The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 634 I broke the sound barrier with a porcelain sword?
"Oh, we can explain that..."

Master Qingyue was covered in sweat. He led Shen Le to the storeroom where the Taoist temple's books were kept, and with great effort, he stood on tiptoe to lift a thick stack of dusty handwritten copies from the shelf, flipping through them one by one.

"This is a record from the villagers of Ligou, reporting the discovery of a chicken demon..."

"This is a record from the villagers of Dahe Village, reporting that a chicken demon is blocking their way and requesting assistance from a nearby Taoist temple to subdue it..."

"These are the reports from the villagers of Sandaoguai, detailing how a chicken demon entered the village in broad daylight and pecked at the villagers..."

"Upon investigation, the injured man, Li Ergou, was a former bandit who wreaked havoc in the area... The chicken demon came seeking revenge but did not harm anyone else. Li Ergou's wife and daughter were unharmed..."

Lines of ink, varying in shade, reveal traces of the past hundreds of years on the fragile, even somewhat moldy, yellow paper.

While complaining, "Such a big sword sect, not to mention it doesn't have a storage system like jade slips, the library doesn't even have consistent waterproof, insect-proof, and fireproof spells," Shen Le leaned over to look.

Master Qingyue sighed:

"Although many things are not the fault of this chicken demon, we are, after all, human beings... We cannot allow demons to run rampant. At the very least, we must take it away from the villagers' living area."

We took it to the back of the mountain. It tried to escape several times, but we caught it each time... Later, it became restless, so we had no choice but to lock it in the tower..."

Shen Le didn't know how to judge it. From the chicken demon's perspective, the chicken demon was innocent and hadn't harmed anyone other than its enemies;

From a human perspective, the lives of the people have indeed been disrupted, and it seems only natural for the Taoist priests to protect the people under their jurisdiction.

If it were him, he would probably try to find a larger venue to capture the chicken demon and provide it with a larger space to move around, so as to prevent it from dying of depression.

"I'll go and talk to it again..." In the end, he could only helplessly shrug.
"By the way, none of the monsters you've captured are innocent, are they?"

Master Qingyue dared not respond to this. Since he joined the sect, based on what he had seen and heard, there should have been no indiscriminate arrest of innocent demons—the Special Affairs Bureau wasn't just sitting idly by;
However, he truly couldn't guarantee anything about events before liberation, or even hundreds of years ago. Even records from his sect couldn't guarantee anything.

What if the person who wrote the record distorted the facts?
Even without distorting the facts, what if the person who wrote the record and the monster who was captured and killed saw two sides of the same story?
"In short, this Demon-Sealing Tower and everything within it are entirely at your disposal. You can repair it all, burn it, electrocute it, or purify it—it's all up to you!"

He hurriedly took his leave to trouble himself with controlling the flying sword. Shen Le was left alone, clutching the pile of ashes, slowly communicating:
"So what do you want? Several hundred years have passed now. Those who captured you back then are all dead, and their disciples and descendants have died for generations..."

"Should I call over your current disciples so you can beat them up?...No way?"

"You want to go take a look at where your original owner lived? To see her grave? Ah... I can take you there, but after all these years, I can't guarantee we'll find the grave..."

Shen Le repeatedly confirmed the location, checked the map repeatedly, and even verified the satellite map repeatedly before finally setting off with the small box of porcelain powder.

The first possible location is not it; the second is also not it; the third, the fourth...

"Do you even know this place?" Shen Le finally snapped.
"You've lived here for over a hundred years, right? If not over a hundred years, then at least several decades, right? How come you can't even find the village where the original owner lived?"

Even if the place name changes and the village is dismantled, the mountains and rivers will still be there, right?

[It's different...it's different...] The vibrations coming from inside the box were weak and intermittent:
Many more roads have been built... many more bridges... many mountains have been leveled and tunneled through... they look different now... these things didn't exist before...

Shen Le felt despair at this point. Feudal society was one thing, but its productivity was limited, and it didn't significantly alter the landscape.

The problem is that with the advent of modern technology, mountains are being cleaved, roads and bridges are being built, and half a mountaintop is being leveled or a series of tunnels are being dug.

As for filling in lakes and straightening rivers to build highways and railways, that's no big deal...

Fortunately, the little guys around me were very helpful. I don't know how the clay figurines communicated with the porcelain chicken, but after some exchange, they confidently concluded:
Come with us! No, we'll lead you there; we'll definitely get you there, and we won't take any detours!

Shen Le: "..."

Even if you want me to go with you, I won't ride in a sedan chair! Let me go! I'd rather sit on a carrying pole than use any other means of transportation!

With the help of the clay figurines to guide him, Shen Le finally arrived at the correct destination after traversing mountains and crossing the earth's veins twice.

Lifting the lid, the porcelain powder inside floated in the wind, flying out on its own and circling three times among the overgrown weeds. Then, it quietly coalesced, transforming into a rooster more than half a person's height with a wingspan exceeding two meters.
"Oh oh oh-"

It flapped its wings, held its head high, and cried out freely. With that cry, the entire wasteland brightened, as if sunlight had suddenly gathered.
The second cry caused the grass and trees to rustle, and countless snakes, insects, and centipedes fled in panic, some even crawling past Shen Le's feet.
The third cry caused the flat wasteland to bulge slightly. Shen Le's face instantly darkened. He rushed over and slapped his hand:
"Enough! Do you think you can wake your master up? She's been dead for hundreds of years! Even if she were to wake up, she'd just be a skeleton!"

With a single tap, the rooster shape outlined in porcelain powder quickly vanished, falling with a rustling sound. After a pause, a gentle breeze stirred, and the rooster automatically returned to the box, snapping the lid shut with a "click."

Shen Le picked up the box and looked at it. The flat surface of the porcelain powder was perfectly aligned with the lines he had drawn earlier, not a single bit less...

"Is this alright? Have I taken you back? — Do you want me to recast you? Or do you just want to give up and abandon your spirit?"

Shen Le tried hard to communicate with the porcelain fans. After a while, she finally received a vague response:

"Don't make a sound... let me sleep... we'll talk after I've had enough sleep..."

Ah, alright then. He returned to the Taoist temple and stuffed the porcelain powder into the porcelain pagoda fragments. This time, it didn't provoke any resistance, probably because the chicken demon's obsession had disappeared or gone numb.

Shen Lesong took a deep breath, rubbed his hands together, and selected a small yellow dog porcelain sculpture to begin its careful restoration:
The porcelain dog and the porcelain chicken are about the same size and are similarly broken, so in short, they are not difficult to repair.

The only difference was that when the yellow dog porcelain sculpture was completely restored, with a fierce bark, a phantom rose from inside the porcelain sculpture and pounced straight at Shen Le, its canine teeth bared!

"roll!"

Shen Le shouted. Having gone through the process of repairing the porcelain chicken, he had already taken precautions and prepared for the dog demon's attack.

At this moment, the magic moved as it pleased, and an iron plate immediately stood up in front of them, blocking the dog demon's attack route;
Wait a minute! In front of the iron plate, countless fireballs floated like a curtain, radiating immense threat. Take one step forward, and you're dead!

At the same time, the wick of the small oil lamp flickered. A bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, multiplying into two, then four, then eight, weaving into a dense electric net that surrounded the dog demon.

Even though porcelain is not conductive, this electric grid carrying the power of heavenly tribulation can directly harm the spirituality of the porcelain dog!
Shen Le's immediate goal wasn't to cause harm; he only wanted to intimidate and then communicate. However, an unexpected force intervened in this confrontation:

"Cock-a-doodle-doo—" The porcelain powder in the box suddenly condensed. The porcelain chicken stood still, puffed out its chest, raised its comb and tail feathers, and let out a loud crow.

This time, the room's lighting, walls, and even the little creatures scattered throughout the room remained unaffected.

Only the porcelain dog that pounced froze abruptly, then trembled, shook, cracked, and became thinner...

With a whoosh, it shrank back into the porcelain sculpture and disappeared.

The entire porcelain sculpture was quiet and still, like an ordinary item just bought from a store, with no hint of anything strange about it.

Shen Le: "..."

So, Chicken Demon, your status in the Porcelain Tower isn't that of a prisoner, but rather a jailer?

No wonder it looks so lifeless. If it were me, after working for hundreds of years, and finally the porcelain tower broke and was buried, and the mission was over, I wouldn't want to be dragged up to work again...

He thought for a moment, then picked up the porcelain dog sculpture and summoned the power of fire once more, giving the porcelain dog a thorough "wash" from head to toe, inside and out.

After "washing" it, he took out the Five Thunder Peach Wood Sword, touched it on the porcelain dog, and did it again. As far as the eye could see, the porcelain dog was not different at all, it just looked a little brighter and cleaner;
However, within the meditative field of vision, wisps of black energy continuously escaped, only to be burned to ashes. Cries of agony, screams of agony, and pleas for mercy echoed endlessly until they vanished completely.

Finally, Shen Le held the porcelain dog in her palm, feeling its gentle warmth and the small ball of pure white spirit within, and smiled with satisfaction.

This is fine!

It's completely repaired, and the malice of that porcelain dog has been washed away; it will never cause trouble again!
Bingo!

Shen Le happily channeled a large amount of heat into the porcelain rooster, regardless of whether it could accept it or "eat" it; in short, she wanted to quickly give it a good boost.

Then, he picked out all the porcelain sculptures that he felt were not right, that he felt repulsed by, and that were placed together with the porcelain pagoda. He put them aside and asked Master Qingyue for a sealed box, which was covered with sealing formations.
He rolled up his sleeves and began to refine each component of the porcelain tower, piece by piece. First, he used flames, then the Five Thunder Peach Wood Sword, and finally the little oil lamp.

Wisps of black energy gurgled up from the base of the tower, from the body of the tower, and from the porcelain swords inside the tower, only to be burned away by flames and lightning.

Shen Le gradually became aware that there were also energy pathways similar to seals inside this porcelain tower:

Though subtle, though weathered and faded by time, it can still be sensed. Buried within the tower's foundation, in the walls, the floor, and the ceiling, and especially within each porcelain sword:

"How exactly is this porcelain tower made...?"

Shen Le muttered to himself. Large pieces exceeding two meters in length are extremely rare in ancient porcelain, and even rarer the further back in time one goes.

Moreover, the internal structure of this porcelain tower is quite complex, containing many models of what appear to be sealed monsters, as well as many porcelain swords that seem to be used for suppression...

Is it possible that the parts are first shaped, then fired piece by piece, and finally sintered together to form the final shape?

This practice is not uncommon. In fact, many porcelain pieces have undergone multiple firings. For example, the large vase with various glazes from the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty has as many as seventeen layers of glazes from top to bottom. Obviously, it took countless firings to produce a finished product from a large number of failed attempts.

However, the failure rate of this firing method is alarmingly high. If the monster is first sealed into the porcelain clay, fired into a porcelain doll, and then sent back in for a second firing, it seems that the porcelain doll cannot withstand such a process...

Not only are the porcelain figurines unable to withstand the strain, but even the current tower structure is starting to show signs of wear and tear.

Shen Le diligently refined and purified the porcelain tower with lightning and fire, carefully controlling the intensity of the lightning and fire as it rolled little by little across the tower's surface. Suddenly, he heard a "crack" sound.
broken!

Won't he burn it to pieces?

He held his breath, half-lying on the ground, trying to see inside. It hadn't exploded, but it was already teetering on the brink of collapse.
A porcelain sword, standing on the ceiling with its tip half-embedded in the floor, has a large horizontal crack starting from where it touches the floor.

In the short time Shen Le glanced at it, the crack continued to extend, cutting deeper into the porcelain sword. Then, with a crack, the entire sword slowly fell to the ground…

Leaning against another porcelain sword, Shen Le then witnessed what dominoes were all about.

"This thing is beyond repair!"

He carefully put away the porcelain sword, then went out to eat in a huff, grumbling all the while.

Lu Zicheng listened to his story with a gentle smile. Li Xingtang turned his helmet around to face him. The helmet was dark underneath, and since there was no face, his expression was even more unreadable.

As for Daoist Qingyue, his expression was even more distressed than his...

"How's it going, Daoist Master?" He looked like he wanted to tell me something unpleasant to cheer me up, which made Li Xingtang unable to resist nudging him.

Master Qingyue became increasingly depressed:

"Sigh, I'm so close, but I just don't understand... Sword Qi Thunder Sound, when will I be able to break through..."

"what?"

Shen Le poked his head out. This word... well, he seemed to have heard it before in the illusion, yet he also seemed not to. He'd seen it several times in novels, but he didn't know its meaning among sword cultivators...

"It's an advanced sword-flying technique. When you push your flying sword to extremely high speed, it can produce a huge sonic boom. Of course, it requires very high-quality sword material and a specific sword-flying technique—"

"Isn't that breaking the sound barrier?"

Shen Le blurted out. Master Qingyue smiled wryly:
"Yes. Now airplanes and missiles can fly at supersonic speeds, but here, the method of sword energy and thunderous sound has been lost. We are also very anxious!"

Shen Le: "..."

Good idea, I'll try it out sometime. I wonder if those porcelain swords in the porcelain tower could be used to break the sound barrier?

(End of this chapter)