The moon dew collected by the Moondew Paper Lamp could only heal external wounds.
In comparison, the paper petals of the Blooming Paper Vine had a broader healing effect. According to the spirit mirror's assessment, it resembled the function of Gong Anyan's "Silver Bangle of Ailment Dispelling," though the exact capabilities still needed testing.
After years of cultivating and nourishing her body with spiritual power, Song Miaozhu was in perfect health. She had no lingering illnesses to use as test subjects. The only living creatures around her were her three cats, but they were of no help this time either.
Fortunately, Blooming Paper Vine was a healing-type paper spirit, not something that needed to be kept secret or held in reserve as a trump card. Song Miaozhu had a little paper servant at the Anshou Paper Shop send the identification results to Zhao Huoyan.
[Miaow Zhu]: [Image] I've got a new spirit item. I'd like to register it. Can I just send it in for a full inspection? I'm open to detailed testing.
[Zhao Huoyan]: Absolutely!
Just based on the identification report alone, it appeared to be on par with the Silver Bangle of Ailment Dispelling—a major spirit item worthy of careful study.
[Zhao Huoyan]: It looks like a consumable item though. For a detailed inspection, we'll need at least three samples. Once used, they won't be returned. Just be mentally prepared for that. If it's approved as a key spirit item, we'll compensate you in contribution points based on your listed price. Sound fair?
[Miaow Zhu]: That's fine.
She wanted to register the item mainly to take advantage of the SEIU's testing resources.
Ever since Master Yang Shuqin created the Spirit Mirror, registration of spirit items had become a simple matter of scanning the item with the mirror and recording the results. While the mirror's evaluations were accurate and trustworthy, they often lacked depth. In cases like this, a full inspection from the SEIU was still worth applying for.
One Blooming Paper Vine bore seven petals. With each petal counted as one sample, Song Miaozhu plucked an entire flower and sent it to Zhao Huoyan via her spirit paper kite.
The moment the flower was picked, its stem visibly yellowed and blackened, then lost its structure and drooped into the pot like a wilting real flower.
Yet it had been made entirely from paper.
Out of curiosity, Song Miaozhu dug into the soil. The paper seed she had planted had vanished. In its place was a cluster of equally yellowed and blackened roots that soon crumbled to ash.
A paper-crafted seed had genuinely sprouted roots, grown a stem, and bloomed into a luminous paper flower. She gave the order through thought, and a little paper servant at the Anshou Paper Shop used a delivery app to order several large bottles of mineral water, requesting that they be left at the storefront.
Once the delivery person left, a paper soldier opened the door, carried the bottles inside, and transferred them to Song Miaozhu via the ghost shop warehouse. The little paper servant quickly locked the door behind it.
She poured out the water, cut the bottles in half, and made a series of clear, makeshift flowerpots. Filling them with soil, she planted several more paper vine seeds, infused each one with spiritual awareness, then buried them.
One seed was placed right up against the side of the bottle wall, and she assigned a little paper servant to watch over it. This time, she witnessed the entire growth process.
The paper seed began to glow faintly, then a sprout of light pushed through the surface. Roots extended from the base, while the sprout grew steadily larger. By the next morning, a tall, straight stem had emerged from the soil, topped by a palm-sized, seven-petaled paper flower glowing with a warm yellow light.
This glow wasn't spiritual light. It was visible to the naked eye, a soft illumination that attracted real moths in the night. Because blue spiritual power was stronger than azure when used for nurturing, a single infusion of blue energy was enough to transform the Blooming Paper Vine into a true spirit item.
Unlike the standard awakened version that bloomed once and required repeated nurturing, the spirit version could bloom again after being harvested, as long as it was given spiritual energy. Even without that, it could slowly absorb ambient spiritual energy and eventually flower on its own.
It felt much more like a real flower than its simpler counterpart.
While she waited for the SEIU's full inspection report, Song Miaozhu began researching the next item: the Harmonized Paper Knot. On a long sheet of paper, she wrote a vow. The two parties involved were to each place a freshly plucked strand of their hair onto the paper, then twist the whole thing into a cord.
The cord was split in two and braided into a pair of bracelets. With the Harmonized Spirit Marking technique applied, the bracelets became Harmonized Paper Knots. If both wearers upheld their vow, the bracelets would shine like eternal strands of gold silk.
But if one broke the vow, the bracelet would either punish the offender according to the agreed penalty written in the vow, or if no penalty had been specified, it would incinerate itself automatically.
The concept was similar to Master Yu Lichuan's Xiezhi Jade Seal. However, that item merely destroyed the contract when a vow was broken, acting as a warning. It could not enforce consequences.
The Harmonized Paper Knot was even more dangerous than the Paper Curse Technique. If the penalty written into the vow was death, the knot would claim the vow-breaker's life without hesitation. The only use she could imagine for this item was in accepting future disciples, both to measure their sincerity and to establish mutual trust.
For now, with no one to form such a vow with, Song Miaozhu could only make a half-finished prototype. She practiced the Harmonized Spirit Marking on it and left it at that.
When Zhao Huoyan sent over the detailed test results for the Blooming Paper Vine, she was still busy with the knots. The little paper servant opened the file, and Song Miaozhu turned her attention toward it.
Reading the report, she finally understood the key difference between the vine's "healing illness" and the silver bangle's "dispelling sickness and poison."
The paper flower didn't just alleviate symptoms. It eliminated the root of the illness. True recovery. No recurrence. In contrast, the Silver Bangle of Ailment Dispelling only removed the sickness energy, meaning it merely repaired the body from damage caused by the disease. The root cause remained.
It turned out that "sickness energy" was not the disease itself, but a byproduct of the damage it caused.
Cultivators who once cured their cancer by expelling sickness energy through the nourishment of yin energy had not truly healed. They simply drove out the symptoms. Unless they constantly spent more spiritual power on bodily maintenance than healthy cultivators, the sickness energy would return.
But one petal from the Blooming Paper Vine could remove the disease entirely. It cured the illness at its root and ensured it would never return. However, each petal could only cure one illness. A flower with seven petals could heal seven diseases in total.
Its value far surpassed the Silver Bangle of Ailment Dispelling. The SEIU officially listed the Blooming Paper Vine as a key spirit item. After reading the report, Song Miaozhu smiled. She had just found herself another profitable spirit item.