Path of the Lilies: Early Beginnings

"What's your plan?"     

"Qin Zheng, you take charge."     

Qin Zheng's lips curled slightly. "Mu Xin, Wang Jun and Lu Wan, go buy some food and store them in your storage bracelet. Find those that didn't need to be cooked and can directly be eaten because we won't be able to start a fire inside the cave. Lin Cai and Qi Huan, go search for some defensive armor in the store. Try to find the one that can withstand high pressure. Me and Ye Jiao will search for maps and purchase them.     

Return back here in three hours."     

"Got it."     

"Ok."     

They quickly separated to do the tasks that Qin Zheng asked them to do. Ye Jiao turned her head to Qin Zheng. "Why search for defensive armor?"     

"I didn't prepare any equipment for those three," Qin Zheng replied. "It wouldn't be good if they died inside the cave."     

Even though the death of disciples could be considered as common, it would be better if it didn't happen at all. In order to prevent that, he asked them to find some armor. They already wore the bracelets made by Qin Zheng. It has protection runes, so they didn't need to find anything more.     

But it was a different case with Lu Wan, Mu Xin, and Wang Jun. Qin Zheng hasn't prepared any for them.     

"You ask there, and I'll head here."     

…     

After three hours, they all returned back to the spot. Ye Jiao and Qin Zheng managed to obtain almost all of the available maps of the mines. There were some missing spots, but it was already more than enough.     

"There's only two defensive armor that's pretty good." Qi Huan reported. He had made the trip all over the areas and only managed to find two good armor. "And they're quite pricey."     

"The Academy will reimburse back all of our purchase for the mission," Qin Zheng said calmly. "Give them to Lu Wan and Mu Xin."     

"What about Wang Jun?" Mu Xin asked.     

"He's the highest ranked among us, so he should have a better chance of survival," Qi Huan explained in Qin Zheng's stead. "Also, I believe that he has his own armor."     

Wang Jun nodded. "It's not too good, but I do wear armor."     

"Alright, let's study the map," Lin Cai walked to the maps and inspected them. Qin Zheng has marked some of them that have a pretty close distance from the other mines that he found so far.     

"There are three entrances that we can pick."     

"We'll enter this one," Ye Jiao pointed to one of them. "It's the one that's deepest and needs a long route before reaching the entrance, so the Eon Energy Natural Type concentration should be lesser."     

"The distance is a bit far," Lin Cai frowned.     

"It's the safest."     

"Let's just try it."     

"OK."     

They packed up the map and headed to the designated entrance. Some workers passed them a glance, but they didn't disturb the visitors. It was common for them to come here. Besides, mining without proper tools would be impossible.     

If they were lucky enough, they would be able to get some.     

As they entered the cave, Lin Cai furrowed her brows tighter. The smell of the metal caused her to feel nausea. It was even stronger in the cave because there were a lot of them around her.     

Not only her, even Lu Wan and Mu Xin found the smell to be irking their nose.     

"I can't believe a lot of people can withstand the smell," Lu Wan sighed. "If I were them, I'll surely move to the city."     

"They got used to it after a while," Ye Jiao replied. "Besides, it's not that bad too."     

"It's not a pleasant smell."     

"Yeah."     

They entered the cave. Occasionally, they would meet with one or two workers, but as they go deeper, the number of workers was lesser. It was also quite dark because the lantern was only placed occasionally.     

"Are we going in the right direction?" Lin Cai asked.     

"Yes."     

"The smell is fouler here."     

Qin Zheng stopped for a moment to inspect the map. They were in the intersection, and there were two ways to go. According to the map, there shouldn't be any intersection in this area, so he stopped.     

"Senior Sister Lin, spread your Eon Energy and inspect the route."     

Lin Cai frowned, but she did as Qin Zheng said. Because her element was wind, she had a great advantage in the distance. Her Eon Energy could reach much farther than what ordinary people could possibly do.     

"What's on the right and left?"     

"The right one is an empty tunnel that ends up after around 100 meters," Lin Cai replied. "As for the left one, my Eon Energy can't reach any deeper, but it seems there's a hole on the ground."     

Qin Zheng nodded. "We're going to the left."     

"Eh, the one that has a hole?" Lu Wan was stunned. "Are you telling us to fall to our deaths?"     

"There should be a stair there because it's indeed a mine that's heading down," Qi Huan still remembered the map. "The hole might be created naturally, and they found out that there's valuable minerals over there."     

Lin Cai frowned. "The smell is worse over here."     

"It seems that you can become our cue for valuable metal, Senior Sister Lin," Qin Zheng joked.     

"What?"     

"The fouler the smell, the more valuable they are."     

"Qin Zheng!"     

Zheng… Heng… Hen….     

"What's that?" Lin Cai was stunned.     

"It's an echo, haven't you heard of them before?" Qi Huan arched his eyebrows. Ever since they entered the cave, their voice has been echoing. It was faint because they didn't speak in a loud voice, but it was definitely there. As Eon Energy Master with keen sense, there was no way they didn't hear it.     

Lin Cai blushed. "I didn't pay attention."     

She was yelling just now, which made her voice louder. As her head has been hurting because of the foul smells, she didn't pay attention to the others.     

"We've arrived near the hole," Qin Zheng stopped. He looked below him and frowned. There were metal steps on the wall, but it wouldn't be easy to hold onto them. Using his Eon Energy, he inspected the depth of the hole.     

"How deep is it?" Mu Xin was at the back, so she couldn't see it.     

"Around 10 meters," Qin Zheng replied. "Can you climb down using metal steps? If you can't, we'll put you down using a rope."     

"We can."     

The others also nodded their heads. It wouldn't be easy, but 10 meters were not that far. Besides, the diameters of the hole itself were over 1 meter, the space to move around would be pretty big.     

"Ok. Let's get down."