Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

Evil Spirit Du Wei was indifferent to Alfaria and the others.

For it,

this world was inherently dull.

Had it not wished to kill the Solomon's Seventy-Two Pillars Demon Gods, Evil Spirit Du Wei wouldn't even have deigned to appear; it would rather have slept forever than mingle in these messy affairs.

Because to it, that was just too boring.

The Solomon's Seventy-Two Pillars Demon Gods were beings of the same order.

Beneath them, it didn't even deign to take an extra glance.

Upon seeing Alfaria's respect for it, it approximately knew that this person was bound to be a traitor in the future, but it simply didn't care.

Killing this person would require just a thought.

And in this era, killing Alfaria meant nothing.

On the contrary, keeping him and the Vanity Sect people around could catalyze some change in the world that resembled past fragments.

That was change...

Well...

If done Evil Spirit Du Wei's way, it would be to let them go and kill Minette and the others.

Although it knew the likelihood wasn't great, it still gave the command.

And now,

Evil Spirit Du Wei thought about more than just those messed-up affairs.

It sat upon the coffin bound by countless chains, its body hidden in darkness, its pitch-black eyes forever cold.

No one knew where its gaze truly landed.

"Future Sight, Minette, the scene I witnessed earlier should be in this era, right?"

Evil Spirit Du Wei was referring to the strange vision seen during its second visit to the church's underground altar, while facing the Blood of Jesus.

The vision was at a lake where Minette cradled an open, rhombus-shaped wooden coffin, inside which lay her own body that gradually became transparent and vanished like an illusion.

Afterward, Minette spoke those words about completing the Armored Divinity Ascension, pulling Du Wei back.

The more it thought about it, the more amusing it found the matter.

Evil Spirit Du Wei stroked the chains wound around the coffin, felt their icy chill, and chuckled softly.

That chuckle, though light, was filled with unspeakable sarcasm and disdain.

"Although I didn't witness it myself, I know how she died."

"Armored Divinity Ascension, that woman's thoughts were indeed insane, time and again until she couldn't bear it any longer, ending up dead at the hands of a Demon God."

"Those who play with power will inevitably be manipulated by it."

"Each Demon God, suppressing a part of her."

"I'm curious what allowed her to hold on until the last moment of the Armored Divinity Ascension."

"Was it the so-called love? Persistence?"

When it said the last sentence, Evil Spirit Du Wei's tone carried a hint of conviction, yet it was completely unable to understand or agree.

It represented the aspect of the evil spirit.

Du Wei represented the human aspect.

In some sense, it would never unite in purpose.

"If indeed there was a past me,"

"then what I did back then was also about change, and the plan was to kill those five Demon Gods to alter Minette's future fate."

"But clearly, I failed."

"Or rather, I knew I would fail from the start but went ahead anyway."

The person who knows oneself best is always oneself.

Evil Spirit Du Wei seemed to see a river called Time, another self struggling in that river, yet also witnessing certain people and events develop along a predetermined trajectory.

Nothing could be changed.

In the darkness, time seemed to lose its meaning.

At this moment, Evil Spirit Du Wei's voice suddenly quieted down.

Its pitch-black eyes, however, flickered intermittently.

Contained within were hues no person could comprehend, perhaps bewilderment, or the accumulation of too much suffering, which eventually solidified into determination.

At last, those eyes slowly closed.

The sole point of light had just been consumed by darkness, as if a raindrop had fallen into the sea.

Even the air was tinged with a hint of sorrow.

...

This was a tranquil lake.

Drip...

A drop of water fell from the darkness, plunging into the calm surface of the lake, creating a ripple.

The lake water was so clear it resembled a mirror.

Evil Spirit Du Wei opened his eyes, looking at everything indifferently.

Under the water, another man, identical to him, slowly emerged from the depths.

It was Du Wei himself.

In the end, both of them stood upon the surface of the water.

This was the Heart Lake.

It had once been the battlefield where Du Wei and Evil Spirit Du Wei contested on another level, but as dreams shifted, it had not depicted itself for too long.

Now, Evil Spirit Du Wei had reconstructed this place.

Looking at his other self, he spoke in a calm tone, "Many have pondered over the past and the future, immersing themselves in the past, influenced by it."

"Thus, they are either strong or weak."

"They pray for the future, look forward to it."

"But few ever consider that every moment, they exist in the present, the future lies straight ahead, and the past is but a turn away."

Hearing this,

Du Wei responded in an equally calm tone, "I am neither a saint nor a savior; I walk the path I'm supposed to, never denying the past."

Evil Spirit Du Wei said, "The difference between you and me is not that between an evil spirit and a human."

"I am another side of you."

"Similarly, you are another side of me."

"I disavow the past, whether as a duke or the Mask Maker, even though it is indeed me, but from my perspective, I will never acknowledge it."

"My name is Du Wei, and my personality and memories do not permit a speck of impurity."

"That's why I can see the future."

Evil Spirit Du Wei's gaze was ice-cold, and from it as the center, the water of the Heart Lake began to ripple.

It was as if it were a deity, exalted above all.

And had already seen the conclusion.

Du Wei's gaze was equally frosty as he said, "Yet such a future is unacceptable to me."

"To return to the past is utterly laughable."

"Shall I, at some future point, travel to a distant past, to be forgotten by history and ultimately spend countless years alone with shadows and an Envelope?"

"What a joke."

A man and an evil spirit locked gazes.

Originally one and the same, Du Wei has now separated again in the Heart Lake in another way.

Their conversation was too oblique, many parts obscured.

But they had indeed seen the future.

Evil Spirit Du Wei said, "You are my past, and I am your future."

Du Wei said, "So you and I are trapped in an endless cycle, a perfect temporal loop where past and future have long been conflated."

At this point,

Evil Spirit Du Wei and Du Wei instantly plummeted, sinking directly into the Heart Lake.

The outside world...

Those eyes in the darkness opened once more.

A deep voice was saying, "So I shall end everything. A cycle? In my eyes, that's utterly laughable."

"Give me enough time, and I can shape everything."