The abandoned building two thousand meters away from the residential area had rooms lavishly decorated but now covered with dust.
Lu Yan, after moving to a new location, cleared out a small area near the window for easier access to moonlight spiritual qi cultivation.
Gazing toward the residential area, despite the distance, Lu Yan could still hear the furious roar of the zombie at the late stage of Qi Cultivation.
Clearly, Lu Yan's swift escape after harvesting the zombie wandering souls was a wise choice.
A large number of ordinary zombies gathered, possessing the special power to draw in moonlight spiritual qi. This is a critical resource for extraordinary zombies that instinctively absorb the moonlight spiritual qi.
Observing the zombie distribution across the city and changes in the number of extraordinary zombies, it's evident that the power of extraordinary zombies is positively correlated to the number of zombies they command in their area.
Lu Yan harvested thousands of wandering souls from zombies, undoubtedly undermining the foundation of the Blood Mustache Zombie. Without a timely escape, a battle would be unavoidable.
"It seems in the future, harvesting zombie wandering souls should be done in farther places, as striking near risks drawing the attention of extraordinary zombies."
"The best method is to use the cover of night to let the wandering souls explore the surrounding area, map out the territories of extraordinary zombies, thus making daylight hunts easier."
Muttering softly, Lu Yan tapped the Soul Banner with his finger, and the next moment, ghostly fog rolled in as twenty-seven souls appeared in the room.
The over two-hundred-square-meter room instantly transformed into a scene of a ghostly realm where twisted-faced and grotesque-looking souls wandered, their cold aura continuously spreading.
At the center of the souls' circle, a tall and fierce giant ghost knelt as if it were a Netherworld Ghost General.
Ignoring physical means and directly attacking the soul, these souls naturally became the purest tools of slaughter.
With just a command from Lu Yan, these twenty-seven souls could massacre the hundreds of zombies in the building.
Under the leadership of the Main Soul Warrior, they could easily kill mid-stage Qi Cultivation zombies, and even face off against late stage Qi Cultivation zombies.
Increasing from eight souls to twenty-seven in just one day was today's harvest.
With more souls, Lu Yan would surely harvest wandering souls faster, with the only limit being the ritual speed of the Soul Banner.
In Lu Yan's eyes now, the hordes of zombies in this abandoned post-apocalyptic city are a vast treasure trove, countless zombie wandering souls ready for harvesting by Lu Yan.
It's not just a hope to say that even the Hundred Souls Banner, a top-grade magical artifact, could be surpassed to a Thousand Souls Banner comparable to a Golden Core Treasure.
As for the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, it requires not just low-quality souls; even a million zombie wandering souls can't support a Ten Thousand Souls Banner.
Yet in this vast world, isn't there more than just one city of the apocalypse?
In the future, there will surely be more zombie wandering souls, and stronger Extraordinary Corpse Kings; Lu Yan won't lack high-quality extraordinary zombie souls, and might indeed have the opportunity to ritually make a Ten Thousand Souls Banner.
However, for Lu Yan at the moment, the treasure is close at hand, yet he may not be able to consume it.
Holding the Soul Banner, Lu Yan sustained the current scene for just a minute, his face turning pale.
The Soul Banner's upgrade to mid-grade magical artifact increased the consumption, and maneuvering twenty-seven souls required a large amount of magical power, which almost completely drained his power in this brief moment.
Besides, simultaneously controlling so many souls also demands sufficiently strong soul power.
With a wave of his hand, he dispersed most of the souls, leaving only nine, and Lu Yan took out a Spirit Stone to replenish his magical power while muttering:
"No wonder legendary demonic cultivators who wielded the Soul Banner almost always started from the Foundation Establishment Stage.
If the number of souls within the banner is too few, it's hard to leverage their value, as they can be easily destroyed in a pinch, but once the number grows, the required magical power and soul strength would increase exponentially.
Sufficient magical power, and the Divine Sense possessed only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, are the greatest assurances for wielding the Soul Banner."
Lu Yan acutely realized his greatest flaw at the moment: his cultivation was too low, and his soul power was not strong enough to fully wield the mid-grade magical artifact Soul Banner.
"Therefore, the focus at the current stage should be on cultivation; only with enough strength can one have the confidence to command more souls."
With this thought, Lu Yan pulled something out of his storage bag.
It was a delicately crafted porcelain bottle, precisely the one bottle of pills obtained from Shopkeeper Chu's storage bag earlier.
When Lu Yan killed Shopkeeper Chu and tallied the gains, he noticed this bottle of pills.
However, at that time, Lu Yan had not yet started cultivation, and all his attention was focused on the cultivation technique, naturally neglecting the pills, gradually leaving them forgotten in the storage bag.
Only upon commanding the souls and realizing the importance of cultivation did Lu Yan recall this bottle of pills.
From the appearance, this bottle of pills was indistinguishable from the low-grade goods found everywhere in the Bamboo Forest Marketplace, as truly exceptional Spirit Pills often needed to be contained in special jade bottles to preserve the spiritual qi and efficacy, with an Alchemy Master's exclusive mark on them.
However, as Lu Yan opened the porcelain bottle, dense spiritual qi instantly surged out of the bottle.
Inhaling the pill fragrance gently, a clear aura coursed through Lu Yan's body, restoring much of the magical power depleted by the Soul Banner.
"This is indeed an authentic ranked pill, and a Spirit Pill for increasing magical power!"
Lu Yan instantly recognized that this Spirit Pill was not ordinary.
The reason for storing the Spirit Pill in a porcelain bottle may be that the original jade bottle might have contained information related to the victim's identity, so Shopkeeper Chu replaced it with a common porcelain bottle to avoid leaving traces.
Still, to be cautious, Lu Yan poured out a Spirit Pill from the porcelain bottle, its surface jade green as though it was carved from stone.
Gently scraping off a layer of Spirit Pill powder, Lu Yan consumed it and attempted to circulate his cultivation technique. Then, that insignificant amount of powder quickly transformed into pure spiritual qi, rushing into Lu Yan's body, rapidly increasing magical power refinement.
Sensing the changes within his body, Lu Yan's eyes brightened, and he then swallowed the Spirit Pill without hesitation.
Bathed in the moonlight pouring in from outside the window, Lu Yan closed his eyes and began cultivating, as the spiritual qi around him swirled like a vortex, surging madly into his body, even the moonlight from the night sky was drawn, making the moonlight here appear brighter.
A night later, the moonlight subsided, and the sun already climbed high, driving the wandering zombies back into houses.
But Lu Yan's cultivation did not cease; instead, the spiritual qi vortex grew even larger.
In the sunlight, wisps of barely noticeable fire-attributed spiritual qi gathered toward Lu Yan's body, following the spiritual qi breath work into the circulation of heaven.
It took several hours for the spiritual qi vortex to gradually dissipate.
As everything settled down, a distinct sound of breaking was heard, and the seated Lu Yan slowly stood upright.
Second layer of Qi Cultivation, breakthrough!