Chapter 006: Death Barrier

“Daring to insult the Crown Prince? You’re seeking death!”
Quested charged angrily, a fiery red long sword appearing in his hand as his combat energy instantly flared.
Du Fan smiled slightly, moved slightly, and a blue aura emerged. He stepped back a few meters and watched Quested quietly.
Boom!
Quested sensed trouble the moment he saw Du Fan. Before he could withdraw his attack, four Temple Knights appeared in front of him. Four dazzling white lights flashed simultaneously, and four knightly lances were thrust out at once. Two of them blocked Quested’s sword, creating a deafening roar, while the other two aimed straight for his throat.
With a vicious grin, Quested not only failed to pull back his sword but also intensified his combat energy. Under the influence of his fiery red energy, a sword aura over a meter long surged from his sword, slashing fiercely at the two Temple Knights and sending them flying.
At the same time, Quested stepped back abruptly, swinging his red sword backward. Just as the two knightly lances were about to strike his throat, the red sword blocked them, resulting in another deafening roar. The lances shattered into pieces, turning into a shower of light.
“Heh, four Temple Knights who have just reached the eighth rank still dare to attack me? How overconfident.” With a single gesture, he injured two of the knights severely and left the other two weaponless. Quested grinned triumphantly, extremely confident in his own strength.
“Uh! Who’s attacking me from behind?” As Quested reveled in his success, a blue wind blade suddenly appeared behind him, striking his back silently. Although the wind blade didn’t cause much damage due to his intense fire energy, the fact that someone could attack him unseen meant their strength was on par with his own.
“I didn’t expect Duke Du Fan to be so despicable as to resort to ambushes.” Glaring at Du Fan in hatred, Quested ignited his combat energy once again.
“It seems the one who ambushed was you.” With a slight smile, Du Fan showed no intention of attacking.
“Die!” Quested leaped up, gripping his sword tightly. His combat energy instantly changed from red to blue, turning his sword a gloomy green. Shouting loudly, he charged at Du Fan headfirst.

Du Fan always wore a smile on his face, and the Frostfall Sword at his waist was drawn out inch by inch. Though it lacked Quested’s imposing presence, it exuded an extremely cold and terrifying aura, as if the sword drawn from his waist would surely slay his opponent.

Faced with Quested’s fierce attacks, Du Fan did not dodge. Instead, he thrust out a seemingly weak sword strike that just managed to block Quested’s fiery red sword.

Boom!

A loud explosion sent a massive gust of wind lifting all the sand and stones around, like a hurricane. Even Leopold nearly lost his balance. Quested was flung backward, yet Du Fan did not take a single step back, his smile still intact.

This surprised Quested greatly. He was well aware of the immense power in his own attack just now; even he wouldn’t have been able to withstand it.

In truth, Du Fan was also struggling. He was merely forcing himself to act as if nothing had happened. After all, Quested was a top-tier expert at the ninth level—his full-power attack was far too difficult to parry. Du Fan already had some internal injuries.

“I wonder how long you can hold on.” With blood-red eyes, Quested landed on the ground and immediately rushed at Du Fan, swinging his sword again. But this time, he wasn’t attacking Du Fan directly; instead, he aimed at the open space around him. Threads of sword energy separated from the sword, forming flames that set fire to an area ten meters around Du Fan.

“Flaming Earth!” With a roar, Quested leaped up and thrust his sword deep into the ground.

“No good!”

Feeling the overwhelming pressure from the ground, even Du Fan sensed danger. Gathering wind magic, he quickly fled outward, trying to get away from the area surrounded by flames.

But it wasn’t that easy. Just as Du Fan leaped, the ground began to crack, and flames as thick as an arm shot upward, aiming straight at him.

Yah!

With a breath, Du Fan in the air swung Frostfall Sword, sending a cold wind blade at the surging flames.

This time, there was no loud noise. The white and red attacks in the sky intertwined, the icy wind blade gradually fading, while the fiery flames were enveloped by the ice and dimmed slowly.

Suddenly, the ground cracked again, and a second column of fire shot upward, followed by a third, a fourth—in an instant, countless flames rose, trapping Du Fan inside like a solid cage.

This time, Du Fan’s expression turned serious. Quested’s unleashed combat energy was comparable to the immense power of magic, forcing Du Fan to take it seriously. Slowly raising his hands, he summoned Frost Snowfall, and his combat energy surged forth, forming a huge vortex around him. Any nearby magic beans were strongly drawn in, becoming part of Du Fan’s power.

Yah!

With a cry from Du Fan, a massive wave of icy cold energy burst forth from Frost Snowfall, instantly freezing the smaller fire columns, preventing them from delivering their intended damage.

In the blink of an eye, the entire land was covered in ice again, with the fire columns struggling desperately within the ice, trying to find a way out.

“Is this the power of a warrior approaching the Saint level? What would it be like to reach the Saint level? To destroy a continent in an instant?”

Watching the coexistence of ice and fire, witnessing this bizarre scene, Leopold was stunned. He couldn’t describe just how enormous this power was, but he knew that if such a battle took place in the capital of the Lanney Empire, just the attacks from these two would be enough to destroy half of it.

Boom! Seeing his attacks being restrained, Quested desperately channeled the burning combat energy from his sword into the ground. Immediately, the entire land began to tremble, with more and more cracks appearing. The fire columns that erupted grew thicker and more powerful with each one.

By now, Quested was using almost all his strength. The scorching flames turned his face red as if drenched in blood, while his fiery red hair was blown up by the combat energy, as if hanging in midair.

With wide eyes, Quested sneered at Du Fan, who was at the heart of the clash between ice and fire.

Du Fan was really suffering now. The huge amount of combat energy he had used left him unable to maintain a smile. His hands, holding Frost Snowfall, trembled slightly due to exhaustion.

The fire columns kept attacking, and Du Fan kept resisting. Cold air continued to flow from Frost Snowfall, strengthening the ice layer that sealed off the fire columns.

Melting, melting—the collision between ice and fire resulted only in freezing or melting. One minute passed, then two, then half an hour.

Quested and Du Fan had entered a battle of combat energy. In such a situation, the loser would surely die—completely annihilated.

Thud!

Quested’s exhausted strength could no longer support his body’s weight; his legs gave way, and he knelt on the ground. Yet his hands never left his long sword. The scorching combat energy continued to flow into the sword, albeit slowly.

On the other side, Du Fan was also in trouble. The Frostfall Blade he held high was slowly lowered, and the icy aura emanating from it struggled to maintain balance between ice and fire. It was now completely impossible to quickly repel the pillar of fire.

Crack! Finally, the two of them could no longer maintain the balance between ice and fire. With a sharp sound, cracks appeared on the ice surface, and the pillar of fire slowly retreated.

Peace returned—everything was calm again. Yet the ground was in ruins, with the land scorched by fire still emitting faint smoke. “Lord Du Fan.” Seeing that the battle was over, two Temple Knights, who had already recovered from their shock, rushed toward Du Fan. Their task was to protect him; if anything happened to him, they would face the harshest punishment from the Church.

Ding! As they approached Du Fan, the two Temple Knights were blocked by an invisible barrier, preventing them from taking a step forward, let alone saving Du Fan. “It’s useless. This is a Death Barrier. Unless one of us dies or loses their powers, no one can enter or exit.” Du Fan said weakly with a bitter laugh.

A Death Barrier? Hearing this term, the two Temple Knights stopped and looked at Du Fan helplessly. They really had no use for their strength now.

“What is a Death Barrier? Is there no way to break it?” Leopold rushed to the Temple Knights’ side and touched the barrier, which seemed solid but was completely invisible, asking curiously. “A Death Barrier is created when two equally powerful peak Level 9 warriors fight each other. There are only two ways to break it: either one of the two peak Level 9 warriors dies or loses their powers, causing the barrier to disappear naturally, or a Saint-level warrior must intervene to break it forcefully.” With a deep sigh, the Temple Knight folded his hands and began praying for Du Fan—this was the only thing they could do now.