Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

The situation was extremely perilous.

At that moment,

Du Wei didn't even dare to jump off his bicycle, for he knew his running speed couldn't possibly match his riding speed.

Once he abandoned the bike, it was tantamount to giving up a chance to escape.

But if he didn't abandon it, he'd have to continue riding with the female ghost on his back.

He had never in his life given a ride to any woman on his bike, and it was odd and terrifying that the first one turned out to be a female ghost...

Du Wei endured the chill from behind, the entire surface of the Black Umbrella twisted with a layer of faint white frost.

This ghostly thing had the power to affect reality...

Du Wei's eyes were hollow as he rode on, wracking his brains for a way to escape this road.

He began to ask himself questions and answer them in his mind.

"First, the concept of a road originates from a path on the ground, but if I jump into a river, does the concept of the road still stand?"

"Uncertain."

"Then, is it possible for me to prevent the establishment of this road?"

"Of course."

"This is a haunted road. Any place a ghost appears would fall within the road's extent. Conversely, if a ghost cannot appear or gets trapped somewhere, I can certainly leave."

"That street from before..."

Du Wei narrowed his eyes, turning the bicycle in a different direction and heading towards that spot.

But he also knew that he only had three minutes.

Three minutes was definitely not enough to reach that place.

Therefore, before then, he had to close the distance as much as possible and then figure out a way to hold out until he arrived.

As long as he reached that bizarre street, the ghostly presence that allowed the road to extend would surely be affected, if not completely still.

Of course, ghosts don't have shadows.

However, he could create one for it.

Find an opportunity to put a mask on the ghost.

The mask had a physical form; as soon as a ghost cast a shadow, it would no longer be able to move forward. Conceptually speaking, the road would be fixed in place.

This was the most secure method Du Wei could think of.

...

While Du Wei was racing with the ghost on his bike,

On the other side, near the exit of Massas City,

A group of exorcists looked ahead with expressions of terror.

Thompson stood next to James, holding a candle that was almost completely burned out. In front of them, a malevolent spirit wrapped in bandages had five palm-sized gunshot wounds, its upper body nearly shattered by the blasts from a flintlock gun.

But this did little damage to it.

Its body was made entirely of bandages, which immediately restored themselves whenever damaged.

And now, enraged, it strode towards James and the others.

Another female evil spirit behind them was also swiftly approaching, dragging another female corpse that was a twin.

The dark and terrifying malice was unabashedly spreading.

These exorcists, without reserves of holy water or other resources, were not much stronger than ordinary people when facing evil spirits.

In other words, they could only wait to die...

James's situation at that moment was also terrible, not much better than what Du Wei had experienced.

After Thompson gave him five bullets and he fired them in succession, he felt an indescribable anomaly in his body.

During his time in Massas City, he was about to enter the Second Phase of Spirit Vision. Although he couldn't control Spirit Vision at will, he had made far more progress than before.

Now his heart was in excruciating pain, his ears ringing non-stop, unable to hear anything from the outside world.

Spirit Vision was a passive ability eroded by the evil spirits.

But after firing five shots, James was horrified to discover a ferociously cruel evil spirit before his eyes.

It was clad in late 18th-century Western cowboy attire, emaciated, with darkened skin, sunken eye sockets, and looked like a skeleton wrapped in human skin.

Upon its appearance, it sneered at James, flashing its cold white teeth, sharp as knives.

Its eyes were white too, or to be precise, lacked any color.

It stared intensely at him.

James couldn't help but tremble all over, instinctively feeling that he was going to die...

The worst part was, he couldn't move at all now.

The Evil Spirit was in the flintlock gun, and every shot fired was awakening it.

It was tantamount to slow suicide.

Yet, James's continuous shooting only hastened this process of suicide.

The next second.

The Evil Spirit reached out towards him, but Thompson stood nearby with a candle, preventing the Evil Spirit from nearing James.

As soon as it touched the range of the light, its hand corroded as if it were, emitting wisps of white smoke.

"Don't let this thing shake your will, if you can't succeed, we'll all die here."

Thompson, enduring the anxiety in his heart, didn't dare to urge James.

Because he worried that if he pressed him, it might cause problems with James's Evil Spirit Transformation.

However...

James couldn't hear Thompson's words, his consciousness was already blurred.

Hallucinations...

Audio hallucinations...

Images flickered before his eyes, from childhood to adulthood, everything.

The most striking among them was the image of a man.

To be precise... it was the Evil Spirit Du Wei he had seen in the mental health clinic, sitting on the couch with an elegant demeanor, like a gentleman.

In a trance...

James saw the Evil Spirit Du Wei walk up to him, his face wearing a detached smile, the non-human aura on him very clear.

Then, the Evil Spirit Du Wei asked him a question, "Look into my eyes, and tell me what are you afraid of?"

Blood seeped from James's ears...

His pupils dilated, he gasped for air with his mouth wide open.

He had entered the Third Phase of Spirit Vision...

The next second, the image flashed by.

This time, what appeared in James's eyes was still the Evil Spirit Du Wei.

Only this time, the Evil Spirit Du Wei's eyes were rational to the extreme, elegantly looking at him, softly saying, "You're afraid that I will take over his body and then kill all of you..."

Immediately following...

James saw this Du Wei grasp his neck, lift him up, and then with a light squeeze...

Crack...

His neck snapped, and blood gushed out.

Then, this Du Wei threw his corpse on the ground.

The fear of Du Wei and the Evil Spirit Du Wei, hidden in James's heart, fear even he himself did not know, at this moment proceeded with the Evil Spirit Transformation, fully exhibited.

...

To the eyes of the others, they saw James tip-toe, grab his own neck, and twist it forcefully, opting for suicide.

Seeing this, Thompson's face turned extremely ugly.

He didn't know what James had experienced, but Exorcists undergoing Evil Spirit Transformation endure indescribable agony, unique to each individual.

But no matter how it looked, James had failed, falling in the torment of Evil Spirit Transformation.

"Damn it... damn it... damn it..."

Thompson cursed thrice in a row, looking in despair at the three Evil Spirits that surrounded them all.

Earlier, there were only two Evil Spirits, but now the one from the flintlock gun had also awakened.

Desperate power brought a desperate end...

But at that moment, James's body suddenly moved.

In his pupils reflected an image.

Seeing Du Wei, who had twisted his own neck, his appearance began to distort, changing from his build to his skin to his facial features.

Finally, it transformed into his own likeness...

"Crack..."

The sour sound of bones and joints relocating.

James let out a breath, his voice intermittent and hoarse, "I... I... didn't die... I succeeded..."

He had successfully completed the Evil Spirit Transformation, but the transformed part was a pair of eyes.

Calm, rational...

It clashed starkly with his body...