Chapter 009: Field Battle

Under the watchful eyes of Du Fan, Naixiu, and Basha, Moses led the elf archers and set off overnight toward the base of the Black Panther Knights.
“Second brother, you should go back and rest early too. Remember, three holy-level magicians are at your house. If anything happens, contact me immediately! I have a quick way to get in touch with those magicians!” Du Fan said.
“What about you and Naixiu for the night?” Basha asked.
“Hehe, don’t worry, second brother. We’ll definitely find a place to stay. Besides, it’s a place you definitely won’t be able to find—otherwise, how could Naixiu and I have some time alone?” Du Fan said with a smile.
“Time alone? What does that mean?” Basha asked, puzzled.
Although Basha was over a hundred years old, strictly speaking, he was still quite young. In a sense, he was even younger than Du Fan, so he didn’t understand Du Fan’s words.
“Time alone means just the two of us, doing some happy things without anyone disturbing us,” Du Fan said with a smile.
Before he could finish speaking, Naixiu reached out and pinched Du Fan’s waist hard.
“Ah!” Du Fan cried out.
“Well, if that’s the case, I’m relieved. Go ahead and enjoy your time alone,” Basha said, nodding half-understandingly.
Hearing Du Fan’s cry, Basha wondered again—wasn’t it supposed to be a happy thing? Why did his third brother scream like that?
“Du Fan, where are we going to stay tonight?” Naixiu asked, smiling at Du Fan after Basha left.
“The mountains,” Du Fan replied, referring to the high mountains above Grass City.
“The mountains? What if some wild beast comes out while we’re sleeping?” Naixiu asked worriedly.
“That’s exactly why we’re going up the mountains for a field battle—why worry about wild beasts?” Du Fan said with a mischievous smile.
“A field battle? What’s that? Why do we have to go up the mountains for one?” Naixiu asked, confused.
“You’ll know once we get there,” Du Fan said.
That night, nothing happened, and no bad news came from Basha’s side. But it should be noted that that night, Naixiu learned what a field battle was. And if the people of Grass City knew that a man and a woman were having a field battle on the mountain above them that night, what expressions would they have?

At noon the next day, Du Fan and Naixiu were still in the mountains, sleeping deep in the forest. Suddenly, a dark mist flashed beside Du Fan, and a piece of paper appeared next to him. Du Fan turned over, took the paper, glanced at it, then let out a few cold laughs. “What’s wrong, Du Fan?” Naixiu, who was still sleeping, was awakened by his cold laughter and asked in a daze. “It’s nothing serious. Basha sent word that a group of extremely powerful magical beasts has been discovered in one of the dwarf tribes. The Black Panther Knights need to be sent to eliminate them, so those stationed in Grass will be transferred there,” Du Fan said with a cold laugh. “Is Karu about to take action?” Naixiu asked eagerly upon hearing this news. “Even if they don’t act now, it won’t be long,” Du Fan replied. “Then isn’t Basha in great danger?” Naixiu asked. “It’s fine. Basha is already at the Saint level, and there are three dual-element Saint-level magicians by his side. I think with such strength, even if faced by thousands of troops, they can still fight their way through,” Du Fan said. “But I still feel a bit worried,” Naixiu said. “Worried about what? Since it’s still early, let’s sleep a bit more,” Du Fan said, pulling her into his arms. “Ugh, I’m still so sleepy,” Naixiu yawned. It was no wonder they were tired—they had fought all night the previous day until they were completely exhausted. While Moses led two thousand archers through the night on their way to the Black Panther Knights’ base of the dwarves, and while Basha was cautious and deep in thought at night, Du Fan had taken Naixiu to the mountains to fight. If those two brothers knew what Du Fan had done, what would they think? The two slept until afternoon. There was still silence on Basha’s end. After getting up, Du Fan took out a magic letter, wrote a few lines with a magic pen, then clamped the letter in his hand and quickly recited a few spells. In an instant, the letter disappeared. The next moment, a magician from Basha’s household was holding Du Fan’s letter. Soon, that magician did the same, and soon Du Fan also had a magic letter in his hand. “Hmm, Grass is very quiet. But to me, this quietness isn’t normal,” Du Fan frowned thoughtfully.

Another magic message was taken out, and soon, Moses, who was still on the road, received a letter from Du Fan. As a magic warrior, Moses learned this simple communication magic quickly and promptly sent a reply.

“Well, nothing unusual is happening with Moses either. It seems everything is quietly progressing,” Du Fan said with a smile.

“Du Fan, what should we do now?” Naixiu asked, adjusting her hair.

After a fierce night of combat, Naixiu’s face was flushed with a healthy red hue, which made Du Fan’s heart flutter.

“Of course, we should enjoy life to the fullest,” Du Fan said with a smile. “For now, let’s find a way to fill our stomachs first.”

Soon, a wisp of green smoke rose deep in the forest. Following that smoke, they saw Du Fan sitting by a campfire, roasting a strange beast that looked very much like a sheep from the outside.

Holding his Sacred Radiance Staff, Du Fan quickly made a few cuts on the beast with his dagger. Soon, a strong aroma of meat reached Naixiu’s nose.

“It smells so good,” Naixiu said, feeling her mouth water.

From last night until this afternoon, Naixiu had indeed been feeling a bit hungry.

Picking up the seasonings again, she sprinkled them on the roasted beast. Duan tore off a piece and handed it to Naixiu, who quickly took a few bites.

“How’s it? Meat is still better than fruit, right?” Du Fan asked with a smile.

“It depends on what kind of meat and fruit it is. If it’s meat cooked by you, it’s naturally better than fruit,” Naixiu said with her mouth full of meat.

“Haha, I didn’t expect you to be so good at talking,” Du Fan laughed. “Also, I want to ask—after merging with a divine essence, do you feel anything special?” he asked.

“A special feeling? It’s like my cultivation level is growing rapidly! And I’m also very sensitive to the elemental energies around me!” Naixiu thought for a moment before answering.

“Divine-level cultivation? What’s the difference between divine-level cultivation and that of domain masters?” Du Fan murmured.

“I’ll tell you as soon as I become a god,” Naixiu said, pouting her cheeks.

“It will probably be a few more years before you become a god,” Du Fan said, teasingly pinching her cheeks.

Deep in the dense forest, the two of them ate and talked, then spent another afternoon practicing together. Since Nai Xiu had absorbed the divine essence, she hadn’t had the chance to practice properly, and the same was true for Du Fan—only now, after absorbing such a large amount of the divine essence, did he have the opportunity to truly experience it.

Inside his body, Du Fan’s mass of divine essence was slowly rotating. Sensing the power of this rotation, he felt that many parts of his body that had previously been stiff were gradually becoming more flexible as the divine essence continued to move.

Realizing this, Du Fan breathed a sigh of relief. Those stiff parts were actually the forces he had acquired through external means. The divine essence was slowly integrating, absorbing, and transforming those elements that originally did not belong to Du Fan into his own.

Through the power of the divine essence, Du Fan also sensed something strange—when its rotation reached a certain level, it seemed as though he could wield some hidden powers of this world!

The divine essence, derived from the Supreme God, represented the purest force and the most fundamental existence in this world!

Normally, it would be extremely lucky for someone to obtain even a grain-of-rice-sized amount of divine essence, yet Du Fan possessed an egg-sized mass of it within his body!

What kind of being would such a large amount of divine essence create?

As night fell, the two resumed their combat exercises. This proved true to the old saying from the Far East: “When fed and warm, one thinks of lust.” After eating and sleeping well in the afternoon, they fought with renewed vigor at night.

Just as Du Fan and Nai Xiu finished their combat exercises and fell into a drowsy sleep, a letter suddenly appeared.

It came from Bashaba Sha, with the message: “Attack! Come to help immediately!” The message was brief, even somewhat hasty.

“Nai Xiu, it’s bad! Bashaba and the others have been attacked. The situation seems very serious. Let’s go help them right away!” Upon receiving the letter, Du Fan quickly got up.

Hearing this, Nai Xiu also hurriedly got up.

As soon as she stood, she suddenly frowned. “My waist hurts,” she said.

“Hurry up! Look at the letter—they wrote it in a hurry and it’s very brief. It must have been written under extreme pressure!” Du Fan urged.

Naixiu nodded firmly. Du Fan cast several spells on her, and the two of them rushed toward the cave leading into Glass! Du Fan pushed his speed to its limit. The guards watching over the cave only saw two streaks of smoke-like figures zipping past them in an instant. It was night again, and the guards didn’t have time to figure out what those streaks of smoke actually were. They quickly entered Glass. As soon as they arrived, they saw a mage supporting Basha as they ran fast forward, with two other mages covering their retreat, continuously casting spells related to darkness and nature to hold off the pursuers! “Elder Du Fan, Chief Naixiu. You’ve finally arrived!” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Du Fan and Naixiu. “How is my second brother?” Du Fan asked anxiously. “The enemy is strong! Let’s get out first!” one of the mages said urgently.