Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

The last evening of June.

A sudden visitor appeared in the city of Esselgreen.

At the doorstep of that old house.

With an expressionless face, Du Wei pushed open the door and stepped inside.

It was the same as when he had left last time.

There was a lot of dust on the floor and some furniture, and the air was very damp.

The feeling it gave was not pleasant.

"Hell's Gate… I am looking forward to what answers you will provide me,"

Du Wei softly muttered to himself as he headed towards the basement.

Pushing the door open, he would find the answers he desired.

His mind was full of doubts.

He urgently needed to understand and to know the secrets of Solomon's Seventy-Two Pillars Demon Gods, attempting to wipe out all of these ghostly trifles.

"I hope the world behind the door can offer me some surprises,"

his voice gradually turned detached.

The whole person also entered the most rational state.

In front of the staircase leading downstairs.

Du Wei glanced down and saw that the entire staircase was firmly stuffed with sandbags, almost as if it had been filled with poured concrete.

When he had left last time,

He not only collapsed the passage behind Hell's Gate but also completely sealed the entrance to the basement.

Apart from hunters of his level, there were hardly any who could enter the bottom without expending a great deal of manpower and resources.

Feeling that faint, abnormal presence,

Du Wei thought for a moment and directly entered into Evil Spirit Transformation.

At the same time, his whole demeanor also became colder.

A pair of icy eyes made it impossible for others to look him in the eye because just one glance would make one shudder uncontrollably from deep within.

Moreover, Du Wei took a mask out of his pocket and put it directly on his face.

Shadows emerged from his own shadow and directly overlaid on top of each other.

The envelope automatically wriggled out of his pocket and floated in mid-air.

Dice, two Joker Cards, a lighter, and that Coin also encircled around Du Wei, one by one.

Surrounding him, they contributed an additional sense of dread.

Just like the envelope had determined—the so-called villain.

Immediately after, Du Wei walked "down" towards the solid ground.

As if walking through nothingness.

And as if he was walking into water, yet the ground beneath him stirred no ripples.

…

Quickly,

he reached the inside of the basement.

The air was very stuffy, almost suffocating.

It was also humid and clammy.

That faint presence, full of tempting whispers, echoed incessantly by his ears.

It seemed like someone was murmuring softly.

Now, what presented itself in front of Du Wei was the gate of Hell, bound by chains and fastened with three locks.

The passage behind the door had completely collapsed.

Fortunately, Du Wei's goal was only the gate itself.

He approached the gate, his gaze very cold.

Then, in a low voice, he said, "Shadow…"

The next second.

Two Daggers eerily appeared in front of the gate, slicing through the chains.

Clack, clack, clack...

The chains fell to the ground, making a dull noise.

It was as though he had opened Pandora's box.

The eerie whispering beside the ear became more and more distinct.

Even Du Wei genuinely heard many voices speaking.

"Open it..."

"Open the gate..."

"If you open it, you will gain everything you desire."

"Money, power, women, strength, immortality, you can have it all."

These voices, with their peculiar emphasis, incessantly burrowed into Du Wei's mind, utterly irresistible.

But...

Once he faced these ghostly entities, he would enter a state of absolute rationality.

Emotions would be thoroughly suppressed.

It had become instinct.

For a moment.

Du Wei was not affected at all.

He reached out and touched the mask on his face, speaking in a very calm tone, "Although my humanity has already ebbed away, in fact, I have become increasingly indifferent."

"The more I come into contact with them, the more I use this power, the more inhuman I become."

"I quite like that saying, 'Inhuman does not mean not me.'"

"But that saying is not complete."

"The more inhuman I become, the less I become myself."

"So, before that day arrives, everything should come to an end, including me…"

After he finished speaking, Du Wei suddenly closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he spoke to the ominous and terrifying Hell's Gate before him, "So as you wish."

These words were not directed to Hell's Gate.

The meaning was somewhat too obscure.

Only he understood it.

As the words fell,

Du Wei placed his hand on the gate.

He intended to push it open.

But the sensation that transmitted from his hand was like an electric shock, causing extreme pain.

On the back of his hand, the image of a compass needle was clearly visible.

The needle rotated at a bizarre speed.

It seemed to undergo some kind of mutation.

And the entire Hell's Gate gave Du Wei a very bad feeling.

It was as if Hell's Gate had come alive, possessing its independent will, resisting Du Wei.

"You don't want to let me in?"

His voice remained calm, yet it revealed a hint of surprise.

The floating envelope beside him let out a row of text.

[Great Master, just now the gate seemed to have taken notice of the pattern on the back of your hand, it is apprehensive about something, reluctant to let you in.]

Du Wei glanced at the envelope, his expression immediately darkening.

All the preparations he had made.

Hell's Gate wouldn't let him enter?

"Rahmer's Bell?"

Du Wei gave an answer, and the abnormalities on the Hell's Gate became more severe—the broken chains on the ground started floating up, trying to wrap around the gate again.

Those eerie whispers also gradually weakened.

This gave Du Wei a very bad feeling.

"Since you don't want to let me in, then I'll change my identity."

Du Wei's right hand was pressed tightly against the gate; while enduring the stabbing pain and the gate's resistant emotion, he switched identities.

The compass needle pattern on the back of his right hand immediately disappeared into it.

In its place was now a mask.

"Are you satisfied now…"

Evil Spirit Du Wei logged on.

Its state was very poor, still maintaining a near-death state.

But as soon as it appeared, the mutation of the entire Hell's Gate came to a sudden halt.

The air became oppressively tense.

The mask on his face directly fell off.

The shadow that had been overlapping with it, as if frightened, dove right into the mask, floating to the side.

Only the envelope sank a considerable distance down, sticking tightly to the ground.

Having followed Du Wei for so long,

The envelope had long since recognized the reality, Du Wei was the master, and so was Evil Spirit Du Wei.

It knew Du Wei the best.

But it dared not understand Evil Spirit Du Wei.

Therefore, it was extremely humble.

Yet even though the mutation of Hell's Gate had stopped, the emotion of resistance not only did not diminish but became even stronger.

As if, the dread that Evil Spirit Du Wei inspired in it was stronger than that of Rahmer's Bell.

However, Evil Spirit Du Wei was getting impatient.

"I'm not in a good state, so now I'll give you two options, either you let me in, or I'll tear you down."