The effect of the Spirit Pill in the storage bag was far beyond Lu Yan's expectations.
Originally, he thought it would take another five to six days to break through to the second layer of Qi Cultivation, but that single Spirit Pill advanced this time by several days.
This was particularly crucial for Lu Yan, who urgently needed to improve his cultivation at this stage.
Moreover, during this cultivation, Lu Yan sensed another type of Spiritual Qi completely opposite to Moonlight Spiritual Qi, which was the Great Sun Spiritual Qi hidden within the sunlight.
The Great Sun Spiritual Qi was omnipresent under the sunlight, but it was very faint and could only be refined by breathing in large quantities of Spiritual Qi.
Lu Yan couldn't determine the effects of the Great Sun Spiritual Qi clearly for now, but he felt that after it circulated throughout his body, it made his Spiritual Qi somewhat purer.
Lu Yan speculated that the Moonlight Spiritual Qi might have given birth to the Extraordinary System in zombies, while the Great Sun Spiritual Qi could be related to the human Extraordinary System in the Apocalypse Version.
However, since Lu Yan hadn't encountered any survivors, he naturally couldn't confirm the accuracy of this speculation.
Picking up the Soul Banner again, twenty-seven Resentful Souls and one Main Soul appeared behind Lu Yan, recreating a sinister ghostly realm in the room.
After the advancement, Lu Yan could feel that the burden of the Soul Banner on him had decreased significantly and he could sustain it for three minutes under full exertion.
This was no small progress for Lu Yan, who then stored away most of the Resentful Souls, leaving only nine.
Upon leaving the abandoned building, Lu Yan began to follow his established plan to harvest Wandering Souls, targeting territories of weak Extraordinary Zombies in the surrounding areas.
Outside the building was a major street of the city, blocked by a pile of scrapped cars long ago.
Walking along the street filled with car wreckage, Lu Yan could clearly sense that as he appeared, pairs of eyes from the surrounding buildings were focused on him, filled with bloodlust and frenzy.
However, due to the daylight and the Great Sun Spiritual Qi within it, these zombies dared not act recklessly under the sun.
Surveying the surroundings, Lu Yan had already determined that the strongest Extraordinary Zombies among the shops along the street were no more than three at the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation, posing no threat to him.
Approaching a large supermarket, Lu Yan could even hear the threatening roars of the mid-stage Qi Cultivation Extraordinary Zombies inside.
His lips curling into a smirk, black mist from the Soul Banner instantly spread, enveloping the entire building.
Let the hunt begin!
...
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, seemingly without bringing any change to this city abandoned for decades.
Still in that abandoned building, Lu Yan sat cross-legged on the ground, taking out the last pill from the porcelain bottle.
The Spirit Pills obtained from Shopkeeper Chu had apparently been used by him quite a bit, leaving only three left inside.
Lu Yan had taken one to break through to the second layer of Qi Cultivation, another a few days ago to expedite his training, and now this was the last one in his hand.
Swallowing the pill, Lu Yan once again entered into his cultivation.
As the vortex of Spiritual Qi accelerated, a clear shatter resounded within the room, with Lu Yan finally breaking through to the third layer of Qi Cultivation.
Slowly opening his eyes, Lu Yan didn't display much joy in them.
Over the past half month, Lu Yan had been harvesting Zombie Wandering Souls by day and taking pills by night, with his cultivation progress remarkably rapid.
Yet, Lu Yan remained unsatisfied.
His gaze landed on the Soul Banner planted in the ground beside him, and as he reached out with his right hand, the fierce Ghost Qi unexpectedly pushed it away.
Seeing this, Lu Yan couldn't help but frown.
Compared to half a month ago, the Soul Banner had undergone a drastic transformation.
The banner pole seemed to be carved from some sort of Crystal Stone, with sinister Spiritual Qi continually rising from it, while the banner face, woven with black and gold threads, was covered in intricate patterns.
Grotesquely featured Resentful Souls seemed to wander across the banner face, with a ferocious ghost resembling a Netherworld Ghost General subduing them at the center.
A glance made it seem as if the next moment, the horde of ghosts would break free from the Soul Banner to devour every living being around it.
Counting the ghostly figures on the banner face, there were already an astonishing ninety-eight Resentful Souls, along with the Main Soul Warrior making it ninety-nine in total.
This number appeared large, but upon reflection, Lu Yan could easily refine more than ten Resentful Souls in a single day, and were it not for the slow refinement speed of the Soul Banner, it could be even faster.
In half a month, ninety-eight Resentful Souls felt somewhat underwhelming.
It wasn't that Lu Yan was unwilling to continue refining, but the Soul Banner had reached its limit of Lu Yan's control.
At fifty Resentful Souls, the quality of the Soul Banner broke through to the level of a Top-Grade Magical Artifact.
And at ninety-nine ghostly figures, the quality of the Soul Banner was close to the level of a Top-Grade Magical Artifact.
Even though this Soul Banner had been personally refined by Lu Yan, he couldn't suppress a Demonic Magical Artifact nearing top-grade quality with an initial Qi Refining Stage cultivation.
Top-Grade Magical Artifacts are rare items typically used by Foundation Establishment Stage Great Cultivators, and even a Top-Grade Magical Artifact approaching this quality isn't used by ordinary Qi Cultivators.
When the number of Resentful Souls reached ninety-eight, Lu Yan experienced the first outbreak of the Soul Banner, and even though he hadn't released the Resentful Souls, those within still rebelled, seeking to devour all life.
Lu Yan fully suppressed the Soul Banner, relying on his control over it and the Main Soul Warrior to barely restrain the Resentful Souls' riot.
But as a price, if Lu Yan drove the Soul Banner again shortly, he would still face the risk of the Resentful Souls' rebellion.
There are only two options to suppress the riot: either have enough cultivation to completely control the Soul Banner or enough power to subdue all Resentful Souls.
Lu Yan chose the former, attempting to breakthrough to the third layer of Qi Cultivation to relieve himself from this predicament.
But now the result was clear; even at the third layer of Qi Cultivation, he was still in the early stage, insufficient to handle a Soul Banner nearing top-grade quality.
"Do I really need to practice bitterly for several months, waiting to break through to the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation, wasting this excellent growth opportunity in the Apocalypse Version?"
Lu Yan's heart sank to the bottom.
The opportunities in the Apocalypse Version were incredibly rare, even holding the potential for him to wield a Hundred Soul Banner during the Qi Refining Stage, giving him a self-preserving power.
If wasted, waiting to see when the next Apocalypse Version might open was unknown.
The pills obtained from Shopkeeper had been exhausted, and relying solely on himself made it tough to break through before the version update.
"It seems I have to take the second path."
If the cultivation is insufficient, then only the strength could suppress Resentful Souls.
Normally, nearly a hundred Qi Refining Resentful Souls would be deadly even to a Qi Cultivation peak expert, and Lu Yan absolutely couldn't overpower them.
However, the "Red Lotus Karma Fire Scripture" that Lu Yan practiced contained a top-grade Spell that restrained Resentful Souls to some extent.
Red Lotus Karma Fire!
The Red Lotus Karma Fire, although derived from a Demonic Cultivation Technique, condensed the Red Lotus Fire through Karmic Force, being the most effective against Demonic means, and naturally, the Resentful Souls within the Soul Banner were no exception.
Should he succeed in cultivating it, coupled with his status as the master of the Soul Banner, a turning point might come.
The only problem was that Lu Yan had failed at comprehending this top-grade Spell multiple times before, and if he could do it now was uncertain.
"Maybe after killing so many zombies, I've accumulated enough Karmic Force."
With the mentality of treating a dead horse as if it were alive, Lu Yan began to operate the Red Lotus Karma Fire method.
In his mental visualization, intangible yet illuminated entities appeared, these never-seen-before objects were effortlessly captured by Lu Yan using the method to condense Karmic Force, refined through the Red Lotus Karma Fire method.
"Those things are Karmic Force?"
Lu Yan had not anticipated that the Spell which pestered him for months would succeed so effortlessly.
With his right palm open, Lu Yan instinctively activated the Spell, and in the next moment, a flame of mysterious hue rose from his palm.
Above the mysterious flame, it seemed that deities across the universe were chanting sutras, creating a grand aura that repelled all evil.
Within the Soul Banner beside him, the previously restless Resentful Souls fell silent.
Lu Yan was silent too, after staring at the mysterious flame in his hand for quite a while, he finally spoke in a voice filled with doubt within the room.
"Where did this divine merit come from?"