The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 650 Do you want revenge? — "Immortal Master!"

Changing careers is impossible; it's impossible for me to change careers in this lifetime.

Besides, Shen Le isn't good at repairing porcelain—to be honest, he's only good at cheating. His mentor trained him, surely he wouldn't end up being a cheating monster?

Therefore, Shen Le resolutely refused to agree, only bowing and scraping to Professor Zhang, smiling obsequiously, her attitude impeccable, but she just wouldn't utter a word.

After a while, Professor Zhang could only sigh, shake his head with a smile, and lean closer to look at the porcelain figurine that Shen Le had pieced together:
"The hem of the garment is translucent, forming... a specific shape? What exactly is that shape? I need to find a flashlight to shine on it... There are writings on the back, it's a person's name... What is this porcelain figurine for?"

Shen Le stepped forward, cupped the porcelain figurine in both hands, and tilted it to indicate to Professor Zhang that the figurine's feet were visible. Professor Zhang was sweating profusely.
"Don't touch it! Don't touch it! This AB glue isn't completely dry yet!"

He shouted as he rushed over and lay down to look. Shen Le smiled:
"It's alright, Professor. You see me holding it with my hands, but I'm actually using superpowers. Every single piece of porcelain is supported; it definitely won't fall apart—"

Yes, the warmth from my palm flows freely to every part of it, circles around, and then flows back. Therefore, I have full confidence that it will absolutely not dissipate!
Even with such assurances, Professor Zhang, at the fastest speed he had ever been, lay down to take a close look, then quickly jumped up, signaling Shen Le to put the porcelain figurine back in its place.

Her movements were so agile, almost equivalent to performing a prone position during military training, followed by a burpee, that it made one very worried about the old lady's cardiopulmonary function.

She stared intently at the porcelain figurine until it stood upright again and didn't fall apart, then she breathed a sigh of relief, her brows furrowing as she muttered to herself:
“Suppressing Yin Soldiers, Locking the Yellow Springs… Let me think if any other artifacts have inscriptions like these… Bronze ware doesn’t have them… Tang tri-colored pottery doesn’t have them… Stone figurines don’t have them either… Hmm…”

Her face clearly said, "So what is this thing for?" She reached into her pockets and trouser pockets, seemingly trying to find the powerful flashlight.

Shen Le sighed and said softly:

"The translucent parts of the robes on these porcelain figurines, when projected onto the ground, form the Big Dipper pattern... They are soul-suppressing figurines, used to suppress the remains of the Eastern Wei royal family beneath the Zhang River..."

"how do you know?"

The old professor glanced at Shen Le suspiciously, turned off his phone's video recording function, and quickly searched on Baidu for the name on the back of the porcelain figurine. Shen Le smiled wryly:
"Would you believe me if I said I heard their memories, heard their past experiences before they were smashed?"

"Believe it or not, you can't publish a paper on this... unless you can make them talk."

The old professor sighed. In fact, the excavation was already fraught with difficulties. The process of digging out these porcelain shards, cleaning, photographing, recording, and numbering them one by one, was completely missing.

Oh right, there was no process of sorting and assembling the porcelain figurines, but that doesn't matter. At worst, we can dissolve the AB glue in acetone and assemble them again, or go and assemble dozens of other piles of porcelain pieces...

Shen Le smiled helplessly and shrugged. He truly couldn't get porcelain to speak; even if it did, a paper that could be published in the Special Affairs Bureau's internal publications couldn't be published in an academic journal—

As a top-two university in Tokyo, even publishing it in the school magazine is unacceptable; the teachers still have some pride...

"Alright, teacher, please sit in the house for a while. I think I've found a way to help them pass on. After I'm done, I'll hand over the porcelain shards."

Shen Le smiled and pushed her to sit down. He then directed the women in their skirts to bring out the assembled porcelain figurines and follow him outside.

Turning around, Professor Zhang followed closely behind, determined not to stray too far from the porcelain figurines and broken pieces of porcelain.

Helpless, Shen Le could only remind her again to stay inside the lightning circle and not to step out, then rolled up his sleeves and started working:
He instructed the women to move the assembled porcelain figurines to the center of the sorted piles of broken porcelain shards, carefully placing them to prevent the figurines from tilting or falling over.

Then, after dismissing everyone (?), he rummaged through the pile of broken porcelain, picking out a few pieces:
"Eyes...nose...ears...this is the cheek,this is the lips..."

He quickly applied glue and pieced the pieces together. Soon, a roughly complete human face appeared at the very top of the pile of porcelain.

Before long, all the piles of broken porcelain were topped with a shattered human face. When the first face appeared, the piles of porcelain looked somewhat postmodern, like a solo exhibition by some student from the neighboring art academy;

When the seventh and eighth faces were pieced together, a faint black mist rose from the faces and the pile of porcelain, staining the entire smooth and white pile of porcelain with a layer of blackish-gray.
By the time the faces were pieced together on top of almost all the porcelain piles, the porcelain faces were almost completely black, and from the cracked eyes and cheeks, it seemed that drops of dark red were seeping through and flowing down in streams.

Above the forty or fifty piles of broken porcelain, black mist rose and swirled, almost forming a continuous expanse. It swayed and churned, completely obscuring Shen Le's figure as he moved through the air. From a distance, it was exceptionally eerie.
"Shen Le, be careful..."

Even Teacher Zhang was a little unsettled. Sitting in the lightning circle, he would glance at it, turn his head to calm himself down, glance at it again, and turn his head again.
"If it doesn't work, we'll retreat! Let the specialized departments handle the specialized tasks! Our safety is our top priority!"

Is it possible that I am from the professional department, and even more professional than this guy on site who only knows how to use the equipment...?

Shen Le turned back and waved reassuringly to the old professor. He was joking; he'd finally found a way to draw out the resentment within these porcelain figurines, and now it was time to intensify the effort.

At this point, if he doesn't go himself, is he supposed to wait for that special affairs bureau guy to transfer a high-powered exorcism device from some unknown superior department?

It's been ages!

Shen Le composed himself and sat cross-legged in front of the already assembled porcelain figurine. He first placed his hand on the figurine.
"Do me a favor... help me communicate with your brothers and sisters, your compatriots who were burned in one batch, smashed in another, and buried together..."

Tell them that it's all in the past, that their enemy has been dead for a very, very long time, and that his bones have rotted away...

A surge of heat flowed into the porcelain figure. Gradually, a shimmering white light emanated from the figure and slowly spread outwards.

Outside, the special affairs bureau guy adjusted the direction of the exorcism device and turned the power to the maximum. The casing of the device was so hot to the touch.
Inside, Shen Le sat cross-legged, surrounded by a shimmering white halo, struggling against the black mist, trying to push the churning black mist outwards little by little and dissolve it bit by bit;
Within the lightning circle, Professor Zhang watched Shen Le's actions with concern for a while, then took out his phone and looked down to check information.

After a while, her lips twitched slightly. Reluctantly, she bought 10GB of data, opened the video, and turned the speakerphone up to the maximum.
"Gao Yang is dead! Northern Qi is also gone! Many dynasties after Northern Qi have fallen. This is the evidence. You can watch the documentary!"

The black mist suddenly condensed, letting out a sharp shriek, and rushed straight towards the defensive circle drawn by the lightning. Shen Le abruptly turned around:
"The Green Lamp!"

【Know! 】

A flash of lightning blocked the black mist outside the circle of light. Shen Le squinted for three seconds before finally relaxing.
Professor Zhang, you really know how to stir up hatred!
As an ordinary person, you are even bolder than a practitioner like me!
Before you speak to the wronged spirits and before you start broadcasting the message publicly, at least give us a heads-up so we can be prepared!

In any case, the video that Professor Zhang turned on was quite effective.

The black mist churned and howled outside the lightning defense circle, but after being burned countless times, it gradually quieted down.

It, or perhaps they, peered through the electric fence at the phone screen, greedily and hungrily watching the images.

As you watch, a sharp whistle pierces the air, and a line of bloody tears flows down the porcelain figure's face, causing the black aura to thin slightly. After watching a few more scenes, the black aura thins even more.

Shen Le pressed his advantage, increasing the intensity of the heat flow. The shimmering white aura expanded rapidly, soon enveloping the four piles of broken porcelain closest to him.

Within the pile of broken porcelain, the black mist quietly dissipated, and the dark red water stains on the porcelain figure's face gradually faded and became transparent.

In a daze, it seemed as if translucent white smoke rose up, circled Shen Le three times, and then drifted away. Shen Le looked up at the rising smoke, smiled sincerely, and increased the intensity of his energy transmission even further.

Let's go, let's go quickly.

This is a great era now. You can take a good look around and explore, instead of dwelling on past tragedies and resentments...

With the heat output from Shen Le, the special affairs bureau's ritual instrument, and Professor Zhang's repeated playback of documentaries, progress was rapid.

As the sun gradually set in the west, the naturally rising mist from the mountains joined the mist that Shen Le had forcibly summoned, and when the mist walls were dyed golden-red by the setting sun, all the porcelain piles had turned pure white:

The black mist disappeared, the dark red water stains evaporated completely, and even the expression on the porcelain face looked much more peaceful and serene.

The special affairs officer pushed the measuring instrument around again, then breathed a sigh of relief.

"No problem. All done, all purified, completely clean!"

"Can we start assembling now?" Professor Zhang rushed out of the electric fence and quickly arrived at the pile of porcelain:
"If possible, I'll call them up and we'll start working tonight!"

"Uh...it's not like it's worth it to be one more night..."

Shen Le desperately tried to stop Professor Zhang, persuading him to go back to sleep and that they could do whatever they needed to do tomorrow. Watching him leave, she summoned her maids to carry the porcelain tower among the broken shards and place it steadily on the ground.

"Alright, this is the kiln site where you were born... or something like that? What do you need? What do you want to get from here? Can you get it yourself?"

The porcelain tower, roughly glued together with fish glue and which will definitely need to be glued again, or even many more times, emitted a clear, white light.

The white light fell on the porcelain figurine fragments, and those fragments, which had clearly seen the black mist dissipate and leave, seemed to be awakened once again.

Within the pile of porcelain, tiny specks of light rose and surged toward the porcelain tower.

Shen Le simply took a few steps back, sat down quietly, and watched the moonlight, like flowing silver, cover the surface of the porcelain tower, watching the light merge into the moonlight and then be absorbed into the porcelain tower:
"Keep it up, inhale more. Try to eat your fill tonight—starting tomorrow, these porcelain shards will be sent out to assemble porcelain figurines, so you probably won't be able to inhale as much as you want..."

Whether the porcelain tower heard Shen Le's instructions or understood them is unknown. In any case, it mustered all its strength and inhaled until the full moon began to set in the west, at which point the surrounding lights gradually thinned out and disappeared.

Shen Le tried supplying heat to it several times, and also to other ceramic piles, but to no avail. He could only regretfully conclude that:
Perhaps, maybe, possibly, all the benefits that could be squeezed out of these porcelain figurines have been squeezed out completely...

Now that things had come to this, even if he took the porcelain pagoda back to repair it, he wouldn't be able to get a full night's sleep. Shen Le simply stuffed the porcelain pagoda's bundle into the old house, sat down in front of it, and placed his hands on the pagoda:

"Come on... let me see. After all this trouble, you've finally found the porcelain kiln where you came from. Can you give me some new memories..."

Even a new instruction, or a new clue to further improve the completeness of the restoration, would be helpful.

The porcelain tower, having temporarily "eaten its fill," did not disappoint Shen Le.

A surge of heat flowed in, permeating the entire porcelain tower. The copper plate on its chest hummed softly, and an invisible wave enveloped the tower, continuing to spread outwards.

The surrounding area was covered with broken porcelain shards, all the excavated test pits, and the kilns buried deep beneath them...

"Grandpa Zhang!"

"Young Master Li!"

"Uncle Luo..."

The boy's tearful voice echoed around him. He struggled left and right, up and down. With each name he called out, the sob in his voice grew stronger, gradually turning into a whimper, then into a wail:

"why why!"

"Those soldiers kill without reason." The sound of heavy, slow footsteps crunching over broken porcelain came from beside me.

Equally heavy as the footsteps was the old man's voice, filled with sorrow:
"Young Master, let's go quickly. While they're temporarily gone and haven't thought to come back to search us—if they do search again, none of us will escape!"

"I can't leave! I must at least give them a proper burial!" the boy answered haltingly amidst his wailing. His cry turned into a sob.

"I...I'm going to save my father, my mother...I'm going to save my uncles and aunts...I'm going to get revenge..."

"Save yourself first!" the old man gasped, desperately trying to pull him away.
"Young Master, if you can't escape, the Lu family's skills will be lost, and the Lu family will truly be finished!"

Then came the sounds of struggling, dragging, and staggering as people walked on the porcelain shards.

Strangely, no matter where the boy went, the sound always seemed very close, as if the porcelain tower was held in the boy's arms and always close to his heart.
"You want to save people? You want revenge?"

Suddenly, a long howl pierced the air. It paused, circled twice, and landed directly, its clear, resonant sound breaking the silence:
"If you can burn a Soul-Suppressing Puppet, I'll help you get revenge!"

With a thud, his knees slammed into the ground, and the old man's voice was hoarse and strained.

"Immortal Master!"

(End of this chapter)