The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 709 Your mission is complete! Come with me, let's go into the sunlight!
Shen Le slowly opened her eyes. She looked left and right, then let out a long sigh:

He is back.

He's finally back.

His spiritual power spread out smoothly, covering the entire cliff and penetrating from top to bottom—he touched the small stone coffin in front of him, and this time he even penetrated the stone coffin and touched the armor and sword inside;

When spiritual energy descended into the cave, it touched the terracotta figures, armor, chariots, and flags inside. Although they had been exposed to the passage of time and weathered by the years, their original shapes could still be seen.
Having touched the old house he had placed inside the mountain, Huang Yutong even greeted him happily:

[I told you you were here! —They were all terrified!]

Haha, it's alright, it's alright, I'm really fine. Shen Le smiled, took one last deep look at the stone coffin in front of him, closed his eyes, and squatted down to press his hand to the ground.

The stone wall flowed like water, gently enveloping him and supporting him as he slowly descended to the ground, finally placing him safely in the cave below.

As soon as Shen Le landed, he took off running towards the old house and rushed inside:
"I'm here! I'm here! I'm alright!"

Suddenly, all the professors rushed forward. Shen Le's own mentor, Professor Han, stood up from the steps, turned around abruptly, and immediately clutched his back in pain.

Professor Guo, who had watched Shen Le disappear, rushed over, tripped on the steps, staggered forward two steps, and opened his arms to hug a pillar tightly.
The oldest professor, Meng, tried to push himself up by the chair armrests, but couldn't. He tried again, but his students quickly grabbed him and held him down.

"Old Meng, don't worry! Please sit and wait! Everyone's back! Everything's alright!"

Shen Le nodded vigorously to them. Waving and walking without stopping, she rushed into the side studio.

Several teachers rushed in after him and saw him standing in front of a large table, spreading out Xuan paper. Several silk skirts were quickly draped around him; some held inkstones, some dripped water, some ground ink, and some mixed pigments…

The professors who worked on textiles, metals, and woodwork didn't have time to complain, "This is also a case of adding fragrance to the room." They stepped back slowly with high steps and light footsteps.

After a few hushed conversations, two professors specializing in calligraphy and painting restoration hurried over, pushed through the crowd, and looked at the painting table:
"Shen Le, you..."

Shen Le frowned deeply. He raised his hand, made a stroke, thought for a moment; made another stroke, thought again. Judging from his expression, he either lacked confidence in what he was drawing, or he had very little confidence in his ability to control the brush…

After thinking for a moment, the woman in the flowing dress simply brought over her laptop and opened the image. The two professors quickly glanced at it; it was a portrait of the Six Steeds of Zhaoling—

A stone sculpture and a silk painting complement each other. It's a great pity that Yan Liben's manuscript was destroyed over time; what remains today is the work of Zhao Lin, a painter from the Jin Dynasty…

Shen Le would draw a few strokes, look up to recall, draw a few more, and look up again to recall. Professor Zhang, who had once taught him a little painting, couldn't help but speak up:
"Your brushwork is wrong! When painting warhorses in traditional Chinese painting, you shouldn't always think about sketching or the muscle and bone structure. You need to focus on the lines and the spirit!"

"Here, the brushstrokes should be drawn with iron wire... Here, the mane is flying, so the brushstrokes should be drawn with gossamer threads... Also, pay attention to the lifting, pressing, and turning of the brush tip..."

It's a pity that Shen Le's limited skills in traditional Chinese painting were barely enough to restore ancient paintings, and even those were of poor quality and extremely rare.

Even if he practiced traditional Chinese painting for another ten years, specializing in it, he still wouldn't have a chance to master something like the portraits of the Six Steeds of Zhaoling. But now, with Teacher Zhang teaching him step by step, his lines are twisted left and right—oh no!

It's getting worse and worse...

Shen Le was sweating. He calmed himself down and thought for a moment, then simply threw down the Xuan paper and brush, grabbed a drawing board and a pencil, and started scribbling notes.

He recorded what he saw on the battlefield: Qingzhui and Shifachi, their arrogant and self-important state;
Record their galloping hooves and their frantic advance across the battlefield;

Record how they looked at their owner with tender eyes as they lay dying, gazing at them until their very last moment...

Write it down, quickly write it down. Although he had drawn it many times in the Porcelain Tower's memory, and even tried to carve it in stone, those things couldn't be brought into reality—

We should take advantage of returning to the modern world, before the memories have completely faded, to record their most vivid and authentic appearance!
The pencil moved swiftly across the paper. After only a few strokes, Professor Zhang fell silent, watching intently.

Watching Shen Le's brushstrokes, first flowing smoothly, then hesitant, then scattered, and then flowing smoothly again, I couldn't help but mutter to myself:
"You drew them so well, it's as if I've actually seen these two horses before..."

Shen Le didn't dare utter a sound, nor did he dare nod in agreement to show that he had indeed seen it. The two professors watched for a while, exchanged a glance, and each spread out a large sheet of paper, beginning to wield their brushes:
Based on Shen Le's pencil sketch, I imagined and copied it, and used the brushstrokes of the Tang Dynasty to draw those galloping horses.

One was done with ink wash, the other with meticulous brushwork and vibrant colors. After finishing the original painting, they carefully redrawn a version in the style of the line drawings of the Six Steeds of Zhaoling...

Shen Le buried himself in drawing for two or three hours, finally managing to recreate the scenes from his memory, one by one. As soon as he put down his pen, Teacher Zhang pulled him over to look:

"Look, if we were to depict these lines in traditional Chinese painting, the brushstrokes would look like this... here... here... here..."

"Old Zhang, wait a minute!"

Shouts immediately rang out at the studio entrance. Shen Le turned his head and saw Professor Guo, who had previously guided him in repairing the grand carriage and watched him disappear, rushing over in a panic.

"Let's get things arranged outside first! What should we do with those cultural relics? Which ones should be taken out in the first batch, and which ones should be left for later? Let's make a plan first!"

Professor Zhang regretfully lowered his hand. Shen Le looked apologetic and quickly came out. The professors had already finished eating and drinking, and the students were busy cleaning up the dishes with the girls in their skirts and the clay figurines.

Clearly, while Shen Le was engrossed in painting, the house was still functioning normally. The little creatures inside were even able to entertain guests, ensuring they weren't hungry, thirsty, or tired...

Even so, none of the professors were so carefree as to fall asleep at this point. As soon as Shen Le came out, they all put down what they were doing, stared at him, but remained silent.

Shen Le bowed slightly to them, gave a broad smile, and strode towards the Special Affairs Bureau personnel at the edge of the hall:

"Is such that……"

He pulled the group into a small room next door, where he explained the structure of the sealing formation within the mountain wall to them, drawing diagrams and gesturing. He concluded earnestly:
"My personal suggestion is that we shouldn't touch the core protective object hidden in the mountainside—we don't have anything to replace it for now. We can try moving the artifacts in the cave, but we must be very careful, communicate thoroughly, and proceed slowly. It's best not to touch the military tally; although it has escaped outside, I can't be sure what would happen if we took it..."

Several low-level staff members, whose sole purpose was to collect data and ensure the experts' safety, and who had absolutely no decision-making power, could only nod repeatedly. After nodding, they offered a distressed suggestion:
"Mr. Shen, why don't we go out first? We can submit a report to our superiors, request the expert group to discuss it, make a decision, and then implement it gradually later? — You shouldn't be in a hurry, right?"

It seemed that this was the only way. Shen Le shrugged, spread his hands, readily agreed, and went out to communicate with the professors.

Using the Special Affairs Bureau's name as a shield, he barely managed to get the professors' approval. Then, he went out alone, packed up the old house, and ran out of the cave with the old house bracelet in his hand.

Emerging from the pool and stepping onto the shore, they released two special agents who drove at breakneck speed back to Chang'an.

Meeting!
Meeting!
A joint meeting of cultural heritage experts and special affairs bureau personnel was convened!
Shen Le couldn't help with the meeting. He explained the situation and his opinions, handed over all the photos and videos taken in the cave, withdrew, and headed straight to Jingdezhen.

While the experts on both sides were arguing fiercely, Shen Le buried himself in sifting porcelain clay, mixing glazes, carving porcelain blanks, and firing the porcelain in the kiln.

Twelve porcelain towers were fired in one go, and the formation was carefully carved and arranged layer by layer according to the Twelve Yuan Chen Formation.

After the commotion in Chang'an subsided, when people came to ask, "What if the mountains shake and the earth trembles if we move the cultural relics?" Shen Le confidently pointed to the porcelain pagodas:

"They form a magic array that can temporarily suppress misfortune, connect with the earth's veins, and allow the protective objects within the mountain walls to function. Why don't we give it a try first?"

"Let's give it a try." The twelve porcelain towers were moved to the mountaintop. Shen Le stood in the center of the circle, silently extending his spiritual power to connect with them. Surrounded by a group of Special Affairs Bureau personnel and equipment, he softly shouted:
"rise!"

All the runes on the tower were activated. The twelve porcelain towers simultaneously sank downwards, penetrating half an inch into the rock. Then, a light black mist climbed upwards along the tower's body, penetrating deep into the interior of the seven-story porcelain tower.

Sword light intertwined, slicing through the condensed black haze. Layers of array lights lit up, decomposing, filtering, and lifting the mist upwards.

The fog changed color from dark to light, from heavy and murky to clear and transparent, and finally, it rose gently from the top of the tower, only to disappear when the sunlight shone on it.

"Outside the circle, A1 point spiritual power index 75! Spiritual power nature: Yin and filth!"

“Outside the circle, point A2…63…”

“A3 point…81…”

"First floor of Tower 1, spiritual energy index... 376! Spiritual energy nature: Yin and filth, wait, Yang!"

"The first floor at the base of Tower 2..."

"Tower 3..."

"Seventh floor of Tower 12..."

The Special Affairs Bureau personnel present held long probes, continuously measuring and reporting the numbers. Finally, when the smoke readings from the top of the tower dropped to single digits, smiles appeared on everyone's faces.

"This is amazing!" The head of the Special Affairs Bureau of Chang'an City personally led a team to participate in the evaluation. At this moment, he stepped forward and firmly grasped Shen Le's hands:

"Can this porcelain tower operate automatically? Can it be mass-produced? Even if it has to be done manually, hand-rolled, we need to order a batch first, twenty-four in total—there's too much filth in the warehouse! And too many strange things happening in the warehouse!"

Shen Le's vision went black. Twenty-four seats?
Chang'an needs 24 capitals, and Beiman will certainly not lag behind. Next, guess how many capitals the capital will have? How many will the capital city have?
"Well, I'll share the process with Jingdezhen later, and you can communicate with Mr. Zhao?" He gave a weak smile.

"Since we're already here, let's deal with the artifacts in the cave first?"

Having already witnessed the sealing effect of the Porcelain Tower, the Special Affairs Bureau naturally had no problem. At the director's command, someone immediately closed the sluice gate upstream of the pool, cutting off the water flow and preventing any more water from entering the pool.
Someone pressed the water pump button by the pool, and with a loud bang, the water level in the pool gradually dropped until it reached the bottom.

Only after reaching this stage did people drive piles and lay treads, creating a sufficiently wide path leading to the pool at the bottom. The bureau chief personally bent down and entered the cave, carefully examining the artifacts inside, his face filled with amazement:
"This...this is truly astonishing, unbelievable...If these cultural relics can see the light of day again, they could fill a huge gap in our country's cultural heritage!"

As for whether it was filling a historical gap, a gap in archaeology or cultural relics, or a gap in the Special Affairs Bureau's magical artifacts, he didn't say, and Shen Le didn't ask either.

Several young men from the Special Affairs Bureau had already come in, carrying in pieces of porcelain pagodas that had been cut off along with the top of the cliff. Following Shen Le's instructions, they placed them inside the cave.
Six were placed into the various small holes, and six into the outer hall, their positions carefully adjusted. After reactivating them, Shen Le slowly walked to the terracotta warriors holding spears and softly offered a prayer:
"Your mission is complete... The calamity of the heavenly rift in Zhongnan Mountain has been sealed off by something else; you can rest now..."

"If you are willing, if you want to see the light of day again, if you want the story of Princess Pingyang Zhao to be known by all, can you come out with me and stand in the sunlight?"

He prayed once, twice, three times, but the terracotta figures remained motionless, only the glaze on their bodies reflecting a cold, icy light.

Shen Le pondered for a moment, then asked the special affairs bureau officer for the half of the tiger tally that had been captured in the mountains and was firmly sealed, and held it above his head:
"Your mission is over! Someone has come to replace you! — Come with me! Come out with me!"

A series of clicking sounds rang out. The terracotta figures marched forward in unison, grabbing their weapons and forming a line as the Special Affairs Bureau personnel dodged in panic.

A chilling aura shot straight to his throat. Shen Le's heart pounded wildly. He gritted his teeth, unleashed his mental power, and connected with the other half of the military talisman hidden in the mountain wall above:

"Military order!"

Click—thump!

The sound of clay boots clattering and horses' hooves thundering echoed in perfect unison. Shen Le raised the military tally:
"Come with me! Let's go out into the sunlight, and let the world know the fame of Princess Pingyang!"

Dozens of Special Affairs Bureau staff stood in a row against the wall, watching helplessly as the terracotta figures rode horses, persistently playing drums and leading the grand carriage step by step into—the entrance to Shen Le's ancient mansion...

(End of this chapter)