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"Uh, there's actually such a thing..." Wang Xiaoqiang said in surprise.

"Yes, that's why we, the Sea Beast clan, bear grudges in our hearts when we see you Cultivators, and that's also the reason why I wanted to attack you."

The Sea Dragon said.

"Then why didn't you continue to attack us?"

"Because you're too powerful, you are the strongest Cultivator I have ever met. I'm not your match at all, so I admit defeat..." the Sea Dragon said.

"Heh, you're quite sensible," Wang Xiaoqiang laughed.

Qiao Zhi listened to this exchange between the man and the beast, feeling as if time and space had warped. This was too strange; a beast could talk, and they were discussing Cultivation?

Cultivation?

Wasn't that something from online novels? How come it's being discussed between this man and beast? It seems like Wang Xiaoqiang is a Cultivator, and a very powerful one at that.

Qiao Zhi's beautiful eyes turned and fixed intently on Wang Xiaoqiang, filled with astonishment. Is this still the Wang Xiaoqiang I know?

At that moment, the Sea Beast asked again, "Cultivator, what is your name?"

Seeing that the Sea Beast was not of the evil kind, Wang Xiaoqiang answered frankly, "My name is Wang Xiaoqiang, and this is my wife, Qiao Zhi."

"Uh, Wang Xiaoqiang, Qiao Zhi, hello. You're not here searching for treasure in the depths of the sea, are you??" the Sea Dragon asked.

Wang Xiaoqiang replied, "Not really, we're mainly here for fun, but of course, if we come across any treasure, we won't let it slip by."

"Okay, Wang Xiaoqiang, seeing that you're rather friendly, I'll take you to a place. There's treasure there," the Sea Dragon said.

Upon hearing this, both Wang Xiaoqiang and Qiao Zhi's eyes lit up, then they looked at each other and ultimately agreed.

So, led by the huge Sea Beast, they set off to search for the treasure.

Although the Sea Dragon had a huge body, it moved with incredible agility, and its speed was very fast.

Soon, the Sea Dragon brought them to the wreckage of a sunken ship.

Judging from the wreckage's size, it was a very large vessel, and it seemed to resemble a Chinese ship.

Seeing this, Wang Xiaoqiang and Qiao Zhi were both excited, so Wang Xiaoqiang immediately drove the Spirit Spring Submarine into the sunken ship to check it out. The first thing that caught their eyes was a large pile of porcelain...

Except for the bottom layer, which was damaged, the rest of the porcelain was well-preserved, and the patterns on them were exquisitely beautiful, depicting flora and fauna, all incredibly lifelike.

And it was certain that they were Chinese-produced porcelain.

"It looks like Yuan Dynasty Blue and White..." Qiao Zhi said with excitement as her eyes were glued to the patterns on the porcelain.

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"Judging from the appearance of this sunken ship, it's definitely not modern, so the porcelain on it must not be modern crafts either. With such a large pile, if taken away, it would surely fetch a good sum of money," Wang Xiaoqiang said. However, his face didn't show much excitement; after all, he was no longer the simple farmer he used to be, and wealth really didn't mean much to him anymore.

"Eh, Little Qiang, look at that chest, inside there, it seems like there are clothes..."

When Wang Xiaoqiang looked over, he saw a chest carved with a pattern of a hundred birds paying homage to a phoenix. It was cracked open slightly and appeared to contain fabric. But Wang Xiaoqiang couldn't believe it, "No way, if those are clothes, they should have rotted long ago." As he spoke, a Spiritual Energy Hand reached out, pried open the chest, then extended inside, grabbed the fabric, and pulled it out for a closer look.

Indeed, they were clothes, made of some fabric. It was certain that it was silk... magnificent silk.

Both Wang Xiaoqiang and Qiao Zhi were stunned by what they saw: not so much by the beauty of the fabric, but by the surprise at how such fabric could have been preserved in seawater for so long...

China has both the desert Silk Road and the maritime Silk Road; it wasn't rare for silk to appear on this sunken ship. However, figuring out why the silk remained undecayed in seawater for such a long period would probably require expert appraisal back on land.

With a thought, Wang Xiaoqiang stored the silk in the Sumeru Ring. He then stored a pile of intact porcelain in the Sumeru Ring and finally searched the wreckage of the ship a bit more and found sixteen pots of wine. The wine was sealed very well. With another thought, Wang Xiaoqiang put the sixteen pots into the Sumeru Ring.

Beyond these pots of wine, Wang Xiaoqiang also found some exquisite antiques. Among them, one jar looked particularly impressive.

The jar was about 25cm tall and roughly 30cm wide, with a wide circular base, straight mouth, short neck, slightly thickened lip, sloping shoulders, rounded belly that gradually widened below the shoulders, then tapered toward the bottom,

On spotting this jar, Qiao Zhi couldn't help exclaiming, "This, this jar looks like Yuan Dynasty Blue and White, which means this ship must be from the Yuan Dynasty, or otherwise from the Ming or Qing Dynasties..."

"That's right, this is the Yuan Dynasty Blue and White Jar Depicting Guiguzi Descending," Qiao Zhi said. The jar depicted the descent of Guiguzi, painted with imported cobalt material in blue and white, divided into four layers: the first layer at the neck featured a water wave pattern, the second layer at the shoulder was embellished with intertwined peonies, the third layer on the belly showcased the main theme of "Guiguzi Descending," and the fourth lower layer featured transformed lotus petal shapes filled with treasures, commonly known as "the eight great treasures." The main scene depicted the story of Sun Bin's master, Guiguzi, agreeing to descend from the mountains at the continued requests of Qii Kingdom's envoy Su Dai, to rescue the famous general of Qii, Sun Bin, and Dugu Chen, who were trapped by the Yan Kingdom. Guiguzi sat in a chariot pulled by a tiger and a leopard, leaning slightly forward, exhibiting a transcendent and calm demeanor, indicative of masterminding strategies from behind the scenes and securing victory from a thousand miles away. Two foot soldiers carrying spears cleared the way in front of the chariot, and a young general with an imposing presence galloped on his horse, carrying a battle flag inscribed with the words "Guiguzi." Su Dai rode his horse at the rear. This procession, along with the mountain scenery and rocks, formed a magnificent and beautiful landscape portraying the characters. The blue and white decorations were rich and vivid, the composition full and balanced, providing clear focus and unity. The character portrayals were smooth and natural, full of life, and the rocks were energetically and liberally rendered, every brushstroke precise and perfect, just as Mr. Sun Yingzhou has said, "The finest Yuan Dynasty porcelain is indeed exquisite."

"Little Qiang, it looks like we're in for another windfall; this jar once sold for a price of two hundred million..."

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"So, all these bottles here should be Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain," Wang Xiaoqiang said, pointing at the large collection of bottles and jars.

"Yes, that should be correct," Qiao Zhi affirmed confidently. Thinking about it, the sunken ship had been underwater for years; it wouldn't make sense for there to be fakes among the wreckage, would it?

"Just with these pieces of Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain, we could make several billion," Qiao Zhi said excitedly.

Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain is one of the most dazzling vistas in Chinese ceramics.

Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain opened a new era transitioning from plain white porcelain to colored porcelain. With its richness and boldness, the unrestrained painting style, and multiple layers in its artistry, it's quite different from the traditional aesthetic preferences of the Chinese Nation, indeed a rare flower in the history of Chinese ceramics. At the same time, it catapulted Jingdezhen to the center of the world's ceramics industry during the medieval period. Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain, with Jingdezhen as its representative, is exquisitely made and rarely preserved, making it extremely valuable. According to the time period, it is roughly divided into three stages: the Yanyou Period, the Zhizheng Period, and the Late Yuan Period, among which the "Zhizheng type" is considered the best.

There are two general color schemes for Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain: one is a grayish-blue, lighter in tone, and the other is a darker, more handsome blue. Traditionally, the grayish-blue is made from domestic cobalt materials, while the brilliant blue comes from imported materials. Imported cobalt materials were used for large, medium, or small sized Yuan blue and white pieces, while domestic cobalt materials were only used for medium and small size pieces.

Imported cobalt materials, namely Sumali Blue, during the Yuan Dynasty had a composition of low manganese and high iron, containing sulfur and arsenic, but no copper or nickel, making it distinct from the cobalt materials used in the Tang and Song Dynasty blue and white or Ming Dynasty blue and white porcelain. The blue and white designs painted with this material appear to be intense and deep, and they sometimes feature glossy purplish-brown or black-brown spots, some of which display a "tin glaze." "Tin glaze" refers to a natural sheen with a sense of relief appearing within black-brown spots, a result of the changes in the celestine material in the firing process due to the kiln atmosphere. Modern replicas of Yuan blue and white porcelain also show "tin glaze," but observing the "tin glaze" on these reproductions, it seems like a piece of silver-gray film is laid on top of blue-black spots, some spots are densely packed, creating a stiff impression.

In addition, Sumali Blue coloring has the following characteristics: it is a bright indigo color, with varying degrees of purple, some being a very elegant violet. There are gradations in the intensity of color with darker outline lines and lighter fill colors. Where the cobalt material accumulates, there are blue-black or bluish-brown spots, the surface under the glaze is concave and matt. The cobalt material is generally fine and even, with outlines slightly diffused. Some are intensely colored with radial spreading, revealing blue-black crystals or crystalline lines, likely because the cobalt material particles are coarser. Similar phenomena can also be found on the early Ming Dynasty Yongle and Xuande blue and white porcelain.

The domestically produced cobalt materials used in Yuan blue and white porcelain contained high manganese and high aluminum, differentiating significantly from the imported materials of the same period. The blue and white designs they created were blue-gray or blue-black, with gradations. Where the cobalt material accumulated, there were bluish-brown or yellowish-brown spots, with fewer black-brown spots. If the content of manganese was too high, the blue and white designs would appear blue with a slight touch of red, and beneath the glaze, it would be concave with a gloss.

From the base or broken surface of large Yuan pieces, one can observe that the clay color is not pure white, the clay quality is coarse, and there are tiny pores. Although the porcelain body of Yuan blue and white porcelain added alumina, increasing its firing temperature, the level of vitrification was still not as fine as Qing Dynasty porcelain. When making Yuan porcelain, the clay was not refined enough. Most items left the base unglazed, exposing the clay and adopting sand padding to fire them, creating the so-called sand-bottom effect. The edge of the sand bottom often had sand sticking to it or iron spots; a small number of items had iron in the clay, showing ferric oxide red spots in the exposed clay parts after firing, commonly known as "red flint." Bowls, stem cups, and other small items generally did not show kiln red, while larger vessels like jars and big pots, although revealing clay at the inner lid, did not show kiln red. Some plates left a deliberately brushed iron red sand bottom, lighter in color, with traces of wheel turning.

Types of Yuan Dynasty Jingdezhen bottles and jars were made by sectioning pieces of clay and then adhering them with slip, causing noticeable ridges at the joints on the surface, giving an impression of unevenness. The outer wall at the joints was smoothed out, but the inner wall revealed clear seams. The inner side of the neck was slightly trimmed, but the inner walls were not polished, thus making the joints visibly prominent at the bottom, belly, and mouth of the vessels.

Generally, the foot edges of the items were irregular and bent, indicating that the refinement of the pieces was not a priority in the Yuan Dynasty, making them appear rather rudimentary in their formation techniques. However, some small items are finely crafted with a pure white and delicate clay quality. The common method for trimming the foot was to diagonally slice the outer wall of the foot, and for larger items, the broad and thick foot was often hollowed, with varying depths. The ring foot of the vessels was not perfectly aligned, showing a curved shape. Spiral cutting marks could be seen on the base; large bottles and jars had coarser and more spaced cutting marks, while plates and bowls had finer and more closely spaced marks. The outside and inside of the bottom and ring foot were covered with kiln sand, some already melted into the glaze. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

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