71: Chapter 71 Beast Tide

Li Qingling swept her Divine Sense inside and was startled by the resources within.

A large amount of Spirit Stones and other resources were placed inside; the Spirit Stones alone were worth about fifty thousand pieces. There was also a stalk of millennium-old Spirit Medicine, some other Medicinal Pills, and even two Tier 2 Magical Artifacts.

"Brother, why do you have so many?"

"Shh! These are the resources I told you about, the ones I obtained in the Secret Realm," Chen Changqing transmitted his voice.

"Mn." Li Qingling put them away, then took Chen Changqing around the Yuxu Sect for a whole day.

A day later, Chen Changqing turned into a streak of cyan escaping light and quickly returned to Qinghe County.

On the way, Chen Changqing received a message from his Family; the southern Wanshou Mountain Range had suddenly launched an attack, and the situation in Qinghe County was now critical, telling him not to return.

However, Chen Changqing simply replied with a single word, good, and disregarding his spiritual power consumption, accelerated his speed to rush back to Qinghe County.

Meanwhile, over at Qinghe County, in the Chen Clan's ancestral land, Qingyang Mountain.

Chen Yuanwen and Clan Leader Chen Xuanlin looked at the mighty horde of Yao Beasts outside the Formation.

At this time, Clan Leader Chen Xuanlin no longer possessed his former high-spirited vigor. Nowadays, his hair was entirely white and his face aged. But indeed, he was already one hundred and seven years old, and only thirteen years away from the limit of a Qi Refining Cultivator's lifespan. If not for the fact that most of the clansmen within the Family had been conscripted by the Xuantian Sect, he might still be doing Artifact Refining for the Family right now.

"Fortunately, it's just a group of Tier 1 Yao Beasts. It seems the Xuantian Sect has blocked the Beast Tide over there," Clan Leader Chen Xuanlin said in a low voice.

"Indeed! Fifth Uncle, now I only hope Ninth Uncle and the others can return safely," Chen Yuanwen said. A month ago, a large migration of Yao Beasts suddenly appeared in the Wanshou Mountain Range. Fortunately, the Xuantian Sect had long since realized something was amiss, forcibly conscripting all Family Cultivators within its jurisdiction and issuing bounties to attract a large number of Loose Cultivators to rush to the battlefield.

The Chen Family had been forcibly conscripted to send one Foundation Establishment Cultivator and ten Qi Refining Cultivators. Among all the families conscripted by the Xuantian Sect, this number was already considered very small; some families had two or three Foundation Establishment Cultivators and dozens of Qi Refining Cultivators conscripted.

As for why the Xuantian Sect was so lenient toward the Chen Family, part of the reason was Lin Feng, and another part was Li Qingling. Today, Li Qingling was the prized disciple of Master Baiye. Such news might be difficult for the various Foundation Establishment families in Qinghe County to acquire, but for the Xuantian Sect, obtaining this intelligence was quite effortless.

This was not only because they had Sect Cultivators joining the Yuxu Sect, but even more so because of their absolute control over Taihe Prefecture.

Originally, the Xuantian Sect did not plan to let the Chen Family participate in the battle, but after considering many factors, they dismissed this idea.

This was also why the Chen Family, being closest to the Wanshou Mountain Range, encountered a Beast Tide far smaller in scale than the other families in Qinghe County.

The two Chen Yuanwen looked at the completely tranquil Formation, feeling much more relaxed inside. Although this set of Tier 2 Low Grade Formation had no offensive power whatsoever, its defensive power was extremely strong. Even if a group of Tier 1 Yao Beasts continued to attack for days and nights, they might not necessarily be able to break it.

"It is time to activate the Raging Wind Formation," Clan Leader Chen Xuanlin said. Quite a few Yao Beasts had already gathered on the outskirts of Qingyang Mountain. Slashing and killing a portion of them now would also allow the clansmen within the Family to rest. After all, continuously maintaining the Formation not only consumed a massive amount of Spirit Stones, but also required quite a few Qi Refining Cultivators to preside over it constantly; sustaining such consumption indefinitely was simply not a viable solution.

Chen Yuanwen nodded and immediately gave the orders. Upon receiving the command, those clansmen activated the Raging Wind Formation to slaughter the horde of monsters.

In an instant, countless giant wind blades slashed toward the Beast Tide, instantly slaughtering hundreds of Tier 1 Yao Beasts and directly clearing out a large area around Qingyang Mountain.

Underneath Qingyang Mountain, the Mortals inside Qingyang Town saw this scene, feeling both terrified and pleasantly surprised in their hearts.

Among them, a child asked curiously, "Mother, what is that?"

"That is the Immortal Masters on the mountain making a move; we are saved," the woman said, weeping tears of joy.

Many Mortals around her also stirred with commotion. Although the Formation of Qingyang Mountain had enveloped them as well, that horde of Yao Beasts was separated from these Mortals by nothing more than an invisible Formation wall.

Fortunately, the Immortal Masters on the mountain had not abandoned them; every once in a while, Immortal Masters would come down to distribute food.

...

In the Wanshou Mountain Range, the Xuantian Sect led over a thousand Cultivators in a head-on battle against the Beast Tide.

In one of the battlefields, Chen Xuanyi led the Chen Family Cultivators to fight steadily within the combat zone. Relying on a set of Tier 2 Formations, they handled the slaughter with ease.

Conversely, for most of the other Cultivators, let alone slaying Yao Beasts to perform meritorious deeds, simply surviving was a difficult task.

As time passed, the probing within the Beast Tide gradually ended, and many high-tier Yao Beasts began to appear one by one.

The strongest among them was a three-headed snake monster whose cultivation had reached the Tier 3 Medium Grade. As soon as it entered the arena, it bit and killed a Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, then spat purple venom from its mouth, instantly corroding quite a few surrounding Cultivators and low-tier Yao Beasts, among whom were even two Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Seeing this, Master Lingxiao of the Xuantian Sect immediately made a move. His mastery of thunder techniques was nothing short of divine; with just a single strike, he roasted the outer skin of the three-headed snake monster to a charred crisp. Enraged, the three-headed snake monster chased after Master Lingxiao.

The departure of the two Purple Palace-level combatants caused many Cultivators to heave a heavy sigh of relief. If they had insisted on fighting here, before long, the number of Cultivators who died indirectly at their hands certainly wouldn't be small, knowing that the destructive range of Purple Palace Cultivators could easily reach several hundred zhang.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, can you let our Zhou Family in? Our Zhou Family will be endlessly grateful," Zhou Mingsui hurried toward Chen Xuanyi with his clansmen, urgently pleading. As a newly promoted Foundation Establishment Family, they simply had no spare money to buy a second Tier 2 Formation to bring to the battlefield; the grand protective Formation they bought previously had already exhausted all the Spirit Stones within the Family, and a considerable portion of it was even borrowed.

Originally, the Tier 1 supreme-grade Formation brought at the very beginning was sufficient, but as the battlefield grew increasingly intense, the Tier 1 supreme-grade Formation had long since been destroyed under the joint attack of two Tier 2 Yao Beasts, and even several clansmen had died. Helpless, Zhou Mingsui could only seek help from the Chen Family, which was closest to his own Family.

Hearing this, Chen Xuanyi frowned. It wasn't that he didn't want to agree; on a battlefield where Tier 2 Yao Beasts could pop out at any moment, having one more Foundation Establishment Cultivator meant one more fraction of a chance to survive.

It was just that if he casually agreed, what about the other surrounding Foundation Establishment Cultivators? Would they all swarm over? After all, among the Foundation Establishment families here, there were quite a few others whose situations were identical to the Zhou Family.

If they were all let in, they would inevitably become the primary target of the Yao Beasts' siege on this battlefield.

Moreover, these Cultivators were not members of his own Family; who knew if they would take the opportunity to stab them in the back.

Sensing Chen Xuanyi's dilemma, Zhou Mingsui gritted his teeth and immediately said, "Fellow Daoist Chen, I am willing to produce the corpse of a Tier 2 Yao Beast."

Chen Xuanyi's gaze was filled with surprise; he hadn't expected Zhou Mingsui to pay such a huge price just to rendezvous with him and the others.