Two kilometers from the residential compound, inside an abandoned building, a lavishly decorated room had long since become blanketed in dust.
After changing residences, Lu Yan cleared out a small area near the window so he could draw in Moonlight Spiritual Energy and cultivate.
Gazing toward the residential compound, Lu Yan could still hear the furious roar of that Peak Qi Refining zombie, despite the distance between them.
Clearly, Lu Yan had made the wise choice by fleeing ahead of time after harvesting the Zombie Wandering Souls.
Large numbers of ordinary zombies had gathered there. Possessing the special power to draw in Moonlight Spiritual Energy, they were an indispensable resource to Transcendent Zombies that instinctively followed the ebb and flow of Moonlight Spiritual Energy.
The distribution of zombies throughout the city and the changes in the number of Transcendent Zombies made it clear that a Transcendent Zombie's strength was often positively correlated with the number of zombies in the territory it ruled.
Lu Yan had harvested the wandering souls of several thousand zombies, undoubtedly digging into the Blood Beard Zombie's foundations. If he had failed to escape in time, a battle would have been unavoidable.
"It seems that, from now on, I should go farther away to harvest Zombie Wandering Souls. Taking action nearby carries the risk of being noticed by a Transcendent Zombie."
"The best method would still be to use the cover of night to have the Vengeful Souls scout the surroundings and map out the territories of the Transcendent Zombies, making it easier to hunt and harvest them during the day."
Muttering softly to himself, Lu Yan lightly tapped the Soul Banner with his index finger. In the next instant, billowing Ghost Mist surged forth, and a full twenty-seven Vengeful Souls appeared inside the room.
The room, more than two hundred square meters in size, instantly transformed into a scene from a ghostly domain. One distorted, grotesque Vengeful Soul after another wandered through the room, their frigid, sinister auras constantly spreading outward.
At the center, surrounded by the Vengeful Souls, a tall and ferocious giant ghost knelt on one knee, resembling a Ghost General from the Netherworld.
Ignoring physical means and striking directly at the soul, their attacks made these Vengeful Souls the purest killing tools by nature.
With a single order from Lu Yan, these twenty-seven Vengeful Souls could slaughter the more than one hundred zombies throughout the abandoned building.
Under the leadership of the Main Soul Warrior, they could easily kill a Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivator. Even facing a Late Stage Qi Refining zombie head-on would not be a problem.
Growing from eight Vengeful Souls to twenty-seven, this was only the harvest from a single day.
As the number of Vengeful Souls increased, Lu Yan's speed at harvesting wandering souls would inevitably accelerate as well. By then, the only thing capable of limiting him would be the speed at which he refined the Soul Banner.
In Lu Yan's eyes, the millions of zombies in this abandoned apocalyptic city were a gigantic treasure vault, with vast quantities of Zombie Wandering Souls available for him to harvest.
When that time came, let alone the Hundred Soul Banner, a Top Grade Magic Tool—even a Thousand Soul Banner comparable to a Golden Core treasure would no longer be an unattainable dream.
As for the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, it required more than low-quality souls alone. Even a million Zombie Wandering Souls could not nourish a Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
But in this vast world, how could there be only one apocalyptic city?
In the future, there would surely be even more Zombie Wandering Souls and even more powerful Transcendent Zombie Kings. By then, Lu Yan would not lack high-quality Transcendent Zombie souls, and he might well have a chance to refine a Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
However, for Lu Yan at present, the treasure vault was right before his eyes, yet he might not be able to swallow it down.
Holding the Soul Banner, Lu Yan maintained the scene before him for less than a minute before his face had already gone deathly pale.
After the Soul Banner advanced to a Mid-Grade Magic Item, the cost of manipulating it had increased. Controlling twenty-seven Vengeful Souls required an even greater amount of magic power, and in that brief span of time, it had nearly drained him dry.
Besides that, controlling so many Vengeful Souls simultaneously also required a sufficiently powerful soul to support them.
With a wave of his hand, he dispersed most of the Vengeful Souls, leaving only nine behind. Lu Yan took out a Spirit Stone and replenished his magic power as he murmured:
"No wonder the Demonic Path Cultivators who drive Soul Banners in the legends almost all began at the Foundation Establishment Realm."
"If there are too few Vengeful Souls in a Soul Banner, it is difficult to bring out its value, and they can be easily wiped out with a snap of the fingers. But once their numbers increase, the required magic power and soul strength both increase severalfold."
"Abundant magic power, along with the divine sense that only comes with the Foundation Establishment Realm—these are the greatest guarantees for driving a Soul Banner."
Lu Yan immediately keenly realized his greatest shortcoming at this stage: his cultivation was too low, and his soul was not strong enough. He was fundamentally incapable of bringing out the full power of a Mid-Grade Magic Item like the Soul Banner.
"So at this stage, I should focus on cultivation. Only with sufficient strength will I have the confidence to control more Vengeful Souls."
With that thought, Lu Yan took something out of his Storage Bag.
It was an exquisitely crafted porcelain bottle—the very bottle of pills he had obtained earlier from Steward Chu's Storage Bag.
When Lu Yan had killed Steward Chu and counted his spoils, he had noticed this bottle of pills.
At the time, however, Lu Yan had yet to begin cultivating. Moreover, all his attention had been focused on cultivating his Cultivation Technique, so he naturally had no mind to bother with the pills. As time passed, he had left them forgotten inside the Storage Bag.
Today, controlling the Vengeful Souls had made Lu Yan realize the importance of cultivation, reminding him of this bottle of pills.
From the outside, this bottle of pills looked no different from the low-grade goods found everywhere in Bamboo Forest Market. Truly precious elixirs generally had to be stored in specially made jade bottles to preserve their spiritual energy and medicinal properties, and they would also bear the exclusive mark of the alchemist who refined them.
But when Lu Yan opened the porcelain bottle, dense spiritual energy instantly surged out from within.
After lightly sniffing the pill fragrance, a clear, lucid feeling flowed through Lu Yan's entire body. The magic power he had expended heavily through the Soul Banner was immediately replenished by a considerable amount.
"This is a genuine Ranked Pill—and a spiritual elixir that increases magic power!"
Lu Yan confirmed at a glance that this elixir was no ordinary item.
The reason it had been stored in a porcelain bottle was very likely that the original jade bottle contained information related to the victim's identity. Steward Chu had not wanted to leave any traces, so he had replaced it with an ordinary porcelain bottle.
Still, to be cautious, Lu Yan poured one pill out of the porcelain bottle. Its surface was jade-green, as though carved from emerald.
He gently scraped off a layer of powder from the pill. After taking it, Lu Yan tried circulating his Cultivation Technique. The insignificant speck of powder immediately transformed into pure spiritual energy that surged into his body, and the refinement of his magic power rapidly increased.
Feeling the changes within his body, Lu Yan's eyes lit up. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he swallowed a pill.
Bathed in the Moonlight Spiritual Energy pouring in from outside the window, Lu Yan closed his eyes and began cultivating. The spiritual energy around him seemed to transform into a vortex and madly surged into his body. Even the moonlight in the night sky was drawn in, making the light in this place appear even brighter.
After one night, the moonlight faded and the sun had risen high in the sky. The wandering zombies retreated back into the houses.
But Lu Yan's cultivation still did not stop. Instead, the vortex of spiritual energy grew larger and larger.
Within the sunlight, wisps of faintly perceptible fire-attributed spiritual energy gathered around Lu Yan, following the intake and circulation of spiritual energy as it moved through the heavenly cycle.
Only after several full hours did the vortex of spiritual energy slowly disperse.
As everything settled, a clear sound of shattering seemed to ring out. Lu Yan, who had been sitting cross-legged, slowly straightened his body.
Second Layer Qi Refining—breakthrough!
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