Chapter 40: Mid-Stage Qi Refining

Back inside his cave dwelling, Lu Yan activated the restriction that sealed its entrance.

In some ways, He Luoyuan’s sudden appearance wasn’t entirely a bad thing.

That mysterious storage pouch had always been a latent threat, and He Luoyuan’s unexpected visit had served as an early warning—giving Lu Yan time to prepare for whatever dangers might lie behind it.

“A suspected Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Red Lotus Demon Sect? Perfect. I happen to need the next part of the Red Lotus Karmic Flame Scripture. If they’re coming to me, that saves me a lot of trouble.”

“But with my current strength, facing a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator still poses a risk. I need to power up—fast.”

Lu Yan pulled out the Jade Spirit Pills he had bought in Yushan Market.

In truth, what he told He Luoyuan wasn’t a lie—he had bought these pills to break through from early-stage Qi Refining.

He Luoyuan and whoever stood behind him likely wouldn’t care. In their eyes, whether Lu Yan was early- or mid-stage made no difference.

But to Lu Yan, advancing to mid-stage Qi Refining would be a qualitative leap in power.

He swallowed a pill and began his cultivation.

Half a month passed in a flash. With an abundant supply of spiritual energy and pills, Lu Yan encountered almost no resistance as he broke through to mid-stage Qi Refining.

The breakthrough was so smooth that it even caught Lu Yan off guard—he had already prepared a breakthrough pill in case of bottlenecks.

By all accounts, his aptitude was average, and he hadn’t even been cultivating for a full year yet. Such rapid advancement should’ve triggered some form of stagnation.

Yet throughout the process, he experienced none.

When he carefully examined his internal condition post-breakthrough, Lu Yan discovered the reason: his spiritual power was incredibly pure. It was as if he had never used pills, slowly refining his power step by step through sheer perseverance.

This instantly made him recall the Great Sun spiritual energy he had absorbed in the post-apocalyptic version.

Compared to the consistent Moonlight spiritual energy he absorbed at night, he spent less time cultivating during the day—usually only after slaughtering an area’s worth of zombies and letting his soul banner refine ghosts while he trained on the side.

In that ruined city, the Great Sun spiritual energy was so rare and fully infused into the sunlight that Lu Yan couldn’t even perceive it clearly, so after three months of training, he had noticed nothing unusual.

But now, it was clear: the extraordinary purity of his spiritual power was thanks to the Great Sun spiritual energy.

With that realization, Lu Yan pulled out the three Sunstones from his storage pouch and inspected them closely.

“These stones contain the purest solar essence. Refining them should also purify my spiritual power. That would make them priceless treasures in this cultivation realm.”

“Whether one’s power is pure or not directly impacts their foundation and breakthroughs. If I sold them to major sect disciples, I could likely trade for something big.”

“Too bad I’m just a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator right now. I don’t have access to those channels yet.”

With a trace of regret, Lu Yan put the Sunstones back into his pouch.

Now that his foundation was stable, there was no urgent need to refine his power further with the stones.

Although only half a month had passed, Lu Yan had already completed his breakthrough—but for him, this was just the beginning.

He opened the storage pouch and took out a formation disk, then began setting it up inside the cave.

This was a Concealing Spirit Formation he had acquired from those bandit cultivators. It was one of the few items he had kept.

It wasn’t a high-level formation, but its effects were critical to Lu Yan: it could hide spiritual fluctuations and block external detection.

His reason for setting it up was simple—he was going to re-refine his Hundred Soul Banner.

As the formation activated, Lu Yan retrieved the banner from his storage pouch. A dense ghostly fog quickly filled the entire cave, transforming it into a realm of ghosts and shadows.

Hundreds of resentful spirits gathered around him. At their forefront, two Peak Qi Refining main souls knelt with heads bowed.

If not for the Concealing Spirit Formation, the eruption of energy from simply opening the banner would have alerted the entire cave district.

Lu Yan’s eyes swept over the spirits. Raising the banner high, he surged his spiritual power.

An endless stream of black mist began to contract, flowing into the bodies of the ghosts. A moment later, the 800 ghosts began to transform.

The vicious, twisted faces on their bodies sank inward. Their vague, transparent forms started to solidify. Fierce, malicious auras burst forth from them.

By right, after killing over 100,000 zombies in the post-apocalyptic world, Lu Yan could’ve refined far more than 800 ghosts—but he hadn’t.

Eight hundred was the upper limit his cultivation could control at the time. Any more, and even though he had the Xuanhuang Merit Flame to suppress them, it would’ve compromised combat effectiveness.

So Lu Yan had only refined 800 and stored the rest of the zombie ghosts as ghostly fog within the banner—reserves for future upgrades.

Now that he had advanced to the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, he could use that ghostly fog to help those spirits ascend alongside him.

The aura of mid-stage Qi Refining emerged from the ghosts. Their pale faces were now filled with savagery and malice—their murderous instincts seemingly fused into their very souls. Even their ghostly energy had grown more violent, thirsting to tear living beings apart.

These were no longer mere resentful spirits—they had become mid-stage vengeful ghosts. The leap might’ve only been one small realm, but their power had nearly doubled.

As the 800 ghosts completed their upgrade, they once again caught up to Lu Yan’s cultivation. The sudden increase in power made them restless. Their gazes toward Lu Yan now brimmed with ambition and hunger.

But Lu Yan didn’t even bother lifting an eyebrow.

In the next second, a brilliant light—like a burning torch—burst from his body. The Xuanhuang Merit Flame ignited from the void.

Having eradicated the apocalyptic threat, Lu Yan carried immense karmic merit. The golden glow around him flowed with divine brilliance. In its radiance, it was as though gods and buddhas chanted in harmony. That righteous, awe-inspiring energy crushed the entire ghostly domain without resistance.

Under the Merit Flame’s light, the vengeful ghosts let out piercing howls. Their newly solidified bodies began to melt like ice.

Only the two main souls at the front remained unaffected.

Moments later, the brilliance faded. The ghosts, gasping with terror, collapsed and prostrated on the floor, not daring to even twitch.

Lu Yan’s gaze swept indifferently over the 800 spirits. He knew clearly: this was just the appetizer.

With a wave of his banner, a colossal soul bound by ghostly mist emerged in the cave.

It was the giant corpse king he had slain at the end of the apocalyptic version.

Before, his cultivation had been too weak, and he’d sealed the soul deep within the banner.

But now that he had reached mid-stage Qi Refining and elevated his ghosts into vengeful spirits, it was finally time to add one more main soul to the Hundred Soul Banner.

(End of Chapter)