CHAPTER 198
🙞❤︎🙜
“Can you really find the mountain sanctuary?” Prince Muyang frowned as he gazed at the [Solarium] control station’s display screens. “The location isn’t shown on your maps.”
We were on our way to the main island on my flying ship. Since our destination was the Black Tortoise clan’s legendary secret garden that had been lost for centuries, Prince Muyang requested that we restrict the expedition members to only the necessary personnel. Thus, all the White Tiger clan members were left behind, along with the rest of the household staff, but I did bring my three apprentices with me. Prince Muyang, of course, brought all of his staff.
“I know the area where it should be. I’ll be relying on your clan members’ keen eyesight to find the cave opening,” I said.
The Snowcrest Mountains were in the northern part of the island and from the air they looked like the ridges on the Black Tortoise’s shell. Though the ship’s screens didn’t show the place we needed to go to, the System map had a big yellow X on it that marked the spot.
Lari, Kharli, and Mo, who were seated beside me at the control station craned their necks to gawk at the view outside of vast jungles and snow-capped mountains. They were so intimidated by the foreign prince’s proximity that they kept completely silent.
“Very well, please let me know when we’re near and we’ll scan the area,” said Prince Muyang.
“How was your exploration trip, sir?” I asked him.
“Call me Muyang. It was quite gratifying to see that the land is teeming with life. We found the herds of sacred cattle, too.”
“Sacred cattle?”
“They say the Black Tortoise’s favorite daughter had a beloved pet cow which had many descendants.”
Wow, so they were literal sacred cows? And there are also flying pigs. What's next? A unicorn circus?
The thought made me smile, and I was lost in thought about what I would see in the secret garden when I heard a beeping sound from the System.
“Oh, we’re here!” The [Solarium] automatically stopped when we reached the end of the flight path I had set her on. “Let’s look for it.”
All of us went to the glass walls on the side overlooking the mountain, and we tried to search for the cave entrance. When we couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, I set the [Solarium] to descend at its slowest speed to allow us to check the lower areas of the mountain.
Surprisingly, given that clan members had better eyesight, it was Lari who found it first.
“There! I see it!” Lari pointed. “The cave entrance is right there!”
“Yes, Teacher, do you see that? There’s a path,” said Kharli.
“I see it!” Mo was almost jumping up and down with excitement.
Prince Muyang’s eyebrows were knitted together in a frown. “Where? I don’t see anything.”
“I’ll land the ship and we can walk up to the cave using the path we saw,” I said.
“What path?”
“Uh, these secret areas tend to be in stealth mode, you should be able to see it when we get there,” I said.
“Baiyu told me of this, but it's very strange to experience it in person,” he said.
I laughed. “It’ll be fun, Your Highness!”
“Muyang.”
“It’ll be fun, Muyang!” I turned to my apprentices and said, “Ready? It seems we’ll have to lead the clan members to the cave.”
“Yes, Teacher,” Kharli answered for all of them.
Once the ship landed on the nearest flat land on the slopes, we disembarked and made our way on foot to the hiking trail we had seen from the air.
Shading my eyes from the sun’s rays, I looked up at the side of the mountain. “It’s an hour’s hike, I think.”
Prince Muyang, with his royal guards and companions, walked behind us as we made our way through the jungle. The sun beat down on us mercilessly and I was glad of the DIY sunscreen I had made using the [Ageless Beauty Essence] potion and pearl powder.
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Fengying had gotten the idea of the sunscreen from one of the maids who had returned from a shopping trip in Anwei with a tiny vial of powder which the merchant she bought from claimed was made of crushed pearls from Mai-i. Since I had [Golden Pearls] in my inventory, I crushed a few using a mortar and pestle and compared them to the vial’s contents. Happily, we concluded that the merchant hadn’t been lying. Fengying then suggested that we try combining the pearl powder with the potion, which I had to do manually since it was not a System recipe.
The result was a watery white cream. Subsequent testing proved that the cream provided protection from the elements and was an effective treatment for sunburn, though it did nothing for insect bites and other skin irritations.
“Guys, did you remember to use your sunscreen?” I asked my apprentices.
“I forgot!” Mo hurriedly applied it to her face, neck, forearms, and hands.
“Good. And it’s hot, so stay hydrated,” I said.
In addition to the heat, the jungle was also quite humid, which added to my discomfort despite the loveliness of the trail we were using. After five minutes, my face was sticky with sweat.
The mountainside was covered in towering trees and thick undergrowth. Some trees boasted broad leaves the size of small boats, while others had aerial roots that formed twisting, living curtains.
Vibrant green ferns unfurled their fronds in the dappled sunlight that filtered through the leaves above. Colorful orchids clung to tree trunks, their delicate petals a stark contrast to the rough bark. The ground was a mosaic of fallen leaves, moss-covered logs, and the ever-present roots that snaked across the trail.
Thank goodness there was a path because it would’ve been quite hard for us to navigate the jungle otherwise.
Kharli walked beside me and said, “We must be the first humans to walk on the island since the demigods ascended.”
“There must be lots of treasure hidden away here!” Lari grinned mischievously at the clan members.
We all knew that Prince Muyang considered this place the ruling Black Tortoise clan’s private property. All the members of our expedition had sworn to keep the island’s location a secret until the prince and his family announced its rediscovery to the world.
The trail we had been following was a narrow one, possibly an animal trail. At the end of it was the cave mouth.
“Do you see it now?” I asked Prince Muyang.
“I do not.”
The kids and I exchanged baffled glances. I shrugged and we walked to the cave single file, with me in the lead.
“Wait!” Prince Muyang held up a hand just as we were about to enter. “I sense something.”
My apprentices and I froze in place and waited patiently as the prince and his attendants stroked their beards and felt the air around us with their hands as though trying to touch the air.
“There seems to be a formation in place. Please go inside and then come back out for us,” said Prince Muyang, his silver eyes alight with excitement and the corners of his lips turned up in a slight smile. It was a very attractive expression, and I could well believe the rumors that he was a real heartbreaker.
The cave was very ordinary, simply a natural-looking hollow side of the mountain, with rough, uneven walls that bore the marks of centuries of erosion. The entrance was narrow, just wide enough for two people to squeeze through, and inside, away from the hot sun, the air was cooler and drier. Scattered pebbles and small stones littered the floor, and a few patches of lichen clung to the walls.
We went back out and told the clan members what we had found. According to them, from their point of view, we disappeared into the side of the mountain.
“I know what to do! Hold my hand, I’ll lead you inside,” I said to the prince.
He shook his head. “No, we can’t.”
“Why not?” This was the method I used to bring Prince Baiyu inside the [Mysterious Grove] when he was unable to enter by himself.
“Because someone will get jealous.” Prince Muyang laughed at my expression.
“Teacher, let me do it,” said Lari.
I doubted very much that Prince Baiyu would be jealous of such a thing, but I said, “Okay.”
Lari took the clan members inside the cave one by one. Once they entered, we found that they were able to come and go as they pleased, but they were still puzzled over one thing.
“Lady Violet, this mysterious cave does radiate a strong divine energy, but where is the secret garden?” asked Prince Muyang.
Pointing at a nondescript spot on the cave floor, I smiled and said, “This heavenly Black Tortoise’s hidden garden has more than one layer of secrecy. Can you unlock the entrance from there?”
Before we left, when I told Prince Baiyu about this quest, he advised me to let the clan members try the puzzles first. They would be more pleased if they could accomplish this themselves than to have us walk them through it right away.
“A puzzle? Very well, we’ll try to discover how to open the entrance.”
While the clan members poked and prodded the floor and walls of the cave, not confining themselves to just the spot I indicated, I placed a small table inside the cave and took out basins of water that we used to refresh ourselves. We were drinking iced lemon tea and fanning ourselves when Prince Muyang finally admitted defeat.
“We can’t seem to find the secret,” he said.
“Alright, it’s time for us to get to work, kids!” Taking a shovel from the System toolbelt, I walked over to the center of the cave and started digging.
My apprentices mimicked my actions.
Thankfully, the System’s tool cut through the hard-packed earth as easily as a hot knife through butter. We dug six feet deep before we found the trap door made of black metal etched with glowing red stars and silver crescent moon symbols.
“Would you like to do the honors?” I asked the prince.
“Thank you, I’d like to go first, too.” He effortlessly opened the heavy metal door, revealing a set of stone steps leading down. “This looks very promising. Please wait for us up here.”
The clan members went down the stairs together, leaving one of the guards behind with us. Due to the steep incline of the steps, I couldn’t see where they ended, but there was a light coming from below, so I guessed it was an open space. It didn’t take them long to reach the bottom.
“We found it! The garden is here!” Prince Muyang shouted up to us.
I was just about to yell down to ask if we should follow when we heard screaming from the people below.
“Stop it!”
“It’s a monster!”
“Get it off me!”
What?! But the garden wasn't supposed to be dangerous!