Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

When Du Wei activated the Joker Card representing the gamble,

the face of the impostor across from him immediately became extremely bizarre.

In a conceptual sense, the impostor became Du Wei.

And the real Du Wei, at that very moment, transformed into some other being, possibly Du Wei, or maybe not.

Just as Du Wei had said.

His opponent was not the so-called impostor, but the Golden Scales and the Antique Clock.

They simply weren't in the same league.

The impostor and Du Wei swapped identities, and aside from obtaining this identity, the former also garnered the attention of those Evil Spirits.

What is the Marking Ability?

Once activated, marked Evil Spirits would ignore space and distance, appear beside Du Wei, and launch an attack on him.

It was extremely convenient for committing suicide.

At this moment.

Once the identities were swapped.

All the Evil Spirits that had been tricked, overshadowed, or manipulated by Du Wei turned their sinister gazes toward the new "true owner."

Their malice was unmasked.

Even Brother Shadow was eager to try.

Among these Evil Spirits was one that was half-nailed to a body, and there were countless purely malevolent ones like Annabelle.

All the Evil Spirits immediately pounced on the impostor.

Meanwhile, the Envelope was frightened: "Master, the Envelope has suddenly established a connection with the impostor. It seems to want the Envelope to betray you. According to the rules of the Indenture Contract, the Envelope can't resist it."

As the line of text emerged,

Brother Shadow tilted his head and stabbed the Envelope with a Dagger, pinning it to the ground.

"Thank you, Brother Shadow."

Du Wei indifferently said, "Now the impostor is Du Wei, and in a sense, it indeed is your new master, but it doesn't matter, it's going to die soon."

As he spoke,

another line of text popped up from the Envelope: "Master, you really are too evil, truly worthy of you…"

Du Wei no longer bothered with it and instead turned to look at the Golden Scales floating in the middle.

At this moment, one end of the scales was tilting towards him.

Inferring from the scenes in the death images, he should have already won and fulfilled the Antique Clock's warning in an alternative way.

However, this was certainly not in line with the Antique Clock's objective.

Because he could feel the increasingly rapid and violent ticking sound in his mind as the dial spun.

It seemed to be angry.

Yet Du Wei bore the physical pain and the mental torment in silence.

His face was expressionless, his demeanor rational to the extreme.

He knew just how insane what he was doing right now was.

And he knew that the chances of success weren't very high.

But this was the first step to breaking free from the Antique Clock, and he had to resist.

The scales continued to tilt.

But the speed had slowed down considerably.

And that impostor who had acquired Du Wei's identity was constantly fending off the attacks of hundreds of Evil Spirits.

But it was futile.

It had only obtained the identity, not everything that was Du Wei.

If that were the case, it could have used the Evil Spirit Du Wei's appearance to fight, possibly still standing a chance to win.

But it couldn't.

Even so, Du Wei thought it was dying too slowly and casually raised the Flintlock Gun to fire another shot.

With a bang...

The smoke from the Flintlock Gun dissipated.

The bullet hit the other's abdomen directly.

"Missed again..."

Du Wei commented but did not feel any regret.

Because, with that shot, the impostor was abruptly paused, and the Evil Spirits seized the opportunity to tear it to shreds.

All the Evil Spirits entangled and struggled in a twisted mass.

It seemed as though they all wanted to tear the "rightful owner" to pieces alive, but there were simply too many Evil Spirits, far too many to divide up.

The main issue was this.

The number of grotesque beings with decaying bodies, brought into the room by the shadows, held the advantage.

They reached out with their rotting arms, grasped the corpse of the "rightful owner," and forcefully pulled it into the shadows.

Suddenly…

All became quiet again.

The Evil Spirits turned their heads, looking towards Du Wei.

There was malice, but also hesitation…

They seemed to be waiting for something.

And Du Wei was waiting too, walking towards the Golden Scales, he whispered, "Now, I am your replica, there's no better opportunity than this."

"I am Du Wei, and I am also the Evil Du Wei. At the same time, I am the Duke, and I could be anyone."

"Choose me and you will have even more."

"As for Rahmer's Bell, it…"

He only got halfway through the sentence when Du Wei's expression changed slightly, he opened his mouth, and involuntarily bent over, kneeling on the ground with one hand supporting him on the floor, blood dripping…

The scene seemed to freeze in place.

His pupils were dilating.

The Envelope beside him collapsed.

[Master… Master, hold on…]

It tried to fly to Du Wei's side, but it was pinned down by the Dagger and Brother Shadow, unable to move.

The Golden Scales tipped towards Du Wei's side also paused, and were starting to rise back up.

…

At this very moment.

In a home in New York.

The entire hall had been overtaken by darkness.

Looking around, everything was invisible, unknowable.

Only the ticking of the clock hands could be heard accelerating.

The hands of the Antique Clock were spinning nonstop, and the entire clock was trembling as if it were about to cause another earthquake in New York.

If you looked closely, you would notice that the hands were moving backwards.

Forward movement signifies the passage of time.

Backward, the opposite.

At that moment, a pale arm emerged from the Antique Clock.

On the back of the hand, there was a very distinct Mark, identical to Du Wei's but even darker, like a birthmark.

It had already appeared twice, and this was the third time.

If it weren't for Annabelle in the adjacent display cabinet having been Marked away,

she would be frantically banging against the cabinet door now.

Because Annabelle was very fearful of this hand, even more fearful than of the Antique Clock itself.

The next second,

the hand, as if sensing something, reached out in a certain direction.

The fingers trembled slightly.

Then, it pressed directly onto the hands of the Antique Clock.

Click…

The hands stopped moving but were still trembling, trying to resume their rotation.

The hands, which should have been fragile, tore the skin of this hand, but the blood that seeped out was black, extremely viscous.

Suddenly…

The Mark of the clock hands on the back of that hand faded away, and in its place, a pattern of a mask appeared.

The darkness inside the room seemed to come alive at that moment.

The atmosphere mixed with an unusual breath in the darkness.

Then, it forcefully started to turn the hands, restoring their clockwise movement.

And with the rotation of the hands,

the pattern of the mask on the back of the hand also began to fade away.

What reappeared in its place was a miniature set of scales.