7 Path of the Lilies

One by one, they climbed down from the metal stairs. Qin Zheng was first, and he inspected the tunnel there. There was still faint fresh air there, but it was clearly harder to breathe in this depth.     

"Normal people won't be able to last here," Qi Huan frowned as he arrived down.     

Qin Zheng nodded in agreement. "Circulate your Eon Energy to make sure that you can move around freely. It's not going to be easy to move around when it's hard to breathe in this place."     

"Got it."     

Lu Wan sighed as he started to circulate his Eon Energy. Thanks to the poison that has a similar effect, he has some 'immunity.' Even though the air level in this place was lower, he still could move around well.     

Mu Xin frowned slightly. "There's a weird aura in this place."     

Ye Jiao put her hand on the wall of the tunnel. Her brows creased too. "Eon Energy is moving in one direction slowly."     

"What?"     

"Where?"     

"It's heading down," Ye Jiao frowned. She had just started to realize it after they entered this place. The movements of Eon Energy in the upper area were not as apparent as in this place.     

"Is it heading towards the entrance?" Qin Zheng asked.     

Ye Jiao shook her head. "It's the opposite direction from the entrance."     

Because they were Eon Energy Masters, they still could remember the route to reach this place perfectly. It was not fun to walk around the dark cave, but neither one of them voiced their complaint.     

"We're going to reach the wall soon. Prepare to use your Eon Energy for breaking the wall."     

"Aye."     

They walked again while Qin Zheng continued to inspect the wall on their right. The tunnel that was connected from the blocked entrance was right on the left. There was a place where the distance between the two of them was only around 50 centimeters to 70 centimeters for around one to two meters.     

It was easy to miss them, so Qin Zheng had to test them all one by one.     

"It's here," Qin Zheng said after some time. He looked at the others. "Lin Cai, Mu Xin, Wang Jun, Qi Huan, and Lu Wan. I need you five to attack this wall."     

"Why am I excluded?" Ye Jiao pointed at herself.     

"That's because I need you to preserve your Eon Energy to detect the Eon Energy movement," Qin Zheng replied. "There's a high possibility that it'll lead us to the place where everything begins."     

"Ok."     

The five of them stepped to stand before the wall as they gathered their Eon Energy. Numerous attacks hit the walls before them.     

Slash! Slash! Bang! Bam!     

The wall broke with a loud sound to the other side. Stones fell down one after another, creating a large hole in front of them. They could faintly sense Eon Energy from the other side, which was denser than this place.     

"Is it the Natural Type of Eon Energy?" Lin Cai asked. Her right hand was holding her thin sword.     

"No, it's the normal one. The array must have filtered and left the Eon Energy in this place," Ye Jiao frowned. "But, they're also moving downwards."     

"I can't sense their movement," Lu Wan frowned.     

"I'll destroy the rest," Lin Cai raised her sword and swung it rapidly to the wall before her.     

Slash! Slash! Slash!     

The stones turned into dust, creating the hole enough to fit people. She sighed in satisfaction. "Now, I feel much better."     

Lu Wan's jaw dropped. "I think her attack is better than the four of us combined."     

"She's using a bit too much Eon Energy," Qin Zheng walked to the other tunnel. This tunnel would lead to many directions, so he was not sure where they should go. Investigating each of them one by one would be impossible too. After all, it would take too much time to travel inside the tunnels.     

As Ye Jiao walked into the tunnel, she could feel the Eon Energy movements even clearer. However, they were bypassing the wall, making it difficult for her to pick which direction they needed to go.     

"Is there any route that heads down?"     

"That way," Qin Zheng pointed to one of them. "However, it'll be better for us to stay and rest a bit to recover our Eon Energy."     

"I'll scout, then."     

Lin Cai furrowed her brows. "Shouldn't it be my job to scout?"     

"Recover your Eon Energy first," Qin Zheng refused immediately. "We don't know the number of our enemies and their reason to put that barrier at the front of the cave. Before anything happens, you should make sure that you're ready for a battle."     

Lin Cai pursed her lips. She sat down and began to absorb Eon Energy. Almost immediately, they all could sense the surging flow of Eon Energy heading towards Lin Cai. Qi Huan cringed at the memory of Ye Jiao and Qin Zheng's training back in Spring Island. It was very similar.     

"What's with this insane rate of absorption?" Lu Wan frowned. He felt a bit uncomfortable with it.     

"That's talent S for you," Mu Xin sat down. "Let's hurry and absorb enough Eon Energy to recover."     

"I'll guard first," Qin Zheng said calmly. With his rate of absorption, it would be easy for him to absorb a lot of Eon Energy amount within a short time.     

Wang Jun shook his head and walked forward. "I'll accompany Ye Jiao to scout the area. We'll return back after the first intersection."     

"Be careful."     

The two of them walked to one of the sides of the tunnels. Looking at the wall around her, Ye Jiao frowned slightly. She could see the Black Metal ores, but the surface of the metal seemed to erode a bit. As she didn't really have any expertise in ores, she would need to wait for Qin Zheng's opinion for this.     

"Miss."     

"What is it, Jun Ge?" Ye Jiao replied back using personal communication. By coating their voice with Eon Energy, they could transmit it directly to someone's ear. With this place echoing their voice, it would be safer to use this type of communication.     

"May I ask why you pick this academy?"     

Ye Jiao was startled. She smiled lightly. "If you're thinking that I pick this academy because you're here, then you're completely wrong. I didn't even know that you're in this academy until I met with Teacher Sheng Ming."     

"Ah, sorry, I…"     

"I pick this academy because of the environment," Ye Jiao replied. "Also, the ones that value me are only two academies. One of them is this one."     

Wang Jun nodded. He looked at the young girl in front of him. When he was young, he thought that Ye Jiao was a truly pitiful child, so he wished to help her as much as possible. It was only now did he realize how stupid he was. She was not the trash as they were always tagged her to be.     

She was actually a genius in the making.     

"Jun Ge."     

"Yes?"     

"I'm thankful for everything that you have done to help me. If you have any problem, you can come to me in the future, and I'll do my best to help you out," Ye Jiao turned her head around and smiled brightly.     

Wang Jun froze in his place for a few seconds. He slowly nodded. "Miss, I barely do anything."     

"You're one of the few who dare to help me out even under the strict constraint from Wei Family. No matter how small it is, it was still a huge help for me back then," Ye Jiao smiled.     

Without Wang Jun helping her to visit Mu Xin, she would never have a proper foundation for battle. It was Mu Xin and her father that taught her aside from her own father back in the past.     

Wang Jun didn't know what he should feel anymore. Looking at the young girl in front of him, he knew that he was looking at the future powerful experts. He smiled. "I'm thankful for your care, Ye Jiao."     

He felt glad that Ye Jiao was not someone who forgot the kindness of the people around her.