Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

Outside the mirror.

The silhouette of the Evil Spirit Du Wei became even more profound.

It held a scalpel in its right hand, upon which its own face slowly emerged.

And in its hand.

There was a face wearing a mask.

Yes, it had peeled off its own face.

The perspective shifted back to the front.

The face of the Evil Spirit Du Wei had formed into a void, much like a shattered mirror, dark inside, with nothing visible.

The body it had stolen was merely a reflection.

This contradicted its cognition, and if it continued like this, it would eventually fall into self-denial, a conceptual death.

By then, even if it survived, it would no longer be the Evil Spirit Du Wei.

After its face was peeled off, the Evil Spirit Du Wei lost its features.

It couldn't speak anymore, so it numbly reached out with the face, mask and all, toward the other self in the mirror.

It could see Du Wei in the mirror.

But Du Wei couldn't see it.

It was somewhat akin to a special mirror used for spying on people's privacy, but in this context, it was extremely terrifying.

By its side.

Pennywise and those counterfeit Evil Spirits circled around the Evil Spirit Du Wei, but perhaps some factor compelled them to not dare approach.

Even if the current state of the Evil Spirit Du Wei was extremely pitiful.

Perhaps the terror and shadows Pennywise brought with it were too intense...

Meanwhile, in the darkness not far away, Hannibal's corpse began to change subtly.

Its abdomen started to bloat as if something was trying to burrow out, and a cold malevolence slowly radiated from the corpse as its epicenter.

The change of face mechanism, initiated.

...

Within the mirror. Discover more content at My Virtual Library Empire

Du Wei's situation was also very grim.

He wore the mask, with a gun in his right hand, his finger tightly on the trigger, ready to fire at any moment.

In his left hand, he held a coin.

The Black Umbrella floated above him, but not due to some special ability.

The moment the Evil Spirit Du Wei appeared, he had lost the ability to borrow.

Above the Black Umbrella, darkness had enveloped it, much like a pair of hands, firmly securing it and assimilating it.

The creaking noise sounded intermittently.

From the umbrella ribs to the canopy, all were under tremendous pressure—from the Mirror Evil Spirit.

The umbrella had accompanied Du Wei for a long time, and now all it could do, before being destroyed, was to buy its master a little more time.

"Huuh..."

With mental tension, Du Wei slowly took a breath and calmly pondered in his mind, "The Evil Spirit Du Wei must have already made its move; if it breaks the mirror, then in that instant I will appear outside the mirror, in the second layer of the Mirror World."

At that time, the conceptual Mirror Evil Spirit would also become another force. Together with Pennywise and what Hannibal turned into, there should be a 30 percent chance that I won't immediately lose my body to the Evil Spirit Du Wei.

When that happens, what I have to do is leave the mirror instantly, trapping the Evil Spirit Du Wei inside.

I need to prepare for both possibilities because it might use the change of face mechanism.

But no matter what, I won't lose this time.

...

With this thought,

Du Wei suppressed the nervousness in his heart.

His only advantage to turn the tables was knowing the weakness of the Evil Spirit Du Wei—it couldn't tolerate any impurity. The moment it lost the identity of Du Wei, it would die a conceptual death.

The real body and the illusionary reflection.

It would never choose the latter.

Even more so,

Du Wei considered even the other Joker Card that represented the gamble.

He had thought that after the Evil Spirit Du Wei integrated the Joker Card, it would possess the insurmountable power of the gamble.

However, this was of little use to Du Wei.

Because he had the card that could grant wishes.

Idealism against idealism.

Du Wei could wish to never lose, even if the cost was being assimilated by the Evil Spirit, but that's definitely not something the Evil Spirit Du Wei would desire.

The better you understand yourself, the more you know your own thoughts.

Previously, the Evil Spirit Du Wei had all of Du Wei's memories and the information it knew itself.

And now, Du Wei possessed all its memories and knew the information it was unaware of.

It was like doing arithmetic.

Du Wei might be 10, and the Evil Spirit Du Wei might be 9, but as long as one was greater than the other, the outcome would be completely reversed.

"This time, you must die."

Du Wei said to himself, and even without speaking aloud, his demeanor was frighteningly severe.

The situation had reached a point where neither side had any chance to retreat.

They had to give it their all or lose everything.

Time ticked away second by second.

But at this moment,

Du Wei's body suddenly trembled, bending at the waist uncontrollably, as a sharp pain attacked his heart.

Piercing buzzing sounds also rose in his ears.

Beneath his mask, blood slowly trickled out, gathering at the edge of the mask, and dripped onto the ground with a tick-tock sound.

…

At this very moment,

Inside a psychotherapy clinic in North Brook District,

Soft moonlight filtered through the windowpane, faintly revealing the Antique Clock on the wall spinning wildly.

The hands overlapped, spinning so fast they almost blurred into invisibility.

It seemed to foresee something.

Tick tick tick...

The Antique Clock trembled all over.

Inside the room, the atmosphere grew more and more oppressive, and the temperature suddenly dropped.

A drum-white fog slowly filled the entire room.

In the unseen mist, shuffling noises began to emerge, as if many people were moving about.

The next second,

The hands of the Antique Clock twitched and came to a halt.

The time pointed to exactly 12 o'clock.

Click...

The hands dispersed, continuing their motion as if nothing had happened before. Only this time, they were moving backward.

…

Elsewhere,

In the mirror world, Du Wei's mouth and nose bled as he clutched his head and cried out in pain.

He had seen some visions that he shouldn't have, the pain in his brain as if a wedge had been thrust in, toggling with abandon.

The pain was nearly driving him to the brink of a mental breakdown.

Yet, the scene before him forced Du Wei to maintain his sanity forcibly.

He saw that the face of his other self had been removed, the left hand holding a scalpel, the right hand holding a fragmented face, and covering it over the Du Wei in the mirror.

Beyond that, the vision warp and blur, and he couldn't see what happened.

It wasn't the first time Du Wei had seen certain parts of the future.

It always happened at the most lethal moments.

But unlike before, the visions he saw this time were incomplete, with a beginning but no end.

However, Du Wei had no more energy to ponder the reasons behind this.

He could only choose to trust that this ability sourced from the Antique Clock had never betrayed him before.

Du Wei gritted his teeth and forcefully locked his mental state.

He said coldly, "So that's why you can see my every move outside the mirror?"

"So you didn't shatter the mirror but tried to use a face-swapping mechanism to take back the body, making me the reflection?"

"But you won't succeed because I've already anticipated this scenario."

The shadow existing as an outer shell also took action at this time, its malice inflating within Du Wei's mind, attempting to break his will.

Killing Du Wei was its utmost obsession.

Yet Du Wei's spirit remained unfluctuating as he tossed a Coin again.

Seeing it was heads, Du Wei laughed maniacally.

"I can face death with equanimity, but what about you? Can you accept it?"

Having spoken,

Du Wei looked up at the Black Umbrella hovering above his head and fired a shot.

The next second, darkness completely enveloped him.

At the same time, the shattering sound of mirrors resounded...