For ordinary people to successfully refine the Soul Banner into a Merit Treasure, it is undoubtedly an absurd fantasy.
First, from the diary, it can be seen that refining a Merit Treasure requires a large amount of Power of Merit, and even the Moral Sect must open the Merit Pool to have this foundation.
The user holding the Thousand Souls Banner must have harvested countless souls, committing staggering slaughter. It’s already a great fortune if such deep karmic force is not suppressed by merit, let alone accumulating enough merit to refine a Merit Treasure.
Even if viewed from another perspective, is it feasible for a demonic leader to not act directly, but instead find someone with great merit to refine a merit Soul Banner treasure?
Clearly, this approach is also impossible.
Even if the holder has no sins or karmic force, refining the Soul Banner by sacrificing so many souls will accumulate vast resentment and karmic force which are naturally incompatible with merit, making compatibility impossible.
Thus, in the Xianxia version, from ancient times to the present, there has never been any absurd saying of a demonic merit treasure.
But if these matters relate to Lu Yan, the result is different.
First, Lu Yan possesses a vast amount of merit, and with the apocalypse version as a reserve, there is absolutely no shortage of merit.
Secondly, whether it be vengeful souls or main souls, Lu Yan’s Soul Banner is essentially harvested from zombies. Zombies lack the two heavenly souls, leaving their wandering souls dull; the resentment left after refining is less than one-thousandth of a normal Soul Banner, and there is absolutely no karmic force.
In this situation, the Soul Banner completely qualifies to be refined into a Merit Treasure.
As for the last point, it was actually a conjecture Lu Yan made after perusing the "Moral Diary", based on some information within the book.
In the "Moral Diary", every inner sect disciple of the Moral Sect would descend from the mountain to acquire merit after Foundation Establishment.
Their way of acquiring merit mostly involves slaying demons and eliminating evil. Interfering in mortal matters might instead cause calamities that taint with karmic force, diminishing merit. This is entirely different from Lu Yan’s personal experience.
Lu Yan personally experimented, finding that slaying zombies threatening humanity does not accumulate merit. Instead, extracting zombie wandering souls to liberate their human souls from physical constraints grants merit.
Moreover, previously slaying those plundering loose cultivators and demonic cultivators showed no trace of merit growth.
Lu Yan and the disciples of the Moral Sect from thousands of years ago seem to be on completely different roads to accumulate merit.
Lu Yan boldly speculates this may relate to the Moral Sect’s heritage.
The disciples’ path aligns with humanitarian order; slaying demons and protecting humanitarian order grants human merit.
Lu Yan’s engagement in the apocalypse version follows a path entirely different from the Xianxia version.
Lu Yan extracting zombie souls is to eradicate apocalypse chaos, acting as the savior for the Heavenly Dao; naturally, the apocalypse version’s Heavenly Dao bestows merit blessings.
Lu Yan, bearing Heavenly Dao merit, if refining a Merit Treasure, is likely to manifest differently.
Once a Merit Treasure is achieved, even if Lu Yan presents the Soul Banner before the upright sects, facing the phenomenon of divine merit with floating golden lotuses and descending rosy clouds, probably no one would dare to utter a word of dissent.
"If one could truly refine it successfully, what need is there to worry about exposure issues?"
Lu Yan felt a sudden heart surge.
Continuing to flip through the "Moral Diary", it contained no information on how to refine Merit Treasures, returning to recording daily routines, which left Lu Yan a bit disappointed.
However, the "Moral Diary" was never a cultivation text, merely a diary from thousands of years ago, obviously unlikely to contain methods for refining Merit Treasures.
Lu Yan turned to the last page, which only recorded the date [Year 76,351 of the Celestial Dao, July 13].
Apart from that, the page was blank, as if everything abruptly ended at this moment, much like the Moral Sect vanishing into the long river of history.
Closing the book with slight regret, Lu Yan began pondering the information from the "Moral Diary".
Compared to Lu Yan’s previous thoughts, refining the Soul Banner into a Merit Treasure clearly appears more feasible, with the only issue being where to find the method for refining Merit Treasures.
"The Moral Sect was heavily damaged due to an attack by sects of the righteous path, and then was almost entirely massacred by Demonic Sects in the subsequent righteous-demonic wars.
According to this, the major sects of righteous and demonic paths that attacked the Moral Sect at that time should still contain its scriptures.
After all, this is the heritage of the Merit Techniques, logically impossible for any sect to let go."
"But the Moral Sect has been extinct for thousands of years; no sect is known to have propagated the Merit Techniques, and even Merit Divine Techniques have gradually faded away.
Under such circumstances, the emphasis on Merit Techniques in various sects must have greatly diminished, and merely seeking a method for refining a Merit Treasure may not be difficult."
Lu Yan quietly contemplated.
Currently, in the cultivation realm, the top ten orthodox sects of the righteous path govern many blessed lands, with numerous affiliated sects.
The Seven Major Superior Sects of the demonic path are renowned throughout the cultivation realm, with ancient sects on both sides having legacies spanning thousands of years.
The Red Lotus Demon Sect, which rose post the righteous-demonic wars, is a newcomer with several thousand years of history, yet remains the youngest among the orthodox and superior demonic sects.
"To seek the method for refining a Merit Treasure, one should likely start with these major sects. The best target is the Red Lotus Demon Sect, suspected of having seized the Moral Sect’s heritage to establish its foundation.
After slaying Cheng Yu, I obtained information that the Red Lotus Demon Sect is scheming over a hidden relic in the Wushan region.
Could this information be exploited to gain a method for refining a Merit Treasure?"
Lu Yan carefully considered the feasibility of this plan.
At that moment, the restriction outside the cave mansion suddenly showed signs of being triggered, causing Lu Yan to immediately furrow his brows and look towards the entrance of the cave mansion.
Now, Cynan Valley Marketplace is blocked by people led by Xie Yun, with many cultivators inside too preoccupied to care, so why would anyone come to his cave mansion proactively?
"Could it be other loose cultivators coming to inquire about the investigation?"
With caution rising in his heart, Lu Yan placed the book into a storage bag after a brief thought, got up, and approached the cave mansion door.
The restriction of this cave mansion functioned merely like a doorbell; mid-stage Qi Cultivation cultivators or above could not be stopped if they intended to intrude, and the safety of the Cave Mansion District largely relied on marketplace order.
Now with the disorder in Cyan Valley Marketplace, Lu Yan naturally could not hope the restriction would stop outsiders.
Instead of waiting for someone to intrude, it was better to take the initiative to investigate.
Approaching the restriction, Lu Yan cast his gaze outside the cave mansion, the one-way restriction allowing him to see clearly what lay outside.
There was no shadow outside the cave mansion; it seemed the restriction triggering was merely a hallucination.
Cautiously scanning the surroundings, Lu Yan’s right hand entered his chest.
After waiting for a long time without any movement outside the cave mansion, Lu Yan retrieved his right hand, frowned slightly, and headed back inside the cave mansion.
Yet after only a few steps, Lu Yan’s steps halted.
Only to see a shadow sitting upright at the table in the cave mansion, apparently waiting for Lu Yan for a long time.
Then, a cold voice slowly echoed:
"I hear you are one of mine?"