Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

June 18th.

Jedecra State, Cross City Cathedral.

At 9 a.m., the weather was overcast and the air filled with moist vapor.

An unexpected rain had fallen last night.

Father Weiss emerged from the reception room, his face a picture of panic and cluelessness.

The clerical staff outside stared at him intently with expressions of fear and trepidation.

"What should we do?"

"Lord Duwei has disappeared... He's the Deputy Chief Judge, this could lead to something serious."

"Weiss, should we report this to the church?"

Ten minutes earlier, the clergy members had returned to the cathedral, silent as the grave.

Josh had vanished, and Du Wei had mysteriously disappeared, leaving behind only a suitcase filled with clothes and an opened safe.

Beyond that, they had lost all contact with Du Wei; his mobile phone was completely unreachable.

After a long while, Father Weiss took a deep breath and said to all the clergy, "I will write a report on this incident and send it to the church. What you need to do is to keep it absolutely secret, letting no one else know."

The others could only nod in agreement.

...

Let's turn back the clock.

It was around 8 p.m. on June 17th.

A bus appeared inside the cathedral.

Accompanied by a torrential downpour.

At that moment.

Du Wei chose to board, even though there were already four "passengers" on the bus.

At the time, the darkness in the room had been illuminated, the shadows gone, replaced by Josh.

After Du Wei got on the bus, Annabelle rushed on for some unknown reason.

It seemed to have no clear understanding of the dreadful nature of the bus, its eyes fixed solely on Du Wei.

Meanwhile, Josh in the room stood still, his gaze cold and distant.

He didn't move at all, showing no intention of boarding.

He seemed very clever.

But Du Wei, standing at the front door of the bus, extended his Right Hand and waved at him with a sneer, "Don't worry, we will meet again soon."

While in the room, he had deliberately made contact with the shadow, just to mark him again.

And now, he activated the Mark's power.

The bus door closed and it started moving slowly.

Soon the surroundings blurred into obscurity.

And then, suddenly...

Josh, with his cold gaze, appeared inside the bus, his expression still the same as it was in the room, completely unaware that his surroundings had changed utterly.

Then...

His body shuddered and a hint of human confusion flickered through his dark eyes.

He was facing away from Du Wei.

When he recognized his surroundings, he turned his head, finding himself face to face with the expressionless Du Wei.

Well...

We meet again.

He hesitated for a moment, reaching out a hand to attack Du Wei, but an unimaginably terrifying will revived quietly on the bus.

It felt like the abyss itself, causing a sensation so terrifying it seemed to tremble one's soul.

This horrific will was an inherent part of the bus itself, an entity wholly different from the Evil Spirit.

It was the same kind of Strangeness as the endlessly spreading terrifying highway in Massas City and the street you couldn't leave if you cast a shadow.

The bus's overhead lights flickered...

In the end, Josh abandoned the thought of attacking Du Wei, and sat silently by a window.

Du Wei watched him coldly for a good while before taking his "reserved" driver's seat.

The driver's seat was never touched by the Evil Spirit.

It was as if it was intentionally left for him.

Annabelle was in a very awkward position, floating inside the carriage, bound by the rules of the public transit itself, and dared not lay a hand on Du Wei.

Not to mention whether it could kill Du Wei right now.

The moment it dared to make a move, it would immediately be erased by the public transit.

Thus, Annabelle ended up in a very embarrassing situation.

Ever since it encountered Du Wei, it had been locked in the display cabinet; the first time it came out, Du Wei shoved it right back in.

The second time it emerged, Du Wei played a gambling game with it, and without external interference, it was condemned to remain in the display cabinet forever.

The last time, when it was dealing with the Demon Nun.

The Antique Clock went crazy, Annabelle nearly perished, Du Wei triggered the Mark to make it appear in a dream, but it was so frightened by the Antique Clock that it trembled.

Such fear was something even Evil Spirits could not ignore.

This time, Du Wei triggered the Mark again, and Annabelle might have seen it as an opportunity.

But unexpectedly...

After getting on the bus, it turned out that the rules here were not aimed at people, but specifically targeted Evil Spirits.

In other words.

For Annabelle, it was merely jumping from one prison into another.

Better to stay in the display cabinet, where at least the Antique Clock would not erupt normally, presenting a much smaller danger.

Crack...

The floating Annabelle, as if drained of strength, fell heavily onto the floor.

The doll-shaped body was twisted and contorted.

A face painted with rouge looked up at Du Wei, who was seated in the driver's seat, tilting its head from beneath.

However...

Du Wei completely ignored it.

It was just playing dead, and would bounce back to life and attack Du Wei again if given the chance.

But it no longer had that chance.

In concept, the power of the Mark was already over.

Annabelle was now just on the bus, and since the bus overruled the Evil Spirit, it did not return to the display cabinet as per Du Wei's earlier wish.

But as soon as it got off.

It was obligated to vanish.

If it didn't get off, then after midnight, it would perish due to the rules of the public transit.

Thinking of this.

Du Wei turned his head to glance at Josh, who was sitting in the front row by the window inside the carriage; his eyes were cold, his mind was pondering, "I need to find a suitable place to get off and trap it, otherwise, it might always be fixated on me, difficult to guard against."

Du Wei still did not understand exactly what sort of peculiar entity Josh was.

Du Wei could only be sure that the thing before him was a very special and fearsome Evil Spirit.

Light and shadow...

Josh and that figure appeared when there was light, but without light, only the figure appeared.

One for the price of two.
Stay connected via My Virtual Library Empire

And it was even harder to kill than the shadow, at least this thing had intelligence.

It might come in handy when it comes to dealing with the Evil Spirit Du Wei, even if just to take the hits, it could last a long time.

As for the other Evil Spirits on the bus...

Du Wei's gaze wandered to the back.

At the left rear by the window, there sat a bride in a wedding dress, holding a dinner knife.

This was also an acquaintance...

The second time he got on the bus, Du Wei had seen this Evil Spirit, it got off at a cemetery, and it seemed to be linked to the Veda Sect.

Further back, there were three Evil Spirits sitting.

One was a tall, naked man with skin pale as a corpse, adorned with twin snake tattoos, eyes black as pitch, all body hair shaved off.

One with no facial features, dressed in a suit, limbs disproportionate and elongated.

And one that surprised Du Wei.

It was a woman in a tattered long dress, her skin from hand to face wrinkled and marbled with livor mortis; and when Du Wei looked at her, she was looking back.

It was that same Evil Spirit woman who once held Annabelle in the Horror House...

She and Du Wei had a grudge...