Where Did Merit Come From?

The effectiveness of the spiritual pills in the Storage Bag far exceeded Lu Yan's expectations.

Originally, he thought it would take another five to six days to break through to the Second Layer Qi Refining, but that one spiritual pill advanced the time by several days.

This was especially important for Lu Yan, who urgently needed to improve his cultivation at this stage.

In addition, during this cultivation session, Lu Yan also sensed another type of spiritual energy completely opposite to Moonlight Spiritual Energy, which was the Great Sun Spiritual Energy hidden within sunlight.

Great Sun Spiritual Energy was ubiquitous under the sun, but it was very weak and could only be refined by absorbing a large amount of spiritual energy.

Lu Yan had not yet fully understood the effects of Great Sun Spiritual Energy, but he could feel that after circulating it through his body, his spiritual energy became slightly purer.

Lu Yan speculated that Moonlight Spiritual Energy gave rise to the Transcendent system among zombies, and Great Sun Spiritual Energy might be related to the human Transcendent system in the Apocalypse Version.

However, Lu Yan had never seen survivors, so he naturally couldn't confirm the truth of this speculation.

Picking up the Soul Banner again, as the banner surface waved, twenty-seven Vengeful Souls and one Main Soul all appeared behind Lu Yan, and the eerie Ghost Domain reappeared within the room.

After the promotion, Lu Yan could feel that the burden of the Soul Banner on himself had decreased by several points, and he could maintain it for three minutes under full exertion.

This was naturally a significant improvement for Lu Yan. He put away most of the Vengeful Souls, leaving only nine.

Leaving the abandoned building, Lu Yan began to harvest Wandering Souls according to his plan, clearing the territories of weaker Transcendent Zombies in the surrounding areas.

Outside the building was the city's main street, which had long been blocked by a large number of accumulated scrapped cars.

Walking on the street covered with car wrecks, Lu Yan could clearly sense that as he appeared, pairs of eyes from the surrounding buildings were looking at him, and the shadows of the buildings were filled with bloodlust and fanaticism.

However, due to the daytime sunlight and the Great Sun Spiritual Energy contained within it, these zombies did not dare to move freely under the sun.

Looking around, Lu Yan had already ascertained that among the shops on the entire street, the strongest Transcendent Zombies were only three at Mid-Stage Qi Refinement, posing no threat to him.

Stepping closer to a large supermarket, Lu Yan could even hear the threatening roars of the Mid-Stage Qi Refinement Transcendent Zombies inside the supermarket.

A curve appeared at the corner of his mouth, and black mist instantly spread from the Soul Banner, enveloping the entire building.

The hunt began!

Half a month passed in a flash, seemingly bringing no changes to this city that had been abandoned for decades.

Still in that abandoned building, Lu Yan sat cross-legged on the ground and took out the last pill from the porcelain bottle.

It seemed he had used quite a few of the spiritual pills obtained from Steward Chu; only three remained inside.

Lu Yan had taken one to break through to the Second Layer Qi Refining, one a few days ago to accelerate his cultivation, and the one in his hand was the last one now.

Lu Yan took the pill and entered cultivation again.

As the spiritual energy vortex accelerated, a clear shattering sound echoed in the room, and Lu Yan finally broke through to the Third Layer Qi Refining.

Slowly opening his eyes, there wasn't much joy in Lu Yan's eyes.

In the past half month, Lu Yan had been harvesting zombie Wandering Souls during the day and cultivating by taking pills at night. His cultivation and strength had progressed rapidly.

However, in Lu Yan's heart, he was still not satisfied with this.

His gaze fell on the Soul Banner stuck in the ground beside him. Lu Yan reached out his right hand, but the next moment, the turbulent ghostly energy directly bounced Lu Yan's right hand away.

Seeing this, Lu Yan couldn't help but frown tightly.

At this moment, the Soul Banner had undergone earth-shattering changes compared to half a month ago.

The banner pole looked as if it were carved from some kind of crystal, with eerie spiritual energy constantly rising from it. On the black surface woven with gold threads, intricate patterns covered the entire banner.

Gruesome-looking Vengeful Souls seemed to wander within the banner, and in the center, a fierce ghostly entity resembling a Netherworld Ghost General suppressed the multitude of ghosts.

Looking directly at it, it felt as if in the next moment, a horde of ghosts would break free from the Soul Banner, devouring all the flesh and blood creatures around.

If one were to count the ghostly entities on the banner, they would find that the number of Vengeful Souls had reached an astonishing ninety-eight, making a total of ninety-nine including the Warrior serving as the Main Soul.

This number seemed large, but upon closer inspection, Lu Yan could easily refine over ten Vengeful Souls a day from his harvests. If not for the slow refining speed of the Soul Banner, it could be even faster.

Only ninety-eight Vengeful Souls in half a month, this number was actually a bit low.

It wasn't that Lu Yan didn't want to continue refining, but because the Soul Banner had reached the upper limit of Lu Yan's control at this time.

When the number of Vengeful Souls reached fifty, the quality of the Soul Banner broke through to the High-Grade Magic Tool level.

And with ninety-nine ghostly entities, the quality of the Soul Banner was already close to that of a Top Grade Magic Tool.

Even though this Soul Banner was personally refined by Lu Yan, he could not suppress a demonic magic tool close to Top Grade quality with his early-stage Qi Refining cultivation.

Top Grade Magic Tool! Those were precious magic tools typically used by Foundation Establishment cultivators. Even a High-Grade Magic Tool close to Top Grade quality was not something ordinary Qi Refining cultivators could use.

When the number of Vengeful Souls reached ninety-eight, Lu Yan experienced the Soul Banner's first riot. Even though Lu Yan did not release the Vengeful Souls, those Vengeful Souls existing within the Soul Banner still resisted, wanting to devour all living beings around.

Lu Yan suppressed the Soul Banner with all his might, relying on his control over the Soul Banner and the suppression by the Main Soul Warrior. Only then did Lu Yan barely manage to suppress the Vengeful Soul riot.

But as a price, if Lu Yan were to use the Soul Banner again in a short period, he would still face the risk of the Vengeful Souls rioting.

To suppress the riot, there were only two choices: either have sufficient cultivation to completely control the Soul Banner, or have enough strength to suppress all the Vengeful Souls.

Lu Yan chose the former, attempting to break through to the Third Layer Qi Refining to resolve the predicament.

But the current result was obvious. Even the Third Layer Qi Refining was still within the realm of early-stage Qi Refining, completely insufficient to activate a Soul Banner with quality close to a Top Grade Magic Tool.

"Do I really have to cultivate diligently for several months, waiting to break through to Mid-Stage Qi Refinement, wasting this excellent growth opportunity in the Apocalypse Version?"

Lu Yan's heart sank to the bottom.

The opportunity in the Apocalypse Version was too rare. He even had hope of mastering a Hundred Soul Banner during the Qi Refining stage, possessing enough strength to protect himself.

If he wasted this opportunity and waited, he didn't know when the next Apocalypse Version would open.

The pills obtained from Steward Chu had been completely consumed. It would be difficult to successfully break through before the version update relying solely on himself.

"It seems there's only the second path."

If his cultivation was insufficient, he could only suppress the Vengeful Souls with strength.

Normally, facing nearly a hundred Qi Refining Vengeful Souls, even a peak Qi Refining expert would only face death. Lu Yan's strength was absolutely insufficient to suppress the Vengeful Souls.

However, the Red Lotus Karma Fire Sutra that Lu Yan cultivated contained a Top Grade spell that could, to a certain extent, restrain Vengeful Souls.

Red Lotus Karma Fire!

Although Red Lotus Karma Fire originated from a demonic cultivation method, condensing the fire of the red lotus with karma, it was the most effective counter to demonic methods. Soul Banner Vengeful Souls were naturally no exception.

If he could successfully cultivate it and then suppress them with his identity as the master of the Soul Banner, perhaps there would be a turning point.

The only problem was that Lu Yan had failed to comprehend this top-grade magic technique several times before, and he wasn't sure if he could succeed this time.

"Maybe I've accumulated enough karma by killing so many zombies."

With the mindset of trying anything, Lu Yan began to circulate the Red Lotus Karma Fire technique.

In his mental visualization, formless and insubstantial things appeared with strange radiance. These things, which he had never seen before, were easily captured by Lu Yan using the method of condensing karma and refined with the Red Lotus Karma Fire technique.

"Are those things karma?"

Lu Yan hadn't expected that the magic technique that had troubled him for several months would succeed so easily.

Opening his right palm, Lu Yan instinctively circulated the technique. The next moment, a mysterious yellow flame rose from Lu Yan's palm.

Above the mysterious yellow flame, it seemed as if the gods of the heavens were chanting scriptures and Buddhist chants, emanating a majestic and righteous aura that repelled all evil.

Inside the Soul Banner beside him, the previously restless vengeful souls were completely silent.

Lu Yan fell silent, staring at the mysterious yellow flame in his hand for a long time before a voice full of doubt finally echoed in the room.

"Where did this merit come from?"