[Gong Anyan]:Oh, it's Master Yang! I attended an event with her a few years back. I still have her contact—adding her now!(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
…
[Yang Shuqin]:Hello everyone, I'm Yang Shuqin. I specialize in crafting traditional bronze spirit mirrors.(｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡
[Yu Lichuan]:Welcome, Master Yang~(＾▽＾)／
[Zhang Yunxi]:Welcome~ Do you still have any of those bronze mirrors for identifying spiritual objects? I want to buy one. I never want my studio to catch fire again!
[He Zhen]:Same here! I've been nurturing a new embroidery piece for a while now. I think it's close to transforming, but I haven't dared test it with spiritual power. I'm afraid it might be another dangerous spiritual item.
[Le Pengkun]: Count me in too! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧
[Yin Chunan]:I need one as well. According to the item description, the bronze mirror can comprehensively assess a spiritual item's effects. I want to see if my Lanting Sword Manual can actually activate all the scripts at once, or if it's just my spiritual power that's lacking.
[Yuan Liben]:Me too! I found red berries growing on the porcelain plate I'm nurturing. No idea what they are, or if they're edible—I really need a proper evaluation!
[Miaow Zhu]:I'd like to order one too~ (◕‿◕✿)
[Gong Anyan]:Me as well!
…
The group chat instantly turned into a live auction scene.
Several of the masters who had past mishaps nurturing dangerous spiritual items were especially eager to get their hands on one of the bronze mirrors.
The rest, learning from their mistakes, quickly joined in to place their orders. Song Miaozhu also expressed her interest.
After all, being selected as a key spiritual item already proved the item's worth.
And if it weren't for that, this elite group chat wouldn't have already grown to eleven members.
[Yang Shuqin]:Everyone, I'm really sorry. I've only managed to nurture one bronze mirror so far. I get motion sickness too easily and can't cultivate while traveling. From crafting to spiritual nurturing, each mirror takes months to complete. If you need one urgently, feel free to come find me. I can help identify your items using my current bronze mirror.
[Miaow Zhu]: Master Yang, do you need bowl-hugging paper servants or spiritual paper kites? (¬‿¬)ﾉ #link# #link#
[Yang Shuqin]:Such amazing tools! How do I buy them?(★ω★)b
[Miaow Zhu]:Just transfer the contribution points directly to me and give me your address. I'll send over some Spirit-Nurturing Jade Beads via paper kite right away.
[Gong Anyan]: Master Yang, did you check out the Key Spiritual Item Vault? Click inside for a look. If you're interested in any of the featured items, you can reach out privately to arrange a trade. No need to queue, as long as it's not a dangerous item. (ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ・‥…━━━★"
[Yang Shuqin]:Great! Thank you! I'm still not too familiar with smartphones, so please be patient with me.
…
Far away in Liancheng Yang Shuqin squinted as she operated her phone. Her nearsightedness and presbyopia had improved with cultivation, but she still had the habit of squinting at things.
Although cultivation didn't help her adapt to modern electronics right away, her once unreliable memory had improved, and she was slowly learning, just not very fluently.
"Transfer contribution points... transfer... ah, there it is! Now where's the Key Spiritual Item Vault…"
By the time the chat group had gone through several more rounds of discussion, Master Yang Shuqin reappeared and finalized her spiritual item orders with the others. The group also learned from Gong Anyan that Master Yang was already over ninety.
She had suffered from hearing and vision problems for over a decade, but her health was restored thanks to cultivation. It was only natural for her to feel out of sync with society's fast changes.
Song Miaozhu sent her Spirit-Nurturing Jade Beads via paper kite and sold her several bowl-hugging paper servants and a spiritual paper kite.
As for her offer to identify spiritual items for free using the bronze mirror, only Master He Zhen and Master Yuan Liben, who currently possessed unidentified spiritual items, decided to make the trip to Liancheng.
Even with modern transportation, traveling elsewhere still disrupted cultivation. Especially now that nearly everyone was cultivating, the competition for spiritual energy was more intense than ever. Training in unfamiliar regions often led to conflict with local cultivators.
So the rest of the group simply placed mirror pre-orders, planning to wait until Master Yang had nurtured more bronze mirrors using the spiritual power stored by the paper servants.
If spiritual items didn't require binding to a master for activation, and if anyone could use spiritual power to drive them, they would've just had the mirrors delivered by paper kite and borrowed one temporarily. That would've been far easier.
About half a month later, Master Yuan Liben shared the results of his item identification in the group.
[Yuan Liben]:Those red berries actually suppress hunger! One berry can keep you full for a whole week! I'm calling this spiritual item the Red Berry Fasting Plate. It works like the fasting pills in cultivation novels.
[Yu Lichuan]:Which is more efficient, cycling spiritual energy through the body or eating the berries?
[Yuan Liben]:Definitely the berries! They condense way better than the Academic Spirit Dew. One portion of spiritual energy can produce a small berry!
[Wu Qingfeng]: Are you selling it? I hate wasting time on cycling for satiety. "(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻"
[Yuan Liben]: Yes, it's listed in my spirit shop window. It didn't get picked as a key spiritual item.
[Miaow Zhu]:Can animals eat them too? (◕ᴗ◕✿
[Yuan Liben]: They can. The bronze mirror's appraisal said the berries provide nutrition and fullness. How long it lasts depends on the eater's appetite. I tested it myself. For me, one berry keeps me full for seven days. For animals, probably even longer.
[Miaow Zhu]:Then I'm buying one to feed my cat! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧"
[Gong Anyan]:I'll try one too.
…
[Yin Chunan]: Master He, how did your appraisal go? @He Zhen (￢‿￢ )
[He Zhen]: My embroidered Cat Chasing a Butterfly... sigh. I'll just show you. [video.avi]
Curious, Song Miaozhu clicked the video.
In it, a half-phantom orange tabby cat was sprinting across an open field with Master He Zhen on its back. It looked like a very comfortable mount.
But then a small butterfly fluttered by, and the tabby completely forgot its job as a mount. It pounced after the butterfly instead. Luckily, Master He Zhen was in good shape thanks to spiritual nourishment and managed to jump off in time. Otherwise, given the way that tabby leapt and bounded in pursuit, it might've flung its rider off entirely.
[He Zhen]:Thank goodness for Master Yang's Spirit-Appraising Jade Tray. It prepared me mentally. If I had treated the orange beast spirit like a normal mount, I'd have been in for a nasty fall. I really shouldn't have added that embroidered butterfly. The butterfly beast spirit didn't show up, but now the enlarged beast spirit of the orange cat has a critical flaw—it completely loses control when it sees butterflies.