The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 655 Porcelain Tower, be quiet! Are you trying to blow up the alchemy furnace?!

"impossible!"

Don't count on it!

"No need to even think about it!"

"Once the inspection is passed tomorrow, we'll have the kiln master set up the kiln, and I'll personally add firewood for you, okay?!"

Under Shen Le's violent suppression, the porcelain tower finally quieted down and stopped shouting that it would be burned immediately.

Of course, the next morning, it passed the triple inspection of the kiln master, the pile master, and Professor Zhang.

Professor Zhang, in particular, not only climbed into the kiln to look inside, but also used a powerful flashlight to examine each layer, reached out and touched everything from top to bottom, and even used instruments to inspect the kiln.

Shen Le stared at the instrument, his face darkening.
"Professor, giving it an ultrasound won't do any good! It can't hatch into tiny porcelain babies... You can see whether there are missing bricks or if it's crooked at a glance!"

"Get out of the way!"

Professor Zhang waved his arms mercilessly. Shen Le obediently withdrew.

“Okay… okay…”

After all, Shen Le was just the financial backer; if Teacher Zhang allowed him to mess around like this, he would have to be responsible for the quality of the artifact restoration…

Professor Zhang inspected every nook and cranny, every brick seam, from top to bottom and inside to outside, wishing he could check them all.

Finally finding nothing more to investigate, he announced his withdrawal and, looking at Shen Le, even showed a rare smile. However, when he turned to his own student, his face immediately hardened:

"Look at your senior brother! Look at your senior brother! To do research, he can start from mixing clay and personally build the porcelain kiln!"

"If only you had this spirit of not being afraid of hardship or fatigue, and were willing to bend down and work, even if you couldn't find a job within the system, your teacher wouldn't worry about you!"

"Boss... is it possible that our senior colleague's work efficiency is beyond our capacity to keep up with...?"

"One kiln every two days! Even experienced masters can't handle that!"

"If I have to lay bricks by hand as a laborer, and I still have to lay bricks by hand after getting a master's degree, then what's the point of my master's degree...?"

The students groaned. Professor Zhang glared at them fiercely seven or eight times, then finally turned to Shen Le and waved his hand:

"I think everything's fine now. You can prepare for a relapse!"

"Thank you, Teacher Zhang!"

Shen Le rushed off. He spoke with the stake-holding master, but the master hesitated.
"Do we really want to burn it now?"

"Otherwise what?" Shen Le stared at him intently.
"You didn't stop me before!"

"Before, I..." Whether it was an experimental re-firing or firing a porcelain tower, I didn't expect a success rate. I didn't think your porcelain tower could be fired either; I was just playing around with you.

But now, seeing how determined you are to get it, I'm a little scared!

If the firing fails this time, are you going to smash the kiln and rebuild it by hand?
"It's like this, Mr. Shen. There's a saying about firing kilns: 'Seven months is death, eight months is life, and nine months is a turnaround.' That is to say, in July, the firewood is damp, and the kiln doesn't get enough air, so it's not suitable for firing. In September, the autumn air is crisp and clear..."

"Oh, I'll handle that." Shen Le listened patiently, then waved his hand confidently. It's just damp wood, I can just remove the moisture, no problem for me!

It's just a lack of airflow, I can summon wind and control vortexes!
"In short, you just need to show me the kiln firing process. You don't need to worry about the success rate!"

Well... alright then. The world is vast, but the sugar daddy is the biggest. Even if I have to do the work myself, it's still the sugar daddy who's paying for it.

The bricklayer carefully instructed Shen Le, who carried bricks, mixed mortar, and stirred the porcelain clay. He first placed the porcelain tower in the kiln, then, following each command, he added bricks and sealed the kiln.

The kiln door, which is 0.8 meters wide and 1.8 meters high, has a total area of ​​less than 2 square meters, but Shen Le spent most of the day sealing it up, not until evening.

The kiln isn't completely sealed; holes for feeding firewood, ventilation, and observation are left so the kiln workers can easily monitor the kiln's interior. The kiln master kept nagging beside him:

"Hold it secure! Hold it secure! If this kiln door collapses, it'll be a disaster!"

"The kiln door weighs a thousand pounds, but the kiln itself is only four ounces. The kiln door is the lifeblood of the kiln fire, and not a single detail can be overlooked!"

"Put on another layer of mud! Pour on another layer of mud! Don't worry about it being too thick. Once the fire is burning, the outer layer of mud will be too thin and won't be able to seal in the flames!"

The height of the firewood feeding hole, the thickness of the mud slurry, and even the construction method of the entire kiln door—everything has its own intricacies.

Shen Le was completely clueless about this, and could only follow commands and actions, sealing the kiln while trying to communicate with the porcelain tower inside:
Is this a valid way to seal it?

Do you think this is okay?
When you were burned out, was it me? Was the kiln door sealed like this?

I don't know either! I was just burned! I just wanted to feel comfortable while burning!

The porcelain tower stood there defiantly in disarray:
Once the fire is burning, I can tell you whether it's big or small. But if you ask about the kiln door, I didn't stick it on the side of the kiln door in the first place, so how would I know what it looks like?

"Okay... alright, what you said makes sense." Shen Le sighed helplessly, lowered his head and continued working, following the instructions of the pile-carving master to seal the kiln door in the shape of a strange smiling little man.

Stop for a moment, climb up and open the ignition hole above the firebox, then start the fire and add firewood.

Even though the kiln firing had just begun and the temperature inside was not high, the flames, which were seven or eight hundred degrees Celsius, were still spewing out huge amounts of hot air, making Shen Le sweat profusely.

Several junior students watched him working from afar, whispering among themselves:
"So the traditional method of firing kilns is really troublesome!"

"Yes, it uses a lot of fuel, has low thermal efficiency, and a high failure rate. Our current kiln firing method is much better. We directly use an electric furnace, control the furnace temperature and oxygen, and can fire whatever we want."

As long as the parameters are set correctly, nothing strange will happen!

"Exactly! Unless you absolutely have to go down the 'traditional kiln firing' route and use it as a gimmick to sell at a high price, who would bother with this!"

"Isn't it better to just ship the products steadily... We're just newbies, not masters. We're not qualified to create hype!"

"What are you talking about?" Professor Zhang's eerie voice suddenly came from behind them. The students jumped in fright.
"Boss! Reporting to the boss, we're saying that our research on porcelain firing is extremely important for modern industrial production!"

"It is indeed quite important." Professor Zhang glanced at them but didn't expose them. She moved slightly closer to the kiln, walked back and forth a couple of times, watching as white smoke gradually rose from the chimney and the fire intensified. Then she turned and said:
"Who can tell me, what are the advantages of traditional kiln firing methods compared to modern kiln firing methods?"

"This..." The students exchanged glances, racking their brains. One second, two seconds, and finally, the girl who usually had the best grades in academic subjects stepped forward:

"In the traditional kiln firing method, high-temperature gas flows inside the kiln, and different locations inside the kiln will have different temperatures and different oxidation-reduction reactions."

Ancient potters utilized this difference to place different types of porcelain in different positions within the kiln, producing a myriad of glaze colors and kiln variations in a single firing—something modern industrialized kilns cannot achieve!

"That's right." Professor Zhang finally nodded in satisfaction.

"Our current research aims to determine the temperature, time, and atmosphere required for each stage of firing each type of porcelain, and to standardize these requirements."

However, to achieve uniqueness and ensure that each piece of porcelain has subtle differences, one must use an antique kiln; current industrial kilns simply cannot do it.

"When you're able to open your own studios and aspire to create masterpieces, what you're learning now will be incredibly helpful—remember that?"

"Understood!" the students answered in unison, turning to look at the kiln entrance. They stared intently for a moment, then began to sway back and forth.
"The firing process takes so long... Boss, are we going to have to stay here the whole time? Can we go back for a bit? It's been dozens of hours, and the kiln workers themselves have to work in shifts..."

The kiln workers, or rather, the kiln masters in charge of controlling the fire, no longer have time to work in shifts.

His eyes were fixed on the fire door, on the two round openings above the kiln door, turning from pale yellow to peach pink, and he almost jumped up in shock.
"Slow down! Slow down! Don't rush to throw in the firewood! -- Hey, bring some water, sprinkle some water on the pine firewood!"

We are still in the "starting from scratch" stage. The temperature inside the kiln needs to be raised slowly. If it is raised too quickly, the porcelain pieces will crack and deform, and may even explode!

"No need, no need," Shen Le said with a forced smile, trying to stop him. He was joking, though; the porcelain tower kept shouting and urging them to add more firewood and make the fire bigger.
[Add more fire! Add more fire!]

[Bigger! Bigger!]

[I want to eat! I want to eat! The fire is too low; it won't bring out the true essence of porcelain. There's not enough for me!]

Despite the raging flames in front of the kiln door, which were almost reaching a thousand degrees Celsius, Shen Le could still sense a low-temperature zone surrounding the porcelain tower when he extended his mental energy.

The porcelain tower greedily absorbed the flames from the kiln, drawing in the powerful energy they brought. The spiritual energy generated within the kiln swirled around the tower, forming a small whirlwind.

"I'm firing something unusual, so I can't do it at a normal pace. Master, please help me, keep an eye on the fire, just make sure the kiln doesn't explode!"

"What...what else do you want me to do?"

The stake-planting master was so angry that he turned to leave. But Shen Le smiled apologetically and secretly slipped a small box into the master's hand.

The box lid was pushed open a crack, and the alluring aroma inside made the master's throat move.

It's clearly the delicate scent of fruit, yet the moment you smell it, you feel like a hand is reaching out from your stomach, desperately trying to steal it away. Clearly, while the type of thing is beyond our knowledge, our bodies do have a way of recognizing it:

It's good stuff!

It's absolutely fantastic!
It's a really good thing for your health, with immediate benefits, so you absolutely shouldn't miss it!

He swallowed hard, thinking, "This won't do," and took the box from his hands.
"Okay, okay..."

I really didn't want to do it, but he offered me too much...

With experienced masters overseeing the process, Shen Le threw firewood into the kiln while concentrating on sensing the heat inside and even regulating the kiln's overall energy.
As the firepower increased, something ancient quietly rose up.

From the kiln walls, from the kiln bottom, from the mud brick walls that were burned to a bluish-gray color and gradually seeped outwards to become red, to the two other unrestored kilns that were excavated around it.

The surging heat seeped into the ground, then enveloped the entire kiln area in a way that was imperceptible to those who were not cultivators:

In an instant, all the remaining soil and gravel, the remnants in the ash pit, the porcelain shards that had not yet been cleaned up and excavated, and the scattered red-burnt soil trembled quietly.

Even the kiln furniture, porcelain shards, and even the porcelain figurines that had already been picked out, moved, cleaned, and pieced together began to ring out.

An ancient aura wafted out, converging towards the burning porcelain kiln and the place where they originated.

Then it is scorched, refined, and purified by flames. Finally, like a whale sucking in water, the porcelain tower absorbs these essences, which then blend with the porcelain powder coated on its surface.

Shen Le, head bowed, fed handfuls of firewood into the kiln, his mind already immersed in its flames. Flames flickered, smoke danced, and in a daze, he seemed to see images rising from the smoke:

A group of kiln workers trekked through mountains and rivers to reach this mountainous area. They stretched out their hands to feel the wind, sensing its strength, dryness, and moisture as it flowed through their fingers, observing the gentle undulations of the hillside, and nodded to each other.

They worked together, digging holes, sifting mud, firing bricks, and building kilns. They repeatedly threw clay, made porcelain, and fired the kilns.
The firing temperature and the formulas for the porcelain body and glaze were adjusted time and time again.

Various kinds of celadon, white porcelain, heavy gray-white porcelain, light slip-colored white porcelain, and even translucent white porcelain with a thin body that allows light to pass through.

The porcelain they fired was carried by mule caravans over the majestic Taihang Mountains, then into the Zhanghe and Yellow Rivers, reaching thousands of households.

Their works caught the eye of nobles and were presented to the palace. Some even received instructions from "divine masters" to fire porcelain figurines, with detailed requirements and designs provided.

Times change, dynasties rise and fall. A major upheaval in the imperial court, even if it were to fall on the heads of ordinary people, could be a catastrophe for them.

The kiln workers were arrested and killed, and the kilns were smashed and destroyed. This once vibrant and famous kiln declined and never recovered.

Washed clean by rain and covered by mud, it lay quietly on the hillside for over a thousand years until Shen Le and his team unearthed it and brought it back to the light of day.

"I remember! I remember!" the porcelain tower shouted. Deep within the dragon kiln, a crisp sound of porcelain cracking rang out, the flames reversed, and the light within the kiln dimmed.

The pile-carving master cried out in alarm, leaped down, and shoved Shen Le aside with his shoulder, about to throw firewood into the kiln:

"It's alright, it's alright, there's no rush." ​​Shen Le quickly grabbed him. He had no choice but to pull him; the master was staggering, and if he hadn't pulled him quickly, he would have fallen into the fire!
He grabbed the stake master with one hand, stretched out the other, and took a deep breath. The surrounding wind and clouds swirled, and a glimmer of light emerged from his fingertips, shooting straight into the furnace.

Deep within the kiln, the porcelain tower let out a cheer:
[A little more! A little more! More, the more the better!]

【Hurry up! 】

Shen Le smiled slightly and increased the intensity. The wind fueled the fire, and the fire amplified the wind's power, creating a blazing tornado within the kiln.

In just a moment, a loud sound rang out, and the two holes in front of the kiln door turned from pale yellow to peach red, and from peach red to bright white!
Shen Le's expression changed drastically. He released the stake-holding master and pressed down with both hands. The force was immense, as if supporting a thousand pounds.

"Go back—to be used as fuel for your alchemy, are you trying to blow up the furnace?!"

(End of this chapter)