# Chapter 553: The Third Beauty
"Did I pass?" The barbarian dressed in beast-hide clothing asked with a simple, honest expression.
The right hand of that Extraordinary Scholars Mansion Great Power was still spasming at this moment. How could he not pass? Such a monstrous prodigy hadn't been seen in who knows how many years.
"You may enter."
"Great!" The barbarian, with disheveled hair, picked up his Wolf Fang Great Club and stomped step by step through the mountain gate.
With every step he took, the ground would shake with a "thump," as if a giant dragon were moving. His strength was boundless, making people feel apprehensive.
"It's possible that he really is that monstrous prodigy from the Eastern Wasteland. He inherited the Origin Heavenly Master's legacy and can change his appearance, transforming into any form to come here." A voice, very ethereal, emerged from the crowd, revealing such a secret.
As soon as the barbarian entered the mountain gate, he was locked onto by many gazes. Quite a few people tagged him with the label "possibly Ye Fan," which would naturally stir up trouble in the future.
Five days later, the last freak arrived, injuring an elder guarding the mountain gate. He was selected despite the rules and allowed to enter the Extraordinary Scholars Mansion.
"Holding the Sun Seal and Moon Seal in his hands respectively, he struck a Dragon Transformation Ninth Heaven elder and made him spit blood with a single blow?!"
"Isn't that a technique Ye Fan used to use? Could it be that he's come?"
The last monstrous prodigy was very mysterious. Few were fortunate enough to witness the battle when he entered the Extraordinary Scholars Mansion, but everyone had heard about it and was speculating about his identity.
With just one strike, he severely injured a Dragon Transformation Ninth Heaven elder, making people marvel at what kind of inhuman existence this was!
Everyone was shaken. The Extraordinary Scholars Mansion's selection of outstanding talents ended here. No one else came, and everything had come to a close.
"What do you think—did that monstrous prodigy from the Eastern Wasteland come or not? I feel like that barbarian resembles him a bit."
"Hard to say. Maybe he slipped in, or maybe he's still holed up in the Eastern Wasteland and never came."
"I've vaguely heard that that monstrous prodigy stirred up big trouble. He's probably trying to flee the Eastern Wasteland to avoid disaster. Maybe he's among us."
People hadn't seen the Sacred Body, but they were all talking about him. He was the only person who hadn't shown his face yet was constantly mentioned.
Among them, several were suspected to be his true identity. From time to time, people would test them, which naturally stirred up some trouble.
Over the past month, astonishing battle results were reported every day, spreading to the Five Great Domains. Everyone in the world was paying attention, wanting to know who could suppress all the heroes and be the strongest.
After a month of intense commotion, the selection finally came to an end. The world was shocked—it wasn't just a few monstrous prodigies. There would surely be fierce dragon-and-tiger struggles in the future!
Many people were looking forward to it, hoping that day would come sooner, to witness the rise of an invincible figure.
"Black Emperor, you damn dog!" Tens of thousands of miles away, Ye Fan cursed, looking up at the sky in speechlessness.
He had been flying over an endless, boundless grassland for half a month but still hadn't seen a single person. It was desolate and barren, with hardly even any birds in sight.
He had been eating rabbit meat for half a month and now felt sick just looking at it. He cursed the big black dog repeatedly—the array platforms it had carved were simply too absurd. Who knew how big the error was?
Ye Fan strongly suspected that he had been teleported to the Northern Plains. Otherwise, how could there be such an endless grassland with no end in sight?
This dog was too unreliable in handling things. This time, the array patterns had finally teleported him off course too, and he didn't know where he was.
The veins on Ye Fan's forehead bulged because he finally discovered a stone tablet in the grassland, clearly inscribed with the words "Northern Plains." His guess had come true.
He had wanted to go to the Central Province to find Pang Bo, but after all his calculations, he never expected that the big black dog's array patterns would be so speechless. The deviation was no longer a million li—now it had to be measured in tens of millions of li.
After confirming where he was, he stared blankly for a long time. Finally, he took out another array platform, preparing to cross the void again. Otherwise, relying on flying back would take at least a dozen years.
"Damn it, that dog made me so angry that I used the wrong array platform!" Ye Fan realized he had made a mistake in his haste.
He suddenly remembered that this array platform was meant for the Western Desert, but it had already been activated. He had entered the void and couldn't stop.
"I don't want to go to the Western Desert to trace Shakyamuni's footsteps yet..."
The Western Desert—the Buddhist sect's waters ran deep. With his current strength, it wasn't suitable to set foot there too early. Otherwise, he would most likely face deadly disaster.
After all, even Shakyamuni had become a taboo. Who knew what secrets lay within? Rushing in to investigate would likely bring trouble.
In his plan, he was supposed to head to the Central Province this time, cultivating while searching for Pang Bo. Once their strength was sufficient, the two of them would go to Mount Sumeru together.
"Swish"
A flash of clear light, and he flew out of the void, arriving in the great world. Ahead, the sound of killing shook the heavens, with bones piled up everywhere—a scene of utter tragedy.
"Where is this? Did I come to the Western Desert? Are these Buddhist soldiers fighting?" Ye Fan was shocked.
This was a massive battlefield. Endless barbaric beast cavalry were charging, their spear tips gleaming bright, piercing into opponents' bodies, splattering strings of blood, carrying corpses far ahead.
Further away, long sabers slashed, blade light like lightning. Men shouted and horses neighed. Blood flowed like rivers. Corpses were everywhere. The two sides were locked in a life-and-death battle.
A majestic ancient city stood tall, but its city walls were already cracked, covered in bloodstains. In the sky, powerful cultivators urged ancient treasures, bombarding continuously.
Although the city body was glowing, it couldn't hold out. The protective light shield was already cracked, on the verge of being breached.
"Boom"
A great cauldron descended from the sky, smashing dozens of cultivators into meat paste. Even Ye Fan was sent flying, nearly caught in the blast.
"Buddhist pure lands—how can there be such bloody slaughter? This is a massive battlefield!" He was astonished.
Not only were there mortal soldiers, but also many powerful cultivators participating in the battle. The generals' strength was unfathomable, fighting endlessly in the sky.
"Roar..." Barbaric beasts bellowed, their cries cutting across the battlefield.
The attacking side received powerful reinforcements. A group of cultivators riding strange beasts charged like a torrent, smashing the protective light shield, causing it to rapidly collapse and shatter.
"Boom!"
The entire battlefield shook. This was a terrifying charge. The battle had reached its final stage, with both sides locked in fierce combat.
"Cultivators joining the battle—this is truly shocking!"
Ye Fan marveled. The killing power was too great. With both sides fighting like this, the area of impact was very wide. Although it was cultivators against cultivators and mortal soldiers against mortal soldiers, the scene was still extremely grand.
"Dong!"
In the sky, a great bell boomed. Sound waves like blades spread out, not only shattering many cultivators in the air but also causing rows of mortal soldiers on the ground to fall.
"Bang!"
An ancient cauldron shook, countering the great bell. Continuous collisions and attacks made the sky boil as cultivators kept falling.
Mysterious light flickered. Someone sat cross-legged in the void, plucking zither strings, sweeping down at low-altitude cultivators. Ye Fan was also within the attack range. A dozen-zhang-long cyan light fell like a ribbon.
"Puff," "Puff"...
Cultivators' heads were severed, blood gushing out. Corpses fell one after another.
"Pop!"
Ye Fan formed a seal to block, dispersing the cyan light. This surprised the Dragon Transformation Ninth Heaven cultivator. He plucked the zither strings, and hundreds of beams of cyan light fell together like a curtain of rain.
"Boom!"
Suddenly, a loud crash came from the nearby ancient city. It was completely breached. The light shield collapsed, and a large section of the city wall crumbled.
"Kill! The city is breached! Capture Princess Yudie alive!"
"Don't let a single one escape! Seal them with the Void Heaven Great Formation!"
"Kill! Spring Autumn City is breached! Capture one of the Central Province's Ten Great Beauties, Princess Yudie! Reward: fifty thousand Source!"
...
The killing cries shook the heavens. The ancient city was breached. The attacking side's morale was soaring. They charged forward like wolves and tigers, seizing absolute control.
On the other side, the defeated army collapsed like a mountain. Routed soldiers fled like a tide, but no one paid them any attention. Everyone was surrounding and blocking the powerful cultivators.
The Dragon Transformation Ninth Transformation cultivator in the sky stopped dealing with Ye Fan and charged into the city to surround and eliminate the core figures. Everyone else's various treasures were also thrown toward that area.
"Central Province..." Ye Fan was stunned. It wasn't the Western Desert—he had actually arrived in the Central Province.
The veins on his forehead jumped again and again. This damn dog was too much. The array platform for the Central Province had sent him to the Northern Plains. After using the wrong platform, he thought he was going to the Western Desert, but he ended up in the Central Province.
"This damn dog is too unreliable!"
By accident, he had finally arrived in the Central Province. This gave him some comfort, and he let out a long breath.
After confirming where he was, Ye Fan turned and left, wanting to slip away from the battlefield amid the chaos, not wanting to get involved in such a large battle.
"Kill! Princess Yudie is breaking out! Stop her! Don't let her escape!"
"The Central Province's third beauty! Whoever catches her gets to taste her lips!" someone shouted loudly, triggering a chorus of wolf howls from passionate young cultivators.
"Charge! Capture Princess Yudie alive!"
The battlefield went wild. The pursuing cultivators fought more fiercely with each step, killing enemies like cutting grass. Their bodies dripped with blood as they rapidly closed in.
Ye Fan looked back. He had suffered collateral damage. He had been mixed in with the chaotic army, trying to slip away quietly, but Princess Yudie and her group happened to break out from this direction. The pursuers behind them threw endless treasures at them all at once.
He cursed inwardly. Ignoring everything else, he soared into the sky and directly fled, no longer hiding anything.
"Such speed—this is a big fish that slipped through the net! Don't let him escape!" Someone locked onto Ye Fan and gave such an order.
"There's actually a Great Power participating in the battle..." Ye Fan's heart jumped. He began to accelerate.
"Princess, you go! I'll hold them off!" An old man shouted, leading some people to charge back and block the pursuers.
"None of you will escape! A great formation has been set up for a hundred li in all directions. You can't even cross the void!" Behind them, a Great Power said coldly.
A massive number of strange beasts trampled across the sky like a flood, carrying over a thousand riders in pursuit. They smashed through everything, unstoppable.
Ye Fan curled his lips. He had come through the void. The so-called great formation couldn't block Black Emperor's Dao patterns—it wasn't impossible to break through.
However, he didn't dare to be careless. After all, there were Great Power-level figures behind him. He activated the Stride Art and fled quickly.
"Eh, not good!" Ye Fan's heart jolted. Behind him, someone was following like a shadow, locked onto him. No matter how fast his Stride Art was, he couldn't shake them off.
He looked back. A young girl with hair like clouds, bright eyes and white teeth, a smile that could topple a city, breathtakingly beautiful to the point of being dreamlike. Her robes fluttered as she followed, like a banished immortal walking on waves.
"This is... a Lightning Talisman!" Ye Fan suddenly realized.
Among the Ancient Divine Talismans, there was a kind of Lightning Talisman. Only a supreme sect master could refine one. Once it locked onto someone, no matter how fast the target was, the Lightning Talisman would be just as fast.
"Save me... I will reward you handsomely." The girl's voice was like a song or a sob. Her eyelashes were long, her beautiful eyes misty, her red lips moist, her teeth like jade.
Ye Fan cursed his bad luck. Although this was a peerless beauty, she was also a huge trouble. He didn't want to get involved.
But this Lightning Divine Talisman couldn't be broken off for the time being. It seemed to be pulling her along with him.
"Kill! Don't let them escape! That's the Central Province's third beauty, Princess Yudie!"
The pursuers didn't give up. Their voices came from far away. At the same time, the terrifying fluctuations of Great Power-level duels shook violently.
Two ancient great nations were at war. The impact was enormous. Ye Fan didn't want to get involved in this. This was just one battlefield—who knew how much more trouble would come later?
"Take me with you. I'll give you a volume of ancient scriptures!" The Central Province's third beauty, Princess Yudie, transmitted her voice, like a Heavenly Maiden playing an immortal melody, pleasant to the ear.