Chapter 015: Snake Valley

Snake Valley was one of the few places still teeming with life. In areas less than a hundred meters deep, many precious poisons and medicinal herbs grew, yet almost no one could bring them out alive. The Fiery Fruit was one of them.

The others stared greedily at the valley, knowing it held endless wealth, but they couldn’t obtain it.

Normally, Snake Valley hardly ever showed even a single snake. In fact, aside from plants, no living creatures could be seen at all.

As for other creatures… one only needed to look at the disfigured bones beside the valley to understand.

Du Fan took an interest in those bones. “Bu Tuo” meant “guarding wealth” in ancient language—quite a fitting description.

Not a single snake was in sight, yet everyone was aware of the dangers lurking within. As they entered the valley, Du Fan insisted they wait outside. He went in alone with two Level 8 warriors.

Du Fan naturally recognized the Fiery Fruit, so he wasn’t worried about mistaking it. He walked forward boldly, but the other two weren’t as carefree. After all, they were entering Snake Valley—how could Du Fan act as if nothing was wrong?

“Don’t worry,” Du Fan said with a serene smile that gave people a sense of peace. “As long as we don’t take anything from here, I won’t be in danger.”

The other two forced smiles, but the problem was, they planned to take things—specifically, the best things in Snake Valley: the Fiery Fruit! It would be strange if those snakes didn’t kill them!!

If they only wanted some venom from the Bu Tuo snakes, they wouldn’t need so many people. But if they went after the Fiery Fruit, they’d be facing an entire swarm of snakes! How could Du Fan remain so calm? They knew Du Fan might not know much about the swamp itself, but he understood the creatures living there quite well. And the fact that he asked others to wait outside proved he was well aware of the danger posed by the Bu Tuo snakes!

Actually, the Fiery Fruit was easy to find. Just walk a hundred meters to the end of the valley, and you’d see small red fruits growing on withered trees. Yet it had existed there for tens of thousands of years. In human history, the Fiery Fruit had only appeared three times.

Du Fan and the others walked over. At a distance of three meters from there, they saw a small white snake coiled under a dead tree. Du Fan dropped his casual smile, signaling the two to back away and be ready to run at any moment. Seeing them carefully retreating out of the valley, he was about to take action. But then the two behind him wanted to run back.

Du Fan glanced behind him and discovered a large swarm of snakes behind them! They covered the ground densely, and even Du Fan paled at the sight.

Looking at the swarm of snakes on the ground, there was no way to step forward! It would be difficult even for him to escape unscathed. Without further thought, Du Fan wrapped the Fiery Fruit in his combat energy. Before the small snake could react, he transformed into a gust of wind and ran toward the valley entrance.

Throwing aside the ice magic scroll, Du Fan passed by the two and said, “Hurry! Follow me! Be careful of both sides!”

The two didn’t hesitate anymore. Du Fan kept his eyes fixed ahead, leaving their flanks to them. He put the Fiery Fruit in his ring. Magic scrolls kept flying out of his hand, but the snakes kept coming in waves, making it impossible to kill them all.

There were only three recorded instances in history of obtaining the Fiery Fruit, with little documentation available. Now, facing a swarm of snakes was something they hadn’t expected at all. The small white snake didn’t chase after them, but they always felt as if someone was watching them, no matter how far they ran…

After running ten miles, they still didn’t dare go to where Walwei and the others were. Even if they got there, they couldn’t save them. The snakes pursued them for ten miles yet still wouldn’t give up. Desperate, Du Fan ran blindly into the path created by the wolf pack. When they stepped onto that path, the snakes stopped chasing them.

They could sense the resentful gazes coming from the Snake Valley. The snakes surrounded them, but they didn’t take another step forward. They certainly wouldn’t approach the wolf corpses either.

Were they afraid of those wolves?

Because those wolves shouldn’t have appeared in the swamp in the first place, but their innate earth magic abilities allowed them to adapt to life here. These creatures had never been seen by humans, so no one knew what they really were. However, it was undeniable that those snakes feared them deeply—even after they died!

So Du Fan came up with a bold idea. He quietly dragged in one wolf corpse at a time; the magic stones inside had already been taken out by Du Fan earlier. Clutching the corpse under his arm, he leaped forward and dropped into the midst of the snake swarm. When the snakes saw Du Fan jumping in with the wolf corpse, they all avoided him. For every step Du Fan took forward, the snakes retreated one step.

It was only then that Du Fan realized these wolves had such advantages. But not everyone could run around carrying a large wolf corpse, so he jumped back. He cut off a small piece of wolf meat and then layered combat energy around his body to ensure the snakes couldn’t break through his defense in one strike.

After doing this, Du Fan jumped back into the snake swarm once more. The snakes retreated at his sight, and he strolled around carefree, gathering up all the wolf corpses in the area. Although the other two were a bit envious, Du Fan noticed this, and besides, they couldn’t steal from him, right?

Yet Du Fan didn’t want to give the impression of being selfish just because of a little wolf meat. He cut off two wolf paws and said, “I guess these wolves are quite advanced, which is why things like snakes are afraid of them. You killed five wolves in total. When we return to them, I’ll give those five wolves to you to share among yourselves. If possible, I’d like to buy those five wolves as well.”

They never expected Du Fan to say such things. Not only did he reveal this secret to them, but he was also willing to give away five wolves? Although Du Fan’s subsequent actions showed he didn’t want others to know this secret, he could have simply ordered them not to spread the word and then kept all the wolf corpses for himself.

But Du Fan didn’t do that; instead, he showed fairness.

Of course, Du Fan did this on purpose to impress them. It was just a few wolves—how much could the goodwill from buying them be worth? Moreover, these wolves clearly were of high quality. They didn’t know what luck they had to encounter these wolves; otherwise, they wouldn’t have seen them at all.

Each of Du Fan’s three companions carried a piece of wolf meat and strode confidently toward Walwei and the others.

Hualwei and the others had already seen Du Fan and the two others being chased away by snakes. Anxious and not knowing what to do, they only thought about how powerful Du Fan was, neglecting one thing: Du Fan’s identity! He was a duke! Although no one knew this when Du Fan arrived at the small village by the swamp, once something happened to him, they would trace it back there. And since he was the last person to have been in contact with Du Fan, if nothing happened to Du Fan, it would be fine. But if anything happened to him, he would be in big trouble. Not only himself, but also his Beba family! Compared to a duke who was highly respected in the empire, their family meant nothing at all. When he saw Du Fan return safely, he was so excited he wanted to kiss the people around him. But since those around him were all burly men, he suppressed his impulse and instead called out to Du Fan, “Duke! Duke!” He had never thought Du Fan could be so adorable. When Du Fan approached Hualwei and the others, he distributed the wolf meat he had prepared earlier. “Alright, let’s go now. We’ve got the Fire Fruit. Check it—right?” After taking a look, Hualwei quickly nodded. “Right! Right! How could the Duke be wrong?” Hualwei then focused on the wolf meat in their hands. “What’s this?” “Those are wolf carcasses. I noticed that the swamp creatures, especially those snakes, seem to fear these wolves, so I brought back their bodies. These five were killed by you, so they naturally belong to you,” Du Fan said as he took out the wolf carcasses and laid them on the ground. Aside from a little meat missing, the five carcasses were still intact. They looked at Du Fan, who continued, “We tested them on our way back. We don’t know why, but those swamp creatures are very afraid of these wolf carcasses. So if handled properly, they can become treasures for adventurers!” Without Du Fan needing to say more, they understood their value. Moreover, these wolves had never appeared before; maybe they were the only ones of their kind. And since they were turned into dried meat, who would know what they originally were? As long as they didn’t reveal it… Hualwei also understood this. He didn’t want to take risks or argue with these people. “I just want five pieces. The rest, as agreed, belongs to everyone here.” Du Fan was surprised. “Is that so? Then those poisons collected along the way…”

“We are already extremely grateful that Your Dukeship is willing to help. Our Beba family will exchange this income for gold coins for them, so you needn’t worry about it.” Du Fan thought for a moment and then stopped being polite. “Alright, then I’ll accept this gift. As for the rest, since I killed them all, I’ll keep them.” Even if Du Fan really kept all the wolves, no one else would say anything. Moreover, those five wolves were deliberately left behind by Du Fan—otherwise, wouldn’t they be redundant in this adventure? No matter how strong Du Fan was, he was just one person. If he made them feel redundant first, their sense of belonging would weaken. Du Fan wanted them to feel that they were part of him and even proud of it! The others knew Du Fan was intentionally showing them goodwill—first saying he would accept it but then handing it back to him. “Your Dukeship, please sell them for us.” With one person doing this, the others would naturally follow suit. Du Fan had originally wanted to decline, but that would have seemed too fake; he actually intended to buy them too. “Alright, I already intended to buy them from you. As you can see, I’m a magician, and turning these into magical items will increase their value. Here’s what I propose: I’ll deduct the cost of materials and add an extra 20% as my processing fee, and the rest will go back to you.” The others naturally agreed. Wouldn’t each magical item be worth tens of thousands of gold coins? Even if the cost was high, say five thousand, there would still be five thousand left. After giving Du Fan two parts, they would still have 80% profit, which was at least four thousand—far more than what they could earn by selling them themselves. They weren’t worried about not being able to sell them either. No matter when, no one would feel they lacked something to save their lives. And as long as the wolf meat remained effective, by spending ten thousand gold coins on this life-saving item, they could also venture deeper than where they were now. In that case, their income wouldn’t be just ten thousand. Moreover, their lives would be secured—what reason did they have not to buy it? Looking at the wolf meat, they now saw it as a mountain of gold…