The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 586 Demons in the Sacred Lake, Sacred Beasts on the Snow Mountain?
The golden light slowly sank downwards. The sea of ​​blood beneath the lake seemed to have limited space and capacity; throwing in a pile of ammunition would burn it dry.
It seemed boundless and limitless, with golden light sinking down, unable to touch the bottom for a long time.

Shen Le remained lying on the grass, trying her best to touch and explore, but she only felt herself getting further and further away from that ray of golden light...

[Mr. Shen, how are you? Mr. Shen?]

A drone flew up beside him, buzzing and spinning, with cautious human voices emanating from it. Shen Le opened his eyes, filled with annoyance:
"This is bad. I can't find it... Where is that golden light? I feel it's something very important, something from the Central Plains..."

He struggled to sit up, frowning as he looked at the lake, hesitating whether to activate his water magic and jump in to search for it himself.

The drone turned to face him and continued their cautious discussion:

"Mr. Shen, would it be convenient for you to stay here for another day or two? We need to conduct a site survey and prepare a report and explanation regarding this operation..."

If Shen Le insists on leaving, or if he feels too tired or unwell, they will escort him down the mountain, and then everyone will go to his residence to inquire. The main focus is on door-to-door service, ensuring that no one makes a wasted trip!
Shen Le was very understanding and cooperative. After all, the Special Affairs Bureau, and the military, had provided full assistance this time.
Three large drones arrived, and I don't know how many smaller drones were released from their bellies.

As for the missiles and bombs dropped, forgive Shen Le for being military illiterate; he couldn't recognize a single one. He only knew that the cost of those munitions was enough for him to work for more than a hundred years when he was still a graduate student…

"Alright, you guys come on." He lazily stretched out his limbs and lay back down on the lake.

After a short pause, a group of palm-sized clay figurines emerged from the ground, growing taller in the wind until they reached the height of a person.

Two clay figurines carried the chaise longue over quickly, lifted Shen Le onto the chaise longue, and then turned and left.

Not far away, Huang Yutong opened the three-courtyard old house, its gates wide open, ready to welcome its owner...

Command Center: "..."

Should our drones follow or not?
Does this old house allow drones in?
Once inside, will communication be possible as usual?

Two secret service agents on the distant lakeshore: "..."

Thank you to the old house for bringing us from the shore to the snow-capped mountain and back. But could you give us a ride one last time?

The place we're standing where we are now is at least three to five kilometers away from where Shen Le is; if we were to go around along the lake shore, it might be more than ten kilometers...

We don't have a car yet!
Our off-road vehicle is still with Shen Le; it wasn't brought along with the old house!

This is such a long way, walking there would be deadly... and this is by a high-altitude lake!

By the time they finally reached Shen Le's side after overcoming numerous difficulties, a higher-ranking Special Affairs Bureau officer—or rather, a small team—had already arrived.

Then, the one in the lead stood a hundred meters away from Shen Le, staring at him in a daze:
"Mr. Shen...it's best for us to keep our distance from wild animals..."

"I know..." Shen Le shrugged. I also know that I should keep my distance from wild animals, not get close, not feed them, not pet them, and not harm them.

To avoid being harmed by wild animals, or contracting diseases through two-way transmission, or interfering with the animals' natural behavior, causing them to become dependent on human food and weakening their survival ability...

But now, it's this snow leopard walking around me, circling my feet, curling its tail around my legs, and rubbing its head against my palms...

It's not that I'm clinging to it!

Of course, no one can resist petting a big cat, especially when the big cat lets you pet it.

This is a snow leopard! A snow leopard! The king of the snow mountains! You can't just pet it whenever you want!

“Don’t be afraid, this snow leopard is intelligent. I suspect it’s almost become a demon.” Shen Le scratched the snow leopard’s chin, eliciting a contented purr in response.
"In fact, when that thing came out of the lake, a group of wild beasts around it assumed an angry, battle-ready stance, and it was the most resolute of them, fighting to the very end."

He patted the snow leopard's head, fed it a small red berry, and pointed into the distance. The snow leopard puffed and circled around him, refusing to leave. Shen Le had no choice but to give it a push and waved more resolutely into the distance:
"I have something to discuss with someone. You should go now! You should go home!"

The snow leopard simply lay down and didn't move, covering its ears with its two large, furry paws, looking as if to say, "I don't want to hear it, I don't know, I don't want to."

Shen Le sighed, changed direction, and pointed to the old house:
"Here's what we'll do: go to the back of the house and find a place to stay. Come back after they leave, okay?"

The snow leopard stood up abruptly, trotted over, and lay down by the wall of the old house. It raised its head, staring intently at Shen Le, as if afraid he would leave its sight…

Shen Le: "..."

After Lao You, another national champion is trying to take advantage of me, is he trying to get me to support him?

Wake up! There's no way I'm going to take you down from the plateau!
Special Affairs Bureau Team: "..."

We want to too!

We also want to be able to pet snow leopards!

Of course, apart from the two people who were working with Shen Le and encountered some difficulties, the work of everyone else was not neglected.

They were extremely busy, taking samples and testing them around the lake, and even sailing to the center of the lake to take and test them.

Another group of people was specifically responsible for questioning the two special agents, as well as the surrounding temples, all the monks and worshippers in the temples...

"We don't know anything!"

"They were having a lot of fun at first. Shen Le was sleeping by the lake and said he wanted to eat the fish from the lake when he woke up... If he had sensed something was wrong from the beginning, he wouldn't have eaten that fish, would he?"

"And then? Then Shen Le suddenly said there was something at the bottom of the lake, and started throwing fireballs into it..."

"We? We were prepared for defense...and then we suddenly passed out...When we woke up, we were on a snowy mountain, and two clay figures told us to call the station..."

The two young men looked utterly helpless. In front of them, the officer in charge of the questioning was recording the entire incident with a body camera, scribbling notes on a piece of paper as he did so.

For those choosing to accompany Shen Le on future trips, combat capabilities should be taken into consideration... at least they should be able to protect themselves in combat and not faint on the spot...

Fortunately, they didn't expect to get anything out of these two. The focus of their exploration of the Snowy Heavenly Lake remained on technological means, sending unmanned submersibles underwater to search for it.
"Lake water testing revealed an abnormal spiritual index!"

"We are comparing it with past records!"

"Samples taken from the lakeside silt revealed a significantly abnormal spiritual index... its nature was clearly biased towards darkness and bloodshed..."

"Lake bottom aquatic plant testing...fish testing..."

Shen Le waited by the lake all day, watching helplessly as they discovered numerous abnormalities during their examination.

The next day, an even larger group arrived at the lake. Several monks and Taoist priests got out of the vehicles and immediately began attaching oxygen cylinders and masks to themselves, without even having time to set up their talismans and ritual implements.
"Oh, it's someone I know." Shen Le couldn't help but laugh and stepped forward to greet him.

"Master Qingyue, how did we disturb you? What have you been busy with all this time?"

"Can I not come?" Master Qingyue stroked his white beard, his face full of worry.
"The day before yesterday, my junior brother urgently informed me that the immortal sword they were looking for suddenly flew out of the snowy mountain and headed in this direction."

Then yesterday I received news that a ray of golden light was fighting demons here, and I figured that was it… Sigh, so many of my fellow disciples and nephews have been searching diligently on the snowy mountain for a year, and it's all for nothing!”

Ah this...

Shen Le felt a pang of sympathy for them. Life on the snowy mountain was no easy feat; after all, humans weren't snow leopards, much less cunning ones. He could only try to comfort them:

"No matter what, searching in the lake is easier than searching in the ice crevices of the snow mountain. The lake is right here. As long as the Immortal Sword doesn't fly away again, we can just search the entire bottom of the lake, right?"

"Thank you for your kind words." Master Qingyue sighed. He took several deep breaths of oxygen and finally recovered, sitting cross-legged by the lake.

He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, gradually entering a meditative state. A clanging sound came from behind him, and a white light flew up from the sword box and plunged into the bottom of the lake.

Shen Le silently paid his respects to him for a while, then retreated to the entrance of the old house and sat down, abandoning his idea of ​​developing his own water magic technique and going down to search for treasure in person.

They've already put in so much effort, haven't they?

Flying swords should be able to attract each other, right?
A sect that can use flying swords should also have the ability to forge and repair flying swords, right?
The snow leopard strode lightly to him, rested its head on his lap, and continued to purr. Shen Le picked up a spirit fruit and fed it to the leopard, stroking its large head while absentmindedly thinking:

If it's confirmed that there really are demons at the bottom of this lake, then they really do need to be beaten up...

Otherwise, whether it's damaging the natural environment or destroying the sacred lake worshipped by the local people, it's not good, and we'll have to bear the responsibility...

By the way, what is the true form of that demon... that wisp of black energy?
"An unusual item has been found!"

In the distance, someone in the team operating the underwater robot suddenly shouted. In an instant, the crowd gathered around.

Shen Le jumped up and went over to look. On the screen, in the almost black and white underwater landscape, a huge curved line appeared. It was thick at the base, thin and sharp at the end, curving backward, with rows of horizontal ridges in front.

Even in the dim water, you could see drops of foul blood slowly seeping from the end of that curved point. Even as it spread with the water, it couldn't change from a dark reddish-black to a bright red...

"Measure the angle!"

"Length... 3.52 meters!" The operator was busy pressing buttons and moving the joystick for a while, and then a surprising number popped up on the screen:
"The root diameter is 0.3 meters, good heavens, that's about the size of a large bowl! The root... appears to be solid, but it's constantly dripping blood..."

"Preliminary tests on the blood samples show that they are similar in nature to the silt at the bottom of the lake, but with a higher energy index and a more sinister and bloody nature!"

"The bend is too sharp; the underwater robot cannot be transported. We need to request a transport ship to lift it!"

Immediately, a speedboat cut through the waves and headed towards its destination. The underwater robot searched near the bend and quickly made another noteworthy discovery:

"A tusk has been found... It is nearly 50 centimeters long! It is slightly curved and has a sharp end, consistent with the characteristics of a canine tooth!"

"We found another one... 15.8 centimeters long, with obvious signs of breakage at the front end. The base is similar to the fangs we found before, so it should be a pair!"

"They're packing it up; it'll be transported to the water together..."

The underwater robot thoroughly searched the area, turning over every 100 square meters, but found nothing else.

The moment the fangs and curved horns emerged from the water, the prayer beads beside the two monks simultaneously flew up, hovering in the air and shining brightly, surrounding their masters.
The snow leopard suddenly lunged forward, blocking Shen Le's path, and let out a low growl at the assault boat.

Even the sword light unleashed by Master Qingyue flew out on its own, casting a light curtain beside the assault boat, enveloping the entire vessel. Clearly, they were on extremely high alert and vigilance regarding those items.

Shen Le's heart skipped a beat, and he felt a strange palpitation. He rushed back to the old house, grabbed his helmet and shoulder blade, and pulled them out.
The helmet didn't react yet, but the shoulder guard was vibrating incessantly in his hand, and the lion's four turquoise eyes simultaneously emitted a strange light, as if about to roar!

"What is that? Is it a monster from the snow-capped mountains?"

Shen Le was stunned. He closed his eyes, communicated with the copper plate, and used the expanded spiritual power of the copper plate to cover the lake surface, touching the curved horns and fangs.

In the darkness, a roar reverberated through his mind, spreading to the farthest reaches of his consciousness.

At the same time, in the boundless, dried-up, dark area beneath the lake, a faint golden light flickered:
Not only did it shine, it also tried to float up a little, trying to echo Shen Le, or more precisely, the helmet's shoulder.

However, the golden light seemed to have exhausted itself. It only shone briefly before receding and sinking back down, drifting silently in the dark space.

Shen Le tried to call out to it, but to no avail; he tried to move it, but his spiritual energy was greedily sucked into that space and he couldn't even reach the golden light.

They tried to resonate with it and let it float over on its own, but the helmet and shoulder shield were already doing their best and couldn't provide much power to maintain the passage between them and the golden light...

Forget it, let's retreat first. Maybe once this armor is fully repaired and the summoned power is stronger, we can retrieve it?
Of course, if we really can't retrieve it, or if it's already been taken by Master Qingyue and the others, that's alright. If I get it, I'm lucky; if I lose it, it's fate...

Shen Le snapped out of his meditation, shook his arms and legs, and prepared to leave. Around him, the Special Affairs Bureau staff were all busy with their own tasks, each wishing they had eight arms.

Only the snow leopard was very dissatisfied, still pestering Shen Le and circling around, trying to trick him into eating more spirit fruits:
Although it is a carnivorous animal, the spiritual fruit is very good, extremely good, and has great benefits for it!

Being able to eat more and let this human pet its fur a few more times is no big deal!
"...Be good, I'm from the plains below, you're a snow leopard from the mountains, your future isn't with me." Shen Le was forced to find a comb and brush its fur from head to tail before she could coax it calmly.

"When you can transform into a human, come visit me again, okay? I'll definitely come see you when I have time to come here..."

After much coaxing, the snow leopard finally grunted a few times and ran off with light steps. Shen Le watched it run further and further away until it disappeared from his sight before turning back and packing all the luggage.
"I'm going back now. What exactly is that monster in the lake? Could you tell me about it later?"

"You must take good care of it. I suspect its remnant spirit is still outside. After the explosion, I felt a shadow rushing away into the distance..."

“We suspect it should be Dasemoru.” A man with gray hair, a stocky build, and wearing an ochre-red robe strode towards Shen Le, his face filled with worry.
"It was recorded in ancient texts; it was a ferocious beast of Tibet... The Tibetan kings revered it as a sacred beast."
That curved corner is part of its true form, enshrined in the royal court. Before the army goes to war, it is watered with the blood of prisoners of war, so that it can absorb enough blood and then it will bless the warriors…”

Ah, was there such a part back then? Shen Le searched her memory desperately, but couldn't recall ever seeing such a story—

Of course, this part did not appear in either Turquoise's or Wangdui's memories.

Seeing that Shen Le didn't believe him, the man waved for someone to bring a computer, quickly typed, and pulled up the data:

"It is said that it was fed by slaves in peacetime and nourished with the blood of prisoners in wartime. This long poem describes how it once revealed its true form at the summons of the great shaman, leading warriors to break through the Tang army's formation..."

Shen Le peeked at the screen, but couldn't figure it out. The script of the Tibetan Plateau is vastly different from Chinese characters, let alone the ancient Tibetan script. If it were placed in front of him, he wouldn't know whether it was writing or drawing.

There was nothing else to do but listen to the man continue:
"Because of the excessive killing and the need for too many slaves' blood offerings, Guru Padmasambhava forced it to sink into the Heavenly Lake by driving nine vajra daggers into the blood crystal on its forehead."

Ancient texts refer to it as the "Blood-Binding Lake Deity," while records from surrounding temples describe it as a manifestation of the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance…

Shen Le turned his head to look at the curved horn and fangs that were shrouded in sword light and were slowly moving towards the shore. He then recalled the golden immortal sword that had fought fiercely with it at the bottom of the lake and deeply doubted the reliability of the ancient texts.

What about the nine-pronged Vajra Peg?

What about the blood crystals on the forehead?

Where's the skull?!

Archaeological excavations rely on the artifacts unearthed to speak for themselves. Without artifacts as evidence, I won't fully believe stories alone!
So, with only one curved horn and one and a half fangs left, is it possible to recreate the appearance of this thing?
Curved horns and fangs are generally not found on the same animal; the former belongs to herbivores, while the latter belongs to carnivores. Of course, if it's a monster, then disregard what I said...

As the two were talking, several people gradually gathered around, and judging from their attire, they were all monks from the lakeside temple.

Hearing the man's account, the monks nodded repeatedly in agreement. The eldest monk chanted a Buddhist prayer and stepped forward, saying:
"Our temple stands by the lake, and one of our duties is to suppress and deliver this creature from its wrath. Unfortunately, our magical power was insufficient, allowing this demon to break free of its seal. It was only thanks to your help that we were able to severely injure it..."

This is mainly due to the bombs dropped by the government. Physical exorcism, strong light, high temperature, and flames are more effective than anything else.

Shen Le waved his hands repeatedly, about to speak, when the monk continued:

"Although the remnant soul of Dassermolu has escaped, it is powerless to cause harm for the time being. The human heart is a complex and multifaceted place, containing both good and evil. It will probably hide in some place where evils gather and slowly recover its strength."

"I wonder if Benefactor Shen would be willing to join us in traversing the plateau to search for its traces?"

"I...I don't think I'm very good at this...I'll get altitude sickness if I stay here too long..."

Shen Le decisively declined. The monk did not try to persuade her, nodded, and returned to the group of monks, where he sat cross-legged and began chanting sutras.

Shen Le breathed a sigh of relief and quickly took her leave:
"I'll be going now! I still have a lot of work to do! — Master Qingyue, I wish you all the best in finding the Immortal Sword and bringing it back safely! Your fellow disciples will finally be free from climbing snow-capped mountains!"

He tucked the old house and pen holder into his pocket, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and turned to run away. After running over a small hill, where the group was no longer visible, he steadied himself and connected with the earth's veins:
"go!"

The earth responded joyfully. On the plateau, the mountains were majestic, and the power of the earth's veins was exceptionally strong;

When they enveloped him and sent him away, the transmission was exceptionally fast, smooth, and over a very long distance.

Shen Le emerged from the earth's veins, took out his phone, and was surprised to find himself near the mouth of the Yangtze River, not far from his old house in Zhuxi Town.

The little ones cheered from their backpacks and pen holders; after a long journey, everyone was happy to be home.

Only the helmet and shoulder guards seemed displeased; the iron plates clanged, and the thin silver plates on the shoulder guards trembled. The two lions nervously flicked their manes, their green eyes gleaming more than half a foot wide.

"Okay, okay, I know!"

Shen Le had to appease them:
"I know you still have some companions missing! I'll help you find them! Let me take a shower and rest for a bit, and let everyone relax a bit too? -- No? Then hurry up and give me directions!"

After several reassurances, the two armor pieces finally quieted down.

Shen Le didn't bother to take a shower, change her clothes, or even fill her stomach. She rushed into the studio, found the most comfortable and quiet place for meditation, and sat down cross-legged.

Once the helmet is fastened to the forehead, the two shoulder straps automatically attach to the shoulders without needing tape or ropes.

Shen Le exclaimed "Huh!"
You've fixed it!

You've become more spiritual!

Good. This time, try your best to point me in the right direction, and be more accurate!
He slowly closed his eyes and sank into meditation. Soon, the copper sheet unfolded in his meditative world, revealing mountains and rivers.

A cluster of red dots, neither too big nor too small, spread out into a vast expanse in the far distance:
“One, two, three… the Tianshan Mountains, the Kunlun Mountains…”

Shen Le counted the direction of the mountain range, determining the location bit by bit:
"No way, are we really going to have to go into the desert this time! And it's so far away... It's only a tiny place on the map, but walking there on foot is at least several hundred kilometers! This is going to kill us!"

(End of this chapter)