Chapter 51: Transport Arrays and Foxtail Clones

A/N: Hey everyone! Here's another chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 51:Chapter 51:

Pan Song and I continued through the tunnel for quite some time. I followed a step behind him, letting him take the lead as he was the one navigating with his formation plate. My fox remained behind us for most of this as I tested controlling both of our movements at the same time.

And all the while, we would occasionally hear or feel the earth shake from the fighting above us. It remained a distant thing for the most part, but sometimes the danger felt much closer. The few times that happened, the whole tunnel shook like there was an earthquake.

It was these reminders of what was happening, plus our possible time limit, that forced us to move a lot faster than we otherwise would. There was still the possibility of traps left behind by previous modern explorers, or by the Qian clan if they figured out what happened, but the chance of our ride off the island leaving without us forced us to give that possibility a lot less concern.

We had to cross the entire length of this massive ancient city, after all. And we had to do it by taking a more roundabout path away from the center of the city to avoid the people from the Qian Clan. With no idea how long the ship might be able to wait, and no idea if we would ever find a working transport array, it was impossible for us to be as careful as would be wise.

Instead, we ran as fast as we dared. Thankfully, so far, that hasn’t been an issue.

Over the last hour or so, we ran into nothing that might have been left behind by modern cultivators. We did run into one section of the tunnel that was dangerous despite what access Pan Song managed to gain, but we were warned well in advance and just diverted around whatever harmful ancient formation it might have been.

During this time, the two of us also passed several transport formations—the underground had a lot of them. It must have been convenient back when the ancient empire was still around. Unfortunately for us, that was not the case now, as all the ones we’d encountered so far were broken.

The only good thing about that was that it gave me a lot of time to get used to controlling my Foxtail Clone, which took me quite a while to get a hang of. Moving the fox around wasn’t much of an issue. The instincts built into the clone made actually moving around effortless once I got used to the double vision. I didn’t have to put any thought into handling a body that was so different from my own. 

But with that ease came another problem.

It was far too easy for me to accidentally mirror the movements of both my bodies. If I turned my own head, the fox would do the same if I wasn’t deliberate in preventing that. Same with walking, stopping, and pretty much everything else. The only thing that couldn’t be mirrored was stuff only one of my bodies could do, like wagging my fox’s tail. 

Fixing the mirroring issue was my main focus for really getting used to my new Skill. I also returned the clone to its tail form several times, just to make sure I was used to having an additional appendage. That was honestly a lot easier to deal with, probably because it was just an extra limb and possibly because of the Mind bonus I got with it. 

Regardless, with the time I had, I managed to at least get to the point where I felt I could somewhat use the Skill in combat. Mainly just the tail form, as it offered a lot and didn’t take much to get used to. I could use the fox form for fighting as well—as it could at least control and create foxfire—but my main body would have to be mostly safe for that. 

Given Pan Song’s ability to set up powerful defensive formations, situations where I might end up fighting like this weren’t out of the question. Especially given that I wouldn't want to fight in close quarters any time soon.

During the hour of traveling, I’d taken another healing pill, and most of my soreness was gone. My arms were still a bit red, but the slashes were already scabbed over, and the pain turned into a dull thing with the occasional annoying itch. My hand, however, was still a mess.

It didn’t hurt as much anymore, and the extra shards of the blood crystal were pushed out as my hand healed. But the main part was still lodged in there, making me unable to handle my sword.

Which meant that close-quarters combat should be avoided for now, something that having an extra ranged option in the Foxtail Clone would help with. It helped that the body was disposable. There would be some negative feedback if the clone were destroyed, but the wording of the description made me think it wouldn’t be that bad. It would be better than risking my actual body after all.

Although, hopefully, all this prep would be unnecessary, and we would escape these tunnels and the island without having to fight anything else.

“Can you tell how much farther we need to go to reach the western edge of the city?” I asked Pan Song a bit after we left behind another non-functional transport formation. I was starting to think that they were all broken.

“Um…” Pan Song said, consulting his formation plate for a moment. I sent my foxtail clone ahead when I saw that, just in case Pan Song missed any signs of danger while checking. “I think… we might be about halfway there. I don’t have access to a map, so I can only guess based on the guides built into the formation, but yes… We should be about halfway.”

I grimaced at that. About an hour in, and we were only halfway. And we still hadn’t encountered any intact transport formations. It made me want to change up what we were doing. But there really wasn’t anything we could do better. Well, besides taking a more direct route… Even then, at this point, given the circular shape of the city, it probably didn’t matter anymore.

“Do you still think there is a chance any of these transport formations are still working?” I asked, hoping for some good news. The endless running and worrying were starting to get to me. Especially now that I felt like I’d done as much as I could with my Skill as possible for now.

“I think so,” Pan Song said, though he didn’t sound that confident. Running into so many broken ones was probably demoralizing him as well. “Even with what little I understand about these arrays, I’m fairly certain they weren't taken out by a single event. Some were possibly even damaged by modern explorers fighting or perhaps attempting to sabotage their fellows. The majority, I think, suffered the ravages of time.”

“So the preservation formations couldn’t prevent that?” I asked, having my fox stop at the next intersection, as I didn’t know which way we would be going. I made sure to check all directions for dangers, but there weren't any signs of other people or traps.

“Not entirely,” Pan Song said, taking a right at the intersection. We passed my fox, which quickly moved to catch up. “The more complex and delicate something is, the more difficult it is to preserve. Even still, given the workmanship and expertise involved, I believe that there should be some working transport arrays. We’ve just had bad luck so far. Hopefully…”

“Yeah, I hope so too,” I said, sending my fox ahead again. It’s tiny—in comparison to me—legs needed to work a lot harder than us to speed off ahead. “How far until the next transport formation?”

“Should be after this intersection,” Pan Song said as we reached another one. 

My fox was already there, checking for danger. And in fact… I could see the next formation. It was off in the distance but…

I blinked both pairs of my eyes at what I saw, then sent the fox running off ahead to get a better look. I’d seen a number of these things so far; it was pretty clear most of the time that they were damaged. Sections of it would remain dark, not lit by the lines of light that lit up most of the tunnels. Only the arrays and some clearly damaged sections of the tunnel were like that.

But this transport array didn’t look like that. Instead, it was completely lit up by lines of light. All the stone posts that made up the formation had a glowing circle on top of them as well.

“Um…” I said as we neared the intersection, and I couldn’t help but speed up. “I see the formation with my fox and… I don’t want to get your hopes up. But I think our luck just finally turned.”

Pan Song perked up at my words and sped up as well. Barreling around the turn of the intersection, we rushed over to my fox and the formation.

I pulled back once we reached it, leaving Pan Song to look it over. It wasn’t like my human eyes would see anything my fox’s eyes didn’t. Instead, I just looked to Pan Song for his reactions.

Come on… Yes!

Pan Song’s eyes widened in excitement, and that was all I needed to know that things had finally turned around. We’d actually managed to find a working transport array!

“It’s working?” I asked for confirmation.

“It is!” Pan Song said, lifting up his formation plate as he got to work. “Now we just have to see where we can go… Oh.”

“Oh?” I asked, my stomach dropping. No. Don’t tell me… “Are there no working transport arrays in the western part of the city?”

“What? No. I mean. Yes. I mean…” Pan Song sighed. “What I mean is that there are arrays in the west. But there are only two. One that is really close to the western gate, and the other is more south and a bit closer to the center of the city. But it’s still much closer than we are right now.”

“Oh…” I said, seeing the problem. “With only two, the chances of running into the Qian Clan if they leave the same way are probably high.”

“Possibly,” Pan Song said, nodding.

“Shit…” I said, sighing. It seems things just couldn’t be easy. Still, it was better than if there had only been one. “We should probably go for the one farther from the edge of the city, right?”

Pan Song frowned but nodded after a moment. “That… might be the safer option. If we assume after… after they succeed in their plans, they intend to leave with the trial takers that made it to safety, they would likely pick the closest to the gate.”

“There doesn’t happen to be a way to take a peek at what’s happening at the other transport array, is there?” I asked. 

I doubted there was, or else he wouldn’t be as concerned, but I had to ask. I also considered sending my fox through first, but the range limit made that not possible. A shame.

“Not as far as I can tell,” Pan Song said, shaking his head and dashing my hopes.

“Alright then,” I said, frowning as I readied myself. “How long will it take you to get it to work?”

“A couple of minutes,” Pan Song said, moving back over to the transport array with his formation plate out. “I could do it sooner, as it's not complicated to use, but I want to double-check as much as I can that everything is working right.”

“Okay then,” I said as I turned my fox clone back to its tail form. 

Next, I felt for my cultivated ball of foxfire, which I’d learned through my testing, I could store in my tail and fox without cost. It didn’t change anything while in my tail form, besides being another place for me to store foxfire. But while my Skill was in fox mode, it made a more discreet and possibly faster delivery method for my enhanced flames.

Hopefully, I wouldn’t need it, but better to have it prepped than not.

“It should be safe to use,” Pan Song eventually said, stepping up onto the array’s raised platform. 

I moved to follow, my tail twitching from my nervousness. My right hand twitched towards my sword, but that just caused the crystal there to pulse with pain. Annoying.

“Okay, whenever you're ready,” I said, taking one more deep breath before nodding at Pan Song.

Pan Song nodded back and raised his formation plate. Placing one hand above the plate, he formed a hand seal over it, and the lights of the formation around us grew brighter. Hundreds of glowing white symbols started to rise from the ground, swirling around us. They started slow but got faster and faster, making it hard to see outside.

I tensed as they seemed to reach their max speed, ready for anything.

The world shifted.

I fell. It was only a couple of inches, and I caught myself easily, my tail helping balance me. I quickly took in my surroundings, legs tensing, ready to throw myself to the side in case we were attacked.

But no attacks came.

We were alone in a place very different from where we’d just been. The transport array was far larger than the one we came from. Instead of an alcove built into the side of the tunnels, this array was at the center of a large semi-spherical chamber. There were a lot more stone posts, and the whole thing seemed more complex.

Then there was the damage. Not to the array, or we wouldn’t have been able to get here. But one of the tunnelways into the chamber was completely blocked off by rubble. The other had some debris as well, and sections of the wall were very obviously cracked and damaged. In those sections, the light lines so common down here were inert, leaving our only way out of here a lot dimmer.

Even parts of the chamber we were in was damaged as well, cracks running up to the ceiling and causing the section to lose light. But the transport array itself created enough light for us to see everything clearly. It let me see all the rubble and dust that covered most of the floor around the array.

“What the hell?” I said, taking it all in. “Is this from the fighting above? How the heck is this one of the places a transport array survived?”

“I don’t think so,” Pan Song said, carefully looking over the array around us as well as the rubble. “I don’t think that damage is so new. But this array… It’s different.”

“Besides being way bigger?” I joked, relaxing a bit as we didn’t run right into the Qian Clan goons or anyone else. The slight rumbles off in the distance also couldn’t be heard here, meaning at least for now, the high-tier fighting wasn’t happening near us.

We weren’t safe yet, but I was starting to feel a lot better about all this.

“That’s the most obvious indication,” Pan Song said, switching between focusing on the formation plate and the glowing symbols there and the larger transport array. “I think… this is a greater transport array. The lesser arrays we’ve been looking at would be linked to something like this. That explains some of our bad luck so far. The greater arrays where we were must have broken, and that’s why so many of the lesser arrays broke down over there. Those that weren’t broken by more modern people, anyway.”

“Well, that’s one mystery solved,” I said, stepping off the array and heading towards the one tunnel entrance that was still open. “Now, let’s get going before someone else teleports here.”

“Wait, not yet,” Pan Song said, pausing me in my tracks. 

I spun back around to look at him. “Why?”

“Because of this greater array. It isn’t just a central node for the lesser formations. I think…” Pan Song paused and studied a part of the formation very carefully. “Yes… I think this formation might be able to transport to much farther distances.”

“Farther?” I said, perking up and walking back over. “Like off this island, farther? Or at least out of the city?”

“Both,” Pan Song said, nodding as his excitement grew. “I need some time to make sure it's safe. And to gain access. The authorities involved are different from just traveling across the city. But I should be able to do it. The protections for leaving the city are not as strong as those for coming in.”

“Any idea where it can take us?” I asked, trying not to be too excited by this. I didn't want to get my hopes up.

“Still need some time,” Pan Song said, shaking his head as he worked. His formation plate was now exchanging symbols with the transport array. “But if it's anywhere on the mainland, we should be safe. As long as it doesn’t send us into the Great Southern Forest, we should be able to handle it. That’s the main source of powerful spirit beasts near Everlake, beside the lake itself. And I don’t think we travel that far away to get here.”

“Alright then,” I said, grinning. “I’ll leave it to you. Any chance you can make it so others can’t teleport to this array while you're working?”

Pan Song paused, then looked around for a moment. He turned to stare at the collapsed tunnelway. “Yes… I think so. If you move enough rubble onto the platform, it should stop any incoming transports as all available space will be taken. You should be able to use your techniques on it, as the protections shouldn’t be covering them now that they are no longer part of the walls.

“Okay,” I said, walking over to the rubble to see what I could do. “Will that affect us when we want to leave?”

“It shouldn’t,” Pan Song said as I used Reinforced Burrow Creation to mould and shape the rubble over to the platform. It was a bit slower than normal, but manageable. “The formations seem really robust. I believe it should be able to transport us and the rubble just fine.”

I spent the next few minutes using my Skill to cover the platform in shaped stone. When I was done, Pan Song was still working on getting access to teleport out of the city. It was taking more effort than he thought, but he was also pretty sure that there were transport arrays out there that were still active and that he would be able to get access in time.

Leaving him to it and feeling a bit safer, I walked over to the other tunnel leading into the chamber. That was the only direction danger could come for us now. I considered asking Pan Song to set up a formation there, but he seemed rather focused on what he was doing.

So instead, I decided to just set up an early warning system for us. Pan Song could set up a formation rather quickly anyway, so early warning should be enough.

I turned my foxtail back into its fox form, quickly getting used to the double vision. Then, pulling back from the tunnel myself, I sent my fox out to scout. I’d send it far enough to give us early warning, and that was it.

Then, once Pan Song was done, we could finally leave, and this would all be over.

Or at least, that’s what I hoped for. But not too long after I sent the fox clone out, I started to hear something. In these damaged sections of the tunnel, sounds seemed to echo further. And, through my fox's ears, I started to pick up on something.

I had my fox stop, and I focused on listening… Was that… Shouting in the distance? And the sound of crashing and things breaking…

“Well shit…” I muttered under my breath as I realized what this might be. 

The only question now was, did I go investigate, or did I just hunker down here and ignore it?