Chapter 359: Preparing to Stay Long

Qi Shaoqing and Shi Fei, along with their trusted followers, charged ahead toward the horde of beasts. Suddenly, they accelerated and changed direction, weaving their way through the flanks of the beast horde.

They weren't fools; they had also noticed that many cultivators behind them were reluctant to contribute. Qi Shaoqing certainly didn't want to risk his life leading the way.

As they moved to the sides, only their loyal followers and a few faster-moving cultivators kept up with them. Those slow and hesitant cultivators at the rear became the frontline defenders.

Now, they also wanted to follow suit and break to the sides, but the Demonic Beasts in front of them had already closed in. They had no choice but to face the Demonic Beasts head-on.

After Qi Shaoqing and Shi Fei veered to the sides, they didn't immediately retreat. Instead, they attacked the beast horde from the flanks.

Though the others behind them wished to take it easy, they were pulled into the battle. The path back was still long, and it would require everyone's concerted effort to return to the second defense line successfully.

Just when they were locked in intense battle with the Demonic Beasts and saw a glimmer of victory, a larger group of Demonic Beasts rushed into the battlefield from behind.

Judging by their numbers, there were at least seventy to eighty thousand, or perhaps even over a hundred thousand.

At this point, they had no choice but to forget about the others. Qi Shaoqing signaled to his fellow disciples and broke through toward the front.

However, Shi Fei wasn't as fortunate. Just as he was about to escape, a massive emerald-eyed toad leaped out from the beast horde. It stood over ten feet tall, with two large eyes like lanterns.

"Ah! A third-tier Demonic Beast!"

"Run!"

The Giant Toad opened its large mouth, and a long tongue shot out with lightning speed, like a streak of light.

In the blink of an eye, a Foundation Building cultivator was captured by its tongue and swallowed whole, along with their clothes.

"Ah! Run! Senior Brother Shi was swallowed by the toad!"

One of the cultivators who had been by Shi Fei's side moments ago regained his composure and yelled before turning to flee.

The third-tier toad had just devoured a Foundation Building cultivator and seemed unsatisfied. Its tongue shot out again, capturing and swallowing another person.

As they fled, the number of people kept decreasing. They were utterly powerless against a third-tier Demonic Beast.

Perhaps the Demonic Beast had its fill, or perhaps luck was on their side, but eventually, they managed to escape with only a few dozen survivors.

Qi Shaoqing gazed at the grimy and disheveled Foundation Building cultivators in front of him. Out of the initial thirty thousand, only a mere few dozen remained after this battle.

They hid behind a few large natural rocks, taking advantage of the fact that the Demonic Beasts hadn't discovered them yet, and desperately tried to restore their Spiritual Power.

After a while, one of the cultivators had slightly recovered and spoke up, "Senior Brother Qi, with our current strength, it seems unlikely that we can fight our way back."

"Junior Brother Xu Xing, do you have any good ideas? Please share them with us," Qi Shaoqing replied.

Qi Shaoqing's hair was disheveled at this point, and his Daoist robe had several large tears, revealing a golden armor underneath. He could no longer maintain his carefree appearance.

Xu Xing, the cultivator who spoke, suggested, "Why don't we find a more secluded place, dig a mountain cave, and hide there temporarily?"

After everyone had entered the cave, Xu Xing's proposal seemed feasible. They could at least heal their wounds for now and look for an opportunity to return later.

Upon hearing Xu Xing's suggestion, the group nodded in agreement.

"I think this place is secluded enough. Why not start digging right here?" a cultivator proposed. Besides being sufficiently hidden, they dared not wander around at the moment to find a better location.

They wasted no time and, using their Spiritual Weapons, quickly dug a mountain cave behind the large rocks. The cave entrance was only wide enough for one person to pass through, and it wasn't very spacious inside. They would have to expand it later when they had more time.

Meanwhile, in Wang Hong's group's cave mansion, they were slowly recovering. However, the outermost defensive formation had been breached by the relentless onslaught of demonic birds.

Outside the cave entrance, the ground was littered with the bodies of demonic birds, and a few of them were still trying to break through the formation shield in front of the cave.

Their strength had diminished considerably, though. These demonic birds didn't understand why they were growing weaker.

Wang Hong approached the cave entrance, looking at the pile of demonic bird corpses. At least twenty thousand had met their end here.

In the sky outside, flocks of demonic birds occasionally flew by, and there were often large numbers of crawling demonic beasts passing through the vicinity.

Wang Hong reinforced the cave entrance's formation, satisfied with the result, and then entered one of the stone chambers.

This stone chamber had been specifically carved out later, and there were dozens of them inside the mountain cave.

They didn't know how long they would have to stay here, but they needed to prepare for the long haul.

Wang Hong opened a wooden box in the stone chamber, revealing Storage Bags filled with the corpses of demonic beasts. He took out two of them.

These Storage Bags were full of the demonic beast corpses they had collected. Wang Hong took the bags and left the stone chamber, entering a hall where he emptied the bags of demonic beast meat.

Fortunately, they had collected a large number of demonic beast corpses before, not expecting they would come in handy here.

Qi cultivation stage cultivators couldn't go without food, and Foundation Building stage cultivators still needed to eat every few days, even though they had stronger constitutions.

With over a thousand people here now, the daily food consumption was a daunting number.

But based on the demonic beast meat Wang Hong had collected, they could sustain themselves for at least a year.

After emptying the meat, Wang Hong gathered a dozen people and instructed them to prepare Spirit Meals and distribute them to the others.

However, he still had another task to attend to.

They didn't know when they could return to the second defense line. Being hidden within the Beast Tide meant they were in constant danger, so they needed to make more comprehensive preparations.

Wang Hong found Luo Zhongjie and said, "You go collect data on the Qi cultivation stage cultivators under our command, and then select ten individuals. I have some Foundation Establishment Pills on hand, and I plan to have them undergo Foundation Building. This way, they'll have some self-defense abilities."

His Qi cultivation stage subordinates had suffered significant losses in this battle. In large-scale conflicts like this, Qi cultivation stage cultivators were too vulnerable.

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay