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-continue>
    <templates tlcontinue="9754|10|Ask_Ionian_Islands_Schools" />
  </query-continue>
  <query>
    <pages>
      <page pageid="9754" ns="0" title="Main Page">
        <templates>
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Ask Areas Style" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Ask Corinthian Gulf Areas" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Ask Corinthian Gulf Schools" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Ask Crete Areas" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Ask Crete Schools" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Ask Cyclades Areas" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Ask Cyclades Schools" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Ask Dodecanese Areas" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Ask Dodecanese Schools" />
          <tl ns="10" title="Template:Ask Ionian Islands Areas" />
        </templates>
      </page>
    </pages>
  </query>
</api>