Chapter 153 The Truth

“Wuwu…” In the dim hold, the wind howled. Two wind blades, sharp enough to cut gold and sever jade, materialized and slashed towards the circle formation, only to be blocked by a rising wall of wind.

The wind mage Isabella erected the wind wall, protecting the circle.

Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing immediately created an illusion, conjuring a hammer as large as a water vat and smashing it fiercely at Isabella's wind wall. At the same time, he stirred up her feelings of fear, forcing her to raise the wind wall for protection.

A wind mage at the Saint realm could only erect one wind wall. Isabella's angelic, pure, and beautiful face revealed a look of fear.

“Don’t be bewitched by this demon! What you see is an illusion!” the cardinal's hoarse voice rang out.

Hearing this, Isabella bit her lip and chose to believe the cardinal, not withdrawing the wind wall.

The giant hammer smashed down fiercely, but passed through it like a bubble, causing no damage.

Isabella breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately, she waved her hands continuously, creating a dense barrage of wind blades that enveloped Lieutenant Haas.

*This cardinal can see through my illusions?* Zhang Yuanqing was a little puzzled. A cardinal shouldn’t be a Ruler.

If a Ruler-level existed in a level six peak single-player dungeon, the Lingjing Xingzhe wouldn't even need to struggle; they could just lie down and wait for death.

A Ruler-level boss, plus a group of small monsters and elite monsters—how could that be possible?

If he wasn't a Ruler, how could he see through his illusion?

At this moment, Captain James spat out a blue-white lightning ball from his palm. He exerted force from his waist and back, swung his arm, and threw it forcefully. The bright lightning ball struck Zhang Yuanqing, passing through his body and hitting the steel bulkhead behind him.

This was just an illusion he had created with illusions. His true body had already gone on a night tour.

In the next moment, Zhang Yuanqing appeared beside James and stabbed a blood-red dagger into the back of James's head with a tentacle.

“Zzzt!” James's body turned into an electric current, bouncing five or six meters away, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow.

At this time, the cardinal, who was sitting cross-legged by the circle formation, pulled out a bright blue lightning whip from his scarlet robe. He flicked his wrist and lashed out.

“Zzz…” Blue light illuminated the dim cabin. The lightning whip swept across the entire area like a tentacle. With a snap, it struck Zhang Yuanqing, who was in night tour.

Zhang Yuanqing fell down, his body stiff. A carbonized wound appeared on his chest. He was electrocuted, his eyes rolling back and his short hair standing on end.

*What’s going on? What’s wrong with this lightning mage? Is a level six peak lightning mage’s attack this strong?*

“Clang, clang, clang…” Rapid and heavy footsteps came. Two knights clad in silver armor, wielding cross-shaped longswords, heard the commotion and rushed from the entrance to provide support.

The two knights quickly scanned the area. Seeing Lieutenant Haas lying on the ground, paralyzed and stiff, they immediately understood. Without hesitation, they performed a jumping slash.

Leaping across a distance of ten meters, the greatsword in their hands burst forth with a bronze-colored light. On the other side, Captain James and the wind mage Isabella threw out lightning spears and wind blades, attacking the enemy from the other side.

Zhang Yuanqing's right hand trembled as he snapped his fingers. “Snap!” In the rising starlight, the knight's longsword struck the steel floor, smashing out two exaggeratedly deep dents. The wind blades and lightning spears all missed.

Zhang Yuanqing appeared a dozen meters away, touching his burning chest, a cold killing intent flashed in his eyes.

The cardinal twirled the lightning whip, folding it several times like a cat's cradle, and threw a simple "cover" into the air.

The lightning-formed cover quickly expanded, covering Zhang Yuanqing. Unhurried, he snapped his fingers, casting Star Escape.

The two knights stood with their swords planted, saying in a deep voice, “The rule for this confrontation: the use of escape techniques is prohibited.”

The knight's longsword burst forth with a holy white light. A rule descended. “Snap!” Starlight rose, and Zhang Yuanqing escaped the lightning cover.

They were only level five knights, and the rules they set couldn't restrict a level six peak enemy. Seeing Lieutenant Haas violate their rules, they unhesitatingly used the "Judgment" skill, leaping up again to perform a jumping slash.

This time, the knights' longswords burst forth with a sun-like light. Their aura was several times stronger, and Zhang Yuanqing felt invisible forces locking onto him, imprisoning him, restraining him, and trying to force him to endure the slash of Judgment.

The cardinal, Isabella, and Captain James seized the opportunity, preparing to attack together.

A shrill, sharp whistle echoed in the cabin. The heads of the two knights in mid-air seemed to have been struck with a club. They leaned back abruptly and fell from the air.

Zhang Yuanqing ducked to avoid the cardinal's lightning whip attack, grabbed Little Red Riding Hood, and with a light shake, three figures fell from the void: the Greedy God General, Yin Yao County Princess, and Hundred-Man Slayer.

He threw the Mountain God Scepter, Lightning God Mark, and Sliding Shovel Shoes to Yin Yao County Princess, telling her to entangle Captain James. Then, he gave the Greedy God General and Hundred-Man Slayer the order to attack the two knights.

A Night Wanderer was never afraid of team battles. As for the Ghost Bride, he was reluctant to release her. The cardinal's lightning magic could even severely injure him. A vengeful spirit like the Ghost Bride would probably be half-crippled by one whip, and her soul would be scattered by two.

The sudden change caught the Lingjing Xingzhe off guard.

The two knights were the first to be attacked. Although knights were good at close combat, they were still inferior to the bewitching demons of the evil professions. In addition, level five against level six was a complete suppression in terms of strength, speed, and combat skills.

Their only advantage was that the two Yin corpses had no skills and could only engage in melee combat. The knights, who had painstakingly tempered their bodies and will during the Transcendent stage, coupled with their super endurance and steel bodies, barely withstood the attacks of the two level six Yin corpses.

James wasn't so lucky. He faced Yin Yao County Princess, who possessed a body immune to water and fire and the Night Wanderer's skills.

Yin Yao County Princess wielded the lightning-flashing Mountain God Scepter, combined with the invincible effect of the Sliding Shovel Shoes and the invisibility of Night Wanderer. After three moves, she shattered James's sternum and arms.

On the other side, Zhang Yuanqing put on the Sacrificial Heaven Suit, activated the suit's effect, put on the Charm Ring, snapped his fingers, and appeared behind Isabella. Isabella was about to control the wind to create distance, but suddenly heard the man's magnetic voice behind her, softly saying, "Isabella, are you so afraid of me?"

Her heart fluttered, and love arose. She felt that this man was full of charm, even his voice was so captivating, her legs went weak.

This moment of hesitation cost her the best chance of escape. The squishy mage had been approached.

Zhang Yuanqing quickly reached out and pinched Isabella's neck, snapping it with a crack. At the same time, flames spurted from his palm, shooting out a fiery long blade that pierced through the nun's chest.

The light in Isabella's eyes quickly dimmed. Zhang Yuanqing saw that under her collar, it wasn't fair skin, but cyan-black scales.

This beautiful nun with an angelic face had the figure of a demon beneath her uniform.

“Despicable demon!” the cardinal went berserk. Ignoring the need to protect the circle formation, he sprang up, his body crackling with electricity, like a lightning ball crashing into Zhang Yuanqing.

In Zhang Yuanqing's view, only a flash of lightning was seen. The bright blue lightning filled his vision. The "Lightning Heart" cardinal's speed was so fast that it exceeded his reaction speed.

In the next second, the lightning crashed into Zhang Yuanqing's arms. The sound of crackling filled the cabin, and the blinding lightning enveloped him.

The cardinal extended chains of lightning from his body, tightly entwining himself with the demon. What followed was a continuous "ten thousand volts."

Although being close to the enemy would put him in danger, the lightning mage's attack was known among the Lingjing Xingzhe for being overbearing and fierce, ranking in the top three.

No Lingjing Xingzhe could survive such an attack, including some of the most heavily armored mutated monsters.

In the lightning, Zhang Yuanqing curled the corners of his mouth. This was the result he wanted.

The cardinal's attack power was too high, and he could see through illusions, unable to be deceived. Coupled with the help of four elite monsters, even Zhang Yuanqing didn't dare to forcefully break the circle formation.

So, he summoned the Yin corpses to delay the three elite monsters, then used the Charm Ring to seduce Isabella. The Charm Ring also had another function, which was to arouse hostility in men. At the same time, he used Isabella's death to stimulate the cardinal's anger, making him less rational.

With a two-pronged approach, the cardinal indeed abandoned the circle formation and chose to kill him. Neither Night Wanderers nor illusionists were known for their defense.

Such an overbearing attack was enough to severely injure him, but Zhang Yuanqing activated the effect of the Sacrificial Heaven Suit, possessing the basic skills of the four major professions.

An earth-yellow halo protected him.

“You…” The cardinal looked up in shock. His light gray eyes revealed an unbelievable expression.

This development exceeded his expectations.

The cardinal didn't let his shock last too long. He quickly responded, pinching a high-heat lightning ball in his palm and pressing it hard against Zhang Yuanqing's back.

“Bang, bang, bang…” One lightning ball after another exploded, causing the yellow light to shake violently, close to collapsing. The explosions made the cardinal's hands bloody. Although lightning mages had extremely high lightning resistance, the shock waves formed by the explosions were unavoidable.

The cardinal's hands quickly shattered, his wrists bloody. Zhang Yuanqing's right hand formed a sword with his fingers, yellow energy surging as he pierced through the cardinal's heart from behind.

“Demon! Return to hell!” the cardinal's voice was low and calm, carrying the realization of a martyr.

His body emitted a terrifying heat, lighting up with blindingly bright light.

*Buzz*, the lightning exploded, emitting a muffled sound like an air wave. The dazzling light covered every corner of the cabin, and chaotic charges spread in the air like blood, "zzzz" thick yellow light tearing through Zhang Yuanqing's chest.

*Peng* he exploded, his spine and internal organs turning into dark red, charred matter that splattered like mud.

His left hand and right leg were destroyed in the terrifying explosion.

The cardinal, who had instantly carbonized into a pitch-black corpse, was blown away by the shock wave, slamming heavily against the bulkhead. The intense pain made his vision go black, and he lost his ability to fight.

*I shouldn't have fought like this. What was I doing? How could I use such crude tactics? Why didn't I use the Star Disk to deduce before the battle…?* Zhang Yuanqing inexplicably felt a burst of regret.

He laboriously raised his head and scanned the battlefield. James had already had his head blown off by Yin Yao County Princess. Slimy tentacles protruded from his skirt, twitching weakly.

Like an octopus cut into minced meat, it would still wiggle its tentacles. The two knights were entangled with the Yin corpses. The knights' stamina was second only to earth monsters. Although the two Yin corpses had the upper hand, they couldn't kill the enemies in a short time.

*I need to leave here first. The demon seed's contamination will come at any time. I must heal as soon as possible.*

Unable to make a sound due to his completely destroyed organs, Zhang Yuanqing directly turned into starlight and dissipated.

This time, he didn't snap his fingers. Seeing this, Yin Yao County Princess cast Star Escape and left with her master.

Second floor cabin, Captain James's bedroom. Two rays of starlight lit up one after another, and Zhang Yuanqing and Yin Yao County Princess returned.

Yin Yao County Princess carried the Mountain God Scepter and ran to Zhang Yuanqing, placing the gemstone at the top of the scepter against his broken body to activate the self-healing function.

A soft green light lit up, revitalizing the cells that had lost too much blood, replenishing vitality. However, such an injury was no longer something the Mountain God Scepter could remedy, at most prolonging his life for a moment.

His spine was blown away, his internal organs were completely destroyed. Zhang Yuanqing's spirit body separated from his broken body, opened his inventory, and took out the Life Essence to inject himself.

His body was severely damaged and he could no longer move. If it were a Saint of another profession, they would have died long ago. It was the Night Wanderer's strong vitality that allowed him to barely survive.

After three consecutive injections of Life Essence, his body began to heal itself. Bones grew piece by piece, and cells divided rapidly. His broken body was like a 3D printer, taking shape and recovering at a visible speed.

“Hoo…” Zhang Yuanqing, bathed in the glow of the Mountain God Scepter, was completely healed except for extreme weakness.

Yin Yao County Princess put away the Mountain God Scepter and took off the small speaker hanging on her waist: "This isn't your level!"

Zhang Yuanqing was stunned!

“What?”

“This isn’t your level!” Yin Yao County Princess repeated, staring at Zhang Yuanqing with knife-like eyes: "With the number of magical items you have, and our help, you could have had a more stable tactic. The power of the Sun God in your body is very strong, but during the battle, you didn't even think to use it. What's wrong with you? Are you brain-damaged?"

The two had known each other for a long time, living together day and night, and were close comrades. She knew very well Yuan Shi Tian Zun's combat talent.

"You even know the word 'brain-damaged'?" Zhang Yuanqing chuckled. He realized that something was wrong with him in the hold, he had become particularly impulsive, lacking reason and calmness.

"There's a demon seed in the hold, probably because I was contaminated. Although I have the power of the Sun God with me, I was still affected to some extent," Zhang Yuanqing said in a deep voice.

"Demon seed?" Yin Yao County Princess tilted her head: "What kind of dungeon did you enter? Why are they all foreigners?"

"A dungeon in the First District. Don't ask me how I got in, it's a secret," Zhang Yuanqing leaned against the wall, seizing the time to recover his strength.

With two Yin corpses entangling the knights, there were no more enemies on the entire cruise ship. He could rest and recuperate in peace.

"This is a single-player dungeon for mutated monsters, so the cruise ship is full of mutated monsters, like the ones you saw in the hold," he briefly explained the nature of the dungeon.

Yin Yao County Princess tilted her head. "Monsters? Those people weren't monsters!"

"What did you say?" Zhang Yuanqing didn't react.

"Those people weren't monsters," Yin Yao County Princess said. "The foreign girl you killed was especially pretty. Yuan Shi, you're becoming less and less understanding of cherishing beauty. You could have spared her. Maybe an open-minded foreign girl would be grateful and offer herself to you. They're just people in the dungeon, you don't need to be responsible."

Zhang Yuanqing couldn't hear the County Princess's crude words, his expression becoming increasingly stiff: "What do you mean? You said… those people weren't monsters?"

Yin Yao County Princess stopped teasing, her scarlet and demonic eyes gazing at him: "What exactly is wrong with you?"

Zhang Yuanqing said blankly, "I, I don't know…"

He muttered to himself, "I don't know…"

After a long while, as if he had thought of something, he sprang up and then ran out of the bedroom with a troubled expression.

Yin Yao County Princess didn't understand, and followed closely behind. The two ran out of the bedroom, through the corridor, and arrived at the captain's room at the end. Zhang Yuanqing kicked open the door to the office, strode to the simple desk, broke the copper lock, and opened the drawer.

In the drawer was a black-covered notebook. Zhang Yuanqing picked up the notebook and opened the first page.

"The third day the demon seed was salvaged, August 28th. The first infected person appeared on the cruise ship. His name was Anthony. He turned into a non-human monster. We had no choice but to secretly execute him and then claim to the public that he had contracted a disease."

"The demon seed is more terrifying than imagined. The cardinal cannot completely seal it. The effect of the holy water is negligible."

"The cardinal told me to be prepared to be contaminated. The contamination will continue, and I don't know who will be next!"

"I tried to send a distress telegram to headquarters, but the telegram was interfered with by the demon seed's power. We have lost contact with headquarters."

"Today, Lieutenant Stephen found me and said that he heard strange whispers and found mucus in the corridor. I can't tell him the truth, because it will cause panic. We must take the demon seed back to the Vatican. Only there can this terrible thing be sealed."

"After a few days of observation, I found that the frequency of contamination is one person per day. Before being contaminated, black spots will appear on the crew members' bodies, and their minds will become dull and wooden. Under the pretext of preventing infectious diseases, I asked the crew to undergo daily medical examinations, hoping that this would be useful."

"However, it didn't work. If we kill the crew members who are about to mutate in advance, then a new one will appear the next day. The frequency of contamination is always one person. But we have a new discovery. If we control the mutated person and ensure that he doesn't die, then the other crew members will not be contaminated. My God, this is good news, very good news!"

"That mutated person committed suicide. He only lived one more day… A new mutated person will appear tomorrow. The method of controlling the mutated person is ineffective. The cardinal said that the demon seed induced the mutated person to commit suicide."

"September 1st, Lieutenant Stephen mutated. It's a pity, he didn't escape this disaster. The fact that the crew members were being contaminated one after another still couldn't be hidden. The crew members fell into great panic."

"The cardinal came up with a way, which is to purify the mutated person, trying to distort his cognition and thoughts, and make him mistakenly believe that he is normal. Is this method feasible?"

"September 2nd, the experiment was successful! Lieutenant Stephen has returned to normal, at least he thinks so. But he doesn't remember his name. We gave him a new name - Lieutenant Haas!"

Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing's thoughts exploded, his brain was in chaos, and his head ached.

He painfully hugged his head, his face twisted.

"So, the one who was contaminated was me!"