74: Heavy losses

Just as Xun Xiuyuan and Xie Lin were talking, a sudden wave of dizziness hit, and the map shrunk again.

By the time nearly a hundred people reacted, hundreds of Firebird exotic beasts had already appeared opposite them.

Xun Xiuyuan, with his superior spiritual power, experienced the shortest period of dizziness, and while others were still disoriented, he had already charged forward.

He shouted, "Everyone maintain defensive formation!"

At this point, Ling Feihong and Xie Lin had also recovered and quickly began organizing the defensive formation.

After the arrangements were made, Xun Xiuyuan had already charged in and out of the Firebird flock three times.

Ling Feihong observed the situation and said to Xie Lin, "Should we maintain our formation and slowly approach to assist Young Friend Xun, or should we slowly advance towards the northeast corner?"

Xie Lin looked at Xun Xiuyuan amidst the exotic beast horde; the Firebirds' attacks seemed to cause him little damage.

He said to Ling Feihong, "Let's move towards the northeast corner. Xiuyuan seems to be fine."

Ling Feihong was also watching Xun Xiuyuan's battle, exclaiming repeatedly, "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe anyone who told me that someone in the Immaculate Realm could achieve this. One person single-handedly taking on hundreds of exotic beasts of the same rank."

Then he turned to Xie Lin and said, "Let's move quickly."

Immediately, everyone maintained their defensive formation and slowly moved towards the northeast corner.

Because Firebirds move relatively faster than other exotic beasts, Xun Xiuyuan's killing speed was quite slow; after ten minutes, the number of Firebird deaths hadn't even reached half.

If it were Savage Bears, Shadow Demons, or other exotic beasts, five hundred of them would have scattered in ten minutes, with at least eighty percent of them dead.

Even so, Xun Xiuyuan's killing speed was still terrifying, and the number of kills had already surpassed the thousand mark.

After Xun Xiuyuan killed nearly another hundred Firebirds, the Firebirds finally realized that this human in front of them couldn't be defeated by sheer numbers. Whenever they nearly depleted his vital energy, he would inexplicably replenish it, and exotic beasts of the same rank had almost no chance of victory against him.

The Firebirds began to scatter, and Xun Xiuyuan didn't pursue them. The defensive formation of the group had already moved out of sight.

After some thought, Xun Xiuyuan headed directly in the direction the human contingent was moving.

A moment later, Xun Xiuyuan found the human team and saw members of the Wang family within it.

At this time, the main human force was surrounded by the Otherworldly Ghost Clan, and casualties had already occurred; even with the Wang family members, there were less than a hundred people left.

He stopped thinking about the Wang family for now; first, he would deal with these Otherworldly Ghosts.

After fully recovering using his exotic beast value, he once again activated the Explosive Ignition Art and charged into the Otherworldly Ghost horde.

At this moment, Xie Lin, seeing Xun Xiuyuan return, shouted loudly, "Xiao Yuan, we can already see the tunnel entrance in the northeast corner! We should be able to go in after this wave!"

Xun Xiuyuan didn't speak after hearing this, only looking towards the northeast corner, where there seemed to be a gate-like opening. That was likely the tunnel entrance.

"Uncle Xie, I'll open a gap. You all charge out first. If we take too long, more and more exotic beasts will surround us."

After speaking, Xun Xiuyuan fought fiercely, quickly opening a gap in the exotic beast encirclement.

"Uncle Xie, you all hurry through! I'll cover the rear!"

"Alright." Upon hearing Xun Xiuyuan, Xie Lin immediately organized the team to rush from the gap towards the tunnel entrance.

Xun Xiuyuan watched as the entire team retreated through the gap and headed towards the tunnel entrance.

He immediately began slaughtering the exotic beasts pursuing from behind. At this moment, Xun Xiuyuan was excited; it was truly difficult to kill so many Immaculate Realm exotic beasts normally.

Large-scale sieges were rare, and even when they occurred, they were primarily led by seventh and eighth-rank exotic beasts, unlike now, where it was a uniform force of ninth-rank Immaculate Realm exotic beasts.

The difference in exotic beast value was not insignificant; it was an exponential increase.

Just as Xun Xiuyuan was making hundreds of Otherworldly Ghosts cry out in despair, intense sounds of battle erupted at the tunnel entrance.

Xun Xiuyuan knew there must be a problem there, so he immediately abandoned his pursuit of the Otherworldly Ghosts and flew towards the tunnel entrance.

When he arrived at the tunnel entrance, Xun Xiuyuan's eyes turned red. Including the Wang family, nearly a hundred humans were now reduced to a sparse group of less than thirty stubbornly resisting, and among those thirty were six disciples of the Wang family.

This situation immediately made Xun Xiuyuan suspect that it might be the work of the Wang family colluding with the exotic beasts.

He stopped thinking further and focused on killing the exotic beasts first.

It turned out that when Xie Lin and Li Feihong led everyone to the tunnel entrance, they were ambushed by nearly four hundred exotic beasts. The exotic beasts had been hidden inside the tunnel entrance, waiting for the humans to arrive.

Caught off guard, the humans suffered heavy losses.

Hundreds of exotic beasts ambushed the humans, who fiercely resisted; they couldn't just wait to die.

Under the humans' resistance, the exotic beasts also suffered heavy losses, but due to their large numbers, it didn't fundamentally harm them.

When Xun Xiuyuan arrived, nearly three hundred of the four hundred ambushing exotic beasts were still alive.

Xun Xiuyuan had no time to deal with the Wang family's affairs for now. He directly charged into the exotic beast horde, unleashing his full power, and furiously attacked the exotic beasts.

A moment later, the remaining dozens of exotic beasts scattered frantically. Xun Xiuyuan didn't pursue them but stood in front of the remaining thirty people.

"Let's enter the tunnel first. I'll guard the entrance. You all take the time to recover," Xun Xiuyuan said to the group.

Then he gestured to Xie Lin. Xie Lin understood and followed Xun Xiuyuan to stand at the tunnel entrance, away from the others.

Li Feihong also walked over, thinking Xun Xiuyuan had a good plan.

"Uncle Xie, do you all know the people from the Wang family?" Xun Xiuyuan asked.

Xie Lin scratched his head and thought for a moment: "There seem to be six remaining from the Wang family. Why?"

"This ambush at the tunnel entrance is very likely the result of the Wang family conspiring with the exotic beasts," Xun Xiuyuan said, then recounted Zheng Xianlun's matter and also mentioned his own ambush by exotic beasts.

While he was saying these words, Li Feihong was present the entire time, his face extremely dark.

If it was related to the Wang family, then the disciples of the Li family who had just died in battle had died too unjustly. Of the nearly one hundred Qiulong City disciples who followed him, only he was still alive.

Xun Xiuyuan spoke again: "When we go back, we will directly kill all the Wang family members. Otherwise, it will be even harder to defend later."

Xie Lin glanced at Li Feihong, a bit hesitant: "Without proof, it might not be good to act directly."

Unexpectedly, Li Feihong, who was nearby, interjected: "I think it's possible, Xie Lin. Think about it, why did the Wang family, with a total of less than twenty people, arrive almost fully staffed when they met up with us? I doubt anyone else could achieve that, right? Not everyone is as abnormal as Young Friend Xun."

Xie Lin was already supportive of Xun Xiuyuan; he had only spoken that way because Li Feihong was present. Now that Li Feihong agreed, there was no problem.

"Alright then, I'll hold off three people with Li Feihong. You can just kill them directly."

Xun Xiuyuan smiled: "When you go back, first send the others away, to prevent them from becoming desperate and causing us losses."

After Xie Lin nodded in agreement, he and Li Feihong walked back.