Chapter 29 Shepherd
Late at night, the waxing gibbous moon had nearly sunk into the earth again. The sky was already beginning to lighten.
The clock in Aiwas's room swung its pendulum rhythmically, and the hands on it had already pointed to 4:20 in the morning.
He still sat in the wheelchair like a sculpture, flipping through the Shepherd Tantra without moving.
Two strange purple tears of blood slid from the corners of Aiwas' eyes as he sat at the table, as if he had lost his soul. They dripped onto the pages of the book and then sank directly into it, being absorbed by it.
Aiwass was fascinated by the secrets in the book.
The skin on his face flushed crimson, and the veins on his forehead and forearms bulged visibly. The veins, which should have been cyan, now had dark purple spiderweb patterns.
Despite being winter, Aiwass's room was still warm. But with Aiwass's deep, heavy breathing, a pale, hot mist continuously emanated from his mouth. Occasionally, with a low cough, sparks would fly out.
It was not until the early morning when birds chirped outside that Aiwass seemed to wake up from his dream.
His eyes became clear again, and the purple lines on his face slowly shrank back.
At this moment, he had unknowingly flipped to the end of the thin black leather booklet. The knowledge was already deeply engraved in Aiwas's memory, and he could recall it clearly the moment he closed his eyes. The words even began to gleam.
“…It turned out to be something like this.”
Aiwass's expression was solemn as he murmured in a low voice.
This black tantric book tells about a mysterious skill called "shepherding".
That was a mysterious skill that existed over a thousand years ago, when the concept of "profession" did not yet exist.
At that time, almost all transcendents were walking on multiple paths at the same time, because at that time, the transcendent common sense of "minimizing the number of paths one was simultaneously exploring" had not yet been summarized.
Simultaneously navigating multiple paths is not only prone to driving people insane and making progress on each path difficult, but it is also highly detrimental to inheritance. In such an environment, the mystical skills developed and mastered by each transcendent with their entire life's energy must be passed down to a successor whose personality, interests, and essence are completely aligned with theirs.
Therefore, in ancient times, extraordinary people were a very small minority in human society, and their extraordinary powers were not strong enough.
Because there was no inheritance system, almost all transcendents could not pass beyond three generations. And the depth of advancement that each person could make on the path was also very limited, relying solely on their own exploration.
It wasn't until around the fourth or fifth century that the concept of "profession" gradually emerged. Through various cultivation methods, transcendents gradually purified and radicalized their personalities, rejecting paths they didn't intend to tread. At the same time, they were wary of contaminating their inner essences, maintaining their true nature and striving to align themselves with the safe paths explored by their predecessors.
The principles of the nine great paths are actually quite vague. Their boundaries overlap and are constantly changing.
For example, the path to beauty in art is the most obvious example of change. Almost every few hundred years, people's understanding of beauty shifts. Many arts that were once considered low-brow become "ancient trends" within decades or even centuries.
But if a person is extraordinary without guidance, it is easy to go astray.
Because all ordinary people who are mentally healthy must meet multiple path principles at the same time.
For example, a wild transcendent of the Path of Devotion might be able to master the art of illumination. However, if they don't understand the core principle of the Path of Devotion, which is altruism, they could easily exploit their healing abilities to gain influence, perhaps becoming the leader of a small sect.
It would be easy to unknowingly embark on the path of authoritarianism.
Similarly, if one is too obsessed with the truth or believes that one is smarter and more talented than ordinary people, one will embark on the path of wisdom in pursuit of truth, which is a balanced path of pursuing knowledge and science and analyzing everything to dispel mystification.
If one is too obsessed with becoming a pope or a bishop and desires advancement within the church system, then one has already embarked on the path of transcendence.
It would be fine if we could walk on two paths at the same time, but everyone's mental and physical strength are limited, and humans are forgetful.
If you completely forget your original intention and become someone completely different from your original self... then the original power from the path of dedication will continue to weaken until it disappears.
The most important inheritance of a so-called "professional" is the "bottom line of the Dao." Even if the scope of the Dao is vague, its core is undoubtedly clear. Therefore, avoid testing the boundaries of the Dao. Only adhere to the most core principles and utilize only the safest portion of power. This way, you can obtain relatively pure Dao power.
Even if a priest is eager to be promoted, or uses this to gain wealth, power, or sex, as long as he remembers that the core principle of the path of dedication is "altruism", he will not lose his priest professional level.
With the establishment of the "profession" system, extraordinary knowledge could be officially passed down. From then until now, the extraordinary people have generally become stronger and stronger.
But this does not mean that the ancient mysterious skills are weak.
Almost every mysterious skill in the pre-professional era is a legacy left by the powerful people of that time.
For example, the "Shepherd's Secret Sutra" obtained by Aiwass is a mysterious skill engraved from the memory of a man named "Shepherd".
This skill requires adaptability to both the path of devotion and the path of transcendence, and requires that these two paths must be kept as balanced as possible - only when the depth of the two paths is consistent can the "art of pastoral care" be used.
When Aiwas's priest class advances, he will be temporarily unusable until the demonologist advances.
And this mysterious skill can be called a sorcery—
Its basic principle is "to use the visible to nourish the invisible, and to use the invisible to nourish the visible."
Basically, it tells the story of a mysterious skill that can make anyone stronger...
After opening the book, Aiwass fell into a hallucination. From the text, he vaguely saw a hooded man in a black robe, feeding the weak demon with his own flesh and blood.
He didn't sign a contract with the demons, but simply lured them to follow him with his flesh and blood. It was like raising a pet, or herding cattle and sheep. These weak demons were nurtured by him, becoming increasingly powerful.
As a result, he became skinny and covered with scars.
After that, Aiwass saw someone kneeling in front of the man in black robe, praying for something.
The man used a special technique to imbue the supplicant with the demon's invisible power, causing a drastic change in the flames and granting him strength.
The supplicant then became the man's follower. He killed many people and offered them as sacrifices to more and more demons. And when he became weaker, he was ruthlessly thrown into the hands of a new group of demons as blood food.
After repeated use, the demons gradually grew stronger and more numerous. After that, he used the same secret method to inject these demons into the bodies of other followers who were thirsty for power.
In this way, he gained an evil army of demon-possessed people.
The legion gathered all sorts of hidden treasures and seized all sorts of wealth for him. The increasingly frail man began to cultivate more and more phantom demons. Now, demons weren't the only ones following him. Even light-attributed phantom demons appeared beside him.
They were all raised by men from childhood. Without signing a contract, they were willing to accept the men's orders and share some of their power with others.
Under the operation of the man in black robe, he has more and more followers, and they are getting stronger and stronger.
Like a snowball, they formed a formidable force in a short period of time, and attracted encirclement and suppression from all sides.
Finally, when he was surrounded by the coalition forces, he sacrificed his followers as food and fed them to the powerful phantom demon with the art of shepherding.
Anyone who has accepted his pastoral care is powerless to resist the forced sacrifice of his pastoral care techniques.
They were used as food to summon more powerful phantom demons.
Aiwass saw it clearly in the illusion.
Although it was just a silhouette, it was undoubtedly the "Fallen Angel" who arrived and was defeated in version 3.0!
The black-robed man's plan went awry at the last moment - he tried to use the shepherding technique to inject the power of the Fallen Angel into himself.
——But unexpectedly, the pastoral care technique suddenly failed at this moment.
He himself was unable to properly contain the power of the Fallen Angel and missed the best opportunity.
Without using the pastoral method that could extract the essence of the phantom demon without damaging its essence, his actions became stealing the essence of the phantom demon - the enraged Fallen Angel hit him hard, and he was killed by the coalition assassin.
The evil legacy of the man known as "The Shepherd" was cut short.
"...Because when he tried to inject the power he had seized into himself, he had already strayed from the path of devotion."
Aiwass sighed.
He really didn't make a mistake in choosing this name.
Use humans as sacrifices to feed the phantom demon, then extract power from the phantom demon, or directly sacrifice the entire phantom demon to feed humans.
Just like a real shepherd.
Use the ubiquitous grass to graze cattle and sheep, and then obtain milk and meat from them.
That grass is mortal man.
Cows and sheep are phantom demons.
Such a bad metaphor.
——If the endless grass is not considered as a cost, "raising" cattle and sheep will naturally be a secret art that comes out of nothing.
(End of this chapter)
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