Chapter 017: God’s Will

It was very quiet outside—so quiet that Du Fan almost thought all the elves had left.
Damn it, what was going on? Just as Du Fan was completely puzzled, Lan Ling, the elf sage whose body he had been manipulating, suddenly moved. Her body trembled violently, and a cry of shock escaped her delicate lips.
“Let go of me!” Her voice was soft and melodious, like silver bells.
Feeling that the sage’s resistance was weak, Du Fan relaxed slightly, no longer gripping her tightly.
“Nothingness—”
As Du Fan wondered how to interrogate Lan Ling, he suddenly felt his grip loosen. The hand that had been choking her neck slipped away…
Looking at Lan Ling, he saw her body strangely pass through his hands and vanish through the wall in an instant.
Huh? Her body? A ghost? Transparent? Nothingness? Du Fan reacted quickly. When half of Lan Ling’s body had entered the wall, he rushed forward, trying to grab her and stop her.
His hand passed through empty air. He had clearly touched her body, but it felt as if nothing was there—just air.
Watching helplessly as the elf sage escaped the room, Du Fan’s heart sank.
He had relied on controlling the elf sage, but now that plan had failed.
What kind of trick was this? It seemed like turning one’s body into a formless state, becoming nothingness—untouchable and invisible, yet still visible. Did that mean she was invincible?
No one could touch her or hit her; they could only watch helplessly. If she could still cast spells, how terrifying must she be?
A chill ran down Du Fan’s spine, clearing his mind. Now he realized just how dangerous it was to invade the elf tribe recklessly.
It seemed pointless to dwell on this now…
With a sigh, Du Fan shook his head and helped the female elf archer he had knocked out earlier to stand up.
It was too dangerous to leave now. He could only stay here, after all, he still had a hostage. The elves outside probably wouldn’t dare act rashly. As he thought this, figures appeared at the door—Lan Ling and Nayixiu, the leader of her tribe, came in together.
Lan Ling’s face was red, while Nayixiu walked ahead, holding a long bow with an arrow aimed at Du Fan.

“Hey, beautiful elf lady, I know your arrows are precise, but I believe you won’t shoot them lightly, right?” Du Fan smiled at Naixiu, though he was secretly worried. It was indeed her who shot that strange arrow—the arrow in her hand was exactly the same as the one from back then… With golden eyes gleaming, Du Fan prepared himself firmly against this archer of the sacred rank. A fierce glint flashed in Naixiu’s eyes as she drew her long bow fully, the airflow wrapped around the arrow surging back and forth, displaying astonishing destructive power. Although she could no longer use the Divine Arrow Technique, with her strength at the peak of level nine, even at such close range, Du Fan might not be able to dodge, even if he possessed the True Eye. Naixiu’s hand remained as steady as rock, unaffected by Du Fan’s words—his words of speech magic had done nothing at all. A tense atmosphere spread. Even without the power of the sacred rank, Naixiu’s realm was still that of a sacred being, which alone made speech magic ineffective against her. As for mental attacks, few knew that the elves’ greatest strength wasn’t their unparalleled archery skills but their spiritual connection to nature. What were mental attacks compared to nature? “Stop resisting, human. Surrendering is your only way out,” came a beautiful voice as Lan Ling pointed at Du Fan. “Surrender?” Du Fan shook his head helplessly. Any fool knew that surrendering now meant certain death. He would never do such a foolish thing. Fighting gave him a sliver of hope; not fighting meant losing even that hope. Du Fan didn’t consider this plan particularly risky. The only issue was this elf sage, Lan Ling, who seemed weak but possessed incredible power. He had seen people like Lan Ling before—those who could communicate directly with their deities and receive divine power. The strength they used was actually the power of the deities. Was this elf sage also a divine magician? Faced with this invisible and intangible elf sage, Du Fan’s chances of winning were practically zero. So he didn’t even think about capturing Lan Ling again but instead smiled innocently at Naixiu. “Leader, you surely don’t want to see your people die at my hands either. Then, would you be willing to exchange yourself for your fellow?”

Du Fan tapped the comatose female elf archer’s quite flexible buttocks in a manner that appeared as natural as possible.
Naixiu’s expression changed. “Human, you’re despicable.”
Du Fan merely smiled slightly, his expression as holy as ever. To him, whether it was despicable or shameless didn’t matter at all. All he wanted now was to leave this place safely—nothing more.
“Clang!”
A slight ripple suddenly emanated from Naixiu’s arrow. In an instant, Du Fan felt his body grow heavy, his limbs losing strength, as if weighed down by lead.
This was one of the elite archery techniques of the elves—using their own pressure to instantly numb the opponent’s body, then taking advantage of that moment to shoot a fatal arrow. The opponent had no chance to dodge and could only be hit outright.
As Naixiu had planned, Du Fan didn’t make any attempt to dodge and met the arrow with his head.
Thud!
The arrow fell to the ground, powerless, less than an inch from Du Fan’s head. Although Du Fan only controlled half of his domain at the moment, the power of his ineffective domain was extremely strong. Naixiu’s arrow was rendered ineffective by his domain. Naixiu was shocked. Just as she was about to reload and shoot again, Lan Ling pulled her back from behind, stopping her.
Naixiu didn’t know what had just happened, but Lan Ling did. As the divine representative on earth, she knew far more than Naixiu.
There was a reason why Lan Ling had remained indifferent to Du Fan’s actions earlier.
She had actually been communicating with the gods in the room at that time and couldn’t move at all. What Du Fan was holding was merely her physical body; her soul had been summoned by the gods and hadn’t returned yet.
Lan Ling sighed lightly and said, “Stop, Naixiu. When dealing with guests, we must learn to show respect.”
“Guests?”
Du Fan and Naixiu exclaimed in surprise at the same time.
Lan Ling nodded solemnly, bowed to Du Fan, and said, “My god left a message saying that the Kayi tribe would welcome a human divine messenger. The power you just used—I believe you must be the messenger my god mentioned.”

Lan Ling wasn’t lying. She had just communicated with the gods, and the message she received was something vague: a human messenger was about to arrive at the elf tribe, and the god this messenger served was on very good terms with the elves’ god. It was for this reason that the Goddess of Nature warned Lan Ling that this messenger was an ally, not an enemy. Given the hatred and hostility between elves and humans, it was already quite difficult for Lan Ling to accept a human at first. Even after receiving the gods’ guidance, she didn’t act immediately, still wondering if this human might not truly be a messenger—until she saw Du Fan’s power…
“Guest? Sage, how could such despicable humans possibly be guests of the elves?”
Naixiu was shocked beyond measure. She had long harbored deep hatred for humans. Since she became the tribe leader, those vile humans had captured countless of her companions right before her eyes, using every possible trick. Her parents, her siblings—none of them were spared. How could such hatred be settled with just the word ‘guest’? “Sage, do you mean me as a guest?”
Not only did Naixiu not believe it, but even Du Fan himself didn’t believe he could become a guest of the elves. After all, his methods toward them hadn’t been exactly honorable—first, he knocked Jo Yi out, lured children, and even tried to invade the elf tribe to abduct the elf sage…
“This is the will of the Goddess of Nature, Naixiu. Do you dare defy the gods’ command?”
Lan Ling’s words made Naixiu reluctantly put away her arrow. Yet the fierce glare in her eyes didn’t weaken at all—instead, it grew even stronger.
“The will of the Goddess of Nature?”
It was Du Fan’s turn to be stunned.
The gods of the elves knew me? What the hell? He was confused.
This was his first time in the Twilight Mountains. As for the Goddess of Nature mentioned by Lan Ling, he had heard of her before—she was the guardian deity of the elves, just like the God of Light worshipped by the Light Church. The Goddess of Nature held the highest status among the elves.
It could be said that every elf would sacrifice their life for her at any time. A single word from her could determine their life or death. In the hearts of the elves, the Goddess of Nature was even more revered than their own parents.
Am I that familiar with the Goddess of Nature?
Du Fan frowned. Although Naixiu’s unwillingness didn’t seem fake, he still couldn’t be sure whether the words of the busty sage were true. Could it be…

Du Fan suddenly thought of another possibility. Could it be… that this so-called Goddess of Nature is Chenchen!