Having figured out the source of the merit, Lu Yan's original concerns vanished instantly, replaced by uncontrollable joy.
Stripping the merit from a single zombie wandering soul is not much, almost negligible, but in this apocalypse version, there are so many zombies!
During these days, he slaughtered only a little over ten thousand zombies, yet he was able to gain so much merit, helping him refine the prototype of the Xuanyuan Golden Virtue Fire, a Golden Core divine technique.
If he were to kill hundreds of thousands, or even millions of zombies in the future, to what extent could his merit accumulate within him? Could he fully cultivate the Xuanyuan Golden Virtue Fire before reaching the Golden Core Stage?
Just thinking about it is enough to make one's heart tremble.
Not to mention, the detached zombie wandering souls are excellent materials for nurturing resentful spirits within the soul banner.
Lu Yan could already see a dawn-lit path stretching invitingly before him.
Once again, he grasped the Soul Banner, allowing the ghostly mist to devour two zombie wandering souls.
Currently, having reached the third level of Qi Cultivation, with the Xuanyuan Golden Virtue Fire suppressing the resentful spirits, Lu Yan no longer needed to allocate part of his magical power to suppress the top-grade Soul Banner to prevent a backlash, making it easy for him to control this demonic magical artifact.
The only concern is that maintaining the resentful spirits in the outside world requires a certain amount of magical power, after all, Lu Yan's magical power cannot compare with those cultivators at the late or peak stage of Qi Cultivation, and he cannot release all the ghostly entities from the Soul Banner for an extended time.
Releasing the resentful spirits one by one, Lu Yan tested for the current limit, which turned out to be twenty-seven resentful spirits in his normal state. Any more, and the rate of magical power recovery could not keep up with the consumption rate of controlling the Soul Banner, necessitating the use of Spirit Stones for supplement.
However, this was already sufficient for Lu Yan; twenty-seven resentful spirits comparable to the second level of Qi Cultivation were enough to sweep through the outskirts of the city.
More importantly, attention must be paid to the speed at which the Soul Banner nurtures the wandering souls.
Under the sunlight, Lu Yan stepped out from the abandoned skyscraper once more, beginning his exploration and hunting towards the outside world.
...
With the help of the Xuanyuan Golden Virtue Fire, Lu Yan seemed almost divinely assisted thereafter.
No longer worried about the rebellion of the resentful spirits, Lu Yan began a thorough cleansing of the surrounding areas.
During the day, Lu Yan avoided the regions with peak Qi Cultivation level leader zombies and Foundation Establishment Corpse Kings, instead starting with the sparse zombies on the outskirts.
Although this made the speed a bit slower, the process was stable.
In this process, Lu Yan realized that his zombie hunting actions had formed a self-sustaining cycle.
Lu Yan stripped zombie wandering souls to obtain merit, the zombie wandering souls were used for nurturing the Soul Banner, and the obtained merit in turn fed back into the Xuanyuan Golden Virtue Fire, suppressing the surging numbers of resentful spirits in the Soul Banner.
Under this system, Lu Yan's strength was almost comprehensively improved, no longer limited by the backlash from resentful spirits.
And at night, Lu Yan did not waste the moonlight spiritual qi in cultivating to strengthen his soul.
Although it was difficult to break through the middle stage of Qi Cultivation in this apocalypse version, absorbing moonlight spiritual qi could lay a solid foundation for his subsequent advancement.
Once his cultivation reached the peak of Qi Cultivation, beginning to nurture the divine soul and develop divine sense, the moonlight spiritual qi strengthening the soul would bring Lu Yan countless benefits.
By early evening, after cleaning out an abandoned shopping mall, the mall alone housed over a thousand zombies, and successfully ritualized, they transformed into thirteen resentful spirits for Lu Yan.
Unfurling the Soul Banner, numerous resentful spirits gathered on its surface, and an overwhelming ghostly mist continuously spread from the Soul Banner.
The thirteen freshly ritualized resentful spirits merged into the banner, and without magical power suppression or cultivation suppression, their inherent resentment made them instinctively want to counterattack.
Before Lu Yan could react, the other resentful spirits within the Soul Banner had taken the lead.
Numerous resentful spirits rushed towards the thirteen, clashing ferociously, leaving the rebellious spirits completely stunned.
As specters from a demonic magical artifact, formed from aggregated negative emotions, betrayal and counterattacks are commonplace, never imagining they'd be brutally attacked by others for traitorous behavior.
The patterns on the banner's surface constantly changed, the original resentful spirits in the Soul Banner clearly held the upper hand, quickly suppressing all the resentful spirits.
Having completed all this, the resentful spirits then collectively looked towards Lu Yan, a fawning, ingratiating smile on their faces.
These resentful spirits possessed almost no spiritual wisdom, and logically speaking, couldn't possibly react this way, but during these days, Lu Yan would randomly separate two disobedient spirits and roast them with the Xuanyuan Golden Virtue Fire whenever he was free.
Over the course of the week, more than three resentful spirits had vanished without a trace under the Xuanyuan Golden Virtue Fire.
In the face of this life-and-death crisis, submission and placation had become survival instincts.
Regarding the actions of these spirits, Lu Yan said nothing, forming a Dharma Seal with his hand to ignite a Xuanyuan Golden Virtue Fire in the air.
A week ago, the Xuanyuan Golden Virtue Fire in Lu Yan's hand was barely a fingertip-sized flame, barely qualifying as a divine technique prototype.
Now, however, it was nearly half a fist in size, with the exorcising and demon-vanquishing flames and the grand and righteous aura it emitted both having significantly grown.
Although Lu Yan had not yet used the Xuanyuan Golden Virtue Fire in battle, nor did he know its upper limits, its suppression on these resentful spirits had indeed become increasingly formidable.
Clenching his five fingers tightly to retract the Xuanyuan Golden Virtue Fire, Lu Yan glanced at the thirteen recently added resentful spirits within the Soul Banner, whose faces now showed the same terror as their predecessors, greatly satisfying Lu Yan.
Over the past week, Lu Yan spent almost all his time hunting and sleeping, clearing nearly ten thousand zombies.
Excluding the losses and some rebellious members serving as examples, the Soul Banner now held two hundred and thirty-one resentful spirits, twice the number of a week before.
Lu Yan could clearly feel that this number had reached the limit of the top-grade magical artifact Soul Banner.
The creator of the Soul Banner likely never imagined anyone would collect so many resentful spirits at the top-grade magical artifact level.
To make the Soul Banner accommodate more spirits, there was only one solution: to enhance the Soul Banner's grade.
Elevate the top-grade magical artifact to the level of a top-grade soul refining banner!
In terms of the number of spirits alone, the Soul Banner had long exceeded one hundred.
The reason it hadn't advanced was because the primary soul, the warrior, was only at the middle stage of Qi Cultivation, far from sufficient to support the Soul Banner's advancement.
Lu Yan needed stronger primary souls!
"It's time to hunt the leader-level zombies at the peak of Qi Cultivation,"
Lu Yan murmured softly, then glanced at the sky, noting about two hours left till complete darkness.
"That's enough."
Holding the Soul Banner, spirits gradually emerged around Lu Yan, with ghostly mist beginning to extend and engulf hundreds of meters around.
And the direction Lu Yan headed was towards the residential area where the apocalypse version had just descended.