Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

The vision granted by Future Sight ended there.

Du Wei fell silent.

He stood bewildered in place, turning his head to look behind at the blood pool.

The Blood of Jesus remained calm as ever.

Yet beneath his surface, storms of shock and confusion were raging.

"Why..."

Du Wei opened his mouth, his voice extremely hoarse.

Before, he had always referred to this ability as the scene of death; only after entering Hell's Gate did he realize that it was actually Future Sight, capable of glimpsing certain images of the future.

Similarly, he also learned that this ability wasn't bestowed by the Antique Clock, but Minette had transferred it to him using some unknown method.

That woman hoped this ability would help him overcome difficulties and escape danger upon his return.

And indeed it had.

However, Du Wei could not comprehend.

It was supposedly the power of Future Sight, so why were the scenes he witnessed from the past?

"Wait... could it be that she resurrected, came back to life in some future time? Then sought the power of the Demon God and retraced the path of Armored Divinity Ascension?"

"But if that's the case, wouldn't it mean that I will die in the future?"

The more Du Wei spoke, the less logical it seemed.

He furrowed his brow and muttered internally: "I couldn't possibly become a Demon God because there's no need; therefore, this possibility is implausible. Hence, what I've seen is unlikely to be the future, but the past."

"Yet, this contradicts the very nature of Future Sight."

As he said this, Du Wei looked deeply into the blood pool.

"Minette, are you trying to tell me something?"

The blood pool remained undisturbed...

No one would answer him.

...

Meanwhile.

Inside Du Wei's home, the hands of the Antique Clock were spinning wildly.

In a counterclockwise direction.

And that hand emerged from within, yet the pattern on the back of the hand was not that of the clock hands, but more like vaporous tendrils.

Moreover, the palm was open, the fingers slightly curved as if trying to grasp something.

But in the end, they could only slowly close and withdraw back into the Antique Clock.

Alas...

It was a sigh.

Yet no one could hear it, as if it were separated by an expanse of time, completely unaligned with the present.

...

At the church altar.

Du Wei watched all of this.

He clenched his teeth and walked to the edge of the blood pool, reaching out his hand.

The sight before him gave him an unsettling feeling of disbelief.

He was Du Wei, every experience vivid in his memory.

There was no possibility that his essence was a fallacy.

Thus, looking back further, there was a past version of himself who, after disembarking the plane, had crossed into this displeasing world and had not traveled to the Victorian Era.

"If I can't find the answer now, then I simply won't seek it."

"My current desire is to slaughter all the Demon Gods, wake my girlfriend, and make everything as it should be."

"Minette, I don't know what you're really trying to tell me."

"But I feel that since you've retraced the steps I took in the past, you must be involved with the Demon Gods, and the Blood of Jesus might just be something you left behind."

"Seeing as I will inevitably confront the Demon Gods sooner or later, there's essentially no difference whether they target me now or in the future."

"Come on... I'm not entirely defenseless."

With that, Du Wei plunged his hand into the blood pool.

Suddenly.

The entire blood pool boiled.

Countless blood-colored bubbles burbled like boiling water.

But Du Wei only felt an intense coldness.

The chill crept along his right hand and directly invaded his viscera, spreading to every corner of his body.

Additionally, pain as though his limbs were being crushed also began to emanate from his right hand.

"Hiss..."

Du Wei drew in a sharp breath.

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

He suppressed the urge to roar out loud, biting down hard, enduring it all.

"No... I can feel resistance..."

Du Wei's voice was trembling, this was because he was in extreme pain and his body was beyond control.

From the point of contact between his right hand and the Blood of Jesus, a force was wildly pushing.

It was true resistance.

The Blood of Jesus didn't want to taint Du Wei.

Or rather, the Demon God associated with it was resisting Du Wei.

"Stay away from it..."

This time, Minette's voice rose again, and it too seemed to be enduring something, as if suffering from an even greater pain than Du Wei.

"Stay away from it..."

Again, the voice repeated.

Du Wei let out a muffled groan, his right hand being uncontrollably ejected from the pool of blood.

He staggered.

Yet he loudly questioned, "What exactly do you want me to stay away from? And where is Alex?"

But this time, there was no response.

Du Wei couldn't help but laugh.

"Heh... Ha... So you've walked the path I have, you failed, your consciousness was assimilated by the Demon God, inside this Blood of Jesus."

"What's the point of doing this?"

Du Wei roared, "Why is your consciousness still present, and where is Alex's consciousness? Isn't she your reincarnation?"

"Your consciousness should be her consciousness."

"But what I see now is that you are you, and she is she."

"Where is her consciousness then? Or are you suggesting she never had one to begin with, just a shell, a shell for your reincarnation?"

...

The Envelope had been feeling very uncomfortable lately.

It had followed Du Wei for a while.

Content to be a lapdog.

Even though it felt that Du Wei rarely smiled at it, and for some reason, every time Du Wei did smile, it would have a few days of misfortune.

But that was better than now.

It had never seen Du Wei smile in such a way that frightened it.

[Master, are you feeling better now?]

Everything atop the altar had regained its calm.

Du Wei stood aloofly above, having maintained this position for ten minutes.

He glanced over and noticed the words on the Envelope but did not speak.

[Master... You are the sun, the moon, the stars, you are the past and the future, you are the guiding light for the Envelope, no matter the difficulty, in your presence it is inconsequential.]

The Evil Spirit Envelope seemed unsure of how to start the conversation, it could only lick up to its master as it had done before.

[Master... The Envelope thinks, for a great villain like you, you'll surely have the last laugh, although you're not looking good while laughing now, you don't have to worry about these messy things.]

[What rubbish, those Solomon's Seventy-Two Pillars Demon Gods, once you, the Evil Spirit, awaken, you can kill them with one punch and dismantle their gates entirely.]

[Oh, and it seems you don't like this world much, so let's just destroy it altogether, as long as you're happy, the Envelope thinks it's all worth it.]

It could be said that the Envelope was abjectly submissive in the face of Du Wei.

At this moment.

Du Wei shook his head and turned to walk down from the altar.

At the same time, he said to the Envelope, "Next, we're going to the Vanity Sect, as for other matters, we'll put them aside; we are not strong enough yet, neither I nor you."

"I hope that you can become stronger."

[Ah? Master, but didn't you say the Envelope is useless? If the Envelope wants to become stronger, it would need Matthew's pen to release it, which would be very dangerous.]

Du Wei nodded, expressionlessly saying, "So one day, I'll make a trip to the Dusk Bell and take back that pen."