Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

The hand pushed forcefully, seemingly about to emerge from the phone in an incredibly bizarre manner.

Seeing this, Du Wei murmured in a low voice, "I find it hard to understand whether you are the Evil Spirit or something else entirely."

As he said this, he quickly walked up to the phone screen.

The hand seemed to sense something, for it instantly stiffened, but it didn't stop; rather, it quickened its pace to emerge.

During this process, there was no noise made, and combined with the anomaly at the door, it was easy to lead one astray.

One might either put down the phone to check the door or close the phone and think of a way to escape.
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But no matter the choice, eventually, it would come out of the phone screen and kill the targeted victim.

For Du Wei, however, this was useless.

He watched ceaselessly at the thing that resembled the Evil Spirit as it gradually emerged, his eyes flickering with curiosity.

Annabelle in the curio cabinet slowly turned her head to look his way.

A shadowy figure also appeared in the shadows by the sofa. First, it glanced at Du Wei, seemingly hesitating over something, then it lowered its head, its bloodshot eyes fixated on the phone screen.

Soon, the thing that resembled the Evil Spirit emerged halfway out of the phone, just like in the video. It was wearing a raincoat, had a large frame, and there was a hexagram painted on its face.

Previously, because the video was in black and white, the specific colors couldn't be discerned.

But now, as it emerged from the phone, one could clearly see that the pattern on its face wasn't painted on with pigment, but rather looked as if it had grown from beneath the skin.

Its eyes had been removed, its skin was yellowing, and some areas were covered in a close-knit pattern of liver spots; the chest that gradually became visible also bore the marks of needle stitches.

Upon emerging, its gaze was firmly fixed on Du Wei. Its other hand also strenuously extended, clenching a sharp dagger, seemingly ready to throw it.

The next second.

The shadowy figure moved. At that moment, it targeted the Evil Spirit, reaching out to grab the sharp dagger from its hand.

An even more profound sense of malice slowly radiated from the shadowy figure, nearly suffocating to breathe.

This scene reminisced of a previous encounter in the Horror House, where Du Wei faced Annabelle and the woman in the long dress.

The difference was that at that time, Annabelle was held in the woman's arms, and both were rigidly confronting each other, with no indication of one overcoming the other.

But now, the shadowy figure was much more terrifying than the Evil Spirit.

When the shadowy figure grabbed the sharp dagger from the Evil Spirit, the latter's hand trembled uncontrollably, and the body that was initially crawling out of the phone screen was now retracting.

It looked as if it were afraid and trying to escape...

But was unable to find the opportunity.

The shadowy figure forcibly yanked it out of the phone screen, and the sharp dagger gradually moved out of the Evil Spirit's grasp, soon to change masters.

And by that time, the shadowy figure might become even more terrifying.

Upon witnessing this, Du Wei couldn't help frowning and pulled out the lighter from his pocket, gently pressing it.

The crimson flame flared with an eerie hue.

Immediately after, Du Wei aimed the lighter at the arms locked in a standoff between the shadowy figure and the Evil Spirit.

With a snap...

Both the shadowy figure and the Evil Spirit released their grip simultaneously, and the sharp dagger fell to the ground with a dull thud.

After the dagger fell, the Evil Spirit, for some reason, gave up on attacking Du Wei and lunged for the dagger instead.

Meanwhile, the shadowy figure was also stunned. It hesitated for a moment before stretching out its hand as well.

Du Wei frowned and thought, so the dagger is a conduit?

With this in mind, he immediately advanced with the lighter in hand, its light casting upon the surroundings, leaving the shadowy figure and the Evil Spirit with no choice but to retreat helplessly.

Without touching the sharp dagger, Du Wei remained vigilant, watching the shadowy figure while on guard against the corpse-like Evil Spirit.

Then, something even more bizarre occurred.

The corpse-like Evil Spirit suddenly began to tremble. It struggled to move toward Du Wei, but under the persistent light of the lighter, it was utterly unable to touch him.

Suddenly, it stiffened as if its bones had been removed, and fell straight to the ground.

The shadowy figure seemed somewhat angry, it had no physical form except for a pair of eyes filled with bloodshot veins, only a vague outline.

But in that instant, the entire blurred outline bubbled up like boiling water.

That thick malice once again locked onto Du Wei.

Yet Du Wei, expressionless, took out a mask from his close-fitting clothes and put it on his face.

On the wall...

The hands of the antique clock sped up significantly.

Du Wei looked at the shadowy figure, he could even feel that its resentment towards him deepened much more at that moment.

Allying with an evil spirit is not a simple matter.

Especially when one hasn't found the medium through which this evil spirit could be contained. Given any chance, the evil spirit would not hesitate to strike.

But now, it was clear that the shadowy figure hadn't found its opportunity.

In the end, it could only slowly fade into the shadows, and the scene inside the room returned to normal.

...

21:20.

Inside the attic.

The light was a dim yellow.

The windows had been thoroughly sealed.

Not far away was that freezer, now containing six human heads, belonging to Roy, four cultists, and the mental hospital director Taylor.

Du Wei glanced at the bodies he had dragged to the second floor and slowly put on rubber gloves.

Beside him was a simple rack with a tray on it which held scissors and the dagger that might be the medium, along with a basin of clean water.

Then, he lifted the raincoat covering the bodies, revealing their emaciated and skeletal frames.

Du Wei's expression remained calm. He suspected something was off with this body, apparently more than just an evil spirit possession.

He was now preparing to dissect the body to see what was really going on.

The thing concocted by the Veda Sect had been strange from the start, inexplicably killing people who looked a lot like itself. When he saw the video, it suddenly targeted him.

Yet Du Wei couldn't remember having come into contact with a similar evil spirit.

Without contact, there is no drive within an evil spirit to want to kill a person.

Taking the scissors from the rack, Du Wei slowly cut open the fine stitches sewn across the chest of the body.

After doing so, the chest of the body split open automatically, revealing the bizarre inside.

"It's empty..."

All the organs had been removed, the blood inside coagulated into a dark brown mass, seeming to have some paper-like substances stuck together.

After some thought, Du Wei used the scissors to poke around and found that these were some photographs, one large picture, and others were two-inch and three-inch photos of various sizes.

So, he took these photographs out and cleaned them in the water.

Soon, the photographs revealed their original appearances.

The biggest one was a family photo, a family of four with two daughters. The father in the photo vaguely resembled the body in build and appearance.

"It should be the same person."

Du Wei frowned as he turned his attention to the remaining two-inch and three-inch photos.

Immediately after though, his expression grew cold.

All the people in those photographs were him, but the scenes were captured at the window or as he was leaving the house.

The person in the photos was different from the present him, the expression more amiable—likely taken a long time ago.

He couldn't help but scoff, "Must have been taken by Roy before, didn't expect them to end up in the hands of the Veda Sect. Tomorrow, I'll go to the church and ask Father Tony about what exactly this is. If it's as I suspect, maybe I can find the cultists' whereabouts."