Even though Song Miaozhu had carefully steered her Spirit Paper Phoenix away from the crowded streets of Yuanshan Old Town, the massive, seven-colored bird flying through the sky was impossible to miss. From several miles away, people had already spotted it.
"What was that?"
"Looks like a bird!"
"No kidding, I can tell it's a bird too! You think I'm blind? Look at those wings!"
"Wait, that tail... could it be a phoenix?"
No one had ever seen a real phoenix, of course. But in everyone's mind, the image of a phoenix was more or less the same.
"I knew it! Ever since spiritual energy returned to the world, divine beasts were bound to reappear!"
"Forget that, record it first!"
…
More and more witnesses started uploading videos online.
The footage was zoomed in and analyzed again and again until—
"Is that... a person riding on it?"
At first, people weren't sure who it was. But then someone fishing along the Xiao Li River saw a person descend from the phoenix onto the river's center. In the next moment, a colossal creature—clearly a tortoise—dropped into the water.
It wasn't just any tortoise. Two horns protruded from its head, and a serpent's tail coiled atop its shell. The features were unmistakable.
"Is that... Xuanwu?!"
The fisherman rubbed his eyes and shakily pulled out his phone.
This time, the footage was much closer.
Everyone could clearly see the person leaping from the phoenix onto the tortoise's back. The phoenix vanished, and the tortoise dove into the river below. Everything was captured in detail.
"It's Master Song Miaozhu from Spiritcheng!"
By this time, the little paper servants at the Anshou Hall Paper Shop had already begun replying on Green Bubble to curious friends, just as Song Miaozhu had instructed. All inquiries about the phoenix and tortoise were met with the same message:
"Paper-crafted mounts, hidden within a rider's mount space, can be summoned at will. Extremely complex to create, requiring long production time. To avoid affecting the output of spirit-gathering dolls for the SEIU, these will not be publicly sold."
The ripple effect was immediate.
They wouldn't be sold publicly—but she hadn't said anything about private orders.
Even while Song Miaozhu was still riding the Spirit Paper Xuanwu under the waters of the Xiao Li River, several elite cultivators had already placed custom orders through WeChat.
Of course, these orders were from high-ranking masters only.
Creating such awe-inspiring mounts was no easy feat. They demanded time, skill, and immense effort. As a result, the price of a paper-crafted mount was sky-high—over a million contribution points or even billions in yuan. Even among elite masters, not everyone could afford one.
And even then, Song Miaozhu only promised to make one per person. No second copies. Unlike the spirit-gathering dolls, these mounts couldn't be bought on someone else's behalf. She wasn't planning to mass-produce them. She just wanted to make a few more to refine her paper crafting, cultivate her spiritual energy, and earn a bit on the side. That was it.
There were still plenty of other projects she wanted to try.
As for the SEIU, once they confirmed that the phoenix and Xuanwu were merely paper-crafted spiritual items—with no combat capability beyond carrying their master and the master's spiritual tools—they were no longer concerned.
These mounts weren't dangerous, nor did they offer any irreplaceable functions. They weren't even considered key spiritual assets. They only looked impressive. Flight and aquatic traversal weren't exclusive to spiritual items either. And with spiritual energy in such short supply these days, using high-maintenance tools like this was already a luxury.
At the end of the day, they were essentially high-end collectibles. From a practical standpoint, their cost-performance ratio wasn't exactly appeaSpirit. Compared to the phoenix and tortoise, the SEIU still considered the spirit-gathering dolls far more valuable.
They were even glad that Song Miaozhu was being selective with who could purchase these mounts. When netizens learned the mounts were paper-crafted, they became even more excited—but that excitement quickly faded once they saw the price tag.
"Such a cool mount... I can't afford it in games, and I can't afford it in real life either…"
"Why is there such a huge gap? That phoenix can fly and dive, but the sparrow I raised just chirps all day!"
"I've made up my mind. From today on, I'm drawing giant phoenixes. If phoenixes don't work, I'll draw massive kunpengs, huge qingluans, and grand vermillion birds. I'll draw every flying divine beast I can think of. One of them is bound to work eventually!"
"I'm doing dragons!"
"What about us calligraphy students? What are we supposed to write to raise a flying mount?!"
…
From that day forward, cultivators across the country became obsessed with crafting works inspired by divine beasts. Even elite masters couldn't resist giving it a try. But although the form of a spiritual item did influence its effects, it was never the deciding factor.
And with the growing scarcity of spiritual energy, raising a spiritual item had become harder than ever. Even a single item required long-term accumulation of spiritual power. Large-scale experiments were simply not viable.
In the end, very few managed to succeed.
Meanwhile, Song Miaozhu was riding atop her Spirit Paper Xuanwu, cruising beneath the river. She had grown up in Yuanshan Old Town and knew the scenery above Xiao Li River well. But this was her first time exploring the riverbed.
In the water, the Xuanwu moved like a submarine. The water above was completely sealed away, giving her the sensation of being in a mobile aquarium. The deeper areas lacked natural light, but she had already activated her spiritual sight, so visibility wasn't a problem.
The fish, shrimp, and water plants here weren't as colorful as those in the sea, so it didn't look particularly exotic. But for Song Miaozhu, who had never explored a riverbed like this before, it was still a fascinating experience.
"Eh? What's that?"
While filming the underwater scenery, she suddenly noticed a faint glimmer of spiritual light ahead. In the murky riverbed, it stood out clearly. She immediately directed the Spirit Paper Xuanwu forward.
The glowing object was half-buried in the silt, with only a palm-sized portion exposed. At first glance, it looked like a rock. But Song Miaozhu had seen it—there was a definite glimmer of spiritual energy.
Though it had flashed briefly, it was unmistakably similar to the faint spiritual reaction she'd seen when folding golden ingots during her early cultivation attempts. That kind of spiritual resonance was real.
"Did someone throw a carved stone into the middle of the river?"
If it had spiritual light, it couldn't be just a rock. Most likely, it was a stone carving. She summoned a multicolored paper soldier and manifested its form, sending it into the water to brush away the silt. What emerged surprised her—the object was much larger than it had appeared. Even more remained hidden beneath the riverbed.
Fortunately, the paper soldier possessed immense strength and was able to dig out the surrounding sediment and expose the structure underneath. It was indeed a stone sculpture, with distinct carving marks. Though they were few, the deliberate shaping combined with the thick build made its identity clear at a glance. "A rhinoceros?"
But it clearly wasn't a modern stone rhinoceros. The sediment covering it wasn't something that could have accumulated in a year or two. And the carving style didn't match any current trends either.
Besides, modern handmade spiritual works were incredibly precious. No one in their right mind would toss a half-finished spiritual item—something that had even a trace of spiritual energy—into a river just to let it sink.