Chapter 003: The Venomous Snake

Du Fan certainly wouldn’t just stand there and take hits. Though it seemed like Utreid couldn’t do much to him at the moment, enduring this passively was far too humiliating. Moreover, if he didn’t act quickly, by the time Alexander recovered—given his current state—facing two opponents alone would be impossible! If Alexander used a secret technique like Utreid had, Du Fan would likely not even know how he died!
Realizing that failing to counterattack would mean becoming mere meat on someone’s chopping board, Du Fan roared and moved sideways. Gritting his teeth, he noticed that the barrier behind him wasn’t just for show—it was because he had deliberately allowed Utreid to clash with him against that barrier without breaking it!
Breaking the barrier was truly impossible. As he retreated, Du Fan raised Frostfall Snow and parried Utreid’s descending punch.
In fact, upon hearing Du Fan’s roar, Utreid understood that Du Fan had intentionally let himself get hit to break the barrier. Though he wanted to take advantage of this to seriously injure Du Fan, his plan failed, and Du Fan’s strength left him in awe.
The two paused for a moment before Du Fan shifted from defense to offense, gripping his sword with both hands and choosing a purely offensive move: “Stab.” This technique maximized both momentum and power!
Utreid charged at Du Fan again. He knew his time was limited—no more than fifteen minutes, as his strength was still too weak. He had to kill Du Fan within that time! “Time…” he muttered to himself.
Although Alexander couldn’t move, his mind was racing, calculating how long it would take him to regain consciousness and how long Utreid could hold out.
Wielding his sword with both hands tightly, Du Fan, though confident in his own strength, deeply realized what true strength meant when facing Utreid. Those few strikes had already numbed his arm, showing just how powerful Utreid was! Both were at the peak of level nine—there shouldn’t be such a huge difference!
Using both hands increased strength but also reduced agility. Yet Utreid, knowing he only had fifteen minutes to live, avoided any fancy moves, maximizing the offensive nature of his defense. Even Du Fan couldn’t help but give him silent praise.
Seeing Utreid’s reckless fighting style only fueled Du Fan’s desire to fight. It was as if a voice inside him was shouting, “Fight! Fight!”

But Du Fan could never have imagined that Utrede would do this not because he had confidence in his offensive-defense skills, but… for someone who was about to die, was it even necessary to save one’s life? Even if a hand or a foot was lost, it was still better than dying completely intact.

Qi clashed against Qi as Utrede’s steel-like long nails met the Frost Snow. It was like two blue lightning bolts colliding, emitting a silver-blue glow in the air.

Alexander wanted to see how it would turn out. If it were him, even if given just fifteen minutes, he wouldn’t engage in such a head-on fight. Yet this way of handling things was exactly Utrede’s style. Would he never change his habit of acting without thinking?

Alexander pondered hesitantly. But the glare from the light hurt his eyes, so he eventually closed them and focused on recovering.

“Ding—”

With a crisp sound, Alexander opened his eyes only to see…

A draw! It was actually a draw!

Although he couldn’t feel or see exactly what was happening, Du Fan and Utrede were both standing there stiffly…

No! That’s not right! He had heard a crisp sound just now—something must have broken! What? What on earth? Who!!

Alexander struggled to get up. Though the numbness in half of his body had eased slightly, it now felt like he was being pierced by thousands of needles. But he ignored the pain and rolled toward Utrede.

Du Fan sensed Alexander rushing over in a disheveled state. Perhaps Alexander couldn’t even muster even 10% of his usual strength, but for Du Fan right now, that 10% was enough to kill him!

He couldn’t wait for Alexander to get close!

Gritting his teeth and making a “grinding” sound, Du Fan gathered all his strength, drew forth the power of the Divine Origin, barely summoned Qi, twisted his arm, and made Frost Snow spin slightly before tracing a semicircle along Utrede’s arm toward his neck.

At that moment, Utrede also saw Du Fan’s move. He felt his arm almost break from the earlier confrontation and could barely move it. As a complete member of the Dark Demon clan, he shouldn’t feel pain, but he knew it. If he still had the ability to feel pain, his arm would be too sore to move right now!

But that was just a “what if.” In reality, his arm could still move—though only a little.

Frostfall Snow truly lived up to its name as a precious sword—utterly sharp. Although it didn’t use combat energy, Utreid no longer had any combat energy either. So when Utreid blocked that strike with his arm, he was shocked to find that he had indeed been “cut into pieces”!

What surprised him even more was what happened next. After Frostfall Snow severed one of his arms, his body began to change—internally. The internal forces returned to their original state, and aside from his appearance, he felt his internal muscles shrinking! This was something he had never encountered or heard of before! What was going on?

Alexander was unaware of the changes in Utreid’s body; he was merely surprised that Du Fan could still fight back. As he prepared to test whether Du Fan was at his limit, he backed down due to one of Du Fan’s actions.

Du Fan let out a light snort, as if utterly disdainful of Alexander. Raising his hand, he swung it down forcefully, the sword emitting a low hum.

Given Du Fan’s initial strength, it was normal for him to show disdain toward Alexander. To prove he still had fighting power, Du Fan deliberately released the pressure from his body.

Alexander couldn’t be sure that Du Fan really had no self-protection ability left. From their intelligence reports, Du Fan was known for his cunning. How could a cunning person put himself in extreme danger without any means of self-defense?

Glancing at Utreid, Alexander gave up on Du Fan. No one of them had expected Du Fan to have such strength. Who would have thought that a worthless person like Du Fan could grow so rapidly in such a short time? This couldn’t be explained merely by luck or miracles!

Picking up Utreid, Alexander even went out of his way to retrieve his arm. He then ran toward the dense forest. Finally, he glanced back at Du Fan, who felt as if he were being hunted by venomous snakes. Only then did Alexander run deeper into the forest.

Sure enough, he should have killed Alexander first! Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance.

Using his other hand to support his right hand holding the sword, Du Fan said to Old Mark, “It’s just a minor injury. Grandpa Mark, why have you guys come back?”

Seeing the two Dark Demon clan members return to their normal human form, Du Fan breathed a sigh of relief. He still didn’t want others to know about the Dark Demon clan.

“Where are the four fierce beasts? Why are there only two?” Old Mark asked, not believing that Du Fan was only slightly injured. Though it was somewhat rude, Old Mark still grabbed Du Fan’s arm—but he found that Du Fan’s arm couldn’t bend anymore!

The old man’s eyes immediately turned red as he murmured, “A minor injury? A minor injury? What then is a serious injury? Losing an arm and getting a leg in its place? Pah! The older one gets, the more confused they become! Saying all kinds of things!”
Old Mark tore open Du Fan’s clothes. Du Fan truly felt Old Mark’s concern for him and was moved inwardly. He gave Old Mark a reassuring smile and said, “Grandpa Mark, it’s really just a minor injury. I was just numbed by the shock.”
As he spoke, Du Fan moved slightly to show that his muscles and bones were unharmed, only suffering minor superficial injuries. But Old Mark wouldn’t believe him no matter what, until he checked the injury himself and had someone bring medicine. Du Fan obediently handed over the holy water for Old Mark to apply. Seeing the wound heal, Du Fan even waved his arms a few times before Old Mark finally let him go.
“Young master!” Old Mark stood straight up seriously. Hearing Old Mark call him “young master,” the others guessed what he was about to say and also stood straight, waiting for him to continue.
“No matter who you face or what kind of danger there is, please remember—we are your knights! It is our duty to protect you! But you made us lose our dignity as knights! When you were in danger, we ran away first! We…”
Du Fan didn’t expect Old Mark to say such things and didn’t know what to reply for a moment. He hadn’t thought much about it; he wasn’t a knight himself and didn’t understand the so-called chivalry. All he wanted was to protect the caravan…
“By the way, you sent eight experts apart. What about the caravan?”
Du Fan wasn’t distrustful of Old Mark; he just suddenly thought of it and asked that question. Of course, it couldn’t be ruled out that Du Fan had some skill at interrupting conversations.
Sure enough, upon hearing Du Fan’s question, Old Mark’s attention was distracted a bit. “Oh, Bati is watching. I told them to wait for us in the valley… No, young master, that’s not what I meant… Please listen to me, young master.”
“The valley? Which valley? Alright, let’s go back now. You guys really are something—coming to pick me up without bringing an extra horse. Do you want me to share one with you, or should you share one and give me one? Speak up!”
Du Fan put away Frost Snow and went to choose a horse himself.
Old Mark kept preaching earnestly behind him, but only Du Fan knew how much he actually listened.