The suspicions of the princess were confirmed a few minutes later when she gathered all her servants, and Paul tried to make all of them into slaves to learn the truth.
Just as he was about to begin, a young servant girl rushed at the princess with a dagger in her hand.
That was the last thing she did, as a moment later, she was mercilessly cut down by the two bodyguards of the princess.
After that, Paul continued and used a slavery contract to ensure that there were no more people who wanted to harm Ling Li.
As it turned out, there were none, and all the other servants were loyal, and they knew nothing about the poison or that the dead servant was trying to harm her highness.
-Now that this is over with, I'll be taking my leave.
Paul said calmly and left.
They had planned for everything, and now he had two days to prepare himself for the misty ruins, which included reading the books about the place that he borrowed from the princess.
Seeing that it was already an afternoon, Paul found a restaurant to have his meal, after which he visited the market and some shops to increase his supplies of the critical items.
The visit to the Blue Lotus city had taught him that it was always a good idea to have more supplies, and since he would be going to the place he knew little about, it was a good idea for him to be better prepared, despite all the shopping he had already done after coming back down to the beginning realm.
The rest of his time, he spent reading the books and studying the maps that Ling Li provided him with.
From them, he learned that even the outer area of the ruins can be extremely dangerous, as well as the fact that either these ruins were enormous, or they were undergoing changes before they reopened, as every map was different, and the descriptions of the terrain in the books were also different each time.
The one somewhat common thing was the types of beasts that appeared, as every team that returned reported mostly the same kinds of creatures, ranging from forest rats, all the way to the behemoths like spirit iron bulls, or giant rock crabs, which had shells that looked like small mountains and could easily snap a large tree with their pincers.
Another common thing to all the previous times that teams went inside the ruins was the danger, which increased exponentially as teams progressed further inside, with the core area of the ruins being the most dangerous, as it was filled with powerful beasts that attacked in groups.
On the other hand, the reports also described many treasures they found and many trials they had to go through in order to obtain said treasures.
-This should be interesting.
Paul mumbled to himself.
The trials had piqued his interest, but even more interesting was the fact that many herbs and ingredients for pills and potions, which were hard to find in the Mortal and the Beginning realms, were easy to find in the ruins.
The next thing that he looked forward to was meeting people from the upper realms.
If nothing else, he could gain some information about all the realms he had yet to visit.
The two days he had for preparations went by in a flash, and at the sunrise of the third day, Paul arrived at the entrance to the palace to wait for the rest of his team.
He didn't need to wait long, as the ladies arrived within five minutes, and all of them were also already in their battle gear.
-Are you ready?
Cai Mei asked, seeing Paul already waiting for them.
-As ready as I can get.
The young man confirmed.
-Then let's go, the portal is not far from the capital, but I don't want to arrive last.
The princess said, taking the lead.
It turned out that the portal was only three hours of walking from the capital city, and it was surrounded by hundreds of tents.
Other than that, there were many teams, such as theirs, arriving all the time from all sides.
-I think that there will be way more than just two thousand people from this realm.
Paul commented, seeing the crowd that was gathering.
-It sure looks like it, but in the end, it doesn't matter.
Most of these people will not go out to explore and will focus on their cultivation instead.
If what the books say is true, then these ruins are a great place to cultivate for anyone.
-Since the portal opens at noon, we still have some time on our hands, so what do you say I make us some breakfast?
Paul asked the ladies and started taking things out of his spatial ring without waiting for their answer.
-Sure, if it's your cooking, I see no problem even with a small feast.
Cai Xuan said with a happy smile.
She still remembered the delicious food he served everyone at his mansion in Storm Wave City.
-Let's not get carried away, but I won't refuse a breakfast from you.
Cai Mei said with an expression of a hungry glutton plastered on her face.
-Don't tell me that other than a healer, he is also a good cook.
The princess said, looking as Paul started a fire and was already preparing some meat skewers to be roasted.
-Alright, your highness, we won't tell you that, but it won't change the truth.
Cai Xuan said with a teasing smile.
As they talked, a smell of cooked food started to spread, and it was mouthwatering.
Paul worked fast, and as the skewers were roasting on the sticks that he stuck to the ground, he took out an iron frying pan.
Soon, another wonderful smell of scrambled eggs with onions and small pieces of bacon spread.
The smell was so enticing that the nearby people started gathering to have a look at the dish that was being prepared.
At that time, Paul had just finished cooking, so he took out the table he personally made and tableware for six people, before he served everything along with some bread and some slices of fruit.
-I should have known it was you.
Who else would cook a meal before entering the ruins?
A familiar female voice said from behind Paul as they were eating.
-Well, Anna, if you wanted to join us for breakfast, you should have said so.
Paul retorted, not even turning his head from his plate.
-Jokes aside, weren't you supposed to be in the capital taking care of some matters?
Xiao Su chimed in with a not-so-happy expression, which changed into shock once she spotted Cai Mei and Cai Xuan sitting around the table and enjoying the drama.
-I did take care of these matters, and then I was asked by her highness to become a healer of her group for a week.
Paul answered and turned around.
-But that aside, what are all of you doing here?
He asked, as he was certain that they were still in the elves' territory.
-The elders asked us to enter the ruins and bring back a few herbs and other ingredients that are needed for me to continue the path of Eldars.
Elaina answered, approaching from behind her sisters.
-This is also a part of my test, so either way, we would be entering the misty ruins.
The elf shrugged.
-And before you ask, we are going as two separate groups to gain some experience and have a bigger chance of finding what we need.
So we won't be joining you.
Irine chimed in before he could even suggest joining up their teams.
-As you wish, ladies, but at least leave me the list of the herbs and ingredients that you are looking for.
Paul said, more than happy to abide by their wishes, as he also planned to use this opportunity to gain more experience.
-Also, if possible, try to avoid the core area.
I don't think it would be a good idea for any of us to wander in there.
He warned his ladies with a serious expression.
Of course, as they chatted, Cai Mei and Cai Xuan went to great Xiao Su, while Ling Li and her bodyguards were shocked speechless at the group of beautiful women chatting with their healer.
What was even worse, they all seemed to forget that she was the princess and she was sitting right there.