The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 677 I want the elite hardware experts, not your internal organs! (Seeking monthly votes)

The sword light fell like rain.

In the charnel ground, bones crumbled, trees fell, and crow feathers and blood flew everywhere.

The gloomy black mist surged upwards, shredded into wisps by the sword light, and rolled high into the sky, where it gradually faded under the direct sunlight until it disappeared...

"never mind."

"It should be fine."

"After this round of cutting, the next step is to cut inwards while simultaneously performing rituals to guide the souls to the afterlife—it will definitely be completed in three to five years, if all goes well!"

"The people of Jiankang, and the people of the entire Jiangnan region, are safe!"

A group of disciples from the immortal sects clapped their hands in celebration. Behind them, cheers echoed in waves, carrying outwards. The dark ground gradually brightened, and stepping onto it, the inexplicable chill no longer crept up the soles of their feet—

Shen Le even saw a blade of green grass push off the soil and grow out, unfurling its two tender leaves at the very top in the sunlight.

"Ah Lu, thanks to you this time!" A heavy slap landed on his shoulder. Shen Le turned around, and his senior brother's gray hair looked like a large patch of black hair:

"When we get back, I'll make sure you get credit. Just you wait, you'll receive an imperial decree, an official position, and rewards—you won't be short of anything!"

"...No need." Shen Le's smile vanished instantly. He reached back and pressed his hand against the sword at his waist, sheathing it with a resounding clang, his gaze distant.

"I don't want to serve this court anymore. I want to travel around, see the world, and see what it's really like..."

"Wait!" The senior brother grabbed him:

"You should practice your sword technique first! Practice until you can fly on your sword. After I've checked it and there are no problems, then you can leave!"
Then, there are a few things you must pay attention to, such as never joining the army, and never getting involved in any rebellion or anything like that!

Ah... the last one, it's really tough in this world...

The massive peasant uprising at the end of the Sui Dynasty is just around the corner. For me to travel around this world, it's harder to avoid being drawn into an army than to actively get involved!
"Promise me!" The eldest brother frowned and released Shen Le. He took out a jade pendant with gold thread inlaid with seal script characters, probably some kind of identification.
His right hand was raised high, the tip of his fingers flickering with sword-like light. His left hand was poised to strike Shen Le, while his right hand was ready to pounce.
"With the talisman of a disciple of the immortal sect, you can travel the world without being arrested by government troops for no reason! As long as you don't run into bandits and outlaws to die, you'll be fine!"

If I don't agree or make any promises, are you planning to stab me to death with your sword rather than let me out?
Shen Le sighed and took the jade token:
"I'll try to be careful and avoid them as much as possible, okay?"

"Don't just try! You absolutely have to do it!" the senior student earnestly instructed, his face stern.
“Every generation, every single one of them thinks they’re something special, planning to make a name for themselves with their swords, and they all die! They all die violent deaths! — Do you hear me!”

The lingering echoes of her senior brother's earnest admonitions seemed to still resonate in her ears. Shen Le opened her eyes with a smile.

The silver light slowly receded, from illuminating the entire room and changing the color of his face and eyes, to only illuminating his fingers as they touched the silk, and then completely disappearing into the silk, leaving only a silver line on the surface of the writing.

The young man hiding behind Shen Le took a deep breath and tentatively reached forward:
Great, the air ahead is normal now, it doesn't feel prickly to the touch anymore, I can take a small step forward... just one more small step...

He bent over with his knees bent, ready to leap backward at any moment, cautiously moving forward. Reaching Shen Le's side, he peered over and saw that Shen Le had already stood up straight and stretched out his arms.
"Phew—done!"

Sword Forging Techniques!

The immortal sword-forging technique!

I've got them all!

I practiced it once in my memory. Although I haven't completely mastered the ancient sword and turned it into a celestial sword yet, and I haven't been able to fly on the sword, success is just around the corner. I can now replicate it 100%!
"Shen Le! How are you?!"

Anxious shouts and the sound of glass shattering came from next door. Shen Le quickly turned around and waved to her mentor:
"Boss, I'm fine! This time I reaped a great harvest! -- Hey, would you like to take a look at the silk I repaired? Its power has been withdrawn, you can look at it freely!"

...I don't want it, thank you.

Professor Han blurted out. "I'm not a textile restoration specialist. The difference between taking a close look next door and seeing it through a glass case in a museum isn't that significant..."

I reflexively glanced at the upper left corner of the large screen, at the area displaying the spiritual energy index in the room.

As Shen Le opened his eyes and got up, the index above was rapidly declining, almost a precipitous drop:

At its peak, the price had already soared to four figures and continued to climb towards five figures, indicating that it was not only unsuitable for normal people to live there, but also unsuitable for weaker cultivators.

In the short time it took to say just two sentences, the number plummeted to three digits and is still dropping rapidly. Professor Han watched for a short while, and the first digit changed from 9 to 8, then from 8 to 7.

"...What did they say during their training? That when the number reaches double digits, we can briefly enter and exit without worrying about danger?"

Beside him, the professor who repaired textiles shifted two steps, whispering to himself, his eyes filled with intense longing. Textiles from before the Sui Dynasty!
The fabric looks relatively intact, without any decay or mold!

Inside, there was a strangely shimmering silver fabric! Nothing like this has ever been found in previous archaeological excavations!
Even if we don't let him fix it or take it to publish a paper, just getting a close look would be good! Of course, if he could touch it, that would be even better...

Professor Han shook his head slightly, not wanting to speak, and simply stared intently at his student. Shen Le had just stood there inexplicably frozen in front of the silk for an hour; what was he doing?
Is he okay?

Shen Le waved to her advisor again. Seeing her advisor shake his head, she turned to the other two professors, her expression inquiring. The professor specializing in textile restoration stepped forward, eager to speak.

"When can I go in?!"

"Wait until the spiritual energy value drops to a safe range." The special affairs bureau guy finally stepped ahead of Shen Le, used the probe to measure the data, and then reached out and tentatively waved his hand above the silk.

The silk was a foot above the ground; the number was still high, but thankfully it was also plummeting. He tried to glance at Shen Le casually, hesitating whether to ask him what he had discovered this time…

Or you could just report it directly without asking anything and let your superiors decide whether or not to ask?
After all, it was a favor for Shen Le, an unofficial member, to hand over his private discoveries to the Special Affairs Bureau, not his duty!
As he hesitated, Shen Le turned to look at him, flashing a bright, radiant smile. Half of it was anticipation, and the other half sent a chill down the Special Affairs Bureau officer's spine, alarm bells blaring.

not good!

A ton of work is coming your way!
Tonight, tomorrow night, and who knows how many nights in a row, I'll be working overtime day and night!

However, he couldn't just run away now, so he composed himself and waited for Shen Le to speak. Sure enough, Shen Le pointed to the silk in front of him:
"This contains a secret method for forging flying swords from an ancient immortal sect, as well as some downgraded versions of prerequisite spells that I deciphered from it. See... could you do me a favor?" "Go ahead!"

The young man straightened his back instantly. Shen Le continued to smile:
"Help me sell them to the Special Affairs Bureau, or contact a few sects that cultivate flying swords and see if they want them? Then, help me exchange them for a set of Five-Gold Elite swords? The more the better!"

Okay, fine. Although he wasn't in charge of the assessment or the liaison, he still had to run around and stay until the very end—or until a dedicated liaison came to take over.

The young man lamented his ruined hot spring vacation, pulled out his phone, quickly snapped a photo, and darted aside to make a phone call. Through the glass, Professor Han tugged at his two colleagues:

"Shall we wait a bit? Shen Le wants to sell this for money... Should we at least wait until he's sold it all before we talk about it? Until then, let's not take any photos, or at least not send them out?"

"You don't need to tell me!" Both professors rolled their eyes simultaneously.

The Special Affairs Bureau needs time to assess the value of a spell—in fact, even if the Special Affairs Bureau wanted to take possession of the spell itself, the assessors would have to be professionals.

The deliveryman sent the image to his superior, and soon, the first third of the incantation on the scroll of silk had been transcribed into text and emailed to several sects that practice flying swords.
Get an assessment immediately!

Hurry up!
They didn't say whether this item is sold in one copy or can be sold to many sects separately—if they want it to be first-come, first-served, those who arrive late might miss out!

The calls went up the chain of command, then down to the individual departments, from the provincial bureau to various sub-bureaus—a chaotic scene. The deliveryman only needed to relay the request; the administrative staff backstage had a much bigger workload to consider.

Shen Le wants "a hardware elite" job?
What is that thing? Are you sure it's the kind defined by the bureau?
I hate those cultivators who dig something out of ancient books and then immediately start asking for things! What they send is often not what they were promised!

By the way, how much of the "Hardware Elite" item is in the bureau's inventory? Which warehouse has the most recent, easily accessible stock?

He was incredibly busy, while Shen Le just kept typing away, typing down all the spells he had seen in the silk's memory.

The special affairs officer sat next to me, craning his neck to watch:

"Where did you get these spells? They're not on the silk!"

"Ah, this..." Shen Le could only awkwardly boast:
"When I first got it, didn't it absorb a beam of white light from it? After I repaired it, before I sent the white light back, this was what it told me!"

"Can other people read it?"

"do not know!"

Shen Le's voice was resolute. It's unlikely they could decipher it by reading; someone with sufficient skill who studies these techniques could probably confirm they're all part of a set—

Of course, that's not his problem...

As he expected, the thing he threw out had gone around in circles and passed through the hands of the relevant people.

The spell evaluation would take a little time; for everything else, Alloy Master simply called his cell phone.
"Shen Le! I heard you want a hardware elite position? -- Why didn't you ask me?"

"Oh, it's been so long! I'm so sorry!" Shen Le smiled slightly, holding her phone and swaying slightly from side to side.
"Sorry, I just remembered that too. We've already handed this over to the Special Affairs Bureau, no need to bother two different departments—what, do you have any here?"

"Who am I! Everyone has a 'hardware elite' title, and it's not my place to be without it!" A series of loud thuds came from the other end of the phone, seemingly the alloy tycoon pounding his stomach with his fist.
"How many do you want? Just name your number, and I'll send them to you right away!"

Ah this...

Shen Le hesitated for a moment. The alloy tycoon had already hung up the phone and sent a video call request. He zoomed out a bit, took a deep breath, and forcefully punched his chest:

"call out--"

A sharp sound pierced the air, and a silvery-white, intense light shot straight at the screen, which, to Shen Le, seemed to be aimed directly at his eyes.

He reflexively leaned back, and when he regained his senses, he saw the Alloy Boss stretch out his hands, grab the white light, squeeze it tightly, and then knead it into a ball.

Once the white light subsided, the big shot finally let out a long sigh of relief and wiped his mouth.

"How about it? Fresh and hot! Just vomited it up! Guaranteed to work, you can use it for whatever you want!"

Shen Le: "..."

Can I be frank with you? This is exactly what I'm afraid of.
You just threw it up! I watched you throw it up right before my eyes!
Holding it in your hands, you always have this illusion that this thing is part of your heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys...

He tried to smile at the alloy tycoon, but the smile was so stiff that several professors watching through the glass window felt a pang of sympathy.

Fortunately, another call came in at that moment, and Shen Le quickly apologized and switched lines:

"Hello?...It's me. Where did you find me? In a grotto in the Taihang Mountains, but I'm not sure which peak exactly. Let me check if I've saved the location..."

Is the sword technique useful? Of course it is! I've tried it myself! I've tried every advanced stage of the sword technique! It's definitely useful!

He gave a thousand and one assurances. The other party finally breathed a sigh of relief and moved on to the next topic:
"By the way, how's the repair of your porcelain tower going? Is there anything we can help you with?"

This is one of the reasons why Shen Le had to answer the phone immediately. The porcelain pagoda he had was dug up from someone else's mountain gate, and he might have to dig up other things from them in the future.

Therefore, Shen Le's attitude was very good, and he spoke frankly:

"Not yet, the repair process went smoothly. By the way, these sword techniques I found might be related to your sect's internal cultivation methods. Please expedite their identification! If there is a connection, be sure to let me know, and I'll see if I can find more!"

It would have been better if he hadn't said those words. Because of them, the door was banged on loudly early the next morning.

Shen Le yawned as he opened the door and came out. The old Taoist priest he had dealt with before was already standing properly in front of him.
"Mr. Shen! May we take a look at that roll of silk? We don't need to handle it, just a glance is enough!"

(End of this chapter)