Chapter 317: The Origin of the Iron Pot

Boom—boom—boom! This time, eighteen arcs of Lei Jie crashed down in thunderous succession.

Ding Huan dared not hesitate a moment, using the Lei Jie arcs to accelerate the refinement of the iron pot.

He went all in—if his plan failed, he'd just die.

At least that would be more satisfying than dying after using an unrefined iron drum or an untransformed lump of iron as a shield.

Even if he used the iron drum or the iron lump to block, he couldn't stop this Lei Jie.

As for the Feiyuan Sword, this attack treasure, facing such Lei Jie arcs, could probably block only one or two at most.

So it was better to choose the most satisfying way to die.

Infinite sources of Lei Jie energy and lightning power were drawn by Ding Huan through the Zhou Tian of the Great Cosmos Art into the iron pot's seals, where he furiously refined the seals—and before the Lei Jie arcs ended, Ding Huan heard a crisp snap.

Immediately, Ding Huan felt his control over the iron pot surge upward.

At that moment, Ding Huan even felt he could make the iron pot block all the Lei Jie arcs.

Ding Huan did not do so; instead, he pushed himself mercilessly to refine the second-layer seal.

One Lei Jie arc after another crashed onto the iron pot and vanished without a trace, not even a single spark of Lei Hua splashing out.

As the eighteenth Lei Jie arc disappeared, Ding Huan felt another faint, delicate snap.

Ding Huan was ecstatic—he knew he had refined the second-layer seal of the iron pot.

Lightning arcs crisscrossed the sky, but Ding Huan's heart was now calm.

Sometimes, choice outweighs effort.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not block the sixth wave of eighteen Lei Jie arcs—but he chose to use these Lei Jie arcs to refine the iron pot at this very moment.

Fortunately, he succeeded.

Now he could let his iron pot expand freely to block the coming Lei Jie arcs.

He had already survived the terrifying death zone ahead; for Ding Huan, what followed was surely continuing to refine the iron pot's seals.

When Ding Huan decided to refine the third-layer seal of the iron pot, the seventh wave of nine Lei Jie arcs descended.

This time, Ding Huan used the Great Cosmos Art to construct two Zhou Tian: the first Zhou Tian targeted the iron pot's third-layer seal, the second Zhou Tian perfected the Star Bridge Dao rhythm and pushed toward the Star Bridge Realm.

Under each Lei Jie arc, the third-layer seal of the iron pot began to show signs of cracking.

At this moment, sixteen more Lei Jie arcs crashed down from the sky—their power seemed greater than all previous Lei Jie arcs combined.

Ding Huan did not dare slacken; his only tools were the Great Cosmos Art and the iron pot's seals.

Boom…

This time, the Lei Jie arcs fell one after another at incredible speed.

Such rapid Lei Jie arcs striking the iron pot seemed like a single arc—but it was stacked, layered upon itself.

Had Ding Huan not found a way to consume the Lei Jie arcs through refining the iron pot, he would have been dead under this terrifying onslaught.

The Great Cosmos Art was truly powerful.

Amid such dense Lei Jie arcs, the Zhou Tian of the Great Cosmos Art forcibly drew all their power into the iron pot's seals.

The ferocious force slammed against the seals—and as Ding Huan consciously directed the Great Cosmos Art to refine them, the third-layer seal was torn open and refined, as expected…

Then the fourth-layer seal, the fifth-layer seal…

Boom!

In Ding Huan's mind-sea, the Star Bridge erupted into existence—this bridge seemed to have fallen from the far edge of the universe, spanning directly between star systems and scattering a skyful of stardust.

Its aura was extraordinarily formidable.

Ding Huan could clearly sense the Dao rhythm flowing along the Star Bridge, indistinguishable from a real Star Bridge.

The final wave of nine Lei Jie arcs descended in succession.

Ding Huan continued refining the sixth-layer seal while perfecting his Star Bridge.

Ding Huan's true energy surged uncontrollably; the star-based true energy in his dantian flowed like a mighty river.

His mind-sea expanded by more than tenfold; the domain of the Great Cosmos Art strengthened several times over, granting Ding Huan exquisite control over space.

Most prominent was the Star Bridge, linking two star systems and infusing Ding Huan's mind-sea universe with a vibrant, continuous vitality.

Ding Huan's cosmic star systems were no longer scattered randomly, here and there.

Spiritual aura descended from the sky; Ding Huan stood and let out a long roar.

Star Bridge Realm—now, even if he wasn't at the peak of this world, no one in the Three Heavens Star Lands could threaten him.

The sixth-layer seal of the iron pot remained unrefined, but refining five layers was more than enough for Ding Huan.

If another, stronger Lei Jie came, Ding Huan was confident he could block it using only the iron pot.

An iron pot refined with five layers of seals was an entirely different thing from an unrefined one.

The iron pot's inner space now appeared before Ding Huan—even though he had acquired several small worlds, compared to this iron pot, they were not even one or two levels inferior.

Ding Huan had never seen a True Spirit World, but he believed even that could not match his iron pot world.

This was pure intuition—no reason behind it.

Ding Huan felt the iron pot world's stability and solidity surpassed even the Three Heavens Star Lands.

As Ding Huan's divine sense continued observing the iron pot he had just refined with five seals, fragments of lingering information embedded in the iron pot were captured by him.

Ding Huan had always believed the iron pot he obtained was an ancient, extraordinary divine artifact.

Surely the treasure of some great cultivator.

Even his Feiyuan Sword was a relic of the Flame Immortal Luo Xuan—the iron pot's rank was clearly far higher; how could it be ownerless?

But the information he now received showed precisely that the iron pot had been ownerless, leaving Ding Huan stunned.

It wasn't entirely ownerless—the iron pot had passed through the hands of Peng Zu, Yi Yin, Yi Ya, Taihe Gong, Shan Zu, Fan Zheng, and others, before vanishing in Kunlun Mountain.

But none of these people had ever refined the iron pot; they all used it as a cooking vessel, never refining even a single layer of its seals.

From this information, Ding Huan learned the iron pot's earliest origins.

This had existed since the opening of heaven, originally belonging to Zhong Li.

Zhong Li was the grandson of Zhuan Xu, one of the Five Emperors, and was killed by Di Ku, another of the Five Emperors, for committing a crime.

After Zhong Li's death, his younger brother Wu Hui sorted through his belongings and discovered this iron pot.

As for how Zhong Li came to possess this iron pot, Ding Huan obtained no information.

But one thing was certain: Zhong Li had never refined this iron pot, whether because he failed to recognize its extraordinary nature or because he could not refine it.

Ding Huan believed that regardless of the reason Zhong Li never refined it, he must have noticed its unusual qualities—otherwise he would not have kept it by his side.

Wu Hui certainly also recognized the iron pot's extraordinary nature, so he took it when sorting through Zhong Li's belongings.

Clearly, Wu Hui had never refined this iron pot either, and it passed on to Wu Hui's grandson, Peng Zu.

Peng Zu was a very famous figure in Huaxia, most renowned for his skill in cooking.

Peng Zu likewise never refined this iron pot, but the pheasant broth he presented to the Heavenly Emperor was almost certainly cooked in this very pot.

After Peng Zu, the iron pot passed to Yi Yin, Yi Ya, Tai He Gong, Shan Zu, Fan Zheng…

Each of these individuals was a famed Kitchen God in Huaxia's history.

Without exception, none of them ever refined this iron pot—they merely used it to cook exquisite dishes.

Ding Huan took a deep breath.

So, was he the first person to refine this iron pot?

Or rather, was he the first to refine it to five layers of sealing?

Does that mean he is truly the iron pot's first master, and thus entitled to name it?

Regardless of whether that was true, Ding Huan decided to hold off naming the iron pot until he had fully refined it.

The spatial rules within the iron pot were extremely high—it could never be damaged.

Ding Huan simply sent everything from his Star House and ring, along with the pile of items he had acquired from the Divine Clan, into the iron pot's space.

The iron pot rested within his consciousness universe; no one could take it away.

Although he had not yet named the iron pot, Ding Huan greatly favored it.

Not only was it unbreakable by any means, but it could also serve as a storage device and a flying treasure.

Ding Huan still did not know the iron pot's flight speed, but he had a faint sense it would not be weaker than the semi-immortal artifact he had obtained.

He could now go search for Jia Baihe.

Just as Ding Huan thought this, a massive shadow burst forth from the cosmic vortex mouth.

What is this? Ding Huan grabbed his Feiyan Sword and slashed out.

"Ding!" A crisp sound rang out.

Ding Huan's hair stood on end—he was now at the Star Bridge Realm, wielding the Feiyan Sword's might, yet he had failed to cleave through this shadow with a single strike.

Only when the shadow landed before him did Ding Huan see clearly: it was a giant insect.

He had seen this insect once before—in the Spirit Source Valley of the Opening Heaven Battlefield.

The insect in the Spirit Source Valley was far smaller than this one.

This insect was already dead; otherwise, what followed would have been his disaster…

No—suddenly, cold sweat broke out on Ding Huan's back.

If this insect had not died, what followed would not have been his disaster, but the disaster of the entire Threefold Heaven Star Continent.

Even though Ding Huan had never witnessed a true Immortal Bridge Realm expert, he could sense this insect's power clearly surpassed the Immortal Bridge Realm.

This was a creature truly from the Immortal World.

Ding Huan drew in a sharp breath—this cosmic vortex mouth must be sealed.

Thinking this, he pulled out a pile of array flags and began setting up a sealing array.

The other cosmic vortex mouths on the Threefold Heaven Star Continent had already been sealed by Cang Yongqian, Mu Chengzi, and others. This was likely the last one.

One day later, Ding Huan completed the sealing array.

The cosmic vortex vanished from Zangjian Mountain.

Theoretically, only someone stronger in array arts than Ding Huan could open this seal.

But Ding Huan did not believe anyone else could open it—not merely a matter of array arts, but also of the Dao.

The Dao resonance he used to seal this cosmic vortex mouth was derived from the Great Cosmic Art.

Moreover, this sealing array was infinitely close to a Level Nine array.

Even if a Level Nine Array King came, unless he surpassed Ding Huan in Dao, he could not open this seal.