Chapter 007: The Elf King’s Ring

Just as Tek launched himself at Du Fan and Nai Xiu on top of the giant eagle, Du Fan took Nai Xiu’s hand and jumped into the bottomless abyss. The two vanished quickly from Tek’s sight.
Seeing Du Fan jump into the abyss, Tek didn’t chase after them.
Jumping off the giant eagle, Tek paced back and forth in front of the abyss. “Eagle, let’s go. I really can’t afford to anger the demons in this abyss!” Tek suddenly said.
The huge golden eagle seemed to understand Tek’s words, as it began to cry urgently, seemingly agreeing with him wholeheartedly. “Eagle, since you think so too, let’s leave. I hope those two kids aren’t dead. That way, I’ll still have a chance to get revenge for the injury to my face. But…” Tek took a deep breath. “Will that demon inside spare them?”
Using their flying skills, Du Fan and Nai Xiu flew deeper, growing increasingly amazed. The vast abyss resembled a giant funnel—the narrower it got as they descended. The antelopes that had fallen into the abyss due to fear of Du Fan and Nai Xiu continued to roll downward right before their eyes.
Moreover, Du Fan noticed that the more they flew inward, the higher the concentration of earth elements became! This strange phenomenon kept drawing him further down.
Gradually, Du Fan and Nai Xiu reached the bottom of the abyss. It wasn’t very large—comparatively tiny compared to the endless abyss they had seen above. Du Fan estimated that the bottom was about a thousand meters long and wide, consisting mainly of protruding rocks that appeared pitch black.
Bright light streamed down from the opening of the giant funnel above, making the bottom quite luminous. Just as Du Fan, holding Nai Xiu’s hand, was about to land on a large protruding rock, the antelopes that had rolled down finally reached the bottom. They were already dead, but as their bodies hit the abyss floor, the rocks beside them suddenly moved.
Those huge rocks transformed into giant hands, reaching out to grab the antelopes’ corpses.

Then, those antelopes were caught in those giant hands, which turned back into rocks, but the antelopes were trapped inside them! Du Fan and Nai Xiu, who were about to land on the rocks, were shocked by this scene. Du Fan pulled Nai Xiu up, and the two flew upward right away. But when Du Fan was less than a hundred meters above the bottom of the abyss, an invisible force tightly suppressed his upward flight. At a distance of one hundred meters from the bottom of the abyss, Du Fan could no longer fly any higher. Still not daring to land at the bottom of the valley, he found a protruding spot on the wall and stood firmly there with Nai Xiu in his arms. At that moment, the rocks at the bottom of the valley began to move; one by one, they turned into rock beings over two meters tall. These rock beings all looked as if they were made of iron blocks—except for their faces, where facial features could be roughly distinguished, and their limbs were somewhat recognizable. It was hard to even say whether these rock-made creatures could be called human-like. There were more than sixty of these rock beings below. After appearing, they started to surround the mountain wall where Du Fan and Nai Xiu were standing. The group of rock beings tightly encircled Du Fan and Nai Xiu on the mountain wall, constantly emitting strange noises. After murmuring for a while, they grabbed rocks from the ground and threw them at Du Fan and Nai Xiu. Seeing this, Du Fan quickly pulled Nai Xiu behind him, and a white light flashed from his body as his Absolute Protection activated. “Haha, you bunch of stupid rocks—do you only know how to throw stones?” Du Fan felt that these stones posed little threat, and with their strength, it would take a long time to wear down his Absolute Protection. It was fine for Du Fan not to speak, but as soon as he did, a voice appeared immediately. “Hundreds of years have passed, and finally, a living creature shows up. Damn it. Staying with these stupid rocks every day has driven me crazy.” With the appearance of this voice, a man dressed in red emerged from the ground. After coming up, he headed straight toward Du Fan and Nai Xiu. The group of rock beings showed a very fearful expression when they saw this man in red.

He headed straight for Du Fan, passing by a rock man along the way. This man dressed entirely in red stretched out his hand and smacked the rock man beside him. With a loud bang, the rock man was shattered into pieces. Yet soon, those broken stones began to move on their own, quickly gathering together again and forming another rock man. “Damn it, such a stubborn thing! No matter how hard you hit it, it can’t be killed! Get lost!” the man in red suddenly said, stomping his foot. With his stamp, the ground around him trembled, and as if sensing his anger, the sixty-some rock men vanished in an instant. “Kid, why don’t you come down and have a proper talk?” the man in red said, looking up at Du Fan and Naixiu. “No, may I ask, dear sir, could you take us out?” Du Fan said with a smile. Faced with this suddenly appearing figure, Du Fan couldn’t believe that this person really wanted to talk to him. Judging from how he had shattered a rock man with just one palm strike, he probably wasn’t someone with a good temper. If possible, Du Fan thought it was better to leave this place as soon as possible. “Hmph, kid! Do you really refuse my, Lord Fernand’s, generous invitation to come down? Don’t you even have any sense of face?” the guy named Fernand said, his expression darkening. “Oh, so your name is Fernand. It’s not that we don’t want to come down; we really have urgent matters to attend to outside. How about this—let’s go talk outside together?” Du Fan thought for a moment and pretended to be serious. “You bastard! Are you doing this on purpose? You clearly know that I, Lord Fernand, can’t leave this damned place! So, you wretched human, what’s your intention by saying such things?” Fernand roared loudly. “You can’t leave?” Du Fan asked curiously upon hearing this. “Nonsense! That’s complete nonsense! If I, Lord Fernand, could leave, would I still be stuck in such a crappy place?” Fernand shouted. “Were you sealed here by someone?” Du Fan asked.

“Seal me? Who dares to seal Lord Ferdinand! Hmph, not even that so-called Dwarf King or whatever can seal me! Let me tell you, kid, I, Lord Ferdinand, am the son of the earth—I was born right here! But I can’t leave this place. As soon as I try to leave, I feel terrible, as if I’m going to die!” Ferdinand shouted loudly.

Pity him, Du Fan thought. From Du Fan’s perception through his mental power, Ferdinand’s strength was far beyond that of Tek!

Such a person, yet unable to leave this giant funnel—having great abilities but no place to use them, feeling powerless—must be extremely miserable!

“Do you mean, Lord Ferdinand, you have to stay here for the rest of your life?” Du Fan asked carefully.

“Back then, an old man came and told me that if I became a god, I could leave this place. But damn it, after so many years, I still show no sign of becoming a god!” Ferdinand roared.

“Kid, haha! After waiting for hundreds of years, I finally have another living being who can talk. Come on, keep Lord Ferdinand company. Who knows? Maybe, if Lord Ferdinand is happy, he’ll let you guys go.” After roaring, this guy named Ferdinand actually smiled happily at Du Fan.

Then, suddenly, this guy named Ferdinand let out a loud roar. With his roar, those sixty or so rock men rushed out again.

Seeing them coming, Ferdinand suddenly smiled at Du Fan. “Kid, the game has begun. If you can hold out under my attack for an hour, I’ll give you a gift.”

“If that’s the case, I’ll keep you company properly. But I’d like to ask—what kind of gift is it?” Du Fan asked.

With a flick of his wrist, a shiny ring appeared in Ferdinand’s hand.

“This ring was left by a poor elf. For some reason, that poor elf was seriously injured and fell here. Tsk tsk, if he hadn’t been so badly injured, I think I wouldn’t have been able to defeat him,” Ferdinand said repeatedly.

Naixiu, who was watching from the side, suddenly exclaimed, “The Elf King’s Ring!”

“The Elf King’s Ring? Yes, you’re right, little girl. Back then, someone also told me that this ring is indeed the Elf King’s Ring. I heard that only members of your elf race can use it. So, it’s of no use to me. How about you two? If you accompany me to play a game, I’ll give you this Elf King’s Ring,” said Fernand with a smile.

“Your game is just to play with you for an hour? How do we play?” Du Fan asked.

“It’s very simple. One of you comes down and fights with me for an hour. As long as you don’t die within that hour, you win, and the ring will belong to you,” said Fernand.

“Can we fight back?” Du Fan asked.

“Haha, of course you can fight back,” said Fernand.

“Then when does it start?” Du Fan asked.

“Who of you will come down to fight with me?” Fernand asked.

“Of course it’s me,” said Du Fan.

“Good. Then once I say start, you must immediately come down and fight me. The timing starts the moment you come down,” said Fernand.

As soon as he finished speaking, Fernand suddenly shouted, “Little guy, let me show you my true form!” With that shout, the rock men around him all rushed towards Fernand, clinging to him.