The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 633 Let's talk things out properly, don't just explode at the slightest disagreement!

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's my fault for not managing it properly."

“I really can’t match each broken hair individually anymore. You’ll have to do it yourselves, and I’ll help you repair it…”

"Don't worry, there's plenty of healing spells, plenty of energy, and plenty of silk fibroin solution! Sorry for the trouble..."

Faced with the scattered hair all over the floor, the room, from the ceiling to the nooks and crannies, Shen Le could only try to stabilize the porcelain tower fragments, laying them down one by one, while speaking to soothe them.

Inside the lab, a chorus of soft laughter filled the air. The girls in their flowing skirts waved their sleeves and scattered to gather the severed hairs. As they picked them up, they comforted Shen Le:
It's okay, it's okay, we have plenty of hair anyway, it won't make a difference...

No need to match each piece individually; just assemble them randomly, and they'll stick together perfectly...

[It's okay if it doesn't match up; as long as you give it enough energy, your hair will grow back on its own...]

You go about your business, we'll take care of these hairs, making sure not a single one is left! They won't stick to the back of the precision balance, the edge of the microscope lens, or the gaps in the instrument buttons!

Stop talking, the more you talk, the more terrifying the scene becomes, and I'm starting to get a headache!

Shen Le resisted the urge to press his head down, his hands flying as he caught the porcelain shards one by one, carefully arranging them in rows on the table.

After working for a full hour, I finally finished arranging all the porcelain shards, sat down on the floor, and sighed deeply.

"Ugh……"

Do you want it fixed or not?

If you didn't want it fixed, you should have said so earlier! I, Shen Le, am not one to force people to do things against their will; my time and energy are also very precious!

A few of the lightest pieces of porcelain trembled slightly and moved outwards, while the furthest piece simply fell off the table. Shen Le caught a glimpse of it at a glance, and before he could even get up, he rolled over quickly, stretched out his arms, and caught the piece of porcelain in his palm.

Then, pat, pat, pat...

Half a flying eaves, a wolf's head... or a dog's head split in half, a porcelain sword, and seven or eight other pieces of unknown origin, all fell over the edge of the table and landed on Shen Le's forehead.

Shen Le dodged and weaved, turning himself into a clown juggling five balls with two hands, working up a sweat before finally lying down with his arms outstretched:

"The wind is blowing—"

A vortex of wind rose from the ground, transforming into a thick cushion that held up all the fragments, large and small, making it easier for Shen Le to carry them back to the table one by one. As Shen Le moved them, he sensed the energy between them:

Yes, there are indeed some fragments whose auras repel each other. For example, that porcelain sword, and that half-wolf head? Dog head? If you try to put them even a little closer, they immediately move away from each other.

Or perhaps, the fact that they didn't immediately engage in combat meant they were already short of energy, or maybe they were giving Shen Le face...

"Okay, okay, I understand. Each of you fragments has a slightly different idea." Shen Le picked up one fragment, put it down, picked up another, put it down, and carefully sensed it all to determine what they were thinking.

Simply put, they really want the tower itself, the protective objects outside the tower, and the porcelain sword and the like inside the tower to be put back together.

However, the birds, beasts, insects, and fish inside the tower, as well as the porcelain sculptures that looked somewhat like humans but had certain distinct alien features, showed great resistance and did not want to be pieced together at all.

Not only did they not want to be stuffed back into the tower, they didn't even want to be gathered together. Strictly speaking, if it weren't for some inexplicable force holding them back, they might have exploded on the spot...

"So this porcelain tower wasn't actually used to seal away demons before, was it?"

Shen Le turned the porcelain doll over and over, piecing together and playing with the smallest of the pieces, which was about the size of a thumb and the largest was no bigger than a fist.

After much deliberation, I finally chose a porcelain rooster sculpture that had been cut in two. This one was the smallest and had the least damage; all I needed to do was align and connect them.

Moreover, its shape is normal, without any strange bumps, eerie colors, or extra wings or claws. Even if it gets restless after being repaired, it should be manageable, right?

Shen Le confirmed her judgment several times before finally beginning the repairs. First, she used bamboo skewers, a fine cloth, and cleaning techniques to thoroughly clean the entire piece, leaving no stains or residue.
Then, it was placed on an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to record its body, glaze color, and the content of different components in each part;

Next, scan it again using the Special Affairs Bureau's relevant spiritual energy instruments. This is the most troublesome part, and also the least accurate:
Shen Le's laboratory is located within the ancient house of the spirit, which, in professional terms, suffers from "excessively high background radiation." Measuring the spiritual energy of objects in such an environment often results in either failing to detect it or producing abysmal data accuracy…

Regardless, he had to test everything he could. Once everything was done, he would put the two broken pieces of porcelain back together and slowly examine them.

Very well, it possesses a power, a power that desires to become whole, but it cannot break through the rules of reality. So, shall we lend it a hand?
Shen Le looked around, dragged a basket of tiles over, and piled it in front of him. He slowly focused his mind, drawing upon the earth elemental power within the tiles, and the faint, remaining fire elemental power, which rose little by little, condensing onto the broken edges of the porcelain.

Infiltrate them!
Let me blend with the original texture of the broken porcelain!
Fill it with earth element power, then scorch it with fire element power, so that the smooth break is completely connected as if it were welded on!
Spirituality surges like waves. Broken porcelain is hard, but the spirituality within it is soft, which can be moved with mental power, and can even be kneaded repeatedly like dough.

However, with each impact and each retreat, a resilient and sharp force at the break point solidifies into a barrier, firmly blocking them:

"Sword energy..."

Shen Le pondered. He tried to manipulate that wisp of power with his own spiritual energy, but to no avail;
Attempts to impact and pry were unsuccessful.

Looking around, he picked up a small knife and tried to channel his sword energy into it, but to no avail. The sword energy completely ignored the knife, whether because it found the knife too weak or because it lacked spirit...

"Sigh, this is so hard..." Shen Le waved, flicked, spun, and tried to communicate, using every trick in the book, but he couldn't do anything to that wisp of sword energy.

In a fit of rage, he threw the two porcelain shards on the ground and turned to find Li Xingtang. He dragged over a spear and a long-handled broadsword!

If that doesn't work, I can drag the flying sword over and that should solve the problem!

Sure enough, the problem was solved as soon as the Mo Dao appeared. The wisp of sword energy flickered slightly, then plunged into the Mo Dao like a fish entering the sea, never to return.

Immediately, the spirituality pushed the existence inside the two broken pieces of porcelain towards the seam in the middle, breaking through its natural broken edge and merging together.

The fire elemental energy scorched back and forth, turning the illusory into the real. Finally, Shen Le released his grip, watching a triumphant, colorful rooster lie proudly in his palm:

"Oh oh oh-"

In a daze, Shen Le seemed to see the rooster flapping its wings and soaring into the sky. It circled him three times, flying higher and higher, before settling on a high spot beside him, raising its head and crowing: its voice was high-pitched and loud, and with just one crow, the surrounding night seemed to ripple, and even the movement of the sun and moon seemed to speed up.

Three rooster crows in succession, and the walls of the entire laboratory trembled, the lights flickered, and dust fell from the ceiling.

The little ones, especially the clay figurines and the ones in skirts, were all listless, huddled against the wall, as if they had lost all ability to move...

Only the green lamp remained spirited. A bolt of lightning shot through the air, landing precisely on the porcelain rooster's forehead, giving it a thorough bath:
【Shut up! 】

In an instant, the strange phenomenon vanished, the laboratory lights stabilized, and the walls returned to their hard, straight state. The porcelain rooster, meanwhile, stopped moving instantly, its brilliance fading, and stood quietly, indistinguishable from a newly purchased porcelain doll.

Shen Le breathed a sigh of relief and was about to take a closer look when his hand suddenly trembled, and an ominous cracking sound rang out.

He reflexively reached out and pressed down, slamming the porcelain rooster onto the table before leaping backward.

Before it even hit the ground, a series of cracking sounds rang out in front of it: "crack," "crack crack," "crack crack crack crack," as the porcelain rooster's wings, comb, claws, and even its magnificent tail feathers burst open piece by piece in all directions...

"Don't!"

Shen Le shouted urgently and pointed forward. A whirlwind rose from the ground and converged towards the center, determined to leave all the porcelain rooster fragments on the table.

However, the moment those fragments touched the vortex, they instantly lost speed and even turned into dust, falling down in a flurry.

When the whirlwind subsided, there wasn't a single identifiable shard of porcelain left on the table; it was all covered in multicolored porcelain powder. A quick pinch revealed a level of fineness comparable to the frosting powder in a cosmetics box!
"No way, it just self-destructed like that?"

Shen Le was on the verge of tears. All the little guys he had ever repaired had either been haunted, caused disturbances to their surroundings, or fallen apart and returned to their original state; he had never seen one that self-destructed like this before.

You've self-destructed, how am I supposed to fix you?

Should we sweep away the porcelain powder and refire it?
So, what are the physical and chemical changes during the firing of kaolin into porcelain? Oh no, I remember learning about that in undergrad, but I've forgotten it all. I have to go back and look it up—

So, if these porcelain powders are mixed with flux and fired again, can they still be made into porcelain?

This is a rather difficult question; it's probably not something you can find by simply looking it up in a book. You'd have to go back and ask a professor at your university, or ask them to inquire within the academic community...

Sighing, Shen Le found the smallest vacuum cleaner, the kind used in museums to clean silk products and suck up the porcelain dust bit by bit. He put it in a special box, labeled it, and sealed it.

After finishing everything, I held the box, slowly channeling my spiritual energy into it, trying to sense its fluctuations. "You don't want to be fixed? Then say so!"

We can communicate any ideas you have, and I will try my best to meet any needs you may have!

Why did you have to show me BOOM all of a sudden?!
Shen Le's spiritual power slowly traveled through the porcelain powder, soaking, covering, selecting, and sensing it.

After a long, long time, just when he thought the porcelain chicken had completely self-destructed and its spirit had vanished, a small glimmer of light rose in his meditative world:

"Oh, it's a little rooster!"

A pair of small, still somewhat rough hands cradled a fluffy little chick. They held it high, facing the sun, unable to get enough of looking at it.
"It's so beautiful! Mom, look, there's a bright red feather on its tail!"

"Mmm, red feathers, red feathers," the woman replied absentmindedly, her hands moving rapidly as she chopped up rotten vegetable leaves.

"Then you can raise these chicks. — Don't just look at them, put them in the grass nest, or they'll freeze to death!"

The little red-feathered rooster received special favor from its young mistress. While the other chicks ate chopped grass, the little girl would always bring back a few worms for it whenever she went out, and secretly feed them to it.

When the chicks grew a little bigger, the hen would be kept to lay eggs, while the rooster would be caught, killed, or sold. The little girl would then protect the little rooster.
"Don't catch Little Red this time! Catch another chicken! It's so pretty!"

Protected and pampered like this, by the time the red-tailed rooster was six months old, it was already quite large, almost the same size as the leader of the flock. At this point, even the lady of the house couldn't bear to kill it.

"Little Red can be used for breeding!"

To breed, to guard the flock, to watch over the hens. To defeat generations of young roosters, to defeat the roosters of other families, to become the rooster king of the family, and even the entire village—

Days passed by, seemingly forever. However, one day, the mistress, sharpening her knife, called to her now-grown daughter:

"Go, catch Xiao Hong."

"Why?" The girl, already standing tall and graceful, reflexively took a step back, taken aback.
"Isn't Xiaohong doing just fine?"

"It's been five years since we got it." The mother sighed.
"There's an old saying, 'Chickens live to six, dogs to eight, cats to ten.' You can't raise chickens for more than six years, or they'll turn into monsters and bring misfortune to their owners. Go and catch Little Red—"

"Ouch, my stomach hurts!" The girl clutched her stomach and turned to run. Reaching the chicken coop, she suddenly tripped and fell. When she got up, the rope binding her little red paws had been untied.
"Run!" she whispered, assuming no one in the house could hear her.
"Run! If you don't run, your mother will kill you!"

As he spoke, he scrambled to his feet and ran outside, staggering and waving his arms. The red-feathered rooster, startled, spread its wings, crowed loudly, and flew away, quickly disappearing from sight.

It vanished into the wilderness without a trace, and no one bothered to search the mountains for a chicken. Until the young woman married, had children, and the peaceful days passed, perhaps she could have lived out her quiet and uneventful life like that…

Soldiers broke down the gate.

"Help!"

Amidst the flashing blades and screams, the no-longer-young woman, clutching her two children, cried out in despair:
"Help--"

Suddenly, a streak of colorful light swept by like a whirlwind. A rooster, easily half a person's height with wings like brocade, flew in, scratching, pecking, flapping, and hitting, stirring up a chorus of screams among the chaotic soldiers in moments:
"A monster!"

Soon after, reinforcements arrived. The rooster came and went silently, disappearing once more into the wilderness. However, its existence had been recorded by the locals, and many, many years later, it was added to the sword sect's demon-hunting list…

"Ah this..."

Shen Le was embarrassed. He held the box, unsure how to communicate with the chicken demon's remnant spirit.
"Well, the Taoist priest who took you in back then should have passed away by now... Or do you want me to beat up his disciples and their followers?"

(End of this chapter)