Mid-Stage Qi Refining

Back in his Cave Residence, Lu Yan shut off the restrictions sealing the entrance.

In a certain sense, He Luyuan's sudden appearance had instead been a good thing.

This Storage Bag of unknown origin had ultimately been a hidden danger. He Luyuan's appearance had served as an early warning, giving him enough time to prepare for the crisis lurking behind it.

"Possibly a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Red Lotus Demonic Sect? As it happens, I also need the subsequent chapters of the Red Lotus Karma Fire Sutra. Since he's delivered himself to my door, that saves me quite a bit of trouble."

"But with my current strength, confronting a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator will probably carry some risk. To be safe, I have to raise my strength another notch."

Lu Yan took out the Jade Spirit Pills he had bought at the Jade Mountain Market Street from his Storage Bag.

In fact, what Lu Yan had told He Luyuan was not an excuse. He had bought so many spirit pills precisely so that he could break through the early Qi Refining Stage in one go.

He Luyuan and the person behind him would certainly not care about this. In their eyes, there was no difference between Lu Yan being in the early Qi Refining Stage or the Mid-Stage Qi Refining.

But to Lu Yan, once he advanced to the Mid-Stage Qi Refining, his strength would undergo a qualitative leap.

After swallowing a Jade Spirit Pill, Lu Yan began that day's cultivation.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. With sufficient Spiritual Energy and a steady supply of pills, Lu Yan reached the Mid-Stage Qi Refining with almost no obstruction.

The smoothness of his cultivation surprised Lu Yan, who had already prepared pills for breaking through the realm in advance.

His aptitude could only be considered average, and he had cultivated for less than a year in total. Advancing too quickly would easily lead to bottlenecks.

Yet throughout his cultivation, Lu Yan had encountered no bottleneck at all.

After completing the breakthrough, Lu Yan carefully examined his own condition. Only then did he notice that the reason he had not encountered a bottleneck was that his cultivation power was far too pure, as though he had never taken pills and had instead slowly refined his cultivation power step by step through cultivation.

This result immediately reminded Lu Yan of the Great Sun Spiritual Energy he had absorbed in the Apocalypse Version.

Compared with his stable nightly absorption of Moonlight Spiritual Energy, Lu Yan spent relatively less time cultivating during the day. Usually, after slaughtering an area, he would let the Soul Banner refine the wandering souls while he took the opportunity to cultivate for a while.

Because the ruins of the city contained very little Great Sun Spiritual Energy, all of which had merged into the sunlight, Lu Yan could not clearly sense its existence. Even after cultivating for three months, he had noticed nothing unusual.

Looking back now, the reason his cultivation power was so pure was probably the work of the Great Sun Spiritual Energy.

With this thought, Lu Yan took three Sun Stones from his Storage Bag and examined them closely.

"These three Sun Stones contain the purest solar spiritual energy. Refining them should also purify cultivation power. In the Cultivation Version, they are definitely rare treasures."

"Whether cultivation power is pure or not is closely related to the stability of one's foundation and breakthroughs in realm. If I sold them to disciples of those major sects, I might be able to exchange them for quite a few benefits."

"Unfortunately, I'm only a minor Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivator right now, so I don't have such a trading channel for the time being."

Feeling somewhat regretful, Lu Yan put the Sun Stones back into his Storage Bag.

His foundation was stable now, so he did not need the Sun Stones to purify his cultivation power again.

Only half a month had passed, yet Lu Yan had already completed his breakthrough. But to Lu Yan, this was merely the beginning.

Opening his Storage Bag, Lu Yan took out a set of Array Disks and began arranging them inside the Cave Residence.

This Spirit Concealing Array was something he had obtained from those several plundering cultivators earlier, one of the few items Lu Yan had kept.

The Spirit Concealing Array could not be considered any profound formation, but Lu Yan attached great importance to its effects. It could conceal fluctuations of Spiritual Energy and block outside prying eyes.

Lu Yan had arranged the Spirit Concealing Array in the Cave Residence for only one purpose: to re-refine the Hundred Soul Banner!

As the formation activated, Lu Yan took out the Hundred Soul Banner stored in his Storage Bag. Ghost Mist billowed across the entire Cave Residence, which transformed in an instant into a realm of netherworld ghosts.

Several hundred Vengeful Souls gathered inside the Cave Residence. At the very front of the mass of Vengeful Souls, two main souls at the Peak Qi Refining knelt on one knee with their heads lowered.

Without the concealment of the Spirit Concealing Array, the disturbance caused by merely activating the Hundred Soul Banner would have been enough to alarm the entire Cave Residence district.

Lu Yan's gaze swept over the many Vengeful Souls present. He raised the Soul Banner high and urged all the cultivation power within his body.

The seemingly endless black mist began to contract, actively merging into the bodies of the Vengeful Souls. In the next moment, all eight hundred Vengeful Souls began to undergo transformation.

The hideous, resentful faces covering their bodies began sinking into them. Their illusory souls gradually solidified, and savage auras erupted from these ghostly creatures.

Normally, after Lu Yan had killed more than a hundred thousand zombies in three months, the number of Vengeful Souls he had refined should have far exceeded eight hundred. But Lu Yan had not done so.

Eight hundred was already the limit his cultivation at the time could control. Although he could use the Profound Yellow Merit Fire to suppress a greater number, doing so would affect their combat ability.

Therefore, Lu Yan had refined only eight hundred Vengeful Souls, merging all the surplus Zombie Wandering Souls into the Hundred Soul Banner and transforming them into Ghost Mist reserves.

Once Lu Yan advanced to the fourth level of Qi Refining, he would be able to merge this Ghost Mist into the bodies of the Vengeful Souls and have them advance together.

The aura of the Mid-Stage Qi Refining emerged from the Vengeful Souls. Every pale face was filled with ferocious, savage intent. This emotion seemed to have fused into their souls, and even their ghostly energy became full of aggression, as though it wanted to tear every living creature to pieces.

At this moment, they were no longer Vengeful Souls, but fierce ghosts at the Mid-Stage Qi Refining level. Though they had crossed only a minor realm, their strength had nearly doubled.

The eight hundred fierce ghosts completed their advancement, and their cultivation once again caught up with Lu Yan's. Their increased strength made them restless again, and their gazes toward Lu Yan carried a hint of eagerness to test themselves.

Faced with such a scene, Lu Yan could not even be bothered to lift his eyelids.

In the next second, torch-like radiance suddenly burst from Lu Yan's body, and the Profound Yellow Merit Fire ignited from the void.

An immense sea of merit from eradicating the disasters of the Apocalypse Version flowed around Lu Yan. Wherever its radiance reached, the chanting of the gods and Buddhas of the universe seemed to manifest. The majestic, righteous aura effortlessly suppressed the netherworld ghost realm before him.

Under the radiance of the Profound Yellow Merit Fire, the fierce ghosts let out shrill howls, their solidified souls melting like snow.

During this process, only the two main souls at the very front remained unaffected.

A moment later, the radiance of the Profound Yellow Merit Fire receded. The fierce ghosts, having gained a chance to breathe, trembled and prostrated themselves on the ground, no longer daring to show the slightest hint of offense.

Lu Yan's calm gaze swept over the eight hundred fierce ghosts present. He knew perfectly well that this was merely an appetizer.

With a wave of the Soul Banner in his hand, a gigantic soul bound by Ghost Mist appeared inside the Cave Residence. It was precisely the soul of the Gigantic Zombie King he had hunted at the end of the Apocalypse Version.

Previously, because his cultivation had been too weak, Lu Yan had kept the Zombie King's soul suppressed inside the Soul Banner.

Now that he had broken through to the Mid-Stage Qi Refining and the Vengeful Souls had advanced into fierce ghosts, he could finally add another main soul to the Soul Banner.