Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

Time was slowly ticking away.

Du Wei stood still, silently staring at the time on his phone, his eyes bloodshot, yet he remained calm.

He had maintained this posture for over an hour now.

It wasn't that he couldn't move, but that he mustn't move.

Because previously, he had discovered something very peculiar.

The more intense his movements, the more severe the asynchronization between his shadow and his body became.

If he so much as moved now, his shadow would delay by a second, and the inexplicable resistance he felt in his body grew stronger.

A seasoned warrior or athlete, having endured long-term training, would probably have a significant advantage in such a situation.

After all, the stronger the physique, the lesser the impact of resistance.

From this reasoning, such individuals could do much more.

Scouting the surroundings, looking for a way out, and so on...

But Du Wei could only think, analyze the situation to come up with a plan, then cautiously test it out.

In his university days, apart from classrooms, he spent most of his time in the dissecting lab.

Later, in order to kill the murderer of his parents, he dedicated himself to studying aspects of psychology and didn't have much time for physical training.

Alex's physical fitness was much stronger than his...

At least, when he was forcibly kissed in the car, Du Wei was practically defenseless.

He sighed...

Taking a deep breath.

Du Wei looked at the time displayed on his phone screen, his emotions complex.

There was anticipation, but also tension.

The anticipation was because the time was now past five in the afternoon, and night was about to fall on Massas City.

The city was already abnormal by daylight, with a gloomy and dark light, which would turn to complete darkness at night.

Without the illumination of light, there would be no existence of shadows.

By that time, perhaps some changes would occur.

Without shadow, Du Wei might be able to move freely, even leave this place; however, the Masked Evil Spirit would be afforded the same freedom.

He would then have to face an Evil Spirit that harbored malevolence towards him and aimed to kill him.

Moreover, without the access to a public bus, he had no ability to fight back and could only run.

However...

Du Wei would not let such a situation occur.

He fixed his gaze on the lighter in his left hand for a while.

The twilight before darkness was the perfect time to ignite the Bone Powder.

Of course, there was another possibility.

When night fell, everything would be cloaked in darkness, with shadows indistinguishable from the gloom.

It couldn't be ruled out that he would become utterly immobilized, die on the spot, or that other strange phenomena might emerge.

That wasn't even the worst of it.

He took out the Joker Card from his wallet in his pocket.

On the card, the image of himself dressed in a tailcoat had a smile that became increasingly eerie and chilling.

He could distinctly feel that the other Joker Card was approaching him.

In other words, members of the Dusk Bell Church had pinpointed his location.

"They shouldn't be able to come over in a short period," he mused.

"But before darkness falls, I must figure out a way to leave this place."

"The Black Umbrella, lighter, none of it is of any use."

"As long as the shadow is still here, I won't be able to leave unless I can make my own shadow disappear."

"In a sense, this place is a natural trap."

"An operating light might make the shadow disappear, or at least become extremely dim, but it requires a multi-source light condition."

"And besides, the light needs to be able to focus on me at any time."

...

In his bag, Du Wei indeed carried two flashlights and batteries, but they were unable to construct an operating light, and from a technical level, he couldn't achieve constant focus, either.

Wait a second...

Du Wei's expression suddenly became strange.

Perhaps, he didn't need an operating light at all; he just needed to create a larger object to cover his body. Without light reaching him, his shadow would naturally cease to exist.

With this thought, Du Wei directly opened the Black Umbrella.

The shadow that appeared on the ground immediately became the shape of him holding the Black Umbrella, and the resistance was there all the time.

The Masked Evil Spirit at the lamp post behind him seemed to sense something and turned its head toward Du Wei at an extremely slow pace.

It was struggling...

But Du Wei ignored it, instead squatting down, bending his knees and holding the umbrella aloft.

Now, there was only a round black shadow on the ground, formed by the light casting down upon the surface of the umbrella.

And the resistance had eerily disappeared as well.

It seemed that this cursed place had no great restrictions on objects, or rather, it had no interest in them at all...

"If I left the Joker Card here, it would be like setting a perfect trap for the Dusk Bell Church hunters, but this place is too eerie. I wouldn't consider using it unless absolutely necessary."

The people of the Dusk Bell Church could die, but their deaths had to be of value.

As long as he hid the Joker Card well, the Bald Man from the Dusk Bell Church would definitely come after hearing about it. In a situation of asymmetric information, he was bound to fall for it. Explore new worlds at empire

However, at that time, Du Wei could only watch him die here because if he appeared with the umbrella, it was very possible that the Bald Man would discover how to leave.

Suppressing the thought in his mind, Du Wei stood up and turned his gaze to the Masked Evil Spirit.

After thinking for a moment, he walked straight towards it.

Now that he already knew how to leave, there was no need to worry about the delay of the shadow anymore.

At the very least, he hadn't stayed in this place as long as the Masked Evil Spirit had.

The Masked Evil Spirit's gaze was fixed on Du Wei; it seemed to be wondering...

But then, Du Wei's actions made it angry.

Du Wei closed the Black Umbrella and aimed the tip at the Masked Evil Spirit, or more accurately, at the mask it was wearing...

He also had a mask on him, but it was full of cracks and even had a small chip, which might break into pieces at any moment.

The mask had always been a great help to him.

Losing the mask meant losing a trump card.

But now, Du Wei seemed not to have to worry about his own mask breaking because... there was another mask right in front of him.

The umbrella tip touched the Masked Evil Spirit's head.

Thud...

Du Wei even knocked on it a little harder.

The next second.

A terrible malice emanated from the Masked Evil Spirit without any attempt to hide it. Its hand reached out to grab the Black Umbrella, but the movement was too slow; it couldn't catch it.

Thud...

Du Wei knocked again.

This time, he used even more force!

Crack.

The mask was directly knocked off.

What was revealed then was a gray and ferocious Caucasian face—Mike Stowe.

Du Wei looked at it coldly, hooked the mask over, and grabbed it in his hand.

It felt somewhat cold to the touch, and he couldn't tell what material it was made of.

What was strange, though, was that Du Wei didn't feel anything special about this mask.

"Is it because the Evil Spirit had actually already possessed Mrs. Mina?"

After considering for a moment, Du Wei put the mask into his backpack.

Then, he cast his eyes towards the Golden Brooch.

And Mike Stowe's face became even more ferocious, consumed with anger.

Blood started to flow directly from the sockets of its eyes.

"Never mind... The Golden Brooch is related to the curse, and I've already understood the symbols on it. For me, the trouble it brings is greater than its use."

After hesitating for a minute, Du Wei still abandoned the idea of casually taking the Golden Brooch with him. He then took out a bottle of Bone Powder and sprinkled it over Mike Stowe's body.

Drip...

With a light press of his lighter, flames instantly flared up.

Du Wei's movements were practiced... It wasn't the first time he had dealt with burning a tangible entity.

He then took out a white cloth, lit it on fire, and threw it directly at Mike Stowe.

In an instant...

The flames roared into a blaze.

But Du Wei didn't even look back. Supporting the Black Umbrella, he squat on the ground and hurried to leave.

However, because he was squatting, he still had to make sure his shadow was not outside, which made his pace very slow.

Therefore, he heard the crackling sounds of the fervent flames consuming the body behind him.

The air was also filled with a thick stench of burning.

Faintly, there were also horror-filled screams.

...

After Du Wei left.

In the midst of the flames, the whole body burned crazily like flammable material, with grey smoke forming a ferocious face.

At first, that face somewhat resembled Mike Stowe, but as the burning grew fiercer, it became more and more hideous, changing completely.

And the Golden Brooch, it remained completely unaffected by the flames...