Chapter 017: Frosty Snowfall
Du Fan smiled slightly and said, “Yes… Lord Neo, both you and I owe great thanks to Lord Anthony. Now that Lord Anthony has entrusted us with governing Divine Might Prison, we naturally need to make it functional. Even if we can’t spread Divine Might Prison’s influence throughout the Holy Church, at the very least we must make it impregnable, beyond the reach of ordinary people. But achieving this was easy before; now it’s somewhat difficult. As the saying goes, ‘There can be no two suns in the sky, nor two rulers among the people.’ You and I are both rulers of Divine Might Prison. If we work together with conflicting orders, whose will will the subordinates follow?”
Neo turned to look at Du Fan, gave him a meaningful smile, and then said, “There is some truth to what you say.”
Du Fan continued, “So, from this moment on, Divine Might Prison should be divided into two. As for people and resources, they naturally belong to you and me equally… Lord Neo, don’t you think my decision is beneficial for both of us?”
Neo pondered for a moment before saying, “It indeed is beneficial. Since Lord Du Fan thinks so, I will arrange for personnel to be assigned as soon as possible. But Lord Du Fan… even though I assign people to you, remember that with such great power comes an equally heavy burden of responsibilities.”
Du Fan smiled. “That goes without saying… Though Du Fan may be reckless, he understands this perfectly well.”
Neo merely nodded and said nothing more.
Edeline, who was following behind, broke into a cold sweat. She never expected Du Fan to dare speak to Neo in such a manner. After all, in the past, Neo had always been the ultimate authority in Divine Might Prison—who would dare bargain with him?
Soon, the three of them fell silent and arrived at a magnificent complex of halls.
No one could have imagined that there could be such grand buildings in an underground space.
Du Fan narrowed his eyes and examined it carefully before realizing that several extremely stable spatial magic arrays had been cast here. Apparently, this originally small underground world had been expanded infinitely through spatial magic.
Upon arriving here, Neo scanned the surroundings with narrowed eyes before saying to Du Fan calmly, “Lord Du Fan, this place has always been used by me. Without my guidance, outsiders absolutely cannot find it… So although the items here aren’t the best in the Holy Church, they’re not terrible either. Please, come in!”
It wasn’t long before Du Fan understood exactly what “not terrible” meant.
Under Nio’s guidance, the two slowly entered the first hall in this series of chambers. Inside, there were dozens of chainmail sets emitting a faint holy light—clearly the kind only Temple Knights wore. Such armor was scarce even among the Temple Knights, available only to leaders, and wearing it could grant a certain degree of magic immunity. Coupled with the holy light’s enhancement effect on Light Combat Energy, it was truly invaluable. Without hesitation, Du Fan picked out half of them and handed them to Adeline. Fortunately, Adeline had a storage bracelet, so she managed to put them inside. Yet after she did, Nio gave her a smirk that made her feel uneasy. But since Du Fan kept handing over items, she didn’t dare refuse. After examining the first hall, Nio led Du Fan to the second. There, several magic swords were displayed, each exuding a murderous aura that stirred excitement in everyone’s heart. Du Fan casually grabbed one of the swords, drew it from its sheath, and swung it lightly—immediately sending a wave of cold air soaring into the air. Despite not using any Combat Energy, the result was remarkable. Du Fan ran his fingertips along the sword’s blade and flicked it, producing a dragon-like roar. Satisfied, he hung the sword at his waist and then picked out half of the remaining swords, tossing them to Adeline. Seeing Du Fan choose that sword, Nio said nothing but smiled lightly, “The sword is named Frostfall Snow. Lord Du Fan has excellent taste.” Du Fan raised his eyebrows slightly and asked, “Is this sword special?” He drew the sword out again; its blade still emitted a chilling aura, but Du Fan couldn’t see anything special about it. After all, he practiced Combat Energy and magic, not appraisal.
Seeing Du Fan’s movements, a strange look flashed in Neo’s eyes before he said indifferently, “This sword was once the companion sword of a certain Sword Saint from long ago… As for this scabbard, it is said to be made from the skin of the Silver Dragons, the most formidable among the dragons. I don’t know much about dragons in general, but the Silver Dragons are definitely the ones favored by the legendary Dragon God. Thus, every Silver Dragon is a warrior of great strength, and their dragon skin is impervious to blades and unaffected by fire or water. Just this scabbard is already a masterpiece among the finest.”
Du Fan naturally knew of the terrifying nature of dragons—not all dragons were as weak as the one raised by Miss Chenchen. Thinking of this, he gently shook his wrist, causing a tiny spark to appear on the blade’s edge. Though the movement was slight, a buzzing sound emanated from the blade. At that moment, the Frostfall Snow Sword appeared as cold as a moonlit night, its blade gleaming with a chilling light. Some strange runes seemed to have been carved onto it, but they were crooked and unreadable. Strangely enough, those runes seemed to be fused with the blade itself, emitting a strange glow as it was swung.
“This sword is forged from rare Cryo-Iron Core. You see, Cryo-Iron ore itself is already extremely uncommon, and the Cryo-Iron Core is even rarer. Only a tiny amount can be found in tens of thousands of tons of iron ore, and it’s not even certain whether it’s truly Cryo-Iron Core… Anything made from such material is an extremely sharp weapon… Of course, even so, though these weapons can cut through iron like mud, they are still merely mortal artifacts and not true divine weapons. But those runes on it…”
At this point, a hint of sarcasm appeared on Neo’s face as he continued, “With these runes on it, the Frostfall Snow Sword can be compared to ordinary divine weapons. Even Francis’s so-called divine sword, the Blood Rose, probably wouldn’t stand a chance against it.”
Du Fan had seen Francis’s Blood Rose before, but could this seemingly ordinary long sword really be compared to it? He couldn’t help but take a slight breath, his eyes showing a hint of surprise.
Du Fan’s reaction was noticed by Neo. He nodded slightly, seemingly satisfied with the outcome, before calmly adding, “It is said that the spell on this is a legacy left by the demons from long ago!”
“Demons!?”
“Yes, demons!” Neo smiled. “Lord Du Fan should understand, right?”
“Lord Du Fan…” Neo continued, “You must have some idea of how terrifying the demons are. The spells they left behind are even more precious—they’re not just ordinary magic spells that our human race can master! It is because of these spells that the Frostfall Sword transformed from an ordinary blade into an unparalleled divine weapon…”
Du Fan took a deep breath, gave Neo a strange look, and then said, “Lord Neo, why…”
Neo shook his head. “It’s nothing… Back then, the sword sage who wielded this divine weapon was considered a heretic, and it was our Divine Might Prison that dealt with him… Naturally, the sword fell into our hands.”
Du Fan gave Neo another puzzled look before saying calmly, “Lord Neo… Are you trying to imply something?”
Neo smiled. “Of course not… Anything used to spread the glory of the God of Light is sacred, even if it’s a demon spell… I’m just saying this in the hope that Lord Du Fan will gain a better understanding of his own sword in the future!”
Du Fan snorted, sheathed his sword casually, and walked into the next hall.
Inside this hall, there was only one ring, made of some unknown material, emitting a faint aqua glow.
With just one glance, Du Fan realized this ring was by no means ordinary. He picked it up and played with it for a while before realizing it was likely crafted from the core of some magical beast. Judging from the magical fluctuations emanating from it, that beast must have been at a sacred level. This alone showed the ring’s intricacy and wonder.
With Du Fan’s abilities, wearing this ring would likely amplify any water-based magic to incredible levels, even granting immunity to such magic.
Wouldn’t it be a shame to leave such a thing here?
Without hesitation, Du Fan put the ring on his finger, not even bothering to glance at Neo, before heading into another hall.