The Second Main Soul

With the source of Merit clarified, Lu Yan's initial worries vanished instantly, replaced by an irrepressible joy.

The Merit stripped from a single Zombie Wandering Soul wasn't much, even negligible, but there were so many zombies in this Apocalypse Version!

He had only slaughtered a little over ten thousand zombies in recent days, yet he had accumulated enough Merit to refine the nascent form of the Profound Yellow Merit Fire, a Golden Core Divine Power.

If he were to kill hundreds of thousands or even millions of zombies in the future, to what extent could the Merit within his body accumulate? Could he cultivate the complete Profound Yellow Merit Fire before reaching the Golden Core stage?

Just thinking about it was enough to make one's heart tremble.

Not to mention that the Zombie Wandering Souls separated from their physical bodies were excellent materials for refining Soul Banners and nurturing Vengeful Souls.

Lu Yan could already see an Avenue of Dawn beckoning to him.

Picking up the Soul Banner again, Lu Yan allowed the ghostly mist to devour the two Zombie Wandering Souls.

At this point, he had reached the Third Layer Qi Refining. With the Profound Yellow Merit Fire suppressing the Vengeful Souls, Lu Yan no longer needed to allocate a portion of his Mana to suppress the High-Grade Soul Banner to prevent backlash, allowing him to easily control this demonic magic tool.

The only concern was that maintaining the Vengeful Souls outside also required a certain amount of Mana. Lu Yan's Mana was ultimately incomparable to cultivators in the late or Peak Qi Refining stages, making it impossible to release all the ghostly entities within the Soul Banner for extended periods.

Releasing the Vengeful Souls one by one, Lu Yan tested his limits. Currently, twenty-seven Vengeful Souls were the maximum he could maintain under normal circumstances. Any more, and the rate of Mana recovery couldn't keep up with the consumption rate of wielding the Soul Banner, requiring reliance on Spirit Stones for replenishment.

However, this was already sufficient for Lu Yan. Twenty-seven Vengeful Souls, comparable to those at the Second Layer Qi Refining, were enough to sweep through the outer urban areas.

In comparison, what required more attention was the speed at which the Soul Banner refined Wandering Souls.

Under the sunlight, Lu Yan once again walked out of the Abandoned Building and began exploring and hunting in the outside world.

With the help of the Profound Yellow Merit Fire, Lu Yan seemed to have divine assistance afterward.

No longer needing to worry about the Vengeful Souls' resistance, Lu Yan began a thorough cleansing of the surrounding areas.

During the day, Lu Yan avoided areas with Peak Qi Refining Leader-Level Zombies and Foundation Establishment Zombie Kings, instead starting with scattered zombies on the periphery.

Although the speed was a bit slower, it was stable.

In this process, Lu Yan discovered that his zombie hunting activities had formed a self-sustaining system.

Lu Yan stripped Zombie Wandering Souls to obtain Merit, the Zombie Wandering Souls were refined into the Soul Banner, and the obtained Merit could in turn nourish the Profound Yellow Merit Fire, a Divine Power, suppressing the rapidly increasing number of Vengeful Souls within the Soul Banner.

Under this system, Lu Yan's strength increased almost comprehensively, no longer limited by the backlash from Vengeful Souls.

And at night, Lu Yan didn't waste the Moonlight Spiritual Energy, using it for cultivation and strengthening his soul.

Breaking through Mid-Stage Qi Refinement was difficult in the Apocalypse Version, but absorbing Moonlight Spiritual Energy could lay a solid foundation for his subsequent advancement.

Once his cultivation reached Peak Qi Refining and he began to nurture his divine soul and birth divine sense, the strengthening of his soul by Moonlight Spiritual Energy would bring Lu Yan countless benefits.

In the evening, after clearing another Abandoned Mall, which contained over a thousand zombies, he successfully refined thirteen Vengeful Souls for Lu Yan.

Lu Yan unfurled the Soul Banner, and a large number of Vengeful Souls gathered on its surface. A vast, eerie ghostly aura continuously spread from within the Soul Banner.

The thirteen newly refined Vengeful Souls integrated into the banner. Without Mana suppression or cultivation level restraint, their instinctive resentment made them want to launch a backlash.

Before Lu Yan could react, the other Vengeful Souls within the Soul Banner acted first.

A large number of Vengeful Souls rushed towards the thirteen Vengeful Souls, and the two sides began to fight, completely bewildering the Vengeful Souls that had intended to retaliate.

As ghostly entities refined from demonic magic tools, they were naturally aggregates of negative emotions. Betrayal and backlash were commonplace, and they had never expected to be brutally beaten by other Vengeful Souls for attempting to betray.

The images on the banner surface constantly shifted. The original vengeful souls within the Soul Banner clearly gained the upper hand, quickly suppressing all the newly added vengeful souls.

After completing all this, the vengeful souls all looked towards Lu Yan, their faces revealing fawning and flattering smiles.

Vengeful souls had almost no intelligence, so logically, they shouldn't have reacted this way. However, during this time, Lu Yan would occasionally take out the Profound Yellow Merit Fire and randomly pick two disobedient vengeful souls to roast.

In this past week, more than three vengeful souls had been annihilated under the Profound Yellow Merit Fire.

In the face of such life-and-death crises, submission and flattery had become instincts for survival.

Facing the actions of these vengeful souls, Lu Yan remained silent. He formed a hand seal, and a Profound Yellow Merit Fire ignited in the void.

A week ago, the Profound Yellow Merit Fire in Lu Yan's hand was only a finger-sized flame, barely a nascent Divine Power.

Now, the Profound Yellow Merit Fire was half the size of a fist. Both the firelight that dispelled evil and extinguished demons, and the majestic and righteous aura it emitted, had significantly increased.

However, Lu Yan had never used the Profound Yellow Merit Fire in combat, so he didn't know the upper limit of this Divine Power. But its suppression of these vengeful souls was becoming increasingly powerful.

Clenching his five fingers, Lu Yan withdrew the Profound Yellow Merit Fire. He glanced at the thirteen vengeful souls that had just joined the Soul Banner. At this moment, their faces showed the same fear as their predecessors, which made Lu Yan very satisfied.

In the past week, Lu Yan had spent almost all his time hunting and sleeping, clearing nearly ten thousand zombies.

Excluding the losses and some rebellious individuals who were killed as a warning, Lu Yan had accumulated two hundred and thirty-one vengeful souls in his Soul Banner, doubling the number from a week ago.

Lu Yan could clearly feel that this number had reached the upper limit of a High-Grade Magic Tool Soul Banner.

Perhaps the creator of the Soul Banner never imagined that someone could collect so many vengeful souls at the High-Grade Magic Tool stage.

To make the Soul Banner accommodate more vengeful souls, there was only one method: upgrade the Soul Banner's grade.

Upgrade the High-Grade Magic Tool to a Top Grade Magic Tool Hundred Soul Banner!

In fact, in terms of the number of vengeful souls in the Soul Banner alone, it had already exceeded one hundred.

The reason the Soul Banner hadn't been promoted was that the main soul, the Warrior, was only at Mid-Stage Qi Refinement, far from sufficient to support the promotion of this Soul Banner.

Lu Yan needed more and stronger main souls!

"It's time to hunt Leader-Level zombies at Peak Qi Refining."

Lu Yan murmured softly, then glanced at the current time. There were still about two hours until complete darkness.

"That's enough."

Lu Yan held the Soul Banner, and vengeful souls gradually emerged around him. Ghost mist began to spread in all directions, engulfing an area of several hundred meters.

And the direction Lu Yan was heading was the residential area from when the Apocalypse Version had just arrived.