Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

11:00 a.m.

New York.

At Du Wei's home.

Under the insistent demands of Tom and Father Tony, Du Wei was still taken to the hospital for a checkup.

Fortunately, no problems were found with his body.

He was just excessively weak.

The post-effects of the Evil Spirit Du Wei's power were not visible during the fusion, but with each appearance, the potential for an Evil Spirit Transformation in this body became more apparent.

Of course...

Du Wei didn't care at all.

He sat on the couch in his home, holding a pencil in one hand and massaging his throbbing forehead with the other.

"I will not die before the two plans are over," he said.

"But I don't know why, I'm suddenly looking forward to what I would become if I died?"

After a hunter dies, if there's no Holy Nail to deal with them, they will definitely become an Evil Spirit.

Moreover, a newly born Evil Spirit would perfectly inherit its predecessor's abilities.

It would become even more terrifying.

Just like Alvin Dowqui's Hell's Gate ability.

Thinking of this.

Du Wei couldn't help but look forward to it: "Even at the very least, I should become a Demon Spirit after death, or possibly even a Strangeness, but that's not right..."

Speaking of which, he glanced at his right hand.

The mark of the ring related to Valak on his ring finger was very clear.

On the back of his hand, the pattern of the Golden Brooch and the hands of the clock alternated back and forth.

Only the mask pattern representing Evil Spirit Du Wei was missing.

"The power of three Demon Gods."

"Perhaps after I die, I'll become a Demon God directly, or maybe I'll become the vessel for their descent," he mused.

Du Wei shook his head.

He wasn't able to see such a situation happening.

His right hand held the pencil and wrote on the paper.

[Hell's Gate: There are a total of seventy-two, one of which I have completely destroyed, beneath the ruins of Massas City, there is another buried, as well as a false gate.]

[The hand that first drew me in is suspected to be a counterfeit from the coffin, still to be confirmed.]

[Mask Maker: Suspected to be another me who has returned to the past.]

After writing,

Du Wei tapped his pencil on the word 'suspected' in the two sentences.

The hand that first pushed open the false gate and combated Evil Spirit Du Wei was very strange, breaking in, and after entering, he came to Lake Island in Illusion Lake.

But that hand disappeared without a trace.

Previously, Du Wei thought it was a counterfeit from the coffin, but now that he thought about it carefully, it wasn't the case.

Because, in addition to the mask pattern on the back of that hand, there were also many indistinct and dense patterns.

This was very suspicious.

What that entity did was only to lead Du Wei inside.

Beyond that, it did nothing else.

"It shouldn't be Evil Spirit Du Wei. It has now jumped onto another timeline, but it can't return to the ultimate source in one go, so it wouldn't be possible for it to have that many patterns."

"Each pattern corresponds to a Demon God, so that hand must already be entangled with the Seventy-Two Pillars Demon Gods."

There's not enough information to make an accurate judgment.

Du Wei then looked at the line about the Mask Maker.

Frowning, he said, "If you are a past version of me, at the very least, your last appearance should be after Minette's death; otherwise, the severed hand placed on the altar and those writings can't be explained."

"The person who created the altar is also you."

"You hid a Hell's Gate within the statue, and also made a false gate."

At this point,

Du Wei narrowed his eyes; he crumpled the paper into a ball and took out a lighter to ignite it.

Because he had thought of something very interesting.

Seventy-Two Pillars Demon Gods plotted against him. The moment he entered Hell's Gate, power would be transferred to the past unless he could intercept it as he had before.

But in reality.

He could use these gates for himself.

The Mask Maker had left behind two doors, arranging the altar beneath Massas City in this inexplicable manner...

Du Wei sensed a conspiracy brewing.

The hand could possibly belong to his original self.

Which meant he was essentially betraying himself.

Furthermore, this method of betrayal was all too familiar to him. Were he in that position, he would do the same: to warn his future self and to set a trap for the Seventy-Two Pillars Demon Gods with the decoy gate.

"There's definitely something off about that decoy gate."

What happened within the true Hell's Gate, though illusory, could also become reality; thus, the past might change.

So what was the significance of the decoy gate's existence?

It was merely an unfounded illusion.

In his mind, Du Wei concluded, "By replacing the false with the false, not only can I transfer power to my past self, but I can also send something nice to those Demon Gods."

"For example, introduce some concepts they shouldn't possess."

"Both the Demon Gods and I are engaged in turning the false into reality, supplanting the history of the past. So why not play a bigger game?"

"I'm quite looking forward to what will happen after I enter the next Hell's Gate."

In the meantime.

Du Wei pondered over the events that took place in Massas City, then turned his head toward the Antique Clock hanging on the wall.

His gaze was cold.

Yet it carried a trace of complexity.

Tick, tock, tick...

The Antique Clock, just like always.

Its hands overlapped, moving mechanically and rhythmically.

It looked just like an old antique with a malfunctioning core component, unremarkable at a glance.

But Du Wei knew.

Rahmer's Bell was definitely related to Minette.

Initially, when he had acquired this clock, he also came into possession of a severed hand.

That hand should belong to Minette.

Hmm...

Quite awkward.

Du Wei had burned that hand to ashes and scattered them...

He opened his mouth, addressing the Antique Clock, "How should I address you? Rahmer's Bell, or Minette?"

"Hmm... I am sorry."

"I always thought you had ill intentions towards me, so I've been wary of you from the start. But in reality, you never harmed me. Thinking back on the events that occurred before, it seems that your presence was there."

"You've helped me a lot."

While saying this, Du Wei's tone was earnest.

But his heart remained utterly calm.

It was all a probe.

Yet, the Antique Clock gave no response to Du Wei.

It remained as usual.

Du Wei sighed, then remembered the tone he had used to speak with Alex, gently saying, "I already know about the things that happened in the past, but I'm still not sure how to deal with the relationship between you and my girlfriend."

"No... both of you mean a lot to me."

"You have done so much for me, it's impossible to say I'm not moved."

"I actually like you a lot, too."

"Don't you want to meet me at all?"

The Antique Clock still did not respond.

Du Wei persisted with his tender tone, speaking for over an hour before he finally sighed disheartenedly and said with his head lowered, "It seems you don't want to meet with me after all. If that's the case, then let's just leave it at that."

At the same time.

However, his inner thoughts were, "For now, I can't determine whether Minette's consciousness exists in the modern world, but most likely it doesn't. I can start trying to save Alex."