Chapter 019: The Griffon Beast

Seeing Leader Li’s red face, Du Fan smiled to himself—this dwarf race was indeed made up of honest people.
“I’ve brought some food. Hurry up and gather everyone; I’ll distribute it,” Du Fan said with a smile.
“Sure!” Hearing this, Leader Li immediately turned to the two dwarfs behind him and said, “Xiao San, Xiao Si, go and inform every household to come to my door to get their food.”
“Yes, Leader!” The two dwarfs replied in unison before leaving right away.
Soon, footsteps could be heard outside Leader Li’s door. Hearing them, Leader Li said, “Duke Du Fan, the people of our Bilu tribe are already gathering. Let’s go distribute the food quickly!”
“Let’s go!” Du Fan said with a smile as he stepped outside.
Outside, facing the dense crowd, Du Fan sighed. With over 200,000 people in the Bilu tribe, the food he brought was only enough for 10 jin per person—enough for just three or four days for these big-eating dwarfs.
“Come outside!” Seeing the crowded crowd, Du Fan pulled Leader Li into the air and headed straight for the entrance of the temporary shelter.
The previous location was far too small; if Du Fan had tried to distribute the food one by one there, it would have taken forever.
When Du Fan and Leader Li arrived at the entrance, there were no people there. Clearly, the soldiers stationed there had gone to help with the distribution.
With a wave of his hand, Du Fan released a huge amount of food, like a flood breaking its banks, pouring onto the ground. After releasing the food from his storage ring, he said to Leader Li, “Lord Leader, my storage space is limited. The amount of food I brought is about 10 jin per person. Be mindful of this when distributing it.”
After all over 2 million jin of food was released, the dwarfs who came to get it had just arrived. Taking Leader Li with him, Du Fan said, “Lord Leader, I must take my leave. I’ll return to the Ohai Mine Veins in six days to see you.” With that, Du Fan took off into the air and flew straight toward Doha City.

Watching Du Fan release mountains of food into the air and then fly away like a deity, such scenes left a deep impression on the dwarves’ minds. Coupled with Du Fan’s generous treatment toward the dwarf race over time, the Bilu tribe, which would later become independent outside the Twilight Mountains, became Du Fan’s trusted allies.

……

“Ringtone, how’s the production of explosives going?” Upon returning to Doha City, Du Fan went straight to Ringtone. As before, Ringtone and Chenchen were in the laboratory, helping Du Fan create magic scrolls and refine various materials.

Of course, most of this work was done by Ringtone; she only sought Chenchen’s help for the rare issues she couldn’t solve. After all, when Du Fan was absent, Chenchen took care of many things.

“Using the water from the Spring of Life you gave me, I grew a total of one thousand pounds of fireweed. After drying it, it weighed only three hundred pounds. After refining it, I got just over thirty pounds of explosives,” Ringtone explained.

“How much water from the Spring of Life was used?” Du Fan asked immediately upon hearing this.

“All of it,” Ringtone replied shyly.

Hearing this, Du Fan frowned. It seemed he needed to visit the elves again.

“Du Fan, I’ve divided these explosives into packets of half a pound each. Each packet contains a first-level Fireball spell as an initiator, which anyone with even a little skill can use,” Ringtone said.

“What’s their power?” Du Fan asked promptly.

“They can cover an area within fifteen meters. Anyone ordinary inside that range will definitely die,” Ringtone replied.

“Good, very good. But next time, remember to add a large amount of iron pellets—no need for big ones; half a millimeter in diameter is sufficient. Of course, you can experiment to find out how many pellets will yield the best results. The ideal outcome is that the explosion’s effective range exceeds ten meters. On that basis, the more iron pellets you add, the better!” Du Fan said.

Although she didn’t understand Du Fan’s purpose for adding iron pellets, Ringtone simply agreed.

“By the way, I plan to visit the elves and ask them to help me grow a large amount of fireweed. That way, you won’t have to worry about cultivating it anymore. And as for the method of refining explosives, do you want me to assign some people to assist you?” Du Fan asked.
“It depends on how much you need. Without a specific quantity, it’s hard for me to calculate how many people are required,” Reine said.
“That’s easy. I’ll go to the elves and see how much they can provide,” Du Fan said with a smile.
“Okay, then I’ll get the seeds for you,” Reine replied immediately upon hearing Du Fan’s words.
After that, Reine quickly took out a large bottle from a compartment, filled with bright red fireweed seeds. Seeing how well everything was prepared by Reine, Du Fan felt deeply moved.
Thinking back to how he had taken Reine under force under such circumstances, she not only hadn’t held it against him but was still silently helping him now. After some thought, Du Fan suddenly pulled Reine into his arms and whispered in her ear, “Good Reine, I’ll be back soon. Wait for me.”
Du Fan had never been this gentle with her before. From his actions, Reine’s face turned red instantly!
Seeing her flushed face, Du Fan laughed heartily. With a swift movement, he flew out of the window. In mid-air, he controlled his Green Shuttle and rushed toward the elves at high speed.
Soon, Du Fan entered the Dusk Mountains. With the ancient elf trees as the destination, his Green Shuttle flew in a straight line toward it.
Just as he entered the mountains, a brilliant light suddenly rushed toward his Green Shuttle! At its speed, ordinary attacks couldn’t keep up, but this light somehow managed to match its pace.
The light, moving from below, seemed to have calculated his speed precisely—so long as he maintained his current speed, the light would hit the Green Shuttle exactly.
Seeing this, Du Fan slowed down his Green Shuttle. Immediately, as his speed decreased, the light, as if alive, turned and headed back toward his shuttle.
Retiring his Green Shuttle, Du Fan emitted a milky white glow. Covered in that glow, he charged headlong toward the light!

Two beams of light collided, and with a bang, Du Fan was flung backward. As he flew, a dark shadow appeared and threw another punch at him.
As the domain was activated, just as those punches were about to hit Du Fan, he suddenly disappeared. Seeing this, the dark shadow let out a surprised “Eh?”
With that dodge, Du Fan reappeared in the sky about a hundred meters away.
“Who are you? Why attack me from behind?” Du Fan asked immediately after stabilizing himself in the air.
“Haha, Du Fan! I didn’t expect your cultivation to have improved so much in such a short time!” Hearing the voice, Du Fan felt pleased—could it be anyone other than the second leader of theWorld of Warcraft clan?
“Second leader! How did you end up here?” Du Fan said happily.
“I’m the leader! After my brother left, I became the leader!” Tek protested loudly, upset that Du Fan still called him the second leader.
“Ahaha, Leader, how did you come here?” Hearing the leader’s obvious displeasure, Du Fan quickly changed his wording.
The place Du Fan was in was not even in the core area of the Dusk Mountains; it was a rather remote spot within them. He never expected to run into Tek here.
“Listen carefully. Is there any other sound?” Tek asked seriously after Du Fan’s question.
Seeing Tek’s seriousness, Du Fan stopped talking and listened attentively.
“There’s nothing unusual,” he said after listening for a while. All he could hear was the sound of the wind, the rustling of the trees, and the cries of some wild animals.
“Are you sure there’s no other sound?” Tek asked seriously again. “Listen for the sound of water.”
At Tek’s reminder, Du Fan closed his eyes again, focusing all his attention on his ears. Sure enough, he soon heard the sound of waves, as if waves were crashing against the shore.
“There’s the sound of water. Is there a lake here?” Du Fan asked in confusion.
“Hahahahaha! There’s no lake here! This place is near the sea,” Tek laughed loudly at Du Fan’s question.
“Near the sea?” Du Fan asked in confusion.

“Not bad. Forty li east from here is the sea,” Tek said with a smile. “Indeed, indeed. I just wanted to test you. I didn’t expect you to actually be able to hear the sound of the water from forty li away. You see, even I can barely hear it.” Tek said with a laugh.
Hearing Tek’s words, Du Fan remembered that there was indeed a deep bay deep within the Dusk Mountains. This bay was quite peculiar—its width was only a few dozen li, yet it extended nearly a thousand li deep into the Dusk Mountains!
He never thought he would end up in such a place.
“The Skangacha Strait? Is this near the Skangacha Strait?” Du Fan asked immediately.
“That’s right. Forty li east is the Skangacha Strait,” Tek said with a smile. “I’m here this time for a magical beast that lives specifically by the Skangacha Strait.”
“I heard that the Skangacha Strait is home to a magical beast called a griffin. Is that why the Great Commander has come here?” Du Fan asked right away.
“That’s correct. The griffin is one of the very few magical beasts capable of carrying people in flight. Other magical beasts either can’t fly at all, or those that can fly rarely reach a level where they can carry people. Among the few that can carry people, aside from the griffin, the rest are too rare to form large flying armies,” Tek said with a smile.
“You want to form an army?” Du Fan asked in surprise as he looked at Tek.
“That’s right. I plan to form an army that can fly in the sky! Heh heh. Once my flying army is established, when people talk about the Dusk Mountains, it won’t just be about the Dwarven Black Panther Knights anymore,” Tek said with a sly smile.