You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query>
    <searchinfo totalhits="1" />
    <search>
      <p ns="0" title="Paragon Alphabet" snippet="...ubtle markings or differences in the appearance of the rune may change its &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; entirely.&#10;The [[Protagonists]] were able to learn the &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; of a few of these runes from [[Richard Oddenheim]] one day after he may hav&#10;" size="1067" wordcount="166" timestamp="2016-06-17T01:32:05Z" />
    </search>
  </query>
</api>