352: Lend me your true energy

He charged!

At this moment, Zhuang Bifan entered the mirror world, and Shen Bei, carrying the full-length mirror, stomped on the earth's surface, creating booming explosions.

He shot out like a meteor.

One step into the swamp.

He stepped on the lush water grass, moving like he was floating on water, passing by in an instant.

A few breaths later, Shen Bei saw a headless corpse floating quietly in a small puddle ahead, where sparse water grass slowly parted.

The corpse's clothes were intact, with no other visible injuries. Its eyes were open, as if staring forward, and a strange, half-smiling, half-not expression hung on its pale face.

As if seeing Shen Bei approach, the corpse's gaze solidified, fixing on him. Its mouth slightly opened, and its arms seemed to struggle, reaching out of the water.

Shen Bei was both surprised and delighted.

He was surprised by the corpse's terrifying appearance.

He was delighted that the corpse was human!

Moreover, it was wearing clothes unique to earth's surface humans.

A true gaze!

If he dared to guess, this corpse was very likely from Yun Zhiyi's team!

This all indicated that Shen Bei and Zhuang Bifan had indeed come to the right place!

Shen Bei's mind stirred. Seeing this scene, he didn't overthink it. This corpse had considerable research value. After slightly slowing down, he almost instinctively reached out to grab the corpse's hand.

As he pulled half of the corpse out of the water, Zhuang Bifan's angry shout, mixed with surprise, came from behind:

"Let go quickly!"

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

An unexpected change occurred.

Behind the corpse, a monster with a mouth but no eyes, nose, or ears, and a gaping maw, charged out from behind.

The monster was pitch black, shaped like a water crocodile, but without scales on its body. Its skin was smooth, yet completely devoid of light. After charging out, its body swayed in mid-air, and its gaping maw instantly appeared beside Shen Bei.

Shen Bei cursed, "Attack!"

Shen Bei was gripping the body and had no time to react or counterattack.

He could only call on Zhuang Bifan to intercept.

The next moment.

Half of Zhuang Bifan's body emerged from the mirror. He swung a wooden bench directly at it.

The air seemed to echo with whistling sounds as Zhuang Bifan's bench, imbued with surging power, unleashed waves of Qi.

It was like a direct hit on a baseball.

A shattering sound simultaneously rang out, and a foul-smelling blood splattered. As if hit head-on by a high-speed car, an irresistible, mighty force sent the monster that had attacked from underwater flying!

The monster arced through the air and crashed heavily into the puddle, its fate unknown.

"Catch!"

Seeing the crisis temporarily averted, Shen Bei flung the corpse towards Zhuang Bifan.

Zhuang Bifan caught it and dragged it into the mirror world.

His mirror world could only accept one living being, and that was Zhuang Bifan himself.

If the corpse still had a single breath, Zhuang Bifan wouldn't be able to drag it in.

"Research it."

Shen Bei called out.

Zhuang Bifan hummed, "Understood, you keep running."

Shen Bei continued to run furiously. Under the burst of Qi, his leg muscles suddenly swelled dramatically, making his loose pants bulge and threaten to tear. At the same time, a violent whooshing sound filled the air!

Shen Bei's entire spine also vibrated violently, driven by the force, like a latent Dragon about to soar into the sky. Even through his clothes, it gave a sense of explosive shock.

With every step, shallow pits exploded beneath his feet, as if he were shrinking the earth's surface into inches.

The Seven Stars Steps constantly flickered, making his speed incredibly fast.

Many Essence Spirits, sensing Shen Bei, were about to attack, but Shen Bei's figure had already vanished.

The Essence Spirits' attacks became more frequent. If Shen Bei hadn't continuously consumed True Qi to use the Seven Stars Steps, he would have been surrounded 360 degrees.

Shen Bei continued to sprint, a thought inexplicably forming in his mind: these Essence Spirits weren't afraid of him, but rather afraid of them escaping the swamp. That's why they only started attacking frequently when he reached the middle.

Does this thing really have such strong intelligence?

"Old Bi, do you know what this Essence Spirit is?" Shen Bei asked in a low voice.

"Not sure, but I have a hunch."

Zhuang Bifan, who was studying the corpse inside the mirror, spoke slowly after a moment of contemplation, his face grim.

"According to rumors our military department has obtained, in the Earth Cave World, there's a Southern Dream Water Kingdom with numerous waterways. Many people drown there, leading to many water ghosts. In very rare cases, water ghosts can take Possession of a Essence Spirit's Physical Body in the water, becoming an undead monster that loves to eat human brains, especially those of young children. When hunting, they use corpses by the water to lure children, often using the child's relatives as bait. Some can even use illusionary Martial Skills to make the target see their loved ones."

Shen Bei scoffed, "Then why didn't I see any illusionary Martial Skills?"

"You're an orphan," Zhuang Bifan seemed to sigh sympathetically for Shen Bei.

Shen Bei: ...

"You've hit a sore spot. You owe me compensation," Shen Bei's voice was hoarse, like a desert lizard.

Zhuang Bifan choked, and after a while, he said, "Slave!"

"I'll admit to that," Shen Bei chuckled.

"Keep running," Zhuang Bifan said, then fell silent, continuing to tinker with the corpse.

At this moment, Shen Bei looked up ahead again. It was still an endless swamp. After running for so long, his direction was undoubtedly far off. A slight deviation in the beginning would result in a difference of tens of miles later.

But Shen Bei had no map, so he could only run blindly.

He gripped his hand, and a bottle of True Qi pills appeared.

He tilted his head back and gulped them down.

His True Qi reserves slowly increased.

Shen Bei had to maintain the frequency of the Seven Stars Steps without stopping. If he slowed down even a little, the Essence Spirits behind him would catch up.

This made Shen Bei feel like he was playing a mobile game called "Temple Run..."

He continued to run for nearly two hours.

Ahead was still a swampy area, and he didn't know when he would reach the end.

Moreover, Shen Bei was now like a speeding train, with awakened Essence Spirits following him in droves. The surging water was like the tidal bore of the Qiantang River.

"Damn it..."

Shen Bei looked back at the dense crowd of Essence Spirits behind him. "Old Bi, how did Yun Zhiyi and the others get through?"

Zhuang Bifan's uncertain voice came, "Perhaps the Martial Artist team just happened to have means that countered these Essence Spirits. That's something we can't guess."

Shen Bei sniffed. What he said made sense.

Some Martial Skills seemed useless, not used once in eight or ten years, but when a special situation arose, there were countless instances where they were perfectly Heaven-Defying.

Shen Bei sprinted for another half an hour.

Several bottles of True Qi pills were completely depleted.

His True Qi reserves began to slowly drop.

"Old Bi!"

Shen Bei called out.

Zhuang Bifan leaned out his upper body, turned his head to look at the back of Shen Bei's head, and asked, "What's the situation now?"

"No True Qi left," Shen Bei continued calmly. "Lend me some."

"Huh?"

Zhuang Bifan stared blankly.

He didn't quite understand.

Can True Qi really be borrowed?

The next second.

Zhuang Bifan's face stiffened. He instantly felt his True Qi gush out like a floodgate opening.

True Qi poured out wildly.

"What the hell..."

Zhuang Bifan wasn't a fool; he immediately realized why Shen Bei had said "borrow."

"You son of a bitch, you can even extract other people's True Qi?"

Zhuang Bifan's face was filled with shock and disbelief. His face was stiff, his eyes wide, and he couldn't recover for a long time.

One must know that True Qi is an essential element for a Martial Artist to use Martial Skills, just like a blue bar in a game; a lack of it is certainly not acceptable.

And Shen Bei... he was Heaven-Defying.

Isn't this a weakened version of a perpetual motion machine!

At this moment, Shen Bei chuckled, "A small trick, not worth mentioning."

Zhuang Bifan, seeing Shen Bei's arrogant attitude, really wanted to give him an electric punch.

"Cough, cough..." Zhuang Bifan said in a rather gentle tone, "Uh... shared joy is double joy."

Shen Bei naturally knew what Zhuang Bifan was talking about and replied, "It's not that I won't teach you, it's just that Cultivating this thing requires the Fifth Dimension Attribute. Otherwise, the backlash will send you plummeting into the abyss. If you're sure you want to risk your life to learn it, I'll teach you."

Zhuang Bifan rolled his eyes.

Oh, for God's sake.

Who can compare to a super pervert like you with the Fifth Dimension Attribute?

Shen Bei's steps didn't stop.

He continuously drew True Qi from Zhuang Bifan, and after running wildly for another hour.

Seeing that they were about to leave the swamp not far ahead, Shen Bei breathed a sigh of relief.

However, a glance from his peripheral vision caught sight of a figure entering the swamp on the opposite bank.

"Hmm?!"

Shen Bei was a bit confused.

Opposite bank... a figure?