Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

On the highway.

A sedan was speeding along, having reached 180 miles per hour and still accelerating.

"fuck! fuck!"

"Dude, you fucking tell me, if that ghost thing following the car is the 'Strangeness' you mentioned."

"I'm fucking losing it here."

"My car can't go any faster, damn it!"

At that moment, Tom was driving and staring in horror at the rearview mirror at the scene reflected there.

Behind the car, a patch of clouds was moving at an extremely fast pace.

The light also dimmed down at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Now, the 'Strangeness' was behind them, the car up ahead.

For every bit of distance the car covered, the pursuing 'Strangeness' would close in, much faster than the speed of the car.

At this rate,

they would eventually be swallowed up by the darkness.

Du Wei was also feeling anxious but appeared extremely calm.

Because he knew that he was the only one who could deal with this situation. If he couldn't keep calm, let alone Tom and Father Tony.

Those two were hardly any good at anything other than dealing with women.

So, he said indifferently, "Don't worry, it's after me. Once we split up, you won't encounter any danger."

Without looking back, Tom said, "And what about you? You're going to lead that thing to Massas City? Then what? What if you die in there?"

"I'm fucking done for."

"Can't you stop being a daredevil?"

Father Tony also said anxiously, "I've already informed the church, and they are discussing strategies. Please, don't take any risks."

Du Wei shook his head and said, "It's no use, I won't last until the church comes up with a strategy. All my escape routes have been blocked. Either I trap it in Massas City or I become its Puppet, which is worse than death."

It's not that he didn't want to choose.

He simply had no opportunity to choose.

At that moment, Tom clenched his teeth and said angrily, "There shouldn't be these ghostly things in the world. I feel danger everywhere. Could it be that one day when I go to the Red Light District, an Evil Spirit will kill me?"

The pressure wasn't just on Du Wei.

Everyone felt the same.

Tom was among those who had dealt more with Evil Spirits, but his courage never fortified.

Because this line of work just wasn't for him.

"Bro, you just said the 'Strangeness' is a combination of a bus and the Horror House. If that's the case, can I report to the NYPD and request artillery support?"

Even at this time, Tom was still trying to help Du Wei.

After all, he had known from the start how awkward Du Wei's situation was.

You could say he had always been courting death.

But this time, it was an especially mad gamble.

Du Wei looked deeply at Tom.

He said with a firm tone, "It's no use, you can't help me. Artillery support would only kill me and would be utterly ineffective against the 'Strangeness'."

"The same goes for Evil Spirits."

"I'm honored to have known you, even though I've always felt out of place in your lives."

"But I promise you, one day, I will restore this world to the way it should be."

"Everything that's out of tune will die by my hand."

Upon hearing this,

a flicker of indescribable complexity flashed through Father Tony's eyes. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but felt his throat dry and couldn't speak.

Meanwhile, Tom gritted his teeth and said, "Are you fucking giving your last words?"

Du Wei responded expressionlessly, "You could say that."

The tone was too indifferent,

as if he was talking about something trivial.

This annoyed Tom, "I think you're lying to me. You always seem infallible, like you can never fail, and now you're giving me your last words, I can't believe it."

"Bro, tell me you've still got a trump card, right?"

Du Wei remained silent.

He did indeed have one last trick up his sleeve.

The Demon Nun could be released, the Golden Scales could create a copy of himself to die in his place.

If all else failed, he could take a risk and forcefully awaken Evil Spirit Du Wei.

Then everything would be resolved.

But apart from the Demon Nun, everything else was uncertain.

Whether the hybrid of two strangenesses would stop hunting him after killing his copy was another matter.

If Evil Spirit Du Wei was forcefully awakened, the not yet fully assimilated Demon God would definitely cause problems.

The loss would outweigh the gain.

"I have a trump card, rest assured, I will definitely walk out of Massas City alive," Du Wei said calmly.

If Du Wei were a mirror.

Then the person outside the mirror would be him, while inside the mirror would be Evil Spirit Du Wei.

If he died, the human side of him would disappear.

Evil Spirit Du Wei would walk out from the mirror, and all emotions, all relationships, would be completely erased.

Because it simply didn't care.

In other words, Du Wei's existence was merely a shackle.

Behind the car, darkness crept ever closer.

Obscure silhouettes of the bus and the Horror House could be faintly made out.

Tom also drove into the highway leading to Massas City,

and not far ahead was a black sedan parked just right there.

As luck would have it, it was a Subaru Impreza...

Identical to Du Wei's very first one, minus the color.

This was already the best news at the moment.

Du Wei couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

But just then, a terrifying will swept through the car.

The faces of the three of them turned extremely ugly.

Unable to help themselves, Tom and Father Tony blurted out, "Du... Du Wei... It seems we've also been targeted..."

The chilling presence made them shiver.

"I've already noticed," Du Wei said with a slight chill in his gaze as he turned to look at the entity behind the car. His right hand, from gripping too tightly, had turned pale at the knuckles.

"Let's make a bet."

For some reason, there was a hint of coldness in Du Wei's voice.

He took out the mask from his clothes and placed it on his face, then pulled out the Joker Card that represented the gamble.

Tom and Father Tony were somewhat puzzled.

"What are you doing?" they asked.

Without explaining, Du Wei said coldly, "Now I'm the dealer, and the rules of the game are as follows: If Tom and Father Tony can guess my trump card, I will be the loser; if they cannot, I will be the winner."

"The stakes I want are not everything they have but their current crisis."

"Everything shall be mine."

Tom said in disbelief, "Are you crazy?"

Even Father Tony, with red eyes, said, "Don't do this, we can possibly hold them off for a while after we split up, there's no need for you to do this."

Ignoring their concerns, Du Wei stated, "Wrong answer, I will be the winner."

The answer he referred to was his trump card.

No matter how reluctant Tom and Father Tony were, they couldn't resist Du Wei's methods, especially since they didn't understand what the so-called gamble was really about.

The next second.

Du Wei prompted, "Prepare to stop the car, you two keep running past Massas City, I need to take that prepared car and lure it into Massas City."

Tom said sadly, "You should leave yourself a way out."

Du Wei placed his hand on the car door handle and said coldly, "I don't need one."