HLnovel Chapter 400 She should have let go of her obsession long ago
Chapter 400 She should have let go of her obsession long ago
Lord Xing, who had spent half his life as a censor in the Censorate, was now retired and unemployed. Unexpectedly, at the very end, his wife sent him to teach a young girl how to mend porcelain.
Xue Lan looked at the old man in front of her, who was wearing a gray-blue cloth robe, and a hint of doubt appeared on her face.
The woman spoke hesitantly:
"Grandpa Xing?"
Xing Lingchong snorted and squatted down to look at the several identical porcelain tigers in front of Xue Lan.
“It’s exactly the same!”
The old man carefully examined one of the tiger cubs by its ears, then remarked with a sigh:
“You’re a good fit to be a censor in my Censorate.”
It's just too orderly and too rigid.
Unfortunately, just as the old man finished speaking, a soft cough came from behind him. Lu Zhaoyue, dressed in greyish-white clothes, spoke with a hint of helplessness in her voice:
"Official!"
Xing Lingchong waved his hands repeatedly:
"Yes, madam, I was wrong, I was wrong."
As he spoke, the old man took out some exquisite and small tools from a box beside him.
A pair of small scissors with strips of cloth wrapped around the handle, some used copper plates, some small tools for hammering and banging, and a small diamond with a diamond at the tip.
Xue Lan's eyes showed even greater confusion:
"Grandpa Xing, what are you trying to do?"
Xing Lingchong looked at the young woman opposite him and spoke:
"I'll teach you how to mend porcelain."
"Mending porcelain?" Xue Lan uttered these two words softly, looking at Lu Zhaoyue with even deeper doubt in her eyes.
"Aren't I learning how to make porcelain?" The woman picked up a small, dried-out cat figurine and looked at Lu Zhaoyue.
"Grandma Lu, is it because Xiaoxiao's cooking is not good?"
Looking into Xue Lan's exceptionally endearing eyes, Lu Zhaoyue said softly:
"You've done well enough, but you can do even better."
Xue Lan understood what Lu Zhaoyue meant; it seemed she had found a way to correct her own faults and was ready to try it out.
"Then I'll have to trouble Grandpa Xing."
Xing Lingchong nodded slowly. The old man looked around at the rows of porcelain pieces, and finally fixed his gaze on a pile of scattered porcelain shards in the corner.
The old man gently pointed his fingertip at the fragments:
"Did you make those too?"
Xue Lan slowly shook her head: "That was the first time Grandma Lu taught me to make it, and it was accidentally broken when it came out of the kiln."
Xing Lingchong turned to look at his wife, Lu Zhaoyue, who immediately understood his meaning. The old lady gave Dai Lan, who was beside her, a wink.
A woman dressed in light blue took a small basket, walked up to the broken porcelain shards, bent down, picked them all up, and placed them on Xing Lingchong's table.
Xing Lingchong wiped his tools clean one by one, his sharp gaze fixed on Xue Lan, his voice low and deep:
"Try to put this broken bottle back together."
Although he had retired to his hometown, the old man still retained the air of a high-ranking official from his days of power, and his speech and actions were characterized by a calm and meticulous scrutiny.
It was as if no one could pretend in front of him, and no one could hide from him.
Xue Lan obediently pulled the basket containing the shards to her side and picked out the bottom of the bottle, placing it on the table.
After working on porcelain for some time during this cold winter, Xue Lan's fingers developed some rough lines, and her hands were no longer as fair and delicate as when she first arrived.
At this moment, those somewhat rough hands were picking through a pile of broken porcelain shards, searching for suitable pieces.
Xing Lingchong looked at the young woman opposite him with a smile on his lips.
Looking at the bottom of the bottle Xue Lan had placed on the table, he knew that the porcelain bottle his wife had broken was not an ordinary wide-mouthed bottle, but a straight bottle with the same width from top to bottom.
Not only that, it was smashed into tiny pieces, each about two fingers wide, and every single piece looked exactly the same smooth and curved.
This is not easy to put together! Taking them out of the basket one by one, laying them out on the table, and then selecting them will take at least half an hour.
Thinking of this, a smile quietly appeared in the old man's eyes.
Lu Zhaoyue looked at Xing Lingchong's expression with a hint of helplessness.
It seems my husband still doesn't know how terrifying Xiaoxiao is.
Xue Lan, who had been pretending to pick through the porcelain shards in the basket and unable to make up her mind, waited for about fifteen minutes before slowly taking a shard out of the basket and placing it accurately on the crack at the bottom of the bottle.
Xing Lingchong's expression froze for a moment.
It must be a coincidence, since she's been searching here for about fifteen minutes.
Xue Lan secretly glanced at Xing Lingchong's expression, then picked up another fragment and carefully pieced it together next to the porcelain shard she had just laid.
Xing Lingchong: Logically speaking, coincidences shouldn't happen twice in a row, but it's not impossible...
Before the old man could finish comforting himself, he saw Xue Lan pick up another piece of broken porcelain and put it back together.
Xing Lingchong acknowledged that there are 360 professions, and every profession can produce an expert.
However, he had never seen a genius like Xue Lan.
Half an hour later, the old man looked at the white porcelain bottle that had been pieced together in front of Xue Lan, his voice filled with emotion:
"If you had been by my father's side back then, I wouldn't have had the chance to inherit this craft."
The old man smiled slightly at Xue Lan:
"But next comes the method of mending porcelain."
The old man pointed to the pieced-together porcelain bottle, then to the tools in his hands.
"The porcelain vase you pieced together now looks like a complete piece of porcelain, but it's actually just a decorative item that's been lightly propped up."
Xue Lan nodded slowly, watching quietly as Xing Lingchong removed the piece of porcelain that Xue Lan had just pieced together.
"The so-called 'mending porcelain' is to use external materials, such as gold, silver, copper, or aluminum, to drill holes in the porcelain and fix the broken pieces back together, making it a complete piece of porcelain again."
Xue Lan nodded, indicating that she understood. She now knew why Lu Zhaoyue had suddenly changed her mind and asked her to mend the porcelain.
Because of the uncertainty of ceramic shards.
When a complete piece of porcelain is smashed on the ground, how many pieces it breaks into, and how it breaks, are not things that can be controlled by human power.
At the very least, it's not something ordinary people can control.
Xue Lan can use her terrifying control over her hands to decide how many identical porcelain tigers she can mold, but she has no way to control how many pieces a piece of porcelain can be broken into without spiritual power.
The thought of this uncertainty made Xue Lan's eyes darken slightly.
Faced with these broken porcelain pieces and the task of restoration, her obsession with perfection was challenged like never before!
Even though Xue Lan felt uncomfortable, she still tried her best to learn how to mend porcelain.
Over the next few days, Xue Lan learned porcelain making while also learning porcelain mending from Xing Lingchong.
Drill small holes of the same depth into the broken porcelain shards with a diamond drill, and then cut small staples of suitable shape from copper sheets.
Repairing the broken porcelain...
The process of sawing the porcelain lasted for nearly four months, but Xue Tong still hadn't found any trace of the Apocalypse Pillar.
The girl's tone was full of questions:
"Should I have trusted that Shang Xun?"
Xue Lan slowly shook her head: "Someone like him, who has taken over a major path, wouldn't lie to a little kid like you."
The woman sat in the Lu family workshop, intently drilling holes in the broken porcelain, looking completely absorbed.
An hour later, Xue Lan completed the restoration of her last piece of porcelain.
A white porcelain vase, repaired with gold leaf, and osmanthus blossoms covering the branches.
The woman chuckled softly twice, her beautiful eyes filled with relief.
She should have let go of her obsession a long time ago.
Just as there will never be a perfect object in the world.
There is no such thing as a perfect repair in the world.
The autonomy of artifacts is what the master craftsmen of the Yuanming Realm call "spirit".
The traces of repair are called "history" by the beings of the Yuanming Realm.
The craftsman's heart and soul...
It means giving objects autonomy and not erasing their spirit.
Repair the damaged parts to preserve them and prevent their history from being lost!
Just like when she forged the Soul Guide, she didn't intend for it to be perfect.
It was as if repairing the single-edged sword did not remove all the malevolent energy from him.
Everything around us had come to a standstill.
Not far away, a cluster of white birds perched on an old locust tree, its branches bent low and unable to straighten, while endless snowflakes drifted down from the sky...
In the woods outside Wuci Town, four disciples of the immortal sect were walking forward, but they were unable to move as if they were sealed off.
In the vast expanse of heaven and earth, it seemed that only Xue Lan, amidst the wind and snow, was free to move as she pleased.
Xue Lan slowly walked out of the Lu family's workshop and saw the old locust tree standing in the center of the town gradually disappear. Behind it, a pitch-black pillar of revelation quietly appeared.
The demonic power within Xue Lan continued to rise, and a golden magic seal appeared beneath her feet.
The woman slowly took a step towards the Heavenly Pillar.
"Click."
The sound of a mirror shattering came from in front of me, as if some hidden restriction had been broken.
With the old locust tree as the boundary, a bright red line appeared on the vast white snow.
Xue Lan lifted her foot and stepped over it without hesitation!
The moment Xue Lan crossed the red line, the memorial tablets in the Wan Gong Fang master's workshop suddenly exploded.
"What did she do? How did she know that the Heavenly Pillar existed in Wuci Town five hundred years ago and in Wuci Town today?"
"You're still concerned about this now? Where did her demonic power come from?"
"Who exactly is she? Could she be a demon?"
The memorial tablet at the very top, engraved with Nie Jing's name, was more excited than any of the others:
"Su Jun, Su Jun, Su Jun! Wait!"
The attention of many memorial tablets was drawn to its questioning "wait a moment," and all the tablets looked at the light screen in front of them.
Nie Jing's voice trembled:
"Don't you find her demonic power familiar?"
Within the light screen, the woman who crossed the red line slowly turned around and looked at the Wuci Town that was gradually disappearing behind her.
In Wuci Town, everything returned to the state it was on the day Xue Lan arrived.
A swaying horse-drawn carriage traveled along the snow-white path, carrying a kind-hearted elderly couple.
On their way into town, Xue Lan saw a bouncy little deer rush down from the forest and fall into the river...
Nothing will change.
Five hundred years ago, everything in Wuci Town was functioning normally.
Xue Lan turned slightly to look at the Apocalypse Pillar in front of her, and Xue Tong behind the pillar, who was staring at her with her mouth wide open.
Xue Tong: "Holy crap!"
There seemed to be a light red barrier between the two of them, giving Xue Lan a hazy red hue.
"Girl! What's wrong?"
The old locust tree that had accompanied Xue Tong in searching for the Heavenly Revelation Pillar in Wuci Town for several months looked at the girl beside him and asked with some doubt.
Xue Tong pointed to the area in front of them:
"Grandpa Locust Tree, can't you see?"
The old locust tree looked in the direction the girl was pointing, where there was a courtyard wall inlaid with broken porcelain shards, with a branch with golden leaves sticking out from the top.
The old man blinked: "A wall?"
Xue Tong knew that the old locust tree could no longer see Xue Lan.
"It's alright, Grandpa. I want to wander around the town by myself today. Goodbye, Grandpa."
Before the old locust tree could answer, the girl skipped and hopped towards the other side of the courtyard wall, saying as she went:
"Grandpa Locust Tree, I know you don't like running around outside. Go back and rest!"
Old Locust Tree's expression froze. Who else but him, who had practically turned the entire Wuci Town upside down these past few months?
The old locust tree felt abandoned by the younger generation, and a sense of loss lingered for a long time.
"I'm getting old!"
As the old man sighed and disappeared from the spot, the girl who had disappeared behind the courtyard wall slowly reappeared.
Xue Tong, carrying a long, black sword, walked up to the wall.
At this moment, Xue Lan, who was behind the pale red barrier, began to move. The woman was now standing in front of Tian Qizhu, her eyes slightly lowered, seemingly lost in thought.
A girl's clear voice reached my ears:
"What are you doing? How did you get out of the Wan Gong Fang?"
"Would leaving without permission affect the trial?"
Upon hearing this, Xue Lan slowly raised her head, her dark eyes looking at Xue Tong as if they were bottomless pools.
The woman gently shook her head at Xue Tong: "I didn't run away."
Xue Tong had just breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Xue Lan's voice, tinged with laughter:
"I am currently in a time-space turbulence between Wuci Town five hundred years ago and Wuci Town now."
Xue Tong almost choked on her breath.
The girl's lips trembled: "Time-space turbulence?"
Xue Lan nodded proudly, her expression seemingly saying, "Am I not amazing?"
Xue Tong covered her eyes and waved her hand at Xue Lan, saying, "Let me catch my breath."
The girl's mind raced.
How should she interpret this situation?
Is Xue Lan currently in a situation where the label was left in the middle of the double-glazed windows by the installer and wasn't removed?
Oh my god!
Once the thought crossed his mind, Xue Tong's gaze towards the woman became strange.
Xue Lan didn't rush to explain, but continued to observe the area beneath the Tianqi Pillar.
Xue Lan could tell from Xue Tong's eyes that this person had once again made up some strange connection.
The woman did not speak, but looked at the ground where the Apocalypse Pillar was located.
The woman gently waved her sleeve, and the wide sleeves rolled up in a gust of wind, blowing away all the gravel on the ground.
Xue Lan frowned slightly and spoke:
"Sword mark?"
After all the gravel was blown away, countless sword marks were found on the stone platform beneath the Apocalypse Pillar, covering the entire platform!
Each one carried the still-lingering, awe-inspiring sword intent!
Countless sword marks intertwined, connected, and intersected on the stone platform, eventually forming the shape of a soaring giant eagle, majestic and menacing.
And the Pillar of Revelation is right where Eagle Eye is.
Xue Lan slowly raised her hand, her fingertips lifting a wisp of sword intent from the ground, her voice tinged with a hint of doubt:
"It's somewhat similar to Master's aura, but the level is far too high."