It was about the same level of efficiency as a newly awakened cultivator just opening their spiritual platform.
With that kind of absorption rate, even if no other cultivators in the entire Yuanshan Old Town were competing for spiritual energy, it would still be impossible to attract even a single wisp of spiritual light into this courtyard.
Yet now, the very bowl of the paper figure she had just brought out received a flicker of spiritual light.
About ten seconds later, another one appeared.
This time, Song Miaozhu saw it clearly. That spiritual wisp hadn't drifted over from the surroundings, it had suddenly materialized right above the bowl.
One drop, then another, like water droplets falling gently into the paper bowl.
Soon, a thin layer of spiritual light pooled at the bottom.
"Where are these coming from?" Song Miaozhu muttered, puzzled. "Did the spirit-fused version of the bowl-holding paper figure gain the ability to generate spiritual energy from nothing? That doesn't seem right either."
If these endless light wisps were truly being conjured from nothing, they should have been forming directly inside the bowl rather than above it, then falling in. But the figure couldn't move, had no consciousness, and couldn't explain what was happening.
As she pondered the strange new ability, a little paper servant tasked with checking her social media and SEIU updates sent a visual feed that caught her attention.
A new post had just gone up on the SEIU app:
"Fellow cultivators, has anyone ever seen spiritual wisps vanish into thin air?" — Liang Xinhong [Spirit Merchant] [Crafting Master] [Cultivator]
It had only just been posted, but because of the poster's impressive credentials, it was already gathering replies.
[Song Zihan]:Caught a live Crafting Master! Mind if I ask whether you're still offering beginner-level courses?
[Xian Xiaoliu]:Disappearing spiritual light? Come on, that's just them being absorbed into someone's spiritual platform. You sure your Heaven's Eye is working right?
[Lu Yicheng]:Are you kidding? Look at Liang Master's credentials. A Spirit Merchant and a Crafting Master? There's no way he hasn't opened his Heaven's Eye. His cultivation level is probably tens of thousands of units high.
[Xian Xiaoliu]:Then how did he see spiritual wisps vanish?
[Ping Xinyao]:I just saw one disappear too. I'm not cultivating yet, just searching for a spiritually dense place to start. Only one vanished, the others seem stable.
[Zhuo Jinhua]:Same here! I'm in Hongcheng. Where are you guys?
[Ping Xinyao]:I'm in Lincheng.
[Liang Xinhong]:I'm in Jincheng.
[Xian Xiaoliu]:These cities are scattered all over. Don't tell me spiritual energy is already declining again right after the revival.
The post's popularity was climbing, but Song Miaozhu was struck by an absurd possibility. "Could it be that the bowl-holding paper figure is pulling spiritual energy from where those people are?"
Hongcheng, Lincheng, Jincheng. Even the closest of those was in a neighboring province. Was the figure actually absorbing spiritual light from that far away?
It looked more like random spots were being plucked.
Rather than conjuring energy from nothing, she felt the more likely explanation was long-distance absorption. After all, if spiritual light could truly be generated from nothing, there would be no need to worry about the era of cultivation ending due to spiritual depletion.
That would just be too overpowered. She had only used a bit more than one unit of blue spiritual energy. How could that result in this kind of ability?
As the paper figure kept gathering spiritual light, Song Miaozhu stayed glued to the comments on that post. Now that the post was gaining attention, more cultivators were taking notice of spiritual fluctuations around them. Several others soon reported seeing spiritual wisps disappear.
One even managed to give a precise time and location for when it happened.
Others followed suit, recording timestamps and coordinates.
Song Miaozhu compared their reports with the bowl figure's absorption rate. The figure was pulling in one wisp every ten or so seconds, far more than the number of people reporting losses.
Even though not every wisp it took matched a comment, the times aligned perfectly with when the bowl was receiving a drop.
That couldn't just be a coincidence.
"So it really is collecting spiritual light across space?" she muttered, staring at the figure in awe.
An idea sparked: "Then I won't have to worry about hiding my cultivation anymore."
At present, the biggest red flag surrounding her was how she had reached a high cultivation level without ever leaving her little hilltop home. She knew the truth, of course. But she had never wanted to go around acting like the average cultivator, running all over to absorb spiritual energy and wasting time and effort.
In the Elite Masters' Forum, the SEIU had long released a guide titled How to Gauge a Cultivator's Level by the Glow on Their Forehead.
The Lingcheng SEIU unit had probably noticed by now that everyone who looked at her thought her glow matched their own. From that, they would assume she was stronger than anyone in their office.
That had been enough to buy her some time, especially since she had shown them the activated version of the bowl-holding paper figure to throw them off.
But sooner or later, they would realize even that version required regular exposure to spiritual energy from different locations. Someone like her, staying home all day and not hiring helpers, should not be able to maintain such a high energy reserve.
If, at that point, even SEIU's best-trained high-level cultivators couldn't see through her cultivation level, her secret regarding spiritual stones might be exposed.
But now, she no longer had to worry.
The spirit-fused version of the bowl-holding figure had sealed that final vulnerability. All she needed to do now was slightly adjust the appearance of the spirit-fused figures, to distinguish them from the standard activated ones.
After all, two identical paper crafts would never develop completely different spiritual abilities. She could simply make more spirit-fused bowl figures, keep them at home, and let them quietly gather spiritual energy for her.
This way, she could conserve spiritual stones and boldly maintain her position as the top cultivator in the region. Unable to resist, Song Miaozhu began testing new designs immediately.
She added lace around the rim of the bowl, changed the figure's hairstyle, drew on decorative markings. The structural changes were minimal and didn't affect the spiritual function, but visually they were entirely different.
Once she finalized the look of the spirit-fused version, she went through her stock, raised several bowl-holding paper figures into full spiritual artifacts, then modified their appearances and placed them throughout her paper craft workshop.
And just like that, her quiet little studio had become a hidden cultivation engine.