The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 676 Need hundreds of immortal swords to suppress the Corpse Forest? Shen Le: Isn't this all up to me?
"kill!"

"kill!!!"

"Block them over there! We can't let the skeleton army damage the Soul-Suppressing Artifact!"

"Who's going to charge with me! Let's break through the Bone General!"

"Senior brother! Senior brother, calm down! The Bone City is right behind us! They're too close to the Skeleton Army!"

A chaotic cacophony of shouts erupted. Some performed ritualistic movements, some unleashed thunderbolts, and some brandished swords, hurling fiery meteors one after another into the charnel ground…

Some even merged their bodies with their swords, transforming into a beam of white light that shot into the frigid forest, felling a large swath of ghostly trees where crows nested. Shen Le watched from behind, shaking his head in disbelief.
Alas, he is still too weak. His sword aura can only extend three inches. He can only begin to practice flying on his sword when the sword aura reaches three feet, and he can only achieve perfect harmony between his body and sword when the sword aura exceeds six feet.

In his current state, he can't tank damage at all; he can only stay in the back row and pick up a few minions to fight...

That's better than standing idly by! Shen Le drew his sword and rushed forward, cutting down the skeleton closest to the Soul-Suppressing Terracotta Warrior. He was immediately dragged down by his two nephews and held firmly behind them.

"Don't go! Uncle-Master, don't go! It's okay if one of us gets hurt, but if you get hurt, there will be no one to repair the Soul-Suppressing Puppet!"

The Soul-Suppressing Puppet definitely needed to be refired. Under this wave of attack, the senior brothers ultimately failed to stop the skeleton army attacking from all directions, and half of the three hundred porcelain figurines that had just been buried were smashed by them.

The effect was exactly what Shen Le saw from afar: the circle of clear light, like a curtain, was directly dispersed by the black energy...

"I'm sorry to trouble you again." After a round of checks and remedial work, the eldest senior student approached Shen Le, somewhat embarrassed.
"The missing soul-suppressing figurines need to be replaced. Not only that, but we need to burn more of them—we've calculated that it might take a full cycle of the heavens to form the base of the array and firmly contain the demons in the forest."

The number of Zhou Tian is 360—or 365? Shen Le didn't care about the margin of error; he was going to burn two hundred anyway, so five or ten more wouldn't make a difference.

He simply asked sincerely:
"But senior brother, is the number of days in a cycle enough? I watched the skeleton army's movements before, and they were very methodical and knew how to target the important places."

"If the magic array succeeds, and they attack once today, destroying one of the Soul-Suppressing Figurines, then attack again tomorrow, destroying another one, are we supposed to stay here forever, repairing the array every day?"

"Probably...not..."

The eldest disciple paused, then his bitter smile deepened. His face was deeply wrinkled, and his white beard and hair hung down, making him appear, for a moment, as if a large patch of white had appeared to him.

Shen Le felt a pang of pity and wanted to reach out and help him up. But then she heard her senior brother say:
"That shouldn't be the case—once we set up an array to stop the charnel ground from devouring everything, we can gradually cut it apart and release the vengeful spirits bit by bit. It can be completed in thirty to fifty years no matter what..."

Is it possible that we don't have thirty or fifty years to achieve this? Shen Le shrugged:

Although he wasn't very good at history, in his haste, he couldn't recall how many years it took for Yang Guang to go from ascending the throne to his downfall, but in his memory it was only about twenty years, definitely no more than thirty.

Thirty to fifty years?

By then it was the early Tang Dynasty, a period of stability. The problem was, you had to get through the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty first!

Emperor Yang of Sui was going to Yangzhou. Once he arrived in Yangzhou, he would be just a stone's throw away from Jiankang, a matter of crossing the river!

"I think... this Soul-Suppressing Figurine might be worth modifying." He began offering suggestions based on a tower defense framework:

"Right now, it's just buried there, and it doesn't pose any threat. If we gave it something else, like a magic sword, it could automatically kill any little demons that came near, wouldn't that save us a lot of trouble?"

The eldest disciple's back hunched instantly, and the wrinkles on his face deepened and thickened. In the room, several other disciples sighed repeatedly.

"We'd like to too."

"Hanging a celestial sword to suppress a demon forest—what an easy idea! Who wouldn't want that!"

"That would require that many immortal swords! To this day, our sect hasn't even managed to provide each of our junior disciples with an immortal sword! Junior brother, have you finished forging your flying sword yet?"

Ah this...

Shen Le deeply realized that his suggestion was like saying to the great United States:

"If you launch a thousand or more giant bunker buster bombs and bomb all the Persian nuclear facilities, you won't have to worry about the lack of precision. You'll definitely be able to completely destroy them."

The idea is good, but the Great Beauty has so many giant bunker buster bombs! Apparently, they only have 30 of this type in total, and they've already deployed 12 this time, so they're urgently needing to replenish their stock…

Well, even if there really were that many bunker buster bombs, there would still need to be that many 2B bombers. And with bombers, there would also need to be enough tankers for long-range relay.

Thousands? You make it sound so easy, just like that!

Fortunately, Shen Le also had a simplified contingency plan. He looked up and thought for a moment:
"Immortal swords are definitely out of the question; we don't have that many. What about swords with a bit of spirit?"

"There aren't that many!"

The senior students answered in unison.

Shen Le sighed and continued to frown in thought. He felt there should be a more reliable solution that he could use, and he was quite close to finding one…

"That's right, porcelain swords! I'll try firing a batch of porcelain swords! Maybe they'll work!"

The senior disciples looked at Shen Le with the same eyes they would use to look at a bunch of demons and monsters in the charnel ground. Shen Le didn't back down an inch, raising his head to meet their gaze:
"Anyway, I'm going to fire Soul-Suppressing Figurines, aren't I? The entire kiln can't be filled with Soul-Suppressing Figurines, there will always be some gaps that need to be filled with other saggars!"

"I'll also try firing a batch of porcelain swords to see if they'll work. Is that not possible?"

Sure, of course. In the field of porcelain making, Shen Le is completely the sole decision-maker. Let alone if he wanted to make a batch of porcelain swords, even if he wanted to make a batch of porcelain beauties…

The senior disciples pretended not to see it and demanded that the officials in charge of dealing with the Taoist temple pay Shen Le and provide the necessary supplies, without interfering with any of his actions.

If we're talking about getting involved, we only got involved in a small way:
"Do we need the metal elites right now? Should we wait? Fire one kiln first, make sure the porcelain sword can be made, and then add the metal elites? After all..."

After all, this thing is still quite expensive!
Shen Le searched diligently in the Kunlun Mountains for decades, from the time Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, ascended the throne until his death, but he couldn't find a single usable document. In the end, he still managed to fleece the Sui Dynasty's national treasury!

It's already difficult to provide each disciple with a sword for forging, so using it for firing porcelain swords, especially experimental ones, seems like a bit too wasteful...

Shen Le readily agreed and tried firing one kiln. From a three-foot-long ordinary porcelain sword, to a one-and-a-half-foot-long short sword, and then to a three-inch-long exquisite little sword.

Since we can't use high-quality metals, we add a little iron powder to the porcelain body or the glaze. We categorize everything, record all the details, and wait for the kiln to open.
One by one, long caskets were opened, and one by one, gleaming white swords were brought out.

Shen Le picked up the swords one by one, hanging them in front of him, closing his eyes, and sensing the power within each one. Then, holding a notebook, he crossed out each sword with an X, an X, an X, an X… “This sword is cracked… No…”

"The blade is cracked too..."

"This formula is completely ruined. It's probably because there's too much iron powder in the porcelain body. The cracked areas are clearly rust-colored..."

"The three-foot-long ones are all wiped out, and the one-and-a-half-foot ones are all wiped out too... Hmm, the three-inch-long ones are alright, there are actually some survivors!"

"Even this one, which is completely free of iron powder, won't work; the spiritual energy can't pass through it at all, and there's no sharp sensation whatsoever..."

After much deliberation and repeated trials, Shen Le finally selected a version with 1% iron powder mixed into the porcelain body and 0.2% iron powder mixed into the glaze.
The exquisite three-inch-long sword, as thin as a leek leaf, seemed ready to leap and fly at any moment when its blade was slightly pierced with spiritual energy.

A group of senior students stood around, all marveling at the sight and eagerly reaching out to touch it.
"This sword really does feel quite sharp."

"If you're not careful, you might cut your finger... Ouch!"

"Look, it happened by accident! -- Can this sword be used to cut through skeletons?"

"This isn't working... Ah, it's broken!"

It shattered as expected. The senior brother held the three-inch sword flat with his right hand, and with a little more force, the sword changed shape.

From lying still, it began to tremble gently; from trembling, it gradually floated into the air; from dim to bright, from bright, it revealed its sharpness; the sword's edge grew from one-third to three-tenths of an inch, and then to half an inch—

"Crack!"

"I'm so sorry, junior brother, I've ruined your precious sword that you made by burning it..."

"Oh, it's nothing. Here, put the scraps here, so you don't prick your hands..." Shen Le was writing quickly in the notebook when he peeked out and calmly brought over a bamboo basket:
"This porcelain sword was originally intended for trial use, and I will need to adjust the formula later—this porcelain sword is red! I want a white one, because a white one is the most like a flying sword and is the most suitable for guiding power!"

"Senior brother, could you approve a piece of metalworking expertise for me—even just enough to make a flying sword, or even just some scraps?"

The glaze contains iron powder, so when it's fired in the kiln, it oxidizes on the spot! All sorts of red glazes—cowpea red, Langyao red, all kinds of red glazes—can't produce the smooth, silvery-white sheen that Shen Le wants…

Having succeeded the first time, Shen Le, although he didn't manage to get the top-tier hardware, at least managed to get the downgraded and stripped-down version.

This time, the success rate of firing was much higher, and a row of three-inch swords were neatly arranged in front of everyone, shining brightly:

"go with!"

"go with!"

"Up! Down! Back!"

"We can try it out on a demon and see if it will attack first, and how many hits it can withstand..."

"Wait! Let me refine it using my sect's sword-forging techniques first! If it works, at least I can give it to my disciples; it's much better than those half-old ancient swords..."

The senior disciples who had just retreated from the charnel ground each carried a porcelain sword. They practiced breathing exercises and meditation, using their own spiritual energy to refine the porcelain swords, trying to make them resemble flying swords.

Shen Le also tried it herself, and the result was very surprising:

This thing can't compare to a normal immortal sword, after all, its innate talent and endowment are far inferior.

However, it has far surpassed those ancient spiritual swords that have accumulated enough spirituality and killing intent over the years, but have not yet reached the threshold of immortal swords!
Hang it on the back of the Soul-Suppressing Figurine, and it will automatically roar and glow when a skeleton monster comes within three zhang (approximately 10 meters).
If you get within ten feet, you can take flight and attack the monsters.

Although it's not particularly strong, it definitely won't be able to defeat Bone Generals, but it can basically kill ordinary crows, skeletons and zombies that have just crawled out of the ground with one sword!
Moreover, it can be mass-produced!
Mass production is the most crucial thing!
As long as there are enough materials, Shen Le can open a kiln and fire at least a hundred or eighty of them. Each of the Soul-Suppressing Figurines can be equipped with double or triple blades. If one is broken, he can replace it with another without feeling bad!
"This is the method!" The eldest brother finally made the decision:

"Junior brother, I'm allocating some elite metalworking equipment to you. You need to fire it into porcelain swords, one for each Soul-Suppressing Figurine! Please!"

Shen Le quietly gave himself a thumbs up. One batch of elite metals was enough to refine a celestial sword, and enough to prepare the porcelain body and glaze, and fire three-inch-long small swords, enough to fire a thousand and eighty of them.

He could even open several kilns, try different formulas, and make the sword even more powerful!
Shen Le threw himself into the experiments once more. One kiln, two kilns, three kilns—and when the last batch of Soul-Suppressing Figurines was fired, he finally discovered the most comfortable formula:
Increase the content of high-quality hardware fivefold!
This formula allows the amount of spiritual energy it can absorb and the impact that the sword can withstand to reach their limits simultaneously!

The porcelain sword makes full use of both attack power and durability, and its maneuverability is also maximized!
...Of course, this version is far too extravagant and cannot achieve the goal of equipping each Soul-Suppressing Figurine with a sword.

Shen Le burned a batch of low-end versions, equipping each of the 360 ​​Soul-Suppressing Figurines with one, and then burned 12 high-end versions, one for each of his fellow disciples.

One by one, the soul-suppressing terracotta warriors descended upon the charnel ground. A mournful wind howled, dark clouds swirled, and countless skeletons surged forth from the forest, rushing towards the soul-suppressing terracotta warriors:

Above the Soul-Suppressing Figurine, a small, silver-white porcelain sword floated in the air, its blade gleaming.

The soul-suppressing terracotta warrior was rooted to the ground, while the porcelain sword floated above it. An invisible force field connected the two, allowing the sword's light to crisscross and flow endlessly.

"it works!"

“It really works!”

"Giving them a sword would be so useful!"

"Lu, well done!"

The senior disciples, and even the junior disciples who assisted them, cheered loudly. They dragged the soul-suppressing figurines and ran in all directions, settling the porcelain figurines into place.

The moment the last porcelain figurine fell, a roar erupted from the charnel ground, and black mist and white bones surged and raged once more:
Twelve porcelain swords flew across the sky, drawing upon the power of all the Soul-Suppressing Figurines, and slashed downwards in fury!

With a loud crack, the two skeletons standing back to back on the city of bones were cleaved into pieces by the enormous sword light, which shot out in all directions.

The fellow disciples cheered in unison:

"It works! Keep it up, seal it off completely, and we'll be done with it once and for all!"

"I've had enough of this cold and damp place!"

(End of this chapter)