Lu Yan's mind was shaken, and he immediately picked up the Soul Banner, summoning eight vengeful spirits to scout the surrounding environment.
The vengeful spirits concealed their forms, hiding within the walls, carefully traversing between the floors of building thirteen, secretly spying outside the thirteenth floor.
A large number of zombies gathered at night, bathing in the moonlight, including even Extraordinary Zombies. Lu Yan dared not recklessly send the vengeful spirits out openly.
Through the vision of the vengeful spirits, Lu Yan clearly saw the scene outside the thirteenth floor.
In the uncleared buildings, over three thousand zombies surged out like a tide, swiftly occupying most of the district.
Almost every building had an Extraordinary Zombie, but most of these just barely reached the early stage of Qi Cultivation, barely any different from the previous Zombie Dogs. Only three had reached the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation.
These variously shaped Extraordinary Zombies stood before the occupied floors, enjoying the nourishment from the Moonlight Spiritual Qi.
Ordinary zombies, not possessing Extraordinary Power, could only passively receive the Moonlight Spiritual Qi, absorbing it randomly without being able to utilize even a tenth of its effects.
However, the Extraordinary Zombies, possessing Extraordinary Power, had already mastered some near-instinctual cultivation methods and were absorbing the precious Moonlight Spiritual Qi.
"No leader-level zombies?"
Lu Yan's doubts deepened, and he became even more cautious in his actions.
Finally, after some search, Lu Yan saw on the rooftop of building seven, a bizarre zombie with bloodied tentacles growing from its back was absorbing the Moonlight Spiritual Qi.
As its mouth opened and closed, the Moonlight Spiritual Qi visibly entered its abdomen, the tentacles behind it dancing wildly.
"Peak of Qi Cultivation!"
Lu Yan's expression suddenly changed. The next moment, the bizarre zombie, absorbing the Moonlight Spiritual Qi, turned its gaze towards the direction of the vengeful spirits.
The vengeful spirits quickly hid within the walls, daring not to continue spying.
The bizarre zombie, looking puzzled, withdrew its gaze and continued to absorb the Moonlight Spiritual Qi.
Inside the room, Lu Yan now had a grave expression on his face.
Even in the Cultivation Version, the peak of Qi Cultivation is already quite formidable, with the higher-ups in Bamboo Forest Marketplace mostly at this level.
Lu Yan once saw a peak Qi Refining senior in the marketplace wield a Flying Sword, slaying three mid-stage Qi Cultivation robbers with one strike, the power disparity being unimaginable.
This leader-level zombie was not something Lu Yan could contend with.
Even with the Soul Banner about to advance to a medium-grade Magical Artifact, it was far from being able to contend.
"There are twenty buildings in the district. I've cleared two, significantly reducing the number of zombies in the district, but the leader-level zombie in building seven is still at a distance from here.
These ordinary zombies attracting the moonlight are, in a sense, resources for the Extraordinary Zombies.
If I continue hunting zombies in the district, the reduction of moonlight will inevitably attract the attention of the leader-level zombie, and once targeted, with my cultivation, escape is impossible!"
"I must leave this place before nightfall tomorrow!"
Determined, to prevent the leader-level zombie from detecting the spying, Lu Yan arranged for the vengeful spirits to constantly monitor the movements around building seven.
And inside the room, Lu Yan used a Concealing Talisman, then re-entered his cultivation.
The Moonlight Spiritual Qi was rare, and Lu Yan wasn't sure if the same Moonlight Spiritual Qi would appear every night, so he had to seize this opportunity.
The cultivation continued until the next morning. As the sun slowly rose, Lu Yan stopped operating his Cultivation Technique.
Unlike those Extraordinary Zombies, who merely absorbed the Moonlight Spiritual Qi instinctively, the "Red Lotus Karma Fire Scripture" cultivated by Lu Yan could actively absorb Spiritual Qi to refine Magical Power, far more efficient than the Extraordinary Zombies.
After an entire night, Lu Yan could clearly feel a clarity within his soul. The strengthening of the soul made it much easier to control the vengeful spirits and the main soul within the Soul Banner.
Moreover, the tenfold Spiritual Qi concentration and the assistance of the Moonlight Spiritual Qi advanced Lu Yan's cultivation rapidly; based on last night's progress, he could reach Qi Cultivation stage two in less than a week, an extremely fast pace.
Looking outside, as the sun rose, the zombies returned to the buildings, and Lu Yan noticed that zombies had gathered once more within the cleared buildings twelve and thirteen—a mess of ordinary zombies who had returned mistakenly at night.
He took out some food from the storage bag and ate a bit casually, then picked up the Soul Banner and began today's hunt.
Before leaving this whole district before nightfall today, Lu Yan had already mapped out the distribution of zombies within, and it would be a waste to leave directly.
Therefore, Lu Yan decided to avoid the leader-level zombie and the three mid-stage Qi Cultivation Extraordinary Zombies, clearing all other areas before leaving.
The Soul Banner unfolded, the eight vengeful spirits passed through the floors, and started today's zombie hunt.
Upon first descending into the Apocalypse Version yesterday, Lu Yan's Soul Banner had only four vengeful spirits. Today, with eight vengeful spirits and a main soul, its efficiency has more than doubled.
Approaching a building, a Warrior cooperated with the other vengeful spirits to kill an early-stage Qi Cultivation Extraordinary Zombie, followed by the vengeful spirits' one-sided massacre.
The entire process did not even exceed ten minutes, and nearly two hundred zombies within one building would be completely slaughtered. Most of the remaining time was spent by the Soul Banner refining the Zombie Wandering Souls.
As time passed, the number of vengeful spirits within the Soul Banner began to grow rapidly.
Nine heads, ten heads, eleven heads... from morning all the way to afternoon.
When Lu Yan finished clearing the fifteenth building, the number of vengeful spirits within the Soul Banner had reached twenty-seven.
Early on, when the vengeful spirit count reached ten, the Soul Banner had already advanced to a medium-grade Magical Artifact.
And now, with twenty-seven vengeful spirits within the Soul Banner, once all released, the area within a hundred meters would be teeming with heavy ghostly shadows, instantly shredding regular early-stage Qi Cultivation Extraordinary Zombies; even mid-stage ones would struggle to withstand.
Controlling the medium-grade Soul Banner with so many vengeful spirits was undoubtedly a huge burden on Lu Yan's current cultivation.
Normally, he could only keep nine vengeful spirits outside for use.
Turning his gaze toward the center of the district, a few buildings remained uncleared, but they were too close to the leader-level zombie.
Although his strength had greatly increased now, Lu Yan still didn't dare to risk provoking a peak Qi Cultivation leader-level zombie.
Resolutely, Lu Yan turned around, heading toward a building outside the district with no Extraordinary Zombies, nine vengeful spirits paving the way around him.
...
Night fell, and the fifteenth had passed. The round moon above the sky was incomplete, and the moonlight shed was much less than the previous day.
Numerous zombies re-emerged from the buildings, with Extraordinary Zombies returning to their respective territories.
In Happiness District, the leader-level zombie Blood Mustache arrived at the rooftop, preparing to start absorbing the Moonlight Spiritual Qi.
For some reason, as Blood Mustache climbed to the top floor, it suddenly noticed that the Moonlight Spiritual Qi attracted by the zombies today was less than half of what was usual, not even a quarter of the normal amount.
Although Extraordinary Zombies weren't very bright, they were not fools. This situation enraged Blood Mustache, prompting it to seek the source of the problem.
But when Blood Mustache looked around, he found that the Happiness District, usually crowded with zombies, now had only hundreds of scattered zombies.
In those buildings, a large number of zombies had disappeared, leaving only piles of bones.
The furious roars instantly echoed through the night sky!