76: Chapter 76 Siege of Taihe County

"Fellow Daoist Zhou," Chen Xuanyi said calmly.

Zhou Minghong walked over and transmitted his voice, "Fellow Daoist Chen, I suppose your clan has also encountered trouble from those Cultivators, right?"

"What do you mean by that?" Hearing this, Chen Xuanyi looked thoughtful.

"I heard that the Yuxu Sect intends to abandon Longchuan County and concentrate on defending Qinghe County. They have already set up a Tier 4 Formation, while that group of Foundation Establishment Cultivators is setting up Tier 3 Formations among our few families," Zhou Mingsui said with a bitter smile.

"I see." Chen Xuanyi nodded. He already knew a bit about this and roughly guessed the reason. It was nothing more than the Yuxu Sect having little hope of dealing with this beast tide and adopting this delaying tactic to force other Golden Core forces to participate as well.

But there was one bad thing about this: on the frontline battlefield, this group of Cultivators would either have to retreat or be abandoned as discarded pieces.

"Move out," shouted an elderly Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator from the Xuantian Sect.

Everyone followed behind him in a mighty procession of several hundred Cultivators.

Among them, there were even nearly twenty Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Chen Xuanyi and Zhou Mingsui exchanged a glance and followed as well. Thinking too much right now was useless; if the Xuantian Sect intended to abandon them, they truly had no choice.

After a short while, the slaughter began once again.

Chen Xuanyi and Zhou Mingsui led their respective family Cultivators to set up Formations while slaughtering Yao Beasts.

As time passed, the number of Yao Beasts did not decrease but instead increased.

Their Qi was also heavily consumed, and the Cultivators with the lowest cultivation base had already sat cross-legged to recover their Qi.

While taking out a spirit-restoring pill, Chen Xuanyi swung his sword downwards, instantly killing several High Grade Yao Beasts in a flash, and then collected the corpses of the Yao Beasts.

Creak!

Not far away came the sound of trees being broken in half by impacts.

Chen Xuanyi and Zhou Mingsui looked over and saw that it was a Low Grade Tier 2 Silver-backed Demonic Ape.

Roar!

Spotting Chen Xuanyi and the others, the Silver-backed Demonic Ape leaped into the air and smashed a fist toward them.

Chen Xuanyi's gaze turned solemn, but his hand movements didn't stop. He casually killed several Tier 1 Yao Beasts, then turned his head to give instructions to Chen Yuanjin and the others inside the Formation before lifting his sword to intercept the Silver-backed Demonic Ape's punch.

Hiss!

Two piercing sounds rang out as red and gold Sword Qi instantly blossomed from the tip of the sword, slashing towards the Silver-backed Demonic Ape in the blink of an eye.

Zhou Mingsui followed closely behind. Lightning techniques condensed in his hands, and two massive thunderballs chased after the dual-colored Sword Qi, striking together toward the Silver-backed Demonic Ape.

Roar!

The Silver-backed Demonic Ape twisted its body in mid-air to evade these two moves. In its eyes, these two Foundation Establishment Cultivators had lower cultivation bases than the Foundation Establishment Cultivators it had faced earlier, yet they could make it feel a threat to its life.

Annoyed, the Silver-backed Demonic Ape beat its chest with both hands and let out a roar, sending waves of sonic pressure sweeping toward the surroundings.

Chen Xuanyi and Zhou Mingsui maintained calm expressions.

However, Chen Yuanjin and the others behind them, although able to withstand the attacks of these sonic waves, also spat out blood, and those with lower cultivation had already passed out directly.

Seeing this, Chen Xuanyi and Zhou Mingsui lured the Silver-backed Demonic Ape away. If another blow like that came, Chen Yuanjin and the others might truly not be able to withstand it.

Watching the two leave, the Silver-backed Demonic Ape was extremely excited—these two humans finally knew how formidable it was. Immediately, it chased after them.

The two humans and one ape thus chased and attacked each other simultaneously.

Outside Taihe Prefecture City, Daoist Wuyou looked at the few Tier 4 Azure Wolf Demon Kings outside the Formation, and his heart sank continuously.

He hadn't expected that these Demon Kings would actually bypass Qinghe County and head straight for Taihe Prefecture through Longchuan County, attacking the forces along Taihe Prefecture's route while charging toward Taihe Prefecture City at full speed.

"We are in trouble now. These beasts actually bypassed Qinghe County. Aren't they afraid of penetrating too deep and being killed here by our various sects?" a Purple Mansion Master said in panic.

"Could it be that they already know the other Golden Core forces haven't made up their minds to join the war? How is that possible? Could there be a traitor?" another Purple Palace Cultivator guessed.

Outside Taihe Prefecture City, there were no less than one hundred thousand mighty Yao Beasts, which was close to half the scale of the entire beast tide.

"Everyone, do not panic. Our sect has already informed the major forces of the situation here, and they have already set out. They will arrive in a few days." Daoist Wuyou's voice resounded in the ears of all the Cultivators, inspiring many of them. However, some informed Cultivators understood that these words were merely meant to comfort them; if reinforcements were truly coming, it wouldn't have dragged on until now.

Still, they wouldn't expose it. With such words inspiring all the Cultivators now, they still had hope of holding out until reinforcements arrived; if it were exposed now, this place would probably collapse instantly.

Meanwhile, the situation here was also playing out across Qingzhou. The Three-tailed Spirit Fox had launched a war, and three of the Demon Kings were attacking the Formation, which was already on the verge of breaking.

All the Cultivators staying inside the Formation were terrified in their hearts. Their side only had a single Golden Core Cultivator, making it completely impossible to block so many Demon Kings. Many people's hearts had already retreated; some intended to escape immediately after the Formation shattered, while others planned to surrender directly, hoping that this group of the Yao Race would spare them.

This kind of thinking wasn't entirely unviable. In the past, there had been cases of Human Race Cultivators surrendering to the Yao Race. Just like across from the Yao Race, some humans also participated in hunting down members of the Human Race.

News of these two battlefields had not yet reached the frontline, but Chen Xuanyi and the others felt that although today's beast tide was still dangerous, it wasn't as perilous at every step as before.

Moreover, Master Lingxiao was also absent. Those who didn't know thought he was in seclusion to recover from his injuries, while those who knew were aware that he had retreated to Qinghe County, maintaining the Tier 4 Formation together with several Purple Palace Cultivators.

Chen Xuanyi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his gaze locked onto the Silver-backed Demonic Ape that had already lost all signs of life. He hadn't expected the Silver-backed Demonic Ape's strength to be so formidable, lasting an hour in the hands of both him and Zhou Mingsui before being slain. Furthermore, both of them were heavily injured; Zhou Mingsui was injured the most severely, his chest pierced through and his Qi less than ten percent of its peak, coming within a hair's breadth of being beaten to death.

As for himself, he wasn't much better off; several of his ribs were broken, and even his Magical Artifact was snapped. This trip could be considered a heavy loss.

Fortunately, at least the Silver-backed Demonic Ape was dead. If the Materials on its body were exchanged for Spirit Stones, they could still sell for a few thousand Spirit Stones.

With a thought, Chen Xuanyi drew the Yao Beast core of the Silver-backed Demonic Ape into his hand and turned back to say to Zhou Mingsui, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, that corpse of the Silver-backed Demonic Ape belongs to you."

Hearing this, Zhou Mingsui was inwardly surprised. Although he had also contributed effort, his contribution was far inferior to Chen Xuanyi's. Being able to obtain this corpse was truly a sign of Chen Xuanyi's generosity.

Politely expressing his gratitude and saying no more, he put away the corpse and then began to recover.

Chen Xuanyi also sat cross-legged to recover.

After a while, the two of them returned together to look for Chen Yuanjin and the others.