Treasured Secret

Night fell and darkness descended on the abandoned and neglected courtyard, with the impending night, the few guards who had still been tirelessly searching for Lei Mingxing also ultimately gave up with one last curse and left to report their failure to their respective masters. Their steps were loud as they stomped out of the courtyard, creating even more holes in the estate's floors, to the point that Lei Mingxing wasn't even quite sure if they did it deliberately to vent their anger.

But it didn't really affect her except for the twinge of regret she felt at the thought that she would need to find a way to fix them up now that she was back. With a small sigh, Lei Mingxing opened her closed eyes. It didn't change much, everything around her was still pitch black, and she couldn't even see her own hands when lifted directly in front of her face.

Unfolding her legs after hours of squatting, Lei Mingxing felt her muscles pulse and itch like thousands of ants were crawling inside. After waiting for a second longer, with her limbs more or less stretched out in this very cramped space, Lei Mingxing finally made her way outside, squeezing through the narrow opening of the hut, whip in hand.

Outside, it wasn't nearly as dark. Thanks to the bright moonlight tonight, Lei Mingxing was able to see just how barbaric the guards had been in their search, with the grass and other plants ruthlessly trampled to the ground until the overgrown garden had pretty much turned into a flat surface. The only spot undisturbed by the search was the small pond in the center.

Staring at the crystal-clear, perfectly round pond which reflected the moon with such clarity that it almost looked like there was a second one trapped inside, Lei Mingxing made her way towards it.

It was surrounded by a ring of white pebbles, consisting of the same perfectly ivory white pebbles that also marked the path from the estate to the pond, although those had been buried under the earth and grass with time. Still, the visible stones almost rivaled the two moons with their pristine shine, neatly separating the pond from the rest of the garden without any flowers or vines daring to come close.

Behind the shore of pebbles, directly opposite Lei Mingxing, stood a decorative rock, even taller than her, mimicking the appearance of a weathered mountain, giving the clearly man-made pond an almost natural air, as if you were a giant looking down on a beautiful lake.

Observing it a bit longer, the scene invoked an almost indescribable sense of harmony, despite the pond itself being immaculate, lying perfectly still.

There were no lotus flowers, no fish, only water and pebbles. The water itself was clear and calm, without even the slightest ripples on its surface, allowing you to easily perceive the peaceful bottom if you looked past the mirror-like surface. But Lei Minxging knew that all of this was an illusion, and didn't spare the enchanting reflections even a fleeting glance.

There was something that she was sure no one had realized, especially with her being the only one taking care of the entire Clear Pond Courtyard for the last 17 years...

Lei Mingxing began to undress, casually dropping her dirty, yellow outer robes with the simple embroidery to the ground and slipping out of the black boots that ended up being the only remembrance she still had left of Dark Spirit Town besides her dagger and now pretty much useless artificer's badge, hiding them beneath the mountains of trampled grass, before sliding her left foot into the water while pressing the whip and dagger to her chest with one arm.

As soon as she felt her toes touching the smooth pebbles at the bottom of the pond, she followed it up with her right foot. Now standing with both her legs in the water, Lei Mingxing waited until the surface became mostly clear again, feeling the hidden current curling around her ankles as an almost imperceivable breeze brushed over her upper body.

When the water finally calmed and she could see the pond's entirety again, Lei Mingxing pressed the two weapons even harder against her chest and took a deep breath, before diving into the shallow water. She then quickly crawled around the pond bed with her eyes wide open, following the current swirling between her fingertips until her free hand slipped into a ditch invisible to the naked eye.

The instant she found it, Lei Mingxing kicked the water a few times and dove inside. The current pushed slightly against her trying to prevent her from swimming further, but that just proved to her that she was going in the right direction.

Her surroundings continued to darken until there was nothing but bottomless black around her, just when she couldn't even see the way forward anymore, not to mention the way back, a few soft lights suddenly began to shine, lighting her path and the rocky surroundings so that Lei Mingxing could continue on.

It took a while and Lei Mingxing almost ran out of air in the process but she finally made it and popped her head out of the water with a gasp, grasping the edge of a stone step in front of her. After her breathing calmed somewhat, she threw the two weapons up the stairs and into the cave before pushing herself up to sit on the step she had been holding on to with a 'hyup'. Her soaked inner robes clung heavily to her body.

Resting for a moment, Lei Mingxing wrung out some of the water in her dripping hair and clothes while panting.

In the past, she would have been able to reach the cave in almost half the amount of time it took her just now, even while blindfolded she would have done far better, but four months of physical absence and a decade of crumbling memories certainly left their mark, she thought with a bitter smile on her face.

Having rested enough, she got up and entered the cave fully.

The cave was very spacious, allowing Lei Minxging to stand straight without bumping her head and then some, and it was well-illuminated, with a bright glowing stone embedded in the ceiling and a few smaller ones more in the other walls, the same ones that had lighted her way there.

After observing for a while, Lei Mingxing concluded that the stones fit neither the description of any Spirit Cores nor Illumination Pearls. They didn't even look like they had been brought there through human intervention, set into the stone wall as if they had always been there. However, the remainder of the cave showed clear signs of being smoothed out and used by another person. Especially the various musical instruments, writing and drawing materials as well as books were evidence of another person's presence.

But the one thing that caught Lei Mingxing's eye, just like every other time she had come here in the past, was the writing carved into the stone wall that looked as smooth and elegant as if it had been written with brush and ink.

'For you, my dear daughter.'

She trailed the writing with her fingers.

This was evidence enough that her mother loved her, despite Lei Mingxing having absolutely no memory of her.

And it was the reason, this little secret cave became Lei Mingxing's small treasure that absolutely no one but her knew about.