Even though I had moved back behind the wall, the lizard-like monstrous beast followed me without hesitation. This time, I didn't have the privilege of skating around or allowing its hits to push me back.

But it didn't take long for the tables to turn. As I jumped back, the monstrous beast was about to give chase, but its eyes widened as it noticed that not everything was as it seemed.

Three new Qi signatures had landed, and we had cornered the monstrous beast in a four-way prong. We all attacked immediately without an ounce of hesitation.

"You have amazing instincts," I told the monstrous beast. "But you're quite reckless. With a bit of training, I could see you becoming a skilled fighter who would be able to hit way above their level."

Though I could see its future potential, monstrous beasts generally had no concept of training. If this lizard-like monstrous beast had been trained, I would have been dead before I could retreat behind these walls. Perhaps training was a concept their leader needed more time to implement.

The clan leader, the governor, and I simultaneously shot long-range Qi attacks at the monstrous beast. Its eyes widened just before an explosion engulfed it.

"He jumped!" I yelled, pointing at the sky where the lizard-like monstrous beast was. "I will take care of this. Save your Qi."

I contemplated using a flying slash, but wasting Qi was not something I could afford. Fatigue was already catching up to me, and my Qi reserves were less than half full.

In the end, I decided on the next best thing: jumping up and giving chase of the monstrous beast while we were both in midair. Since it couldn't use its feet to kick off the ground, it couldn't build up any speed in midair. But it was still a fast monstrous beast. It tried to slash at me and even landed a couple of hits.

But I didn't mind. I swung my daggers and pierced its eyes. I skewered the monstrous beast continuously as we fell to the ground, making sure to deal as much damage as possible so its healing factor wouldn't keep up.

By the time we landed, the lizard-like monstrous beast's body was riddled with holes and oozing blood. I stood cautiously over its corpse as the Qi inside it fizzled out and it died.

But despite our success, we did not get the chance to celebrate. A reverberating crash sounded in the distance. The snowstorm made it hard to see, but such a huge army was hard to miss.

Powerful bear-like and moose-like monstrous beasts stomped through the ice, turning it into chunks and crushed powder. It didn't take long before the array holding the ice cracked, and a large spider-web-like fissure spread through it.

"The array is broken," the governor pointed out with a solemn look on his face.

Behind the powerful monstrous beasts, the faster ones charged forward with frightening speed as soon as the ice was gone.

Whoever was leading these monstrous beasts had already figured out a countermeasure to what I was doing. Dealing with someone smart while my life was on the line was a pain in the ass. I preferred friendly competition or a healthy rivalry over death battles.

But even with the advantage, it seemed that was not enough for the mastermind behind the monstrous beasts. A giant porcupine-like monstrous beast stepped forward, inflating like a pufferfish until it was the size of a commercial airplane. Then, without waiting long, the spikes on its back shot toward us.

"Damn," I cursed under my breath as the porcupine's spikes, the size of electric poles, flew at deadly speed.

I intercepted a couple of the spikes that came my way, but the screams and grunts of the Body Tempering Cultivators made me grit my teeth.

"Everyone! Get behind the walls!" I yelled.

The porcupine somehow grew a new wave of spikes and shot them out just as ferociously. Thankfully, most of the remaining Body Tempering Cultivators followed my orders and jumped behind the wall, though a few were unfortunately skewered.

The wall shook as the spikes landed and dug into it. Despite their size, the spikes didn't do much damage to the wall but still caused it to shake, which was quite worrying.

There were no more arrays outside the walls, and there wasn't much else I could do except let the monstrous beasts run us over. As I was thinking this, the monstrous beasts were not yet close enough to attack. There was a shift in the air, and from the corner of my eye, I saw a four-armed gorilla appear out of nowhere. Somehow, a monster of that size had evaded my senses.

By the time I turned toward it, the four-armed gorilla had covered half the distance. I was screwed. Its giant, meaty fist was heading my way, and there was no way I could get out of this unscathed.

Whoever this monstrous beast was, it wasn't underestimating me and seemed to be going all out from the beginning.

Damn, how was this fair? I thought these monstrous beasts had intelligence, and a small part of me hoped they had developed feelings I could exploit, like honor.

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This was a Foundation Establishment monstrous beast, and it wasn't holding back at all.

At least be a bit arrogant, my dude. What was up with all that Qi in your fist?

Also, how come I hadn't sensed him? This guy was Foundation Establishment and used a method to hide his Qi and sneak attack me.

What the hell? He didn't have to try so damn hard to kill a meager Qi Gathering Cultivator! This was like using a rocket from a stealth jet to kill a rabbit. Absolute overkill!

The fist was too fast for me to raise my arms and block; it was faster than I could even move my eyes to look at the attacker. Even if I could block it, there was no doubt in my mind that the attack would still kill me. It had too much Qi and raw power behind it to be stopped.

As time seemed to slow down, I wondered if this was one of those moments where everything moves slowly just before people die. Instinctively, my body thought I was already dead.

But despite the danger, I wasn't necessarily too worried. Why? Because I trusted someone to have my back!

Boom!

Something fell from the sky, landing between us. It was Speedy, now the size of a car, and he used his shell to block the punch.

For a moment, I was worried about Speedy.

However, I knew one thing for sure. Turtle-type monsters were considered weak because they were dreadfully slow and didn't have strong attacks. They were deemed weak because no cultivator would be in danger even if they encountered them. The average cultivator could easily escape from turtle-like monstrous beasts.

Turtle-like monstrous beasts made up for their lack of strength and speed with overwhelming defense. Their defensive power was such that, in some cases, it skipped rank, and even Foundation Establishment creatures would have a hard time hurting a Qi Gathering turtle!

There was a loud sound and a strong wind generated from the aftermath of the attack, but despite that, Speedy didn't even budge. He had his head and legs out of his shell and was facing me.

The not-so-little guy had an almost bored look as this whole thing happened.

After it was over, Speedy rolled over and landed on his legs. The gorilla monstrous beast was still there, staring at his bloodied knuckles.

Then he looked at Speedy with a hateful gaze and roared, "Why is a monstrous beast working for a human? How dare you betray your own kind? You would stop our glorious advancements just to be treated like a pet?"

The gorilla's voice was enraged and growl-like. Still, Speedy was the epitome of calmness, just staring at the Foundation Establishment monstrous beast. If I was reading this right, Speedy didn't care about complicated things.

Politics? Ambition? Power? A greater purpose in life? Speedy cared for none of that. He was living my dream life of doing whatever he wanted.

A carpet flew down and landed next to the governor. That was the artifact Speedy had used to stay in the sky. He had been quite high up, where no monstrous beast should have been able to sense him. Even though Speedy was heavier than his size might suggest and had an incredible mass, his defense was strong enough that even falling from great heights did not visibly hurt him.

"What did you say?" the gorilla grumbled, staring at Speedy with a veil of hatred.

Huh? Could he understand Speedy, even though he couldn't speak? They were both monstrous beasts, so that might be the case.

"You think that our hatred is so cheap that a measly turtle does not care about it?" The four-armed gorilla's eyes turned red as he took a step forward. He looked ready to fight Speedy and almost forgot about poor old me.

But before he could continue, there was a shimmer in the air, and a human-sized butterfly appeared out of nowhere. Its wings were rainbow-colored, with an almost hypnotic effect to put someone at ease.

The butterfly's wings flashed with a strange light, and even though I didn't understand why, it seemed to be panicking.

What was more worrying was that despite the butterfly monstrous beast being close and having shown itself, I could not sense its presence at all. If it weren't for the shifting air and falling snow around it, I would have doubted its existence, possibly considering it an illusion.

It seemed like it had the ability to turn invisible and even hide others. That was likely how the gorilla had gotten so far into enemy lines without anyone sensing his monstrous Qi reserves. This kind of ability was very dangerous.

"Thanks for breaking me out of my stupor," the gorilla said, now eerily calm. "After everything humans have done to monstrous beasts, I was surprised that one of our kind would still take their side."

The butterfly's wings flashed again in a myriad of colors and now seemed calmer.

"Yes, I know I was supposed to wait and sneak attack the hidden Foundation Establishment human. But at this rate, the guy won't even need to show up," the gorilla stared at me. "Their leader is too dangerous. Even if we somehow won, with the losses he is making us suffer, we would still end up losing."

He must have figured out I was the leader when I ordered the Body Tempering Cultivators to come down. That was a wild and risky assumption on his part, but he had been right.

"If it makes you feel any better, it's not just humans being cruel to monstrous beasts. Don't act like you guys don't also destroy villages on a whim and eat everyone from the youngest to the oldest of any human you encounter," I said.

Of course, I was lumping all monstrous beasts into one category. It was an ignorant assumption on his part that all humans kill monstrous beasts. The average mortal couldn't kill a monstrous beast even if they wanted to, and mortals still made up the majority of humans. He was blaming humanity as a whole for the sins of the powerful few, who were less than one percent of the entire human population.

But I didn't care. I was using these arguments to buy time to activate a barrage of arrays all over the city. I also bought time for the governor and the clan leaders to retreat. The gorilla-like monstrous beast had its eyes on me, and it would be a waste if the governor and clan leaders died because they were too close to the fight.

"Something about you makes me uncomfortable," the four-armed gorilla said, taking a step toward us. The snow under his feet crunched, and the ground cracked with every step as he spread his Qi over his body. "For some reason, it feels like if I let you live, monstrous beasts will never be able to move forward with a guy like you around."

For a monstrous beast, this guy was quite dramatic.

I formed a Qi coating around myself, ready to use the Dancing Jade Armor Technique immediately. Since he no longer had the element of surprise, I should still be able to react to his speed somewhat. While the guy was much faster than me, he was still slower than I could move my Qi.

However, the four-armed gorilla took me by surprise once again. Instead of attacking, he grabbed the edge of Speedy's shell and lifted the big guy with no problems, even though the ground around his feet cracked and caved in under the weight.

"As a monstrous beast who has lived among my own kind for many years, I know how to take care of turtle-type monstrous beasts!" he grunted. With his muscles bulging, he threw Speedy in a sumo throw outside the walls.

Well, shit... there went my defense plan. Speedy's defensive capabilities were where seventy percent of my confidence came from.