"Town!" Zheng Zhu Six reacted quickly, throwing his copper coin sword with precision, hitting the black shadow directly.
"Roar~" The black shadow fell to the ground, rolling and screaming. Black smoke emanated from its wound, and in a short while, it was silent.
"What is it?" Fang Ming pulled away from the black shadow with lingering fear. Where did this thing come from?
"Sha beast," Zheng Zhu Six slowly uttered the two words.
"Sha beast?" Fang Ming had never heard of such a thing before. "Is it different from a Sha seed?"
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Zheng Zhu Six nodded and explained, "Sha beasts are different from Sha seeds. They were also called tomb spirits by the ancients. In reality, they are the corpses of living beings that have remained in a cold, damp place for a long time without decaying. Over time, they develop basic intelligence, driving the corpses to move again."
"Zombies?" Fang Ming was surprised. Wasn't this the same as the zombies in movies?
"You could say that. 'Zombie' is the folk name for them," Zheng Zhu Six nodded.
It was actually a zombie!
Fang Ming glanced at the black shadow, confirming it was dead, before cautiously approaching for a closer look.
This zombie was nothing like the imperial-robed zombies he had imagined. Firstly, this creature was not an evolution of human bones. Judging by its appearance, it somewhat resembled a large dog.
It was about two meters long, with a layer of fur that reeked of decay on its skin. The exposed skin, however, was as shriveled and gaunt as the zombies in his imagination. Its teeth and claws were twice the length of a normal dog's. Its eyes were just two dark, hollow sockets, its eyeballs having rotted away.
Fang Ming tentatively made a cut with the scale blade at the tip of his tentacle. It felt like cutting cowhide, and overall, its defense wasn't particularly strong.
Seeing Fang Ming observing the Sha beast, Zheng Zhu Six stepped forward, drew his copper coin sword, and looked at the bloodstains on it. Only a sparse amount of dried blood clung to it.
"The strength of this Sha beast is very ordinary; it's considered one of the lowest-level types."
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Then, Zheng Zhu Six squatted down, plucked a tuft of fur, and sniffed it. His heart sank.
"Fang Ming, I have some bad news I must tell you."
"What is it?" Fang Ming asked, confused.
"This place... I'm afraid there's more than one Sha beast here."
"As expected." Fang Ming's expression turned grim. The strength of these Sha beasts wasn't high; it was unlikely that only one or two occupied this floor. When Fang Ming saw this one, he had already wondered if the situation here would be like the lower floors.
"Let's all be careful. Here our abilities... wait..." Fang Ming was about to say their abilities couldn't be used, when he suddenly realized that Zheng Zhu Six seemed to have been using various peculiar abilities just now?
He turned to Zheng Zhu Six and asked, "Sixth Master, you are not affected here?"
Zheng Zhu Six laughed heartily. "I didn't expect this building to have such a place. According to your terms, this place constantly devours resentful energy and seals your abilities. This means it only suppresses Sha seeds, while my abilities are just some secret arts and are thus unaffected!"
Fang Ming's eyes lit up at this. Although Zheng Zhu Six's strength couldn't be considered top-tier, he was more than capable of dealing with these Sha beasts. Truly, this person was talented!
"Then we'll be counting on Sixth Master for the rest of the journey."
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"It's my duty, my duty. I'll be relying on you guys later," Zheng Zhu Six waved his hand, stood up, and looked towards the end of the corridor. "I'll lead the way from now on."
"Alright!"
The group set off again, but this time, Fang Ming was in the middle of the formation. With their abilities suppressed, he was actually the weakest.
"Creak~" A door in front suddenly opened.
"Be careful!" Zheng Zhu Six raised his hand, signaling them to stop. They looked towards the door that had suddenly opened not far away.
"Roar~ Roar~ Roar~..." Disordered growls came from inside the room, followed by Sha beasts emerging one after another. Black mist seeped from their hollow eye sockets.
This time, the Sha beasts were not just canine. There were also some other animals, and even a few human-like figures mixed among them.
They were all gaunt and ferocious, equally ugly. The only difference was that some of their bodies had already begun to rot, with flesh peeling away to reveal white bones. Fang Ming suspected that maggots would be crawling on them if they were outside.
Zheng Zhu Six stared at these Sha beasts and said calmly, "Their strength is all ordinary. I'll deal with them. You guys be careful of any stragglers."
"Okay." Fang Ming nodded, assuming a defensive stance. All he had to do now was ensure he wasn't ambushed by any stragglers. Zheng Zhu Six wasn't one to brag.
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"Four directions suppress evil, divine command to slay demons, control sword!"
Zheng Zhu Six's copper coin sword began to hum, emitting a faint golden light as it flew up, leaving his palm and charging towards the Sha beasts ahead. He followed closely behind, rushing into the fray.
Fang Ming and Qing Mian stood behind, ready to witness Zheng Zhu Six's skills. Because Zheng Zhu Six had always seemed a bit weak, the two of them had never actually seen his true combat prowess...
Suddenly, what happened before their eyes startled them. As Zheng Zhu Six ran forward, he inexplicably vanished! The copper coin sword also instantly lost control and fell from the air.
The two exchanged a look. There was another secret here!
Run!
With their abilities sealed, the two were no match for so many Sha beasts. They immediately turned and fled. As for Zheng Zhu Six, they could only try to find him later.
"Roar! Roar!..." Seeing the two fleeing, the Sha beasts in front immediately gave chase, pouncing on them in a frenzy.
Fang Ming glanced back and felt a chill in his heart. With so many Sha beasts, he and Qing Mian would be torn to shreds!
Run, run, run!
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Fang Ming exerted his full speed, and soon he and Qing Mian returned to the vicinity of the staircase.
"Let's retreat for now. We'll come back after figuring out a way to deal with these Sha beasts," Fang Ming suggested.
Qing Mian nodded. Under Qing Mian's guidance, Fang Ming quickly returned to the eighth floor. Seeing the markings they had made while exploring the eighth floor earlier, Fang Ming finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"They're chasing us!" Qing Mian said calmly, staring at the stairs. However, on his home turf, these Sha beasts were merely lambs awaiting slaughter!
"They dare to chase us?" Fang Ming frowned. Did these things truly have no intelligence at all? But it was good they came, the more they killed, the fewer there would be!
Fang Ming's tentacles quickly transformed into scale blades, and Qing Mian left an afterimage in place and disappeared.
"Roar! Roar!..." Several Sha beasts appeared, leaping down the stairs.
"Swish swish swish..." Before Fang Ming could even make a move, Qing Mian, hidden within the mirror, had already struck first against these creatures. A pack of beast-like beings was no match for Qing Mian, who was at the half-Sha level, and were instantly sliced into pieces.
In less than a minute, accompanied by the screams of the Sha beasts, all of them died on the stairs. Fang Ming didn't even get a chance to attack.
As expected of someone who gave Fang Ming and Nannan a headache, their strength was indeed terrifying.
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"They've all been dealt with," Qing Mian's figure reappeared. "However, I've discovered a problem."
"What is it?"
"The strength of these Sha beasts has increased by at least three times after reaching the eighth floor! I don't know if the ninth floor suppressed their power or what, but after arriving on the eighth floor, the resentment within them grew immensely, and their strength surged." Qing Mian explained.
"Is that so..." Fang Ming pondered, his mind on the ninth floor. He wondered how Zheng Zhu Six was doing?
"One more thing," Qing Mian added. "The number of these Sha beasts is not right. It's nearly half less than what came out of the room. The other half, for some reason, didn't chase us."
Fang Ming interrupted his thoughts, looked up at the approximate number of Sha beasts, and indeed, judging by the number of heads alone, there should have been far more than this chasing them just now.
"Could they be ambushing at the staircase of the ninth floor?" Fang Ming guessed.
Qing Mian shook his head. "Impossible. These Sha beasts are fundamentally mindless beasts. It's even less likely that someone is controlling them. The only one in this building who could control them is likely the Professor, but the Professor wouldn't be that bored."
"Then could they have disappeared like Sixth Master?" Fang Ming suddenly remembered that the place where Zheng Zhu Six disappeared was precisely where some Sha beasts passed through. Could they have disappeared there too?
Qing Mian did not reply this time. He was unsure.
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The eighteenth floor had long been altered beyond recognition by the Professor. Qing Mian himself was just a minor experiment, and had no understanding of the situations on other floors.
...
Ninth Floor.
Zheng Zhu Six observed his surroundings with a solemn expression, surrounded by a pile of dead Sha beasts. Fang Ming's guess was correct; the group of Sha beasts that had disappeared had indeed appeared in the area before Zheng Zhu Six.
"What exactly is this place?" Zheng Zhu Six wondered, looking at the black and white environment around him.
He had just prepared to kill the Sha beasts when his vision went black. The next moment, he found himself in this bizarre place.
Time here seemed to be frozen, somewhat like the mirror world Qing Mian had shown them, but not entirely. If there was a difference, it was that there was no life here, only a sense of illusion, yet it felt tangible to the touch.
Zheng Zhu Six dared not be careless. His copper coin sword was lost. Here, he could only perform some simple secret arts. It was fine against a few Sha beasts, but if a Sha seed like Fang Ming appeared, he would be finished.
"Creak~" Zheng Zhu Six pushed open a door and entered. He examined the room, finding only ordinary furnishings.
He left and pushed open another door. The same furnishings, the same ordinariness.
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Thus, Zheng Zhu Six opened all the doors to investigate, but found no clues whatsoever. He couldn't even find a way to leave this place.
It was like a world that had been abandoned.
"What on earth is this place?" Zheng Zhu Six took a deep breath, suppressing the irritation in his heart. The surrounding silence was driving him insane. The only sound in his ears was the ringing in his ears echoing back.
Now by the window, Zheng Zhu Six looked outside. Strangely, the outside was shrouded in a hazy mist. The light from the white mist even illuminated half the room.
"Why is it daytime outside?" Zheng Zhu Six was puzzled, but he had no way to open the window and investigate the situation outside.
"Bang!" Suddenly, a giant claw reached the outside of the window in front of Zheng Zhu Six. Then, a eyeball the size of half a person stared at Zheng Zhu Six through the window.
Man and monster faced each other through the thin glass window. Zheng Zhu Six's heart was pounding in his chest. How could there be such a large monster outside the window!
But what happened next shocked him even more. This monster, no smaller than a python-like Sha beast, suddenly began to struggle in pain. With a bang, its entire body exploded into blood and died, staining the entire window red.
"This..." Zheng Zhu Six's throat felt dry. He slowly backed away, not daring to stay there any longer, and quickly fled.