Chapter 014: Extreme Doubt

The roar of thunder could be heard clearly by everyone within ten miles.
Joshua and Allen were in a private conversation when they suddenly heard the noise. Looking up, they saw dark clouds covering the sky and countless flashes of lightning. Joshua’s expression changed, and he couldn’t help but exclaim, “Those two are fighting again!”
Allen was stunned and asked, “What should we do?”
“What else can we do? Go there quickly!”
Without even mounting his horse this time, Joshua slapped its back and dashed forward like an arrow. Allen gritted his teeth, slapped his own horse as well, and vanished from sight in an instant…
The power of hundreds of lightning strikes together was beyond what an ordinary person could withstand. Even Aldas, with his extraordinary talent, felt his limbs weaken under such thunder. He tried to channel all his combat energy, but still felt like a lone boat in a storm, swaying in the vast ocean, barely holding on with his immense combat energy while carefully avoiding falling to the ground—otherwise, all his subordinates who had struggled so hard to get out would be doomed!
In such a situation, it was the first time in Aldas’s life he had faced such a dangerous predicament. It was truly life-threatening; if anyone attacked him now, he wouldn’t even be able to react, even if he noticed it.
Yet amidst the lightning, Du Fan had already spotted Aldas’s weakness. Floating silently through the lightning, he arrived behind Aldas in moments. These spells were cast by him himself, so they wouldn’t harm his master at all.
After standing behind Aldas for a while, Du Fan without hesitation drew the long sword at his waist, channeled his full combat energy, and swung the sword tip forward without hesitation. A massive holy cross symbol appeared in midair and slammed down at Aldas.
The purest light combat energy drove this Holy Light Cross Slash—its power was immense. Moreover, Du Fan had blended mysterious combat energies from various spells into it…
Seeing the lightning around him weakening, Aldas felt slightly relieved. It seemed the Green family couldn’t provide that many magic scrolls; likely, Aldas had already used most of them.
But before Aldas could rejoice, he suddenly sensed a killing intent approaching him!

Before he could react, the massive Holy Cross symbol appeared behind him. Aldas had no way to avoid it and could only grit his teeth and forcefully unleash his combat energy.
“Crack—”
The strike of the Holy Cross almost shattered Aldas’ combat energy aura. Just as he thought he could breathe a sigh of relief, another strike came. Filled with frustration, Aldas felt like vomiting blood, but with the dense bolts of lightning all around him, he still had no choice but to keep fighting!
Originally, Du Fan’s combat energy was far inferior to Aldas’, but as Aldas had to defend against the lightning around him while controlling his own movements, more than 70% of his strength was lost. When Du Fan launched another Holy Cross strike, Aldas managed to block it once before feeling his blood boil, his vision darkening, and nearly passing out.
Fortunately, Du Fan didn’t intend to kill him. After those two Holy Cross strikes, he stopped attacking.
But by then, Aldas’ combat energy aura was already wavering.
A moment later, the lightning around them gradually dissipated, and Aldas finally breathed a sigh of relief. Yet this only intensified his anger.
Already arrogant and considering himself a genius, Aldas refused to admit that he had been pushed to this point by a clown like Du Fan. His face twisted with rage as he shouted at Du Fan, “I want to see how many more magic scrolls you have!”
He stopped in his tracks, reignited his combat energy, swung his sword, and charged at Du Fan once again.
Du Fan sneered, turned, and flew toward the camp. He could sense the presence of two powerful opponents approaching—this battle was impossible to continue!
Behind him, Aldas kept closing in, radiating deadly intent that made even those several miles away feel chilled.
But suddenly, Du Fan stopped mid-air ahead of him. He turned to look at Aldas and said coldly, “Enough! Young Master Aldas, you win this bet today… We’ve had enough of this game. Shouldn’t we stop now?”
Aldas was slightly stunned. His body was blackened from the bombardment of lightning. Though he had managed to withstand it thanks to the properties of his Earth Spirit combat energy, he was no longer the graceful figure he once was. Hearing Du Fan’s words, he couldn’t help but snarl and say, “Du Fan, is this the time to stop at your own whim? Die!”

As soon as he spoke, Ordas rushed forward to Du Fan. Swinging his long sword, he sent a gust of combat energy toward Du Fan. But Du Fan merely stared at him coldly before suddenly letting out a cold laugh! At that moment, a surge of combat energy flew in from the side, blocking Ordas’ fatal strike. When the two gusts of combat energy collided, a loud explosion erupted. Under the force of the explosion, both Du Fan and Ordas were pushed back several steps. Ordas was filled with confusion and momentarily forgot to continue chasing Du Fan. The glow of combat energy in the air gradually faded, and Joshua suddenly appeared between Du Fan and Ordas. His entire body was ablaze with combat energy, exuding an astonishing pressure. The great knight leader was now completely enraged. He glanced at both of them and sneered, “You two young masters really don’t take me, Joshua, seriously at all, do you? The bet was made right in front of me! What do you plan to do now?” No sooner had he finished speaking than Allen’s figure also appeared in the air. Seeing Du Fan acting as if nothing had happened, he secretly let out a sigh of relief. Du Fan gave Allen a slight nod before calmly saying, “So it’s Lord Joshua. Lord Joshua, we’re fine—we’re just continuing our competition.” “Competition!” Joshua was almost furious. “From the way you both acted just now, anyone could tell you were fighting desperately! Du Fan, don’t think just because the Green Family is protecting you that you can do whatever you want! And you, Ordas, even though you’re from Roland Academy, if you want to kill someone in front of me, you first have to ask what my sword has to say… I, Joshua, don’t care about any hidden grudges between your two families, but you promised me something! Especially you, Ordas… Did you come uninvited just to kill someone?” Du Fan sighed slightly. Seeing Joshua’s enraged expression, he couldn’t help but smile inwardly: He had guessed right again. Though Lord Joshua would get angry, for the sake of the Holy Church, he would have to stand by his side… Ordas didn’t dare to turn against Joshua in front of him, so he was certain to suffer the consequences… Although Ordas was furious, he wasn’t reckless. He naturally understood the situation—he would have to overcome Joshua first if he wanted to attack Du Fan again!

But he wasn’t originally a match for Joshua, and now with most of his combat energy already depleted, it was naturally impossible for him to fight against Joshua. Moreover, if he clashed with Joshua now, it would mean a confrontation between the Belinger family and the Holy Church, whose consequences would be immeasurable! Although the Holy Church no longer held as much influence as before, it still had ways to deal with an imperial family—something Ordas understood well. After hesitating for a moment, he regained his usual composure, bowed to Joshua, and said, “Lord Joshua, Master Du Fan and I just got carried away for a moment. Please forgive us… But then again, Master Du Fan is quite skilled. Even I, an eighth-level warrior, had no chance to fight back against him. It seems the Holy Church truly has many talents!” Joshua frowned but couldn’t help glancing at Du Fan… This guy had only practiced combat energy for less than half a year yet could match Ordas… It was truly astonishing. If he had already reached the eighth level at such a young age, at least half of the people on the Roland Continent would be devastated! Thinking this, Joshua sized Du Fan up again. He could sense that Du Fan was at most at the fifth level… But why… And to reach the fifth level in such a short time was also quite extraordinary… Of course, he kept all these doubts to himself and wouldn’t ask at this moment. To find out the truth, he could simply have the Divine Might Prison investigate… But figuring out how to resolve the current situation was the top priority now… Seeing Joshua’s gaze, Du Fan inwardly groaned. Though he wanted to hide his strength, it wasn’t something that could be concealed easily. For now, he could only pretend he hadn’t seen anything… With that in mind, Du Fan smiled slightly and said, “Master Ordas, you’re too kind. If it weren’t for your mercy, I, Du Fan, would have lost my life this time…”