The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 663 Immortal Master, did you kill the raw materials on the spot?!
Shen Le stared at the young man.

The young man stared at Shen Le.

Looking at each other.

Shen Le looked indignant. "You inspected the porcelain figurines I just fired!"
You've examined the porcelain figurine closely, from its porcelain body and translucency to the position of the Big Dipper, and even the two lower orifices of its nine orifices. You've expressed your approval of everything!
If a product that has passed 100% acceptance still fails to meet your requirements, then it's not my production problem, it's your design problem!
The young man pursed his lips tightly, staring at the pool of shards of porcelain on the ground, his eyes swirling with resentment. After a moment, he took two steps forward, squatted down among the shards, his hands moving in a series of hand seals as he chanted incantations:
"Vast and mysterious, born of heaven and earth. When dispersed, it becomes vapor; when gathered, it takes form..."

As he chanted, the withered branches and fallen leaves around him rustled and shook, dust rose and swirled into small whirlpools.

The whirlwind gradually rose and grew larger, from half a foot to a foot, and from a foot to three feet, until it was as if it was suppressed by something and stopped growing.

Conversely, at the center of the vortex, the color deepened and darkened. At its darkest point, a touch of emerald green rose, growing brighter yet increasingly eerie.
"……go!"

The young man finally finished chanting the incantation, stood his hand upright, and pushed straight forward.

The green flames, accompanied by a black wind, moved swiftly, rushing towards the shattered porcelain, creaking and groaning loudly between the shards.

Shen Le stood five or six steps away, and even he felt a chill run down his spine as he listened.

The feeling was like a summoned ghost suddenly gaining physical form, using its rotting hands to support its body, struggling to crawl through the broken porcelain, its limbs being obstructed by the shards, cutting open one wound after another...

The creaking sound lasted for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea before it completely disappeared. The black wind and green fire dispersed and vanished through the area of ​​broken porcelain.

The young man squatted in front of the broken porcelain, picking up each piece carefully and examining it meticulously, paying particular attention to the fracture surfaces and the Big Dipper and Eight Trigrams symbols.

"...It's not a problem with the firing process." Finally, he turned halfway around, holding up a piece of broken porcelain and beckoning to Shen Le, gesturing for him to come over:

“It’s bone powder… The residual spiritual energy in bone powder isn’t strong enough to suppress the soul it’s meant to contain. Look, the broken edges of this shattered porcelain have already turned black…”

Does turning black mean the bone powder lacks spiritual energy?
Shen Le looked at it from left to right, even picking up a piece of broken porcelain to examine it closely, and finally noticed something. The porcelain body itself was not dirty, but the outer glaze had become dull overall—

The broken parts of the porcelain are particularly noticeable, with a dark shadow covering the glaze, extending all the way to the boundary between the glaze and the porcelain body.

Before the soul-suppressing terracotta figurine was swept away by the black wind, it didn't have this dim, blackened appearance. It was obvious that the spirit within the terracotta figurine had clashed with the ghost summoned by the young man, and neither of them had won...

Shen Le turned to look at the young man. The young man stared intently at Shen Le, and the two remained silent, exchanging glances. After a long while, the young man sighed and pointed to the broken porcelain on the ground:
"So, does your Lu family have any secrets to firing the Soul-Suppressing Figurines? What methods can ensure a successful firing?"

"I don't know," Shen Le said matter-of-factly, shrugging innocently. Before the young man could get angry, he continued as if it were perfectly normal:
"First of all, I am still young and not old enough to inherit the family's skills. There are some things that I won't be taught now—you saw it yourself, it was when the clan was wiped out that they hurriedly stuffed some things into my hands."

Secondly, I am a mortal, not a cultivator. If you hadn't helped me open my eyes, I wouldn't even have been able to tell which corpse had more remaining spiritual energy.

Finally, the bone powder my family gave me is definitely not enough. Even if I use it all, the glaze I make won't be enough to fire half a Soul-Suppressing Figurine. I have to find usable raw materials!

The young man's jaw tightened, relaxed, tightened again, and relaxed again; it was clear he had a lot to complain about, and might even be about to unleash a torrent of abuse.

However, it was all in vain. Shen Le's three points were all true, and he couldn't refute them at all. He stood there for a moment, then stomped his foot, transformed into a streak of white light, and vanished.

"Hey, don't go! Come back! — Even if you can't come up with an improvement plan, at least give us the money! The porcelain kiln's accounts... are almost empty..."

Despite repeated calls, the white light faded into the distance, and Shen Le's shoulders slumped lower and lower until finally, he fell silent and began to clean up the broken porcelain scattered on the floor.

Sigh, the client has run away and isn't even paying for the second phase of the project, but the worst part is that they're not paying for the work but expecting you to pay for it upfront...

Fortunately, Shen Le, or rather, the young master of the Lu family, was rescued this time with nothing but his bare hands.

Whether or not the kiln is abandoned is another matter, but such a large kiln, with dozens of people working from top to bottom, still needs to buy porcelain clay and glaze...

If you won't pay me wages, at least give me the money for the raw materials!

He decisively stopped work and ordered his men to pack up and clean the kiln. Thank goodness, everything was cleaned up, and the young man once again appeared out of nowhere, bringing a package of gold and silk, a stick of incense, and a large bundle:
"Use these things to make another furnace. Once it's finished, light incense and call me."

Shen Le didn't even need to untie the large bag; he hissed in shock. Wisps and layers of black mist emanated from the bag, like tentacles reaching out and grabbing at anything.

Taking just a couple of steps closer, the biting wind chills you to the bone; a mere touch on your fingertips feels like being plunged into an ice cave.

Shen Le focused his mind slightly, channeled the heat current, and opened his third eye. He immediately saw that the black mist above the large package had almost condensed into a human shape—

No, it wasn't even "almost," but a massive black fog upon which dozens of faces constantly rose and fell. There were old people, children, brides, teenagers…

They bared their sharp teeth, tearing at each other relentlessly, emitting silent roars as they bit, blood and tears streaming from their eyes. Shen Le shuddered, horrified.

"Where did you get these ashes?"

"Go, go!" The young man took a wooden stick, untied the knots on the outside of the bundle, and scattered the small cloth bags inside.

He stirred the cloth bag while working within the black mist, causing the faces on the mist to separate one by one and sink into the small bag. Completely focused, he finally finished and answered:
“I’ve traversed dozens of mass graves, several ancient battlefields, and even witnessed a few executions. I’ve selected the most ferocious and ruthless ones, burned them to ashes, and brought them here. — With such strong spiritual energy, surely it’s enough for you to use in your kiln?”

Good grief, aren't you afraid of me dying at all?

The person who gets up close to these ashes, grinds them into fine powder, mixes them into glaze, and sends them into the kiln to fire them—that's me!

In this world, I haven't yet entered the realm of immortals, and I don't have a cultivation technique to protect me like you do!
Shen Le glanced sideways. Upon closer inspection, the spiritual energy emanating from these ashes was indeed much stronger than that he had brought back from the mass grave, and far stronger than the sample bag he carried.

He sighed:
"That should be enough... Oh, by the way, could you please set up some defenses at the kiln, or better yet, get some protective amulets for everyone?"

These things are too dangerous; they're all getting sick and dying, and nobody's helping me with the work. Isn't this just a waste of time?

The young man practically rolled his eyes to the heavens, but without a word, he went straight to work. Shen Le sighed, rolled up his sleeves, and began drawing tables and making records: With so many packets of ashes, he had to remember which one was which, and which one was used in which soul-suppressing terracotta warrior, so he could match them up later!
Whichever plan succeeds, let the young people follow the example and find a group of similar ones!

Alas, it's a pity that he burned all those parts before, trying to fuse them together as a whole to deliver a Soul-Suppressing Figurine. That plan probably won't work now...

If the cremated remains are not used properly, they won't have enough spiritual energy, and even if the cremation is successful, it won't be able to appease the spirit; it'll all be a waste of time...

Shen Le sighed and started again. The young man provided seven different types of ashes; he planned to burn seven terracotta figures of each type, totaling forty-nine, which would perfectly fill the kiln.
As for why there were dozens of faces among the seven different types of ashes, Shen Le didn't know, nor did he want to ask. He had a feeling that the answer he would get this time would break down his psychological defenses…

This firing was particularly arduous. Making forty-nine spirit-suppressing figurines was a far greater undertaking than making a full kiln of porcelain bottles, bowls, vases, and jars with the same amount of clay.

Every facial feature, every fold of clothing, had to be meticulously hand-carved by him, leaving no room for negligence.

That's fine, I'm used to it anyway. The problem is that these soul-suppressing figurines started fighting each other as soon as they were glazed, even before they were fired in the kiln!
A whirlwind emerged from the Type A Soul-Suppressing Terracotta Warrior, and an old man's face stared at the Type B Soul-Suppressing Terracotta Warrior, taking a vicious bite;
The Type B Soul-Suppressing Figurine was not to be outdone. Its whole body shook rapidly, creating a whirlwind that rushed towards the attacking whirlwind, scattering it before rushing towards the Type C Soul-Suppressing Figurine.
The Type C Soul-Suppressing Figurine remained unmoved. No, it wasn't unmoved; the glaze on its surface was constantly bulging, sinking, bulging again, and sinking again.

Pieces of it splashed outwards, leaving different marks on the ground, like tears, like blood, like hands and feet, like half a ghastly face—

It got caught up in its own fighting and completely ignored everyone else...

"Immortal Master, what is the origin of the ashes you brought...?"

Shen Le sighed. Shouting was useless; these ashes had no ears. Hitting them was also impossible; these porcelain blanks hadn't been fired yet and weren't strong enough. If you hit them, they would collapse.

He could only unleash the power of lightning, turning it into a whip that lashed out at him relentlessly.
"Stop! Stop! Back in! Back in! All of you, get back!"

If you want to fight, go inside the kiln, wait for the fire to rise, and then you can fight to your heart's content!
Fortunately, this measure worked. The spirit attached to the ashes, even without consciousness, still retained some instincts.

After Shen Le beat them, they obediently retreated into the soul-suppressing figurines they possessed. Shen Le then moved them into the kiln, fixed them one by one, and stopped them from causing trouble.

Of course, this was only a temporary truce. The moment the flames ignited, they turned a deep emerald green, and the kiln roared and howled incessantly, as if thousands of soldiers were engaged in battle...

"Such a bizarre brawl... how did the Lu family ancestors manage to create the Soul-Suppressing Figurine?"

While listening intently to the sounds coming from the kiln, Shen Le kept adding firewood to the furnace door, handful by handful. Can you believe the wind blowing out of the kiln was freezing!

He stuffed so much pine firewood in there; the fire inside the kiln must have been at least 800 degrees Celsius, if not 1000. The wind blowing out now must be cool!

Is this supposed to make me memorize the amount and timing of delivering firewood, and then add more firewood?

The problem is that each kiln of porcelain is fired in different quantities and types, and the weather, including temperature, humidity and wind direction, is different. The dryness of the pine firewood is also different, so the delivery of firewood has to be adapted to the circumstances!
Shen Le could only complain while trying his best to use his mental energy to sense the situation inside the kiln, gritted his teeth and threw fireballs and lightning bolts inside.

Fortunately, lightning and flames are both believed to ward off evil spirits, and they are very effective against these noisy and fighting things. Basically, if you throw a few in, the kiln will quiet down for a while, and the flames will turn back to their normal color...

After three days of anxious waiting and two days of anticipation, the kiln was finally extinguished and opened.

Good news: of the seven types of ash glaze and forty-nine soul-suppressing figurines, not all of them were destroyed; five were preserved—the success rate is somewhat touching.

The bad news is that of these five soul-suppressing terracotta warriors, one looks pitted and uneven, and another looks shaky.

The remaining three had their glaze flowing down in streaks, as if their faces and clothes had been scratched and torn.

Shen Le personally doubted whether porcelain figurines of this quality could have a "soul-suppressing" effect...

Suspicion aside, inspecting the goods wasn't his job. Shen Le lit incense as usual, summoning the immortal master. Once again, the young man arrived swiftly, summoning black wind once more, which crashed into the Soul-Suppressing Terracotta Warrior:

Snapped!
Snapped!
Snapped--

Three of the five Soul-Suppressing Figurines collapsed on the spot. The fourth one swayed precariously, desperately holding on, but it was covered in a layer of black mist and cracked into countless spiderweb-like fragments;

From inside the fifth statue, a fierce roar erupted, and a black wind swirled out, circling the Soul-Suppressing Figurine.

A sound like clashing swords rang out rapidly, then in an instant, the black wind subsided, swept back into the Soul-Suppressing Figurine, and vanished...

"It seems that it really does need to be spiritually powerful to be useful." The young man stared intently at the porcelain figurine, observing it, his fingers tapping incessantly, as if he were calculating something.

After a long while, he let out a long breath and turned to Shen Le:
"I found these ashes on an ancient battlefield. The pit was filled with corpses, the sky was overcast and it looked like it was going to rain, and I often heard screams."

It seems that the more battle-hardened a general is, the stronger their killing intent, and the higher their status, the more useful they are?

"That makes sense." Shen Le thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. She paused, then looked at him questioningly.
"So whose grave do you want to dig up?"

Don't ask me!

I'm not familiar with this period of Northern Dynasties history!

I really don't know any of them. Apart from Gao Huan, Gao Yang, and Gao Changgong, I can't even remember the names of the other members of the Gao family. By the way, is Gao Yang dead now?
Which emperor was below him?
The young man hesitated for a moment. He looked Shen Le up and down, then his eyes suddenly lit up:
"By the way, didn't you want to avenge your family? -- How about we go to the capital together and see who's suitable to kill?"

Ah this...

Shen Le was completely dumbfounded. "Immortal Master, don't you want to listen to what you're doing?"
Making a soul-suppressing terracotta warrior to quell the resentment of the world is practically equivalent to saving all living beings!

Such a serious matter, such a difficult ritual implement, wouldn't the materials required undergo precise calculations and repeated divination?

You're killing it right on the spot?

(End of this chapter)