Chapter 42: The Beast Tide Expands

  My tooth is aching, it's so painful! Maybe I ate too much and didn't clean well, hehe!

  Only one family's inner nephew hurriedly came, and when he arrived in front of everyone, his eyes scanned the crowd, finally falling on Xu Jin, and asked with a bow:

  "Brother Jin, has a monster come to attack?"

  "Oh, it was Junior Brother Xu Fang after all. The demonic beast only attacked once and never appeared again." Xu Jin nodded in response.

  Xu Fang glanced at the empty mountain slope below, then turned to Xu Jin and said in a low voice: "Brother Jin, Second Uncle has ordered everyone to retreat to the Tongyu Valley entrance. He thinks it's likely that the demon beast is gathering its strength for a desperate attack, so we should concentrate our forces too."

  "Alright, let's retreat!"

  Xu Jin turned around and beckoned to the crowd, leading the way towards the entrance of Tongyou Valley. The remaining eighteen people also hastily grabbed their spoils of war and followed behind Xu Jin.

  Storage bags are still a rare thing for ordinary families, and including the one that just came, only Xu Jin and Xu Ziyuan have one storage bag each. So everyone else collects their spoils in prepared sacks, some carrying them on their backs, others shouldering them.

  Xu Ziyuan walked at the end, carrying the corpse of her deceased cousin. Xu Fang looked at everyone's harvest and a hint of envy flashed in his eyes. When he saw that Xu Ziyuan had no pockets on her body but was carrying a corpse instead, a strange color flashed in his eyes, but ultimately he said nothing and followed Xu Jin to retreat towards the Tongyao Valley entrance.

  Xu Jin suddenly stopped after taking two steps, turned his head and said to Xu Fang: "Brother Xu Fang, there are many more monsters below the mountain slope. We don't have anything to carry them with. Why don't we wait here for a while, you go prepare some?"

  Xu Fang's eyes lit up, and he hastily thanked Xu Jin before swiftly dashing down the mountain slope. In less than a minute, Xu Fang was back, carrying a large sack and running with a cheerful whoop. As he ran, he shouted regretfully:

  "What a pity! There are still so many good things that can't be taken!"

  Xu Fang smiled faintly and said: "After we go back, tell Second Uncle to send someone to collect it again!"

  Twenty people walked back and forth, laughing and chatting, and soon returned to the entrance of Tongyou Valley. Xu Ziyuan looked up and saw that the people guarding the other fork in the road had also returned. However, Xu Ziyuan's gaze only swept across them for a moment before her face fell. Because she had already discovered that three of the ten outer sect disciples who followed Xu Lin were missing.

  Hurriedly walking to the outer courtyard of his younger brother's residence, he saw three corpses lying on the ground. Upon seeing Xu Ziyuan walk over, Xu Lin awkwardly said:

  "Zi Yan, sister, I'm sorry, it's all because I didn't take good care of you!"

  Xu Ziyuan gently shook her head, knowing in her heart that she couldn't blame Xu Lin at this time. Didn't one of the people following her also die? So, she turned her head and softly said:

  "Lin Shixiong, I know you've done your best!"

  At this time, Xu Gan, Xu Wen, Xu Tianxiao and Xu Dongxue, who were standing not far away, looked at Xu Ziyuan returning unscathed. The four of them exchanged a glance, and their hearts felt a surge of depression. When they saw those outer sect disciples who had gone out to gain experience one by one returning with big and small gains, their hearts felt even more depressed, as if the word "depression" was written on their faces.

  At this time, the family members who died in the crossroads were not many, and they were all some outer brothers. Under the simple ceremony presided over by Xu Haobo, the bodies of those dead brothers were cremated, and the ashes were collected by a special person sent by the family.

  Afterwards, Xu Haobo sent his disciples to the fork in the road to collect the bodies of the demon beasts there while he began to re-arrange the defenses of Tongyu Valley.

  Xu Ziyuan was following others to set up defensive fortifications, while occasionally glancing in the direction of Xu Haobo. In her heart, she knew that these defensive fortifications were probably useless. Those demonic beasts must have already moved behind them by now, and if they attacked Tongyu Valley, they would also attack from behind. If that was the case, their situation would be perilous.

  But after those monsters attacked the city master, Xiao and Wu families, and destroyed the three beast talismans, how would they choose? Would they be furious and follow the defeated city master's mansion, Xiao and Wu families' people to attack Zhongdu City, or return to the vast mountain range?

  If they were to return to the Cang Mang mountain range, would they be heading in the direction of Luo Feng Ridge, or Chang Ri Valley, or perhaps their own family's stronghold of Tong You Valley? If they were to launch an attack on Zhong Du City, could the people within hold their ground? And what should she and her companions do? Xu Ziyan couldn't help but shake her head, feeling a bit dizzy.

  She wanted to inform her second uncle about everything she had done and the current situation, but unfortunately, there was no opportunity. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, an outer disciple going to find a master in the family would definitely arouse everyone's suspicion. So, in the end, Xu Ziyuan did not go to find Xu Haobo, but instead kept pondering the current situation in her heart. After repeated consideration, she felt that the probability of the demon beast attacking the Zhongdu city was very high.

  On the one hand, the beast tide was originally a demon beast attacking human territory, and they would never retreat to the mountains after just two or three days of eruption. What kind of beast tide is that? On the other hand, it was those three beast-attracting talismans that Xu Ziyuan had buried earlier. After the demon beasts had killed humans with great difficulty, they found that the beast-attracting talismans for the Void-step Grass were torn apart by everyone in the scramble, so they would definitely vent their anger on humans. In this way, following the defeated and fleeing humans to attack Zhong City almost became a necessary action.

  Xiang Tong, who had come to a similar realization, gradually put down her thoughts and began constructing defensive fortifications together with the other disciples.

  Time slowly passed, the sky gradually darkened, and the defensive fortifications had been completed, but still no sign of a monster was seen. From Xu Haobo down, each person's face wore a puzzled expression.

  However, at this time outside the Zhongdu City, it was a different scene. The entire Zhongdu City had been completely surrounded by the demonic beasts that covered the sky and the earth. The demonic beasts were howling and attacking the city.

  The city above and below had already become a mess, the intense degree had made it impossible to distinguish between human and demon shadows, everywhere was flesh and blood flying, the miserable cries of humans and demons shook the sky. The entire Zhongdu City was like a giant meat grinder, constantly slaughtering without stopping.

  The monster continuously spat magic at the city, while the humans on the city also continuously released magic and threw talismans. After a fierce battle for a day and night, the City Lord's Mansion, Xiao Family, and Wu Family suffered heavy losses. In desperation, Li Wanpeng, Xiao Rugui, and Wu Meng joined forces to visit the Xu Family, requesting that they send troops to provide assistance.

  Finally, under Li Wanpeng, Xiao Rugui and Wu Meng's third joint request, Xu Haoran finally agreed to send troops. Xu Haoran did not want Zhongdu City to be breached by the demon beasts, so he could not bear to see the city lord's mansion, the Xiao family, and the Wu family suffer heavy losses, in which case, relying solely on the Xu family would not be able to hold Zhongdu City.

  After participating in the battle at the Xu family, a great effect was produced. To say that the demon beasts attacked for a day and night, even if they were demon beasts, they felt tired. The city above and below was filled with countless dead and wounded, everywhere was littered with human and demon beast corpses, but the fighting temporarily stopped.

  Through the Youyu Valley, all the Xujia disciples stood quietly there, vigilantly gazing into the valley. Suddenly, the earth began to shake and a rumbling sound came from within the valley...

  New and old friends, if you feel that this book is still short of words, then just keep it for now. You can go take a look at my previous book "Phoenix Chirps in Song", the link is below.