Sacred Artifact

"Phew! That's quite an improvement, but there's still a significant gap between that and a fraction of a second. I'll try to train for a few more days."

Lin Zhen got up and walked out of the tent. After being modified by the Overlord Body Stone, he had sharp hearing and eyesight and could hear some sounds that others could not hear at all.

Wu Hai was speaking on a walkie-talkie inside his tent.

"What? Sacred Artifact? Tyrant Dragon Beast's lair? Okay. The mask shouldn't be the problem; I'll keep an eye on it."

Intermittent voices and strange noises could be heard.

Lin Zhen returned to the tent to rest for a while. When it was almost dawn, Wu Hai called for everyone to continue on their way.

Wu Hai, thinking everything was alright, said, "Let's speed things up. There's a Tyrant Dragon Beast's lair near the entrance to the second floor. Let's try to get there within two days and explore it. Several groups of Tyrant Dragon Beast have come here without success. As long as we can find something at the Tyrant Dragon Beast's lair, even if we can't enter the Second Layer, it will still be a worthwhile trip."

The group continued on their way, and Qin Huashang came to Lin Zhen's side. "Little brother, we're going to explore the Tyrant Dragon Beast's lair. I'm sure you'll have a lot to gain."

Lin Zhen asked Qin Huashang with some curiosity, "Why do you always call me 'little brother'?"

Qin Huashang lowered her beautiful eyes slightly. "You're not allowed to get angry when I tell you."

"Of course not."

Qin Huashang then quietly said to Lin Zhen, "You know what? I think you look a bit like someone."

"Who does he look like?"

"My idol, Lin Zhen."

Hearing Qin Huashang's words, Lin Zhen was stunned for a moment. He glanced at Qin Huashang, who seemed a little shy.

"Oh, it's Lin Zhen. She seems to be about the same size as me."

"Yes, I really like him. I've been following him ever since he defeated several Tsarist Russia War General in the Raging Wind. Back then, I wasn't married yet and I dreamed of marrying him, but unfortunately, I got married later."

"And what about Sister Qin's husband?" Lin Zhen was surprised that this beautiful young woman was actually a fan of hers, which made her more interested in talking to her.

"He died on our wedding day. He died in battle while helping his martial arts friend," Qin Huashang said, her voice slightly tinged with sadness.

"Then you should find another one."

"Forget it, I don't want to think about this at all right now. I've collected all the highlights about Lin Zhen, and I take them out to watch whenever I have free time. But Lin Zhen is too far removed from me. I might only ever reach the Quasi-Star Realm in this lifetime. Lin Zhen is destined to soar to the sky. But when I see you, I feel that you are very similar to him. I know everything about him. Your features and spirit are almost identical to his."

Lin Zhen smiled but didn't say anything, thinking to herself that women's observation skills were truly terrifying.

Qin Huashang continued, "Sometimes I think, even if Lin Zhen isn't my husband, even if he were my younger brother, I could still hug him openly. If he's in a good mood, he could hug me too. If he could really hug me just once, I would die without regrets!"

Looking at this woman who, despite being past the age of dreaming, still loved to dream, Lin Zhen smiled.

Along the way, Qin Huashang showed him compilations of herself.

"This is a photo of him when he defeated the Tsarist Russia warriors. Look how young and cute he was back then."

"This is from when he came down from the Zhaodong Tower in Zhaodong. I saw him stepping on that crow, and his eyes were shining. From that moment on, I knew I had fallen in love with him."

"And this too, this is the Preliminary Round of the God of War Arena."

"That was the sword strike he used when he defeated Kholov —it was so cool!"

"This is from when he was on TV, saying that he would donate 600 billion to build the city wall of Ice City."

Lin Zhen kept flipping through his past, even though he himself had never collected such information. He never expected that this woman had all of it.

"Ah! Actually, I shouldn't have come to the Ancient God Ruins. Wu Hai said long ago that to explore the Tyrant Dragon Nest, we had to go to the Second Layer. My strength isn't enough yet. But I really had nothing to do by myself. If there weren't some things to stimulate me in my life, I think I might have died because I missed Lin Zhen. So I came here. I didn't expect to meet you. Although you're not Lin Zhen, I feel quite close to you. I don't feel any aversion towards you. That's why I'm willing to be nice to you."

Lin Zhen glanced at Qin Huashang: "Sister Qin, you're not trying to use me as a substitute for Lin Zhen, are you?"

"Hehe, would you be willing? An Ming, if we both survive, would you take Lin Zhen's place and stay with your sister just this once?"

Lin Zhen looked at Qin Huashang in surprise, but Qin Huashang suddenly laughed and said, "Just kidding, look how scared you are. I'm not that kind of person. You might want me, but I don't, hmph!"

As she spoke, Qin Huashang rolled her eyes at Lin Zhen, and she really did have a charming and alluring air about her.

Lin Zhen seemed stunned for a moment. "I really envy that person named Lin Zhen. I wish I were him."

For the next three days, Qin Huashang would chat with Lin Zhen whenever she had a spare moment, talking about life, dreams, and even the future, expressing her admiration for Lin Zhen. Lin Zhen seemed rather jealous of her, and sometimes even appeared quite unhappy. Whenever Qin Huashang talked to him about her own affairs, Lin Zhen would ignore her, looking quite jealous.

The first day was fine, but starting from the second day, Qin Huashang gradually stopped talking to Lin Zhen about this issue, and their relationship gradually cooled down again.

When night falls, Lin Zhen will continue his Space Folding Method.

On the first night, Lin Zhen's progress was still incredibly fast, improving to one six hundred and seventy-tenths of a second.

The second night was a little slower, and Lin Zhen improved to 1/850th of a second, not far from 1/1000th of a second.

On the third night, Lin Zhen went all out and directly improved his time to 1/999th of a second, but he always fell just short of 1/1000th of a second.

"I'm still a little short. My current skills are already incredibly refined. What I need now is to gradually increase my strength. I haven't had a chance to cultivate since I came here. Maybe if I meditate and cultivate a few more times, and ideally with an S-grade crystal, I could complete the conversion within a thousandth of a second. Unfortunately, I don't have an S-grade crystal right now. I could use a near-S-grade crystal, but that would take a lot more time, and I'm afraid I don't have that much time."

On the morning of the fourth day, the group finally arrived at the foot of a mountain peak.

The mountain is very high, almost reaching the ceiling of the first level. There is a metal door at the top, which is the entrance to the Second Layer. However, there is also a Pterosaur nest nearby, and many Pterosaur live and hover on the mountaintop. Getting there will definitely not be an easy task.

Several teams have already gathered at the foot of the mountain, and it seems they are all preparing to explore the Tyrant Dragon Nest.

"We're late; there are already quite a few teams here," Qin Huashang said.

Wu Hai shook his head. "It's not too late. None of these teams have entered yet. This Tyrant Dragon Beast Rex lair is not something a small team can explore. I came here hoping to team up with other teams."

As Wu Hai's team approached, a team from the European Union whistled. "Another team is here, another one who heard about the Sacred Artifact and wants a piece of the pie."

Luo Fei was taken aback. "What Sacred Artifact did he say?"

Zhang Zhen said coldly, "These past few days, there have been rumors that there is Sacred Artifact in the Tyrant Dragon Beast's lair. Sacred Artifact is something that is a level higher than Top-Grade Star Artifact. Who knows if it's true or not? However, most of the Stellar Realm experts who have come here have already gone to explore the Second Layer. There are no Stellar Realm on the first level. If there really is Sacred Artifact, it depends on which team can get it."

Lin Zhen didn't ask any more questions. The reason he followed them to this Tyrant Dragon Beast's lair and didn't leave was for the sake of the Sacred Artifact.

He certainly knew about Sacred Artifact. Star Artifact were called standard weapons in interstellar space, products produced on an assembly line. Only Sacred Artifact were weapons used exclusively by experts. The strongest weapon Lin Zhen had ever used in his previous life was a low-grade Sacred Artifact sword. If he wanted to fight against experts in the Stellar Realm in this life, he absolutely needed a Sacred Artifact.

Wu Hai walked over and started chatting with several team leaders.

There are three teams in total: one from India, one from the African Union, and one from the European Union.

Each team was roughly the same strength as Wu Hai's, led by a Quasi-Star Realm expert, followed by several Level 9 and Level 8 War God. Each team also had Mind Power Master. However, Lin Zhen's strength seemed to be weaker on Wu Hai's side, with Level Seven God of War and a Golden Stage Late Phase Mind Power Master. The other teams all had Level Nine God of War, two Gold Peak Mentalists, and one Early Dark Gold Mentalist.

The African Union team leader even recognized Wu Hai and greeted him as Wu Hai approached, saying, "Wu, you've finally arrived."

"Ibola, you still haven't gone to the Second Layer? Haven't you been here for a month?"

"Yes, but Wu, you should know that the Second Layer is not so easy to get to. I have already seen three teams go up the mountain to the Second Layer, but none of them lasted a day. They all retreated very quickly. One team was left with two people, and another was left with only one person."

"That dangerous?" Wu Hai was taken aback; he had always longed to go to the Second Layer.

"The team is full of the Quasi-Star Realm. They can only stay on the sidelines there. Do you think it's dangerous? That's the Stellar Realm world." Ibola shrugged.

Wu Hai sounded somewhat dejected upon hearing this, "So, did you enter this Tyrant Dragon Beast's lair?"

"We've been inside before, but the cave is very deep. We went in several times but didn't get very far before having to come back, and we always suffered heavy losses. Our current team is just a temporary patchwork, and we're planning to go in again when we have more people."

"Let's go in now." Wu Hai was getting impatient.