Chapter 269: 269. Chapter 266: Three Strikes of the Iron Drum

269. Chapter 266: Three Strikes of the Iron Drum

"Old Hu, is this an iron drum?" Mo Zheng pointed to a massive rock ten zhang tall.

Hu Wuxin froze—wasn't this just a rock?

In the Kai Tian Battlefield, such stones were everywhere—how could this be an iron drum?

But when his divine sense touched the rock, he was instantly startled.

It really was an iron drum.

After countless ages, its surface had long since eroded into stone-like patches.

Due to its great age, natural sealing formations had formed over its exterior.

"This is likely an extraordinary treasure," Hu Wuxin said, voice tinged with excitement after confirming it was truly an iron drum.

His divine sense could only perceive the drum's surface—it could not penetrate inside.

"Break through the natural seals first, then take it," Mo Zheng said without hesitation.

"Agreed," Hu Wuxin immediately summoned his treasure.

Though neither spoke it aloud, they had already decided to give this treasure to Ding Huan.

Since entering the Kai Tian Battlefield, Ding Huan had saved them multiple times, and even gifted them a pile of cultivation resources at the end.

Over these two years, they had faced danger numerous times in the Kai Tian Battlefield—and each time, it was Ding Huan's talismans that saved them.

Now, their ring storage held a heap of spiritual veins, and they had each collected many materials that were normally impossible to obtain.

In fact, the contents of their ring storage now exceeded what they had lost in their previous rings.

Moreover, both their cultivation realms had reached the late Stage of Void Spirit.

This was not only due to the sheer abundance of scattered spiritual veins in the Kai Tian Battlefield, but more importantly, the profound insights they gained during their ten days of Dao discussion with Ding Huan.

Of course, there was another unspoken reason between them: this iron drum was hard to divide.

Giving it to Ding Huan would solve everything, wouldn't it?

"Dong!" Two treasures struck the iron drum simultaneously.

It was like a thunderclap splitting open beneath the nine heavens.

A dense cloud of spiritual energy surged skyward, leaving both Hu Wuxin and Mo Zheng stunned.

They exchanged a glance, then their hearts erupted in wild joy.

Beneath this iron drum lay a top-tier spiritual vein—worst case, a high-grade one; if lucky, perhaps even a supreme-grade one.

Knowing a top-tier spiritual vein might be here, their movements grew even faster.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Treasures hammered continuously against the drum's edge.

To minimize the drum's resonance, they deliberately avoided striking its front face.

After three full days of pounding, they finally blasted out one spiritual vein.

"It's a supreme-grade spiritual vein!" Mo Zheng cried out, excited.

In the Three Heavens Star Continent, high-grade spiritual veins were rare, but not extraordinary.

Any sect would implant a high-grade spiritual vein.

Supreme-grade spiritual veins, however, were exceedingly scarce.

Only the most elite major sects would implant a single supreme-grade spiritual vein.

The reason Ding Huan had obtained a supreme-grade spiritual vein from Shi Jiantian's ring was purely due to Shi Jiantian's extraordinary fortune.

Not every Immortal's ring contained a supreme-grade spiritual vein.

Even Earth Immortals needed immense fortune to possess one, let alone Human Immortals.

After part of the supreme-grade spiritual vein was exposed, Hu Wuxin threw out dozens of formation flags, channeled immense true energy through a teleportation array, and forcibly extracted the entire vein.

"There's another one down here—let's each take one," Hu Wuxin said, eyes blazing at the second supreme-grade spiritual vein below.

For them, cultivating directly from a spiritual vein was incomparably better than using spirit stones.

Even as the leader of the Xiujie Sect Alliance, Hu Wuxin owned few high-grade spiritual veins.

The few he once had were stripped away by the powerful forces of the Four-Heavy Sea Pass.

All the spiritual veins now in his ring were found by him in the Kai Tian Battlefield after Ding Huan saved him.

Now, with one supreme-grade spiritual vein, he had enough to reach the Human Immortal realm.

Mo Zheng was equally ecstatic, and likewise threw out dozens of formation flags, continuing to hammer his treasure downward.

Half an incense stick later, he, like Hu Wuxin, dragged out a supreme-grade spiritual vein.

Before Mo Zheng could store the vein in his ring, Hu Wuxin's face changed:

"Old Mo, someone's coming—strong ones."

Mo Zheng also sensed their approach—three people, each stronger than they were.

"Go now! We can't take the drum—tell Ding Huan!" Hu Wuxin cried urgently.

? ￠o

Mo Zheng immediately stored the vein in his ring and pulled out a teleportation talisman.

"Leave the spiritual vein—or die…" Before the figures even arrived, a stern voice rang out.

This time, both Mo Zheng and Hu Wuxin clearly saw: three men, all True Spirit realm experts.

"Go!" Hu Wuxin activated his teleportation talisman.

Mo Zheng activated his own teleportation talisman.

Barely had their figures vanished when a strikingly handsome man arrived at their former position, reaching out to grasp Mo Zheng's lingering afterimage.

"They teleported away—these two must have gotten a supreme-grade spiritual vein," said the two who followed, voices laced with frustration.

The two people who had followed over were a man and a woman; the man was somewhat plump, with a baby face.

The woman, however, seemed to have stepped down from a painting, so beautiful as to be beyond description.

The one thing all three had in common was a long blade slung across their backs.

The handsome man, whose first grab had come up empty, said coldly:

"Daring to snatch something right in front of us, heh—he might die here in the Opening Heaven battlefield, but the item still won't make it to hell with him."

As he said this, he never once considered that it was they who intended to rob someone else.

In his eyes, anything he laid eyes on was his—there was no such thing as robbing others.

"This drum couldn't be an Iron Drum, could it?" The baby-faced plump man's gaze fell on the iron drum.

"That's right, it's an Iron Drum. The value of this Iron Drum is beyond compare to even a top-grade spirit vein." The handsome man's expression eased a little as he spoke with certainty.

The beautiful woman sighed:

"Too bad, we can't take this drum with us either."

"Why?" The baby-faced plump man blurted out instinctively.

The woman said flatly:

"This drum is not from this realm. I've seen it in the ancient records of our sect—it seems to be called the Three-Sound Iron Drum."

"Such a tacky name?" The baby-faced plump man asked, puzzled.

The handsome man said lightly:

"A name is just a label, it doesn't matter. Let me see if this drum really can't be taken. If it truly can't be taken, we'll go after those two guys."

One after another, formation flags were sent out by the man, and soon these flags formed a teleportation array.

Once the teleportation array took shape, the man's hand seal shifted.

"Crack!" Some of the formation flags were torn apart, yet the rust-mottled iron drum didn't move at all.

"It's true we can't take it. Let's go after those two ants—they haven't gone far." A fierce killing intent flashed in the handsome man's eyes.

It couldn't be helped that the iron drum couldn't be taken, but the top-grade spirit vein absolutely could not be lost.

If he could obtain a top-grade spirit vein, he was confident he could advance to Human Immortal here.

Once he set foot in the Human Immortal realm, there would be a place for him, Gu Lianghui, in the Ascension Realm.

……

"Old Pot, are we really just going to wait for Ding Huan here? Why do I get the feeling those three guys will come chasing after us?" Mo Zheng was rather uneasy.

Hu Wuxin said in a low voice:

"It's not a feeling—they will definitely come after us. Those three should be from the Tiandao Sect. If I'm not mistaken, they should be among the top ten True Gods of the Ascension Realm."

Mo Zheng had also heard of the top ten True Gods, though he didn't know them in great detail.

He knew that in the Ascension Realm, there were the top ten True Gods and the top ten Human Immortals.

As for Earth Immortals, those who cultivated to Earth Immortal were all preparing to enter the Immortal World—who had the time to bother with any power rankings?

Hu Wuxin's tone softened:

"The Tiandao Sect is also a major sect in the Ascension Realm, one that can be ranked among the top five. What the Tiandao Sect is most famous for is holding three of the top ten True God slots.

These three also share one trait—they generally act together and rarely split up."

"Then what do we do?" Mo Zheng asked, uneasy.

If those three really were three of the top ten True Gods of the Ascension Realm, then even with Ding Huan added in, they wouldn't be a match for them.

"I've already sent a message to Ding Huan. Let's wait one more month. If Ding Huan neither replies nor shows up within a month, we'll leave immediately."

Hu Wuxin said decisively.

In his thinking, for those three guys to find this place, it would absolutely take more than a month.

So within a month, they were safe.

……

Ding Huan was madly circulating the Grand Cosmos Art.

He had a premonition that once his twelfth star split off, his cultivation would undergo a qualitative change.

It was just that the twelfth star was connected to the main star far too closely. No matter how madly Ding Huan tried to tear the twelfth planet apart, that planet always kept orbiting the main star.

The tightness of this connection simply couldn't be split apart.

Ding Huan took a deep breath. He knew that his breakthrough to the next realm was different from others'.

Others only needed to find the bottleneck of their cultivation and strive to break through the barrier.

Yet his was many times harder than that.

His advancement depended on the completeness of his own Dao cosmos.

No—this cosmos was his cosmos, condensed from his own Dao.

He should be able to control this cosmos that belonged to him; he absolutely could not fail to split off even a single star.

By normal logic, it should be that he could condense it when he wished and split it apart when he wished.

Thinking of this, as Ding Huan madly circulated the Grand Cosmos Art to run a Zhou Tian, he began to modify this long-since-formed cosmos Zhou Tian.

Any Zhou Tian that prevented him from controlling the stars of this cosmos—even if that Zhou Tian would let his cultivation rise faster—he did not want.

His own Dao cosmos—he had to be able to control it as he wished.

Otherwise, what was the use of this cultivation art to him?