The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 644 We are on the Taihang Mountains

Shen Le, carrying the porcelain bottle (X) and the ancient porcelain kiln specialized search dog (√), headed straight for Hebei. The majestic Taihang Mountains, with their winding paths, guided him as he plunged into the mountains. When he emerged, he was completely bewildered:
Where am I?

Before me stood towering mountains, their verdant peaks undulating and stretching to the horizon. These mountains, each one majestic and imposing, were far more worthy of being called mountains than the gentle hills of the Jiangnan region.

Covered in thick greenery, these mountains possess a richer and more abundant natural endowment than the Kunlun, Tianshan, and Altai Mountains in the northwest, and have received more nourishment.

Even their shapes are not steep. Many of the peaks rise straight up from the bottom, forming a huge, almost square plateau, from which pointed peaks continue to be built.

The sheer size and solidity of the mountain make it seem incredibly massive and imposing, suggesting that lifting or moving it would require far more effort than moving a steep mountain like Mount Hua…

Even more astonishing is that within the mountain range, there are many straight cliffs, huge rectangular sections that go straight up and down, with bare, almost barren rock between the top plateau and the lower slope.

At this moment, Shen Le stood there, gazing up at the cliff face and at the path at its foot—a path that looked like a line or ribbon, or perhaps a road—lost in thought.

"So, how many kilometers away am I from my destination? How do I get there?"

He did go to the Taihang Mountains, but the Taihang Mountains are not a single mountain; they are a mountain range!
It stretches from Badaling in the north to the Yellow River in the south, separating the entire Hebei and Shanxi provinces. It is about 500 kilometers long and 40-50 kilometers wide.

There are eight major passes that can traverse the mountains, known as the "Eight Passes of Taihang"!
"High mountains and dense forests, strong soldiers and powerful horses"—this is no exaggeration! Countless guerrilla units could hide in this mountain range, driving the Japanese devils to their doom!
Well, that's assuming the army is moving around inside. Now, if it's Shen Le alone, guided by the ley lines, plunging headlong into the mountains, he's completely dumbfounded:
The ley line teleportation only takes him to the Taihang Mountains, regardless of exactly where within the mountains he intends to go. Basically, without a specific direction, ley line teleportation will take him to the area within the mountain range where the earth's energy is densest.

"Let me see where I am... how far am I from Xingtai... damn it, they've dumped me in Wutai Mountain! I'm still more than 300 kilometers away from Xingtai!"

This cannot be blamed on the Taihang Mountains or the copper sheet. Ultimately, Wutai Mountain is the highest peak and main peak of the Taihang Mountains, and is undoubtedly the place with the thickest earth energy.

Shen Le didn't choose a good landing point and used a vague teleportation. It was already very kind of them not to throw him into the middle of a cliff, not to mention that they even put him on the main peak!

"Alright... now, I'll have to find a way to get through these 300-plus kilometers myself..."

And that's over 300 kilometers as the crow flies... not even the distance you can drive there...

By the way, if Shen Le wanted to drive there, he first needed to contact the local special affairs bureau to have them pick him up, and secondly, he needed to find a way down the mountain so that he could at least get himself to the side of the road.

Even the kind of road that connects every village must be a road, not a hillside that only outdoor enthusiasts or even rock climbers can climb!

Shen Le sighed, found a slightly flat, gentle slope, and sat down cross-legged, preparing to sense his surroundings so he could teleport one more time. Suddenly, a soft chuckle rang out, and a silver ball of light leaped out, circling him once.
"Shen Le! Are you lost? Do you want me to help you find your way? I'll go look around for the telephone poles, it'll be quick!"

"Qingdeng...you should come back. I'll meditate for a bit and then leave, it'll be quick..."

Shen Le waved to the ball of light with a headache. Looking around, there wasn't even a telephone pole or power tower in sight. It was easy to imagine that the little oil lamp would have to climb at least one or two hills to find its target.

Then what? He called the Special Affairs Bureau again to confirm the location, flew to the telephone pole, found the road and flew down to ask the Special Affairs Bureau to send a car to pick him up.

He's not incapable of ley line teleportation, so why bother?

"Sigh... With new faces, they forget the old ones. With other methods, they forget the days when I had to run across several mountains and dozens of miles, searching for telephone poles everywhere..."

The little oil lamp whirred and groaned. Shen Le's forehead veins throbbed with embarrassment. He raised his hand and slapped it against the outside of his backpack.

"Stop joking! Come back here, we're getting ready to go! Hold on tight, let's go—"

This time, Shen Le took out road maps, satellite maps, and tourist maps, compared them back and forth, and carefully memorized them until he could firmly remember the locations of the large and small peaks of the Taihang Mountains.

Only then did he close his eyes and slowly communicate with the copper sheet, communicating with each tiny point of light on the copper sheet:

"Xiong'er Mountain, Hengshan Mountain, Wutai Mountain, Yuntai Mountain, Sendai Mountain... Shahe River, Cihe River, Hutuo River... Found it! This is it!"

His whole body sank down, and a row of clay figurines appeared in front, behind, left, and right, carrying him into the earth.

His destination is between XT City and Shijiazhuang City, accessible from Jingxing Mountain, following the Hutuo River westward. Therefore, once he finds the corresponding mountains and rivers, he can simply teleport there!

The earth's veins surged and churned, enveloping and propelling Shen Le forward. When the light returned, Shen Le stood on the hillside, shading his eyes with his hand, squinting at the sunlight, and felt a sudden sense of exhilaration.
Confucius once climbed Mount Tai and felt the world looked small from its summit; Du Fu, standing atop Mount Tai, exclaimed, "Looking down upon all the mountains, I see them all as small." Now, Shen Le stands on the mountain, looking eastward, and sees a vast, flat plain stretching out before him.

The majestic Taihang Mountains separate two provinces. To the west lies a range of peaks, forty to fifty kilometers wide;

To the east lies the North China Plain, where it is now early summer. Waves of wheat ripple across the vast expanse of emerald green land, stretching to the horizon.

The highway, like a ribbon, winds its way out of the mountains, weaving a network in all directions; the Hutuo River, shimmering with silver light, flows out of the mountains, rushing forward all the way.

Separating the two banks, yet irrigating both, the Hutuo River, from the wheat porridge of the Eastern Han Dynasty, has flowed all the way to Baiyangdian, where the Eighth Route Army fought against Japan, nurturing countless people on both sides of the strait generation after generation…

He strained his eyes, trying to discern the terrain and the approximate location of the kiln. In ancient times, setting up a kiln for firing porcelain wasn't just about choosing any random spot; there were specific rules:
Most importantly, it must be close to the porcelain clay production area. For example, the Jingdezhen kiln complex is close to Gaoling Village, which produces a large amount of kaolin clay.

For example, Longquan kiln is located near the origin of its unique "purple gold clay";

For example, Xing Kiln was located near its unique porcelain clay production area.

Secondly, both washing the porcelain clay and transporting the porcelain depend on water. Water transport requires a large and steady current, while washing the porcelain clay requires a less powerful but exceptionally clean and pure water flow. Thirdly, the kiln needs to be surrounded by firewood to ensure a sufficient supply of fuel for firing.

Suitable terrain is required. For example, the dragon kilns in Jingdezhen must be built against mountains to utilize the natural slope and create suction wind...

Therefore, this area, nestled against the mountains and beside the water, close to the river, and with the gentle slopes and hills of the Taihang Mountains, is the preferred location for the Xing Kiln site.

The terrain slopes from west to east, crisscrossed by rivers, with gullies and embankments everywhere, creating a landscape of mountains and water. This provides ample opportunities to cultivate porcelain clay, and the banks of the Liyang River and Zhi River also offer sufficient clear water for washing the clay.

Archaeological departments have conducted numerous excavations on this land, uncovering 26 kiln sites dating from the Northern Dynasties through the Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, and Song and Yuan Dynasties...

“There’s only one kiln site from the Northern Qi and Northern Zhou dynasties…” Shen Le frowned as he scrolled through the list of kiln site information on his phone.

The vast majority of these kiln sites date from the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties period, or even later. Finding one from the Sui Dynasty is already quite rare.

The only one from the Northern Qi and Northern Zhou periods is not difficult to see:

The local government attaches great importance to this kiln site, having secured a total of 2840 million yuan in national cultural relic protection funds to build a site museum and implement on-site protection.

The problem, Shen Le intuitively felt, was that this kiln site, exposed to the eyes of ordinary people for many years, had been built into a science education base, with tourists and students coming to visit every few days.

No matter how much spiritual energy it has, it's probably all dissipated and can no longer provide feedback!

"Forget it, I'll go down the mountain and check it out first." Shen Le switched to the map interface, turned around to get a feel for the direction, and then teleported down. One trip, two trips later, he finally emerged from the mountainside, intending to call a ride-hailing service.

Just as he selected a location on his phone, before he could even press the "confirm" button, his backpack suddenly started bobbing violently. Shen Le shrugged, shook his backpack, and then patted it with his other hand:

"Qingdeng, let's be quiet for a moment..."

"It wasn't me!" the little oil lamp cried out, sounding aggrieved.

[It wasn't me! I didn't do anything! It was that bottle! The bottle was rolling!]

Ah, this... a Xing kiln porcelain vase?
What did this specialized search dog for ancient porcelain kilns sense?

Shen Le quickly walked a few steps, chose an exceptionally flat and soft patch of mud, took off his backpack, and took out a porcelain bottle, placing it on the ground. As soon as he put it down, the bottle impatiently poured out its contents, rolling around wildly in a northeast direction.

Shen Le couldn't help but sigh:
Oh no! That one roll on the ground and the once pristine, silvery-white porcelain bottle is now filthy beyond recognition—hey, don't roll down there! There's a rocky slope below!!!

He snatched the porcelain bottle up as if he were grabbing it, and held it tightly in his hand. The bottle was still restless, throbbing and struggling to break free from his grasp. If it weren't for the flared mouth of the bottle wedging into his hand, it would have almost slipped away.

Shen Le, his mind a mess, quickly found a sponge to wrap it up, then wrapped it several layers with bubble wrap, and finally secured it tightly with packing tape. Only then did he reach out and poke the bottle opening, whispering:

"Are you going that way? If you are, jump; if you're not, just lie down—"

The porcelain vase leaped up with all its might. In an instant, the body of the vase seemed to bend slightly, changing from a perfectly symmetrical streamlined shape to one that was concave in the front and convex in the back.

The bottle, which was about half a foot tall, jumped a full foot and crashed headfirst into Shen Le's knee!
"If I took an arrow to the knee, wouldn't I be able to help you find a porcelain kiln?... Alright, alright, let's go right away." Shen Le smiled wryly, quickly grabbed the porcelain bottle, and stuffed it back into his backpack.

To soothe it, I had to wear my backpack backwards, one hand inside, constantly holding the porcelain bottle; I looked left and right, making sure there was no one around and no drone happened to be flying by, then I closed my eyes slightly, communicating with the earth—

The earth undulated beneath my feet like waves. Ordinary people cannot see these fluctuations, nor can they feel any tremors; even the instruments of the seismological bureau cannot measure them.
However, an unseen force propelled Shen Le forward rapidly, following the direction indicated by the porcelain bottle. It was as if Shen Le had stirred the entire earth, pulling it backward while he remained in place.

It's like that force that can't move the earth, but the reaction force acts on him, lifting and pulling him forward.

Ten meters per step, twenty meters per step, then one hundred meters per step—Shen Le felt weightless and effortless, barely touching the ground as he moved swiftly forward.
It swept across fields, over gentle slopes, and even brushed past ponds. The porcelain vase maintained its original direction, steadfastly pointing forward, unmoved.
After speeding for one mile, two miles, five miles, ten miles, suddenly, Shen Le slammed on the brakes and fell flat on his face:
"oops!"

Just now, a person slowly walked up the opposite slope!

I almost saw him!
If this were to be seen, wouldn't it create another urban legend, increasing the workload for the local special affairs bureau?
Shen Le waited anxiously for a while, making sure he hadn't disturbed anyone before slowly getting up. After thinking for a moment, he found a secluded spot, slowly sank into the ground, and began his earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of escaping technique).
You can't see me now that I'm underground!
After many stumbles and falls, just as night was about to fall, we finally stood on a flat, unremarkable patch of yellow earth, surrounded by fields.

The porcelain bottle was extremely agitated, jumping and struggling desperately in Shen Le's hands. As soon as Shen Le put it down, he saw it leap high into the air and then crash down with tremendous force.

boom!
boom!
boom!
"What are you doing?" Even though it was wrapped in several layers of clothing, Shen Le was afraid it would smash him to pieces by jumping around like that, so he had to reach out and scoop it up.
"Where are you going? Underground? Below this surface?"

The porcelain vase tilted repeatedly, as if its body was frozen in place, unable to nod, and could only bow in its place. Shen Le sighed:
"Okay, let me think about what to do next. Should I use earth magic first, or have someone dig it open, or something? Wait, what's that over there?"

Looking around, at the edge of the loess land, amidst the tall grass, there seemed to be something stuck up.

Shen Le quickly walked over and took a look, then was speechless:

On the edge of this unremarkable patch of yellow earth, resembling a clearing between vegetable fields, stands a neatly arranged black plaque. It lists the date, content, the organization that erected the plaque, and most importantly, that it is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit…

"Ping'er, this porcelain kiln has already been found and excavated," Shen Le advised gently.
"Let's choose the one that hasn't been unearthed yet to guide us..."

(End of this chapter)