The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 729 Shen Le: ...Is what I'm looking for your old house?
When in doubt, ask Baidu—oh no, asking Baidu is useless here. In terms of professional knowledge, Baidu is completely unreliable.

Shen Le decisively logged onto the school's intranet and connected to the database. The archaeology and cultural relic restoration major had built a huge database, categorizing and stuffing all the cultural relics that teachers and students had repaired, excavated, and collected from museums around the world into it.

Shen Le skillfully opened the "Ancient Architecture" and "Houses" categories and quickly browsed through them.

Well, there isn't anything like it. It seems his expertise didn't lie to him; this thing really isn't used for house exteriors.

Shen Le thought for a moment, then opened the "Pottery" category and searched for it bit by bit. After the Tang Dynasty, porcelain became very popular, and pottery was basically no longer considered presentable, so there was no need to look at it;
Before the Tang Dynasty, especially during the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, pottery was still very popular, producing many highly artistic and imaginative items.

Shen Le scrolled through the images in the database, then held up the unidentified object in his hand and compared it to the edge of the screen:

"It should be a funerary object? I just don't know if it's a pottery house or a pottery jar... Tsk, there's only such a small piece left, where am I supposed to find the other parts?"

Do we have to go back to Xuanyuan again to ask which water demon gave him this thing and where he found it?
Oh, and we still have to hope that before he finds it back, the demon involved doesn't suddenly die, or get eaten by someone...

Shen Le handed over the task of researching to Qingdeng, asking him to help find out who had obtained the pottery fragment, while he continued to work diligently on his research.

Once most of the sand and soil have been removed from pottery fragments buried on the seabed, leaving only the material directly adhering to their surface, they cannot be cleaned with wooden skewers.

The wooden skewers weren't strong enough and were too thick to precisely remove the gravel from the pottery surface. Shen Le switched to a scalpel, steadied the pottery block, and carefully began to work:
Thin wisps of silver light danced at his fingertips. With the practitioner's precise control over his muscles and limbs, and guided by his mental power, the scalpel moved with incredible precision, cutting into the clay block with impeccable thickness, its movement ceaseless.

Cut into the gap between the clay block and the gravel, along the uneven lines of the clay block, sand, sand, sand, sand, cut one slice after another, with gravel falling continuously.

Once all the larger pieces of sand that could be removed with a scalpel had fallen, Shen Le changed the water tank, filled it with deionized water, and gently placed the ceramic block into the water.

Insert the ultrasonic probe, turn it on, and use ultrasonic waves of a given power to vibrate the water, shaking off the fine sand and dirt on the ceramic blocks:

"Tsk, the equipment in the lab is still too little... If only we had a micro-nano cleaning device, that would be perfect for cleaning the dirt off salvaged porcelain!"

Unfortunately, the space in the old house was still limited, and it was impossible to equip it with a set of all the instruments and equipment that Shen Le could think of.

Shen Le hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should have Yun Kun quickly teleport back along the water vein to the old house in Zhuxi Town, or borrow equipment from the South China Sea Shipwreck Museum to clean these things, or give up:

Well, it's not easy for the little ones to come out and play. It's not easy for the staff of the Special Affairs Bureau to take turns to establish contact with the local sea monsters.

He simply works a little slower and relies more on his own hands instead of leaving the work to the machines.

That's alright. Anyway, this ceramic block has been soaking on the seabed for who knows how many years. The instruments show that its salt content is too high, so it needs to be soaked in deionized water to slowly desalinate it...

Shen Le calmly and slowly went about her work, drifting forward with the ocean current, letting Yun Kun follow the predetermined route.

They drove straight to the shore, and just as the natural barrier turned a corner, heading directly towards land, Shen Le retrieved a small piece of pottery from the water, which had been partially desalinated, and held it in his hand:
After a period of cleaning and restoration, the shape of this pottery block is now basically visible.

Below is a slightly wavy piece of pottery, or more precisely, a roof slab—

The maker carefully made small pieces of tile, stacked them together, just like a miniature roof.
On the roof stood a very strange-looking animal. It was fat and looked a bit like a domestic animal, with scales on its body, but it had wings on both sides. It didn't quite fit into any animal category.

Shen Le searched through all the pictures in the database, but couldn't find a match. He could only categorize them as "the unique creativity of ancient craftsmen".

In any case, the tomb guardian beasts in Tang tri-color pottery are all unique in their own way, and defining them as some kind of divine beast or magical beast is quite difficult...

Shen Le held the pottery block, closed his eyes, and slowly began to meditate. The pottery block was not yet fully repaired; its porous texture had absorbed more water and salt than salvaged porcelain, and the salt was far from being completely removed.
There is some surface damage from bumps and knocks, and several internal cracks. It should be properly repaired after the salt has evaporated.

Fortunately, after initial cleaning and purification, its spirituality has been slightly enhanced, allowing it to resonate somewhat with Shen Le's spiritual power.

"Most importantly, I'm much stronger than before, and the copper plate is much stronger too... It's so much stronger than when I found Lan Zhuang. It should be able to guide me..."

Shen Le carefully released an extremely fine wisp of spiritual energy, slowly placing it on the pottery block and enveloping it.

Then, using your own mental energy, "feed" it little by little, allowing it to grow slightly stronger, and then guide its power onto the copper sheet.

At this moment, the copper sheet, responding to Shen Le's thoughts, quietly unfolded, revealing a huge map of China. Shen Le focused the power of the ceramic block onto the copper sheet, his mind lingering:
“Come, tell me, where are your other parts, your other fragments…”

At first, there was no reaction. The clay block remained motionless, its aura heavy, as if it had not yet awakened, or as if it were too weak, like a firefly before the bright moon in front of the bronze sheet, and dared not unfold itself.

After being nurtured by Shen Le for a long time, it suddenly lit up, igniting a tiny, faint dot on the bronze map. Then, it quietly radiated outwards in concentric circles:

"No……"

"No……"

"still none……"

Shen Le wasn't disappointed. He was practically in the Middle East now, quite far from the core areas of China, so it was normal that he couldn't find it.

Back then, when he was searching for the various components of Lanzhuang, the first time he could only locate it from Shanghai to Lin'an, which was only a few hundred kilometers away.

The second time, the location was traced northwards from Shanghai, and it wasn't even certain that the target was in Beijing; they just searched all the way there...

"Alright, Yun Kun, you slowly walk back to the South China Sea Shipwreck Museum and wait for me." Shen Le stood up and slowly walked towards the bow of the ship.

"No need to rush. I'll go over there and borrow some equipment to thoroughly clean and refine this fragment of the artifact. You protect those guys from the Special Affairs Bureau as they carry out their mission, and then we'll meet up and see where we go next!"

Wait! Take me with you!

Qingdeng shouted impatiently. Immediately afterwards, a cacophony of screams erupted around him:
Take me with you!

"Take me with you!" "Me too! Where will you stay if you don't take me?"

Shen Le couldn't help but smile. He stretched out his hand, and a flowing dress appeared, carrying Shen Le's usual backpack, and presented it to her.

The green lamp jumped into the bag on its own initiative, and then, with a swirling skirt and a gentle breeze, it disappeared into the old house.

The children split into two groups: those who followed the boat continued on the boat, while those who followed Shen Le went to the old house to meet up.

Finally, Huang Yutong transformed into a jade bead the size of a die, flew up on its own, and hung on the beaded string on Shen Le's wrist:

[Let's go! We can move now!]

Shen Le smiled and waved goodbye to Yun Kun, Cita, Li Xingtang, Lanzhuang Compass, and the other members of the Special Affairs Bureau on the ship.

He stepped off the bow of the ship and onto the shore. With a slight concentration, his spiritual power connected with heaven and earth, linking with the nearby earth's ley lines:

Very good. Nearby, there is an exceptionally majestic and magnificent mountain range that stretches from the highest peak on Earth all the way to the sea.

The earth's energy is exceptionally abundant and has not been disturbed much—probably because the nearby humans are too poor to develop it much and thus cannot be disturbed—allowing one to travel quickly along the earth's veins!
He lowered his eyes slightly, his body sank down, and he disappeared into the ground. Soon, he felt countless gentle, large hands lifting him up and rapidly carrying him northward, upward.
gone!

Come back home!

The speed of earth vein teleportation is no slower than that of Yun Kun's teleportation via water veins, and is even much faster.

Shen Le guessed that perhaps it was because he had been constantly repairing the damaged parts of the barrier between heaven and earth along the way that his relationship with this world had become closer.

In short, not long after he began his journey, he felt the earth's energy around him becoming increasingly thick and solid, carrying an ancient and unchanging sense of vastness and remoteness, looking down upon all living beings.

Shen Le emerged from underground, pulled out his phone, glanced at it, and immediately squeezed his eyes shut.
"No way, we've already reached the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau so quickly..."

Indeed, it was the foremost of China's dragon veins, the summit of Kunlun. Shen Le carefully sensed this immense power, paying particular attention to whether any surrounding barriers were damaged, before quickly heading east and south along the earth's veins.

I rushed all the way to the vicinity of the South China Sea Shipwreck Museum before finally pulling out my phone and dialing a second time:

"Hello? Is this Teacher Li? This is Shen Le... Yes, yes, I recently got something new and I'd like to borrow your equipment to fix it, is that alright...?"

What Shen Le wanted to borrow, of course, were the micro-nano cleaning device and the supercritical CO2 fluid extraction vessel. Fortunately, the extraction vessel wasn't used much, so it was quite easy to make room for him to use it for a few days.
Although the micro-nano cleaning device will be used continuously—hundreds of thousands of cultural relics were salvaged from the South China Sea shipwreck, and teachers and students worked day and night, it would take decades to complete the restoration.

However, having too many cultural relics means there's no rush for any of them, and there are quite a few cleaning machines available. It would be convenient to spare one for Shen Le.

When he was brought to the museum from the foot of the mountain, which is connected to the earth's veins, all the necessary instruments were already available.

Shen Le used a cleaning device to clean the ceramic block again, removing the fine sand and adhesive residue from the surface, and then sent it into the extraction vessel.

This thing was originally used to dehydrate waterlogged wooden artifacts, but it is also very effective at desalinating and dechlorinating.

With the help of a PhD student specializing in this area, who personally set the reaction temperature, pressure, flow rate, and drying time, satisfactory results were achieved in just six hours.

"Senior brother, senior brother, thank you!"

Shen Le didn't even need to open the extraction vessel lid to feel the vitality of the ceramic block; it was completely transformed. He thanked them profusely, then took out a pearl pendant and handed it over.
"Senior brother, this is just a small token of my appreciation—"

"No, no, no! I don't have a girlfriend..."

The doctoral student shook his hands wildly. Shen Le laughed and forcefully shoved the pendant into his hand:
"Senior brother, you can wear this yourself. It's fine. If something like what happened last time happens again, ordinary little things won't be able to get close to you. I've been running around a lot lately, so if there's a real problem, they might not be able to shake me."

Ah this...

Recalling the last time a black fog swept through the museum, with ghostly figures looming overhead, and everyone had to flee the museum, only managing to resolve the situation thanks to Shen Le's intervention, the doctoral student shuddered.

He took the pendant, carefully put it in his pocket, pressed it twice to make sure it wouldn't disappear, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony. Last time was truly terrifying. If you ever need my help, just come anytime. I'll help you with calculations and adjustments!"

Shen Le smiled slightly. He retrieved the pottery block, saw his doctoral senior brother out, closed the door in the quiet room, sat upright, and entered meditation again.

This time, the clay block's inspiration was much more lively, quickly reflected on the bronze map, and the resonance gently rippled outwards in rings.

In a short while, the scattered dots on the map were replaced by a patch of tiny bright spots:

Half of it is at sea, and half of it is on land.

"This means I have to go to Taiwan... I wonder what the Special Affairs Bureau will say, will they waile and tell me not to cause any trouble..."

Shen Le muttered to himself as he continued to sense the map. The bronze map had countless advantages, but it also had one drawback:
It's just a two-dimensional map; it doesn't show height or depth. If you encounter a 3D city like Chongqing, or something with high mountains, caves, or deep seas, finding something there will be incredibly difficult.
How deep do I have to dive to find this thing?
Fortunately, Yun Kun had already sailed nearby and was floating at sea waiting for orders. Shen Le made a phone call, and Yun Kun immediately rushed over, picked up the person, and left.

Following the markings on the bronze map, they headed straight there and soon arrived near the mirage. Around Dragon Gate, several powerful demons were still there, gathered together, absorbing spiritual energy. Seeing Shen Le return, they happily approached to inquire:

"...Are you looking for the previous owner of this item? To ask him where he found it? No problem, please wait a moment, you'll definitely get back to me within a day!"

It didn't even take a day; that very evening, a sudden splash came from the side of the boat as a giant octopus emerged, wrapped around a large crab.

The crab, carrying half a dilapidated large jar on its back, eagerly exclaimed as soon as it emerged:
"That was my old house. I grew up and stopped using it! If the adults are interested, I'll go look for it again and dig up anything similar!"

(End of this chapter)