Exorcist’s Self-Cultivation

June 12th, deep into the night at 11 PM.

The second-floor bedroom of the counseling clinic.

“Huff…”

Du Wei gasped for air and abruptly opened his eyes.

The faint moonlight penetrated through the curtains, casting reflections inside the bedroom, but because no lights were on, the illumination inside was very dim.

“I never thought I’d come out from a dream in this manner…”

In the darkness, Du Wei reached out to remove his mask and fumbled for the bedside lamp switch, gently pressing it.

Click…

The light came on, and the details of the room became clear.

Out of habit, Du Wei scanned the surroundings, then sat up in bed and reached into the backpack next to him to check his possessions.

The mask, flintlock gun, black umbrella, coins, Joker Card, and other items were all intact, none having been left behind in the dream.

Du Wei’s tone was somewhat complex, “I didn’t have to use any of my escape methods, but that’s also a good thing. At least I can roughly know that it won’t be jumping out of the dream world for now, as it seems unsure about killing me.”

“But that doesn’t mean it can’t come into reality, rather because it wants to devour more people’s nightmares and appear in the human world in the form of a Demon Spirit.”

“By then, as long as people are still having nightmares, it would be as if it had an undying body.”

“Unless all those people die.”

“And I would have to die as well, or else it would exist forever.”

This time, his encounter with the ghostly nun, though it couldn’t even be considered a close call and was very brief, actually concealed dangers far more troubling than any Evil Spirit or Evil Spirit Transformation he had faced before.

If compared to the Dark Shadow, the Dark Shadow would attack Du Wei whenever it had the chance, but it always fell just short, preventing it from succeeding.

However, the nun was different. It lurked in dreams, waiting to transform at the most inextricable moment before coming into reality.

The problem was significant…

Du Wei frowned, but then he remembered the sequence of letters the nun uttered just before he was kicked out of the Dream World.

valak…

“Is that your true name?”

Du Wei puzzled, took out the ring from his wallet and examined it closely.

The ring was engraved with the letters ‘val,’ and the subsequent letters were deliberately obliterated.

Earlier, while he was on the bus, he saw an Evil Spirit wearing a Golden Brooch, on which he found the letters ‘va’ and what seemed to be an ‘k’ that was also erased.

If that letter was indeed a ‘k’…

Then the name the nun uttered was very likely its true name.

Because all the letters put together, excluding duplicates, neatly spelled out valak…

Phonetically, that would be Valak.

Du Wei couldn’t help but muse, “If Valak is its true name, why would it tell me? Once I know its true name, I could call it out and banish it from the human world, and the curse would disappear. There would be no point at all.”

“The logic doesn’t add up…”

“Is the true name a false one, meant to mislead me? But that also wouldn’t make any sense. Once Lawrence sends over those antiques, I would quickly find out its true name.”

At that moment, Du Wei hesitated.

Even though he instinctively felt that Valak could be its true name, Du Wei dared not call it out just yet.

He felt that there must be something amiss with the situation.

“I need to wait a bit longer…”

“Otherwise, if just one element is wrong, things could develop into a scenario that even I might not be able to control.”

Being calm and cautious was the best approach to dealing with these ghostly matters.

Other methods, whether it’s possession by an Evil Spirit or those special artifacts, were merely means to an end.

“Moreover, I need to prepare a backup plan, in case there’s an issue with the true name leading to a passive situation.”

What he meant was resolving the nun’s curse without resorting to the true name, or ensuring it could never activate, remaining dormant forever.

I need to think about this carefully.

He said this as he glanced at the time on his phone. It was just past 11 PM, with quite some time remaining before dawn would break.

Looking at the phone screen.

There was something strange in Du Wei’s eyes, for he had received a call from an unknown number in his dream, only to have it turn out to be from Ryan.

At present, Ryan was equivalent to a potential undercover agent for Dusk Bell Church.

No one could have imagined that he was one of our own.

“I don’t know if I can get in touch with him.”

Du Wei remembered that phone number very clearly, so after hesitating for a bit, he picked up his cellphone and entered the precise number.

Beep…

The call connected, it was not a disconnected number.

Beep…

Beep…

Du Wei listened to the busy signal, frowning, “No one is answering? Or is this not Ryan’s cell phone number?”

Ryan was insane…

Although he didn’t know how Ryan managed to make a phone call to Du Wei in his dreams, perhaps the phone number wasn’t accurate.

It might only belong to Ryan’s imagination in the dream world; just by chance, the same number was also in use in the real world.

Du Wei sighed helplessly, then was about to hang up the call.

But at that moment, the call was answered.

“Pant… pant…”

It sounded like someone was breathing heavily into the phone…

It probably wasn’t Ryan.

Du Wei thought for a moment, then spoke, “Sorry, I dialed the wrong number.”

After saying that, he was about to disconnect.

But suddenly, a deep, chilly laughter came from the other end, “Heh heh… heh heh…”

The laughter was eerie…

Somehow, Du Wei felt an instinctive discomfort, but he didn’t sense any danger.

He said, “Are you an Evil Spirit?”

The other side: “Heh heh…”

Accompanied by the cold laughter, the temperature in the bedroom began to drop slowly.

The lightbulb on the ceiling made a crackling sound of electricity, and the light flickered on and off.

Du Wei raised an eyebrow, if it was an Evil Spirit, he really wasn’t very scared.

If it dared to show up at his house, it wouldn’t be leaving easily.

Even if he let it escape, Du Wei would choose to mark it so that in times of danger, it could serve as a scout.

Honestly.

Du Wei was quite in need of Evil Spirits…

And some Evil Spirits may need a little help because of the way they are triggered.

For example, Roy, Du Wei’s cultist neighbor back then, got targeted by a dark shadow because he stuffed notes into homes.

In a certain sense, that was an invitation.

Therefore, Du Wei spoke into the phone again, “My home is at 109 Queen Street in the North Brook District, you’re welcome to visit.”

After saying that, he hung up the phone.

…

At this very moment.

In the outskirts of New York City, inside the ruins of Hill Psychiatric Hospital, traces of a fire were clearly visible.

Even after more than half a month had passed, the place was still devoid of life.

Deep within Hill Psychiatric Hospital, behind the lighthouse-like structure, was a desolate graveyard.

Looking around, most of the tombstones were broken, but one was intact.

In the night sky, a cloud slowly drifted by, the bright moonlight shining on the tombstone, sealing a photo in gel on the upper part of the tombstone.

It was a blond Caucasian man dressed in a priest’s attire with deep-set features but an extremely pale complexion, as if he had suffered from a serious illness…

Clearly, he was the tomb’s owner.

Once at Hill Psychiatric Hospital, Du Wei had heard from Mrs. Taylor, the matron, that twenty years ago, a blond Exorcist arrived at what was then the Hill Psychiatric Hospital, also a church at the time.

Antique clocks, masks, and oil paintings were among his belongings.

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