Late at night, the waxing gibbous moon was almost completely obscured by the horizon again. The sky was already faintly turning white.
The pendulum of the grandfather clock in Aiwass's room swung rhythmically, its hands pointing to 4:20 AM.
Yet, he remained seated in his wheelchair like a statue, unmoving, engrossed in the shepherds apocryphon.
Two streams of eerie purplish-red blood tears continuously flowed from Aiwass's eyes, who sat blankly at the table as if his soul had departed. They dripped onto the pages of the book, then were absorbed directly into it.
Aiwass was deeply engrossed in the secrets within the book.
The skin on his face was flushed crimson, and the blood vessels on his forehead and forearms visibly bulged. What should have been blue veins now displayed deep purple, spiderweb-like patterns.
Despite being winter, Aiwass's room remained warm. However, with each deep, heavy breath he took, pale white, superheated mist continuously exhaled from his mouth. Occasionally, when he coughed deeply, sparks would erupt.
It wasn't until dawn, when the birds began to chirp outside, that Aiwass awoke as if from a vivid dream.
His eyes regained their clarity, and the purple patterns on his face slowly receded.
By this time, he had unknowingly turned to the very end of the thin, black leather booklet. The knowledge was deeply etched into Aiwass's memory; he could recall it clearly the moment he closed his eyes. The words themselves even seemed to sparkle.
"...So this is what it is."
Aiwass's expression was solemn as he murmured softly.
This black esoteric book described a mysterious technique called "Shepherding."
It was a mysterious technique that existed over a thousand years ago—before the concept of "profession" even existed.
At that time, almost all Transcendents simultaneously walked multiple Paths. This was because, at that time, the transcendent common sense of "minimizing the number of Paths one simultaneously delves into" had not yet been summarized.
Walking multiple Paths simultaneously not only made people prone to madness and made progress on each Path difficult, but it was also extremely unfavorable for inheritance. In such an environment, the mysterious techniques developed and mastered by each Otherworlder, using their lifelong efforts, had to be passed on to successors whose personality, hobbies, and essence were completely identical to their own.
Therefore, in ancient times, Transcendents were a very rare existence in human society. Moreover, their transcendent power was not strong enough.
Because there was no inheritance system, almost all Transcendents could not pass on their knowledge for more than three generations. And each person, relying solely on their own exploration, could only advance to a very limited depth on their Path.
It wasn't until around the fourth or fifth century that the concept of "profession" gradually emerged. Transcendents, through various cultivation methods, gradually purified and radicalized their personalities, discarding Paths they did not intend to pursue. At the same time, they were wary of their inherent personality being contaminated, and while maintaining their original intention, they tried to align themselves with the safe Paths already explored by their predecessors.
The principles of the nine great paths are actually very vague. Their boundaries overlap and are constantly changing.
For example, the Path of "Beauty" related to art shows the most obvious changes. Almost every few centuries, people's understanding of "Beauty" changes. Many arts once considered inferior became "ancient trends" decades or centuries later.
However, if an Otherworlder lacks guidance, it is very easy for them to go astray.
Because all mentally healthy ordinary people must simultaneously meet the criteria of multiple Paths.
For example, a wild Path of Dedication Otherworlder might also discover Illumination. But if they don't know that the core principle of the Path of Dedication is "altruism," they can easily go down the Path of "using their healing abilities to seize influence," such as becoming the leader of a small sect.
That makes it easy to unknowingly embark on the Authority Path.
Similarly, the Balance Path, which pursues knowledge and science, and demystifies all things, if too obsessed with truth, or if one considers oneself a brilliant genius superior to mortals, will embark on the Wisdom Path, which pursues truth. →
If one is too fixated on becoming a Pope or Bishop, craving advancement within the Church system, then one has already embarked on the Path of Transcendence.
It's fine if one walks two Paths simultaneously. But everyone's mental and physical energy is limited, and humans are forgetful.
If one completely forgets their original intention and becomes a completely different person from their initial self... then the power that originally came from the Path of Dedication will also continuously weaken until it disappears.
The most important inheritance of a "profession" is the "bottom line of the Path." Even if the scope of the Path is vague, its core must be clear. Therefore, one should not test the boundaries of the Path, but only follow the most core part of its principles and use only the safest part of its power. This way, one can obtain relatively pure Path power.
Even if a priest craves advancement, or seeks wealth, power, or lust, as long as they remember that the core principle of the Path of Dedication is "altruism," they will not lose their priestly professional rank.
After the "profession" system was established, transcendent knowledge could be formally passed down. From then until now, Transcendents have generally become stronger and stronger.
But this does not mean that ancient mysterious techniques were weak.
Almost every mysterious technique from the pre-professional era was an inheritance left behind by the strong individuals of that time.
For example, the shepherds apocryphon that Aiwass obtained is a mysterious technique inscribed from the memory of a man named "Shepherd."
This technique simultaneously requires adaptability to the Path of Dedication and the Path of Transcendence, and demands that these two Paths must be kept as balanced as possible—only when the depth of both Paths remains consistent can the "Art of Shepherding" be used.
Once Aiwass's priest profession advances, he will temporarily be unable to use it until his Demon Scholar profession advances.
And this mysterious technique is practically a dark art—
Its basic principle is "to nourish the intangible with the tangible, and the tangible with the intangible."
Overall, it describes a mysterious technique that can make anyone stronger... After opening this book, Aiwass fell into a hallucination. From the text, he vaguely saw a hooded man in a black robe feeding his flesh and blood to weak demons.
He did not sign a contract with the demons, but simply lured them to follow him with flesh and blood. It was like raising pets, or herding cattle and sheep. These weak demons were nurtured by him and grew increasingly powerful.
He, too, became emaciated and covered in scars.
After that, Aiwass saw someone kneeling before the black-robed man, pleading for something.
And with a special technique, the man infused the intangible power of that demon into the supplicant's body. In a burst of intense fire, it underwent a drastic transformation, also granting it power.
Thus, the supplicant became the man's follower. He killed many people, offering them as sacrifices to an increasing number of demons. And after he weakened, he was ruthlessly thrown to a new batch of demons as blood offerings.
Through such repeated utilization, the demons gradually grew stronger and their numbers increased. After that, he used the same secret method to inject these demons into the bodies of other followers who craved power.
In this way, he obtained an evil army composed of demon-possessed individuals.
The army collected various secret treasures for him and seized all kinds of wealth. The increasingly emaciated man began to cultivate more and more Phantom Demons. By this time, not only demons followed him. Even light-attributed Phantom Demons appeared by his side.
They were all nurtured by the man from a young age. Without a contract, they were willing to accept the man's command and share a portion of their power with others.
Under the black-robed man's operation, his followers grew in number and strength.
They snowballed, forming a terrifying force in a short period and attracting encirclement from all sides.
Finally, during the encirclement by the allied forces, he sacrificed his followers as sustenance, feeding them to powerful Phantom Demons through the Art of Shepherding.
Anyone who had been Shepherded by him was powerless to resist the forced sacrifice of the Art of Shepherding.
They were used as sustenance to summon even more powerful Phantom Demons.
Aiwass saw it clearly in his vision.
Although it was just a silhouette, it was undoubtedly the Fallen Angel who had descended and was defeated in Version 0!
The black-robed man's plan went awry at the last moment—he attempted to inject the Fallen Angel's power into himself using the Art of Shepherding.
—But unexpectedly, the Art of Shepherding suddenly failed at that moment.
He himself could not properly contain the Fallen Angel's power. He missed the optimal timing.
Without using the Shepherding Method, which could extract the essence of a Phantom Demon without harming its nature, his actions became an act of stealing the Phantom Demon's essence—the enraged Fallen Angel struck him down, and he was subsequently killed by the allied assassins.
The man known as "Shepherd," his evil inheritance, was thus severed.
"...Because when he tried to inject the power he had seized into his own body, he had already deviated from the Path of Dedication."
Aiwass sighed.
He really hadn't gotten the name wrong.
Using humans as sacrifices to feed Phantom Demons, and then extracting power from the Phantom Demons, or directly sacrificing the entire Phantom Demon to feed humans.
Just like a true Shepherd.
Herding cattle and sheep with ubiquitous grass, and then obtaining milk and meat from the cattle and sheep.
The grass represents mortals.
The cattle and sheep represent Phantom Demons.
Such a harsh analogy.
—If one does not consider the endless grass as a cost, then "Shepherding" cattle and sheep is naturally a secret art of creation out of nothing.