"Alien monster?"

Even Su Zhou was completely baffled when he heard the term. "Are you sure it’s not some kind of monster from an Otherworld? How can they be sure it’s alien and not from an Otherworld?" 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

’To be honest,’ he thought, ’the urban legend and Anomaly magazines I used to buy featured plenty of aliens—they were practically a staple of modern Kaidan. But ever since Yara showed up, I just assumed this world was only filled with the gods, ghosts, and demon fiends of myth and legend.’

"Of course there are." Before Su Zhou could even ask the question in his mind, Yara replied lazily, "The cosmos is so vast and filled with Spiritual Power. Even a meteorite can gain a spirit through Spirit Awakening, so what’s so special about a few alien monsters? I suppose that little fellow must have summoned one of those strange things."

"Honestly, what’s so surprising? Even you, right now, could take a spin in outer space and you wouldn’t die right away. Many of my Clan even live and reproduce in the cosmic space."

Besides Yara’s reply, the Artifice Sage’s tone also treated the matter as fact. "We can’t be certain, but the intelligence shared by the American Federation does indeed say ’alien monster.’ They wouldn’t lie about this kind of intelligence."

"Is that so... I never would have thought." As he said this, Su Zhou subconsciously glanced around the helicopter cabin.

Inside the cabin was a special operations unit from the South Sea Fleet. A squad of twelve, every single one of them was at the Awakening Tier.

The entire unit wore the same black Three-Defense Suits as he did. When they heard the term "alien monster," none of them showed any surprise. It seemed they had known about this for a while.

In response to Su Zhou’s gaze, although no one spoke, they all offered friendly nods. This wasn’t surprising; they had all just seen on the live broadcast how this young man had unleashed dozens of lightning strikes in one go! Good heavens, it was a true storm of the Five Thunders. Calling him the Current World’s Thunder God was no exaggeration.

Furthermore, they had also witnessed his actions in South Sea City. A young Transcendent this powerful and virtuous was practically guaranteed to become a future Holy Seat.

Given all that, there was no need to be so formal.

"The South Sea Fleet’s special operations unit was formerly the ’Response Unit’ under the General Security Bureau, which dealt with all sorts of special incidents," the Artifice Sage explained simply. "They have extensive combat experience against monstrous creatures."

"They are responsible for escorting you to the press conference... I know you don’t need any protection, but this is the best way to show the official stance in front of the media."

"That makes sense."

Su Zhou thought about it and realized it was true.

Beyond the three great world-class Mysterious Organizations, there were numerous local ones in remote areas where the three major powers held no sway. They might have lain dormant for the past thousand years, but the Spiritual Energy Revival was now reawakening them.

Of course, the influence of these Mysterious Organizations was limited to their local regions and couldn’t possibly affect other areas, so the Artifice Sage only gave Su Zhou a brief overview of their existence without going into detail.

Having gathered the basic information, Su Zhou now had a deeper understanding of the current world situation.

The three great Extraordinary Central Zones were, in essence, unions of Extraordinary Organizations linked by geopolitics. They were massive interest groups whose goal was to maintain order and peacefully use the Spiritual Energy Revival for development. As a result, the regulation of the Extraordinary was strictest in the Central Zones. But by the same token, the related resources and legacies were also the most abundant. For any Transcendent dedicated to Cultivation who wished to advance and become a more powerful Ability User, joining one of them was the best choice.

But if one simply wanted to be a local tyrant, or to enjoy the benefits of their abilities as quickly as possible, they could go to countries that were powerless to control Transcendents and either establish or join some organization.

In fact, in the year since the Spiritual Energy Revival began, the regimes of some countries in Africa and Southeast Asia had already been effectively overthrown. Government decrees couldn’t even reach beyond the capital cities. Major towns and cities had become independent, centered around Transcendent families and organizations. Their social structures had even regressed to the slave era. These places were also fertile ground for large, mysterious organizations like the Spirit Summoning Association to recruit new members.

"No wonder a Transcendent like the Shepherd of Spirits, who kills indiscriminately, could thrive so well and secretly acquire so many Soul Crystals."

Su Zhou finally understood why the Spirit Summoning Association had launched such an extravagant, worldwide attack. ’They want to make a name for themselves, to prove their strength, and make the Spirit Summoning Association the number one choice for all rogue Transcendents outside the three great Extraordinary Central Zones!’

But clearly, they had chosen the wrong target. At the very least, the Shepherd of Spirits had.

Observing the man’s Evil Soul in his Soul Space, Su Zhou calmly analyzed the abilities the Shepherd of Spirits could provide him.

First: Devour it directly to enhance his soul abilities and increase his Affinity for Dead Souls. A good option. One could never have too much Soul Strength, so strengthening it was definitely the right move.

Second: Refine it through Attaching Spirit. The ’Nightmare Suppressing Shepherd Spirit’ effect would give his weapon a chance to plunge an enemy into a Nightmare Town state upon attack, rendering them immobile. The souls of enemies killed by this weapon would be controlled, becoming something akin to an Artifact Spirit and strengthening the weapon’s ability to create the Nightmare Town. The maximum number of souls that could be shepherded was five.