Chapter 573: Chapter 572: Terrifying Dangerous Place
"Returning to the Sect Sword!"
Ye Fan roared, unleashing the attack. The blade blasted toward the five men, who cursed in alarm and scrambled to dodge. Still, two of them were instantly shattered. Three remained: one a third-level Nirvana cultivator and two at the fourth level. They surrounded Ye Fan, their hearts filled with shock and fury. None of them had expected Ye Fan to be so strong; he completely surpassed their estimations.
Ye Fan then took the initiative, and a heaven-shaking battle unfolded within the temple.
"Kill!" Ye Fan shouted and slashed down with his sword. The leader of the group felt an immense pressure. They were old men, their combat prowess no match for that of true prodigies. Ye Fan cut them down with ease.
The remaining two charged forward to try and corner him, but Ye Fan blasted them away. It was now clear to the three bandits that they couldn’t defeat him. In fact, their primary concern had shifted to how they might escape his pursuit. The three men knocked over the bonfire, preparing to flee.
"Thinking of escaping?" Ye Fan snorted coldly, preparing to unleash the Heavenly Subduing Sword. It was his most powerful technique in the Sword Dao, a move that, once used, would inevitably spill blood.
However, just as he was about to strike, a black fog drifted in, enveloping the entire temple.
The three bandits were terrified. They thought of the legendary forbidden ground and the temple’s dreadful reputation. Swallowed by the Black Fog, they couldn’t find a way out. One of them tried to break free, but the moment he passed through the mist, he was reduced to a mere skeleton. It was a terrifying sight that chilled the two surviving bandits to the bone.
Even Ye Fan stared at the horrific scene, unable to look away for a long time.
"What should we do?"
The three bandits huddled together, bracing themselves against the encroaching fog. A moment ago, they and Ye Fan had been mortal enemies, but now they were forced to rely on each other for survival. Faced with this bizarre turn of events, they had no choice but to put aside their conflict.
Ye Fan asked, "What on earth is going on?"
"What? You mean you don’t know?" the lead bandit asked.
"Damn it! How would I know? Stop being cryptic. This fog is getting closer, so just tell me what’s happening so we can figure out how to escape!" Ye Fan said, exasperated.
The bandit told Ye Fan the legend of the temple. Ye Fan was stunned; he’d had no idea this was a forbidden ground. It seems I was too careless. I can only blame my own youth. I knew nothing of the terrifying places within the Outer Domain.
"Then why were you chasing me?" Ye Fan asked.
"How could we have known this would happen so suddenly? Everything was fine a moment ago!" another bandit said, exasperated.
"Move aside! I’ll cut a path with my sword!" Ye Fan commanded.
The two men moved aside at once, making no superfluous movements. Then, Ye Fan acted.
"Heavenly Subduing Sword!"
He roared as he slashed downward. The awe-inspiring blow shocked the two bandits. If Ye Fan had used this strike from the beginning, all five of us would have died in an instant. He must be a Chosen from the Red Sand Dynasty. Otherwise, he could never possess such immense power.
Ye Fan unleashed the sword strike, sending it hurtling toward the Black Fog. The attack tore an opening, and the three of them rushed through it, but they still couldn’t escape the confines of the temple.
Ye Fan launched another attack. Sword Qi spilled out from the Black Fog and struck the statue. Shockingly, the Buddha statue began to bleed. A horrifying aura filled the air.
"It’s bleeding!" Ye Fan exclaimed in shock.
"This is bad! It’s a terrible omen, a harbinger of bloody disaster! We’re all trapped!" When the two bandits saw this, their hearts filled with despair. The legend was coming true.
"Stop talking nonsense!" Ye Fan said coldly. "If the three of us work together, we might be able to break out!"
But the two had already lost all hope. As the Black Fog pressed in on them, they turned into skeletons amidst wretched screams, leaving Ye Fan standing alone.
Ye Fan was also deeply unsettled. From start to finish, he had no idea what this thing was or why it was so terrifying. Just then, two blood-red eyes materialized in the Black Fog and lunged at him.
"I’ll risk it all!" Ye Fan roared, fueling the Pure Yang Divine Fist with his Ancestor Realm Bloodline.
As a Golden Dragon shot forth from his fist, the Black Fog began to dissipate, and the blood-red eyes grew dim.
"Huh? I know what to do!" Ye Fan exclaimed joyfully.
He sliced his wrist open and flung his blood onto the crimson eyes. Instantly, they let out a shriek filled with rage and unwillingness. The eyes vanished, and Ye Fan sucked in a sharp breath.
Just as he thought it was over, a form made of Black Fog coalesced once more beneath the statue and swirled toward him. Ye Fan hastily fled the temple. When he was about a hundred meters away, he saw that the fog was unable to leave the temple grounds. It seemed to be confined there. Before long, the temple returned to a state of tranquility, as if nothing had happened at all.
The terror of the Outer Domain is far beyond what I imagined. I never would have thought this small temple was a place that devours life. What just happened feels like a nightmare. If I had to go back in there, I wouldn’t have the courage. I’d like to live a few more years.
Ye Fan hurried away into the night, not daring to go near the temple again. He had already marked it in his mind as a place of extreme danger.
He pressed onward. This place saw no daylight, and now it was shrouded in a pitch-black night where he couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face. As he moved forward, he saw lightning that seemed to cover the entire sky ahead. In an instant, countless bolts descended with crushing pressure.
"Holy crap! Am *I* undergoing a tribulation?"
Ye Fan quickly realized he was perfectly fine; it wasn’t his tribulation. He guessed that a powerful expert up ahead was undergoing a tribulation. This expert had to be incredibly formidable to attract such a terrifying lightning punishment. This heavenly punishment was likely over a hundred times more powerful than any tribulation he had ever faced—a terrifying thought. The lightning from his own tribulations was already incredibly powerful; something a hundred times stronger was no joke. With his current level of strength, merely getting close to it would mean certain death. He wouldn’t even have to get close; a single stray spark would be enough to kill him.
The lightning didn’t last long before it dissipated. Ye Fan breathed a small sigh of relief and headed in the direction it had come from.
After walking for about an hour, he finally arrived. The area had been turned into scorched earth by the lightning. It was a wasteland where no plants would likely grow for a hundred, perhaps even a thousand years. But he found no expert here.
Ye Fan wondered aloud, "Could the lightning punishment have been too strong? Did the person undergoing the tribulation just... die?"
It’s entirely possible. After all, with lightning this powerful, even the most formidable expert probably couldn’t have survived it.
