“Damn it!” Zhang Yuanqing cursed under his breath, making an immediate decision. He pried open the Cardinal's mouth, forcefully inserted it into his oral cavity, and injected a vial of Origin Life Fluid. Then, he took out another vial of diluted Origin Life Fluid and tossed it to Lady Silvergourd, urgently saying, “You save him. You communicate with him. If communication fails, release me from the coffin. I can kill him again if necessary.”

Having said that, he used Star Escape and disappeared from the hold.

Zhang Yuanqing had to leave. With his decisive and ruthless nature, and the aggressive, high-frequency state he was in after being tainted,

if he saw the Cardinal alive and Lady Silvergourd turned into an Aberrant, he would most likely attack directly. Lady Silvergourd, not flustered, calmly picked up the Origin Life Fluid and, mimicking Yuan Shi Tianzun, pried open the Cardinal's mouth, injecting the diluted liquid. Then, she removed the Mountain God Scepter and waited for the potion to take effect.

“Crack, crack…” Crisp sounds of ice cracking came from the Cardinal's body. Before long, the sleeping Cardinal opened his eyes, his pupils somewhat unfocused. He sat up, looking around blankly. When he saw the knights in battle and the red-eyed, demonic woman beside him, he immediately recalled the details before his "death." His pupils contracted violently, and without hesitation, he conjured a thunder spear crackling with electricity.

“If I were you, I would wonder why you were revived,” Lady Silvergourd said, raising a small speaker, staring expressionlessly at the Cardinal. The Cardinal paused, his rationality gradually returning. He did not dissipate the thunder spear in his hand, but he did not immediately attack.

“You saved me?”

“My master’s mind was tainted. His cognition was distorted. After almost being blown up by you, he regained himself,” Lady Silvergourd explained in a straightforward tone.

“He was unwilling to become a puppet and wanted to find a solution, so he had me save you. That's the situation. I think with your wisdom, you can distinguish truth from falsehood.”

The Cardinal glanced at the two knights being suppressed, and after a few seconds of consideration, said, “You really didn’t need to save me.” He put away the thunder spear.

“What method can save him?” Lady Silvergourd asked quickly.

“The only salvation is to go to Heaven and ask God for forgiveness. God will accept all lost sheep who return,” the Cardinal said, a look of devotion on his charred face, making the sign of the cross on his chest.

Lady Silvergourd almost wanted to send him to see God. After thinking about it, she said, “What method can alleviate the taint?”

The Cardinal looked at the destroyed circle on the ground. “A purification ritual can remove the aura of the demon seed. After Lieutenant Stephen's last Aberration, he briefly regained himself during the ritual!”

Lady Silvergourd quickly said, “Please set up the ritual again.”

“You want to receive the ritual's purification?” The Cardinal's expression was solemn, and he remained silent.

“What’s the problem?” Lady Silvergourd retorted.

“I just feel like they died for me in vain.” The Cardinal looked at the fallen Isabella and Captain James, silently making the sign of the cross on his chest.

“Can you make them stop?” The Cardinal looked at the two struggling knights.

“They are beyond my control!” Lady Silvergourd shook her head. Hearing this, the Cardinal's palm flashed, and bright blue arcs of electricity coalesced into a long whip. He stepped forward and flicked the handle.

“Zzzzzzzz~” The Cardinal unleashed a series of lightning whip strikes, repeatedly lashing at the Greed General and Hundred-Man Slayer. The power of the lightning attribute was extremely domineering, destroying the spiritual inscriptions within the Yin corpses, like breaking the internal circuits of an appliance. The Greed General and Hundred-Man Slayer froze simultaneously. The two knights were relieved, their knees weakened, and they leaned on their swords, collapsing to the ground, gasping for breath.

They did not take the opportunity to counterattack the two Yin corpses, because they saw that these two enemies had revived the Cardinal. The two injured knights and the Cardinal placed Isabella and James's bodies together and prayed silently. After the prayer, one knight used a wet mop to wipe away the incomplete hexagram circle, while the other knight retrieved the appropriate materials and assisted the Cardinal in drawing the array.

Lady Silvergourd watched from the side, holding up a small speaker and saying, "This isn't a purification spirit inscription. I just thought about it. The First District doesn't have any professions with purification abilities."

The Cardinal sprinkled crimson powder while responding, “I don’t understand your words. This is a magical rune, also known as the ancient Rune.”

He didn't understand either the "purification spirit inscription" or the "First District."

“What are Rune?” Lady Silvergourd asked, if she didn't understand.

The Cardinal patiently explained, “Runes are the supreme power in Norse mythology. It is said that the God-King Odin comprehended this wisdom from the World Tree. It is the source of all magic in the world. The magic used by witches evolved from Runes.”

“There are twenty-four Runes in total, each with different powers. What I am drawing now is the Rune that symbolizes holiness and light, which has the power and effect of purifying evil.”

Lady Silvergourd understood only vaguely, but silently noted it down, intending to ask Yuan Shi Tianzun later.

She stopped talking. The Cardinal completed the drawing of the hexagram circle, finally relieved. Then, he transformed into starlight and disappeared from the captain's cabin. As the starlight rose, Lady Silvergourd walked to the coffin and knocked on the lid tentatively, saying, "Yuan Shi Tianzun."

No one responded. Lady Silvergourd pushed open the coffin lid, quickly retreating a few steps. At the same time, she had the Cat King speaker emit a mind-suppressing drumbeat, preparing for battle. Zhang Yuanqing sat up from the coffin lid, his expression cold. But under the deterrence of the drumbeat, his self-consciousness quickly revived, revealing a look of pain.

“It’s settled!” Lady Silvergourd said quickly.

“Good job.” Zhang Yuanqing didn’t waste words. He got up and left the coffin. The coffin could weaken the whisper of the demon seed and reduce the taint, but it couldn’t completely isolate it. Lying in the coffin was an expedient measure. Receiving purification was the right way.

Taking advantage of his clear consciousness, he used Star Escape, leaving the captain's cabin and arriving in the hold. Zhang Yuanqing quickly scanned his surroundings. He saw the two fallen Yin corpses, but didn't pay attention. Moonlight fell on the circle, and then he looked at the Cardinal, who pointed at the circle.

“You should stand inside.”

Zhang Yuanqing calmly stepped into the circle. The Cardinal clasped his hands together, pressed his lips against his knuckles, and began to silently chant a spell. After about ten breaths, the dark red circle lit up with pure white, clean light. Zhang Yuanqing felt an angry roar coming from inside his body, and wisps of black smoke billowed and left him. As the black smoke departed, his rationality was completely restored, his thoughts were clear, and there were no more cognitive distortions or hallucinations.

But Zhang Yuanqing was very clear that this was only temporary. The demon seed would continue to taint him, this Way of the Extraordinary, because this was the "gift" the instance gave him.

The taint tomorrow and the day after tomorrow would be several times stronger than today. At that time, whether the purification array would still be useful was unknown. So what Zhang Yuanqing needed to do now was to cultivate Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record, restore the power of the Sun God to its peak, and increase his resistance until the end of the instance. As long as he didn't completely fall, and only experienced mild taint, he could use the power of the Sun God to eliminate it himself after leaving the instance.

As thoughts flashed through his mind, he noticed the Cardinal's hostile and wary gaze. “Do you still remember your name?” the Cardinal asked.

“Stephen Simpson,” Zhang Yuanqing said. The Cardinal was overjoyed. “The purification effect is even better than the last time!”

Looking at the delighted Cardinal, Zhang Yuanqing thought, to speak of distorted cognition, the mystic realm was the most terrifying. In the instance, no matter how much abnormality the player showed, the NPCs automatically accepted it, without any doubt. And these NPCs were living beings, flesh and blood, carbon-based organisms with independent souls, no different from humans in the real world. Zhang Yuanqing suspected that if the mystic realm did not reset the instance, the NPCs inside could even become pregnant and have children.

“Cardinal, please monitor my condition. The demon seed will taint a target every day. If I die, then the one who gets tainted will be you and your companions,” Zhang Yuanqing said.

“Cardinal, you don’t want your companions to be tainted, so please protect me and prepare for purification at any time.” Although he said that, Zhang Yuanqing wasn’t in a hurry to cultivate Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record. Night was the time when his Yin power was at its peak, not suitable for cultivating Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record.

Zhang Yuanqing circulated his Art, allowing the power of the Sun God to slowly run through his meridians to protect himself and resist the taint of the demon seed. At the same time, he secretly guided the Cardinal's emotions, asking in a casual manner, "Cardinal, do you know the origin of that demon seed?"

He turned his gaze to the low wall made of flour bags. The demon seed was behind the wall. The Cardinal shook his head.

“Could it be an item at the level of a Master? Or perhaps a certain rule-based item?” Zhang Yuanqing probed, while manipulating the Cardinal's emotions, guiding him to be frank.

He felt that it was rare to encounter an instance from 1900, to come into contact with the Holy See's Way of the Extraordinary, and he couldn't miss the opportunity to pry for information. This Cardinal was severely injured and not yet recovered, still in a weak state, which was perfect for seduction.

The Cardinal was silent for a few seconds, his tone extremely heavy. "I don't know what it is, nor do I know its origin. According to the prophecy of the Light Compass, the extraterrestrial object that sank into the sea possesses the terrifying power to destroy the world. His Holiness the Pope attaches great importance to this, so he sent me to deal with it?"

“Light Compass? You just said Light Compass?” Zhang Yuanqing exclaimed.

The Cardinal was stunned by his reaction, not understanding why he was so surprised. “The Light Compass is the Holy See’s sacred object, ranked alongside the Bathing Smoke Pool and the Holy Disk as the three great sacred objects!”

The Light Compass was actually the Holy See's sacred object. Club President had said that the Light Compass was thrown out by the Free Confederation to promote the process of camp antagonism.

The destruction of the Holy See was the Free Confederation, so where did the Light Compass in the hands of the Free Confederation come from?

But I remember Club President also said that the Light Compass was brought out of an instance unintentionally by a Way of the Extraordinary.

At that time, Club President's relationship with me was still very ordinary, so what she said might not have been the truth. Zhang Yuanqing stopped dwelling on the origin of the Light Compass and began to ponder the prophecy in the Cardinal's words.

“Since the Light Compass prophesied that the demon seed could destroy the world, why did the Holy See only send you, Cardinal, to Sea City?”

Even if the Pope didn't come personally, he should have sent a Master. In addition, the Ghost Cruise instance really had a hidden plot. The demon seed was indeed not that simple.

You had to know that the Light Compass was a rule-based item of extremely high rank. The Cardinal frowned, hearing the contempt in Lieutenant Stephen's words.

“My rank is second only to the Pope and the Holy Knight. Even in the entire mystic realm, I am in the top five. What's wrong with sending me to deal with an extraterrestrial meteorite?”

I almost forgot, in 1900, the First District had only been open for 16 years. There were no perfect instance guides at that time. The Way of the Extraordinary leveled up slowly, and the mortality rate was high. It was normal for a peak Saint to become the Holy See's third-in-command. However, I remember that the Holy See was destroyed during World War I, which meant that in 18 years, the Holy See would have a demigod. That was very fast development.

This rapid development of the Holy See was understandable. After all, it was a large organization with a legacy. But why did the evil camp, especially the Free Confederation, develop so quickly?

An organization with three demigods ah, and it only had been 30 years since the mystic realm first opened. How did they manage to explode like that?

In an instant, Zhang Yuanqing thought of many things. “What level are the Pope and the Holy Knight?” Zhang Yuanqing asked.

“The Pope is the world's number one, level nine. The Holy Knight is level eight,” the Cardinal's tone was full of reverence.

“Did the Pope get the Light Compass from a mystic realm?” Zhang Yuanqing asked.

The Cardinal shook his head. “The Light Compass's prophetic ability does not belong to any known profession. It is a treasure passed down from ancient times, and has always been kept in the Holy See’s treasury.”

“Where is the Holy See’s treasury?” Zhang Yuanqing’s spirit was lifted.

The Cardinal looked at him with a strange gaze. “Betraying the location of the treasure means I won’t be able to enter Heaven after death. Do you think I’ll tell you?”

“Lieutenant Stephen's mind is still not quite right. He's asking about such a secret so confidently?”

“You won’t enter Heaven after death. You’ll only enter the mystic realm, like now,” Zhang Yuanqing retorted, but the Cardinal, whose cognition was distorted, automatically ignored the shocking secret revealed in his words.

The Cardinal believed that Lieutenant Stephen still had latent mental instability, so he ignored him. Zhang Yuanqing stopped talking as well, silently intensifying the emotional guidance.

After a few minutes, the Cardinal sighed. “Telling you is fine, too. No one knows the location of the Holy See’s treasury because it's only recorded on a map. Wherever the map shows it to be, that's where it is.”

“What do you mean?” Neither Zhang Yuanqing nor Lady Silvergourd understood clearly.

“According to the Pope, the location of the treasury changes every so often. Only by following the guidance of the map can the treasury be found,” the Cardinal explained.

“Where is the map?” Zhang Yuanqing asked, taking advantage of the situation, silently intensifying the emotional guidance.

“It's kept by the Holy Knights of each generation!” the Cardinal said.

“Kept by the Holy Knights of each generation… The Knights Templar have already turned to dust…” Zhang Yuanqing was disappointed, but soon, he thought of that hateful, single-line knight. The treasure map was kept by the Holy Knights of each generation…

I think I know why that knight, who was lucky enough to survive, wanted to continue the Knight's legacy!

The treasure map was in the hands of the single-line knight, or he knew where the treasure map was.

"After leaving the instance, I'll have to find a chance to contact the single-line knight again," Zhang Yuanqing thought secretly. In addition, he was curious about something else. According to the mystic realm instance description, the Seagull disappeared mysteriously during a mission in 1900, and there was no further news. If the disappearance of the Seagull actually happened in history, where did the demon seed go? What happened next? He was very curious about the demon seed's whereabouts, because in the prophecy of the Light Compass, the demon seed possessed the power to destroy the world.

“I’ll have to use the Heavenly Retribution channels to investigate after leaving the instance,” Zhang Yuanqing said to himself.

In the following time, Zhang Yuanqing, who was silently running the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record, was no longer tainted by the demon seed, and didn't hear the terrifying whispers. After dawn, he immediately cultivated Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record, cooperating with the hexagram circle for thorough purification effect, and passed a small day without any danger.

During this time, he kept chatting with the Cardinal, probing for information about the Holy See, but as the Cardinal's condition improved, the difficulty of emotional guidance increased.

On the third day, the Cardinal had already refused to chat with him. On the fourth day, the Cardinal simply stopped talking to him, guarding beside the array with the two knights, preventing Lieutenant Stephen from losing control. On the fifth day, Zhang Yuanqing's Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record was restored to its peak, and the demon seed's whispers had turned into annoying, noisy low-level words, no longer able to distort his cognition. Late at night, less than an hour away from leaving the mystic realm, Zhang Yuanqing returned to the bedroom, retrieved the coffin, and then returned to the hold. He circled behind the "flour bag wall" and saw the true face of the demon seed for the first time. As written in Stephen's diary, it was a five-meter-tall giant egg, its blackish-brown surface covered with air pores and protruding blood vessels, slowly pulsating. It stood quietly under the huge hexagram circle, continuously enduring the purification of the rune power. I don’t know if this thing can be taken away. Is the demon seed a genuine product, or a replica copied by the mystic realm? If it’s a genuine product, will bringing it back to the real world fulfill the prophecy of the Light Compass, bringing a huge disaster to reality?

Zhang Yuanqing thought for a long time and decided not to court death. He would wait until the mission was over and see what rewards this S-level instance would give. Anyway, the main mission was to survive for five days, not to unlock the demon seed seal, nor to kill the orderly professions in the cruise ship.

Time passed by quickly. Just after twelve o’clock, Zhang Yuanqing heard a mystic realm notification sound in his ear: “Ding, congratulations on completing the single-player mystic realm mission Ghost Cruise, difficulty level S, rewards are being calculated…”