Zheng Zhu Liu, having escaped that room, realized this was absolutely not his reality, as such monsters could never exist in the real world!
"What should I do?" Zheng Zhu Liu returned to the corridor, looking at the eerily silent surroundings and pondering a solution.
"Right, let's try going up or down."
With this thought, Zheng Zhu Liu quickly ran to the stairwell and cautiously ascended. He encountered no monsters along the way, which, while a relief, also made him uneasy. What would the upper floors hold?
A few minutes later, Zheng Zhu Liu walked through the stairs and found himself back on the same floor he had just left.
"Ha, I knew it wouldn't be that simple," Zheng Zhu Liu chuckled bitterly. How could this building let him easily pass through the strange space on the ninth floor?
Helpless, Zheng Zhu Liu had to search for another way to leave, beginning to comb the floor for any potentially useful clues.
Time ticked by, and Zheng Zhu Liu, engrossed in his search for clues, lost track of it. After an unknown duration, he had searched every room and tried every item that could possibly serve as a clue.
"Nothing works? How can nothing work?!"
Zheng Zhu Liu overturned a wardrobe nearby, then in a fit of frustration, grabbed a nearby vase and smashed it on the floor.
"Bang!"
The sound of the shattering vase echoed through the entire floor, startling Zheng Zhu Liu and pulling him out of his rage.
"What am I doing?" Zheng Zhu Liu suddenly realized the shift in his mindset. He took a deep breath, suppressed the turbulent emotions, and began to analyze the current situation, simultaneously distracting himself.
"I've searched all the rooms and found no useful clues, which means the true method of escape isn't in the items within these rooms."
"I've tried the stairs five or six times. No matter which direction I go up or down, I always return here. The stairs are not the way out."
"If the method of escape on this floor is similar to the eighth floor, there must be an entity similar to Qing Mian. Only with his consent or by killing him can one leave. But where is this guy?"
Zheng Zhu Liu's mind raced with possibilities, eliminating one incorrect option after another. Finally, he decided to search for the "Qing Mian" of this floor.
...
Eighth Floor.
After a brief rest, Fang Ming and Qing Mian resumed their journey to the ninth floor. A few minutes later, they reached the area where they had encountered the swarm of fiend beasts.
"Be careful of the fiend beasts here. They're all hiding in these rooms," Fang Ming cautioned.
Qing Mian nodded. The two advanced cautiously. As they approached a particular room, the door slowly creaked open, accompanied by a roar. The two exchanged glances and retreated!
"Roar! Roar! Roar!..."
Fiend beasts emerged from the room one after another. A swarm of about thirty fiend beasts charged at them.
"Lure them all downstairs to deal with!" Fang Ming shouted to Qing Mian.
Qing Mian nodded in agreement. The two quickly retreated to the stairwell and ran down. The fiend beasts eagerly pursued them.
"Awoo~ Awoo~..."
Amidst the fiend beasts' fierce cries, Fang Ming stood at the eighth-floor stairwell and gave Qing Mian a thumbs-up.
This was the method they had devised on the eighth floor. Based on his experience on the ninth floor (and after secretly perusing a diary), Fang Ming deduced that these fiend beasts had a certain range of perception; they would only awaken when someone entered that range.
Combining this, Fang Ming decided to lure all the fiend beasts from the ninth floor to the eighth floor in batches and kill them one by one. Although it was a large undertaking, it was undoubtedly the most secure method.
After all, the ninth floor had a finite number of fiend beasts, not an endless supply. Based on the numbers from these two waves, they could estimate the total number of fiend beasts on the ninth floor.
Estimating forty per room, with twenty rooms per floor, and accounting for at least one-third of the rooms being empty, the ninth floor had approximately five hundred fiend beasts, which was not an overwhelming task.
"Let's go, another wave," Fang Ming grinned and led Qing Mian back to the ninth floor, repeating the process and luring out another roomful of fiend beasts to be eliminated.
They repeated this process until dawn broke. All the fiend beasts on the ninth floor were finally cleared. Aside from the constant danger of having their resentment consumed, this floor was now quite safe.
"All the fiend beasts on this floor have been cleared, and it's already morning outside. Will this affect you?" Fang Ming asked Qing Mian, as daylight could be fatal to many fiend species.
Qing Mian shook his head. "There are arrangements made by the Professor in the eighteenth floor. As long as we are within the eighteenth floor, we will not be affected by sunlight."
"Oh?" Fang Ming was surprised. What kind of existence was this Professor, possessing such capabilities? Even powerful entities like the Old Well Fiend and the Ancient Mulberry Fiend would suffer greatly when directly exposed to sunlight.
"Could it be that the time prediction of my diary being suppressed to only half an hour is because of the Professor?" Fang Ming's expression turned serious. He was almost certain that he would have a major confrontation with the Professor on the eighteenth floor!
"Do you know the Professor's background?" Fang Ming looked up and asked Qing Mian. He had asked Number One this question before, but Number One was just a low-level fiend and knew very little.
Qing Mian paused, organizing his thoughts. "Do you know the Blood Prince?"
Fang Ming shook his head. "I've only heard of him." He had heard about him from the resentful spirits around Number One.
"The Professor is one of the Blood Prince's retainers. He was resurrected by someone who calls himself the Principal and was then tasked with researching something in the eighteenth floor. When I was being cultivated, I vaguely overheard them mentioning something about 'white mist' and 'gods'."
Qing Mian's casual tone sent shockwaves through Fang Ming!
The Principal! It was him again!
"Is that Principal an old man?" Fang Ming pressed.
Qing Mian nodded.
Fang Ming fell silent, his mind racing. What exactly was this Principal trying to achieve? What was he researching on the eighteenth floor with the Professor? He couldn't quite grasp the old man's intentions.
However, one thing Fang Ming knew for sure: this Principal was plotting something grand!
Fang Ming looked up towards the ceiling, his gaze meeting the Professor's who was also peering down.
"You've sensed it? As expected of the chosen one," the Professor cackled. "Hurry and come here. I can't wait to meet you."
"We need to figure out what the Principal is planning!" Fang Ming resolved. However, the immediate priority was to find Zheng Zhu Liu, who had disappeared on this floor. A thorough search would surely yield some clues.
"Let's find Sixth Master first before we continue upwards," Fang Ming retracted his gaze and began a carpet search of the ninth floor with Qing Mian.
None, none, none...
Fang Ming and Qing Mian split into two teams, each responsible for one side of the rooms, until they met at the last room and shook their heads.
"It seems Zheng Zhu Liu's disappearance is not as simple as it appears," Fang Ming speculated.
"Should we go to the tenth floor to check?" Qing Mian suggested.
Fang Ming hesitated for a long time. Leaving Zheng Zhu Liu behind, if he encountered even a slightly powerful fiend, he might be in grave danger. But lingering on the ninth floor was also not feasible, as there were still nine more floors ahead.
"Let's go. We'll check the tenth floor first and understand this so-called Yin-Yang floor before returning for Sixth Master." Ultimately, Fang Ming decided to visit the tenth floor first. The ninth and tenth floors were considered a whole, and perhaps they could find a clue about Zheng Zhu Liu on the tenth floor.
The two quickly ascended the stairs and soon arrived on the tenth floor.
The setup was identical, but Fang Ming was certain they had reached the tenth floor.
"Such dense resentment!" Qing Mian exclaimed.
"Mm," Fang Ming nodded with a heavy expression. Through the morning light filtering from outside, the entire tenth floor was shrouded in a faint white mist, a phenomenon that occurred when resentment reached a certain density.
"My strength has also increased," Qing Mian said, producing a long sabre from somewhere, resembling an ancient Tang sword but much longer.
Fang Ming tested his abilities. Indeed, he could immediately sense a significant increase in the strength of his tentacles.
"Clang clang," Qing Mian tapped the sabre and sensed it. "My strength has increased about threefold."
"Mine has increased about tenfold..." Fang Ming said gravely, though he felt no joy. He was unsure what this increase was related to and was worried about the situation on the tenth floor.
"Tenfold?!" Qing Mian was shocked. Didn't that mean Fang Ming's abilities were comparable to a fierce fiend?
"Do you know anything about the tenth floor?" Fang Ming asked.
Qing Mian shook his head. "I'm not sure about this floor either. I don't even know the reason for this increase in strength."
"Then let's go. We'll cautiously explore," Fang Ming said grimly, stepping into the white mist of the tenth floor.
"Fang Ming! You finally made it up!"
Suddenly, a figure emerged from the white mist. The familiar voice made Fang Ming pause. He quickly looked up.
"Sixth Master?" How did he get here?
"Hahaha, you're finally here! I've been waiting for you for a long time. I was even considering going down to find you," Zheng Zhu Liu walked forward, reaching out to pat Fang Ming's shoulder, but Fang Ming dodged to the side.
"You..." Zheng Zhu Liu awkwardly retracted his hand, his expression turning annoyed.
"You're not Sixth Master. Who are you?" Fang Ming's tentacles instantly transformed into scaled swords, pointing directly at Zheng Zhu Liu. Qing Mian also watched this person with icy eyes.
"Nonsense! If I'm not Zheng Zhu Liu, who am I?" Zheng Zhu Liu retorted angrily. "Are you blind? How am I not Zheng Zhu Liu?"
"Look, the compass, the talismans, these materials. What else do I need to prove I'm Zheng Zhu Liu?" Zheng Zhu Liu pulled out a pile of items from his embrace and showed them to Fang Ming, eager to prove his identity.
This only made Fang Ming more convinced that this person was not Zheng Zhu Liu. However, strangely, the items he produced were definitively Zheng Zhu Liu's, especially the compass, which was Zheng Zhu Liu's unique equipment, his heirloom!
"Let me see you use this compass."
Zheng Zhu Liu snorted, tucking the other materials back into his embrace, and said disdainfully, "Watch carefully!"
Then, he began to chant incantations, activating the compass. The compass adjusted under his manipulation, and the needle began to shake violently, pointing towards the depths of the white mist.
"Is he actually the real Sixth Master?" Fang Ming's brow furrowed. But why was his personality so different?
"Please, a vote~ I only have over two hundred silver votes left, alas~"