The Truth Behind the Thriller Cruise Dungeon

The familiar whispers, and an agony just as familiar. Having only recently experienced the Thriller Cruise dungeon, Zhang Yuanqing immediately recognized this as corruption from the Demon Seed. Intense shock flooded his emotions, a tempest of thoughts bubbling up all at once. Yet the torment racking his body and soul made rational, calm thought impossible. Clasping his ears, he writhed in agony. Zhang Yuanqing felt violent convulsions tear through him. Cells tore apart and reconstituted; granular flesh sprouted across his skin in dense, horrifying, repulsive clusters. An itch flared on his forehead, as though an extra eye were fighting to push its way out. Compared to the year 1900 aboard the Petrel, the Demon Seed now was countless times more powerful. Just a microscopic trace of its bathwater had nearly driven him to lose control and aberrate. Of course, Zhang Yuanqing had not yet taken the Unyielding Will, leaving it tucked safely in his inventory. After what felt like an eternity, Zhang Yuanqing sensed the taint within him gradually integrate into his flesh and cells, settling into dormancy. The torment across his body and soul vanished in an instant. "Phew..." Zhang Yuanqing pushed himself up. Just like Catherine earlier, he let out an exhausted, tremulous breath. Catherine stood nearby with poise and grace, smiling as she said, "The divine water will lie dormant within you for three days. During those three days, should you encounter a peak Dominator or a demigod, God will cast His gaze upon you and save your life." "Not bad!" Zhang Yuanqing nodded, feigning a look of wariness, fear, and a touch of reverence. Catherine took in his subtle micro-expressions with immense satisfaction. She gestured toward the dark green portal of light. "Let us go. God does not like to be disturbed." Zhang Yuanqing wasted no words, following Catherine toward the portal. Just before stepping through, he paused and glanced back at the blood lake. Back in the private parlor, Catherine bent over to gather the canvas and materials. Zhang Yuanqing hurried forward and asked, "What material was used to trace those runes?" Even as he asked, he burned every detail of the runes on the canvas into his memory. "A liquid bestowed by God; every Dominator receives one," Catherine replied candidly, like an affectionate, glamorous senior guiding a newcomer. "Once you clear the killing trial at the end of the year and ascend to Dominator, you will receive a portion as well." Catherine carefully stowed away the canvas and divine blood, then closed the cabinet door. *When the time comes, I'll steal the stuff, open the portal to the secret realm, and drop a nuke inside. A total nuclear wipeout for the Covenant of Freedom!* Zhang Yuanqing thought deviously to himself. Just then, Catherine reclined across the chaise lounge. She hitched up her skirt, exposing two long, fair legs, and gazed seductively at Tongtian Jiaozhu. "In tomorrow night's decisive battle, life and death are unpredictable. Aren't you going to indulge a little?" Zhang Yuanqing instantly pitched a tent. His heart pounded wildly, and his hormones surged into overdrive. The Dominator-level charm reduced his mind to raw, carnal longing. Snuffing out his lust, he ignored his fully erect tent and said impassively, "Indeed, I should go slaughter a few greedy politicians to blow off some steam!" With that, he engaged Dream Traverse and vanished from the parlor. Furious, Catherine swept the teaware off the coffee table and onto the floor. Her ample chest heaved for several moments before she snorted softly. "Sooner or later, you'll be kneeling by my hem, begging for my favor." The harder a man was to obtain, the more obsessed she became. A cold man who utterly disregarded her allure was precisely what ignited her thirst for conquest. *** Inside a vacant apartment at the border of Kings County and Manhattan. Tongtian Jiaozhu emerged from a flare of starlight. His gaze fell upon the dust-draped sofa, where his true body sat eating fried chicken while watching short videos. "Where you went should be a secret realm, what ancient legends called a grottos-heaven or blessed land." Zhang Yuanqing tossed a chicken wing to his avatar. "The moment you entered, our link went dead." The original body and avatar shared the same origin. As the master of the Yata no Kagami, Zhang Yuanqing could project his consciousness into the avatar just as he would control a yin corpse or spirit servant. Yet the instant the avatar stepped through the glowing portal, Zhang Yuanqing's perception had gone completely black. Tongtian Jiaozhu caught the chicken wing in his mouth, reached up, and pinched the edge of his cheek. With a sharp tearing sound, he peeled away the cicada-wing-thin Perfect Human Skin. Chewing on the chicken wing, Tongtian Jiaozhu said, "I've made an earth-shattering discovery." He tossed the Perfect Human Skin over. Zhang Yuanqing reached out and caught it. "What discovery?" Tongtian Jiaozhu glanced at the Cola on the coffee table. "Take a sip first." "No!" Zhang Yuanqing eyed him with suspicion. "Spit it out. Don't play games with me." "You distrust me that much? I'm your avatar!" "It's precisely because you're my avatar that I don't trust you," Zhang Yuanqing scoffed. *Think I don't know my own damn nature?* "Then you should know full well just how childish you are." The avatar shrugged. Left without a retort, Zhang Yuanqing picked up his paper cup. Just as he took a sip of Cola, he heard Tongtian Jiaozhu announce: "The God of the Covenant of Freedom is the Demon Seed from the Thriller Cruise dungeon." *Pfft!* Zhang Yuanqing spewed the mouthful of Cola straight across the room. Paying no heed to the soda dripping down his chest, he stared at his avatar, dumbfounded. "What... What did you say?!" "The deity of the Covenant of Freedom is the Demon Seed." The avatar lowered his voice. "I entered the Covenant of Freedom's Kingdom of God—the Kingdom of God Pluto spoke of. Slumbering beneath that blood lake is the Demon Seed." Zhang Yuanqing's eyes widened, his expression frozen like a statue. After a long silence, he rubbed his face vigorously to bring himself back to his senses, murmuring softly, "So that's how it is... So that's how it is... I finally understand the truth behind the Holy See's destruction." In 1900, a comet had crashed into European waters south of the Irish Union, corrupting the creatures of the sea. The Irish joint government had dispatched the Petrel to salvage it. After the Petrel sank, the sole survivor, Stephen Simpson, had escaped carrying the Demon Seed. More than a decade later, after quietly gathering strength and building his forces, the Demon Seed founded the Covenant of Freedom and instigated the World War. In that war that engulfed all of Europe, the Holy See had been reduced to ashes, relegated to history. Tongtian Jiaozhu fell silent for a few seconds before murmuring, "Who do you think the Demon Seed really is?" "You already have the answer in your heart." Zhang Yuanqing looked back at his avatar. A comet falling from the heavens, the God of the Covenant of Freedom, a Demon Seed capable of corrupting an ordinary human into an aberration that could slaughter a peak Saint and a host of Saints... Its identity was all too obvious: The evil god of the Toxic Chemist class! The virus invading the Spirit Realm! A supreme entity rivaling the Spirit Realm Administrators! That comet truly was a seed of evil cast down into the mortal world by a demon. "When the Holy See fell, it already had three demigods, the legacy of ancient cultivators, and vast treasure vaults. Only an entity of that caliber could crush a behemoth like that." Tongtian Jiaozhu sighed, analyzing, "In the early days of the Spirit Realm, most Spirit Realm walkers were lone wolves, scraping by as bounty hunters or setting themselves up as landlords to enslave ordinary people. Only the Holy See, relying on ancient cultivation heritage, rapidly unified the rogue walkers, reformed from within, and established stable order in just a few short years. "Had that continued, within a century, the Holy See would have undoubtedly become the orthodox organization ruling the world. Any evil class or evil organization would have trembled beneath its might." Zhang Yuanqing added, "And that includes other orthodox organizations." Tongtian Jiaozhu nodded. "In short, if the Holy See hadn't been wiped out, the entire world would belong to the orthodox faction, and faction confrontation would be a joke." Zhang Yuanqing sighed. "And so, in 1900, a comet fell from the sky, raising the curtain on the Holy See's annihilation. An evil god stepping onto the field in person... Talk about having zero martial virtue." A trace of frustration crossed his face. "What can we do when the orthodox faction doesn't have an Administrator? I need to tell the President about this." With this analysis, every detail that had once baffled him fell into place. For instance, why a dungeon for peak Saints was set in 1900. Because the incident on the Petrel carried special significance. The Spirit Realm had generated a dungeon out of that historical event, perhaps hoping to reveal the truth to posterity. "You can't tell the President!" Tongtian Jiaozhu said gravely. "You don't know what happened inside the secret realm. I drank the Demon Seed's bathwater; its aura clings to me now. If I encounter demigod-tier power, the Demon Seed will cast its gaze." He immediately recounted the properties of the divine water to Zhang Yuanqing. "The fact that the Demon Seed can project its gaze through the divine water proves there is a link between them. In that case, you cannot return to the Yata no Kagami. Wait until three days have passed." Zhang Yuanqing tossed the Yata no Kagami beside his hip over to the avatar. "I'm granting you three days of outdoor recreation. Hmm, Catherine treated us pretty well. Remember to buy some fruit to pay her a thoughtful visit." He hinted heavily. "I'd love to sleep with her too, but what if she demands a price afterward?" Tongtian Jiaozhu asked with concern. "If she intends to save that favor for a critical moment and holds back for now, the moment I return to the Yata no Kagami, the karmic ties will be wiped clean. She'll realize she can't collect her payment." Zhang Yuanqing clapped his hands. "Doesn't that mean getting it for free?!" Besides, there were plenty of ways to dissolve karmic debts; he could fabricate any number of excuses. Tongtian Jiaozhu's eyes lit up, but he promptly adopted an upright, gentlemanly posture. "No, I have a girlfriend. Guan Ya would be furious if she found out." "Guan Ya is *my* girlfriend, not yours." "Makes sense!" Tongtian Jiaozhu tossed the Yata no Kagami back to Zhang Yuanqing. "Original body, yours truly is on his way!" An avatar had no inventory and could not carry items. If the mirror fell into Catherine's hands, they would be utterly finished. Watching his avatar dissolve into starlight, Zhang Yuanqing rubbed his hands in excitement. Right then, starlight flared once more. Tongtian Jiaozhu reappeared, shooting him a sidelong glance. "Lend me the Endurance Spray." Zhang Yuanqing shot him a sidelong glance of his own. Everything was understood without a word. Once the avatar sprayed the Endurance Spray and departed, Zhang Yuanqing retrieved his phone and messaged Guan Ya, telling her that he had a mission requiring a lengthy and complex stargazing session, so he would not be returning tonight. "My mother has arrived in New York. She invited me for dinner and sightseeing tomorrow," Guan Ya replied. "You're a mixed-race girl who grew up in the Free Confederation—what sightseeing do you need to do?" Zhang Yuanqing texted back dryly. As a global metropolis, there was no way Guan Ya, born and raised in the Free Confederation, hadn't been here before. "I was widowed at such a young age, after all. Fu Xue still pities me and wants to help me clear my head," Guan Ya's message retorted with subtle thorns. "Push it back," Zhang Yuanqing said. "Have the Team of the Dead stay inside tomorrow to conserve their energy. Above all, don't fool around with women. Tell Brother Red Chicken to rein it in." Brother Red Chicken was a crude Fire Master overflowing with vigor. During his time in New York, he had frequently aided impoverished young Chinese ladies in need. Growing bored of that, he had moved on to riding "Night-Shining Jade Lions," and rumor had it he'd recently begun test-driving "Wuzhui" steeds. Guan Ya sent a probing reply: "There's an operation tomorrow?" "Don't ask!" Seeing her boyfriend's response, Guan Ya, as a Scout, understood immediately. She replied with a goodnight, ending their exchange. Zhang Yuanqing sat cross-legged at once. Clasping the Yata no Kagami, he sank his awareness into the item to share Tongtian Jiaozhu's field of vision. *** No. 69 Hamburg Street, private parlor. Catherine pushed open a small door within the parlor and entered the master bedroom. Just as she prepared to rest and recharge for a good night's sleep, her ears twitched. Through the heavy, soundproof door, she caught the sound of footsteps approaching in the hallway. A moment later, the heavy brass-wrapped door was pushed open. Tongtian Jiaozhu had returned.