Earning Coins

The currency of the Shengdao is referred to as Bi or, as many users call them, 'coins.' Bi can be used to purchase familiars, items to change the appearance of your existing Shiji-Long, or to purchase MYO scrolls to create new Shiji-Long. Bi can be earned in a variety of ways, which are all outlined before. New methods may be added in the future, so be sure to check this page periodically for updates!

Gift Art

All gift art will earn you Bi based on the complexity of the art and the amount of effort put into the art.

¹ For event art, only events hosted by Vashaa (not community events) will earn Bi using the below chart. In case of multiple entries, the highest effort entry will dictate how many Bi are earned. The art still must feature Shiji-Long that are not yours in order to receive coins and coins will only be awarded for the Shiji-Long in the picture that you do not own. You may not be able to earn coins for gift art in every event as some events may not require artwork or may not require artwork featuring other Shiji-Long.
Community-hosted events will earn a small amount of bi depending on the event but those coins are for participating in the event, not for art.

Regular (Non-Chibi) Art

Examples

A half body piece (20) with lineart (+20) and flats (+20) would earn 60 Bi.
A full body piece (30) with lineart (+30), color (+30), shading (+30), and a detailed BG (+30) would earn you 150 Bi.

Chibi Art

Notes

Chibis are given fewer points than "regular" art - however, the above listed amounts are minimums. Chibis created with a high level of effort or detail can still be granted additional rewards at staff discretion! Chibis with detailed backgrounds comparable to "regular" art will receive a "regular" amount of coins for that background. 

AI Art & Creative Commons Images

AI Art or Creative Commons resources may be used for badge and quest submissions, but every piece you submit must include a hand-drawn component. For example, you could use AI to create a background for your image, but you must hand-draw your character. Or you could use AI to assist in creating the character pose, but must do a paintover of the character. Images using AI or creative commons backgrounds will earn a reduced reward compared to the rewards granted for art with a hand-drawn background. In general, AI backgrounds will result in a 50% reduction but may result in up to a 66% reduction from the full reward value depending on how extensively the piece relies on the AI background.

AI art may not be used for contest entries or gift art, other than as a reference for poses, composition, etc. 

Writing

There are five different length categories for gift stories. Stories have to be gifted to others or be entered for prompts or events to be counted with the chart below.
Like gift art, these charts are cumulative, meaning you will earn 12 coins for your first 500 words, 13 coins for your second 500 words, 25 coins for your next 1000 words, etc. Staff may use their discretion to award appropriate coins for word counts in-between levels.

Click here to submit Gift Work!

Shiji of the Month Gift Art

Each month two Shiji-Long will be featured on the homepage. For the duration of that month, the first piece of Gift Art you submit in each "body" category (bust, half body, or full body) will earn you double coins. So, for example, if you submit an inked, colored, shaded full body with a detailed background, you would receive 300 Bi for that submission. 

You may submit one picture in each category (bust, half body, full body) for each Shiji for double coins. This means that if you complete fully inked, colored, and shaded pieces with detailed backgrounds for each category and for each featured Shiji, you can earn up to 1200 Bi per month through per featured Shiji for SOTM (Shiji of the Month) gift art.

Badges

Badges are special tokens you can unlock for your Shiji-Long by responding to prompts with stories or art. Since badges require you to write or create art about your Shiji-Long, you cannot earn badges unless you already have at least one Shiji-Long. However, every Shiji-Long you own can earn prompt-based badges separately. Each badge you earn will grant you 15 Bi.

While events also grant badges, events have their own coin values, so event badges do not automatically grant 15 Bi. 
To complete badges, you have to submit a fullbody, coloured sketch with a background, or a 1k word story.

You can view all of the prompt-based badges that can be earned at Badges!

Quests

Quests are similar to badges, but are chains of multiple prompts that you can undertake to develop your Shiji's character. Each part of the quest has higher requirements, but also grants higher rewards. You will also receive additional Bi and/or an item when you complete the quest! 

Each part of each quest requires a (finished) full body, coloured image with a background or a 1.5k word story and will grant 20 Bi. Check the individual quest pages for each quest's specific completion rewards.

You can view all of the quests that can be completed at Quests.

Events

Participating in events will often yield you prizes, either based on artwork produced for the event or simply because you entered the event. Some events may even grant Bi as a prize!

Events that grant Bi based on artwork will follow the rules outlined in the "Gift Art" chart. Community-Hosted events will grant Bi based on the event; each event will state how many Bi it grants when it is posted.

Discord Boosting

Boosting is an option available to Discord Nitro users who wish to show extra support for a certain server. Boosting a server promotes the server and helps the server to unlock additional features, such as higher file transfer sizes, additional emojis, sticker slots, and more. If you are not familiar with Discord Boosting, you can view Discord's documentation for it at https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028038352-Server-Boosting-FAQ-

Discord boosting grants 15 Bi per month.

Wishing Well

Once you have a Shiji-Long, you can participate in the Wishing Well with them each month, which is a monthly random-chance game you can play. By 'donating' 1 to 5 Bi to the wishing well, you will receive an item or additional Bi in return. No matter what, you will always receive something that has more value that the coins you put in! If you do not receive coins and instead receive an item, you can always try to trade that item to other users for additional Bi or other items. 

Familiars

Once you have a Shiji-Long, you can purchase a familiar egg from The Friendly Familiar and submit writing or art to hatch that familiar into a magical companion for your Shiji-Long. After hatching, the familiar will appear on your Familiar List, here, where you can feed it, pet it, play with it, or give it gifts! All of these actions will increase the bond between your Shiji-Long and their familiar. When the bond meter becomes completely full, the familiar will return the Shiji-Long's affection in form of gifts, which it will bring back every few days. The rarer the familiar, the better the gifts it will bring back become! There is currently no limit to the number of familiars you can have, so have fun! You can read more about how to interact with familiars here.

Daily Draws

You can receive login rewards for visiting the site each day here! This is a great way to start getting a small amount of bi when you don't have a Shiji-Long or you are new to the site. Occassionally there may also seasonal or holiday themed draws created with extra rewards!