It was actually me who had been contaminated… At the very moment this realization surfaced, Zhang Yuanqing felt as if he were going insane—half clear and wise, half disoriented and distorted. It was like the folk tale of the undead, unaware of their own death, suddenly awakened. "This is the copy of the deformed one, the copy of the evil profession. I am replacing the魔兽 Haas. I am the antagonist aboard the ship. Yet why do I feel the crew to be the monsters? My perception has been warped…" That explained why the crew feared him so much—they all knew he was the deformed monster, yet had to cooperate with him, playing their roles to stabilize his condition. That also explained why their dorm rooms had been cleaned—the crew didn’t want him to remember his identity as Lieutenant Stephen. Even his own journal entries reflected this distortion: he believed the crew had all undergone deformation, while he himself remained normal. This was a logical inconsistency—if the entire crew had become monsters, why should Lieutenant Stephen have escaped unscathed? In fact, it was Stephen who was the distorted one. "By heaven, from the very moment I stepped into the realm, I've been tainted—my perception has been subtly warped, my senses have begun to hallucinate... why can't the power of the Sun God cleanse this subtle corruption?" Zhang Yuanqing sat down weakly on the bench, his right hand pressed against his head, his face etched with pain. His expression was fierce, his eyes at times calm and steady, at others cold and somber. This was his will fighting against the mental pollution seeping into him. If he had opened James's drawer in the captain's quarters last night and read his notes, he would have immediately realized what was happening—but he had chosen stability. This choice, too, may have been influenced by the very pollution he was experiencing. Subconsciously, he had resisted opening the drawer; at that moment, he didn't want to be awakened. "What's wrong with you?" Lady Yin Yao stepped forward a few paces, her tone slightly anxious. She didn't know what had befallen Yuan Shǐ Tian Zun, but she could clearly sense that he was in a very poor state. "My spirit has been corrupted, polluted by the evil forces of high rank...," Zhang Yuanqing tapped his head. "I can no longer tell which part of myself is genuine, nor can I distinguish reality from illusion." In his perception, the crew members and the spiritual travelers from the Church were all distorted monsters, covered in scales and tendrils—something he had witnessed firsthand. Yet James's notes and detailed records revealed that it was actually Captain Hase who had been corrupted. Princess Yin Yao, her mind clear, pressed the small horn to his ear and said loudly: "Activate the Pure Yang Ritual of Cleansing the Body—believe in the power of the sun. Any impurity will vanish into dust under its light. Your spirit has indeed been polluted. During the battle just now, you unconsciously overlooked the power of the Sun God. You resisted using it, because it would have eradicated the pollution and restored your condition." Zhang Yuanqing immediately settled into a meditative posture, drawing upon the divine power of the Sun, gradually warming his breath and causing golden light to glow softly within his lungs... Suddenly, that mysterious, ethereal whisper resonated once more in Zhang Yuanqing's ears—like an unconscious murmur, yet as if in some unknown language. His consciousness instantly became disoriented, unable to sustain the flow of the Sun's divine power. Veins on his forehead bulged, and fine, firm growths rose along his neck, appearing grotesque and unpleasant, extending toward his chest, concealed by his clothing. "Rather unappealing," remarked Princess Yin Yao, observing the stern, agonized expression of Yuan Shi Tian Zun, and realizing this was no time for mere complaints. "The expelling talisman—any more expelling talismans?" "What is the 'Break the Evil Fate Seal'...?" Zhang Yuanqing's mind was sluggish, and it took several seconds before he replied, "It's already gone..." His expression of pain suddenly snapped into stillness, his face now calm—calm yet cold—and he smiled, "Yin Yao, excellent work. We've eliminated the spiritual travelers from the Church of the Divine. Now all we need to do is seal the magical seed. I plan to use that coffin to seal it. 'Yes, there are still two knights alive at the bottom of the chamber. We'll go down and deal with them.' It seems as though he has completely forgotten what just happened. Yin Yao, the Princess, felt a deep sense of alarm. The perception of the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign had been distorted—nearly hallucinated. She stepped back several paces, gripping her mountain god's staff tightly in one hand and raising her small horn communicator in the other, shouting, "Primordial Heavenly Sovereign, you've been contaminated! You've been contaminated! You've been contaminated!" The audio device in her waistband emitted a steady hum of static, "Repeat the important message three times." Zhang Yuanqing was taken aback, carefully observing Yin Yao, her expression growing increasingly stern and her gaze colder and colder: "Yin Yao, you too have been corrupted?" Since becoming a yin corpse, Yin Yao's body had long lost all sensation—yet at this very moment, she felt a long-overdue tingling in her scalp. In the eyes of the Yuan Shǐ Tian Zun, she might now appear as a deformed being, covered in tentacle-like appendages and scales, with a grotesque appearance. So would he now kill her? At that moment, Yuan Shǐ Tian Zun sighed: "Yin Yao, I can only temporarily seal you now. Rest assured—I will find a way to save you. If all else fails, I can summon Old Bāngzi—no, my young consort." The cat king speaker hummed softly, its deep male voice resonating: "He still loves you!" Yin Yao paid the speaker no mind, her expression grave. Indeed, he had gone mad. "Old Bāngzi" was a term Yuan Shǐ Tian Zun used only occasionally, with a touch of humor, while "my young consort" was something he Master Yuan Shishen had already retrieved the black coffin, intending to use it to seal Lady Yin Yao, completely forgetting the earlier plan to seal the magical seed within the coffin itself. Sealing the magical seed was his only act of rationality—yet unconsciously, as the seed had already tainted him, he could not bring himself to seal it. Lady Yin Yao stepped back several paces, quickly pondering her options, only to feel despair at realizing that within the spiritual realm's replica, she had no means at all. If in the real world, she could seek aid from the saints returning from the afterlife, or at the very least, appeal to the celestial justice. But here, in the spiritual realm, she was utterly alone. Her only available tools were a pair of sliding cleats, a staff, and a speaker that only delivered monotonous remarks and lowbrow, indecent audio content. Even to summon her master, she would need a proper invocation ritual and materials. As her thoughts turned, a sudden idea struck her. She gave a solid slap to the cat king speaker: "Let's have drums!" "Buzz… buzz…" The speaker of the Cat King's音箱 emitted a hum of electricity, and then, a deep, resonant drumbeat rang out, echoing through the enclosed captain's cabin. Thump… thump… thump… Chang Yuanqing was drenched in cold sweat: "Your Highness, I've discovered a very serious issue. If we eliminate all the Sanctified Journeyers of the Church and successfully complete the mission, I might completely lose control and transform into a fallen one." This is the instance of the beast Hase. As a Distorted One, Hase's objective is to kill all crew members and the Church's lawful-order characters, thereby releasing the sealed magical seed. The lawful-order characters aboard the ship are exceptionally strong—so strong that even with my dual-occupation Saint status, supported by three Shadow Corpses, I nearly perished under the lightning barrage of the Cardinal. Although this reflects my own distorted perception, my growing recklessness and inability to perform at my usual level, the lawful-order forces remain a near-impossible challenge for Hase. Consequently, the magical seed at the ship's lowest level emits a low murmur, amplifying Hase's power. Each day, this amplification grows stronger; by the fifth day, Hase's strength will be sufficient to overwhelm the entire ship. This is the logical progression I have currently deduced. Hass is a malevolent profession; to him, the augmentation and contamination of the magical essence feel like nectar and pure elixirs, while to Zhang Yuanqing, they are poisons like arsenic. The rewards from clearing dungeons directly transform him into a fallen one. With the entire cathedral's population now gone, the whispers of the magical seed have grown increasingly intense—by the second day, he's mentally unwell; by the third, his sanity will completely collapse, and even the Cat King speaker will be unable to rouse him. After expressing his concerns and difficulties, Zhang Yuanqing sighed, "My mind is becoming increasingly foggy; I need a guiding light, Yinyao..." Before he finished speaking, the Cat King speaker emitted a crisp 'click' as if turning on. "...Zhang Yuanqing and Princess Yinyao both turned to gaze at the Cat King speaker, 'Do you find this amusing?' The speaker, now flustered, silently pretended to be dead. Zhang Yuanqing continued, 'Yinyao, the only way forward is for me to lie down in my coffin and seal myself off. I have three days to complete the quest. If the Grand Chancellor comes to retrieve me within these three days, then there's If the Grand Master doesn't come... then I will become a fallen one. If the magical seed is merely a master-tier item, he still has a chance to regain his sanity, as long as the Sun God of the Day intervenes and purifies his madness. Yet Zhang Yuanqing feels a subtle concern. The quest is set at a sixth-tier sage realm, yet the setting is a cruise ship from the year 1900. If it were only a B-tier, or even an A-tier, that would be acceptable. But this is an S-tier quest—the "Thrilling Cruise Ship." An S-tier quest isn't simply about crisis; it must conceal deeper, unfolding narratives. Therefore, the magical seed is likely far more than just a simple master-tier item. Zhang Yuanqing fears that the contamination from the seed may be extraordinary. In that case, even upon returning to reality, he might not be able to achieve purification. Yin Yao, the Princess, remained silent, offering no response. The Prime Immortal is now mentally unclear and mentally drained, and she is the only one he can rely on. After a few seconds, Princess Yin suddenly asked, "Why did you break that circular array?" "What?" Zhang Yuanqing was taken aback. "Why did you disrupt the circular formation?" repeated Lady Yin Yao. Zhang Yuanqing pressed his hands to his temples, his temples pounding with pain, his consciousness growing increasingly hazy. "I—I don't know... No, I do know. I'm afraid of it. Afraid instinctively." Lady Yin Yao spoke rapidly. "The magical seed has been sealed, hasn't it? The red-robed archbishop of the Church has the means to suppress the seed, and thus, the means to suppress you. Why didn't you seek help from the Church?" "But the red-robed archbishop has already passed away." "Then there are still two knights, aren't there? The archbishop is gone, but his spiritual essence remains!" They exchanged a glance. "Back to the lower deck!" Zhang Yuanqing did not remove the coffin. He feared that, should he go mad, he might kill Lady Yin Yao outright instead of extracting the coffin to seal himself. If he did not remove the coffin, he would have no path to self-sealing. Together with Lady Yin Yao, they transformed into streaks of starlight and vanished into the captain's cabin. In the bowels of the hall, two beams of starlight flared to life. Zhang Yuanqing glanced at the two knights still engaged in battle and the shadowed corpses, then turned his gaze to the carbonized body of the Cardinal. A soft "Ah!" sounded from Lady Yin Yao's small horn as she hurried to the charred figure, knelt down to examine it for several seconds, then looked up with delight, raising her horn. "He still has a pulse." Zhang Yuanqing nodded. He could see that though the Cardinal's body was severely carbonized, there was a faint, nearly imperceptible heartbeat. The Cardinal had been carbonized by the reverse effect of his own thunderburst, but had not actually been struck by the explosion's force—since the blast had originated from him. "Then hurry and save him," urged Lady Yin Yao. On the other side, the two knights, seeing the enemy return with renewed determination, seemingly intent on completely eliminating the Cardinal, grew increasingly anxious, desperately trying to charge forward to assist, yet being firmly held back by the Hundred-Slice Blade and the Greedy Divine General. "Yin Yao, have you also been transformed?" "Zhang Yuanqing suddenly adopted a cold expression, "Then I shall have to eliminate you. Young Qing will not blame me." Yin Yao Princess felt her heart sink. "Drum!" The cat king speaker immediately played the drum sound—reliable at the crucial moment, never letting down. With each deep, resonant drumbeat, Zhang Yuanqing pressed his hands to his head, his expression growing increasingly painful as he gradually regained his composure. "Quick! Save him—we're seeing a steady decline in his condition!" Princess Yin raised her small microphone, her voice now sharp and urgent. At the same time, she pressed the mountain god's staff against the red-robed archbishop's chest, allowing the gem at the tip to emit a vibrant green glow, temporarily stabilizing his life. Zhang Yuanqing quickly produced a vial of life essence, peeled back the carbonized blocks at the archbishop's neck, and discovered that the carbonization had reached the bone, with no blood vessels available for injection. Just then, the whisper of the magical seed once again entered his mind, distorting his perception and contaminating his spirit.