This road had been built after Song Miaozhu returned home. It led straight to her doorstep and didn't pass by anyone else's house.
So, it was obvious who these people had come for.
Through the vision sent by the little paper servant left at home, she saw that her courtyard was almost completely surrounded. Someone had been knocking at her door non-stop, calling her name.
Fortunately, her courtyard wall was built high and lined with security cameras. Under so many watchful eyes, no one dared to climb over. These people didn't look like tourists either. Many were familiar faces from the town.
Only locals knew that her family had been in the paper crafting business for years. Even she, a college graduate, had come back after finishing school to open a paper craft shop. The driver, unaware of her tension, rolled down the window and asked the crowd, "Hey, brother, what's going on? Someone up the mountain getting married?"
"What? No! We're here to become disciples!"
"Disciples?"
"Yeah! Everyone in town knows the Song family makes great paper crafts. Their current heir came back after college to take over the business. Other paper shops have gone under, but that girl from the Song family is now driving a sports car! People used to say she must've gotten a rich boyfriend, but now it's clear—she's definitely a cultivator and joined the SEIU!"
"Song family's paper shop, Zhao family's wood carving workshop, Shi family's stone yard… all old craftsman shops. It's no surprise some of them became cultivators."
...
The driver kept on driving, listening to the chatter like he was tuned into some fantasy radio drama. The idea of spiritual revival hadn't quite sunk in for him yet. Now, hearing all this, he figured some psychiatric ward must've had a mass breakout, and the patients decided to go on a field trip.
He rolled up the window and locked the doors. "Miss, I don't think you should get out. These folks… don't seem very normal."
Song Miaozhu had nearly resigned herself to stepping out and confronting the excited crowd. At his words, she sighed in relief and quickly said, "Please, head back down the mountain. Take the fork toward the pig farm."
She meant the road leading to the storage area near the pig farm. Too many people in town had seen her already. There was no going home now. She figured the warehouse at the pig farm might be the only place she could hide.
Sure enough, no one had come looking there yet. After paying the driver, she slipped into the warehouse. Then she immediately contacted the SEIU.
Weren't they supposed to protect elite masters? Her home was surrounded. It was time for them to act.
"Hello? What? Your house is surrounded too? Got it! I'll send someone over right away. Whatever you do, don't reveal yourself. The public is worked up right now, so make sure to stay safe," Zhao Huoyan said firmly.
"Got it!" she replied.
After hanging up, she checked WeChat and saw she wasn't the only one. Zhao's wood carving shop was also surrounded, and so were the studios of most other elite masters. Most cultivators with decent spiritual power had been artisans long before the revival of spiritual energy—many had practiced their crafts for decades. It wasn't like people wouldn't notice.
The moment the SEIU announced that cultivation came from craftsmanship, their cover was blown. The group chat was full of complaints. It was no different from the forums on the SEIU app. Any lingering feeling of watching a drama had vanished from Song Miaozhu's heart. She was now in the same situation as the other masters.
While others were trapped in their homes or studios, she was blocked off outside her house. She had trained for so long, learned countless Secret Arts of Paper Crafting, and carried so many spiritual items. She had cleared out haunted sites across the country, but she was helpless against a crowd of curious, would-be disciples.
Even if she summoned all 196 of her little paper soldiers to form a human wall and escort her home, there was no guarantee that doing so wouldn't attract even more people.
These crowds came largely out of curiosity. The educational video released by the SEIU had done nothing to satisfy their thirst for answers. Now that they had a local master with visible skills who might be a real cultivator, of course they swarmed in.
Worse, the SEIU's video emphasized that spiritual power couldn't be used to harm others. Cultivators were just physically stronger than average people.
The idea was to reassure the public, to ease fears that cultivation would destabilize society. But at the same time, it stripped away the aura of awe around cultivators.
Without awe, only curiosity and admiration remained. People viewed cultivators the way fans view celebrities. Once discovered, there was no escaping being chased and blocked off.
The situation elite artisans now faced was exactly like that of a celebrity whose home address had been leaked. Everyone on that road had a phone in hand, filming. One video upload, and it was all over social media.
Song Miaozhu didn't even want to imagine what would happen if she really forced her way back to her home on Bamboo Hill with her paper soldiers. How many more people would come?
In the end, all she could do was hide in the pig farm warehouse, not daring to show her face. In this situation, the best thing to do was lay low and wait for the frenzy to pass. Now, all she could hope for was that the SEIU would get things under control, so she and others wouldn't be stuck indoors or permanently exiled from their own homes.
She had just finished renovating the old house a year ago. She didn't want to move out already. After half an hour chatting in the "Elite Masters Exchange Group," she finally saw a ray of hope. The little paper servant at her house reported via surveillance feed that police had arrived and were persuading the crowd to leave.
But it wasn't working too well.
Only when the SEIU released another official announcement did things finally begin to calm down. They stated that the SEIU app would be publicly available for download the next day. Through the app, the public could contact certified cultivators to register for in-person craft training or watch free beginner courses.
If anyone continued to harass cultivators in person after being warned, they would lose access to the free beginner courses. The mix of education and warning, along with the police presence, finally dispersed the crowd outside Xiaozhu Hill before nightfall.
Only then did Song Miaozhu head home.
She didn't take the main road either. She climbed up the mountain from behind the pig farm, then cut through the forest trail.
With her spiritual vision active, she could see clearly even at night. She had trained on these mountain paths every morning. The outskirts of Xiaozhu Hill and even Yunwu Mountain behind it were deeply familiar to her. Running full speed, she got home through the back entrance in under ten minutes.
The other elite masters in the chat also finally dared to open their doors.
By 8 PM, to prepare for the influx of ordinary people the next day, the SEIU app had a major emergency update.
After the update, every cultivator who had passed the artisan master certification and earned teaching qualifications was given a special label. They also had to upload a recruitment notice to their profile page that same night.