Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

In that moment before darkness enveloped everything,

the surrounding scene became transiently clear.

Du Wei saw.

The figure of "Ryan Hamel," who was being ambushed, twisted as if shedding an outer layer, revealing a haggard face.

It was Gascogne.

His condition was extremely dire.

He was covered in blood, with four wounds on his chest that kept gushing blood.

They were inflicted by the sinister shadows.

Not only that,

there was another person beside him.

The person had silver hair, wore a mask, and looked exactly like the first corpse controlled by Ryan Hamel.

Moreover, this person was also part of the group attacking Gascogne.

It amounted to Gascogne fighting three-on-one invisibly.

In the blink of an eye,

the rapidly spreading darkness wrapped up everything.

Du Wei, the severely wounded Gascogne, Brand, and that corpse were all the same.

At this moment,

the funeral march concluded its final note, marking the end.

But another song, full of contagious intensity, had just begun.

Du Wei only felt he had lost his sense of space, as vision, touch, and hearing were all affected.

And then he truly disappeared.

...

At this very moment,

at the far end, in Switzerland at the Dusk Bell Church Headquarters,

the daily routines of the hunters were underway.

The current Dusk Bell Church no longer suffered from collective nausea and diarrhea, merely hanging by IVs to get through the day.

They had recovered their combat strength.

As a result, many had gone out to deal with Evil Spirits, leaving few behind at headquarters.

Of course,

James hadn't gone out.

As the Church's undercover agent, he always remembered his purpose.

That was to gather information on the Dusk Bell Church, waiting for the day the Church and the Dusk Bell merged, to complete his mission.

However,

he probably never considered that most people in the Dusk Bell Church were actually undercover agents themselves.

Everyone had similar thoughts to his; they just belonged to different powers.

"Sigh, when will such days end?"

"Fuck! I can't help but curse, Ryan, you are such a bastard. I've only got one arm left, and during the time you hit me before, you actually dislocated it. Really..."

"I..."

At this time, James was sitting on the steps in the backyard of the Dusk Bell Church, with his remaining hand in a cast, slung in front of his chest with a bandage.

He was downhearted.

The whole person was not well.

The time he had spent at the Dusk Bell Church was truly worse than death, akin to a hell on earth.

If it weren't for James's strong will, he would have long been unable to bear it and chosen to defect.

And by his side,

the normally arrogant Ryan seemed unusually quiet.

This made James feel very uncomfortable.

He frowned and asked, "Ryan, why aren't you speaking? I did curse at you just now, but I'm not angry anymore because I remember the help you gave me, feeding me every day when I was vomiting and suffering from diarrhea."

But,

Ryan still didn't speak.

He hung his head, looking at his hands, his gaze becoming cold one moment and vacant the next.

Seeing this, James instinctively shifted his bottom.

"You aren't going to go crazy again, are you?"

"Ryan? Baron Ryan?"

Baron, a title of nobility.

The coldness in Ryan's eyes dissipated at once, replaced by an uncontrollable sense of triumph.

He immediately tilted his head back with great haughtiness.

With a tone of disdain, he said, "Slave James, who gave you the right to call me by my name? You should address me as Baron, sir."

James, at a loss for words, said, "Alright, Baron, sir, what were you just thinking about? You seemed a bit odd to me."

Hearing this,

Ryan tilted his head confusedly, "What? Was I just thinking about something? I wasn't aware."

James, speechless, said, "How would I know what you were thinking? I'm just telling you. Alright, I'm not going to stand here and soak up the sun with you, I'm off to eat."

Ryan snorted coldly, "Eat? What meal? The entire Dusk Bell Psychiatric Hospital is my barony, Ryan Baron. Every meal you eat is on my dime. I declare that no one shall eat today."

"Can't any of you save me some money?"

"I haven't eaten for three days, and I'm still in great shape, aren't I?"

James didn't bother to argue with Ryan.

Sometimes he was too lazy to deal with the madman and simply got up and left.

But Ryan felt his noble dignity was being desecrated.

As he was about to ambush James to teach him a lesson, his eyes once again became blank.

His body froze.

James didn't see this, and he quickly walked away.

Leaving Ryan standing alone under the sun in the backyard.

He clutched his head, wincing in pain, "Damn it, I think I heard someone calling my name. Damn, which asshole is shouting my name."

"And they didn't even get it right."

"What, you want me to go back? Go back where? I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying right at Dusk Bell, this is the territory personally bestowed upon me by the director."

"Go to hell, Ryan Hamel, what the hell does that have to do with me, Baron Ryan?"

"What did you say? I am your Evil Spirit Transformation Ability? You've cast me out? Made me your fallback plan?"

"Haha, I, Baron Ryan am that awesome, your power? You're trying to mess with me!"

"I might as well say you're my power!"

The more Ryan talked, the more he felt the pain in his consciousness subside.

Without thinking,

He had an epiphany: "I get it now. Damn it, you're just harassing me with your words. Just wait, you're finished. I'm going to call the director in my dreams right now, and I'm going to snitch on you."

"You dare to mess with me, Baron Ryan."

"It's perfect timing too, I've been considering some construction for Dusk Bell Psychiatric Hospital. I'll have the director take out your organs and sell them to fund me."

…

Profound.

Darkness, the space was extremely enclosed.

It was easy to feel the confines around.

It seemed like a narrow space.

Du Wei felt as if only a second had passed, but when he came to his senses, he found himself in this cramped space.

His body was restricted.

He couldn't move at all.

"Am I in a sarcophagus?"

Du Wei's voice echoed in the darkness. Reaching out to feel the barriers around him, his touch was met with the cold, damp moisture.

Moreover,

Intense malice seeped through the point of contact, incessantly eroding away at him.

Du Wei immediately retracted his hand.

The shadow was now possessing him, yet the wills passing through his mind seemed to be experiencing indescribable agony.

"This sarcophagus, it wants to swallow me? Is this a sacrifice?"

"Ryan Hamel, is this your plan for resurrection?"

Du Wei's tone carried a hint of complexity.

He realized that even though he took this opponent seriously, he had still underestimated him somewhat.

The events that had just unfolded made Du Wei see things in a new light.

He had thought that the Ryan Hamel lurking in the shadows was merely a corpse or perhaps a Demon Spirit wearing a mask, simply being manipulated by someone else.

Yet, the one who should have been the real entity was inside the sarcophagus.

But now, trapped in the sarcophagus, was himself.