The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 678 Jingdezhen Porcelain Demon: Why are you taking advantage of me?

"This scroll of immortal books is wonderful."

"That's really great."

"The essence of Taibai metal circulates through the lung meridian, corresponding to the breath..."

The old Taoist priest stood in a fixed posture in front of the glass cabinet containing the silk scrolls and began to practice breathing exercises. With each inhale and exhale, a faint white light quickly appeared between his mouth and nose.

As the white light rose and fell, the silver light condensing on the scroll also brightened and dimmed, as if echoing each other—

"Won't he damage the cultural relics by doing this?"

"I don't know... You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? Speaking of which, will this roll of silk be exhibited in a museum in the future?"

"It's really hard to say... It seems like the things your student restored in the past were all kept by him; he never thought about exhibiting them?"

"Ah... but those things are also contributing to the country in another form, so let's not dwell on whether to send them to the exhibition or not..."

The professors whispered amongst themselves, discussing the matter animatedly. They were already used to observing from behind a glass wall and no longer bothered by it.
They simply sigh when others can enter but they can't; they don't even feel envy, jealousy, or resentment. Others are cultivators, they aren't—what can they do? They can only accept it if they lack the aptitude!

They are still preoccupied with the question of whether the cultural relics are well or poorly restored, and the research, preservation, and display of them after restoration; they can't let go of these concerns.

What? You're saying that Shen Le found this somewhere, repaired it himself, and that it belongs to him personally?

No, that's not true. National laws clearly stipulate that cultural relics belong to the state!

Even if we take a step back and say that cultural relics are the crystallization of the wisdom of all mankind, they belong to the whole world!
Of course, they had vaguely heard about the things Shen Le had repaired; they all seemed to have developed intelligence and self-awareness. The little creature that came back to life belonged to itself—that's another story altogether…

Under the professors' anxious watchful eyes, the silver light on the silk flickered on and off, causing the entire scroll to lift slightly upwards.

With each movement of the scroll, the old professors paused in their breathing; with each movement, their breaths would pause again…

"Sigh, no." About ten minutes later, the old Taoist priest sighed helplessly, his straight back slumping. He turned to Shen Le and shook his head:

“I can’t read it. I can’t activate what’s inside—it’s there, but I can’t touch it…”

"Well, I was only able to see the memories related to it thanks to the copper plate and the porcelain sword." Shen Le, unable to help, could only throw out another matter to distract him:
"Oh, right, I also read about another skill here. You guys need flying swords, right?"

"lack!"

"Of course we need them!"

The special affairs officer couldn't resist sticking his head out and weaving between the two of them. Honestly, flying swords are desperately in short supply!

This thing is amazing! It's small, fast, and highly lethal, giving it an unparalleled advantage over drones in low-altitude penetration!
It can carry personnel and supplies and take off without being interfered with by EMP. It can also deliver targeted damage to things that modern technology cannot handle!
Whether it's the various sects cooperating with the Special Affairs Bureau or the people trained by the Special Affairs Bureau itself, they all hope to have enough flying swords to use!

In fact, the Special Affairs Bureau really hoped to develop a flying sword production line, just like they had developed a missile production line.

Unfortunately, it's impossible. Let alone a flying sword production line, even if it were handcrafted with spirit metal, it could only produce so-called "semi-flying swords," the kind that can only be used to fly a hundred steps at most.

What, does Shen Le have a new idea now?
"Well, this." Shen Le pulled out a porcelain sword and held it up to the two men. The Special Affairs Bureau officer's breath hitched, and his eyes lit up:

"Can this be mass-produced?"

Perhaps, it depends on whether the materials can be supplied. Shen Le smiled, but before she could answer, the old Taoist priest sighed:
"This..."

The moment the old Taoist saw the porcelain sword, the light in his eyes immediately went out.

They had tried this many times. When they were most in need of flying swords, they would even burn incense and pray, and then cut a flying sword from the porcelain tower to try to give to their younger disciples.

However, it still didn't work. Porcelain swords were too brittle and couldn't withstand enough force. In other words, they couldn't be used for attacking strong points and couldn't unleash sufficient offensive power.

That's fine, at worst we can use it as a practice sword for our disciples. But this porcelain sword is too difficult to control; it can't fly back and forth!
"Hey, what I made is different from what you have in stock here!" Shen Le patted his chest, taking full responsibility.

Based on his experience, the porcelain swords in the porcelain tower were at most made with the addition of some advanced hardware, and could only be attached to a fixed base to serve as a turret.

However, with the five metal elites added to five, the porcelain sword's maneuverability was no less than that of the metal flying sword he had handled before, and its spell passability was also perfect.

"Do you have any hardware experts? If so, I'll burn a batch for you to see. You'll believe it once you see the real thing!"

The old Taoist priest was still skeptical, and being stingy, he didn't want to try to access the resources. The special affairs officer had already jumped up and quickly went to make a phone call:
"Here's the thing, Mr. Shen said... to request a retrieval... let's give it a try! Okay, no problem! Leave it to me! I'll do my best!"

He turned around and looked at Shen Le eagerly, his cheeks flushing red as if his whole body was burning with excitement.

"Mr. Shen! One order of hardware premium products can be delivered today! What else do you need? Porcelain kiln? Porcelain clay? Various glazes? Do we need to go to Jingdezhen? I'll contact my colleagues right away!"

Well……

When you say you're contacting colleagues, you mean you're contacting that porcelain demon boss in Jingdezhen through your colleagues, right?
"Let's not." Shen Le frowned, tilted her head back, thought carefully for a moment, and then shook her head.

"Let's fire the Xing kiln pieces for this batch first. Once the formula is finalized and the results are verified, we can then consider whether we can use other formulas to fire flying swords—"

Although I find Dehua white porcelain the most pleasing to the eye, and the sweet white porcelain from the Yongle kiln and the white porcelain from the Ding kiln are also quite nice, I'd rather not take any risks for now..."

The important thing is, I only know how to fire Xing kiln ware! I don't know how to do anything else! What if I fire one kiln, and when I open it, 99% of it is cracked…

Even if the Special Affairs Bureau doesn't kill me, they'll at least put on a mournful face and cry their eyes out in front of me, right?

"By the way, the porcelain kiln is already in place... I'll have to ask you to inform the local Xing Kiln Research Institute about this..."

Yes, it's the ancient kiln that Shen Le dug up from the ground and personally restored.

When Shen Le stood in front of it, the faces of Professor Zhang, whom he had invited from the university to guide his research on porcelain, along with Professor Zhang's group of junior students and researchers from the local research institute, were quite interesting:

"Why are you here again?"

Didn't you say you weren't coming?

Didn't you say that we could use this ancient kiln to fire a batch of things, and then everything would be fine?

"Oh, I need to use it to cook something..."

Shen Le innocently pointed to the kiln entrance. Professor Zhang's lips moved slightly, but before he could speak, a researcher from a local research institute beside him eagerly interjected:

"Is this part of the evaluation?" "What evaluation?"

Shen Le looked bewildered. Professor Zhang was a mix of exasperation, amusement, and embarrassment. He pulled Shen Le aside and lowered his voice:

"You know this kiln site is an unearthed cultural relic, right? You know it needs to be protected, right?"

Shen Le nodded vigorously. Professor Zhang shrugged:

“We’ve already submitted the application! The process is halfway done! We received a notification that someone will be coming down today for on-site verification and evaluation…”

Then we can seal it up, put up a marker line around it, and erect a sign that reads "Protected Cultural Relic of a Certain Level," as the final result of this period of excavation and research.

As for this ancient kiln, half of it was recently restored, and a batch was fired just a few days ago. Let's all pretend nothing happened...

The teacher was from his own school, and he had invited him himself. Shen Le could only smile awkwardly, bowing and scraping to the teacher, while simultaneously giving the special affairs bureau guy next to him a meaningful look.

Seeing that his eyes were almost twitching, the deliveryman sighed helplessly, turned around, and went to the side to make a phone call.
"Well... Oh dear, the fact that it can be fired successfully means that this kiln is functional, which is a good thing!"

"The Cultural Heritage Protection Bureau? Doesn't the Cultural Heritage Protection Bureau often cooperate with us? Please, could you help coordinate this?"

Countless phone calls, voice messages, and WeChat messages are flying around in the void.

After Shen Le finished mixing the porcelain clay, prepared the porcelain blanks, and applied the glaze to the blanks of the forty-nine porcelain swords, the sound of brakes came from afar, and a group of people walked over with uneven steps.

The leader circled the entire site several times, examining the other two abandoned kilns, ash pits, house foundations, and so on. He then walked to the kiln entrance where Shen Le was working, put his hands behind his back, and remained silent.

Shen Le lowered his head and focused intently on the glazed porcelain swords. Silently, a row of porcelain swords floated up one after another and fell into the saggar.

With the lids of the saggers all closed, Shen Le breathed a sigh of relief, but when he turned his head, he froze instantly:
"Mr. Zheng! What brings you here!"

He sprang to his feet, like a startled tabby cat with its fur standing on end, instantly rising three feet in height before rushing over to help him up.

This guy is no ordinary person. By seniority, Shen Le should call him Grandmaster, and even then, it depends on whether the guy is willing to acknowledge him.

They probably won't pay any attention to him, since Shen Le isn't a direct disciple; he's only attended his students' classes.

Most importantly, the old man is ninety years old (by the traditional Chinese age reckoning)!
Ninety already!!!

Let alone going to Beijing, even if he goes to the neighboring school to give a lecture, the students driving have to be extra careful, for fear that a sudden stop might cause the old man to break a bone or something!
"Can I not come?"

The old man gave a soft hum, pulled away from Shen Le's supporting hand, and the few remaining strands of white hair swayed in the wind:
"I heard that there is a child in our school who is audacious and reckless. Not only did he repair the ancient kiln himself, but he also planned to use the repaired kiln to fire things—not just ordinary items!"

"If I don't come and see for myself, what if something bad happens? This is a thousand-year-old kiln!"

"You're right, thank you for coming to oversee things." Shen Le smiled broadly and followed the old man step by step to the kiln, serving him as he walked around the kiln and even crawling inside to take a look.

Seeing that the old man was about to start stacking the caskets, he quickly reached out and held them up.

"I'll do it! I'll do it! -- Mr. Zheng, please sit down and rest, I'll do it!"

"Then hurry up and get to work! Do you think I'll spew fire from my body to fire the kiln if you stay by my side?" the old professor ordered him bluntly.
"Hurry up, stop dawdling. I'm sitting here today, watching you fire this kiln before I leave! If you succeed, I'll approve it; if you ruin it, don't even think about it getting approved!"

isn't it...

Grandpa, how many days and nights are you planning to sit here...?

No, you're too old for that!
Shen Le was inwardly groaning, but he could only speed up the process, piling the saggars layer by layer, wall by wall, into the kiln.

Of course, only forty-nine porcelain swords were prepared for firing. The rest of the saggars and porcelain blanks were temporarily brought over from a nearby porcelain factory to make up the number and to avoid wasting too much of the flame inside...

Shen Le worked swiftly, sealing the kiln door, adding pine firewood, and lighting the kiln. The old man sat steadily, staring intently at the firelight inside the kiln, more composed than the students in the row behind him.

He wasn't surprised to see the saggar float up on its own, nor was he surprised to see a white porcelain bottle jump out of Shen Le's arms and leap into the kiln entrance as if it had grown legs. He didn't even turn his body to look at it.

Only after Shen Le sat cross-legged in front of the kiln entrance and exhaled a breath into the kiln, causing the fire inside to suddenly blaze brightly, did he let out a long sigh:
"I'm getting old..."

Shen Le really wanted to say a few words of advice to the old man: You are not old, you are not old at all. Now that you have embarked on the path of cultivation, you can turn back the clock at any time.

However, at this moment, he dared not be distracted. He unleashed his spiritual power, connecting countless threads to each porcelain flying sword within the kiln, sensing their changes:
As the porcelain blank is swept up by the flames, it is gradually dried out of the moisture, hardening and solidifying little by little.

He increased the flames to speed up the firing process, which meant he had to control the moisture inside to spread evenly and prevent the porcelain from cracking during firing.

As the temperature continued to rise, the metal elites happily absorbed the heat, especially the spiritual energy within it. At this point, they needed to be given sufficient power to allow the porcelain sword to "develop" completely.
When high-temperature gas passes over the porcelain glaze, the milky white, cloudy glaze undergoes a chemical reaction, transforming into a hard, semi-transparent glaze.

At this point, it is necessary to guide the five metal essences within to form a perfect network, enabling it to interact with the outside world, receive control signals, and absorb and release spiritual power...

He poured his heart and soul into mastering even a single porcelain sword, and when he was simultaneously manipulating forty-nine porcelain swords, fine beads of sweat quickly appeared on his forehead.

The white flames rose and fell three times, and a joyful chirping sound came from inside the kiln. Suddenly, a series of cracking sounds filled the air!
"It's burned out?!"

"No, it's fired." Shen Le looked up and smiled. A long white beam of light shot out from the chimney, circled the kiln three times, and landed in front of Shen Le like a swallow returning to its nest.

Shen Le gently spread his hands, and forty-nine flying swords, each about three inches long and as wide as a leek leaf, landed quietly in his palm, neatly stacked.

"Is that all?!" The special affairs officer rushed over:

"Mr. Shen, could you please fire a few more kilns?"

"This... Shall I write down the production process?" Shen Le bent down and reached out. From inside the kiln door, a beam of white light shot out, transforming into a small Xing kiln white porcelain bottle, which jumped into Shen Le's palm:

"Then, you go and talk to that person, ask for his help? The specific formula, the changes in the kiln, that..."

He tilted the porcelain bottle up and down:

"He knows everything!"

A thousand miles away, the porcelain demon, who was meditating in a secret realm, inexplicably shivered.

Who's trying to take advantage of me?
I'm made of porcelain, I have no wool to fleece!

(End of this chapter)