Song Miaozhu's heart trembled. She immediately began flipping through the contents of Secret Art of Paper Crafting in her mind, searching for any mention of spiritual energy.
"Spiritual energy is the essence of heaven and earth, nourishing all living things with its positive influence..."
Although the Secret Art of Paper Crafting had been passed down from the last cultivation era, it was a craft-based manual rather than a true Daoist scripture. It didn't describe the form of spiritual energy or how to absorb it, focusing instead on methods of manipulating paper with spiritual energy.
Still, from these fragmented descriptions, it was clear that spiritual energy was entirely different from yin energy. Its nourishing effect on all things matched what she had just witnessed—the white light particles enhancing the quality of the paper ingots.
Given what her great-grandmother had said—that spiritual energy was on the verge of returning—Song Miaozhu was now almost certain that those glowing motes were fragments of spiritual energy.
Her great-grandmother had also told her that cultivation involved absorbing spiritual energy into the body and refining it into spiritual power, which in turn would nourish and strengthen the cultivator.
Each resurgence of spiritual energy brought with it a new era of cultivation, and each era had its own unique set of rules. No one knew what rules this new era would follow. But whoever discovered the method of cultivation first would undoubtedly gain an advantage.
The emergence of spiritual energy would bring changes to the world, and the internet was the fastest and widest channel for information. Song Miaozhu picked up her phone and scrolled through news and trending topics on social media, searching for any clues.
The internet was eerily calm. Aside from some wild speculations by occult enthusiasts, there was nothing that could be linked to spiritual energy.
"It's still too early."
Her Heavenly Eye should have been able to perceive spiritual energy, but since she hadn't yet begun cultivating and had no spiritual power, her ability to sense it was limited. As the proprietor of a Heaven-grade ghost shop, she could see ghost and yin energy, but her perception of spiritual energy was far weaker.
For now, there was nothing else she could do but continue folding paper ingots. Only by doing so could she observe spiritual energy and figure out how to absorb it into her body.
This time, she decided to follow the flow of the light particles—letting them enter the ingots as they pleased. Every ingot that absorbed a light particle became a graded ingot—mostly first-grade, with a few second-grade. None remained ungraded.
But then, something changed. After folding just half a bamboo basket's worth of ingots, she suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded.
After resting for a while, she resumed, but no more spiritual light particles appeared.
The ingots she folded now were ungraded again.
She folded twenty in a row—all ungraded. The twenty-first was first-grade, but this one had no spiritual light particle; it was purely the result of her craftsmanship.
She folded a few more, and this time, she felt no discomfort. The quality of the ingots returned to her usual level, with only slight improvement.
"Is there a limit to attracting spiritual light particles?" she wondered. To confirm this, she would need more experimentation. But she had no idea when the light particles would appear again. Song Miaozhu kept folding ingots until evening, when she ordered takeout for dinner. Still, no more spiritual light particles appeared.
Tonight marked the first shift for her two ghost employees. She planned to stay overnight in the paper shop—if anything sold out, she could restock it immediately. She wanted to see how much they could sell in one night, and use that to gauge future inventory. After dinner, she locked the shop door and moved to the back room.
At the foot of the wooden bed against the wall, her kittens had curled into three fluffy, color-coded balls. She gave each of them a head scratch before climbing up to the attic to restock the ghost shop's shelves.
She then placed product information for Mao Jinxia and the updated pricing list on the front counter. The graded ingots she had made were boxed up and stored under the counter, completing all the prep work before the ghost shop opened.
Still with time to spare, she took a bath. Midway through, she sensed that her two ghost employees had entered the ghost shop one after the other.
It was only 6:30 PM.
She had told them their shift started at Xu Hour (7 PM), yet they had come half an hour early. Even in the mortal world, Song Miaozhu could perceive everything happening in the ghost shop.
Mao Jinxia and Xu Jingsi began by familiarizing themselves with the inventory. Upon discovering the product catalog Song Miaozhu had left on the counter, they sat down to study it. Xu Jingsi explained anything Mao Jinxia didn't understand. The two of them worked together well and were diligent.
Song Miaozhu mentally gave them a point. With this level of initiative, they were unlikely to fail their probation period. Diligent employees meant far less stress for her, the boss.
After her shower, she changed into the velvet robe she usually wore when going to the underworld. But instead of heading straight to the ghost shop, she leaned against the headboard and flipped through the Ghost Shop Function Catalog she had received the day before.
She couldn't access the Underworld Network or the UCD App while in the mortal world, but she could still read the book. By studying it now, she could save time later when she went to the underworld to purchase the corresponding functions.
Like the Fengdu: A Handbook for New Ghosts, this book had no physical form in the mortal world. From the kittens' perspective, her hand kept making strange swipes through empty air, intriguing them to no end. They slowly crouched low, preparing to pounce.
Little Coal: "…?"
Just as they were about to pounce, the black kitten let out a "meow" and stopped them. The three furballs huddled together, meowing incessantly, finally drawing Song Miaozhu's attention.
"Hungry again?" she asked, checking the time. "That's strange—they just ate!"
Then she noticed all three were staring at her hands.
She looked down and waved the Ghost Shop Function Catalog. "Can you see this?"
The kittens' eyes followed her movements. When she placed the book in front of them, only the black kitten reacted, its fur bristling as it glared at the spot where the book was. The white and orange kittens remained more interested in her hands.
"Little Coal you can see it?" Song Miaozhu asked in surprise.
"So the legends about black cats sensing the supernatural are true?"
Little Coal didn't understand her words but growled at the book and swiped at it with its paw. And it actually made contact!
Song Miaozhu quickly pulled the book back. Each new ghost shop owner only received one copy for free—if it got damaged, she'd have to spend Hell Coins to buy another!
One hundred Hell Coins—that's two hundred yuan!
She stroked Little Coal's head soothingly. "Don't claw at this! It's not something bad!"
Her soothing tone must've worked, because the kitten's fur settled down. However, it still wouldn't let Little Goldie or Little Snowball get near the book.
Once the kittens relaxed, Song Miaozhu turned her attention back to the catalog, already brimming with new plans.