Chapter 013: Infinite Proximity

In just a few steps, the old man stood in front of Du Fan. Such speed caught Du Fan off guard!
In fact, it was merely the old man using a earth-based magic—leveraging the power of the earth to teleport himself right in front of Du Fan.
With the old man suddenly appearing before him, before Du Fan could react, he threw a punch at him.
No fancy moves—just a simple, straightforward punch, accompanied by a fierce wind sound, aimed straight at Du Fan!
A flash of white light appeared as the old man’s fist was still 30 centimeters away from Du Fan’s face. Absolute Protection automatically stepped in to block the fierce strike!
A tremendous force erupted, forcing Du Fan to retreat two steps before he could stabilize himself.
Even so, the old man’s strength still shocked Du Fan greatly. The ability to simply push Du Fan back two steps with sheer force meant his strength was already infinitely close to divine levels.
Knowing Du Fan’s strength, the old man had already merged with his companion, the Earth Bear—a sacred-class earth-based magical beast specialized in strength. By combining their strengths, the merged old man’s power soared to divine levels!
“Alright! Take this too!” After being pushed back by the old man’s attack, Du Fan retaliated. Holding his Thunder Sword, he swung it at the old man.
As he swung, Du Fan released five bolts of lightning in quick succession, all aimed at the old man. The attacks struck the old man, causing yellow light to flash continuously on his body. Yet, after the five bolts passed, the old man standing before Du Fan remained unharmed.
Then, as Du Fan’s sword swung toward him, the old man simply extended his fist. The earth elements on his fist had formed solid, film-like crystals. His plain fist met Du Fan’s Thunder Sword head-on.
When Du Fan’s sword struck the old man’s fist, it felt as though he had cut into thick soil—the dense earth absorbed the immense power of Du Fan’s sword strike.
Du Fan’s full-force swing had no effect at all on the old man.

“Du Fan, don’t you know that the Earth Bear is a soil-type magical beast with an absolute advantage in defense?” The old man said with a smile, watching Du Fan’s fierce expression.

The Earth Bear was a sacred-grade magical beast of the soil type, having reached an unparalleled level in the use of soil energy. Even without corresponding domain skills, its mastery of soil energy was already astonishing!

“I’ve run into a real problem today!” Du Fan thought to himself.

At this moment, Du Fan felt extremely uneasy. Others could immediately grasp domain skills once they entered a domain, and these skills were indeed a decisive advantage for domain experts against sacred-grade foes!

There wasn’t much difference between a sacred-grade expert and a domain expert in a direct confrontation; the difference lay in what happened once the domain expert unleashed their domain skills!

Within their domain, the expert who had unleashed the skills became like a god. Thanks to the power of the domain, such an expert could easily defeat a sacred-grade foe.

For example, Moses’ Gravity Space could suppress an opponent’s strength to less than 10%. In that gravity field, the enemy would feel as if they were fighting while carrying a mountain on their back! Thus, the one who activated Gravity Space held a huge advantage in the battle!

“Du Fan, aren’t you a domain expert? Why don’t you unleash your domain?” The old man asked, his eyes showing a strange expression as he watched Du Fan fight evenly with him.

“It’s not yet time for me to unleash my domain!” Du Fan replied seriously. “My domain skills are too extreme! If I use them, many people around me will likely die.”

“Hmph! There’s no war without casualties!” The old man snorted in response.

As the two continued to fight, their energies collided, creating waves of energy fluctuations. These fluctuations caused no one within fifty meters of Du Fan and the old man to remain standing—those injured by the shockwaves fell to the ground motionless, seemingly beyond rescue. Even those who survived fled to safer areas and continued to surround Du Fan.

“What position do you hold in the Bear Kingdom?” Du Fan asked while fighting.

“I already gave up my worldly duties long ago. If it weren’t for seeing that the Bear Kingdom was about to be conquered, how could I have come out again?” The old man sighed in agreement upon hearing Du Fan’s question.

“Why don’t you join my camp directly?” Du Fan suddenly said to the old man in front of him with a smile.

“Oh, haha, Du Fan, what benefits would joining you bring me?” The old man asked jokingly, without anger.

“What do you want?” After hearing the old man’s words, Du Fan asked directly.

“As long as you withdraw from our Frozen Alliance, I agree to fight alongside you,” Du Fan said with a smile, facing the kind eyes and gentle reminders.

As the two talked while fighting, the other two who had brought the old man out also quickly joined forces and steadily moved toward the place where Du Fan and the old man were fighting.

Seeing more and more people around, those who could get close enough to fight him and the old man were surely either ordinary soldiers with no cultivation skills or those relying solely on brute force.

After scanning the surroundings, Du Fan suddenly noticed that, despite the old man’s constant pressure, a group of several hundred people was gradually approaching him.

These several hundred people all had cultivation levels above level five. If they surrounded him, along with the three Holy Rank experts, Du Fan no longer had a guarantee of victory.

After thinking for a moment, he decided it was better to retreat rather than continue wasting time here.

“Do you plan to rely on your numbers to fight?” Du Fan shouted at the gradually gathering crowd.

“Du Fan, it was you who came in here to seek death. How can you blame us?” Xiong Shili, who was also approaching, retorted upon hearing Du Fan’s words.

“Ahaha, that’s right. I almost forgot—it’s a time of war. Who cares about fighting alone now?” Du Fan said with a smile.

“Good that you understand,” another Holy Rank expert who hadn’t fought Du Fan yet said coldly.

At that moment, the three of them surprisingly coordinated and attacked Du Fan at once!

Three figures rushed at Du Fan at high speed, with three earth-yellow glows flashing continuously.

Just as their attacks were about to hit Du Fan at the same time, he immediately leaped into the air! As the three were about to strike him, he used his swift movement skills to soar into the sky and disappear.

The three holy-grade experts simultaneously raised their heads. In the sky, only a faint blue afterimage remained, along with Du Fan’s shadow there as well. Soon, Du Fan landed inside Allen’s tent. Seeing Du Fan return, Naixiu and Moses eagerly asked, “Du Fan, how was it inside?” Hearing the voices outside, Allen, who had been lying down, quickly got up and rushed outside. “Why didn’t you sleep a bit more, second brother?” Du Fan asked promptly as he saw Allen getting up in such a hurry. “How could I sleep there? Come on, third brother, tell me in detail what you saw inside—why did it take you so long to come back?” Allen asked happily upon seeing Du Fan return. For a general leading troops, it was crucial to understand the enemy’s situation as soon as possible. It wasn’t that Allen didn’t want to know about Bear City’s situation; rather, he lacked the means to gather information about it. Thus, he devised a strategy of having five divisions attack in turns, aiming to gradually wear down Bear City’s morale and military strength. “Well, Bear City’s defensive forces have no special features aside from their tall and sturdy walls. The casualties among Bear City’s soldiers far exceed our expectations. I roughly estimated that about half of them are dead or injured,” Du Fan said. “Good, then let’s seize Bear City all at once tomorrow!” Allen said with joy upon hearing this. “Second brother, it’s fortunate you didn’t attack the city,” Du Fan said smiling at Allen’s expression. “What’s wrong? Is there something else?” Allen was momentarily stunned before asking again. “I encountered three holy-grade experts in Bear City. Moreover, each of these experts had a holy-grade magical beast. Second brother, think about it—how would you deal with these six holy-grade experts if you entered the city?” Du Fan said seriously. “Third brother, are you telling the truth or lying? Where would three holy-grade experts come from in a place like Bear City?” Allen said, skeptical. “It’s true. I even fought against them. I couldn’t even defeat the three holy-grade experts who had already merged with the Earth Bear,” Du Fan replied honestly.

“Can’t even you beat them? Third brother, you’re a domain expert! A real one!” Hearing that Du Fan himself couldn’t defeat those three Saint-level masters, Allen immediately asked in surprise.
“It’s true. After merging with the Earth Bear, those people not only reached an terrifying level of strength but also inherited the Earth Bear’s extraordinary defensive abilities!” At this point, Du Fan thought to himself that if a fight really broke out, relying on Moses’s strength and Naixiu’s amazing techniques, it was hard to say who would win.
“Hmm, third brother, are you sure you can take on those three Saint-level experts?” Hearing Du Fan’s cautious words, Allen grew worried and quickly asked if he was confident enough to face them.
“Of course there’s no problem,” Du Fan said with a smile. “It’s just a matter of how long it will take to defeat them. As long as we win, we can restore normal traffic within the city right away.”
“I see, then I’m relieved.” Hearing Du Fan’s words, Allen immediately felt more at ease.
“Second brother, since so many things have suddenly happened on our side, I think there might also be many experts lurking in Brother Eldest’s Leopard City in the Leopard Kingdom. I think we should inform him of the situation as soon as possible so he can prepare.” Du Fan said to Allen.