Chapter 008: The Divine Warriors of the Earth Tiger Clan

“Elder Lan, what brings you to see me?” Du Fan stood in front of Lan Bowen, feeling somewhat puzzled as he asked.
Du Fan, who was gradually recovering his strength, heard that Lan Bowen wanted to meet with him to discuss some important matters. Upon hearing this, he hurried over immediately.
In the Earth Tiger Clan, Du Fan was essentially no different from an ordinary clan member. Aside from recovering, he also dealt with the clan’s strong warriors from time to time, making deals to obtain the magic cores of lower-level magical beasts. Meanwhile, Luo Bo took this opportunity to thrive within the clan and might even become one of its elders in no time.
Only when Du Fan stood before him did Lan Bowen stop what he was doing. Smiling, he said, “The underground world is extremely hidden from ordinary people. Yet you’ve managed to find it, accompanied by four strong warriors. Your status in the human world must be quite significant.”
“Well…” Hearing Lan Bowen’s words, Du Fan hesitated for a moment before admitting, “Indeed, Elder Lan. I can be considered a strong warrior in the underground world. I came here because I’m pursuing my enemy. I never expected my enemy to also be in your underground world. Moreover, both the Night Elves and Spidermen there are under my enemy’s control.”
“Oh?” Lan Bowen let out a strange sound and looked at Du Fan in surprise. “If I’m guessing correctly, your enemy must be the messenger of the underground world. The Night Elves and Spidermen were never particularly important in the underground world before, but now their members are acting tyrannically there, much more arrogant than before.”
At that moment, Du Fan looked at Lan Bowen in confusion. From his tone, it seemed Lan Bowen didn’t take the Night Elves and Spidermen seriously, which seemed strange. As far as Du Fan knew, those two races were the most influential in the underground world.

“You’re quite strange, aren’t you?” At this moment, Lambowan smiled as he looked at Du Fan in front of him and said, “Long before the Night Elves and Spider-Men existed, our Earth Tiger clan had already been around. Fifty percent of the underground world was once our territory. As you can see, there are over a dozen of us at the Sacred level, and five at the Domain level. With such strength, few races in the underground world dare to challenge us.”
“Mm,” Du Fan nodded. It was because of the strength of the Earth Tiger clan that even on the surface continent, no empire dared to openly challenge this terrifying race. After all, just one Domain expert could make any empire pay a heavy price to win them over, let alone five.
“However, that’s no longer the case now.” Lambowan sighed helplessly before continuing, “Our clan has a preserved scripture that records how the Creator created the continent, humans, magical beasts, and so on. It also contains secrets about various races. Our clan was originally called the Earth Dragon clan.”
“Earth Dragon clan?” Hearing this name, Du Fan was extremely surprised. He covered his mouth and stared at Lambowan, his heart beginning to tremble.
The Earth Dragon clan was even older than dragons. At their peak, they were the strongest magical beasts on the continent—nearly a million of them, each with the strength of a level-9 magical beast, with the strongest even possessing godly power. Back then, the Earth Dragon clan suppressed these dragons, causing their numbers to drop sharply. It was only when the Dragon God and the Creator combined their powers that the Earth Dragons disappeared forever from the continent. Who would have thought that descendants of this race still existed in the underground world!
“Heh, surprised?” At this moment, Lambowan stretched out his hand toward Du Fan. His originally fair palm miraculously transformed into a dragon claw, its golden scales shining brightly. In an instant, it turned back into a tiger claw.
“Sigh.” Lambowan shook his head helplessly, retracting his hand before saying to Du Fan, “Don’t think just because I now possess godly strength that I can’t transform back into an Earth Dragon for just three seconds. But if I could return to the surface and transform, I would have the strength of a mid-tier god, and the pull of the divine realm would have no effect on me.”

“Elder Lan, just speak plainly.” At this moment, Du Fan could detect a hint of melancholy in Lan Bowan’s words. He bowed slightly and said, “After all, Elder Lan and your daughter saved my life. Whatever order you give, as long as it’s within my ability, Du Fan will not hesitate to go through fire and water.”
“Hehe, there’s no need for that.”
Lan Bowan smiled faintly at Du Fan before taking out an extremely ancient wooden book from the bookshelf behind him. He gently flipped through a page, and a faint golden bead emerged from the book and floated in mid-air.
“What is this?” Du Fan looked curiously at the floating golden bead. It contained immense divine power, which piqued his interest.
“This is the seal that binds our Earth Tiger clan,” Lan Bowan said with a sigh. After slowly closing the wooden book, he continued, “If we can lift this seal or completely destroy this book, our Earth Tiger clan can regain its status as Earth Dragons. But even if that’s not possible, as long as we can return to the surface, this seal will vanish.”
“Do you mean…?” Du Fan looked at Lan Bowan with growing admiration. A seal placed by the Creator and the Dragon God—yet an elder of a demonic race had come up with such a solution.
“That’s right,” Lan Bowan said, turning to Du Fan with a pleading look. “We can no longer wait. We’ve been oppressed by the dragons for years. If we can return, I’ll represent our clan in making a pact with you: our race will provide your forces with soldiers for a hundred years, on the condition that you find us a place to live and allow us to lead normal lives like other races.”
“Elder Lan, that’s actually what I wanted to say too,” Du Fan said, feeling ashamed. “We’ve found the entrance, but not the way back. I was wondering if you have any suggestions to help us return safely to the surface world, so we can bring you back as well.”
“Well…” Lan Bowan shook his head helplessly and said with a bitter smile, “There is a path back to the continent, but it’s extremely dangerous. I’m afraid we might all die. You need to think carefully.”
Hearing Lan Bowan’s words, Du Fan asked anxiously, “What path?”

“Hell’s Gorge—if you have enough strength to pass through the Gate of Hell and enter that region, then there’s a good chance you can take us out of the underground world. But the races living there are those abandoned in ancient times. I’ve been there once, and only those who go there can truly understand the horror.” Lambowan said these words calmly, looking at the anxious Du Fan before him.

Hearing Lambowan’s words, Du Fan was also somewhat stunned at that moment.

Abandoned races from ancient times—as far as Du Fan knew, aside from the magical armies from the War of the Gods, there were only the dwarves and the Bimons, the Kings of the Land. Nothing else.

“Have you made up your mind?” Lambowan gritted his teeth and said to Du Fan, “If you can truly lead our Earth Tiger clan out again, then you will be the regent of our clan, and your descendants will be able to inherit the position of regent for generations.”

Hearing Lambowan’s words, Du Fan was surprised. Among the magical races, the position of regent undoubtedly held more power than that of a king of a country. With that position, the Earth Tiger clan might forever remain the most loyal allies of Du Fan’s descendants.

“Alright,” Du Fan nodded and said calmly, “One has to try it to see how things turn out. But if I really can lead your Earth Tiger clan out of the underground world, then you should keep your promise.”

“No problem,” Lambowan said, taking out a strangely shaped dragon statue from behind him and showing it to Du Fan. “This is the symbol of the regent of the Earth Tiger clan. If you succeed, it will belong to you. With this symbol, you can command the forces of our Earth Tiger clan at any time.”

“Good,” Du Fan nodded at Lambowan and said in surprise, “I wonder when Clan Leader Lambowan needs me to set off. I’ll prepare in advance. As for the path out, that’s something my companions and I need to find as well.”

“In three days,” Lambowan warned Du Fan. “The situation there is definitely not as simple as you think. I think it’s best if you prepare well during these three days. By then, I’ll give you some scrolls left by our Earth Tiger clan. These scrolls contain the divine techniques of past clan leaders, each with the power of at least a lower or upper-tier god.”

Hearing Lambovan’s words, Du Fan finally nodded in great satisfaction. He turned and headed in the direction where Nai Xiu and the others were resting, then repeated to them what Lambovan had told him that day.

Upon hearing Du Fan’s words, all the powerful beings were just as surprised as he had been earlier. At that moment, Rob asked curiously, “What exactly is in the Regional Gorge? Could there be a god-tier existence?”

“Who knows,” Basha replied, fiddling with the magic core in his hand as he spoke to the powerful beings around him. “If my guess is correct, the powers of those god-tier beings in this underground world cannot be sensed by those old guys in the Divine Realm. Maybe there even is a Supreme God in the Hell Gorge.”

Basha’s words truly scared everyone at that moment. For the extremely powerful beings present, what a Supreme God meant was someone who could turn the weather at will in an instant—destroying five people as easily as spitting. If they really encountered such a being, they might not even be able to escape.

“Ahem, ahem,” Du Fan coughed awkwardly twice to regain everyone’s attention, then continued satisfactorily, “Anyway, I think everyone should take good use of these three days to rest, so that we can truly understand the horror of the Regional Gorge.”