If it were armor, an enemy attacking the wielder would occasionally be trapped in the Nightmare Town. The more souls it shepherded, the higher the armor’s mental Defense Power would be.

The third option was to forge a Soul Weapon: the ’Nightmare Soul-Manipulating Spirit Line.’ This Soul Weapon could control the souls of three Awakening Tier Ability Users, and each soul could use some of the abilities it possessed in life. Even without shepherding any souls, the Soul-Manipulating Spirit Line could disrupt an enemy’s control over their Spiritual Power. It was a very complex Soul Weapon to use, but if utilized properly, it would be extremely powerful.

So, Su Zhou immediately dismissed the third option. "It needs to be controlled? Too much of a hassle. No thanks, no thanks."

’And it wants me to shepherd souls? Seriously, the truly evil people I kill become Evil Souls, and there’s no point in shepherding the ones who aren’t. Using Evil Souls for shepherding is far too extravagant.’

As for the effects of the Nightmare Suppressing Shepherd Spirit, they were actually quite good. ’This so-called Nightmare Town is basically a curse. In conjunction with its Nightmare aspect, it befuddles the target’s mind and paralyzes them. It’s an excellent control-type Attaching Spirit, and it can even be strengthened by killing enemies.’

’Unlike the Soul-Manipulating Spirit Line, this one doesn’t require me to actively control it. It works pretty much the same on both weak and strong Evil People. I can definitely keep this Evil Soul. When the time comes, I can use Attaching Spirit on my weapon. It would have an amazing effect in a fight.’

Just as the fate of the Shepherd of Spirits’ Evil Soul was decided...

「South Sea City, Heart Demon Disease Isolation Zone.」

"Alright, that should about do it."

In the isolation zone, a kind-looking young man in a white doctor’s robe was examining a patient with Heart Demon Disease. "Your condition isn’t serious," he said. "When you’ve recovered a bit, remember to calm your mind and focus your breath. Keep your Spiritual Power from fluctuating, or you’ll quickly descend into madness again."

As he spoke, he extended a hand glowing with white light and placed it on the head of a patient who was staring blankly and muttering gibberish. A moment later, he lifted his hand. The patient’s mind had indeed cleared considerably; their eyes were bright, and they had stopped speaking nonsense.

"Thank you, doctor! Thank you, doctor!"

"I’m not a doctor, just a volunteer."

Sincere words of gratitude could be heard throughout the camp. The young man, whose smile was scholarly and approachable, waved his hand, gesturing for everyone to calm down. He advised them not to speak too much, lest their Heart Demons stir again, which would make them even more difficult to suppress.

This young man was Shao Qiming, and he was, of course, no doctor.

In fact, Shao Qiming had only learned the Spirit Calming Technique he had just used earlier that day from one of the local official Transcendent.

After the riots broke out in the coastal region, Shao Qiming and Shao Shuangyue were placed under the protection of the local armed forces, all thanks to Su Zhou. Shao Nantian had his own connections, but since the military had already stepped in, there was no need to pull any strings.

But no one had expected something like the Heart Demon Disease to appear right after the mutated Hungry Ghosts. Suddenly, the vast majority of the local armed forces fell victim to it to some degree. The local Cultivator Doctors were far too few to treat and care for all the patients at once.

Shao Qiming volunteered to help. When a local Cultivator Physician saw that he possessed a healing-related Talent that could calm people, leaving them as serene as a plant, the physician’s eyes lit up. He taught Shao Qiming the ’Clear Heart Technique’ and gave him a white medical coat that could block Heart Demon Spiritual Energy, asking him to help soothe the Cultivators afflicted with Heart Demon Disease and keep them from going berserk.

Shao Qiming’s Talent truly had a miraculous effect when it came to calming the spirit. Combined with the Clear Heart Technique, the results were excellent, even though he wasn’t very skilled with it. In this aspect alone, he was even more effective than some professional Cultivator Doctors.

As an ordinary person who hadn’t gone through Cultivation, Shao Shuangyue couldn’t be infected by the Heart Demon Spiritual Energy. So, her brother roped her into helping out as a volunteer.

The young woman was surprisingly diligent, a far cry from her usual lazy demeanor.

"It’s not every day you get a quest to grind rep. It’d be a waste not to take it."

Those were her exact words. And while her head was full of games, she had a point. However, judging by her excited expression whenever she heard a patient’s thanks, it seemed her motivation wasn’t just about ’rep’.

As long as there was positive feedback, games weren’t the only interesting things in the world.

"That’s the sixtieth one... My Spiritual Power is almost depleted."

By the time Shao Qiming used the Clear Heart Technique on the sixtieth patient, pulling him back to clarity from the Heart Demon Illusion Realm, he felt as if his own body had been drained. ’So it’s true,’ he thought. ’Actually casting Magic is the most effective way to train Spiritual Power. Pure Cultivation mostly just strengthens your body; it doesn’t do much to elevate your life’s essence.’

He wasn’t Su Zhou, after all. Su Zhou not only had immense Spiritual Power but also a rapid recovery Talent like the Celestial Human Cycle. A single Clear Heart Technique consumed about 150 points of Spiritual Power. The fact that Shao Qiming could cast it sixty times—even with breaks to recover some Spiritual Power in between—was proof that he was truly not far from the Awakened Second Stage. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

’I wonder how Azhou is doing...’

As Shao Qiming sat down beside a sealed Spirit Stone to meditate and rest, he couldn’t help but think of his friend, who had been asked to purge the Heart Demon Spiritual Energy. Of course, he had no idea what Su Zhou was up to at that very moment. The last time he’d seen him, Su Zhou had been a ball of lightning, zipping around the city and zapping people to cure them of the Heart Demon Disease.