Chapter 686: Chapter 683: Lotus Grows at the Bottom of the Bowl

Gradually, people began to notice the uniqueness of those few Spring Orchids, as if they had discovered novel treasures, and these few individuals hyped up those few Spring Orchids extravagantly.

As a result of their boasting, several orchid enthusiasts were drawn to behold the true appearance of those mutated Spring Orchids.

Luckily, Ji Kun, while puzzled by the reason behind the orchid mutation, did not suspect Huo Sining.

Huo Sining had no idea that a mere whim of hers could cause such a stir; feeling guilty and fearful that Ji Kun would notice something amiss, she dared not linger any longer, said a few words in haste, and turned to leave.

Seeing Huo Sining’s evasive eyes and hurried demeanor, Ji Kun felt it was strange, but he didn’t think much of it and took several friends to find Teacher Mother Zhou.

Having returned to the Huang Family, Huo Sining could hardly wait to take out the Ru ware white porcelain bowl. She had kept her composure and had not dared to look closely while at the Zhou Residence; back at the Huang Family, however, she couldn’t help but take it out to observe it meticulously again.

The fact that the bowl had not been taken by the museum was a secret relief to Huo Sining, and she was aware that Zhou Shitao must have played a role in covering it up for her; otherwise, with the way some museum experts grasped at anything of value, the bowl would definitely not have ended up in her hands.

Hidden in her room and furtively examining the bowl, an idea suddenly flashed through her mind as she was looking–it occurred to Huo Sining that she might have overlooked some detail.

Huo Sining remembered clearly that when she had drunk water at the old man’s home, through the bowl’s wall, which had a special substance, a faint bluish shadow seemed to penetrate out.

Huo Sining was certain it wasn’t her eyes playing tricks; she initially thought it was the intrinsic blue and white pattern of the bowl, merely concealed by the substance. But now that the special substance on the bowl had been removed, the bowl wall was spotless, without a hint of any pattern.

This was just an ordinary piece of Ru Kiln white porcelain, its body clear and lustrous with a gentle warmth, devoid of any pattern or flaw.

This was quite strange; without any pattern, what then were the blue shadows she had seen that day? Could it be a trick of the light?

Perplexed and at a loss for the cause, Huo Sining thought for a moment and then took a bottle of mineral water to pour into the bowl with careful caution.

As the clear water trickled into the bowl, filling it up completely, the Ru ware bowl showed no significant change; amidst the crystal-clear waves, only the overhead light and Huo Sining’s reflection could be seen, the pale blue wall of the bowl as pristine as Kunlun white jade.

Huo Sining felt a twinge of disappointment. After waiting for about three to five minutes, just as she was about to pour out the water in the bowl,

it was at this moment an astonishing scene unfolded before her.

On that pristine blue-glazed wall, a green leaf slowly began to emerge.

One leaf after another followed, the blue-green lotus leaves on the wall becoming more numerous, soon spreading across the entire bowl wall.

Upon seeing the true form of this Ru ware bowl, Huo Sining was completely stunned; she instinctively held her breath, as if anxious not to create the slightest noise and disturb the fairy-like lotus leaves within the bowl.

The entire white glazed bowl was covered with lotus leaves, which, with the gentle rocking of the water, also seemed to sway with the ripples.

Another three to five minutes passed, and just when Huo Sining thought this was the final appearance of the blue-glazed bowl, the bowl underwent another transformation.

From the delicate glossy bottom of the bowl, a lotus flower bloomed, white tinged with pink.

As the lotus petals slowly grew and bloomed, the bottom of the bowl actually emitted a faint white aura.

The white and luminous body of the bowl, coupled with the lotus leaves swaying with the waves and the lotus blooming at the bottom, all highlighted the porcelain’s superb beauty and mysterious charm.

“My God! This is…”

Seeing that a lotus flower had actually grown out of the bottom of the bowl, Huo Sining was stunned by the scene before her eyes and couldn’t help but rub her eyes after a long while, as if she had seen a ghost.

Within tens of seconds, the lotus at the heart of the bowl bloomed more and more, and the white column of light emanating from it grew particularly dazzling.

With the ripples of the water, the petals of the lotus at the bottom of the bowl kept changing, as if a fairy were dancing there, utterly magical.

Huo Sining had heard of the lotus growing from the bottom of a bowl; she had delved into numerous historical records concerning Ru Kiln, and in one of the unofficial histories, it was recorded a legend:

It is said that the Everlasting Soil from the summit of the Kunlun has the power of eternal youth, but the soil cannot be directly consumed. It must be made into artifacts for use to maintain everlasting life.

Therefore, Emperor Tang Xuanzong went to great lengths to find the Everlasting Soil and immediately ordered the Jingdezhen kiln workers to fire it.

Unfortunately, Emperor Tang Xuanzong was unaware that the Everlasting Soil was not the best material for making porcelain due to issues with its adhesion properties. The firing of longevity porcelain was fraught with difficulties, with many pieces failing repeatedly, eventually yielding only two inconspicuous Ru ware bowls from the imperial kiln.

The kiln worker who made the Bowls of Longevity was also vented upon in anger by Kublai Khan and was ordered to be executed.

The Bowls of Longevity could not grant longevity, hence Emperor Tang Xuanzong did not live to see the collapse of the Tang Dynasty, but those two bowls became objects that could not go unmentioned concerning the Ru Kiln.

As the unofficial history records, the two successfully fired Bowls of Longevity were warm, white as ice, and pure as jade. The most important feature was the lotus growing from their walls, which Emperor Tang Xuanzong treasured greatly.

Legends are, after all, just legends. Without media exposure in the ancient times, much of the gossip originated from storytellers. To attract an audience, many details of the imperial court were exaggerated by teahouse storytellers, and through errors and rumors, numerous beautiful misunderstandings were created.

At least before encountering this bowl, Huo Sining also thought that the Bowl of Longevity was merely a fabricated tale. Perhaps the Bowl of Longevity did exist, but it was not necessarily as magical as having a lotus growing from its wall.

But now, Huo Sining didn’t think so. Holding the Ru ware white porcelain in her hand, she didn’t know how to explain what she saw.

The bowl before her not only bloomed with a lotus upon encountering water but also glowed on its own; such a phenomenon was beyond the knowledge of Huo Sining, who had never even heard of it, let alone seen it.

Huo Sining remembered that she had perused “Palace Museum Collection,” which featured a record about the Bowl of Longevity. The two Tang Dynasty Bowls of Longevity were respectively stored in the Forbidden City of the Imperial Capital and Taiwan’s National Palace Museum, both identical in appearance.

Since both Ru ware white porcelain bowls were fired during the Tang Dynasty, and the historical records about them were obscure, no one had ever seen the real Bowls of Longevity. Thus, experts identified those two bowls as the same ones treasured by Emperor Tang Xuanzong, and they had been kept in the Palace Museum ever since.

The ancient texts stated that the Bowl of Longevity moves with water and is sacred with light, but the later physical Bowls of Longevity did not have these two characteristics.

Therefore, people regarded that as an exaggerated rumor. Even the Palace Museum authorities thought so, and no one believed the contents of the historical records.

It was because of this that both Taiwan’s National Palace Museum and the Forbidden City’s Palace Museum considered the stored pair of counterfeit Bowls of Longevity to be genuine.