Path of the Lilies: Early Beginnings

The seven of them went their separate ways and blended into the crowd. Unless the people had seen them together before going out of the building, no one would be able to guess that they were together.     

Ye Jiao headed to the nearby restaurant and peeked from the window. There were a lot of people inside, so she might be able to get information just by sitting down and ordering some food.     

"Welcome, ah, hello, Little Girl," the waiter smiled when he saw the cute girl. "Are you looking for someone?"     

"I want to buy some food," Ye Jiao asked cheerfully, acting as if she was nothing more than a little kid. It couldn't be helped; her height made it hard for people to treat her seriously. Besides, normal girls at her age have only started their training in Eon Energy.     

"Oh, do you have money?"     

"Can I use gold coins? Or do I have to use Eon Energy Stones? Mommy gives me some to buy my breakfast today," Ye Jiao grinned.     

The waiter smiled. "You can use gold coins. Come follow me. Is your mother going to come too?"     

"She's busy, so I have to buy food by myself," Ye Jiao replied, her smile slightly dropped to show that she was disappointed. They soon arrived by the table near the window that was only for two people.     

"Don't be too sad," the waiter smiled. "Here's the menu, you can pick them from here."     

"I'll pick porridge and milk," Ye Jiao replied.     

"Ok. I'll get some for you. Please wait for a moment."     

As she waited, Ye Jiao looked around her. There were a few adults at the other tables, busy talking about their own matter. Closing her eyes, Ye Jiao poured Eon Energy to her ear in order to hear better. One conversation caught her attention.     

"How long do you think it'll take before Hua Shan Academy responds to our request to investigate the mine?"     

"Well, the head also sends a request to Wang Luo Academy. Either one of them can arrive here and deal with it."     

The first man was astonished. "He did that?"     

"Yeah."     

"If there's going to be a clash, it's going to be interesting. Wang Luo Academy has been at odds with the Hua Shan Academy for a long time," the third man laughed. He didn't really care about the academy's rivalry as he only wished for them to take care of the problem as soon as possible.     

Ye Jiao tapped the table before her. She had heard a bit about the rivalry between the Hua Shan Academy and the other academies. In short, there could only be one leading academy in each area, and the Hua Shan Academy has been at the forefront all these years. Behind them, there were three academies, and one of them was Wang Luo Academy.     

Even though the rivalry was done behind the scene, it could get bloody depending on the situation. Because of that, no one wished for the students from the two academies to meet, or it wouldn't be pretty.     

'The leading academy can pick the best students first, so the rivalry is quite fierce behind the scene.'     

Of course, the one that decided them was at the competition that was held once every five years in the capital city. Ye Jiao hadn't heard the details yet, but Qin Zheng told her that the teacher would announce it when it was time to select the group. Of course, the minimum qualification to enter would be rank 4.     

She needed to reach rank 4 before the competition started if she wished to become the Hua Shan Academy representatives.     

That was for future worry, so Ye Jiao pushed the thoughts to the back of her head.     

"The mine is truly weird. We can accept the number decreasing because it just means we need to dig deeper, but not when the Eon Energy level is to the point of choking us," the first man shook his head. "Even though I'm already rank 3, I feel suffocated when I'm staying inside."     

"Right. I can't even last more than five minutes," the second man agreed.     

"Let's just hope that they can send someone soon. Our city depends on mining for economic development. If it turns out that we run out, we'll need to find a way to survive."     

"Tell that to the Village head…"     

Ye Jiao no longer paid attention to their conversation as she mulled over the information she got. It was not much, but at the very least, she knew that the problem in the mine was surely the sudden pressure. There shouldn't be a way for a large amount of Eon Energy to gather inside so suddenly.     

Except if they used an array.     

'I need to check the mine to confirm it.'     

"Little girl, here is your porridge and milk," the waiter has returned.     

Ye Jiao raised her head and smiled. "Thank you very much!"     

She quickly ate her meal and paid for it before rushing out of the restaurant. She headed to another restaurant, this time she just ordered milk because she knew that her stomach wouldn't accept any other food. Some people were discussing the mine too, which helped her to gain more pictures of them.     

The content was exactly the same: the Eon Energy level was too high, and it was not the normal one that they could absorb.     

It was the Natural Type of Eon Energy.     

This type of Eon Energy might be useful, but if they gathered too much in one place, it would be dangerous to absorb them. Their body could only withstand a certain amount of them before pushing them out again. If they tried to absorb inside the mine, their body wouldn't be able to push them out, and eventually, it would destroy their core.     

It was that dangerous.     

Ye Jiao walked out of the restaurant and headed to the mine area. She saw Qin Zheng talking with one of the workers there, asking about the symptoms they felt when they entered the mine.     

"Jiao'er," Qin Zheng called after he had finished. "How's your progress?"     

"I don't think it's suitable to talk here," Ye Jiao scratched her cheek.     

"This will do."     

Using his Eon Energy to form an invisible barrier, Qin Zheng looked at Ye Jiao. "What did you find out?"     

"There's a high possibility that the Eon Energy in the mine is the Natural Type of Eon Energy. It's useful for cleansing one's body, but it's dangerous if it's gathered in one place together," Ye Jiao replied.     

"I suspected as much," Qin Zheng nodded. He could faintly sense the Eon Energy from the mine, so he guessed that it must be the case.     

"There's a possibility that there's an array to gather them all into the mine."     

"Can you find an array if it's placed in front of you?"     

"As long as it's not an illusive array, I can," Ye Jiao replied. She knew that array needed Eon Energy movements from the book that Elder Qian gave to her. However, the illusive type of an array didn't change the Eon Energy composition and only altered their sense. It was hard for her to detect them even after passing the basic illusive class.     

Qin Zheng nodded. "If it's an illusive array, I should have detected it first."     

"Yes."     

"Let's go to the inn. Do you know which inn Mu Xin picked?"     

"Uh, no," Ye Jiao scratched her head. There were several inns in the city, so there were some choices that Mu Xin could pick for their stay.     

"We'll just need to check them one by one."