The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 704 I became Li Shimin's personal porcelain craftsman?
In the eyes of the Xuanjia Army soldiers, the Battle of Hulao Pass was a resounding victory.

In the annals of history, the Battle of Hulao Pass was a crucial battle in Li Shimin's conquest of the empire.

In Shen Le's view, this battle... he personally witnessed Li Shimin, followed Li Shimin in a charge, and even saw two of the six steeds of Zhaoling. He made a huge profit!
Of course, what made it even more profitable was that he spent a whole day and night searching the battlefield and brought back several bags of elite hardware...

Well, although they are all blades, spearheads, and sword tips, and still need to be refined slowly, Shen Le estimated that the metal elites he had collected this time could easily be used to make hundreds of porcelain swords!
Shen Le happily shuttled between the battlefield and the fortress, without any concern for his safety. In this great battle, after Li Shimin led his troops and broke through Dou Jiande's army, the pursuit of the fleeing enemy began.
The large force pursued the enemy for a full thirty miles, beheading over three thousand and capturing fifty thousand. Such a long pursuit could not have been completed in just a few hours; it would have taken at least until late at night, and if it dragged on any longer, it would have been tomorrow.

During this time, the enemy forces were completely scattered. He could just wander around the battlefield, packing up any metal elites he saw, and no one would dare to attack him!
He traveled back and forth to the battlefield five or six times, each time going further and further, but unfortunately, he brought back less and less each time.

By the afternoon of the next day, after searching the entire battlefield, they had only brought back a small bag of fragments. Further searching wasn't impossible, but the cost-effectiveness was simply too low. Shen Le sighed and had no choice but to obediently continue playing the role of a battlefield medic.

When Li Shimin had finished gathering his troops, surveying the battlefield, briefly calculating the merits, and guarding the prisoners, he remembered to visit the two Taoist priests and saw that a certain place in the wounded soldiers' camp was crowded with people.

In the center of the crowd, a seemingly familiar voice, flustered and lacking confidence, shouted loudly:
"I don't know either... I really don't know much about it! Anyway, before you pull out the arrowhead, you clamp the vein on it with small pliers. If you don't have pliers, you press it down firmly. If you really can't press it down, you tie it with a strip of cloth..."

Then it's best not to pull it out forcefully, but to cut the muscle first... cut along the direction! Don't cut across! Cutting across will sever it! -- I really don't know! I really don't know the direction of the muscles! Why don't you just dissect a few cadavers and see..."

The volume and tone were completely incongruous. Li Shimin paused slightly, stopping his attendants who were about to shout, and found a slightly higher spot to take a look. Only then did he realize:

The place was packed with people, three or four layers deep. It was probably all the military doctors, as well as the wounded soldiers who could move and watch the spectacle, and the soldiers who brought the wounded soldiers there, all crammed together to watch the excitement.

In the center of the crowd, in front of the young Taoist priest who had once fought alongside him, lay a wounded soldier whose face was obscured. His armor had been removed, and two arrows were stuck in his shoulder.

The young Taoist priest held his hands up and down, waving them haphazardly.

"I really don't know how! The shoulder area is so complicated, with muscles, bones, and blood vessels. If you ask me to do it, this guy will be crippled! Someone who knows how, please!"

Li Shimin was both amused and annoyed. He waved his hand slightly, and his attendants immediately raised their voices, parted the crowd, and dragged Shen Le and his senior brother out of the crowd.

Shen Le's face and hands were covered in blood, his hair was disheveled, his robe was a mess, and he gave a haphazard bow.
"Your Highness!"

"Thank you both for helping to treat the wounded soldiers." Seeing his condition, Li Shimin's voice softened unconsciously, and he returned the greeting with a slight bow.
"Would you two like to have a chat once you've finished your work?"

Half a day later, after changing her clothes and washing her hands and face, Shen Le, who had finally managed to tidy herself up, sat down in front of Li Shimin with her senior brother, feeling a little nervous and awkward.

"...So you two are people from another world?"

This explains why the younger Taoist priest treated him so strangely. Li Shimin nodded secretly and continued listening:

"So, you two have come here for...?"

"Oh, actually it's to collect hardware elites." Lou Yun had an emergency discussion with Shen Le ever since he returned.

Following Shen Le's advice, and based on the judgment that "the King of Qin will definitely become emperor in the future, so if we don't tell the truth now, when will we?" he urgently sent a message to his sect via flying sword.

At this moment, he had already obtained authorization and was speaking fluently and confidently before the King of Qin, without the slightest hint of unease.

He recounted the whole story, and even Li Shimin, with his extensive knowledge, was somewhat stunned upon hearing such a long, almost bizarre tale:
"This trip down the mountain is to collect... the elite of the five metals," he glanced quickly at the mess of spearheads and sword blades in the corner of the tent, then casually looked away:

"To suppress... the gloomy energy, so that when mountains and rivers encounter great disasters, they will not breed a large number of fierce ghosts and evil demons?"

"Indeed." Lou Yun respectfully cupped his hands in greeting.
"If Your Highness does not believe us, we can use magic to let you see for yourself the accumulated malevolent energy on the battlefield, and then see the effect of suppression and neutralization. Your Highness?"

His Highness glanced to the side. Shen Le tried to put on a serious face, then nodded and cupped his hands in greeting.

"Yes! The porcelain tower used for suppression was made under my supervision. If Your Highness has the time, manpower, and a kiln, I can even fire a kiln on the spot to prove it to you!"

...There's no need to fire a kiln on-site. Li Shimin carefully observed the expressions of the two men before him and had roughly made his judgment:

They were telling the truth, or at least, the truth as they believed it to be. He smiled slightly, rose, and bowed slightly.

"In that case, we would like to trouble the two Taoist priests to use their skills. If they can soothe the earth's energy and allow the deceased to rest in peace, it would be a meritorious deed."

He strode out of the tent. Inside, Shen Le watched the curtain fall, and before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, his senior brother slapped him on the back.

"How can you speak like that? Speaking to His Highness the Prince of Qin, how dare you use 'you' and 'me' like that?!"

"Ah... Senior brother, I'm so nervous. When I get nervous, I really don't know what to say..."

In short, Li Shimin seemed to have truly taken their words to heart. The next day, a scholar dressed in a blue official robe, with a refined and scholarly air, entered their military tent with steady steps:
"I apologize for disturbing you two Taoist priests. My surname is Du and my given name is Ruhui. I am here on His Highness's orders to lead men to help you two Taoist priests to regulate the earth's energy and appease the souls of the dead."

Shen Le's eyes lit up:
Du Ruhui!
Du Ruhui, a famous minister of the early Tang Dynasty and one of the twenty-four meritorious ministers of Lingyan Pavilion, was known for his "Fang's planning and Du's decisiveness"!
With his help, collecting the five essential items would hardly require Lou Yun and Shen Le to risk their lives traversing the entire battlefield. Du Ruhui simply took out a map and spread it out in front of the two of them:
"In your opinion, how should the battlefield at Hulao Pass be pacified, and where should the 'Suppressing Evil Porcelain Pagoda' be erected?"

Lou Yun frowned as he stared at the map. To a general, the map might be detailed enough to allow them to direct and plan; but to him, the map was still too simplistic. Relying on the shapes of mountains and rivers, he couldn't figure out the direction of the earth's veins or deduce where the earthly evil spirits would accumulate.

—It seems I'll have to go through it myself, or fly up and get a bird's-eye view?
“Mr. Du, this matter needs to be handled in two steps.” Seeing that he didn’t speak, Shen Le pointed to the map and spoke first:
"Firstly, there is the battlefield of Hulao Pass and its surrounding area. With the great battle just over, the resentment of the dead and the evil aura left over from the battlefield are intertwined, making it easy for evil spirits to breed. Clearing out the elites of the five metals as soon as possible will deprive the evil aura of the weapons of war of its place, and the resentment will not be able to cause trouble."

Du Ruhui nodded:
"His Highness the King of Qin shares this concern. Battlefield cleanup and burial of the dead are common occurrences after major battles. As for the 'Five Metals Essence' that you two Daoists require... could we have someone prioritize collecting it and sending it to the furnace you specify?"

"It's fine as long as the goods are delivered. The Daoist sect has its own methods of smelting, so there's no need for a furnace." Lou Yun came back to his senses:
"By the way, I'll give you some talismans tomorrow for the soldiers to wear. They'll be able to point out directions when they encounter metalwork experts. This is important, so please accept my help!"

"Secondly, it involves firing porcelain towers and locating the earth's veins. My senior brother is skilled in geography, but as for porcelain kilns..."

"This is easy," Du Ruhui smiled confidently.

“There are official kilns within the pass, which mainly produce daily-use pottery, but the kilns are usable. I will immediately send someone to allocate the necessary materials and dispatch craftsmen to be at the Taoist priest’s beck and call.”

With the support of the King of Qin, even if it's just a small squad, the efficiency is completely different from what Shen Le used to do, scavenging for scraps on the battlefield.

The Qin King's soldiers, armed with specially made lodestones engraved with talismans or talismans hastily drawn by Lou Yun, searched carefully across the battlefield.

Instead, cartloads of broken swords, spears, arrowheads, and armor fragments were continuously transported back to the interior. Although most were destined to be recycled, a very small portion of them could be refined into the finest metals.

Silvery-white light shimmered from the scrap metal, merging into the porcelain jar in Lou Yun's hand, then poured out of the jar and into the porcelain blank that Shen Le was stirring.

When the official kilns were requisitioned, the craftsmen, under Shen Le's command, washed the porcelain clay, crushed the raw ore, mixed the glaze, and shaped the porcelain blanks day and night.

Another group of Taoist priests descended from the mountain, inscribing various magical formations on the porcelain blanks and sending them one by one into the kiln. Shen Le's task was to personally control each step, oversee the fire, and pray to heaven.

"You absolutely have to burn it... You absolutely have to burn it... Don't let it explode on the first try... Li Shimin is watching, give me some face..."

Perhaps Li Shimin's luck had reached its maximum, because Heaven actually gave him face. Although most of the porcelain pagodas were destroyed in the firing, one finished piece was finally successfully produced.

Lou Yun had traveled all over the mountains and rivers these past few days, and chose the area below Hulao Pass, a place where the mountains embraced the area and the water flowed in a swirling manner, a place where yin energy was particularly easy to gather, and placed the porcelain pagoda steadily.

His hands moved swiftly, channeling strands of true energy into the porcelain tower. Finally, the entire tower trembled violently, connecting with the earth's veins.
The tower light flickered, then dimmed, then lit up again. Shen Le activated his spiritual vision, focusing his inner energy in his eyes, and immediately let out a long sigh of relief:
Above the battlefield, the gray-black malevolent aura that had been spreading wildly and was invisible to ordinary people seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, converging towards the porcelain tower in wisps.

The runes on the tower lit up one by one. When the gray-black energy came into contact with the tower, it was like ice and snow meeting the warm sun. It was not forcibly dispelled, but was slowly melted and transformed by a gentle yet firm force, eventually turning into wisps of breeze that blended into the world.

At the same time, a faint, calming, and purifying aura quietly spread out from the porcelain pagoda.

Despite Shen Le's repeated requests, Li Shimin and the others did not approach, but stood a hundred paces away. Although he could not see the flow of spiritual energy, he could still sense some changes.

A gentle breeze swept by, and the fatigue from days of fighting and the tension from dealing with complicated matters after the battle seemed to be soothed by an invisible hand, allowing me to relax completely.

Around him, several scholars whispered amongst themselves, while two veteran generals, wounded on the battlefield of Hulao Pass, exclaimed in surprise:
“It works!”

"This stuff really works! My wound was itchy, and the icy coldness that had been lingering in my bones is starting to warm up now!"

"Master's wondrous methods have transformed misfortune into good fortune, a merit that benefits the nation." Li Shimin solemnly bowed to Lou Yun and Shen Le.
"In the future, I hope that you two Taoist priests will provide more assistance to the people of the world!"

Shen Le silently gave a thumbs up.

Someone helped me collect the hardware!

Someone is helping out in the firing of the porcelain tower!
With the help of the King of Qin, Shen Le's tower-building project quickly expanded to a wider area at ten times the speed.

The Battle of Luoyang, the sweeping away of Dou Jiande's remaining forces in Hebei, the campaign against Liu Heita...

Wherever a major battle broke out and soldiers clashed, Qin King's soldiers would carefully collect metal fragments from the battlefield remains after the battle.

These weapons, soaked in blood and imbued with the fiercest killing intent of the battlefield, were continuously sent to the rear to have their power extracted before being reforged.
Shen Le, on the other hand, buried himself in the kiln, iterating the process time and time again, trying to create larger, more, and stronger porcelain towers.

Meanwhile, the other disciples of the Taoist sect, carrying compasses and ancient swords, traversed famous mountains and rivers, observing celestial phenomena and examining the earth's veins.
Those key points where spiritual energy converges!
Those ancient battlefields they already knew about!

How many porcelain pagodas need to be placed around those ominous places that have accumulated too much yin energy and evil spirits due to war, natural disasters, man-made calamities, and mountainous terrain, so that they are prone to breeding evil spirits?
The perilousness of Mount Hua, the grandeur of Mount Song, the banks of the Yellow River, the shores of the Huai River... everywhere bears the footprints and marks of Taoist disciples.

The porcelain towers born from the kiln are placed at these crucial points, operating silently, absorbing the resentment accumulated in the mountains and rivers, the lingering grievances from the battlefield, and the gloom that arises from dynastic changes and the suffering of the people...

Absorb, disperse, suppress, lift, transform, eliminate.

"Once this batch of porcelain towers is fired, there will be enough for the Central Plains..."

Shen Le stretched languidly. Just as he was about to give himself a break, a gust of wind whistled outside, and a flying sword cleaved through the curtain, rushing towards him.
Strange events have occurred in Zhongnan Mountain!
(End of this chapter)