7 Path of the Lilies

"HEY! What are you doing here?"     

They turned their head to the side and saw a group of people there. There was a group of people wearing the same type of robe walking towards them. Their age ranged around 14 to 18 years old, so it was not hard to guess that they must be the students from the Wang Luo Academy.     

"We're just visiting the place," Qi Huan replied before Lin Cai snapped. The girl was already in a bad mood because of the smell, so it was not good to raise her irk again.     

The leader frowned. "It's dangerous here. You can just visit the other mines."     

Wang Jun stepped forward. He was the oldest among them, so it wouldn't be weird if he acted like their guardian. "It's not your business whether we want to visit or not, am I right?"     

He leaked a bit of his Eon Energy, effectively telling them that he was already at the peak of rank 3. Even though he was not rank 4 yet, it was quite powerful for ordinary people in rural cities.     

The leader frowned. He himself was only rank 4 early stage. Even though the difference between rank 4 and rank 3 was large, he hadn't consolidated his rank, so it was still useless. He would be no different than Eon Energy Master Rank 3 peak stage.     

"Fine, do as you wish."     

"Don't tell us that we don't warn you."     

The group of the disciples turned around to the cave as they started to spread around, inspecting the area. The way they acted looked as if they were the one who owned the mine. Not even the workers were spared as they were told to get away from the place.     

Lin Cai punched her fists together. "If I tell them that we're from Hua Shan Academy, can I beat them up?"     

"There's one Eon Energy Master Rank 4 among them," Qin Zheng said calmly. "Three peak rank 3 and four late stages. If you want to fight a tough battle, you're free to move forward."     

"…How do you even know their rank?"     

"I have my own way," Qin Zheng turned his attention back to Ye Jiao. "What did you find from the mine, Jiao'er?"     

"There's indeed an array, but it's using a plate," Ye Jiao replied.     

"Is it different?"     

"Very different. Plate Array can be used by everyone as long as they have enough Eon Energy to activate it. On the other hand, drawing an array needs either Array Master or Runes Master because they need to activate it manually. This means that they should be either lazy or no other choice."     

"Sorry, what do you mean by no other choice?"     

"Natural Eon Energy Type Gathering Array is uncommon. It's only useful for those below rank 3, and normally, Runes Master didn't even bother making them," Ye Jiao explained. "The plate itself can only be found in the market for a high price, and only those with low talent will purchase them."     

"If the price is high, there's a high possibility that they didn't have Rune Masters," Lin Cai's eyes lit up. That was a piece of good news.     

Qi Huan nodded. "I can try and find out who bought it."     

"That'll take too much time," Mu Xin countered the idea. "We don't have any connection with the trading organization in the Xian Gu Kingdom, and there might be numerous stores that sell them."     

"Right."     

The seven of them turned silent for a moment. It wouldn't be easy to enter the cave because there was a plate array. Even Ye Jiao herself wouldn't be able to disrupt the Eon Energy lines from the plate. It required true Rune Masters, but she hadn't reached that level yet.     

She had just started to learn how to create runes.     

Lin Cai turned her head to the group in front of them. "How about if we follow after them? They must have come here prepared, right?"     

"…" are you implying that we're not prepared?     

Qin Zheng looked at the students from Wang Luo Academy. His eyes narrowed slightly when he noticed the plate that they brought out. "Ye Jiao, what's the array or runes inside that plate?"     

Some arrays were created out of runes, so Ye Jiao was familiar with them. Narrowing her eyes, Ye Jiao focused her attention on the plate that they held as one of them poured Eon Energy inside.     

"Water Circle Defense Runes."     

"Circle what?" Lu Wan was stunned. This was the first time he knew that there was a rune like that.     

"It's the type of shield that's covering your entire body just like a ball," Qi Huan explained. He had read about them a bit. "Normal defense rune can only block from the front like a shield."     

"Do you have defense runes, Ye Jiao?"     

"I don't," Ye Jiao rolled her eyes. The only plate she had would be the Eon Energy Gathering Array Plate that Elder Qian gave to her as a present.     

Lin Cai pointed to her headpiece. "How about there?"     

"It's counterattack runes," Ye Jiao shook her head. She sighed to herself. If only she knew that they would need the knowledge of Rune Master, she would have studied them before she came here.     

"AAAHHHH! Let's just charge inside!" Lin Cai was frustrated.     

Mu Xin stretched her hand and grabbed Lin Cai's wrist. "It's unwise to just charge inside. Even the defense layer of Eon Energy won't be able to hold out against the Natural Type of Eon Energy."     

"Only elemental shields can," Qi Huan added.     

Lin Cai's face turned ugly. Neither one of them have entered Rank 4 yet, so there would be no one among them who could use elemental Eon Energy. If this continues, did it mean they needed to wait until one of them reached rank 4? It would be far too late!     

Qin Zheng looked at the mines in front of him. There were several of them, which location was close to one another. His mind thought about how to exploit them as an idea resurfaced.     

"I have an idea."     

"Yes?"     

"We need to find a map for the caves inside. There's a possibility that another cave is located near this one, and if we break the wall, we'll be able to get inside," Qin Zheng suggested.     

Mine caves were like a labyrinth. They could last very long and have numerous twists inside. No one knew what was inside until they passed by it. Because of the twist, there was a high possibility that there was another cave that has their wall near this one.     

However, this would be a large gamble.     

"Destroying the wall might result in an earthquake, and we can get trapped there for life," Qi Huan said slowly.     

Some caves were fragile. If they were not careful, they might induce a chain reaction that would destroy the entire caves altogether. At that time, they might have just dug their own grave.     

"We can also try to buy Circle Defense Runes Plate," Ye Jiao added. "However, it'll take a long time to find one that's big enough to fit all of us."     

Runes plate has its own tier. The lower rank could only fit one person to three people at most. The middle rank could fit three to 10 people at most. The higher ranked one could fit up until 100 people at once. After all, rune plates were different compared to ordinary arrays. It needed hard work to be able to fit the runes into such a small plate.     

Lin Cai sighed. "Let's risk it."