Chapter 009: Heart’s Request

The next day, almost all the powerful beings stayed indoors instead of going out. To everyone’s surprise, they hid in their residences and began to recover. Yet for Du Fan, this was extremely boring. Instead, he quietly went to a small hill not far from the Earth Tiger tribe and lay there in silence.
“Du Fan,” Lan Xiner unexpectedly appeared beside him. Noticing no reaction from him, she muttered helplessly, “I heard you’ve agreed to my father’s request—to go to the Regional Gorge to find a way to lead the Earth Tiger tribe out.”
“Mm,” Du Fan nodded, still gazing at the dark sky. “Anyway, I will definitely find a way out. Only then can I take my companions out and also help your Earth Tiger tribe emerge from the underground world and restore the glory of the Earth Dragon tribe.”
“Hehe,” hearing Du Fan’s words, Lan Xiner smiled awkwardly and said nonsensically, “If I’m not wrong, Sister Naixiu must be your wife. She’s very beautiful.”
“She is indeed beautiful,” Du Fan nodded and said with a smile. “Naixiu has gone through a lot with me lately. When we return to the continent, I’ll make sure she gets some proper rest to make up for all I’ve owed her.”
“Du Fan,” Lan Xiner stared at him, eyes wide. “Tell me, do you like me at all? Even a little bit?”
“Well…” Hearing her question, Du Fan looked at her awkwardly. He never expected the daughter of the Earth Tiger tribe’s leader to be so direct! He said shyly, “Xiner, you’re still young. Besides, you’re a magical beast, and I’m human. It’s impossible between us.”
“A magical beast? Human?” Lan Xiner looked at him angrily, almost shouting, “Sister Naixiu is an elf! Is race that important? Besides, humans don’t seem to have any rules about how many wives they can have. Even if you marry her, no one will say anything.”
“Xiner, let’s not talk about this,” Du Fan shook his head helplessly and changed the subject. “My parents’ revenge isn’t yet avenged. Emperor Gavin of the Empire on the continent killed my parents and almost killed me too. I don’t want to think about marriage right now. I just want to avenge them to comfort their spirits in heaven.”

Hearing Du Fan’s words, Lan Xiner suddenly became unusually quiet, tears welling up in her eyes at the same time.
“Don’t cry,” Du Fan said helplessly, shaking his head as he saw her state. “You’re still young. In a few years, your father will surely find a warrior from the Earth Tiger clan to help you. By then, you probably won’t even remember who Du Fan is. Why be so persistent?”
“No,” Lan Xiner said angrily, staring at Du Fan. “I won’t listen! Whether you accept me or not, you have to take me to the Hell Valley.”
“No,” Du Fan replied angrily as well. “This is unreasonable. The Hell Valley isn’t a place a child like you can just go to casually. Besides, if something happens to you, how can I explain it to the Lan clan leader or to your people from the Earth Tiger clan?”
“I won’t listen!” Lan Xiner covered her ears and ran in the direction of her clan, leaving Du Fan alone in confusion.
“Is it because I’m handsome?” Du Fan touched his face, his lips curling upward as he showed an extremely proud expression. “Even if I charm thousands of girls, it shouldn’t be this teenage girl—especially one who’s a beast transformed into a human.”
“Hehe, that’s not necessarily true,” Nayixiu and the others said slowly as they walked toward Du Fan. Du Fan knew without a doubt that it must have been Nayixiu who spoke.
“Nayixiu,” Du Fan asked awkwardly as he saw her approaching. “Did you hear everything?”
“Mm,” Nayixiu smiled understandingly at Du Fan’s embarrassed look. “Actually, even if you married me, I wouldn’t have any objections. But Du Fan, now isn’t the time for personal matters. Before we leave, Fisher has already started conscripting people in the Gavin Empire to serve in the army. Once Count Wade’s forces arrive, we’ll be facing a well-equipped and well-trained million-strong army. So what we need to think about now is how to raise our own forces to a higher level in a short time—only then can we have a chance of defeating them.”
As soon as Nayixiu finished speaking, Bashah also came over and patted Du Fan’s shoulder sympathetically. “My sister is right. Even if you married us, we wouldn’t object. But at least we should wait until the situation stabilizes, so everyone can feel at ease.”

“I understand.” Du Fan looked helplessly at the four people in front of him, nodded slightly, and said, “Don’t worry. I know how to handle this.”
…
Early on the third day, the Earth Tiger clan.
By this time, Du Fan and the others were ready, with all their supplies stored in their rings. The members of the Earth Tiger clan also came out in large numbers to see Du Fan and his group off.
At that moment, Lan Bowan pulled Du Fan aside and asked curiously, “Have you seen Xin Er? I haven’t seen her since this morning. That girl is stubborn. If she really goes with you guys, please take good care of her for me. Don’t underestimate her—her strength is roughly on par with yours.”
“I understand,” Du Fan nodded helplessly. “Don’t worry, Clan Leader Lan. If I see her, I’ll definitely take care of her for you.”
After exchanging a few more words with Lan Bowan, Du Fan led the four strong men in the direction of the Hell Gate.
As Lan Bowan had predicted, as soon as the five of them reached the entrance to the Hell Gate, Lan Xin Er was already waiting there, looking resentfully at Du Fan and the others as she kept shouting, “Why did you come so late? I’ve been waiting for you for ages.”
“Sigh,” Du Fan and the others shook their heads helplessly, looking at Lan Xin Er. Then Du Fan stepped forward, annoyed, and said, “How could you run away without telling your father?”
“Why tell him?” Lan Xin Er looked at Du Fan in surprise and muttered, “Do you think I’m stupid? If I told him I was coming, how could I have left?”
“Never mind,” Du Fan shook his head helplessly and warned her, “The danger in the Hell Gorge is so great that even I can’t guarantee I can handle it. Don’t wander around once you’re in. If you don’t follow my orders, I’ll bring you back to the Earth Tiger clan at any time. Do you hear me?”
“I know. You’re so talkative,” Lan Xin Er said before rushing over to Nai Xiu and starting to complain to her in a low voice.
At that moment, Du Fan and the three other men also gathered together and sighed. Women are such strange creatures—after just a few days of knowing each other, they can become extremely close, seemingly even closer than sworn brothers like Bashah and Du Fan.

“Du Fan, look!” At this moment, Rob pointed at the gaps in the Hell Gate and said, “I’ve checked it—there are gaps like these all over the Hell Gate. I think the key to opening it might lie here.” Hearing Rob’s words, everyone finally noticed these gaps. Only Basha frowned deeply as he stared at the Hell Gate ahead. Seeing Basha’s expression, Du Fan asked curiously, “Second brother, have you discovered something?” “Mm,” Basha replied, nodding as he looked at the Hell Gate. “It seems this Hell Gate was made by the dwarves.” “The dwarves?” Hearing Basha’s words, everyone looked at him in shock. The dwarves and the gnomes actually shared many similarities. The dwarves were best known for their skill in crafting weapons and armor, while the gnomes excelled at creating strange inventions. However, if a dwarf-made weapon were put in the hands of a gnome, along with those peculiar devices, its power would undoubtedly double. But ever since the gnomes disappeared, the dwarves were no longer as prominent as before. “Second brother, do you have any way to open this door?” Du Fan looked at the Hell Gate helplessly and turned to Basha for help. He tried pushing it several times, even using his domain power, but to no avail—the Hell Gate didn’t budge at all. “I think this door is an energy gate,” Basha said. Immediately, everyone gave him strange looks. Then he explained, “An energy gate means it doesn’t need to be pushed by us. As long as it gets the energy it requires, it can open on its own. But finding such energy won’t be easy.” “Why not give it a try?” Just as everyone was at a loss, Rob jokingly took out a low-level magic core from his storage ring and inserted it into a depression in the Hell Gate. The moment the magic core touched the energy gate, it instantly turned to ashes. Yet this sight gave everyone some hope. “Rob, you’re truly a genius,” Du Fan laughed. He then took out a magic core from a black soldier ant from his storage ring and inserted it into a nearby depression. This time, the magic core strangely fit perfectly into the depression of the Hell Gate and began to glow faintly.

“Third brother, what level is that magic core of yours?” Basha asked Du Fan in surprise, while taking out a magic core of his own and pushing it into the depression.
“Level four,” Du Fan replied. Immediately afterward, he poured out the thousands of magic cores from the storage ring onto the ground. With a wave of his hand, all the magic cores flew instinctively toward the depression in the Hell Gate. In an instant, the originally dark Hell Gate began to glow brightly, and an unimaginable amount of energy spread out.
“It worked!” Basha watched the portal of energy in excitement and said to Du Fan and the others, “Now the energy portal has been opened by us, but we still need to use the power of our domains to push it open. Let’s do it together!”
“One!”
“Two!”
“Three!”
“Boom!” The extremely heavy Hell Gate was slowly pushed open by these six powerful individuals. The moment it was opened, a gentle breeze blew toward Du Fan and the others, and the fragrance of flowers in the air became evident to them as well.
“It’s too beautiful!” Du Fan rubbed his eyes, staring in disbelief at what lay before him.
Before him was no longer a dark underground world filled only with mud and stones, but a landscape covered in green grass, with clouds drifting across the sky above, and the lazy sun shining down.