Revelation of the Way of Heaven

Chapter 367 Old Li

"Why?" Qin Xiaochuan asked, puzzled. "I thought that memory was causing you a lot of pain, so you wanted to seal it away."

"It was indeed very painful. Sometimes it kept me up all night. No matter when I think back on it, it still makes my heart ache," Mr. Li said without any attempt to hide it. "But it was also the only warm moment in my life. Only by relying on it could I get through this long journey of life."

"So contradictory, your feelings are really complicated," Kaiming couldn't help but remark.

Qin Xiaochuan also felt that he was conflicted, but he seemed to be able to understand his contradiction. He understood that what Old Li wanted to seal away must be a deeply unforgettable memory.

Although Qin Xiaochuan was still very young and could not fully understand this feeling, he had always felt a sense of familiarity with it. When he heard similar songs, he would always feel an urge to cry for no reason. He did not know where his empathy came from before, but after traveling through the past illusion with Guo Shiyi, he understood that this feeling was actually a remnant of emotions from his previous life.

"I know you can't understand, but I will absolutely not erase this memory," Old Li said resolutely.

"Kaiming, don't you have a similar ability to seal memories?" Qin Xiaochuan asked Kaiming.

"Of course I have it. When it comes to manipulating memories, my abilities are absolutely unparalleled in the world," Kaiming said proudly.

So Qin Xiaochuan then said to Old Li, "So you see, we can still meet your needs."

Old Li stared blankly at Qin Xiaochuan for a moment, then asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Actually, it's also related to memory. We want to implant a scene from our memory into a magical artifact, and be able to play that memory out through this artifact, like a projector." Seeing that he had finally gotten to the point, Qin Xiaochuan quickly stated his needs.

"This is simply unbelievable." Old Li looked at Qin Xiaochuan in disbelief. Even as a top-notch weapon-making master, he had never heard of such a spiritual weapon as Qin Xiaochuan described. How could something as ethereal as memory be implanted into a spiritual weapon? This was nothing short of wishful thinking.

Qin Xiaochuan was not discouraged. Instead, he calmly asked, "Based on your experience, where do you think the difficulty lies in achieving it? As far as I know, a weapon maker can even implant a skill into a magical weapon."

"Those are two different things. Implanting skills relies on tiny magic arrays embedded in spiritual artifacts, so the ability to play memories that you mentioned is entirely possible. However, not all skills have corresponding magic arrays. Memory is an ethereal thing. How could you possibly implant memories into a spiritual artifact? At least I have never heard of any magic array that can record a person's memories." Once he started talking about his area of ​​expertise, Old Li immediately became very talkative.

"Memory crystals!" Qin Xiaochuan said excitedly, pointing at the crystal in Elder Li's hand. "Memory crystals can store memories, right? If you implant a memory crystal into a magical artifact, you can play back the memories stored in the memory crystal."

Old Li was taken aback upon hearing this, and after pondering for a while, he said, "What you said is indeed possible, but as you just told me, memory crystals store the memories of the creator, so they can only play the original memories of the crystal. How can they play the memory you want? I don't think that memory could possibly be crystallized."

Qin Xiaochuan smiled slightly upon hearing this and said, "What if that memory just happened to form a memory crystal?" While Old Li was staring at him in a daze, he continued, "This must be a great new invention. I think Old Li would be very interested in trying it out."

Qin Xiaochuan's words touched a nerve with Elder Li. Although he had an eccentric personality and often acted unpredictably, he was always obsessed with making spiritual artifacts, especially top-grade ones. Otherwise, he wouldn't have become an unparalleled master craftsman.

In an instant, Elder Li sketched out the approximate shape of the entire magical artifact in his mind and said, "To make this magical artifact, in addition to the memory crystal, two other essential things are needed: the pheromones secreted by the Heart-Eating Troll Bee and the developing fluid inside the shell of the Shadow Snail."

"We'll take care of collecting these two items, and they should be delivered to you by noon tomorrow at the latest," Han Kexin said calmly from the side.

Old Li, however, said, "I never agreed to make a magical artifact for you."

Looking at this somewhat stubborn middle-aged man, Qin Xiaochuan could only smile wryly to himself. But he knew the other party was already tempted, so he added, "If you agree to help me make this magical artifact, I can immediately have Kaiming seal that unforgettable memory for you, to fulfill your long-cherished wish."

Old Li glanced at Qin Xiaochuan, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Let me go back and think about it some more." After saying that, he turned to leave the private room.

Qin Xiaochuan hadn't expected this outcome and was about to stop him when Han Kexin stopped him. After Old Li left the private room, he asked Han Kexin in confusion, "Why did you stop me?"

"What makes him hesitate isn't whether or not to make a magical artifact for you, but whether or not to seal that memory. Give him some time, he'll come looking for you again," Han Kexin said calmly, clearly having seen through Elder Li's thoughts.

Qin Xiaochuan suddenly realized what was going on, and when he looked at Han Kexin again, he noticed that a deep sense of loneliness had appeared in her eyes.

For the next period of time, Qin Xiaochuan and Kaiming continued to investigate the reason why Old Li went out two days ago, while Han Kexin and Qiu Jie went to collect pheromones and developing solution.

Qin Xiaochuan quickly found Old Li's destination, a coffee shop located on the other side of Crescent City. When they arrived at the coffee shop, it was almost noon. There were only two customers sitting at a table chatting on both sides, while the owner was washing coffee cups behind the counter.

Qin Xiaochuan approached the counter and ordered two coffees. Then he asked the shop owner about Old Li. After he briefly described Old Li's appearance, the shop owner said, "Oh, that person? I know him. He's a regular here. He comes every few days. He orders a coffee and sits by the window for half a day."

"Is it always just him alone?" Qin Xiaochuan asked.

The shop owner said, "Yes, it's always just him. He sits there quietly, looking out the window, and he gets a refill when he finishes his coffee."

Qin Xiaochuan nodded, then took the brewed coffee and sat down with Kaiming in front of the glass window the shop owner had mentioned. When his gaze passed through the glass window, he saw a red courtyard wall covered with rose vines, with a few bright red roses blooming on the vines.

Qin Xiaochuan took a sip of coffee and fell into deep thought.

"I also saw this kind of flower in that old man's yard," Kaiming said.

Qin Xiaochuan knew about this, of course, so he guessed that the reason why Old Li often came here must be because of the people inside the courtyard. However, the red gate in the center of the courtyard was tightly closed, and the scenery inside the courtyard could not be seen.

"Could it be that Elder Li's unforgettable memory is related to the person behind the courtyard wall?" Qin Xiaochuan couldn't help but think this way. If it weren't for a special longing, who would travel across the entire city every few days to come to this place and stare blankly at a courtyard wall? If Elder Li still couldn't make up his mind to help him make a magical artifact, then the person behind the courtyard wall was probably his last chance.