Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

"What boring tricks are you playing?"

When Mercer heard Matthew exclaim, what came to his mind was that the other party was trying to distract his attention to deliver a fatal blow.

So, he even felt he was being mocked.

But the next second.

His complexion suddenly changed, because he felt something extremely strange appear behind him.

Turning his head.

A dry, wrinkled face with a grayish pallor appeared before him.

Completely illogical.

With Mercer wearing a mask, Alvin Dowqui's face was pressed right up against his.

So fast that one couldn't even react.

From feeling its presence to its appearance, not even a second had passed.

Even with Mercer's strong mental fortitude, he was scared out of his wits at this moment, and he quickly stepped back, the Demon Spirit possessing his body swept out a hand to block the corpse of Alvin Dowqui.

For a moment.

The whole highway was presented with an incredibly bizarre situation.

Matthew stood at one end, Alvin Dowqui's corpse at the other, with Mercer caught in the middle.

Clearly, this situation was very disadvantageous for Mercer.

The dagger embedded in his chest was giving off a dreadfully chilling aura.

This was one of the intrinsic strengths of the Vanity Sect.

It can be seen as an add-on, an artifact that a person could only use once, and once used, it would sacrifice a portion of the user's lifespan to gain unknown power.

The thirteen masks each represented a Demon Spirit.

In fact, unless the Demon Spirit were freed from the masks, the members of the Vanity Sect could not fully unleash the powers of the Demon Spirits.

The dagger was the key to unshackling these powers.

So Mercer was now in great distress.

He had just sacrificed part of his lifespan, trying to fight Matthew to the death, hoping to stall until others arrived.

But to his surprise, something creepy arrived first.

"Alvin... I remember him; he was with the church, right?"

"Your Excellency, aren't you being a bit too shameless? You're so powerful, and yet you still call others to encircle me..."

Grinding his teeth in anger, Mercer's eyes reddened.

He felt certain that his death was inevitable this time.

Matthew, however, did not speak; he silently watched the corpse of Alvin Dowqui, his eyes filled with an indefinable complexity and reminiscence.

The Dowquis were a family faction of the church.

Alvin was the last member of the Dowqui family; the others were all dead.

He was a hunter of the church, as was his father, and his grandfather was Andrew Dowqui.

Two hundred years ago, when Matthew was still with the church, Andrew Dowqui was his subordinate, a hunter personally trained by him.

He could even be considered a disciple.

But in the end, Matthew led most of the hunters in a rebellion against the church to establish Dusk Bell, while Andrew Dowqui remained with the church and later died on a bus.

After a good while.

Matthew finally spoke in a complex tone, "I've seen you... When you were little, I once sneaked into the church. You probably have no memory of it... mhm."

"I always wanted to take you out of the church, but you were too stubborn. The people from your Dowqui family are all hardheaded, which gave me quite a headache."

"But the way you look now, it just seems so regrettable to me."

He looked at the corpse of Alvin Dowqui and suddenly reached out, pressing down.

With a bang.

The whole body was as if smashed by an invisible hammer, immediately flying backwards.

But mid-air, the body opened its mouth.

A thick black mist spewed out from the corpse's mouth.

And it spread at an incredibly exaggerated speed.

Just after a single breath.

Both Matthew and Mercer on the scene were enveloped in the mist.

Silence... not a sound to be heard...

Alvin Dowqui had only one wish before he died.

To drag a few of Dusk Bell's hunters down with him.

But before his wish could be fulfilled, he had already died.

And now, perhaps due to some unexplainable connection, the Evil Spirit that Alvin Dowqui became after death began to fulfill this wish.

By chance...

It ran into Matthew and Mercer.

The Evil Spirit wouldn't spare anyone, so its target was the two people present.

Only...

It seemed to have gotten a little too arrogant.

Crack...

The sound of bone breaking rang out.

From within the mist, a man wearing a mask and with a dagger stuck in his chest, charged out.

Mercer, or rather the Demon Spirit that had merged even more closely with his body.

The mask on his face was like a living thing, fused with his flesh and blood.

Even his body had become abnormal.

His neck was bulging forward, extremely stiff, and his pair of eyes were yellowish, much like those of a wild beast.

He looked somewhat similar to a Demon Nun...

As soon as he burst out of the mist, he pounced towards the corpse of Alvin Dowqui, who still tried to resist but had his head directly twisted off, black blood spurting out.

At that moment.

From within the mist, Matthew's angry voice erupted, "I had originally planned to spare your life so that you could call all the people from the Vanity Sect here to have a proper discussion about the curse, but you dared to touch his corpse."

"You truly deserve to die."

As the words fell, Matthew appeared directly behind Mercer and, to his disbelief, slapped him down.

It was like an adult reprimanding a child.

Mercer was sent flying, his head twisting all the way around.

But even so, the Demon Spirit controlling his body twisted the neck back into place, still not dead.

The dagger in his chest popped out a bit more on its own, as if the power he received from sacrificing to the Demon Spirit would not dissipate until it was fully ejected.

At this moment.

Mercer truly realized just how big the gap between Matthew and himself was.

He said in horror, "Did you merge with that 'thing'?"

Matthew said coldly, "No, I am merely a vessel."

As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed.

A power akin to Evil Spirit Du Wei's telekinetic control, he grabbed Mercer mid-air, then clenched.

Spurt...

The mask opened its mouth, and blood sprayed from within.

But at this time, the already lifeless body of Alvin Dowqui suddenly came back to life again.

The Evil Spirit that had just died might have been the original one, but now a new one had taken its place.

Seeing this, a flicker of dimness passed through Matthew's eyes.

His power of insight allowed him to easily see the issue with this body.

"The power of the 'door'..."

"You leave me as dissatisfied as Andrew."

With that, he waved his hand.

The Evil Spirit that had just taken control of the body was forcefully pressed to death.

...

However.

In the world within the 'door'.

Du Wei's gaze turned extremely cold.

Not long ago, there were nearly a hundred Evil Spirits around him, all future loyal subordinates.

But just now, inexplicably, two Marked Evil Spirits vanished within the 'door'.

"Who is it? Who's killing my minions outside?"