The deeper the water, the blurrier and more distant the objects at the bottom appeared. If a pool was so clear that even the very bottom could be seen perfectly, it was either because the water was truly shallow, or because the water was so pure that it distorted one's vision, making the actual depth much greater than what met the eye.
She picked up a walnut-sized pebble from the ground, held it in her hand, and let it drop.
The pebble entered the water with a tiny splash, making a soft plop before sinking. She counted the seconds, and it took nearly twice as long as she had expected for the stone to hit the bottom.
This pool was at least three to four zhang deep, which was a full fifty percent deeper than her visual estimate. In that case, something might indeed be hidden down there.
Lin Zhiyue clenched the Soul Jade Plaque tightly in her palm and touched the Dragon-Riding Dreamscape set stored in her earring. If there really was something under the water, putting on the full set would at least provide an extra layer of protection.
She took a deep breath, cast a simple Breath-Holding Technique on herself, and leapt off the edge of the cliff.
The sound of her entry was muffled and light as the icy water instantly enveloped her entire body.
She swam deeper with her eyes open. The light underwater was brighter than she had anticipated, with the sunlight filtering through the cracks in the stone walls dispersing into hazy green shadows in the deep water.
When she reached the deepest part of the pool's center, the warmth in her chest suddenly throbbed, as if she had finally drawn close to her target.
She paused and hovered in the water, looking around. There was nothing but stone walls, pebbles, and water grass.
She did not rush to float back up, instead remaining calm and observing her surroundings.
This pool did not look naturally formed. A landscape carved by running water over many years would inevitably have smooth, winding edges, but the walls of this pool were straight and the cuts were neat. It was clearly man-made.
The four walls of the pool were entirely flat, except for a single protrusion jutting out in the southeast direction.
The protrusion was small, embedded in the flat surface like an unpolished leftover fragment. Unless one looked closely, anyone would assume it was just a natural ripple in the rock face.
Lin Zhiyue reached out and touched the protrusion before her.
The moment her fingertips brushed against it, an extremely faint ripple of spiritual energy leaked out from the stone crevice.
Lin Zhiyue's heart skipped a beat.
She channeled her spiritual energy inside to gently probe it. The camouflage on the stone surface shattered like a bubble, revealing a palm-sized hidden niche behind it.
Lying inside the niche was a completely pitch-black stone with faint silver patterns on its surface. It felt slightly warm to the touch, like a sleeping ore.
She took the black stone out and gripped it in her palm. The warmth in her chest instantly subsided, returning to tranquility as if it had finally fulfilled its mission.
She did not have time to examine it closely. She stored the black stone in her earring, kicked her legs, and floated up toward the surface.
The sound of her breaking the surface rippled across the pool. She clung to the rocks on the bank and gasped for air, her wet hair plastered to her forehead as cold water droplets trickled down her chin.
She glanced down at the black stone resting in her spatial storage. Its silver patterns glowed faintly in the darkness before dimming again.
She climbed onto the bank, wrung out her soaked hair, and sat by the edge of the cliff to catch her breath.
Rubbing the residual warmth of the pool's water from her fingertips, she did not rush to investigate what the stone actually was, choosing instead to settle it safely in her space.
By the time she returned to the outside of the mountain valley and stepped back onto the gravel path, the setting sun was already sinking behind the mountains.
She retraced her steps. The damp soil from the pool's edge clung to her boots, and a section of her wet hem stuck to her legs. She looked a bit disheveled, but a slight smile played on her lips.
As Lin Zhiyue walked back along the path she had come, the sky had already grown mostly dark.
There was no true night in the secret realm, but the light in the sky would dim with the hours. The grayish-blue canopy overhead seemed to be covered by a thin veil, casting a soft, dark hue over the surrounding vegetation and rocks.
She walked for nearly an hour before she spotted the firelight of the camp in the distance. Several disciples who had returned early had already started a campfire, and Chu Zhixun's loud voice could be heard from far away.
As she walked into the camp, Cen Xi'er was the first to spot her. Her gaze lingered on her mostly wet hem and her hair, which still had water droplets clinging to her temples. Frowning, she asked, “Did you fall into the water?”
“I found a pool and washed my face,” Lin Zhiyue replied, keeping a straight face. “The weather was too hot.” The moment the words left her mouth, she suddenly remembered something. With a flick of her fingers, she silently cast a Cleansing Technique.
She then smiled at her senior sister with some embarrassment. She had actually forgotten about that, causing unnecessary worry.
Cen Xi'er looked at her lips, which were slightly pale from the cold, and said, “Don't catch a cold.”
Lin Zhiyue found a rock near the campfire and sat down to warm herself. The flames licked the firewood with a soft crackle, and warmth gradually crept up from the soles of her feet, slowly easing her limbs, which had grown stiff from the cold water.
Once the other disciples had returned one after another, the crowd gathered around the campfire to sort through their harvest. Some had picked a large handful of spiritual mushrooms, some had dug up several decent-quality red ginseng, and Chu Zhixun returned carrying a half-man-tall raw spiritual ore, dropping it to the ground with a loud clang that kicked up a cloud of dust.
Lin Zhiyue did not immediately bring out her items for others to see.
Sitting at the edge of the campfire, she took advantage of the dim firelight and everyone's busy distractions to quietly retrieve the black stone from her space and examine it closely.
The stone was slightly smaller than an adult's fist, pitch-black like ink, and cast a very dim, matte sheen under the firelight.
The most eye-catching feature was the intersecting silver patterns on the surface, covering the entire stone like a dense spiderweb. The lines of the patterns were fine and even, each carrying an introverted spiritual energy. It felt much heavier than an ordinary stone in her palm, yet its texture was warm and gentle.
She turned it over several times. When the firelight illuminated the silver patterns, there seemed to be a faint light flowing deep within them, so fast that it felt like an illusion.
She could not tell what it was.
It did not resemble any of the ores she had seen in the Tiance Palace Spiritual Herb Encyclopedia, nor did it match any of the spiritual materials recorded in the jade slips.
However, the moment she took out the black stone, the system screen popped up with a notification: 【Secret Realm Exploration Quest completed! The value of the collected resources far exceeds the standard of five hundred low-grade spirit stones, determined as over-completion. Rewards have been distributed: Premium Draw Ticket × 6, random locked piece of the “Sweet and Clever Cook” set × 1.】
Staring at the “over-completion” notification, Lin Zhiyue had a rough idea. The system's criterion was “five hundred low-grade spirit stones.” The Silver Coin Grass and few pieces of raw spiritual ore she had gathered along the way were only worth about sixty or seventy in total, which was far from five hundred.
Therefore, the only source of the excess value had to be this black stone. Since the system deemed it to far exceed the standard, it meant it was worth at least several hundred spirit stones, if not more.
She carefully placed the black stone in the safest corner of her space, on the same shelf as the Sifang Courtyard and the Soul Jade Plaque. Then, she used a dry cloth to dry her hair further, leaning back against the stone wall behind her and closing her eyes.
The crackling of the campfire and the lowered voices of the disciples became white noise. Closing her eyes, she thought about exploring other areas tomorrow to see if there were any other gains.
As for what this stone actually was, it would not be too late to ask someone once she left the secret realm.
She rolled over. With the warmth of the fire soothing her back, she drifted off to sleep.
Rate on N.U.
