic offenses must be atoned for in the underworld. But don't worry too much. Ghosts can endure far more than the living. A second-degree offense... you grit your teeth and push through, most can survive it. The bigger concern is that having a karmic offense might make it harder to find work in Fengdu City afterward.
"But you're a paper-crafting master. Your skills are in high demand in the underworld. Earning hell coins shouldn't be a problem at all. Honestly, it might be more profitable than nurturing gold ingots for ghost lifespan."
She was giving her a gentle reminder.
In today's world of scarce spiritual energy and an ever-growing population of cultivators, using precious energy just to cultivate ghost lifespan inside ingots was really inefficient. Gold ingots were the most basic form of paper craft. It made far more sense to nurture something with practical value.
"I feel much better hearing that. The SEIU has also suggested I try nurturing other paper-crafted items. I've decided to give it a go," Zhang Yunxi said with a more cheerful tone. Her worries had eased, thanks to Song Miaozhu's insight, and her spirits lifted.
"I can see the spiritual light at the center of your brow is about the same as mine. We must be close in cultivation level. Since we're fortunate enough to meet today, why not exchange some techniques in paper crafting?"
"Of course!" Song Miaozhu responded warmly. This was a paper master from Xiangcheng after all. Her skills far surpassed Song Miaozhu's in certain areas. A knowledge exchange like this could only benefit her.
Still, while she smiled and agreed, a strange thought lingered in her mind.
Under her spirit vision, the red spiritual light at Zhang Yunxi's brow was far dimmer than her own. When she checked herself in the mirror, her spiritual light was noticeably brighter. That should mean her cultivation was far superior.
Even though this was their first meeting, she didn't think Zhang Yunxi was lying.
That left only one explanation—Zhang Yunxi believed their cultivation was similar.
But how?
Song Miaozhu felt puzzled. A theory formed in her mind.
Could it be that her cultivation was so far ahead that someone like Zhang Yunxi couldn't even perceive the true brightness of her spiritual light?
Still, it wasn't something she could ask outright.
Her cultivation level was a closely guarded secret.
Given her use of the Secret Art of Paper Crafting, her cultivation speed shouldn't have outpaced the other masters, especially those with the SEIU's support. Even if she had started training early because she knew about the revival in advance, it had been less than a year. By now, she should have been caught up to—or even surpassed—by the others.
If her cultivation was too far ahead, it would raise suspicion. But if the light at her brow didn't reflect her true cultivation, then it was the perfect disguise.
Currently, the brightness of the brow's spiritual light was the most widely used method for judging a cultivator's strength. If hers couldn't be read that way, it gave her a major advantage in keeping secrets.
With that realization, she let the matter go and focused earnestly on the exchange with Master Zhang. She had already prepared paper materials in the shop for this purpose, so she brought them out.
The true strengths she possessed were hidden within the Secret Art of Paper Crafting, which she could not reveal. What she could share were her more conventional techniques, which were only average compared to seasoned artisans. So while it was officially an exchange, in practice, it was mostly Master Zhang offering guidance.