The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 451: Long Jun: Are you able to do it this time?
The waves above my head are deep and blue.

The sound of water rushing in my ears.

This scene had appeared once before, when Shen Le had just completed the preliminary repair of the wooden boat and showed it to him in his memory.

However, this time, Shen Le was not in a dream, but in the flesh. He lunged forward, tightly grasping the steering wheel, his palms sweating:
Where are you, little wooden boat!
Where are you taking me!
Which waterway did you take? Before I could react, you took me into the water. Did you jump into the sewer?
Even if you jump into the small river next to Nanhua Street, you have to fly up first and then dive into the water!
Also, how big am I now... How many times did you shrink me? It can't really be a hundred times, right?

From a 30-meter-long wooden boat, it shrunk to 30 centimeters...so, I should have shrunk proportionally as well. My current height is only a little over one centimeter?
but……

Before he could figure it out, the small oil lamp jumped violently and emitted a flash of lightning. Shen Le was startled and quickly freed one hand to cover it tightly:

"Don't make a fuss! Don't make a fuss! Wait until we get there! Don't make a fuss on the way and break the boat—"

Who knows where they are now!
What if it's under the Yangtze River, what if it's under some big river...

You broke the wooden boat, and a huge flood of water came directly down. I won't be drowned because I have the water talisman, but the wooden boat that I repaired with great effort is ruined!

If it were to be broken, its original form would be revealed, out of the water... or the mast would pierce the bottom of a ship above, or the mast would be broken by the bottom of the ship above...

Wouldn’t it be a waste of his practice?
[It won’t break…]

A small but firm voice came out. Shen Le was stunned, and while still looking around, he heard the voice repeat:
【It won't break! 】

"You are... Ah Chuan?"

Shen Le didn't know how to address him, so he patted the steering wheel and asked in a low voice. The steering wheel turned left, then right, with brisk movements, and he actually looked a little happy:
[My name is Yun Kun! I have a name! ]

"You have a name..." Shen Le's thoughts drifted away for a moment. He continued to stroke the steering wheel gently:

"How do you write these two words?"

[The cloud in Baiyun! The Kun in Kunpeng! ]

The wooden boat's spirit answered in a clear voice. Shen Le took a deep breath:

The Kun of Kunpeng!
The owner of the wooden boat must have high expectations for it if he gave it this name!

"When was this name given to it? When it was sailing to the West? When it stopped inland? When it was sent to the Grand Ceremony? Or..."

When it was taken into the Water Palace and transformed into an artifact spirit?
It shouldn't have been named in the Water Palace. It's hard to imagine that the Dragon King named a small boat Kun...

Just like ordinary people often say, if I have 100 million, this and that, if I have 1 billion, this and that. But the rich people, on the contrary, will not say this casually:

Because they really have 100 million, 1 billion...

[Of course it was when it was first built! ] Yun Kun answered energetically:

[At that time, we built a large number of them, and I was the leader of the warships! Behind me, there were Yunpeng, Yunsha, and Yunjiao——]

Its voice suddenly dropped again. It sounded a little annoyed and a little sad:

[None of them stayed... In the end, I was the only one left, the only one left...]

That mighty fleet.

The huge treasure ship with fully-fledged sails swept through the foreign fleet and stopped at the indigenous port with great force.

The mighty and invincible warship, the huge grain ship, the nimble and agile messenger ship...

No more, all gone...

When it wakes up from its ignorance, when its spirituality grows little by little, when it opens its eyes and looks at the world with its own perception...

Its brothers and friends, the treasure ships, passenger ships, warships, horse ships, and grain ships that sailed through the waves and storms together...

They are gone now, they can no longer be seen, they can no longer be felt...

"It's okay, it's okay." Shen Le quickly touched it:

"Don't cry, don't cry... It's a very rare thing to have spirituality. If your friends knew that you stayed and that you still remembered them, they would be very happy..."

He coaxed and comforted him, pouring the warmth from his palms into the hull freely, trying to make Yun Kun feel better.

The boat spirit also understood his feelings. It whimpered for a while, then cheered up and talked to Shen Le and the small oil lamp:

[I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to take you away… It’s just that I wasn’t awake at that time, and I just felt that I had to go in that direction, I had to go there…]

"Which direction is that?"

[It’s the Dragon Palace…] Yun Kun hesitated:
[Should be right? ]

Shen Le breathed a sigh of relief. Not surprisingly, he thought, the wooden boat was probably refined into a magical instrument - or the Dragon King interfered in the growth of the boat spirit.

So, when the wooden boat was repaired and the boat spirit awakened, the first thing it did was to rush to the Water Palace.

It's very reasonable and normal. The only abnormal thing is——

Why did you bring me along?

There is no point in complaining about this now. Shen Le'an stood firmly on the deck, patted the rudder, and said softly:
"Then it's up to you."

I rely on you to guide me so that I won’t get lost in the deep waterway and can reach the Dragon Palace accurately.
I rely on you, I rely on you to support the barrier, to protect us, to move forward safely under the water as if we were on the surface;
I'm relying on you. You'll be a stepping stone so that we won't be kicked out by the Dragon King when we enter the Water Palace... Well, you really won't kick us out, right?

Shen Le stared ahead with a bit of trepidation. The water flowed, as if it was gently separating from both sides of the boat, and as if it was pushing the wooden boat forward.

It could be sneaking in a lake, a river, or the Yangtze River, or it could be moving along some supernatural waterway.

In short, Shen Le felt that he might have been waiting for a day and a night, or maybe only five or ten minutes had passed, before he suddenly felt empty from under him and fell straight down.

Feeling weightless due to the free fall, Shen Le clung to the side of the boat and tried to look out:
The vast dome is dotted with stars, as if the sky is full of stars, or as if they are round night pearls, embedded in the water curtain and shining brightly.

Under the dome, it is dark, deep and out of reach.

I stuck my head out and looked down, but I couldn't see the bottom no matter how hard I tried.

Stretch out your hand and let the sound of the wind flow through your fingertips, feeling the speed and time of falling, as if you have been falling in free fall for five seconds, ten seconds, fifteen seconds...

The free fall displacement formula is s = 1/2gt. If you fall for fifteen seconds, you will have traveled at least a thousand meters.

The water under the Yangtze River is definitely not that deep. Even if there is a cave underneath, it is not that deep. It must have fallen into the earth's crust!
So... I am now in the Dragon Palace?

In a secret realm that is connected to the main world but separate from it?
Only in this way can I explain my current situation and why I haven’t reached the bottom yet…

That Dragon Lord... shouldn't have any ill will towards me...right?

Shen Le thought about the young man in an old sweatshirt, beach pants, and big slippers, who stomped over to him and blew out a puff of smoke to help him dispel the evil spirit;

Thinking about him and his girlfriend (?) happily eating noodles at Tianxianglou, he doesn't look any different from ordinary people;

Thinking about how his girlfriend called him over for a treat, and how she generously sent him a bunch of fish, shrimp, and crabs, and how he secretly provided her with antiques several times to practice with her...

"You wouldn't think I'm a thief who broke into the Dragon Palace, would you?"

As I was thinking, a long dragon roar suddenly came from far away. It was broad, loud, and had a metallic texture that vibrated into my bones.

However, for some reason, Shen Le heard a sense of laziness from the dragon's roar, as if the master had just woken up from a dream and was stretching casually.

Well, there's no danger.

There is no hostility either.

Until now, the master of the Dragon Palace has been kind to him... By the way, where is the Dragon King?
He clung to the side of the boat, desperately looking down. The small oil lamp nervously released a net to support him, in case he accidentally fell off the side of the boat.

Yun Kun even stretched out a rope and wrapped it around his waist. This was not enough. In the cabin, clothes rustled slightly, and two singing girls quietly came out, one on the left and one on the right, standing on both sides of Shen Le:

It looked like if Shen Le really lost his balance and fell out, they would be able to immediately swing out their long sleeves and pull Shen Le back.

...So can these two hold me back?

The frame is made of bamboo and the clothes are made of silk. When I weigh myself on the scale, I don’t know if I weigh more than ten kilograms.

Two people rushed over to pull me, and I was afraid that they would be dragged down with me!

If it were normal, Shen Le might have looked back and complained silently in his heart. However, at this moment, he no longer had this thought:

Shen Le lay on the side of the boat, sticking his head out, half of his body out, staring closely at the bottom. In the vast and clear lake, there was a huge and perfect creature winding:

Its horns are like those of a deer, its head is like that of a camel, its neck is like that of a snake, its scales are like those of a fish, its claws are like those of an eagle, its paws are like those of a tiger…

Each of these characteristics can be applied a little bit, but all of them combined are not enough to describe the dragon in any way.

He has a slender and well-proportioned body, with clean green dragon scales that emit a warm luster like green jade.

It was just lazily lying there, with no clouds or water swirling around it, but it gave people a feeling that there was explosive power hidden under that slender body...

Not to mention those eyes. When Shen Le saw those golden blue eyes, he subconsciously held his breath:
Those eyes seemed to reflect your figure, and also seemed to be the sediment of eternity. Like a quiet pond, like an abyss, just one glance could absorb all of a person's mind and soul!

He stared at the huge dragon pupil with bated breath, and for a moment he forgot where he was, only his heart was pounding. After a long while, a clear dragon roar sounded from under the water:

"hold head high--"

As if the Dragon King had issued some order, the entire Water Palace suddenly became active.

Above the dome, pearls shone brilliantly, illuminating the entire water palace;

The sound of the water flow suddenly became several times stronger. A huge torrent came from nowhere, wrapped around the wooden boat and carried it downwards.
As for the dragon...

The dragon suddenly disappeared. No one knew whether it went somewhere else or became smaller and took on a human form. In short, Shen Le could not see the huge blue dragon no matter how hard he tried.

Instead, the torrent wrapped around the wooden boat and rushed forward at a high speed. In just a moment, it surged into a huge lake and stopped steadily:
"Dear guest, please disembark."

At the lakeside, someone greeted him loudly—in human language. Shen Le poked his head out and saw a young man in blue standing on the shore, nodding and smiling at him.

This young man in blue has a handsome appearance. He is not the type that is so handsome that it makes people's eyes light up, but he is pleasing to the eye.

She had a slender and well-proportioned figure, and the Han-style deep gown she wore was extremely simple in style. It didn't look like it was made of any expensive material like brocade or kesi, but it had a restrained brilliance that Shen Le had never seen before.

I don’t know if this robe was woven by immortal magic, or if it was a part of the green-clothed boy’s body that changed into a human form and naturally formed clothes?

Shen Le smiled at him and looked around, trying to find a springboard or something else to help him get off the boat.

Before finding it, and Yun Kun had no time to deploy the cable, the young man gently raised his hand, and a transparent water bridge quietly emerged, stretching from the shore straight to the side of the ship.

Hey, is that so thoughtful?

Shen Le breathed a sigh of relief. He even thought about making a huge jump and getting off the boat directly, or even just flying down, but it seemed a bit lacking in style and courtesy.

The young man rolled up the water bridge to welcome him down, which was so nice!

He tentatively stepped onto the water bridge and pressed lightly with his toes.

The water bridge sank slightly, supporting his weight steadily. It did not deform significantly, nor did it appear too smooth that would cause him to slide off the side.

Moreover, there were railings on both sides, so that if he felt unstable, he could hold on to the railings and move forward...

Shen Le did not feel unsteady. He held the small oil lamp in one hand and strode forward. After only a few dozen steps, he reached the shore. The young man in blue bowed slightly and smiled at him:

"Two distinguished guests, Qingli is here to greet you on the orders of the Lord. Please follow me."

Ah, so thoughtful?

Even the small oil lamp is considered an independent individual and was invited?

Shen Le was a little surprised, nodded to him and smiled. He wanted to extend his hand, but he didn't know if these "ancients" had the habit of shaking hands, so he just raised the small oil lamp:

"Hello, I'm Shen Le, this is Qing Deng. It's——"

He half turned around. Qing Li's smile had grown a little bigger:
"I know, this is Yun Kun. I came here this time on the orders of the Lord, to bring Yun Kun in and let the Lord take a look."

He stretched out his hand. He didn't make any movements, didn't make any hand gestures, and didn't chant any spells, but there was already a loud splash in the water.

Yun Kun flew out of the water, shrinking as it flew. By the time it landed in Qing Li's hand, it had become only the size of a palm, and he held it in his palm with ease:

"please--"

Shen Le followed him forward. Along the way, the blue water was quiet and peaceful, forming the walls of a cave, and fish swam outside the walls.

Shen Le really wanted to reach out and touch the water wall, or even reach his hand into the water wall to touch which particularly beautiful and sensitive big fish.

But this was not a dream, so he couldn't do whatever he wanted and could only follow Qingli and move forward slowly.

After walking through a corridor and turning a corner, you can see shrimp soldiers, crab generals, clam girls and mermaids, some of them patrolling with weapons in hand, some chanting, dancing, weaving and absorbing the essence of the sun and the moon.

When they saw Qingli and Shen Le coming over, they all bowed to them, but they did not rush over to take turns or come to serve Long Jun.

After the greetings, they continued to do their own things, just like... well, just like when Shen Le was listening to a lecture in class or working in the laboratory and a leader came over...

How come the Dragon King of this water palace doesn’t have the power of life and death over the water monsters there?

"Ah, Your Majesty doesn't like them to poke and poke." Qing Li glanced at Shen Le, as if he knew what he was thinking, and smiled:

“Your Majesty said that we should just keep respect in our hearts and live our daily lives as usual.

His Dragon Palace and Water Palace, in addition to regulating the water veins, is also to provide a place for the water creatures to live, without them having to worship him all day long."

Shen Le felt relieved for some reason. To say something like this meant that this Dragon Lord must be a very easy-going person who would not mind his slight impoliteness.

He followed Qing Li and turned two more corners, and soon arrived at a...

garden?

Is it really a garden?
This garden was quite different from Shen Le's perception. In the garden, exquisite lake stones were placed randomly, and on the lake stones, large patches of golden jasmine flowers hung down like waterfalls;
Around the lake rocks, peonies and herbaceous peonies of various colors bloomed at the same time, the flowers as big as bowls and as brilliant as brocade;
A little further away, among the dense dark green leaves, there were golden oranges hanging, and the fragrance wafted from afar.

Further away, peach and pear blossoms bloomed in clusters, like clouds, stretching all the way to the horizon...

The flowers on land alone would be fine. The problem is that among the flowers, there are deep red, pink and white corals of various colors, and colorful fish swimming among the corals;
There are seaweed and kelp draped softly, branches covering each other, leaves connecting with each other...

This……

How did this scene of plants and animals on land and in water growing together come to be?
Shen Le was a little dazed. Qing Li had already taken him to pick flowers and brush willows, walking along the cobblestone path, heading straight for an octagonal pavilion in the center of the garden.

About 10 to 20 meters away from the octagonal pavilion, a figure squatting among the flowers under the pavilion stood up, turned around, and immediately walked towards them quickly.

Just like the first time Shen Le saw him, the old man was wearing a sweatshirt, beach pants, and big slippers that clicked on his feet. He was holding a pair of large scissors in his hands, probably pruning flowers and trees:
"Mr. Shen? Here you come!"

He smiled lightly, stretched out his hand and waved it, and the stone table and stone benches in the octagonal pavilion instantly turned into rattan chairs and sofas.

With another flick, seven or eight oranges, a plate of small tangerines, and a plate of blueberries flew out from the distant bushes. They were fresh and tender, and the white frost on the blueberries was still intact:

"I'm so sorry. I wanted to see you, but this little guy came straight to the Dragon Palace right after he was repaired. Sit, sit! There's fruit on the table, take whatever you want!"

He casually waved his hand, took the small wooden boat from Qingli, and looked at it back and forth in his hands. Qingli bowed and quickly stepped back.

Shen Le hesitated for a moment, but followed his gesture and sat opposite him. He picked up the smallest tangerine, peeled it, and put it in his mouth:

Hmm, sour and sweet, a fresh fragrance rushes straight to the top of the head, then makes a circle from the top of the head and rushes straight down the spine.

Such deliciousness and spiritual energy could not be found anywhere else except the one he tasted in the secret realm of the painting scroll!

It’s worthy of being called the Water Palace!

"No, no, I am being presumptuous." He then bowed and smiled:

"The main reason was that I didn't expect Yun Kun to rush over directly. I didn't have time to get off the boat and was pulled over with it. Now is the perfect time to return the items to their original owner in person. I don't have to think of a way to return them."

"Oh? Are you willing to do that?"

The Dragon King paused for a moment and looked up at him. Shen Le spread his hands gently:
"Why would I be reluctant to part with it? This wooden boat is not mine. Besides, it has been absorbing spiritual energy in the water palace and developing its spirituality over many years. It would be too much for me to take it for myself!"

"Oh, no need."

Long Jun shook his head and laughed. He casually placed the wooden boat on the table and pushed it towards Shen Le:
“You were the one who inspired the spirituality of this ship, and it has a deep connection with you. It would be bad if it stayed with me.

Take it away, let it go out and see the sunlight and the world. It's worth it that it has been buried for hundreds of years and finally grown up again!"

what?
Shen Le was stunned for a moment. He was still trying to find something to say when Qing Li came over with some light footsteps. Shen Le, Long Jun, and even the small oil lamp had a cup of tea.

He paused, turned around, and brought another box over. The Dragon Lord pressed the lid of the box and pushed it open:

"I'm repairing these things for you. You should have guessed my intention. - How about this, can you repair it this time?"

Shen Le looked in the direction of his movements, and sure enough, a small, familiar-looking wooden boat was lying quietly in the box.

It is as long as a palm, as thick as three fingers, with pointed ends, and has no oars, sails, or canopy.

There was a huge crack on the left side of the ship, and there was also a shocking hole on the bottom of the ship.

Shen Le took a deep breath. He concentrated, lowered his eyes, and silently practiced his Qi. The heat flow circulated in his body three times before he extended his mental power and "looked" at the wooden boat:

!!!

too strong!
That wooden boat is so strong!
It is completely not on the same level as the Yun Kun that Shen Le had just repaired!
If Yun Kun's original body was just a warship used by Zheng He during his voyages to the West, then this wooden ship that the Dragon King entrusted Shen Le to repair was probably...

Maybe an aerospace carrier?
When his mental power probed towards the breach, the turbulence near the breach still gave him a thrilling feeling. Shen Le tried his best to regulate his breathing and let his mental power get closer and closer:
With a swish, the mental tentacles he extended were torn and shattered on the spot.

It was as if his cerebral cortex was being tightly grasped and a piece of it was torn off. Shen Le's face turned pale and his head hurt.
"Drink tea, drink tea."

Long Jun quickly closed the lid of the box. Shen Le picked up the teacup and gulped it down. Only then did he feel the cool air soothing his brain, making him feel much better.

Long Jun sighed regretfully:
"Sorry, I was reckless. Then... you can walk around the water palace and pick a few more things to practice with?"

(End of this chapter)