Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

West of Massas City.

Du Wei stopped the car at a secluded roadside.

This was an abandoned highway, the surface deeply fissured, crisscrossing densely like a spiderweb.

Picking up his backpack from the passenger seat, Du Wei opened the car door and stepped out.

He looked around.

The deserted highway was intentional; it was about ten kilometers from the city, a place hardly anyone would pass by.

It was already 1 p.m.

The air was sultry, but looking forward, the view of Massas City was even blurrier. The thick clouds above seemed like they were pouring down a dense fog, giving off an indescribable sense of strangeness.

"It's time to go in."

Du Wei habitually checked the items on him: Holy Water, Bone Powder, Dagger, Joker Card, a mask, lighter, Black Umbrella, and a handgun for dealing with people. After making sure there were no issues, he put on his backpack and walked towards Massas City.

...

An hour later.

Du Wei arrived at Massas City.

In front of him lay the continuous, rusted barbed wire fence stretching onward.

But some areas were already badly torn, easily ripped further upon minimal force.

"This doesn't seem to be the work of the Church."

Making his judgment, Du Wei, carried his Black Umbrella and squeezed through a hole in the torn wire fencing.

He was not yet inside the city, but in the suburbs.

Massas was a city that had been completely abandoned in this century. Although smaller than New York, its size was definitely not insignificant.

As for the people from Dusk Bell Church, according to his perception, they were inside Massas City, to the southeast.

Du Wei looked up at the city.

Gloomy and oppressive, the light dim, the entire city felt as if it was in a different space from the outside world, as if by entering the city, one would be completely severed from the exterior.

And in the state of Spirit Vision.

Du Wei could see even more.

The entire city radiated an indescribable sense of gloomy eeriness. When the wind blew, it seemed he could hear some whispers rustling by his ears.

Yet, he didn't feel any malice...

"This place is very strange…"

As Du Wei walked towards the city, he pondered silently in his mind.

The sensation was similar to that in the Horror House, equally somber and eerie, but without malice.

However, after entering, all the Evil Spirits he encountered inside were far more terrifying than those outside.

The Evil Spirits in the Horror House naturally carried hatred and malice towards living people.

That is to say, if there are Evil Spirits inside Massas City, they should be similar to those in the Horror House.

Very dangerous...

These two places, although not the same in size, shared certain similarities.

Had it not been for the Dusk Bell Church, for the solution to the threat of Evil Spirit Transformation, Du Wei would have run as far away as possible and would never have come to this so-called Massas City.

But precisely because of these messy reasons, he could only take risks with his own life.

Drinking poison to quench thirst, he had no way out.

...

Meanwhile, on another street in Massas City, a group of Exorcists dressed in church uniforms were retreating outward.

Leading them was an older bishop nearing fifty years of age, his hair tinged with white, his face lined with many wrinkles, and his eyes deeply set and sharp.

But now, his eyes were full of bloodshot veins, revealing a deep weariness and exhaustion from within.

The surroundings were dim.

Yet the bishop held a candle in his hand, fixed onto a gold base with a handle for holding. Carvings of angels and a Crown of Thorns adorned it, featuring a heavy church style.

The candle was white, but the flame burnt a vivid red, somewhat similar to Du Wei's lighter.

Only, this candle had burned down to less than half.

Following the bishop was a group of Exorcists, both men and women, about twenty in total.

They had previously suffered an attack, and despite many attempts at fighting back, they felt powerless against the Evil Spirits.

The number of people dwindled, leaving them with no choice but to try to hurry out of the city.

Suddenly,

at the end of the crowd, a middle-aged Exorcist holding an old-fashioned camera rushed to the front, his face extremely serious.

Seeing this, the bishop waved to him, beckoning him to come closer and whisper.

The middle-aged Exorcist looked at his companions and then leaned in, covering his mouth with his hand, and whispered, "Bishop Thompson, that thing that has been following us, it's come back again, and my camera is almost useless against it."

The bishop, known as Thompson, kept his face unchanged and said in a deep voice, "Didn't your camera capture it?"

James spoke with difficulty, "It did capture it, and it disappeared for a while, but just now I saw it appear again in a different body, seemingly escaping the influence of the camera."

Hearing this, Bishop Thompson remained composed. As the backbone of the team, even if he felt worry or even fear in his heart, his face could not betray a trace of it.

Otherwise, the team would definitely encounter problems, especially with many people having mysteriously disappeared, leaving only those who remained.

The Massas Uninhabited City was more terrifying than they had imagined. After sacrificing many young Exorcists' lives, the hunters arrived only to declare an immediate retreat.

Even now, they hadn't encountered the true horror within Massas.

Because that entity was underground.

To be precise, beneath the hollowed-out city.

Along the way, they only encountered some terrifying Evil Spirits.

Seeing Thompson fall silent, James offered a reminder, "Bishop Thompson, what should we do now?"

Thompson came back to his senses and shook his head slightly, "I will give you a Flintlock Gun. You stay at the back of the formation. If that thing attacks, fire immediately. Just one shot won't affect you too much."

James felt a chill in his heart. The bishop's Flintlock Gun was renowned within the church. It was a product of the last century, previously owned by a noble, but for some reason, the Evil Spirit within it could not be eliminated.

Moreover, the Evil Spirit in the gun seemed to have fallen into a dormant state.

Every shot fired would wake it up and cause some effect on the user.

The longer it was used, the more the user could see the Evil Spirit.

At a critical point, an extremely vicious Evil Spirit would appear before the user's eyes, and the user would uncontrollably commit suicide by swallowing the gun.

James took a deep breath, nodded solemnly, and said nothing.

He knew that if it weren't for the bishop needing to hold a candle to light the path for retreat, he would not have been the one to use the Flintlock Gun.

This was a responsibility, as well as trust.

Thompson did not hesitate either and took out an antique Flintlock Gun from the bag around his waist. The gun was already very old, with only some gold linework still displaying its past splendor.

"Remember, you can only fire once. I won't give you more bullets or a ramrod; may the Lord protect you."

James accepted the Flintlock Gun and said gravely, "May the Lord bless our safe retreat."

After speaking, he turned and walked towards the back of the group.

The gazes of the other Exorcists swept over him, each expression complex.

Among the few remaining elite, some wanted to say something, but upon seeing the Flintlock Gun, their expressions dimmed.

During the retreat, there were many attacks by Evil Spirits, and many items like Holy Water the others brought had been exhausted, rendering them powerless.

Then, a female Exorcist stood out. She was Homier.

Upon her emergence, she followed James towards the back.

"Uncle James, I'll go with you."

James did not reject her, but instead made a shushing gesture with his hand.

After leaving New York, the two of them arrived in Massas City, but Harry had to stay in the church hospital because of his injuries and was unable to move.

When the two arrived at the back of the group, they saw the female Evil Spirit wrapped in bandages.

She looked like a girl in the bloom of youth, but her body was embedded in a mass of dark, rotting bandages.

She was also holding the body of another girl, looking like sisters based on their appearance.

If Du Wei were here, he would recognize at a glance that this Evil Spirit was one of the more than ten that he had forcibly expelled from a bus last time.

The female Evil Spirit looked at James and Homier. Her steps were mechanical, while James and Homier continued to retreat with the group, full of caution in their eyes.

Perhaps due to the presence of the Flintlock Gun, the female Evil Spirit did not exhibit any significant abnormal behaviors, although its malice was evident, yet it seemed to be relatively safe for the time being.

However, James's sense of vigilance did not diminish, but rather grew even heavier.

Because he had an inexplicable feeling that this Evil Spirit was different from those in Massas City.

The Evil Spirits in Massas City usually stayed in one place, and once out of reach, there wouldn't be any trouble.

But this Evil Spirit had been following them all this way, as if it had come from somewhere else.

Out of place...