Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

It's very similar to a game called "Red Light, Green Light" that I played when I was a child.

One person faces away from the others, starting to count "Red Light, Green Light, 1, 2, 3";

as they turn around, everyone else must not have any bodily movements;

as they turn back, the movement restriction for everyone else is lifted;

the first one to touch that person is the victor.

Of course, those are the rules of the game played among people.

The "game" between the Evil Spirit and Du Wei, however, had different rules.

But certain aspects were not too dissimilar.

Thinking of this, Du Wei began to calculate the distance between himself and the door.

About four or five steps.

But the distance to the Evil Spirit was even closer.

Especially since, in order to analyze its mechanism, he had already taken a step.

At this moment, Du Wei was less than four steps away from the evil spirit sitting in the chair, and Annabelle.

The iron door that had been behind him had vanished without a trace.

There was only the door which represented the way to survive, and it was blocked by the Evil Spirit.

What was even more insoluble was

that Du Wei knew clearly that although he had figured out the mechanism, it had, in turn, made the situation even more dangerous.

As soon as he took a step, whether he moved forward or backward, the sinister woman sitting in the chair would move the same distance towards him.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

To put it simply, if he moved in any direction by two steps, it would be able to touch him.

As for what would happen after it touched him...

Du Wei thought that it probably wouldn't be like some novels where it wants him to grant it release or help it fulfill some unresolved last wish.

Because that sounded utterly ridiculous.

He silently said to himself, "This is an almost inextricable predicament, but there's a glimmer of hope. Maybe I can take a gamble."

The first thing he could be certain of was that this balance had been in place before he arrived.

Although he didn't know why, in what should have been the stage of the Ghost Claiming Lives, Annabelle suddenly joined the mix, but he felt that this was the key to making the current situation unsolvable.

Both Annabelle and the Evil Spirit wanted to kill him.

Because that was the only way for one to overpower the other.

Otherwise, they would keep confronting each other like this.

The disappearance of the iron door was to seal off his way back.

When he took a step back, the position of the woman changed; she wanted to kill him before Annabelle did.

The rule within this balance seemed like a BUG, but it was actually predicated on the situation where the two Evil Spirits were in a deadlock.

"So, as long as I find a way to break this deadlock mechanism, everything could change."

It sounds quite simple...

At this thought, Du Wei directly entered the Third Phase of Spirit Vision.

He extended his Right Hand and stared calmly for two seconds.

The clean and neat Right Hand gave an eerie sense of astonishment.

Then, Du Wei took a step forward, simultaneously taking out Holy Water and a white cloth from his backpack, stuffing one into his pocket and holding the other in his left hand. He didn't even look at the Evil Spirit in front of him and headed toward the door.

Thud...

One step.

Just one step, and the distance between that woman and Du Wei was instantly narrowed; such proximity only made the sense of oppression and the gloomy aura grow even heavier.

The lighting in the entire room also plunged dramatically.

It was as if, of two lamps, one was suddenly blown out.

The threads that sewed the doll's eyes shut also snapped even more, and large shadows enveloped it, hiding within the dark what seemed to be something wriggling.

Just like a venomous snake trapped in a small cage, trying to wriggle out to deliver its lethal fangs.

Under the Third Phase of Spirit Vision,

Du Wei could see more information, and the sense of terror and peculiarity intensified.

To maintain his composure, he suppressed all emotions of fear, trepidation, unease, and panic, and held his breath.

Then...

Without any hesitation, Du Wei took another step forward.

Still heading towards the door.

It's just that, on this straight line, an Evil Spirit just happened to be in the way.

As he took that step, a horribly grotesque face with wrinkles and folds distorting its features suddenly appeared before Du Wei.

A man and an Evil Spirit were almost pressed together, no more than twenty centimeters apart.

As if responding to some signal!

The lights in the room rapidly dimmed and were swallowed up by large swaths of shadows.

The only spot still illuminated was where Du Wei now stood.

At the same time, in the darkness, the sound of threads snapping, pop... pop, could be faintly heard.

Without looking, he knew that those dolls that gave him an uncomfortable feeling, with their eyes sewn shut, were nearly all undone, just a final restraint away from completely breaking the balance.

But Du Wei's attention was no longer on those dolls.

The seated Evil Spirit, too, had undergone a change, no longer staring blankly at Du Wei like before.

On its face, an eerily strange smile appeared out of nowhere.

So close they were almost touching, Du Wei would come into contact if he moved even slightly.

However, a second later...

Du Wei reached out his Right Hand.

With Spirit Vision in the Third Phase, a body part transformed by the Evil Spirit can make direct contact with an Evil Spirit, but clearly, in such a situation, making contact would undoubtedly lead to very bad things.

So, Du Wei's target was something else.

He swiftly grabbed the Evil Spirit Doll, Annabelle.

Actually, even without entering the Third Phase of Spirit Vision, he could still seize Annabelle.

Because Annabelle itself is both a medium and an Evil Spirit.

However, Du Wei did not like to gamble; he preferred to be fully prepared, to maximize his advantage as much as possible to make the desired outcome—infinitely more likely.

The moment his Right Hand grasped Annabelle, Du Wei felt as though he had grabbed a block of ice, the chilling aura nearly made him shiver.

Only an Evil Spirit can combat an Evil Spirit.

A Right Hand transformed by an Evil Spirit can touch, but not confront.

Then, without any pause, Du Wei snatched Annabelle from the woman's embrace in the chair.

In an instant, the balance was broken.

It immediately lunged at Du Wei.

"It seems I was right," he muttered.

The rules of the game 'Red Light, Green Light' completely failed.

With a thud...

The bottle containing Holy Water shattered on the ground, its contents splashing in all directions.

Sss...

The Evil Spirit, the first to bear the brunt, was drenched in the Holy Water.

As if splashed with sulfuric acid, dense white smoke rose from its body, momentarily stalled.

Seizing the opportunity, Du Wei dashed towards the door.

At the same time, Annabelle, held in his Right Hand, began to undergo some peculiar changes.

A cold and gloomy sensation crept up Du Wei's Right Hand at an astonishing pace, quickly spreading from his palm, his wrist, towards his elbow.

Du Wei couldn't help but grunt, draping the white cloth issued by the church to the Exorcists in New York, meant for Exorcism, over Annabelle.

He burst through the door, looking utterly disheveled, and fell heavily to the ground.

With this momentum, Annabelle was wrapped up in the white cloth.

Behind him, in the room, the Evil Spirit watched Du Wei with a gaze filled with immense malice.

The vast shadows had now devoured all of the room's light.

Once again, their eyes met, but Du Wei remained calm.