Song Miaozhu's paper curse techniques had grown far more refined. She now controlled the intensity with pinpoint accuracy, striking at the Japanese ghosts with minimal spiritual energy and causing maximum damage.
Those ghosts were visibly struggling to hold on.
If not for the fact that the lingering resentment and yin energy dissipated partially into the world upon each ghost's destruction, while the rest was absorbed by the remaining spirits—effectively extending their lifespans—the number of surviving Japanese ghosts would have been even fewer than it already was.
By the time she finished casting her curses, it was already past midnight.
Feeling a bit fatigued and drowsy, Song Miaozhu guided her spiritual energy throughout her body, nourishing herself. Her body and mind quickly returned to peak condition. She went straight to her paper crafting studio to continue experimenting on a new version of the skirt she had been studying.
All she needed was to use paper in place of cloth and replicate the outer form of the skirt. Any issues with materials could be remedied by the spiritual activation technique of the Yin Paper Clothes. The essence of this technique was to imbue paper fabric with spiritual qualities. The resulting texture and toughness depended entirely on the desires of the one performing the activation.
Although there was still a gap between a cloth skirt and a paper one, her progress had already far outpaced her earlier, clueless fumbling with a design sketch.
It ended up being another all-nighter.
But at this point, day and night had blurred together for Song Miaozhu. She was either crafting, studying, or researching the Secret Art of Paper Crafting. While working on the skirt, she attended three painting classes, two bamboo-weaving classes, one calligraphy class, and even one sewing class taught by a different ghost instructor.
She didn't waste a single minute of her two-hour-per-day entry pass to the underworld. After repeatedly cutting it close with her time in the underworld, she began noticing something unusual. Once, she stayed two minutes past her limit because she was deep in discussion with a ghost instructor.
Her great-grandmother had warned her she could only remain in the underworld for two hours each day, or it would shorten her lifespan. But this time, she didn't experience any discomfort despite staying longer. While the underworld did allow people to reincarnate using good deeds or hell coins, the length of one's life in the mortal world wasn't exactly predetermined.
Reincarnation choices were limited to time of birth, family background, whether one was reborn as human or beast, physical constitution, and the kinds of calamities one might encounter. The karmic consequences of one's previous life, once suffered in hell, would also manifest as misfortunes in the next.
As for lifespan, part of it came from innate factors, but the rest was affected by acquired ones. Barring sudden karmic disasters, lifespan mostly reflected one's physical condition. A healthy body naturally lived longer.
Despite staying in the underworld past her usual limit, Song Miaozhu's body and soul felt perfectly fine. Even when she checked herself using her spiritual sight, everything looked normal. It seemed that little bit of extra time had no effect on her at all.
The Secret Art of Paper Crafting offered no precedent for this issue either. She went through the manual thoroughly and found only one relevant note: a guide titled "Heaven-Rank Ghost Shop Owner Regulations," left behind by an ancestor who had used generations of accumulated ghost wealth to purchase a top-tier ghost shop.
It stated:"A Heaven-Rank Ghost Shop Owner's license grants the owner's living soul entry into the underworld for two hours each day, unconditionally."
This only proved that the two-hour limit was a protection period offered by the ghost shop's privileges. It didn't mean her own soul was incapable of enduring beyond that. She had to figure this out on her own.
Sister Xiang Yun, who had been a ghost for a long time and was well acquainted with her ancestors and the inner workings of Heaven-Rank Ghost Shops, was the perfect person to ask.
So, she reached out to Sister Xiang Yun using the GhostLink app.
[Qin Master Xiang Yun]: In the last era of cultivation, it was common for practitioners to sneak into the underworld. The stronger they were, the longer their souls could withstand the yin energy. You're a cultivator now, right? That might explain it. But no matter how powerful, all living souls must leave before dawn—or they'll become dead souls.
Frowning, Song Miaozhu replied:
[Proprietor Song of Anshou Hall]: Really? I think I can enter the underworld during the day too?
[Qin Master Xiang Yun]:Well, you're the owner of a Heaven-Rank Ghost Shop! That already gives you legal access to the underworld while alive. You should check with the UCD. Even if the shop's functions are deactivated now, the old regulations should still apply.
Song Miaozhu didn't have any ghost friends from the UCD, but she did have their app. Although it was still in beta, many of its features were already usable. Features that were no longer available in the "Ghost Shop Functions Directory" could still be found under the "Purchased Functions" section of her shop profile.
There, she not only found the same "Shop Owner Regulations" listed in the manual, but also a more detailed document: "Function Guidelines for Heaven-Rank Ghost Shops."
Just like Sister Xiang Yun said, the "Living Heir May Traverse Yin and Yang" function of a Heaven-Rank Ghost Shop meant she had recognized status in the underworld as a living soul.
So, she wasn't bound by day or night restrictions when entering.
However, the shop's protection only covered two hours of activity in the underworld per day. Outside of that window, only the feature that hid her living soul aura and masked her identity remained in effect.
After cultivating for such a long time, the crimson spiritual crystals within the space between her brows had formed a thin layer and were starting to stack into a second. She suspected it was the protection offered by her spiritual energy that allowed her to stay safely beyond the shop's limit.
To test this, she made sure to fully replenish her spiritual energy before entering the underworld. After class and bidding the ghost instructor farewell, she intentionally stayed longer in the ghost shop's warehouse.
Her soul felt no different in the underworld. But the footage from her little paper servant showed that after an hour, her physical body in the mortal world began glowing with spiritual light. Her energy was circulating on its own to protect her.
After about another hour, that glow began to dim. As it faded, she suddenly felt a chill of invading yin energy, and a sense of foreboding struck her. She immediately returned to the living world.
Only after her soul reentered her body did she feel warmth return. She opened her eyes and tried to sit up, but her body was weak—more so than she had ever experienced.
Checking her spiritual platform, she found the crimson spiritual crystals nearly transparent. Her spiritual energy had been almost entirely depleted, and even the stored energy within the platform was gone.
She took out a spirit stone, absorbed its energy, and refilled her spiritual reservoir. Only after nourishing her body again did she fully recover.