Song Miaozhu could only sense the position of her substitute paper figure within a certain range. She had no awareness of the environment surrounding it.
If a substitute paper figure was placed alone somewhere, even in a designated "safe house," there was still a risk of it being discovered.
In the previous cultivation era, the most basic substitute paper figures weren't very practical. Cultivators back then had developed spiritual sense, which allowed them to perceive large areas around them, but the paper figures themselves were too fragile when placed outdoors.
A few rainstorms, and they would be ruined.
They had to be placed somewhere protected from the wind and rain, hidden from plain sight, and with enough space left for teleportation.
Finding such places wasn't easy.
Back then, there were no high-grade ghost shops to help cheat the system. But now, she could directly use her little paper servants as backup. Created from Song Miaozhu's own spiritual energy, they were essentially part of her and could enter the SEIU warehouse at any time.
She could even link to their perspective.
The only limitation was that they could only exit from the same place they had entered, unless she or another paper figure retrieved them. Still, compared to the benefits, this drawback was minor.
With the ghost shop' warehouse as an intermediary, the practical use of paper crafting—especially little paper servants and substitute paper figures—had increased significantly.
The little paper servants helped her cultivate, kept watch over her home and shop, moved and delivered goods, and now even handled the transport of substitute paper figures.
At most, Song Miaozhu had made fifty little paper servants.
Based on how she had currently assigned them:
—2 watching the mortal-world paper shop.
—2 guarding her ancestral home.
—3 in the basement handling online orders.
—3 at the pig farm warehouse.
—10 in the ghost shop.
—20 folding ingots for her cultivation.
Originally, ten were also tasked with copying ancient cultivation texts in the study, but she had reclaimed them once that was done.
Now it seemed that not only could she not spare those ten, she might need to make ten more just to keep up.
She had to keep enough of them on hand to move the substitute paper figures.
These figures were solid and heavy—at least two little paper servants were needed to lift one out of the ghost shop' warehouse.
So they had to work in pairs.
Twenty little paper servants could form ten pairs, creating ten small teams.
Song Miaozhu planned to place each of these ten teams in different locations as fixed safe teleportation points for her substitute art. That way, if something ever happened and the paper servants at her side couldn't safely slip away, those already stationed outside could be used instead.
Even if the location wasn't ideal, she could always have the outside team move to a better spot. Little paper servants weren't limited by sensing range. It was far safer than trying to sneak out servants from her immediate vicinity.
There was another advantage to having them in pairs. One servant could enter the SEIU warehouse and be returned to her side by another servant already stationed inside for recharging.
The other servant would remain behind as an anchor point.
Once recharged, the servant could return to the ghost shop' warehouse, and the one who had been standing by could take it to the safe point, then come back for recharging in turn.
It saved time on round trips.
She already had paper servants stationed at her old house, her shop, and the pig farm warehouse, so there was no need to place new ones there. For the rest, she needed to think carefully about where to place them.
The first place that came to mind was the Yunwu Mountain nature reserve behind Little Bamboo Mountain. It was a vast forested area, rarely visited by people, and unlikely to draw attention.
Especially now that she was worried the SEIU might cause her trouble. With surveillance cameras everywhere, the city wasn't nearly as safe as the mountains. The only things to watch out for were wind, rain, and pests like snakes, bugs, rats, and ants.
But finding a place in such a large mountain range that could shield her servants from the elements and pests while being spacious enough to hold them wasn't easy.
She would have to build a protected shelter with an entrance the servants could use to move in and out. That way, if something happened to her, the servants could immediately exit their shelter and carry out the substitute figure from a safe place.
The ideal solution would be a Paper Spirit House.
Even though it was made of paper, a proper Paper Spirit House—even the simplest kind—was sturdy and weather-resistant. Unfortunately, there was no way she could make one right now. Even the smallest Paper Spirit House, large enough to fit just one little paper servant, would drain her spiritual energy completely, and she still wouldn't have enough left to animate it.
The animation had to be done in one go. She couldn't stop halfway and continue after recovering. After some thought, Song Miaozhu went online and ordered several bags of cement. Nothing held up better in the wild than cement.
She planned to build three small cement shelters herself and hide them deep within Yunwu Mountain. For now, she would use this setup. Once she learned how to make a proper Paper Spirit House, she could upgrade later. She placed three paper servant teams in Yunwu Mountain, and decided to place more in town as well.
Sometimes, mountain-based servants were too far away to respond in time.
Hiding them in town was much easier.
The little paper servants were as thin as sheets of paper. They could slip into any dark corner or crack and stay hidden. Late at night, Song Miaozhu released three paper servant teams on a trial run, letting them find hiding spots on their own.
By morning, one team had slipped into an unoccupied house, another had hidden inside a car that hadn't been used in a long time, and the third...
Had snuck into Cheng Ziyang's store, hiding inside the haunted paper doll village-themed escape room, blending in with the eerie paper props and larger puppets to become free background NPCs. The two little paper servants even knew the room had surveillance, so they only moved near the air vent and stayed perfectly still elsewhere, playing dead.
Song Miaozhu was thoroughly impressed.
That escape room really was perfect for hiding paper servants.
Even if the whole place was monitored, the lack of blind spots only applied to people. Paper servants were small enough to hide just about anywhere. Plus, it was only 1,500 meters from her paper shop. If she ever got into trouble nearby, she could teleport directly to the escape room.
Since her servants had already infiltrated Cheng Ziyang's shop, Song Miaozhu figured she should maintain a good relationship with him. He might prove useful in a pinch.
She opened WeChat and was about to message Cheng Ziyang, asking how his crafting lessons were going and hinting at future plans.
But then he sent her a photo.
In it, he was rolling incense sticks.
[Master Cheng of the Eerie]: Master, I'm learning how to make incense!
[Miaow Zhu]: Why that of all things?
Song Miaozhu was truly surprised. It was such a niche choice.
And not just any incense—he was learning how to make incense for ghosts.
[Master Cheng of the Eerie]: Didn't you say it before? In this line of work, the longer you do it, the more you start to see. It's hard to find a good master in paper crafting, but I actually found someone who makes traditional ghost incense!