Chapter 020: The Magic Core

“What’s that?” Du Fan exclaimed. The next moment, he firmly grasped the magic core in his hand and said with a smile to Count Wade before him, “Count, I’ve been wondering why the power exerted by domain masters over you is so extreme. Now I understand.”
“What?” Hearing Du Fan’s words, even Robby beside him asked curiously.
“The magic core,” Du Fan replied calmly as he fiddled with the core in his hand. “Armors made from level-9 magical beasts or domain-level magical beasts do have a strong amplifying effect, but not to this extent. It wasn’t until I saw this magic core that I realized—you’ve been consuming the magic cores of domain magical beasts!”
Upon hearing Du Fan’s words, everyone stared at Count Wade and his son in shock.
Domain-level magical beasts were extremely rare on the continent. In a fight between a domain-level magical beast and a skilled human expert from a domain, the beast would almost always win. The magic core contained all the energy of such beasts. If not for the special armor that contained it, Count Wade would likely have died from the overwhelming energy long ago.
Only now, after uncovering this secret, did people stop being alarmed by Count Wade and Randy’s sudden strength. After all, they were relying on others’ power—just like Count Wade’s magic core, which was outside his body. Such energy was far less valuable than what they had gained through their own cultivation.
“Du Fan!” Count Wade shouted, speaking in a domineering tone. “If you’re capable, give me back the magic core and fight me one-on-one. Otherwise, you’re nothing but a despicable scoundrel. Even if you manage to knock me and Fisher off our horses, the people of the empire won’t respect you.”
Hearing Count Wade’s words, Du Fan sneered and said in a mocking tone, “Is that so? My dear Count, have you never taken my true strength into account?”
“Nonsense,” Count Wade retorted angrily. “If I had had your advantages back then, I would already be the emperor of the Gavin Empire. Would I still need to fight you here?”

“Oh?” Du Fan gave a disdainful look before tossing the magic core back to him in a completely calm tone, saying, “Then let me show you just how strong I am now.”
Receiving the magic core thrown back by Du Fan, Count Wade’s expression became extremely complex for a moment, but after a few breaths, it turned icy again as he swallowed the core back.
“Star Domain!” Du Fan shouted. In an instant, the once scorching daytime was covered by dark clouds, and countless stars appeared in the sky, each emitting a thumb-sized beam of golden light that shone upon Du Fan.
Feeling the power of the stars approaching, Du Fan comfortably closed his eyes. Meanwhile, the stars in the sky began to move chaotically, and the range of their power gradually shrank from dozens of miles to barely covering the powerful beings present.
“Could it be that the third brother’s energy is about to collapse?” Basha watched the bizarre scene of half day and half night in the sky with concern, gripping his axe tightly. If anything went wrong, Count Wade would face not only the anger of the powerful beings present but also the unhesitating attacks from the dwarves, elves, and blue-blooded races against the Gavin Empire.
“Hehe.” Du Fan smiled faintly, looking at Count Wade before saying calmly, “Do you know what the Big Dipper Formation is?”
“The Big Dipper Formation?” Hearing Du Fan’s words, Count Wade laughed and said, “I do know that roasted beast legs in the north are quite delicious.”
Unperturbed by Count Wade’s words, Du Fan pointed at the chaotic stars in the sky and said calmly, “This Big Dipper is a formation designed for attack, like… a gift from the gods. But in my domain, I am the god!”
Du Fan shouted, and immediately, many stars in the sky flashed like meteors, leaving only seven small stars emitting faint light. Yet these seven stars instantly formed a spoon shape, shining brightly.
“What is this?” Count Wade looked at the seven remaining stars in the sky, swallowing hard. From them, he sensed an extremely terrifying energy.
In the ancient times of Du Fan’s past life, the Big Dipper had always been a symbol of murder and destruction. After witnessing numerous battles by chance, Du Fan had come up with the idea for this Big Dipper Formation.

The effect of this Big Dipper Formation is not merely to enhance Du Fan’s attack power; it also doubles his recovery ability and his skill in manipulating elements within space. Even when facing god-tier warriors, this formation should be sufficient for him.

Seeing such results on his first use of such a domain, Du Fan nodded in satisfaction. At the same time, the storage ring on his finger glowed, and the Thunder Sword, with faint starlight on it, appeared in his hand.

Initially, Count Wade thought he had a chance of winning against Du Fan after seeing his domain. But upon seeing the long sword in Du Fan’s hand, he became utterly desperate.

“Come on!” Du Fan roared, raising his sword and performing a swift sword movement before charging at Count Wade.

Watching Du Fan’s actions, Count Wade didn’t dare slack off. He dodged Du Fan’s sword with a flash and thrust his spear like a snake, spinning it around his waist before attacking.

A metallic screech rang out as their weapons clashed. By the time Du Fan pulled back his sword, Count Wade’s spear was already split in two.

“Du Fan!” Count Wade looked at him in shame, throwing his two spears to the ground. In a shameless tone, he said, “Du Fan, if you’re really capable, stop playing around with weapons. I know your weapon is god-tier. Do you have the guts to compete fairly with me?”

Seeing Count Wade’s shameless behavior, Du Fan secretly smiled. After all, it was already good enough that this old fox didn’t resort to schemes against others. Shamelessness was probably only a trait of his youth. With that thought, Du Fan nodded and retracted his Star-Stealing Sword.

At that moment, Count Wade smirked darkly and chanted menacingly, “Great Spider God, grant me your power and let me restore the glory of the Spider Clan!”

One after another, fragments of space took on the shape of spider webs. As Count Wade chanted, a domain unique to spiders erupted fully, and eight spider legs with golden patterns stretched out once again.

You should know that ordinary adult Spider-Men have extremely thick legs, whose hairs are already comparable to weapons. What’s more, what about a Spider at the domain level? At this moment, the Spider-Man with legs two meters long spread out fully, swaying behind Count Wade with increasing speed, resembling eight long hairs that were truly terrifying to behold.

Count Wade sneered and, looking at Du Fan before him, spoke in an extremely arrogant tone, “Kid, these are the Eight Spears of the Spider God. Each one is as strong as a pseudo-legendary artifact. I wonder what you’ll use to fight me now!”

After saying that, an evil aura unlike that of ordinary magical beasts slowly spread from the eight spider legs toward everyone present.

By this time, Huamusi, Ulbas, and Randy had all been pushed back behind Count Wade by the three elders of the Blue Bloods. They watched Count Wade with great concern, while Huamusi was ready to lend a hand if necessary.

Huamusi’s true form was a Spider-Man, and Spider-Men belonged to the most evil race in the underground world. If Huamusi wanted to help Count Wade transfer energy, there would be no resistance at all.

The battlefield was now quite peculiar. Du Fan’s Star Domain contained the purest righteous energy on the continent, while Count Wade’s true form as a Spider-Man carried extremely evil dark energy. Before their masters could act, the energies of the two domains had already begun colliding in the air.

“Four against one?” Rob looked down on Count Wade with disdain, stepping toward Du Fan’s direction one by one while returning to his true form.

“Brother Rob, you?” Du Fan looked at Rob, who had returned to his true form, in surprise and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Seeing Du Fan’s expression, Rob slapped his claw forcefully against Du Fan’s waist. Miraculously, the human and the tiger merged together.

“Roar!” A tiger’s roar came out of Du Fan’s mouth as he cried in pain. At the same time, four milky-white wings spread out behind him. The pressure of a god-tier magical beast swept toward Count Wade’s direction, and the power of the stars grew even stronger at this moment.

Feeling Du Fan’s even more fierce aura than before, Count Wade also began to worry slightly at this moment. He gathered the power of his domain, and the three people behind him also started to channel their domain power toward Count Wade.
“Break through!” Du Fan looked at Count Wade in front of him and waved his hand forcefully. A domineering energy, containing a trace of star power, shot forward like a giant sword in his direction.
“Bang!” A loud explosion resounded in the sky. Count Wade and his three companions were now floating in the air in a disheveled state. Even Count Wade’s armor was cracked in several places.
Having sensed Count Wade’s gathered energy earlier, Du Fan didn’t hesitate to merge Robert’s energy with his own and shoot it at him. Of course, the divine power contained within it was also extremely terrifying.
“Count Wade, do you still think you can pull any tricks?” Du Fan smiled as he looked at Count Wade. His milky-white wings flapped continuously, stabilizing his posture. Seeing the latter’s icy expression, he couldn’t help but laugh again.
“Du Fan, don’t think that just because you’ve merged with the Blood Tiger, you can defeat me.” Count Wade became somewhat hysterical at this point. His hands trembled as he began to move, and his dark red armor, as if alive, started to heal itself automatically.
Book 49: The Struggle for Power