Chapter 005: The Outcome Decided

“Whoosh—”
With Elvis’s movement, a crack dozens of centimeters wide appeared in the ground, from which strange lights seeped out from beneath.
Without time to think, Elvis could only bend down and jump, diving headfirst into the crack.
Before he could even settle, a loud wind-shattering sound erupted. Glancing over, he couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.
A disproportionately large axe was swinging violently in his direction. Its force was so immense that even he didn’t dare underestimate it. He rolled aside at the last moment to avoid it, but by the time he moved aside, he was already covered in dust and dirt.
Du Fan’s laughter seemed to come from deep within the ground: “Lord Elvis, not bad! You managed to dodge that arrow storm. But I guess, with your abilities, even the traps on this second floor could take your life.”
Elvis snorted and remained silent.
Du Fan seemed to sigh and said, “Never mind. I won’t say much more. Be careful—these traps took me a long time to design. One mistake could cost you your life. But if you feel you can’t hold on, just shout for me. If you’re sincere enough, maybe I’ll let you go.”
Elvis sneered several times and said, “Du Fan, don’t think these trivial traps can do anything to me. Remember well—once I catch you, I’ll tear you to pieces.”
“Since you still think so, then keep going,” Du Fan said lightly. “I hope you won’t forget what you just said from now on, okay?”
As Du Fan spoke, the strange lights in the passage brightened sharply, followed by a loud roar coming from deep within.
At first, Elvis remained dismissive, but in less than a moment, fear appeared on his face. When what was in the depths of the passage appeared, sweat finally appeared on his forehead.
A huge iron ball, large enough to fill the entire passage, was speeding toward him. The ball was covered in sharp hooks and barbs, with poison applied to its edges—likely enough to kill a person with just one hit.

A master of the sixth level was still not immune to all poisons, nor could he move mountains or split seas. So when he saw this object, Elvis suddenly didn’t know what to do. He even began to feel a bit regretful—why had he been so overconfident as to enter this underground passage? But time allowed no room for regret. Elvis no longer dared hide his strength. After fumbling around for a moment, he pulled out a glove with a metallic sheen and put it on, then gathered all his combat energy toward the approaching iron ball. “Boom!” A pale blue burst of combat energy erupted, and the airflow created by it shattered the iron ball into pieces. Yet after using this move, Elvis felt his legs weaken. If he continued to use his combat energy recklessly like this, and there were more such iron balls, he might truly have no chance of escaping alive. Realizing this, Elvis started to consider leaving. He glanced at the crack he had entered, thinking about whether it might be a way out. But at that moment, another roar sounded. Elvis’s expression changed drastically as he stared at the suddenly appearing giant iron ball, sighing inwardly before having to gather his combat energy once again. “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” It was already unclear how many times this had happened. The passage was filled with iron shavings, and the poison on the iron balls corroded the ground, emitting a pungent smell. Elvis took out the last vial of potion to restore his combat energy and drank it in one gulp, cursing, “Du Fan, you bastard—how many of these have you prepared?” Du Fan sat in front of the crystal ball, sipping red wine slowly. In front of him lay a perfectly cooked steak, releasing a delicious aroma. Of course, these things were brought in by Du Fan from the duke’s mansion. As he ate and watched Elvis continuously deal with those iron balls, Du Fan felt intense pain. Those iron balls were all made from armor taken from the corpses in the old cathedral. Although they surely wouldn’t give away their truly useful items for such purposes, wasting such high-quality steel still made Du Fan feel distressed.

Chenchen yawned as she stared at the crystal ball and said, “Du Fan, if you think you can kill him with these iron balls, it’s probably not going to work. There are still many traps in the passages on the second floor, right? Whether it’s poisonous sand or smoke, it should be easy to take his life. Why waste these things that aren’t even needed for refining?”
Du Fan shook his head and said, “This Elvis doesn’t seem simple. Besides, even if I wanted to kill him, I don’t want to do it so quickly. There are still many things I want to ask him. But never mind, he’s probably already finished anyway. Could you please go and bring him here?”
“You really are something,” Chenchen sighed, but she stood up.
Du Fan smiled slightly and said, “What’s wrong with me? It’s only to your advantage to follow me, right? Go… I’m… very busy here too…”
As he spoke, Du Fan waved the glass in his hand, staring at the scene in the crystal ball with an extremely sinister smile.
Elvis’s clothes had long since turned into ragged pieces; he was disheveled and no longer had his once handsome appearance. However, the gloves on his hands seemed quite good—still looking almost new even now.
Seeing his terrified expression, Du Fan finally reached out and tapped the crystal ball.
A roar echoed once again.
Elvis was already used to this sound, and he now understood that with his current strength, if he held back even a little, he definitely wouldn’t be able to break those iron balls.
He had already suffered some losses before, so now he had to be extra careful.
Watching the iron ball approaching, Elvis gathered all his combat energy once more and threw a punch in that direction.
“Swish—”
There was a light sound, but this time, there was no heavy sensation as expected. Instead, it felt like a strong man hitting a lump of cotton with all his strength—without any point of resistance, his whole body felt suffocated.
Moreover, as Elvis moved, a burst of white smoke suddenly emerged from the seemingly huge iron ball. He tried to escape, but his chest felt tight, and he almost spat out blood.
Next, Elvis felt his head go heavy, and he passed out instantly.

The passage finally settled down. After a while, a small crack appeared in the wall, and Chenchen slowly emerged from it. She looked at Elvis, who was collapsed on the ground, shook her head slightly, and sighed, “If you wanted to offend my master, wasn’t that seeking death?” Yet despite her words, Chenchen still made a few gestures in the air. With her movements, a gentle breeze lifted Elvis’s body, and together with her, they disappeared into the wall.

When Elvis woke up again, he felt extremely uncomfortable. After struggling for a while, he realized that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t break free from the restraints binding him. Moreover, the combat energy that should have been abundant in his body was now completely gone. He was now no different from a cripple. Realizing this, Elvis slowly opened his eyes and looked at himself. His body was covered in ox sinew, soaked in water. As a warrior, he knew well that the more he struggled, the tighter the sinew would bind him.

“Well, Lord Elvis, do you understand your situation now?” A cold, indifferent voice came from ahead. Elvis looked up and saw Du Fan sitting on a sofa with his legs crossed, elegantly enjoying a plate of steak and a bottle of wine in his hand. The place where he had been before even resembled a magician’s laboratory?! Looking at Du Fan’s face, Elvis spat and said, “Despicable!!!”

Du Fan shrugged indifferently. “Lord Elvis, please don’t forget—we’re in a duel. All that matters is winning. Who cares if your methods are despicable or not? And if we must talk about it, isn’t it despicable for you, a sixth-level powerhouse, to challenge me, a third-level minor character?”

Elvis was stunned and didn’t know how to respond for a moment. Perhaps in that regard, he was indeed a bit more despicable than Du Fan.

“Alright, Elvis,” Du Fan swallowed his wine. “I have a few questions I’d like to clarify. You don’t mind answering them, do you?”