After reaching the peak of the Yellow Spirit Third Stage, Song Miaozhu finally felt her cultivation was sufficient to activate a few of the territorial-type paper crafts.
Without delay, she threw herself into research. She began with the "Papergrass Bewildering Formation."
When used together with the Paper Mist Veil, one obscured vision while the other disrupted the senses. For anyone who hadn't been invited, Xiaozhu Mountain would become a living, breathing labyrinth. Only then would the mountain truly be defensible. The formation was composed of numerous "patterned papergrass" plants.
She first whittled thin bamboo slivers to serve as stems, then glued strips of green spiritual paper to form long, slender blades of grass. On each blade, she painted a specific rune using cinnabar.
After several blades were joined and infused with spiritual energy, they became a single unit of patterned papergrass. Once successfully activated, the patterned papergrass resembled actual plants, though the red markings on their blades still gave away their unusual nature.
That was intentional. The red markings were the key to the formation's mind-altering effects. Bathed in the white mist of the Paper Mist Veil, the red gleam stood out sharply. Anyone who entered the mountain would be drawn to look. And once they did, they'd fall under its influence.
At mild levels, their senses would become scrambled, making it difficult to tell direction or distance. In more severe cases, hallucinations would occur, and the intruder would lose control of their consciousness.
The Paper Mist Veil required burial underground to take effect. The patterned papergrass, on the other hand, needed to be planted in the soil.
Song Miaozhu nurtured a single stalk of papergrass with yellow spirit energy until it matured into a true spiritual item. Then she began planting them all across Xiaozhu Mountain.
The ordinary papergrass were scattered throughout the mountain, while the spiritual-item version was planted under the old locust tree.
While it looked the same as any other activated papergrass, the spiritual one grew far deeper roots. These connected to the others underground, allowing it to serve as a central control node.
If anyone entered the formation, the central papergrass could channel energy to surrounding areas, boosting the formation's mind-altering effect exactly where it was needed.
The first to experience its effects were the three cats who often played in the forest.
By the time Song Miaozhu found them, they were all dazed, staring blankly at the papergrass. One was chomping at the air, another was rolling around on the ground acting coquettish, and the last simply sat in place with a foggy gaze.
She carried them back to the old locust tree, placed them near the central spiritual papergrass, and used her spiritual energy to guide them out of the illusion. Only then did their eyes gradually clear.
If even cats—so famously alert—could be trapped so easily, then humans stood no chance.
Adding a Green Lotus Geovein Talisman would further protect the formation from being dug up or destroyed by anyone who might break free from the illusion. Throw in a pair of Skywatching Paper Cranes to monitor aerial intrusions, a Hobbyhorse Boundary Marker to replace the wire fencing, and a set of Peachwood Shield Talismans to boost the spirit residence's defenses—and her home would be sealed as tight as an iron drum.
The more layers of paper-crafted defenses she installed, the more secure she felt. That growing sense of security fueled her passion for creating even more, and so her collection of territorial paper crafts expanded.
She became completely absorbed, so much so that when her little paper servant from the workshop reminded her of a new update from The SEIU, she felt momentarily irritated, as if her focus had been rudely interrupted.
Then she looked at the image sent by the servant—a livestream of a SEIU meeting—and froze in surprise.
"A global cultivator tournament?"