Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

Inside the house.

After testing the antique clock,

Du Wei decided to start dealing with Alex's issue.

Currently, Alex remained at the Wittebach family house, but his consciousness had vanished.

His original goal was to find the related people within the Vanity Sect and pry the answers from their mouths, but he ended up being an undercover agent for only one day before Calamity chased him to Massas City.

Time was tight.

But too many things had happened.

He pulled out the cut-up painting from inside his trench coat.

With both hands, Du Wei unfolded it and headed to the bedroom on the second floor.

...

Pushing open the door to the bedroom,

laying on the bed inside was the frame of the painting.

After reframing the painting, Du Wei "walked" into it.

It seemed as though he saw a fantastical scene of black and white intertwining.

In reality, it was only a momentary flash.

He had arrived in the world within the painting.

That is, the Ghost Dimension.

Exactly the same as the school from ten years ago.

However, all the student Evil Spirits that had been there were now gone.

From the real Ghost School to those more than a hundred student Evil Spirits, including the student Evil Spirits within Massas City, Du Wei had killed them all off; they would no longer appear.

At this moment, the three stone coffins from Boine were laid out in the school's square.

In front of the stone coffins, there was a long trail of blood.

The source of the blood was Gascogne, who lay on the ground with his eyes tightly closed and a ferocious wound on his neck, long devoid of any breath.

He appeared to be dead.

Du Wei frowned and said softly, "You're actually dead, I didn't want to kill you, even though I despise you. But after all, you can still be considered an old friend."

Speaking of which,

Du Wei walked toward Gascogne's body.

He said with a touch of sadness, "Fate always leaves one powerless to resist, you can never know what the next second will bring. In my hometown, there's a saying, 'Death is accorded high respect.'"

"I don't wish for you old friends to die without even a grave to mark your passing."

Next, Du Wei bent down to move Gascogne's body.

Grabbing the shoulders of the corpse,

he turned it over with force.

Gascogne's masked face was then exposed to Du Wei.

The mask and face had already grown together,

as if real flesh was overlaid with a layer of strange tattoo.

Suddenly...

Gascogne's corpse's eyes flew open, blood-red and bulging out, as if they would jump out of their sockets.

"Did you really think I didn't know you'd discovered I was faking my death?"

Before he could finish his sentence, Gascogne grabbed Du Wei's hands.

Crack.

The bones were directly crushed.

Gascogne let out a sinister laugh.

But the next second, he couldn't laugh anymore.

Because Du Wei's expression hadn't changed at all, still indifferent as if it wasn't his hands that were being broken.

"You still haven't realized one thing."

"Everything you know is what I wanted you to know."

"Everything you see is what I wanted you to see."

"Did you think I wanted to kill you?"

Du Wei shook his head, "No, I want to pry open your head and get the information I want."

Gascogne's expression changed dramatically, and he immediately threw Du Wei's body aside.

At the same time, the Demon Spirit within the mask merged with him.

Stealing the Demon God's power also manifested as patterns.

With a bang...

Gascogne merely reached out and grasped, and Du Wei's neck was twisted off, bursting into a mist of blood.

But this made Gascogne even more terrified.

"Impossible..."

Behind him, Du Wei's voice rang out, "What's impossible? That you killed me?"

"The person you most want to kill is me, isn't it?"

"Why do you now feel it's impossible?"

Gascogne turned his head violently and saw Du Wei, dressed in a black trench coat, walking towards him slowly.

"Is it an illusion?"

At his side.

Another Du Wei also walked over, saying indifferently, "Correct answer."

Following that.

More Du Weis came from different directions, surrounding Gascogne.

They all were saying.

"Welcome to my world."

"This is my new ability. Although its effect will weaken as the power wanes, to use it on you right now is quite fitting."

Gascogne, looking at the countless Du Weis, his face turned extremely pale, partly from excessive blood loss and partly from fear.

"What made me fall into the illusion?"

Du Wei answered amiably, "It was that second when you and I made eye contact."

Gascogne's face twitched.

He finally understood that phrase.

You think only what I want you to think.

He believed that Du Wei knew he was feigning death, thinking to catch his opponent off guard, but in a flash, it turned out his opponent didn't care at all.

However, Gascogne didn't care either, and with his teeth clenched, he said with a cold laugh, "You want to know from me about Minette and Alex, hence you came to the Vanity Sect."

"It seems Alex's consciousness has already gone to that place."

"Hey... you really are pitiful, having forgotten so many memories, even the prison you personally devised, have you forgotten?"

"But... I won't tell you, hahaha..."

"Even if you can trap me in an illusion, over two hundred years, my will has already turned insane, you will know nothing."

The numerous Du Weis nodded and said, "I think so too, but now you've looked into my eyes again."

Gascogne's eyelids twitched fiercely.

Immediately, he closed his eyes, roaring and attacking the illusion.

Yet he heard Du Wei say, "Power can lead to one getting lost, and you are already lost now. The power you are displaying now, is it really what you think it is?"

"Why do you assume the Demon Spirit inside the mask has taken possession?"

"You have fallen into the illusion, the power stolen from the Demon God, is it truly real?"

Gascogne bit down on his teeth and said, "It's real, there can't be any fake."

But Du Wei said, "What is the difference between real and fake? Have you ever heard of a dream within a dream?"

The last sentence shattered Gascogne's psychological defenses.

...

It was still the schoolyard.

Du Wei sat on the grass.

Opposite him sat Gascogne, with his eyes open, blood streaming down from the corners of his eyes, his gaze vacant.

Evil Spirit Du Wei is now on a different timeline from Du Wei.

They were always the same person.

How could one leave without setting some measures?

Moreover, when Evil Spirit Du Wei controlled the body, he forcibly embedded that eye into his own right socket.

What he gained was an illusion ability that could be described as a bug.

Just as Du Wei had said, as time passed, the right eye's illusion ability would diminish, and in the end, it wouldn't be as effective as psychological suggestion.

Following that.

Du Wei figured it was about time and said to Gascogne, "Now, I ask and you answer."

Gascogne replied blankly, "You ask, I answer."

Du Wei asked, "Let's start with Alex. Where is her consciousness?"

Gascogne answered, "In the prison, in the hands of Lock Ghost."