Chapter 72: Covered in Blood

Seeing Fourteenth Uncle go over to help Grandfather share the pressure, Lin Zhangqing also breathed a sigh of relief. It was just that his spiritual energy was depleted now, and he needed some time for the Qi Recovery Pill to take effect, so Lin Zhangqing could only stop attacking the demon beasts.

He focused on defending his own safety. Fortunately, with Father and Second Uncle around, and twenty-four Purple Crystal Scorpions protecting him, Lin Zhangqing's safety was not a problem.

However, Lin Zhangqing and the others were safe, but other clansmen who didn't have the Purple Crystal Scorpions to assist in defense had already suffered quite a few casualties.

Lin Zhangqing had already seen with his own eyes a clansman uncle being torn into two halves by a First-Stage late-stage peak Furious Ape while resisting an attack at close range.

It wasn't just this place; there were several other places where two or three people were directly submerged by demon beasts. The clansmen inside obviously couldn't escape!

Seeing this, Lin Zhangqing was furious. With a thought, four Purple Crystal Scorpions flew rapidly toward the Furious Ape.

And at this time, the Furious Ape had targeted another clansman uncle. Fortunately, this clansman uncle had the cultivation of the ninth layer of Qi Refining and could still resist for a while.

This gave the Purple Crystal Scorpions a chance to get close. Soon four Great Sun Purple Crystal Needles were stabbed into its body, and the Furious Ape could only continuously let out mournful screams, then fell to the ground and died. That clansman uncle wasn't at ease and added a sword to its head.

Lin Zhangqing decided to change his strategy, placing a Purple Crystal Scorpion beside every clansman, and placing another one beside the weaker clansmen with the extra Purple Crystal Scorpions.

In this way, a small team of two or three clansmen had three or four Purple Crystal Scorpions to protect and assist.

Although the range was more scattered, it was better than seeing clansmen constantly injured or dying!

And this kind of arrangement was immediate, and two clansmen were rescued immediately, which made Lin Zhangqing feel a bit more at ease.

After waiting for a while, the spiritual energy in his body recovered to the level of 60% or 70%. Lin Zhangqing began to kill First-Stage demon beasts again, still prioritizing First-Stage late-stage demon beasts for special care.

He didn't know how long it had been, anyway, two bottles of Qi Recovery Pills had been eaten, and the density of demon beasts finally began to thin out, and the pressure began to decrease.

Lin Zhangqing scanned the clan's defense area with his divine sense, and there were only fifty-eight clansmen alive and able to move, which meant twenty-two clansmen had fallen and died here.

And there were more than thirty people injured, with casualties exceeding 60% or 70%. This damn beast tide! He looked up toward a slightly farther place, which was the area responsible by scattered cultivators, and found that the number of people had directly decreased by more than 70% or 80%.

And the remaining cultivators were all injured. If it weren't for some Qingyun Sect Qi Refining disciples helping to defend, the beast tide might have broken through this area.

He looked at other areas, including the place responsible by the Qingyun Sect itself, which was also heavily damaged, perhaps only a bit better than the scattered cultivators. Comparing like this, the casualties of the Lin family clansmen were the lightest.

He looked toward the Clan Leader's side and found that the wolf-like demon beast and the pangolin demon beast were gone. He didn't know if they were dead or had run away.

Now it had been replaced by a Second-Stage peak Swift Wind Thunder Leopard. The Clan Leader had dealt with this kind of demon beast once before, so there shouldn't be any problem.

His eyes swept toward Grandfather and Fourteenth Uncle's side, and he was immediately shocked. That mouse demon beast was gone, and now there was the Swift Wind Wolf King, and a Second-Stage early-stage leopard-type demon beast, and there was also a Second-Stage mid-stage Purple-Gold Eagle in the air.

Fourteenth Uncle's back was covered in blood; this should be the masterpiece of this Purple-Gold Eagle.

All three were speed-type demon beasts. Grandfather and Fourteenth Uncle could only form a circle with the Bloodthirsty Thorn Vine, supporting each other to maintain balance and not be broken individually.

Seeing this, Lin Zhangqing was anxious. He swallowed another Qi Recovery Pill, summoned the Thunder Horn again, and input spiritual energy into it desperately. Soon a Geng Metal Divine Thunder took shape.

This time the target chosen was the Swift Wind Wolf King, and he fired it toward its waist. With another loud "Boom!", mixed with the mournful and sharp screams from the Wolf King. The huge thunder sound startled both the humans and demon beasts in the battle. Fourteenth Uncle was experienced and immediately finished off the Wolf King with a sword. By the time the other two demon beasts reacted, it was already too late.

Grandfather also reacted and immediately entangled the Purple-Gold Eagle, fearing it would go to attack Lin Zhangqing. Fourteenth Uncle entangled the leopard-type demon beast. Now the situation was completely reversed.

Lin Zhangqing hurriedly recovered his spiritual energy and began to contact the four thunder apertures in his body, mobilizing the thunder dharma power inside to pour into the Thunder Horn.

Anyway, it had already attracted the attention of the Second-Stage demon beasts, so he simply fired another Geng Metal Divine Thunder to help the Clan Leader create an opportunity, letting this Swift Wind Thunder Leopard also taste the power of the divine thunder.

Soon the Geng Metal Divine Thunder took shape, locked onto the leopard's waist, and fired it out immediately. After the familiar "Boom" sound, it was accompanied by the screams of the Swift Wind Thunder Leopard.

Although it was a lightning-attribute demon beast and had some lightning-attribute resistance, being hit directly by the Geng Metal Divine Thunder also left it covered in cuts and bruises, paralyzed all over, losing its ability to move, and it fell directly to the ground.

Although the Clan Leader was startled, he reacted quickly. How could he let go of such a good opportunity? After a slight hesitation, he still finished off the Swift Wind Thunder Leopard with a sword. In fact, he very much wanted to capture the Thunder Leopard alive, but he decided to give it up after thinking about it.

After confirming the Swift Wind Thunder Leopard was dead, he immediately turned his flying sword and attacked the other leopard-type demon beast. Joining forces with Fourteenth Uncle to attack this leopard demon, the Second-Stage early-stage demon beast couldn't cope at all. It didn't last two rounds before being killed by the Clan Leader with a sword through the heart.

The Purple-Gold Eagle hovering at low altitude saw that the situation was not right and would rather take a hit from Grandfather than desperately pull up its altitude to disengage from the battle, flying rapidly toward the outside of the fortress.

All three didn't make a move to stop it. Now there were still many demon beasts around the fortress, so there was no need to stare at this one.

The Clan Leader nodded toward Lin Zhangqing, then immediately went to support other clansmen. Grandfather and Fourteenth Uncle didn't dare to rest either, all making moves to help quickly clear all remaining First-Stage demon beasts, trying their best to reduce the losses of the clansmen.

Lin Zhangqing also braced himself and worked hard to kill the remaining demon beasts. This wave of beast tide should be considered successfully passed. Now only the cleanup remained. Kill as many demon beasts as possible; after all, these were all contribution points!

The father and son, uncle and nephew, three of them began to move in a team, helping clansmen kill demon beasts. Soon more and more clansmen were freed. As there were more and more people, the demon beasts in the defense area were soon cleared away! Lin Zhangqing really didn't want to move anymore. Unlike the Clan Leader and Grandfather, who still had the ability to go and support other areas, Fourteenth Uncle didn't go either; a clansman was helping him clean the wounds on his back and arm.

Many clansmen saw that the demon beasts in the defense area had been cleared, and their spirits relaxed, and they sat paralyzed on the ground.

There were also some clansmen around cleaning and bandaging wounds for each other. At this time, Father and Second Uncle also went up to help.

Lin Zhangqing didn't go over. He had other things to do. He began to recall the 124 Purple Crystal Scorpions, checking their bodies one by one, and found that most of them had suffered some injuries.

Only twenty Purple Crystal Scorpions had no wounds found. Fortunately, there were no deaths. The most seriously injured one had a giant pincer broken, which was equivalent to breaking a hand. He didn't know if it could grow back! He divided the ten Jade Healing Pills into eight parts and fed them to the more seriously injured Purple Crystal Scorpions. The others with lighter injuries all consumed Spring Return Pills, and the one with a broken pincer consumed a Lotus Heart Pill. Lin Zhangqing only had one left himself.

Then he collected them all back into the spirit insect bag, and waited until he returned to the space to let the Lu Youqiang family help treat them.

This time, fifty-eight clansmen survived, and adding the three of them, there were fifty-eight clansmen.

This time, so many people could survive, the Purple Crystal Scorpions definitely contributed greatly. The Purple Crystal Scorpions had saved at least more than half of the clansmen, and the number of demon beasts assisted in killing was countless.

The clansmen who had caught their breath began to pack up the demon beast corpses in their defense area. These were spoils of war fought for with their lives.

As for the belongings of the fallen clansmen, Fourteenth Uncle would first seal their storage bags. The spoils of war would be uniformly exchanged for clan contribution points, and then converted and returned to their families along with the corpses.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 73 =====