Lu Yan walked through the old corridor, holding the Soul Banner, as the resentful spirits around him transformed into ghostly shadows, weaving through the walls to scout the surroundings.
Occasionally, a roar echoed from a room but quickly faded away, followed by a resentful spirit respectfully placing a wandering soul beside Lu Yan.
Each time this happened, ghostly mist spread from the Soul Banner, easily refining and devouring the wandering souls.
Then, Lu Yan paused at the stairwell, as five resentful spirits that had cleared the entire staircase stood respectfully behind him.
From the topmost floor of this dilapidated building, Lu Yan had commanded the resentful spirits to clear most of the floors, leaving only the ground floor.
The number of zombies on these floors was far fewer than on the top floor, but there were still more than thirty, and refining the wandering souls had already revealed the beginnings of a sixth resentful spirit within the Soul Banner.
This speed was already quite fast, and it could steadily increase. The most crucial part was that hunting zombies posed no risk of being hunted by cultivators.
Gazing towards the staircase leading to the first floor, Lu Yan, not yet having advanced to the Foundation Establishment Stage, lacked a Divine Sense, but his nascent Spiritual Sense warned him of the danger lurking below.
This was the reason Lu Yan did not immediately send the resentful spirits below.
"With five resentful spirits protecting me, even if there are more ordinary zombies, they can only fall prey to the vengeful spirits.
What could make my Spiritual Sense so alert? Could it be a zombie with Extraordinary Power?"
"With Spiritual Qi concentration ten times that of urban areas, it seems unsurprising to birth an extraordinary zombie comparable to a cultivator."
Feeling a bit cautious, Lu Yan took out a Spirit Stone from his storage bag to replenish his Magical Power, then poured a large amount of Magical Power into the Soul Banner, causing the pitch-black ghostly mist to spread from the second floor to the first floor.
The five resentful spirits hid within the ghostly mist, their vision completely unimpeded by the darkness, and infiltrated the first floor.
Meanwhile, Lu Yan remained on the second floor, holding a talisman to conceal his presence.
Through the view of the resentful spirits, Lu Yan took in the scene on the first floor.
The first floor led directly to the outside, and the unit door had long been removed by the zombies, with white bones and bloodstains scattered at the entrance.
Inside the unit door on the first floor, a large number of zombies seemed to gather to avoid the sunlight, numbering in the hundreds.
The degree of decay on these zombies was much less than that of the zombies upstairs, with some even maintaining complete forms.
In the center of the many zombies was an open area, where a massive zombie, nearly three meters tall, stood.
"It's indeed an extraordinary zombie!"
Lu Yan's eyes narrowed. He sensed a threat from the zombie but not a lethal one, roughly judging its strength to be at the early to mid-Qi Cultivation stage.
In terms of realm, this zombie far surpassed Lu Yan, but cultivators do not solely rely on cultivation to decide victory, especially for low-tier cultivators.
Spells, Magical Artifacts, and Talismans are the true keys to determining the outcome of a battle.
With numerous talismans and the Soul Banner, commanding five resentful spirits, Lu Yan was even bold enough to confront an average mid-Qi Cultivation stage cultivator.
Not to mention that resentful spirits perfectly restrained zombies, giving Lu Yan great confidence.
As the ghostly mist spread to the first floor, the ordinary zombies remained unfazed, while the Giant Zombie seemed to sense something, its body swaying and issuing threatening roars.
As the Giant Zombie moved, the hundreds of zombies also began to howl.
Lu Yan's eyes focused, and he quickly increased the Magical Power output, causing the ghostly mist to engulf the entire first floor in an instant.
The Cold Yin Qi turned into frost, slowing the zombies' movements, while within the ghostly mist, five spectral claws reached out, all targeting the Giant Zombie.
For the resentful spirits, no matter how many ordinary zombies there were, they posed no threat—the only one that could potentially harm them was this Giant Zombie with Extraordinary Power.
Five Ghost Claws penetrated the Giant Zombie's body, causing it to roar in anger, as a black iron-like sheen emerged from its flesh, making it resemble wrought iron, impervious to swords and guns.
However, the physical defense was useless against the five resentful spirits. The Ghost Claws that entered the Giant Zombie's body had already touched its soul.
Just as the spirits were about to separate the Giant Zombie's soul, powerful Extraordinary Power suddenly erupted from its soul, and the connection between the Giant Zombie's soul and body far surpassed that of ordinary zombies.
Five ghostly shadows were instantly sent flying, with cracks appearing on their intact soul bodies, while the just-bursting Giant Zombie displayed agility that belied its massive frame, shattering the floor and catching up with one of the resentful spirits in a single step.
The black iron fist was raised, emitting a faint glow, and came crashing down on the spirit.
"Boom!"
In an instant, a splash of blood erupted, as numerous zombies caught off guard were smashed to pieces, their bodies crushed, and the whole building trembled under this immense force.
However, the intangible resentful spirit had already burrowed underground, evading the punch.
Lu Yan could feel that the faint glow on the fist surface contained Extraordinary Power capable of harming the soul body, and if not evaded, a Qi Cultivation stage soul body would suffer severe damage.
After failing to capture the spirit, the surrounding ghostly mist rolled in, completely obscuring the Giant Zombie's vision.
The Giant Zombie roared in anger, attempting to seek out the spirit, when a Ghost Claw suddenly emerged from the mist and pierced into the Giant Zombie's body.
This time, the spirit did not attempt to forcibly separate the Giant Zombie's soul but used the Ghost Claw as a blade, leaving a scar on the soul, as eerie Ghost Qi began to erode the Giant Zombie's soul.
The Giant Zombie instinctively retaliated with another punch, but the spirit had already retreated into the depths of the mist, leaving yet another unlucky zombie shattered under the blow.
Thus, the spirits in the ghostly mist, under Lu Yan's control, began a game of hide-and-seek with the Giant Zombie.
The spirits abandoned the idea of a single fight resolution, leaving only a few wounds on the soul with each ambush, while the Giant Zombie's counterattacks were rendered ineffective due to the mist's concealment.
During the ongoing battle, the spirits even had spare energy to hunt those bewildered zombies, leaving a multitude of wandering souls scattered around.
Soon, the entire first floor was left with only the Giant Zombie.
As a Ghost Claw pierced into the Giant Zombie's body once more, Lu Yan suddenly saw the black iron sheen quickly fade from the Giant Zombie, restoring it to a fleshy form.
Clearly, the wounds on its soul dealt a critical blow to the Giant Zombie, exhausting its Extraordinary Power and even preventing further use of the Metalization Ability.
The spirit grasped the Giant Zombie's soul, encountering no resistance this time, as a powerful wandering soul, covered in scars, was torn from the Giant Zombie's body.
In the next moment, the towering body of the Giant Zombie rapidly decayed, its bones collapsing with a crash.
Lu Yan, hidden on the second floor, slowly descended the stairs, his gaze fixed on the battlefield where the scarred Giant Zombie wandering soul hovered.
Unlike ordinary wandering souls, the Giant Zombie's soul had a distinct outline and form.
Even though it lacked the heaven and earth dual souls, the Giant Zombie's soul was strong enough to rival a mid-Qi Cultivation stage cultivator, which was why the five resentful spirits found it difficult to extract its soul.
"Although the mid-Qi Cultivation stage soul has defects, its Soul Power still surpasses several resentful spirits.
Such a powerful soul could certainly be refined into the main soul of the Soul Banner!"