Chapter 136: Yin Souls, Yin Soldiers, and Ghost Gods

The Giant Spirit God didn’t pause for even a breath before continuing:

“My lord has just emerged from the Cyber World. Though that world was centered on psionic technology, even when separating out the psionic elements, its original technological framework still far surpasses this one.”

“My lord can covertly establish a company and implant Cyber Version technologies into it—demonstrating a level of tech that surpasses this era, but not so much as to plunge people into despair.”

“Integrate those Cyber Technologies into daily life—transportation, utilities, and public systems. Use civilian tech as a lever to shift the trajectory of global technological development.”

“This method of aligning with the flow of destiny for Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment is stable. But it also has a clear flaw—we don’t know when the Heavenly Dao will cast its gaze upon us, nor at what point it would consider us as having truly followed the destined path.”

“And once the tech company is established, it will inevitably attract relentless probing from all sorts of factions. The vested interests are simply too enormous. Of course, with your strength behind it, such testing wouldn’t pose much of a threat.”

Lu Yan neither agreed nor disagreed.

If the threats came solely from this modern version of the world, that would be manageable. With his current strength and the Soul Banner in hand, as long as full-scale armies weren’t deployed, he feared no amount of meddling.

But once the City Version ended, complications would surely arise. The powers of other versions would not tolerate a mysterious force suddenly emerging in their domain.

Conflict would be unavoidable.

Even if Lu Yan were to exit the stage early, the traces he left behind would remain. With the means available to high-energy beings from upper-tier versions, there was no guarantee they couldn’t trace those threads back to him.

“As for igniting a world-spanning war,” Giant Spirit God continued, “that wouldn’t be difficult for my lord either.”

“All it would take is one fragment of the psionic fission battery acquired from the Cyber Version. Just toss it between the Eastern Federation and the Allied States, and that alone would be enough to spark all-out war. The other powers would be dragged into it whether they wanted to or not—”

“Enough. Stop right there.”

Before he could finish, Lu Yan cut him off, wiping cold sweat from his brow.

Starting a tech company and playing the game from behind the scenes was one thing—but throwing a fission battery into the world to spark war? That was a blatant way to get himself killed.

In truth, it wasn’t Giant Spirit God’s fault.

Even though he had inherited Lu Yan’s Unchanging One traits and could retain memories across versions, he still didn’t understand the true nature of version updates.

In his worldview, different versions were just different independent worlds—hence why he could devise such earth-shaking methods for Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

But as for the true essence of version updates, Lu Yan would never reveal that to him.

If one day Giant Spirit could shake off the constraints of version updates and peer into the true fabric of reality—then that meant he had enough talent to bear that truth.

But if he couldn’t even grasp the surface, then exposing him to the truth now would only be a disaster.

Seeing Lu Yan’s interruption, Giant Spirit God blinked in confusion, then nodded in sudden understanding.

“As expected of my lord—so noble-hearted, unwilling to let the common folk suffer for personal gain.”

Lu Yan rolled his eyes at him.

Noble-hearted? More like self-preservation. He wasn’t scared of mass casualties—he was scared of the righteous experts from the next version showing up to obliterate him on the spot.

“We’ll put the matter of Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment aside for now. Your words have inspired me—I’ll consider this in my own time.”

“For now, let’s focus on modifying all the main-soul ferocious ghosts into soul computers and fully evolving the Soul Banner.”

With that, Lu Yan deliberately steered the topic away.

“Your will is my command,” Giant Spirit God replied seriously with a respectful nod.

“Alright, no need to kneel. Stand up and speak.”

Giant Spirit God stood tall. Clad in pitch-black battle armor, golden psionic codes flowing across his body, he exuded overwhelming might and dominance.

Lu Yan’s gaze swept over the eerie manor grounds, where eight hundred ferocious ghosts and two main souls roamed in a ghostly haze.

Compared to the intelligent and noble Giant Spirit God, these other ghosts were practically a different species altogether.

“What ideas do you have for modifying them?”

There was no doubt that if Lu Yan used first-generation soul computer technology on all of them, he’d need the entire City Version’s time span just to complete it.

The sheer scope of the work was massive. And though these ferocious ghosts had stronger-than-normal souls, they still didn’t match the soul refinement level of upper-tier psionic users. Multiple failures would force them back into the Soul Banner for repairs.

Realistically, Lu Yan could only afford to modify the two main souls—Bloodbeard and Lishi—with first-gen tech.

But Giant Spirit God’s eyes flickered with endless streams of data—and within a breath, he had an answer.

“My lord, I do have a proposal.”

“Speak.”

“My lord can use the first-generation soul computer technology to transform the main souls, turning them into beings like myself—Ghost Gods.”

“As for the rest of the ferocious ghosts, my lord can opt for simplified portable smart-brain versions of the soul computer, boosting their logic and intelligence just enough to support formations and commands.”

“Ferocious ghosts naturally grow stronger by devouring other souls. Once they’ve evolved, they can be retrofitted again with more advanced tech.”

“In my opinion, from this moment onward, the Soul Banner’s ghost entities can be divided into three tiers.”

“First, the dull-witted Yin Souls—souls corrupted by the banner, stripped of intelligence, aimlessly drifting in the soul domain.”

“Second, those modified with basic soul computers—Yin Soldiers. They retain limited intelligence and high computational ability. These Yin Soldiers can wield ghost arts to kill enemies and precisely execute formation commands.”

“Third, the Ghost Gods—main souls transformed by first-generation soul computer tech. Beings like me.”

“Ghost Gods possess immense wisdom and evolutionary potential. They can cultivate ghostly techniques like ghost cultivators, command the ghost horde, and even use the computational power of the Yin Soldiers to repair and evolve the inner soul realm.”

“Every Ghost God is both a sovereign over spirits—and a being capable of communion with the divine.”

“Excellent!”

Lu Yan’s eyes lit up, his voice brimming with praise.

In just a few sentences, Giant Spirit God had constructed a complete hierarchy for the Soul Banner.

Once the Ghost Gods and Yin Soldiers were in place, Lu Yan would be more than capable of sweeping aside any Foundation Establishment cultivators in this version.

And if he could successfully establish his Foundation in the City Version, then even against peerless geniuses like Ji Xingyao, who could challenge Core Formation cultivators, he might still stand a fighting chance.

That would give him a powerful advantage heading into the next version.

“Now it’s just a matter of grinding through the work. We need to finish evolving the Soul Banner quickly, so I’ll have enough time left to prepare for the Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.”

As Lu Yan was thinking this, Giant Spirit God suddenly dragged over the main soul Bloodbeard and said with a grin:

“My lord, let us begin with Bloodbeard’s transformation using the first-generation soul computer technology.”

“With his many flexible tendrils and sensory appendages, once he’s modified, he might even be able to handle the lower-tier Yin Soldier conversions—saving you an enormous amount of time.”

Though he said it with reverence, the mischievous smile on his face couldn’t be hidden.

As for Bloodbeard, with only the most rudimentary intelligence, he stood there in a daze—completely unaware of the terrifying transformation he was about to face.

(End of Chapter)