Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

Noon.

In a high-end restaurant in North Brook District.

A forty-something widow named Emily, dressed dazzlingly as if she were only in her thirties, had a charming smile on her face.

She gazed affectionately at Father Tony and Tom seated opposite her.

Of course.

Her main target was Tom.

"Hello, I'm Emily, we should have met before," she initiated the conversation, eager to make an impression.

In contrast, Tom.

He glanced surreptitiously at Emily's figure and sneered inwardly, "From this woman, I smell the scent of desire."

In this world.

There probably weren't many who had slept with more women than Tom.

He saw right through Emily's intentions.

So with a play-hard-to-get attitude, he merely grunted, "Hello."

His tone was quite indifferent.

Father Tony was somewhat puzzled next to him, catching Tom's eye and wondering, "Isn't Tom trying to seduce Emily? Why is he so aloof now?"

Tom gave Father Tony a sidelong glance.

He laughed inwardly, "Who would have thought that after all this time with me, Father Tony still doesn't understand women."

"Now is the time to create a contrast, to arouse a woman's curiosity."

"By being elusive, you make it harder for them and that makes them cherish you more."

This was a lesson he had learned during the time he was kept by a wealthy patroness.

Very effective.

Emily, seeing Tom's reaction was not as she had expected, then said, "Mr. Tom, Father Tony told me you wanted to join our club, to become one of our members, is that right?"

Information was asymmetrical between them.

Emily thought the Voodoo Cult's plan had gone unnoticed.

Nobody knew her true identity.

She planned to get Tom into the club and deeply involved before revealing her true self.

That way, she would make him unable to resist.

At that moment, Tom showed a look of keen interest, "Yes, I'm quite interested in those young women at your parties."

He began with 'young' as a point of comparison.

Emily, although keeping her composure, involuntarily furrowed her brows ever so slightly.

And Tom, who had served so many rich women,

Was an expert at reading them.

He immediately put on a meaningful smile and said, "I only like young women."

This was a lie.

Tom only liked to indulge in pleasure.

Especially when it was free.

Emily smiled and responded, "Young is indeed good, but unfortunately, I'm already a middle-aged person."

She dropped a hint.

Tom feigned surprise, "Oh, I didn't notice; Ms. Emily, to me, you seem younger than many women."

Emily couldn't help but smile wider at the corners of her mouth.

Although she knew it was flattery, no woman would be upset over being praised for looking young.

Meanwhile.

Tom, watching all this, was clear in his mind.

He was already winning.

...

Outside the high-end restaurant, across the street, was a café.

Du Wei leaned against the window.

He withdrew his gaze and took a sip of his coffee.

He had already alerted the church.

Ensuring that if Tom ran into trouble at the Voodoo Cult, those double agents would help him.

And just then.

His phone suddenly rang.

Du Wei picked it up to see that the caller was his girlfriend, Alex.

"Judging by the time, she must have just woken up,"

He suspected that Alex had seen the text he sent and was calling to inquire where he had disappeared to for the past week.

Honestly.

He had already come up with an excuse, saying he went on a retreat inside the church, where phone use was not allowed due to internal rules.

It made perfect sense.

But then.

What Du Wei hadn't expected was this.

When the call connected, it was his father-in-law Lawrence's voice.

The tone was very urgent, "Du Wei, you finally got in touch. Come back right away, something has happened to Alex."

At these words,

the hand holding the coffee cup trembled slightly, and Du Wei's gaze immediately turned colder.

He said in a calm voice, "What happened?"

Lawrence said anxiously, "Yesterday, around 10 o'clock, Alex inexplicably fell into a coma and kept talking in her sleep."

"I have sought the most professional doctors, but no one has been able to wake her up."

"And she keeps mentioning 'Demon God,' 'Minette,' 'Du Wei'..."

"Anyway, you need to come back as soon as possible."

Talking in her sleep...

Minette...

Listening to this, Du Wei's feelings were enormously complex.

He didn't know what to say.

Moreover, the main thing was,

yesterday at 10 o'clock...

It was exactly when he had left from Hell's Gate.

Crack...

Du Wei set down the coffee cup, not knowing if it was the force with which he placed it or if he had gripped it too tightly before, but the surface of the cup had cracked.

The aromatic coffee also began to seep through the crack.

A nearby waiter immediately came over.

Looking at the waiter with a blank expression, Du Wei's gaze was so cold,

that the waiter was frightened speechless, stuttering without being able to speak.

"Sir... I..."

"My apologies for breaking your cup. Here's compensation,"

Du Wei took out his wallet from his pocket, left a stack of bills, and walked away without looking back.

...

Just past one o'clock.

New York City International Airport.

Having only returned for one day, Du Wei once again boarded a plane, heading for the Wittebach family.

Inside the cabin,

Du Wei sat by the window.

Now,

his heart was a cold expanse.

He didn't know what exactly was going on with Alex.

But his instincts told him it was definitely related to the past he had learned about in Hell's Gate.

"But why now?"

"Could it be that my leaving that repeated past has somehow affected her?"

If that was truly the case,

Du Wei found it hard to accept.

Having the flags he'd set realized were one thing,

but if anything happened to Alex, he didn't know how he would handle it.

"Solomon's Seventy-Two Pillars Demon Gods..."

"My animosity towards you has never been as strong as it is now,"

said Du Wei without a trace of emotion.

He took a mask out from inside his clothes.

The mask itself was exuding an indescribable aura.

The bizarre, twisted pattern resembling the sea on the mask became clearer and clearer.

The assimilation with the Demon God by the Evil Spirit Du Wei accelerated.

...

Meanwhile,

in the Wittebach household,

many experienced doctors were waiting outside a sterile room.

Suddenly,

the door opened, and a haggard Lawrence walked out with an elderly doctor.

The doctor said, "Mr. Lawrence, your daughter's problem isn't physical but lies in her subconscious mind, and we can't find any solution. I'm truly sorry."

Lawrence just shook his head in silence,

lit a cigarette for himself, and appeared even more haggard.

"When my son-in-law returns, he will surely find a way."