It was a struggle to just defend against the synergy the three beasts had, much less be able to counter attack.
While Xue Chang was stuck in combat with the other two, the armadillo rolled over rapidly and slammed into him every chance it got.
And although they didn't have the necessary strength to defeat him, he knew they didn't need to beat him. All they wanted to do was stall for time.
The more time Xue Chang spent battling these beasts, the more danger Wang Mu, and in turn the whole city, was in.
The panther once against set itself up to leap at him, while the armadillo and crocodile watched its back.
Seeing the position he was put in, Xue Chang calmed himself down by taking a deep breath.
The glow around his eyes grew brighter ever so slightly as he recollected himself. He still had two tricks up his sleeve.
As the panther leapt forward, Xue Chang immediately stepped up, seemingly meeting the beast halfway. But instead of colliding, something strange occurred.
It was like an invisible palm slapped it to the side, the panther was suddenly knocked away mid air from seemingly nothing.
This unexpected event surprised the other two beasts immensely so they couldn't react.
Xue Chang wasted no time and ignoring the panther, he quickly arrived in front of the crocodile. Raising up his leg, he prepared to slam his heel down onto the beast's head, but the armadillo was too fast.
It rolled forward, immediately keeping him from progressing with the act. Xue Chang took a few steps back and spat out a globule of blood from his mouth.
The three beasts gathered back together as they glanced around the current surroundings.
The previous event seemed too strange, making them believe there was another opponent here they didn't see. But little did they know that Xue Chang had a strange ability to control certain things around him.
Using the wind to knock the panther away wasn't easy, but it wasn't difficult to do either. This added another card to his reservoir of tricks.
To be honest, Xue Chang underestimated these beasts. After all, although they were strong, their levels were too weak compared to his full power.
The only issue he was truly having was that they outnumbered him, and most importantly he was missing his weapon. Although he wasn't too bad with his fist arts, compared to his blade arts it was still lacking. Plus the armadillo and crocodile had higher defensive stats than the other beasts he fought. Making it difficult to finish them off without proper equipment… but not impossible.
Xue Chang moved around nimbly avoiding the next few attacks the three beasts threw at him.
In the corner of his eye, he could see a few low level beasts approaching the formation.
Xue Chang took a step forward to stop them, but once again the beasts' leaders impeded him. Although the situation seemed bad, Xue Chang didn't feel an ounce of worry inside of him whatsoever.
After all, he still had one trump card left.
Pressing his lips together, a shrill whistle escaped from his lips.
From the corner of his eye, he could see a black blur flash by the scene and move straight toward the group of low level beasts.
Xue Chang did not even hesitate for a second as he advanced against the three leaders, after all the core was in good hands. Or in the case of his partner, paws.
Taking in a deep breath, he allowed the full extent of his thousand armed Asura art to release. An apparition of more than a dozen arms shot out from his back and circled around him slowly.
The crocodile hissed as it charged up at him. The beast's jaw opened up as it readied itself to chomp down on his body.
But without hesitation, Xue Chang simply threw out his leg, right into the creatures jaw!
With a crack, Xue Chang grimaced so much from the pain that blood started to trickle from his gums. But luckily his bones were strong enough that it couldn't completely bite through, allowing his leg to remain attached to his body. And what happened next was exactly what he had been waiting for!
Using this opportunity the crocodile prepared, the armadillo rolled up into a ball and sped at Xue Chang at its greatest speed. Anyone, would be seriously injured if struck by this full frontal assault from the armadillo, but Xue Chang was different. He was actually more excited than worried.
The armadillo shot forward, faster than ever before. It was almost impossible for Xue Chang to keep track of where it was going, luckily he did not need to.
The second he felt the powerful impact on his chest, he acted without hesitation.
Xue Chang used all of his strength to wrap his asuran arms around the beast's carapace. Even in his arms it still rolled, the plates of its shell stuck out scratching at Xue Chang's body constantly.
He could feel his skin and flesh being torn off as the creature rolled around in place. Yet, Xue Chang was completely focused on the armadillo, ignoring the pain.
"Argh!" A scream of agony escaped his lips as blood gushed out of his wounds. He suddenly felt the grip the crocodile's jaw tighten around his leg, crushing even the bones. And the panther took this chance to sneak up and sink its claws into his shoulders, causing even more injuries to accumulate on his body.
But this didn't perturb him at all.
After all, he knew something these beasts didn't.
Clenching tightly with his teeth, Xue Chang slowly lifted the armadillo up into the sky.
"You seem confident in your defense? Well let's see how well you handle this!"
The second he finished his sentence the brought the creature right down, slamming it into the crocodile beneath him.
The force of the impact disoriented the crocodile immediately, but it didn't end there. Over and over again Xue Chang slammed the creature down on top of the crocodile's head. Blood and viscera splattered on the ground as he continued the act until the crocodile's eyes were out of its socket and its brain was mushed.
Throughout all of this, the armadillo and panther increased the strength of their attacks at the sight of his cruel violence.
But Xue Chang's body was like the others.
At a rate visible to the naked eye, Xue Chang's destroyed leg began to repair itself rapidly. Bone, muscles, veins, and arteries all reappearing and reattaching themselves to one another.
Until soon after he had a perfectly intact leg. And for the first time ever, at this sight, the panther's eyes reflected a new emotion.
Fear.
Armadillo in hand, Xue Chang spin around and smacked the panther across the head using it's rolled up body.
The beast was knocked aside and fell to the ground. And of course Xue Chang wasn't going to let go of such a grand opportunity. Repeating what he did to the crocodile, Xue Chang slammed the armadillo down onto the beast continuously, turning its sleep black body into a bloody pile of mashed flesh.
Fresh blood could actually be seen dripping from the mangled corpse.
It was difficult for Xue Chang to kill these beasts without a weapon. But if he didn't bring one, he'd have to make one from whatever was found in his surrounding. Luckily the perfect item was right in front of him all this time.
"All that is left is you!" Now only the armadillo was left. However, after seeing how it's friends were eviscerated, the armadillo finally felt that it had gotten itself way in over its head. It refused to unfurl itself, fearing what fate it would meet if it did so.
Because of this it just stayed rolled up and continuously rolled hoping to maybe tear through Xue Chang chest.
But his plans for the armadillo were not like his plans for the others. He already had something special in mind for this scenario.
Xue Chang wrapped all of his arms around the armadillo as the veins on his arms began to bulge and pop out. The asurans arms also continued to tremble softly, as if constant pressure was being released from them constantly.
The armadillo at first didn't understand what Xue Chang was doing. Did this strange human just want to embrace him?
But it sooner learned how wrong it was.
As more pressure was exerted by Xue Chang's arms, cracks began to form across the shell. Slowly these cracks spread across the beast's body before finally, to its horror, breaking apart unveiling his soft interior.
No normal beast's defense could possibly hope to stand against the pure brute strength of an asura. Even if Xue Chang hadn't truly mastered the technique, he was still more than capable of crushing a beast that was under the eighth level of qi refinement.
The armadillo finally let out it's final struggle as it squirmed and shrieked in his grasp. And finally with a sickening crunch, all movement stopped.
He quickly dropped the creature and caught his breath. Even though he was far stronger than any normal human, he still wasn't a cultivator. His stamina had limits and because of this he needed time to recuperate his spent energy along with his injured body.
He began a martial breathing technique to quickly recover his breath as his broken and beaten body repaired itself.
The asura, Blackie, appeared at his side happily with a couple drops of blood dripping from its maw. But at a closer glance, Xue Chang noticed that it wasn't the asura's blood.
After a couple of breaths, he had recovered fully. Without a second to waste he quickly made his way over to the core of the formation where Wang Mu was working to strengthen it.
His eyes were stained with dried blood and his pupils were blank, signaling that his current actions went further beyond what they originally planned.
"Wang Mu…"
"Is that you Yong Heng? Seems like the battle is ove-" His sentence was interrupted by dry heaving and coughing. It seemed like a struggle to finish his sentence.
"What happened to you?!" Xue Chang couldn't believe what he was seeing. He couldn't understand what had caused such a change in Wang Mu.
In between coughs he mouthed out, "After- the second core was destroyed- I knew that we wouldn't have enough power to protect the city without sacrifice. I am spending- my remaining lifespan to boost my- cultivation and power the formation instead."
"Why would you sacrifice yourself for this city? With your strength you could have easily escaped." This did not align with Xue Chang's image of Wang Mu. Although he didn't interact with this Wang Family patriarch often, the impression he got from his descendants was not a good one. He never would have expected Wang Mu to take such drastic actions.
"Haha- do not flatter yourself Yong Heng. I do not do this for you or this damned city-" he paused to cough out a mouthful of blood, "I just- want my son to have some place to return to."
Involuntarily, Xue Chang could not help but audibly gulp. Such actions, all for his son, was something that deeply touched even him.
While maybe he could not understand the man called Wang Mu, he felt in another time in another life he would have been good friends with the father called Wang Mu.
"Yong Heng- I want you to pass on a message to the city lord."
"What is it Wang Mu?"
"I- I want him to take care of my son."
Xue Chang had his grievances with Wang Dong. There was no doubt he was not someone that could truly be friends with that person… yet he couldn't reject the dying man in front of him.
"I promise to relay the message"
"And one more thing, if you find Wang Fan's body please give him an honorable burial." With these final words the light of life inside of Wang Mu's body began to dissipate. He couldn't even draw in another raspy breath before his life forced vanished.
The leftover corpse of Wang Mu began to sway side to side before falling. Xue Chang quickly shot over and caught him in his arms. Swiping his hands over the old man's eyes, he closed the lid allowing the old patriarch to finally enter his final rest.
Looking up at the sky Xue Chang was amazed. Through one man's effort, the formation protecting the city… had been completed.