Chapter 327: Sacred Artifact

United States, Wyoming, CIA division underground intelligence room.

"Heavens, this thing is breathing!"

Intelligence officer Malian Kelei's scream plunged the entire NORAD three‑level underground control room into dead silence. On the monitoring wall made of twenty curved screens, a red blotch indicating an abnormal heat source flickered with a strange rhythm, like a gigantic heart suspended 58,000 feet in the air.

Technician Jiawen chugged a mouthful of cold coffee, his fingertip tracing a ghost on the touchpad: "NROD's KH‑13 satellite just transmitted corrected data—length 100 m, wingspan 240 m, extremely high heat source detected between the scales…" He swallowed, "This damn thing is definitely not a drone."

"Shut up, keep cross‑checking!" Control room director Aobulaien's hawk‑hook nose was almost pressed to the main screen, cold sweat seeping from his tactical vest into the bullet‑proof panel. In the footage, the creature swooped through the clouds toward Yellowstone, the shockwave from its torn wing membrane making Cody City's seismographs jitter like frantic sawteeth.

"Sir!" The communications desk suddenly crackled with noise as the FBI Wyoming field team's encrypted channel forced in, "Six witnesses in Jackson Town captured the scale reflections; our people found this in the camera—"

Aobulaien's pupils constricted. In the blurry video shot by the witnesses, a fin‑like object sheathed in a silver carapace swept across the lens, its trailing blue flame instantly melting the clouds.

"Dammit, it's that giant dragon that appeared in New York! How did it get to Wyoming!" He snatched the red communicator, "Connect to the Pentagon war room, now!"

——

Pentagon.

"You'd better not be drafting the briefing with a doomsday movie script."

General Kelao Fude's voice descended from above the command platform as twelve generals surrounded the central computer's 3D sand table simulation. The volcano model of Yellowstone Park was glowing red, and the crimson point representing the dragon was now only 41 km away.

General Liqia Desen, commander of the North American Air Defense Command, rolled his Adam's apple: "Sir, our scientists' data analysis shows the creature's energy fluctuations are perfectly synchronized with the vibration frequency of Yellowstone's magma chamber; if it contacts the crater…"

"Conclusion, General." Kelao Fude's fingernails dug into the oak table.

"In the worst case, the Yellowstone supervolcano would be detonated prematurely."

The war room fell into utter silence.

Kelao Fude turned toward the figure in the shadows: "Mr. President?"

"Activate the 'Hunting Protocol'," the hoarse voice said.

——

High above Wyoming, the massive body of the Juan Ce Long surged through the air; under the amplification of spells such as Cat's Grace, its bodily attributes had approached the limit of 99 points.

Combined with dedicated acceleration spells and speed‑enhancing spells, it could fly at three Mach (three times the speed of sound); in 1983, the fighter jets of most nations could not even keep up, let alone keep pace.

Its destination this time was the Yellowstone volcano within Yellowstone Park, Wyoming.

There lies the largest active volcano on Earth; a full eruption could spew ash that would blanket the entire world.

Of course, Naimi Xisi was not going there with the intent to destroy the Earth.

"The Library in the Temporal Rift," Naimi Xisi's body accelerated further in flight, the information Vekena had given him was extremely comprehensive.

Among them was the unnamed site that sealed him—the Library in the Temporal Rift.

According to Vekena's data, he must enter that library to locate a part of Vekena's body—a sacred Artifact called Vekena's Law Eye Broken Palm.

A sacred Artifact is a being that surpasses even high‑grade divine weapons; for deities, each sacred Artifact is a superweapon forged by severing a portion of its divine essence.

Unlike high‑grade divine weapons, the greatest trait of a sacred Artifact is its ability to harm deities.

It is said that during the Saint's Cataclysm, the mortal liar prince Xi Ruike used an unnamed sacred Artifact to slay one of the three death gods—the Murder God Ba'er. That power stemmed from the divine nature within the Artifact.

One can imagine such a precious treasure is as rare as phoenix feathers across the entire Multiverse. For most deities, without a compelling reason to forge a sacred Artifact, they would not cleave their precious divinity to create such a transcendent mortal item.

After all, no matter how powerful a sacred Artifact, it cannot surpass the deity who forged it; for deities, crafting a sacred Artifact is not a wise move.

High‑grade divine weapons differ; although they also must be forged by deities with divine power, they do not require the irreplaceable essence of divinity.

For example, the high‑grade divine weapon Naimi Xisi possesses—the Chaotic World Demon Star—is merely a fusion of the Five‑Colored Dragon Mother's divine power.

Vekena's demand that Naimi Xisi retrieve that sacred Artifact stems from the need to break the seal, requiring Vekena's mutated right eye—the Reverse Eye.

The Reverse Eye is in the hands of Vekena's chaotic essence.

Vekena knows well that Naimi Xisi, as an adult Juan Ce Long lacking even a Legendary status, could never defeat his own chaotic nature.

Thus, Vekena's Law Eye Broken Palm is the cheat he grants Naimi Xisi.

And as a reward for releasing him, Vekena promises to grant Naimi Xisi ten thousand years of usage for Vekena's Law Eye Broken Palm.

!

This is why Naimi Xisi does not hesitate to plunge into battle against a demi‑god.

Profit drives the dragon mad.

The Library in the Temporal Rift is a highly unique place. Time does not flow there; it preserves every book ever produced by human civilization on Earth.

It is the mutated embodiment of Earth's civilization concept within the revived Magic Net environment; a similar place exists in Frelen, where people call it the Polar Star Camp.

According to Vekena's information, the library's entrance lies at the base of the Yellowstone volcano.

Of course, entering the library could trigger an eruption, but Naimi Xisi is confident his spells can confine the ash within a radius of a thousand kilometers, and he can later cleanse it gradually with magic after exiting.

Unfortunately, he does not realize that the entire United States government has gone mad over the news that he might trigger Yellowstone's eruption.

"Hm?" While soaring, Naimi Xisi suddenly noticed a distant clamor of countless flying machines.

"Hmph, seems they haven't learned their lesson last time," Naimi Xisi sneered.

If so, then let's do it again.

He has already guessed the politicians' thoughts: they were dissatisfied because massive nuclear weapons weren't employed against him last time.

For these humans, only by fundamentally making them realize their weapons are ineffective against him can those pesky flies cease their harassment.

(End of Chapter)