Chapter 362: Breaking Out
A green serpent emerged continuously from various cracks, and their numbers kept increasing, gradually putting the cultivators inside the mountain cave at a disadvantage.
Wang Hong, who was strengthening the formation at the cave entrance, also noticed the situation. With powerful enemies on both sides, holding their ground inside the mountain cave was no longer an option.
"Wen Lan, take a group and open the reserved exit. Organize a retreat!"
After over half a year of exploration, they had thoroughly examined every corner of the mountain cave they were in. They had discovered that this mountain cave had only one exit. If a large number of Demonic Beasts stormed in from the entrance, they would be left with no escape route.
Therefore, they hadn't been idle during this time. They had excavated three additional passageways leading in different directions within the mountain cave.
At the ends of these three passageways, about a yard of earth and stone remained against the outer mountain wall. When needed, Foundation Building cultivators could easily blast it open with a single strike.
"Alright, East Master, which exit should we use to break out?" There were three exit options, and he didn't have the authority to decide which path to take.
"You should first narrow the passageways to the north and west sides. Then, open the entrance and feign a breakout, leading the surrounding Demonic Beasts toward the north and west sides. After that, we'll break out from the southern entrance."
Although the Demonic Beasts were currently focusing on the main attack at the entrance, the entire peak was already surrounded by them. No matter which exit they chose, they would encounter resistance from the Demonic Beasts. Moreover, the exits they had dug were only about a yard wide, so it would take some time for over a thousand people to pass through. This delay would be enough for the Demonic Beasts to react, gather more of their kind, and block the exit.
These Demonic Beasts could directly find the formation at the entrance, and the fact that they had gathered various types of Demonic Beasts together indicated that there was a highly intelligent Demonic Beast commanding them.It wasn't that they were lazy and didn't want to widen the exits; it was because they were all trapped inside the cave, and there was no more space to store the excavated earth and stones.
For now, they could only open two small openings to lure the Demonic Beasts away and then break out from another direction. Wen Lan quickly followed Wang Hong's instructions and left.
Qi Shaoqing and the others, who were watching from a distance, saw another location on the peak suddenly open a mountain cave, and dozens of people rushed out, seemingly preparing to break out and escape.
Due to the angle, Wen Lan opened two exits simultaneously, and Qi Shaoqing's group could only see one of them.
"Hmm! Isn't that Wen Lan who just came out? It's really Senior Brother Wang and the others. Should we go and join them and escape together?"
A Foundation Building cultivator recognized Wen Lan and asked Qi Shaoqing.
Qi Shaoqing rubbed his reddened eyes and suppressed his restlessness. After some thought, he said, "Let's wait a bit longer and see."
He didn't know how much strength Wang Hong and the others had retained. If they had too few people and were too weak, joining them now would only lead to being fodder for the Demonic Beasts.
As expected, they saw only dozens of people rushing out from the mountain cave, and they were forced back inside by the Demonic Beasts that had converged from all around.
"Indeed, Senior Brother Qi has exceptional foresight. If we had rushed out just now, we would probably have become Demonic Beast food," one of the cultivators remarked.
Now that they had drawn the Demonic Beasts surrounding other parts of the peak to the exit, they were all gathered near the exit, launching a fierce assault. However, the exit was too narrow, allowing only two Demonic Beasts to enter at a time.
Yang Tiezhu, carrying her wolf-toothed club, and another Foundation Building cultivator stood guard at one of the cave entrances. Every time a Demonic Beast tried to emerge from the entrance, Yang Tiezhu swiftly smashed its head with her club. The huge Demonic Beast corpses blocked the entrance, forcing the Demonic Beasts behind to use brute force to push forward.
When they finally managed to expose their heads while struggling with the corpses, they were met with another club strike before they could figure out what was happening. Outside the mountain cave, many Demonic Beasts had gathered, unaware of what was transpiring inside due to the narrow entrance.
Yang Tiezhu felt that the Demonic Beasts were crawling too slowly, and she kindly helped by pulling the corpses obstructing the path forward, allowing the others behind to move more swiftly.
"Yang Tiezhu, Yu Liangxin, stop worrying about those Demonic Beasts there! Come quickly to the southern exit and regroup."
Hearing Luo Zhongjie's call, Yang Tiezhu reluctantly left her post at the entrance. After luring a significant number of Demonic Beasts with the newly opened exits, Wang Hong instructed everyone to fight against the green serpents while gathering at the southern exit.
Though these green serpents were only Tier 1 Demonic Beasts, their sheer numbers made them formidable opponents. When most of the group had assembled near the southern exit, Wang Hong and Luo Zhongjie took the lead, using their Flying Swords to cut away chunks of the earth and stone in front of them.
In fact, with their Foundation Building cultivation levels, they could easily blast open the cave entrance with a single strike. However, that would create too much noise and could alert the other Demonic Beasts outside.
With a gentle sword strike, Wang Hong sliced through the final layer of rock, revealing a passage wide enough for one person to pass through. They spotted only three Demonic Beasts outside the cave, one of which was the closest and about to discover the entrance, preparing to let out a roar.
Unfortunately, before it could make a sound, a Flying Sword had already decapitated it. Wang Hong quickly emerged from the mountain cave, and the Flying Sword continued to dispatch the remaining two Demonic Beasts. The other two Demonic Beasts didn't even have time to react before they met the same fate.
Luo Zhongjie emerged from the cave entrance at this point, and the two of them silently moved to the sides, discreetly killing the Demonic Beasts a bit further away. They were careful not to let these Demonic Beasts make any noise before dying.
The rest of the group continued to widen the cave entrance. Many cultivators streamed out of the mountain cave, and after Wang Hong and Luo Zhongjie had killed the Demonic Beasts further away, more than half of the people inside the mountain cave had exited. By this time, the cave entrance had expanded to a yard wide.
The group quickly poured out of the mountain cave, taking only a few moments for over a thousand people to exit. Many green serpents followed them out.
"Run! Don't mind these little snakes!"
"Maintain battle formation!"
"Be silent, don't make a sound!"
The commanders in the group continuously transmitted messages to the others. In the distance, Qi Shaoqing and his companions saw that Wang Hong and the rest had all exited the mountain cave from the other side and had managed to preserve so many people.
"Senior Brother Qi, should we join them in breaking out? This is a rare opportunity!" someone in their group suggested.
"Yes! If we keep hiding, we might starve to death even with Demonic Beast meat!"
After a brief consideration, Qi Shaoqing realized that it was indeed a good opportunity.
Continuing to hide would only lead to them becoming increasingly aggressive due to their inability to consume Spirit Meals, despite having access to Demonic Beast meat.
"Good! Let's join Junior Brother Wang and break through together."
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