Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

Su Yuan stared at the jade ring on his hand, a feeling he couldn't quite describe welling up inside him.

Great-grandfather had planned everything out. Even if someone found the key and the lock, they wouldn't be able to open it without the jade!

After opening and removing the shank, a circular groove is exposed at the top of the lock body.

A small, handcrafted copper tube is embedded in the groove, with the top and seam sealed with wax.

Su Yuan used a needle to remove all the wax and found that the copper tube was empty, but there were tiny characters engraved on the inner and outer walls.

He carefully pried open the copper pipe through the gap. When half-unfolded, it was about 3*6 centimeters square. He held it up to the lamp and examined it with a magnifying glass for a long time before he could barely make out the first line:

"He who takes my blood will surely be executed by me."

Below were densely packed small characters, all engraved in intaglio. Su Yuan could make out a few lines, and his heart began to beat faster and faster.

This is not an ordinary lock, but a container. Inside the lock body is a forged copper tube that originally contained something, but it is no longer there.

The words on the copper pipe are important information left by my great-grandfather!

Su Yuan continued reading:

"My family has preserved this item since the Tang Dynasty, passing it down through generations. Only those with a special destiny can see it, and only those of the Su family bloodline can open it!"

"This item is called..."

The last few words were eroded for some reason and were not very clear.

Su Yuan's palms were sweating with anxiety. He looked at it carefully again, but still couldn't see it clearly!

I tried changing the angle and letting the light shine from the side. This changed the shadow, and the outline of the words became clearer.

"Yin...no, not Yin and Yang."

He wiped the sweat from his hands, rubbed his eyes, and continued looking until he finally recognized it.

"This object is called... the Spirit-Locking Pearl."

The Spirit-Locking Orb!

Su Yuan had never heard of this before. Shocked, he didn't have time to think further and continued reading:

"This bead can lock in a portion of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and solidify the soul of things."

"In the past, when the soul of Miss Awu was scattered, my ancestors used this spiritual pearl to collect her remaining spirit, and most of it was temporarily placed in a bronze mirror and buried beside her."

"A small amount was left in the pottery statue and the spirit pearl, just in case."

"Only when future generations gather the spirit through a jade ring can it be reborn!"

Su Yuan's hand holding the copper pipe suddenly trembled.

"My great-grandfather said that our ancestor used the Spirit-Locking Pearl to capture A-Wu's remnant spirit and placed it inside a bronze mirror. No wonder A-Wu only speaks to people with the surname Su!"

"So it wasn't just because A-Wu's family name is Su..."

But the copper tube was empty. Where was the Spirit-Locking Pearl?

Su Yuan continued reading:

"However, I am getting old and my strength is failing. I only managed to collect two of the Spirit-Locking Pearls, and the rest were scattered in various places in the interlayer."

"If future generations wish to bring him back in his entirety, they must take the jade ring into the hidden compartment and use the spirit-locking pearl as a guide to gather the scattered souls."

"I have hidden the Spirit-Locking Pearl inside the copper lock. There is another hidden layer where the pearl is located. The method to retrieve the pearl is to press the jade ring on the bottom of the lock, and the lock will open by itself."

Su Yuan quickly turned his head to look at the bottom of the copper lock.

The bottom was smooth and unpatterned, with only a tiny dent the size of a millet grain in the very center. He had seen it earlier, but he hadn't expected it to be like this!

Su Yuan flipped the lock over and pressed the indentation with the jade ring.

After waiting for three or four seconds, a "click" sound came from inside the lock, as if something had been popped open.

The bottom of the lock, which I thought was solid, turned out to be a separate cover!

The cover popped open a crack, and Su Yuan pried it open with his fingernail. Underneath the cover was a flat, tightly sealed hidden compartment, in which was embedded a bead the size of a soybean.

The beads are bluish-white in color and semi-transparent, just like the jade material used for the jade ring.

However, the surface of the bead has a faint fluorescent glow, which emits a soft light under the lamp!

This is the Spirit-Locking Pearl.

Su Yuan carefully took out the bead and held it in his palm.

The bead was small, but much heavier than a piece of jade of the same volume. Su Yuan examined it with a magnifying glass and discovered extremely fine lines flowing slowly inside the bead.

The spot of light in the bronze mirror suddenly lit up!

Su Yuan felt the bronze mirror in his pocket getting hot, so he quickly took it out and placed it on the table.

At this moment, the light spot in the mirror was brighter than ever before, like a small sun, moving rapidly across the mirror surface.

Zhong Ming and Miao Deyu had both disappeared, and even the taciturn ancestor was nowhere to be seen, not to mention the others!

Only that ball of light remained in the mirror.

The ball of light stopped at the edge of the mirror.

Su Yuan felt the Spirit-Locking Bead in his palm begin to heat up, and the fluorescence on the surface of the bead became brighter and brighter, echoing the light spots in the bronze mirror!

"A-Wu?"

Su Yuan asked tentatively in a soft voice, and the light spot in the mirror flashed three times.

As if in urgent response, the Spirit-Locking Pearl floated up from Su Yuan's palm—it really did float up!

The bead left his palm and hovered two fingers above the bronze mirror, slowly rotating.

The patterns inside the bead began to flow faster, like tiny bands of light spreading outward from the center of the bead.

The light spun faster and faster, finally transforming into a soft beam of light that shot from the Spirit-Locking Pearl into the bronze mirror, enveloping the light spots on the mirror's surface!

Su Yuan squinted because of the bright light, but he couldn't bear to look away.

The spiritual light slowly grew larger within the pillar of light, from a small dot to the size of a fingernail, and then to the size of a copper coin.

The shape of the light spot also changed, from a blurry ray of light to the outline of a human figure!

Su Yuan's heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to leap out of his body...

The human figure in the mirror became clearer and clearer, revealing the figure of a woman, slender and graceful, with her clothes fluttering in the light and shadow.

His face was still completely obscured by light, making his features unclear, but that familiar aura remained unchanged.

It's A-Wu!

It wasn't the spot of light in the bronze mirror or the illusion in the dream, but the living, breathing Awu... light and shadow.

Although it hasn't solidified yet, it's already good that it has taken on a human form.

Su Yuan's nose stung terribly, and her eyes instantly reddened...

"Awu..."

He called out softly, his voice filled with indescribable excitement! The human figure in the mirror tilted its head slightly, as if... looking at him.

Then a voice came from within the light, very soft and gentle, ethereal and melodious:

"Su Yuan..."

It was the same as what I had heard before, but this time it was clearer, closer, and more real!

"I'm here, I'm right here..."

Su Yuan released the thoughts he had kept hidden for more than half a year, replacing them with tenderness, and stared straight at the person in the mirror.

A semi-transparent hand extended from the humanoid silhouette, reaching towards Su Yuan. Su Yuan instinctively reached out to take it, his fingers brushing against the light and shadow of the hand.

I didn't encounter anything...

The jade ring felt warm again, as if it were being held by something!

The Spirit-Locking Pearl slowly fell back onto the surface of the bronze mirror, rolled twice, and stopped moving at the edge.

After the pillar of light disappeared, Awu's humanoid silhouette slowly returned to the size of a light dot and went back into the depths of the mirror.

Once everything returned to normal, it was as if nothing had happened!

Only Su Yuan knew that what had just happened was not an illusion, but a real event.

He looked at the Soul-Locking Pearl in his palm; the pearl still retained a little warmth. He quickly looked at the bronze mirror and found that the light spot was more than twice as bright as before, shining quietly deep within the mirror's surface.

"Mr. Zhong..."

Su Yuan called out, but no one responded.

"Ancestor, Elder Miao?"

There was still no response, and the reflection in the bronze mirror had completely disappeared, leaving only that ball of light!