Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

When the man admitted his loss, Du Wei immediately entered Spirit Vision.

Next second.

He saw the color tone in the hall shift slightly.

It was like a scene from an old movie—dim and gloomy. Even though it was daytime and there were lights in the hall, the shadows were spreading.

The guests were wrapped in fine black threads, which looked extremely eerie.

On that man, however, the black threads became animated, slowly burrowing into his body.

Before long, those black threads detached and drifted toward another man sitting opposite at the table.

The man's hairstyle, clothes, appearance, physique, and even his behavior—everything about him felt familiar to Du Wei, reminiscent of Father Tony, Officer Tom, and James...

As Du Wei watched the man, their gazes met, and the man flashed an elegant smile.

It looked like the greeting between the most familiar of friends.

But a sudden surge of indescribable terror exploded in Du Wei's mind...

"It's an Evil Spirit..."

He revealed a cold smile, shifting his gaze to the man who had lost.

Under the state of Spirit Vision, he keenly felt something indescribable that had vanished from the man's body along with the black threads.

"A bet with an Evil Spirit? After losing, one doesn't just lose money but also something intangible? Is it lifespan? Or is it the soul?"

Du Wei asked himself in his heart, suddenly understanding something.

Victor's great-grandfather came to New York and made a fortune from gambling, hailed as the God of Gamblers.

His son and grandson also inherited his talent, both were masters of the craft.

One person being a God of Gamblers was understandable, but three generations? It was highly suspicious.

Unless, the Victor family possessed something that ensured their victories every time.

As if mocking or finding amusement, Du Wei softly murmured, "How interesting..."

Alex, who was close to him, heard it and asked in confusion, "What's interesting?"

Du Wei smiled lightly and said, "Nothing much, I've just found that Evil Spirit."
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Alex paused for a moment, following Du Wei's gaze, she too saw the man and said blankly, "Who is this person? Why does he look so familiar, very much like you..."

She felt afraid and turned her head away, unwilling to look again, but as soon as she averted her eyes, she froze.

"Huh? Darling? Did I just say something?"

Du Wei wrapped his arm around her slender waist and spoke softly, "Once you avert your gaze, you will ignore what you just saw. It is an Evil Spirit, but don't worry, I will take care of it."

He had originally thought it would take a great deal of effort to find this Evil Spirit.

He hadn't expected it to reveal itself so readily.

This meant it was ready to make its move.

With that thought, Du Wei let go of Alex, took out the lighter that could fend off Evil Spirits, and gently pressed it.

The red flame flickered into existence... but it wasn't strong, clearly suppressed.

He tried to burn the black threads on his body with the lighter, but it had no effect.

It was as if those black threads only existed in the state of Spirit Vision and couldn't actually be touched or interacted with in the physical realm.

In other words, he had become one of the targets of the Evil Spirit.

These black threads must be the way the Evil Spirit marked its targets, and also the chips for the bet...

More than just money was at stake; more important things were being wagered.

This was the most malevolent Evil Spirit Du Wei had ever seen, more terrifying than merely killing.

Ordinary people were completely blind to the secrets of this bet from beginning to end.

Moreover, when the dealer is an Evil Spirit, the bet is inherently unfair.

This thing could no longer just be called an Evil Spirit.

He remembered the records in the book Father Tony gave him when he became an Exorcist.

It should be called an Evil Spirit...

The terror of an Evil Spirit isn't limited to just threatening the lives of ordinary people, it's even more malevolent.

The distinction between the two might seem fuzzy, yet it's starkly different.

The fuzzy part is, whether it's an evil spirit or an Evil Spirit, the ultimate goal is to kill the target.

What makes them starkly different is that an evil spirit has more subjective initiative, while an Evil Spirit is objective and passive.

Simply put, if ordinary people trigger a medium of an evil spirit or encounter one, they become a target, and all the fear and negative emotions it causes at the beginning are driven by the evil spirit, with the end process being murder.

But once an Evil Spirit appears, regardless of whether it has been contacted or the medium triggered, a murder mechanism is always present, and the eventual death only manifests through the mechanism.

Just like a spider weaving a web, waiting for the prey to blunder into the spiderweb.

Du Wei took a deep breath, feeling somewhat heavy-hearted.

In the Goliath Winery, from what he could see at the moment, there was an Evil Spirit in the hall as well as another evil spirit present.

If he resolved one, there was still another one.

"I have to deal with them one by one..."

Du Wei made a rational decision.

He tried again to burn the black threads on Alex's body with a lighter.

It was also unsuccessful.

Souls or lifespans had turned into chips in the form of black threads, and unless one could exit the gambling game, that is, become the winner, they couldn't be resolved.

Although he didn't know if these chips would affect a person, they didn't appear to be anything good, no matter how you looked at it.

He put the lighter away, pondering a question in his mind.

That is—whether killing the Evil Spirit would allow the "chips" to return to everyone's body.

But after thinking it over, he discarded the thought.

The gamble is a mechanism, and winning or losing is the key.

Not to mention whether he could solve the Evil Spirit, even if he did, those holding the chips would still be gamblers without having participated in the gamble.

Only by winning the gamble could they leave the game and return to normal.

And now, everyone in the hall, except for Victor, had become part of the gamble passively.

Leaving the winery was meaningless now...

Even Du Wei wasn't treated specially.

Suddenly...

Du Wei's gaze swept through the hall, searching for Victor's figure.

But this person had disappeared without a trace at some point...

Du Wei frowned and asked Alex, "Have you seen Victor?"

Alex shook her head, "No, babe, I've been talking to you this whole time. Where is she? Did she go out?"

"That shouldn't be the case..."

Du Wei spoke with a strange tone, guessing that this woman probably didn't know about the Evil Spirit, otherwise her invitation list wouldn't have included so many high-society people.

Moreover, Alex...

If something happened to Alex, her family certainly wouldn't let the matter rest, and by following the clues, they would surely trace it back to Victor.

Which means...

The woman either left suddenly or something happened to her...

Du Wei was inclined to believe the latter...

A flash of coldness shot through his eyes as he turned to Alex and said, "I'm going to gamble with that thing now. Stay close to me, don't talk, and don't make any moves."

Having said this, he handed the Black Umbrella to Alex.

"If I'm about to lose the gamble, you open this Black Umbrella."