There were 2 general groups of humans that went through the 8th floor

The first group were the human teams that had gone ahead, refusing Lex's offer. These were the ones with better weapons and were more experienced in battle. 

They were already battle hardened even from the 5th floor and had decided to explore on their own without help, and had gone through the other portals on the 6th and 7th Floor, sacrificing their members, but coming out stronger because of it. 

Some of them had become specialists in their battle style, some becoming sword masters, assassin and rangers while others were battle mages and such. These were the ones that had already progressed to the 9th Floor. 

As for the second group, these were the ones that Lex had helped bring through from the 5th floor.  

The majority of the group were women and some were teenagers, barely having gone through puberty. There were some men, of course, but they were busy taking care of the others now that Lex was gone. 

They had been cowed and bullied in the 5th Floor by Hogan, and only received decent weapons after they joined Lex, and had received some form of training. But even with skills, they didn't have the battle experience and were still frightened all the time. 

However, forced to band together, they struggled but they had huge numbers. They divided their 1400 or so remaining members into manageable armies and outnumbered the tribes of monsters.  

The 8th floor was a land full of grass plains and pine trees, and the monsters were pretty scary, now that they had to face them themselves. 

There were the tribes of red headed giants, each at least 3 meters tall, giant black birds the size of small planes swooping down and carrying people away, groups of large hairy humanoid creatures that were 3-4 meters tall. 

While they were not insurmountable, defeating them required teamwork and sacrifice as many of the human teams did not come out of these battles unscathed. 

Suddenly, overnight as if there was a sudden change, the monsters of the floor thinned and were more sparse than usual 

Unbeknownst to them, a group of 4 people were smashing their way through the floor, cruelly killing everything they encountered with extreme brutality. 

Lex was leading the way with two swords in hand, using his skills in the most brutal fashion. He wanted to vent his anger, and this was why he didn't use his shadow army. They were all in his shadows, waiting for orders to attack that never came. 

Behind him were Amazon, Valkyrie and Soldier. They were there just to sweep up any monsters he had left out, as he ran through the floor without stopping. But there was nothing much for them to do as they followed behind him. 

Besides his two swords, one a 10+ vorpal sword with bleed damage, the other a +5 short sword with poison damage, he was honing his new technique he had just invented. 

He had learned but never been able to use a technique from the Imperial Library that can only be used by a Peak Xiantian, which was the control of flying swords. He was now only a High level Xiantian, based on the cultivation world's ranking, and he could barely control 1 flying sword. 

However, he discovered, he could create and control multiple shadow swords that did not attack the physical form of the enemies, rather the shadows of the enemies!

So while he ran through the group of forest giants he was facing, while he used his two swords to cut down three monsters, and the rest were decapitated and dismembered like magic when his shadow swords chopped off their limbs and heads. 

He didn't only chop of the head on one and the limbs on the other, but he literally chopped every one of them to many pieces! The monsters within his eyesight but beyond his reach were literally shredded as if by some invisible wood chipper!

He took a day to reach one of the portals at the end of the floor, and the only reason he took so long was that he didn't fly and travelled on foot across the huge floor.

And unlike before where he sent his army out to completely wipe out the floor, he only destroyed those that were in his direct path, leaving monsters for the others to fight, as he didn't care anymore about making the floor safe for others. 

But even so, his path of destruction left the monsters afraid of humans, and that helped the humans on the 8th Floor overcome them. 

--

He travelled through the portal and walked onto the 9th floor.

Judging by the empty treasure chest, other people were already here.

This floor seemed to be a volcanic region with geysers and lava pools everywhere.

"Come, lets see what the tower has in store for us" he said as his swords gleamed

Amazon, Valkyrie and Soldier already had their weapons unsheathed, as although Lex shredded through his enemies, he intentionally left some for the 3 to finish off and practice. 

He walked through the area fearlessly and before long, he started encountering the first obstacles. 

"Look. It's that guy that claimed he defeated Hogan" 

"Let's see how good he really is" 

"Yeah. So arrogant, claiming he'll protect everyone. Where are they now?"

"Probably dead. Let's wait and see how he does" several people said while watching from the shadows of a hidden cave nearby. 

Lex looked at the rock creatures that were blocking his path. 

There were 3 of them, all around 3 meters tall.

"Let's see what you're made off" Lex said and charged, slashing his sword. 

"Foolish" said one of the women hiding in the cave. 

As she expected, Lex's sword barely scratched the creature, creating sparks as the monster retaliated by swinging it's fist at him

Lex dodged backwards and struck the monster's arm.

Again, the sword did nothing but anger the rock monster. 

The other monsters started joining the attack, and so Amazon, Valkyrie and Soldier joined the fight. 

Lex's shadow blades attacked the first monster's shadow, and spark's magically were created on the monster's body. but again, nothing happened. 

The monster smashed at Lex, who dodged and attacked the monster's wrist that looked like a vulnerable joint. 

However, the monster expected that and struck at the same time, forcing Lex to block with his vorpal sword. 

*Clang* the clash sounded as Lex had to take a step back, due to the impact. 

In the background, Soldier was smashed away, looking badly injured but did not dissipate into shadow. 

Amazon and Valkyrie were dodging the blows of the other two monsters, but could not inflict any damage on them. 

"Now... they will despair and retreat.. like the rest of us" the woman in the cave said. 

"There were some that passed through"

"That's because they flew and did not engage" 

Lex looked at his vorpal sword, broken and useless. His poison short sword was also blunt by his repeated attacks that were unfruitful. 

"That was my favorite sword!" Lex said through gritted teeth. 

"Chop" he said as he used the Sword God Zhang Meng's technique and chopped the monster's hand off at the joint!

But his sword also snapped in half, leaving half a sword and handle. 

"Stab" he said without stopping, and stabbed the fist that was broken off

He picked it up and charged.

The makeshift hammer he created smashed into the monster's head, stunning it. 

But Lex didn't stop and smashed the head over and over again as he climbed on it's body. 

The other arm tried to knock him off it's body but Lex avoided it and continued smashing until both the severed fist and the head crumbled to pebbles. 

"How did he... his strength must be off the charts" one of the men in the cave said. 

"He's not stopping, look!" another said

Lex looked at his broken sword and had an epiphany. 

So far, his shadow ability seemed to be able to do so many unexpected things. But the strangest thing was creating shadow clones that were physical to the touch and were as real as the original person, with the original's soul and memories. 

But what about things without souls and memories? What about inanimate objects?

He closed his hands together and spread them again, revealing a sword that was identical to his vorpal sword, only it was black. 

He threw away his poison sword and created a shadow one as well.

Both seemed to have the same attributes as the original, so he decided to test on one of the other monsters. 

He charged in, helping Valkyrie who was in a tough spot. 

Like the original, it didn't cause much damage to the monster. 

However, he started using more and more strength, and the monster started getting chipped by Lex's swords. 

As a sword grandmaster, he never used any strength, rather pure technique when he used his sword. However, that did not mean he had no strength. 

He had the otherworldly strength of a High level Xiantian, which was that of an immortal, plus he had put quite alot of points in his strength stat in this Tower. 

And unlike the original swords, the shadow swords did not get damaged, or if they did, they were somehow repaired instantly!

He had notice before that his shadow clones that used weapons like Amazon, Valkyrie or Soldier did not have to worry about their weapons as they seemed to stay constantly sharp. It appeared Lex's swords were the same!

While the swords did not cut the monster, he started using more strength and speed, so fast his attacks were faster than the eye could follow. 

Rather than actually cutting the rock monster, his swords battered and broke through the monster's exterior through sheer force and strength and before long, the thing was reduced to rubble. 

He then looked at the third monster fighting Amazon and within moments, he cut it to pieces. 

"That's crazy. We can come out of hiding now" the man in the cave said

"Let's wait till he leaves first. We don't know if he will be hostile. He looks... different than before. There is a murderous aura about him" the woman said

--

That night, Lex cultivated with Valkyrie first, then Amazon after that while Soldier kept watch. 

Both were close to breaking through to Level 6 Aura warriors. 

From a distance, a humanoid looking bug levitated in the air, watching Lex dual cultivate. 

"You see? I knew it. He's a serial cheater. There is no way someone like that is loyal. I knew he was not a right match... didn't I tell you?" a man with bug eyes and antennae on his head said. 

His mind was telepathically linked to the bug spying on Lex, and he was sharing the vision with his minions.