Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

After the Evil Spirit Du Wei disappeared.

In the same spot...

Suddenly, one after another, the burning flames extinguished.

It seemed as if this place was prepared just for it.

In the darkness, the rustling sounds came to life.

Space twisted, and the contour of a doll became clearer and clearer.

Annabelle walked out of the darkness.

Only, it was enveloped in an indescribable aura; if dissected, one would find its shell filled with black, fine threads.

Earlier, Du Wei had noticed something was off with Annabelle. Deeply affected by the Antique Clock, he locked it in a door within the shadow body.

Unexpectedly, the thing mysteriously escaped.

Now it had appeared again in the middle of the altar.

It was obviously problematic.

Annabelle stared at the statue behind the altar, closely fixating on the stone door in its right eye.

Then, Annabelle began to tremble.

Not out of fear, but more like rage.

...

Elsewhere.

In Du Wei's home.

The hands of the Antique Clock spun wildly.

The room was pitch dark.

From within the Antique Clock, a pale and slender arm extended, its hand opening, the pattern of hands on its back moving counterclockwise.

It took a long time to finally come to a stop.

The hand clenched tightly.

In the darkness, as though a woman's sigh could be heard.

"This is as far as I can help you."

"But I don't want you to go in."

...

Within the altar.

Annabelle drifted towards the other eye of the massive statue.

Under the control of the hand's master, it entered, and in this eye also existed a Hell's Gate.

It was a wooden door.

Carved with many strange patterns and letters.

The most conspicuous was the pattern of an eye.

The entire altar was now shrouded in darkness.

And the statue's right eye, the stone door the Evil Spirit Du Wei had stormed into, didn't look like Hell's Gate, but rather like some kind of creation.

...

Darkness is a concept.

Without light, everything you look at is black.

All that's left is blackness.

What the Evil Spirit Du Wei saw now was endless pitch black.

But it locked onto the arm extending from the stone door.

The existence very similar to it, with the pattern of a Demon God on the right hand.

"You can't escape."

The Evil Spirit Du Wei had merged into the darkness, moving in a way incomprehensible to ordinary people.

Think it, and you're there.

It felt like it was in Hell's Gate.

And every time in such a place, it felt right at home, as if it was born to be in hell, not the human world.

Before.

After sensing the existence of a Demon God beneath Massas City,

The Evil Spirit Du Wei made up its mind to deal with the other party.

It now had enough confidence.

Even if it could only exert a third of its power,

Killing a Demon God was not difficult.

Because when it was pulled in, it had already measured the gap between them, which wasn't big, and it had the advantage.

This meant that the Demon God beneath Massas City wasn't ranked very high.

Therefore, it intentionally fell into it, waiting for the other's appearance.

Although the Evil Spirit Du Wei didn't know why the other harbored animosity towards it,

It knew well that there would never be a situation where it could coexist with Solomon's Seventy-Two Pillars Demon Gods.

A fight to the death was the only outcome.

It couldn't even be considered a probe.

Evil Spirit Du Wei and this unknown demon had basically torn their facades apart, and all probing seemed so deliberate, merely a signal to the other party.

...

Through the darkness.

The tip of the nose sensed the moist vapor.

The scenery in front suddenly became clear.

This place was a lake.

In the center of the lake lay a small island.

And there were Gothic-style buildings sitting there.

"The headquarters of the Vanity Sect?"

Evil Spirit Du Wei frowned as he surveyed the surroundings; he now stood hundreds of meters in the air, and yet, as if on solid ground, without any impact at all.

Humans cannot fly, let alone hover.

But it could.

Evil Spirit Du Wei narrowed his eyes: "The world behind Hell's Gate?"

He could feel that the presence of the demon he had locked onto was right beneath the ground of Lake Island.

The other party seemed to be hiding inside.

During the time shrouded in darkness, they had already engaged in combat many times.

Evil Spirit Du Wei was unscathed.

On the other hand, the opponent had sustained more than a dozen cuts; although the specific injuries weren't visible, concept against concept, the opponent must not be feeling well.

Yet, that hand kept fleeing.

Until now.

"It seems your goal was to lead me here."

"This is not the same as the Demon Gods I have encountered."

"But you can't run."

With that, Evil Spirits Du Wei's figure flashed, and he directly appeared on Lake Island.

He didn't know what the other party intended to do.

Nor did he need to be on guard.

Evil Spirit Du Wei's foot stomped down on Lake Island.

With a boom.

The island as the center, the lake churned up huge waves that surged straight into the sky.

With a whoosh.

Evil Spirit Du Wei casually flung out his hand, and the Evil Spirit Scalpel plunged into the ground of Lake Island, sinking deep and stabbing toward the locked target below.

A direct hit.

But Evil Spirit Du Wei furrowed his brow slightly.

"Something's not right, you're very weak."

"This is different from how you acted before, why is that?"

"Could I have overlooked something?"

His tone was full of doubt.

The hand infused with the Demon God's presence that had been chased into this place was very strong in the beginning, strong enough to contend against him.

But now it was several levels lower.

It was as if there had been some force bolstering it before, but now that bolstering force was gone.

At that moment.

All of a sudden, Evil Spirit Du Wei turned his head to look to the side.

The air twisted.

A figure of a man dressed in black clothes, wearing a mask, emerged.

Folks followed, and other figures appeared rapidly.

Thirteen people in total.

The person in the lead knelt on one knee straight away: "Welcome back, master."

The rest of the people also knelt on the ground, heads bowed, not daring to look at Evil Spirit Du Wei.

This...

Evil Spirit Du Wei had already encountered such a situation before.

Last time he entered Hell's Gate, he arrived at the Victorian Era of the past, where Corrine Dowqui and others referred to him as His Excellency the Duke.

And now, the thirteen people before him were wearing masks he was all too familiar with.

Along with Lake Island, it was clearly the Vanity Sect.

Evil Spirit Du Wei couldn't help but sneer, pondering in his heart: "So I have another identity now? The master of the Vanity Sect? How utterly ridiculous."

Though that's what he thought,

What he said was, "What is the date now?"

The leader, with his head bowed and tone respectful, said, "May 6th, it has been a month since you went to London, according to the plan, you were supposed to have returned half a month ago."