Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

Thud thud thud...

The downpour was raging.

This rain had come out of nowhere, and it quickly soaked the ground around them.

Du Wei looked up at the gloomy sky.

In a daze,

his expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

The rain had started out of the blue.

New York had seen how many rains already...

It seemed,

ever since Du Wei started encountering Evil Spirits, most of his memories involved rain, whether in New York or some other city.

Even when he had flown to international destinations like Poland and West Gana,

the rain hadn't stopped.

What's most important is,

"Why is it raining at this time?"

Du Wei couldn't help but speak out.

Brand, who stood by his side, consciously touched his mask, where a dark will immediately responded, that was the power of the Demon Spirit.

All the rainwater, though falling towards the two men,

would be diverted at the last moment by an invisible force, deliberately avoiding them.

Having done that,

Brand then spoke, "Your Excellency the Duke, you seem to have a strong dislike for rainy days?"

He remembered in the Victorian Era London City, the Armored Divinity Ascension that was not of human origin had begun with a torrential downpour.

Du Wei looked at Brand with a complex tone and said, "I don't hate rainy days, but rather I hate when I encounter them."

Brand somewhat failed to understand.

He could only shake his head and, pointing ahead, said, "The graveyard is just ahead, and I already feel that there is a terrifying presence stirring inside."

"Once we deal with it, we will leave immediately."

Du Wei nodded, his steps quickening.

However, he felt somewhat uneasy inside.

Honestly, every time it rained when he went out, it spelled trouble.

Especially at Hill Psychiatric Hospital.

You must understand,

this was where a bus stop once was.

"My luck shouldn't be that bad."

"The bus and Horror House are still in conflict; it was unlikely to come here since although it held a grudge against me, it has been a long time since our last encounter."

...

The rain kept pouring.

Soon, Du Wei and Brand were walking in the downpour, arriving at the graveyard.

He looked ahead,

and found that all the gravestones within sight were broken.

At the very back, on one of the gravestones, there was a clearly lightning-stricken black stain, spreading largely on the ground.

Broken from the middle,

the upper half lay on the ground, the original photo encased in gelatin beyond recognition.

But...

The increasingly chilling sense of dread swept over everything around.

Du Wei gave Brand a meaningful glance.

The other quickly caught on, becoming even more vigilant.

The further they walked,

the stronger the chilly aura became.

And the funeral march that had been blocked out was now seeping in, the mournful piano music directly entering their ears.

While it was not yet clear,

it was enough to cause some turmoil in Du Wei's emotions.

He struggled to remain calm.

Forcibly suppressing those damnable fragmented images, his entire demeanor became somewhat agitated.

The mask he wore on his face.

The tremor was slight, but within, the assimilation of the Demon God had affected the Evil Spirit Du Wei, who was trapped in a slumber.

"Du Wei being influenced is still okay," someone remarked.

"He can maintain his rationality and has his own bottom line."

But the Evil Spirit Du Wei was different.

It was cold-blooded beneath its extreme rationality and, while it disdained the eradication of life, would truly become violent if its forbidden zones were encroached upon.

Brand by his side was still alright.

He hadn't been too greatly affected.

Because in terms of strength, he was a Top Hunter in every sense, unlike Du Wei who relied on external forces, seemingly powerful but actually without enough trump cards, completely lacking any sense of security.

Brand said in a cold voice, "Your Excellency the Duke, do you see that stone coffin? I can feel that there is a terrifying existence inside, attempting to crawl out."

"It might be Ryan Hamel, but I also sense the presence of a Demon Spirit."

Du Wei calmly said, "Yes, I feel it too, so that mask should be with it. It seems to have controlled that Demon Spirit or perhaps it has replaced it?"

Brand stated, "We'll know if we try."

After saying this, he took a deep breath and took a step forward.

The mask on his face suddenly clung tighter as if it were alive, and it could even be said that the edges of the mask had directly sunk into his flesh.

And it merged with his face.

In a daze,

Du Wei, standing behind Brand, saw a human face.

The face was twisted beyond recognition, with no discernible features, except for a vertical eye on its forehead, devoid of whites, the pupil a sickly yellow…

The face appeared abruptly, only to vanish just as eerily.

As though what Du Wei saw was merely an illusion.

But in reality,

Only Brand knew that beneath the mask, his face was exactly the same as the illusion Du Wei saw.

The methods used by the Vanity Sect to steal the power of the Demon God were extremely drastic and quite peculiar.

They blended that power with the mask.

In an unknown way, they became vessels for the power of the Demon God.

The mask was a switch.

It must be said that although hunters cannot be divided into good and evil based on this, the way they acquired their powers was always so desperate.

The more they gained, the more they actually lost.

"Come out," growled Brand, his voice twisted as he almost spat out the words through clenched teeth.

With a stomp of his foot,

a booming sound immediately followed.

The stone coffin was pulled straight out from the soil, suspended in the air, and flung out, splattering mud everywhere.

The downpour intensified.

When the stone coffin crashed heavily onto the ground, the rain was already pattering on it, washing away the mud.

Yet even stranger,

Despite this, the entire stone coffin did not break open but had just a single crack.

Brand didn't stop there.

He stretched out his hands backward, back of his hands against one another, then as if grasping something, attempted to tear it apart.

But without success.

Within the stone coffin, a cracking sound persisted.

As if it couldn't bear Brand's strength.

However, it did not shatter or separate either.

Both were in a stalemate.

Seeing this, Du Wei's eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

He felt a sense of dread because everything happening before him was different from what he had predicted.

"Wait, Brand, something isn't right," he said.

Just as he finished speaking,

Brand immediately stopped and turned to ask, "Your Excellency the Duke, have you discovered something?"

Just as Du Wei was about to reply,

a look of disbelief flashed across Brand's eyes.

As if he had witnessed a terrifying scene, he couldn't help but blurt out, "You weren't killed by him?"