After the Qingming Festival, the amount of low-quality spirit money—freshly burned by the living—had noticeably decreased. Today, she had only collected about 50,000 in subpar hell coins, converting to roughly 100,000 RMB.
After tallying last night's earnings and jotting down a rough account, she retrieved the new wholesale order forms from the ghost shop's counter. She compiled product details and printed them out. By the time she finished, the escape room next door had opened, and tourists began trickling in.
Carrying her bamboo basket, Song Miaozhu settled into her usual spot by the paper shop's door. There, she resumed her role as a folding-paper NPC with unwavering dedication.
Overnight, a few spiritual energy specks had reappeared in Huaihua Alley, though far sparser than before—clearly, the area hadn't fully recovered yet. Still, something was better than nothing.
After an entire night of wandering the town without sleep, the crimson crystal in her brow space had only grown to the size of a palm. The meager energy in Huaihua Alley now barely sustained her for long.
She finished folding a twelve-petal golden lotus before the energy was completely absorbed again.
Last night, Song Miaozhu hadn't slept. She'd wandered the town from dusk till dawn and managed to condense a thin, palm-sized sliver of red crystal in the space between her brows. In comparison, today's scattered spiritual specks in the alley wouldn't last her long.
Just after she finished folding a twelve-petal golden lotus, the lingering spiritual light had already been fully absorbed. Still, she refused to idle. With no energy left to gather, she decided to increase the difficulty of her craft, attempting a more complex twenty-four-petal golden lotus.
Her focus was entirely on the folding process. When the occasional customer entered the shop, she simply let them browse and pay on their own. This shop was merely a front for supplying the ghost shop, so she ran it with a laid-back attitude.
As she folded, she noticed new energy specks drifting in from farther away. It seemed spiritual energy wasn't entirely static—though these sparse particles vanished quickly once absorbed.
To test a theory, she refrained from circulating spiritual energy through her body while working during the day.
By noon, her hands ached, her neck stiffened, and a faint drowsiness clouded her mind. She paused, guiding a thread of spiritual power through her body—paying special attention to her hands, neck, and head.
A single cycle later, she felt completely refreshed.
"So I was right—spiritual energy really can restore physical condition."
Even mental fatigue vanished—her mind sharpened noticeably when the energy flowed through her brain.
This reminded her of an ancient cultivation text:
"Cultivators replace sleep with meditation and sustain themselves on spiritual energy instead of earthly grains."
She had already experienced the first part—could the second also hold true?
At lunch, she skipped ordering food, deciding to test whether spiritual energy could stave off hunger. But barely a few hours past mealtime, her stomach growled. Just then, another energy speck drifted near. She tried guiding it toward her stomach, but unlike obedient spiritual power, the speck darted straight into her brow.
Undeterred, she redirected some of her stored spiritual energy toward her stomach. The moment it arrived, the energy was absorbed—and a sudden fullness settled in.
She patted her belly in amazement. "It actually works?! So it was true—cultivators could replace food with spiritual energy!"
Excited, her fingers moved with renewed precision, and the twenty-four-petal lotus she was folding unexpectedly reached first-grade quality.
"Spiritual energy is amazing, but controllable spiritual power is even better."
Once night fell, Song Miaozhu closed up shop, hopped on her little e-bike, and roamed the outskirts of town—places like Xiaozhu Hill where people rarely appeared after dark. There, she continued folding paper and absorbing energy, condensing more spiritual power.
Deep into the night, once the town quieted down, she ventured into other districts to continue her work. With her Heavenly Eye fully now awakened, she could see clearly even in complete darkness. Day or night, lighting meant nothing to her anymore.
For a full week she wandered the town, folding paper and collecting spiritual light particles from every place where the aura was still relatively thick and untapped. Only the areas near the wood carving shop and Aunt Chen's restaurant remained untouched.
In her brow's inner space, the palm-sized red crystal had grown into a thin sheet, slightly smaller than an A4 page. Unfortunately, the town's recovery rate of spiritual energy couldn't keep up with her absorption rate.
Even if she wanted to cultivate tonight, there simply wasn't enough energy left in the vicinity.
Song Miaozhu sighed inwardly. "When will spiritual energy fully return to the world? When will the tide finally rise again?"
In the break area of the escape room next door, Lin Jiaojiao and Xu Xiaodan—both sporting heavy under-eye circles—were furiously typing on their phones.
A week ago, after witnessing Song Miaozhu's strange behavior folding paper in public, they'd changed their travel plans and moved into a guesthouse near Huaihua Alley. They'd watched her disappear at night and return only by dawn, day after day.
In the meantime, they visited the Eerie Escape Room to try other themed rooms—but really, it was just an excuse to observe the mysterious paper shop owner, who might just be a real-life shaman.
By day, all they saw was her sitting quietly, folding golden lotus flowers. The lotuses were stunning—delicate and lifelike, nothing like the crude ones typically burned for the dead. The more they watched, the weirder it all seemed. But they didn't dare talk aloud from afar, so they gossiped in WeChat instead:
[Soft But Not Weak]:Xiaodan, have you noticed? She's so tall, but she sits on that tiny stool all day and never even stretches. No normal person can do that!
[Whispers of Spring]:And our chairs are way more comfortable. I've been sitting half a day and my butt already hurts.
[Soft But Not Weak]:Right? I'm telling you, she's definitely not normal. She's a shaman straight out of a novel! And she has a black cat! Everyone knows black cats are spiritual beings!
[Whispers of Spring]:That's witches, not shamans. Are you sure you're in the right genre?
[Soft But Not Weak]:Whatever! I just want to know if she can really talk to spirits. If she can… maybe she could help us with that thing back in our dorm. Sister Hong's still hanging around and that's no way to live.
[Whispers of Spring]:In the whole week we've been watching, she only went to Aunt Chen's restaurant three times. Never seen her buy groceries or eat. And she's folding paper at night, too—never seems to rest, yet looks totally fine. Even if she's not a shaman, she's definitely got skills. Way better than those fake charlatans we've seen before.
[Soft But Not Weak]:What if we talk to her today? If we keep stalking her like this, I might end up joining Sister Hong myself.