Chapter 47: The fox and Qian Zhi

A/N: Another new chapter! Hope you all enjoy! Still on track for one more chapter this week on Friday.

Chapter 47: 

“Oh, what’s this?” the white fox said, a vulpine smile stretching its snout. “What happened to your bravado just now? Did you not think I made a mistake?”

“I was talking to Qian Zhi,” I said a bit dumbly, my mind racing to find a solution to this massive problem before us. 

It couldn’t actually be a Rank 2 spirit beast, could it? It only had one tail! And it had been right in front of the Trial Overseers. They’re Foundation Establishment Cultivators and should have been able to see through its cultivation. It wasn’t like the fox came in through these tunnels.

“No, you weren’t,” the fox said, a small laugh coming from it. It was disturbing because of how it sounded human at first, but devolved into yips. And that was only made worse by its next words as it curled its tail around Qian Zhi’s head. “Qian Zhi is not here anymore. Really, he hasn’t been here for quite some time.”

The fox wiggled Qian Zhi’s head back and forth with its tail. The previously arrogant young master didn’t even react to it. He just let his head get moved back and forth, maintaining the angry but seemingly mindless scowl on his face.

“What did you do?” I couldn’t help but ask, taking a step back at the scene. Had his own fox charmed him or something. Or something like that, but just pure hypnosis?

“Oh, nothing to worry your little heads over,” the fox said, still smiling as it leapt onto the ground beside Qian Zhi. “It's simply the final stages of one of my techniques…”

The fox turned its gaze to Pan Song and tilted its head. “Then again… Perhaps not. A young and vulnerable Array Master… Your body might not be worth much, but your knowledge… Yes, that could be quite useful. I could make some use out of you.”

“You talk like you’ve already won,” I said with gritted teeth, clenching my sword tighter in one hand while my other hand started to stray toward my pouches of spirit beast cores. I had enough of this thing posturing. It was either strong enough to overwhelm us, and there was no point in fighting back, or we still had a chance. I chose to believe the latter. “But whatever you want to do, you’ll have to beat us first to do it.”

“Oh, suddenly found your spine again, have you?” the fox asked, tilting its head.

“Well, either you're a hidden Rank 2 spirit beast that somehow deceived the Trial Overseers. Or you're just a spirit beast that managed to talk early,” I said, trying my best to sound confident. Both for myself and Pan Song, in case he was feeling demoralized. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see he was still frozen and wasn’t doing anything with the formation plate. “I’m guessing it’s the latter, or else you wouldn’t be wasting your time talking and posturing.”

“So confident,” the fox said with a laugh, shaking its head. “Do you realize the Overseers cannot see into this place? I could kill you, take your friend, and they would never know.”

“You still have to beat us first!” Pan Song called out. He sounded nervous, but at least he found his voice. He gripped his formation plate closer to himself, though he didn’t do anything with it just yet. Probably didn’t want to provoke an attack.

The fox chuckled, and Qi started to emanate from its body. It was enough that even without a proper spirit sense, I could get a solid grasp on the level of power it had. Qian Zhi did the same, his body radiating Qi. Both of them were at the Mid-stage of Qi-gathering. Their Qi was also oddly similar, but I put that strange revelation aside for the moment.

Instead, I focused on the fact that I was right. The fox wasn’t a Rank 2. We could still win this. I would just have to go all out. 

My off hand dipped into my pouch of spirit beast cores. I palmed several and was ready to ignite and toss them at a moment's notice. I’d been saving these in case we ran into stronger spirit beasts, as the technique I developed with my foxfire was far too uncontrolled to use against other cultivators in the trial. But in this situation, I didn’t have to worry about accidentally using lethal force.

“Well, I suppose it could be more fun this way,” the fox said, its vulpine grin growing. It turned its glowing amber eyes towards me with malicious intent. “I still owe you for making a fool out of me and kicking me into that cavern.”

Wait, what? 

No way… Did that fox mean what I think it did? Was it actually the little bastard that bit me back during Sun Yun’s rescue? But then, how had it grown so quickly in strength?

“But we are on a bit of a time limit,” the fox said, tilting its head as if in thought. “So how about a deal? You both surrender and lower that defensive formation.” It flicked its tail back towards the shield, which the goons on the other side had finally stopped assaulting. “And in exchange, I make your deaths quick. I’ll refine your bodies after killing you and not before. How does that sound?”

“Like a joke,” I said, my whole body tense and ready for a fight. There was no time to think about just how this was the same fox I’d met before.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Pan Song preparing too, pulling out formation flags and putting away the formation plate. Guess he didn’t think he could use it fast enough. At least not before setting up some defenses. 

“Then so be it,” the fox said dismissively as it turned around. 

I was tempted to rush over and end it right then. Or toss a load of spirit beast cores. But Qian Zhi—as mindless as he seemed—moved before I could. He took a step forward and tapped the pouch at his waist. Three wooden swords burst from it along with two round things that might have been seeds. He grabbed the seeds in either hand, and the three swords hovered in the air threateningly.

I narrowed my eyes at the sight. We’d done research on Qian Zhi before these trials, given his threats, so I recognize just what those swords were. They were Immortal Iron Wood Flying swords, a specialty of his family, who specialized in Wood Qi. They had a special technique that let them control far more swords at once than others at the same level, and had myriads of techniques and formations to go with that. 

Qian Zhi was supposed to be decently proficient with the techniques. Combined with his higher cultivation, and trying to strike at the fox while its back was turned wasn’t likely to be worth it. I also doubted the fox was dumb, so it was likely ready for me to strike right now as well. 

Better to wait for a more surprising moment.

The fox gestured with its tail and seemed to communicate with the other Qian clan goons. The goons didn’t seem at all surprised or bothered by the fox doing the communicating either. Instead, they bowed and started heading off.

Probably to go and complete their mission to assassinate Xing Yaling. Alone, they probably couldn’t, but if they met up with Yin Tai and others… Damn.

“Well, they should be able to handle things without me for a moment,” the fox said, still sounding confident and smug as it turned around. “Now it's time for some revenge. You children will regret not surrendering. I’ll make sure of—”

I cut him off by acting first. We were already at a disadvantage. No need to let them keep the initiative. And hopefully, he’d been expecting to be allowed to monologue. 

As quick as I could, I created balls of foxfire and stuck them to the spirit beast cores in my hand. Pulling them from my pouch, I threw two at Qian Zhi and the fox in rapid succession with all my strength, igniting them the moment they left my hand.

My dim balls of foxfire burned the spirit beast cores, using the uncontrolled power stored within the cores to fuel themselves. They grew bright rapidly. They also grew out of my control, the flames becoming wild with the far too sudden influx of power.

The moment they were close enough, I used what little control I had left of the flames to make them go even wilder. The flames grew chaotic, whipping around in the air before they exploded into balls of flame and force. Each explosion had far more strength in it than I’d normally be able to dish out so quickly.

For a second, I lost sight of both of our opponents. Still, I stepped forward several steps, moving to put myself between them and Pan Song as he started setting up defensive formations. Guarding with my sword in one hand, I pulled out four more spirit beast cores and started to burn them with foxfire as well.

I noticed Qian Zhi first when the fires dispersed. He hadn’t dodged completely and was hit by some fire and force, causing him to fall to the ground. His body was covered in thick wooden vines that acted as armor. Parts of it were singed, and some of it was even burning, but those parts quickly fell off and were replaced by new growth. 

His wooden swords continued to hover around him as he righted himself and turned to glare at me. I had just a moment to see the look of anger in his eyes before his blade aimed at me.

Damn!

Before I could move, I noticed the fox. It had moved off to the side, having dodged my attacks completely. It landed with its paws against the tunnel walls sideways, glaring at me and baring its fangs. Then, just as the wooden swords shot towards me, it blurred and became three charging foxes.

Double damn!

I tossed two spirit beast cores in each direction, igniting them the same way I did before. Four explosions of fire and force met the incoming foxes and swords. I winced at the closer detonation, but kept my eyes open for danger.

That allowed me to see another wooden sword come rushing for my head.

I slashed out at it as fast as I could, deflecting it away. But that left me open for the fox that appeared at my leg. It opened its mouth, which was blazing with a familiar bluish flame, and bit me in the calf.

Pain ripped up my leg, and I screamed.

I slashed at the fox, but it leapt away, licking its chops. Yet the pain only grew in intensity. The foxfire it left behind burned my flesh, turning a purplish color, and also seemed to be trying to burrow into my leg. Into my veins, it felt like. The only thing that was stopping it was my own Qi, instinctively attacking the foreign energy.

I gritted my teeth, tightening my grip on my sword to make sure I didn’t drop it, and glared at the damned fucking fox. I tried to take a step back, but the pain almost made me fall over.

The fox gave me a nasty smile before lunging forward and splitting in two. At the same time, Qian Zhi was rushing towards me, his swords shooting ahead of him.

I cursed and fought through the pain, burst stepping backwards. But with the pain in my leg and their speed, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get away in time. At least, not alone.

Thankfully, I wasn't alone.

Right before the foxes or sword reached me, I passed into the defensive formation Pan Song had set up behind me. The semi-transparent blue field let me in just fine, but kept everything else out. I landed hard, dropping to the ground as my right leg gave way.

The foxes slammed into the field with their forepaws before bouncing off, while the swords stabbed into it with enough force to shake the field. But it held up, keeping them out for now.

“Are you alright?” Pan Song said, rushing over to me. 

He had several flags in one hand and was running through hand seals with the other. A ghostly hand crackling with lightning appeared inside the formation a second later before it rushed out to keep the fox and Qian Zhi at bay.

“Not really,” I said, wincing and gripping my leg, which was still burning in pain. “Buy me some time, would you?”

“Of course,” Pan Song said, his voice a bit frantic as he tossed down more formation flags. After another series of hand seals, whips of flame started lashing out of the defensive formation, trying to keep our enemies away.

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to fight through the pain and focus my mind. It was hard. While I was getting more used to pain since coming to this world, and my Vitality probably helped, it was still really hard to fight through the burning, near-blinding pain. Still, after taking several long, calming breaths, I managed to focus enough to address my wound.

My Qi was instinctively fighting off the flames trying to dig into me, but it was damnably persistent. And it seemed to be feeding off of me. Not from my Qi, but using my blood and flesh as fuel.

Thankfully, I had another way of fighting off this foxfire. At first, I just tried exerting my control over it, like I’d done to that foxfire hidden in my arm. But unlike that time, the flame wouldn’t budge. Instead of a slippery eel, it was a vicious flame that burned at my metaphorical fingers.

I grunted in pain as my attempts were rebuffed. But I gritted my teeth through it. That was fine. If that wouldn’t work, I would just have to do it the hard way.

I created more balls of foxfire and directed them to my leg. As I did that, I tried to ignore the way the defensive formation was shaking around us or Pan Song's shouts of exertion as he fought two powerful enemies at once.

Instead, I just focused on my foxfire as I met the invasive foxfire with my own. The two similar but different flames flashed and flared against each other. It felt like the invasive flames were trying to rip apart and burn my own, but flames couldn’t really burn. 

My leg could, though, which caused me to let out a muffled scream of pain. But I fought through it, and I surrounded the invasive flames with several of my own, shaping my foxfire to envelope the enemy flame and isolate it from my leg. Thankfully, I could choose what I burned, and my own flames didn’t burn any more of my flesh.

Then, finally, I managed to force away the invasive flames. 

“Fuck off!” I gritted out, forcing my foxfire away, sending it out of the defensive formation and into the tunnel walls. 

I almost slumped at the sight and the lessening of the burning heat in my leg. But the shaking of our defenses could not be ignored, nor could what sounded like something cracking. So instead, I grabbed my fallen sword and forced myself up, fighting through the pain in my leg. I only took one brief look at my wound, just enough to see that it wasn’t as bad as it felt like, even if I was missing more than just skin.

Then I forced the worry about that from my mind and focused on taking in the battle.

Things were not looking good.

Pan Song’s whips of flames were being cut apart by the wooden swords in Qian Zhi's hands, which remained unsinged by the fires. He disposed of the attacks with relative ease, though it kept him back from our shield. As for the fox, Pan Song’s Myriad Hand Formation was just barely enough to keep it at bay, essentially playing wack-a-mole with it and its illusions.

But neither attacking formation was able to stop either enemy from retaliating. Cracks—minor but growing—ran through the shield protecting us. The fox managed to send balls of foxfire at the shield, which clung and flowed across it with now purple flames. The flames seem to zero in on the cracks, making them grow faster. 

Qian Zhi's wooden flying swords also left their mark. They glowed a dark green color and flew in formation, creating the vague outline of a single large sword around them. Together, they struck at our defensive formation periodically with devastating force, which was what was causing the shaking. Each time the sword formation descended, the cracks got larger and larger.

“Can you do anything with the ancient formations?” I asked, forcing myself not to limp and walk up beside Pan Song.

He was frantically gesturing and creating hand signs, directing both the Myriad Hand Formation and his whips of flame. “Not while I have to fend them off. And they're strong enough to break through my defenses. I can’t hold on much longer if they keep this up."

“Alright,” I said, reaching into my last pouch of spirit beast cores and stepping away from him. I took out the remaining 8 cores, attaching balls of foxfire to each of them before dropping them around me. I also attached some foxfire to the spirit stones Zhu Fu gave me and started to drain them instead. “Just hold them off a bit more, and I will try and buy us some time.”

If we were going to survive this, I was going to have to kick things up a notch. I was even tempted to use my final trump card, but I would only get one chance with that. With how fast our opponents were, at this range, I’d likely miss, so I would have to reluctantly hold it in reserve for now.

“I’ll try,” Pan Song said, his tone strained as he directed his offensive formations.

I focused on my foxfire, burning all the spirit beast cores as fast as I could without losing control. Each flame grew in intensity, going from pale blue to a blinding white center surrounded by dark blue edges. At the same time, my extra Qi reserves were nearly full, ready for me to unleash my most Qi-hungry attack.

“Alright!” I called out, when my balls of foxfire reached the absolute max I knew I could control. Each was larger than my head now. They detached from the spirit beast cores and floated up around me. I also sheathed my sword, as I wasn't going to need it for this. Jumping out there and taking on faster and likely stronger opponents would just be dumb. “I’ll take over now. See what you can do with the ancient arrays!”

Limited by my multitasking, I only sent out 4 of my enhanced balls of foxfire at once. I sent them hurtling towards Qian Zhi. As for the foxes, I aimed with my right hand and activated my most Qi-intensive Skill.

Crystallizing Beam!

Not holding back, I unleashed beams of purple light at the foxes. Again and again, I blasted them, the blazing fast beams striking hard and fast. Two foxes showed themselves to be illusions before I finally hit the real thing.

It yipped in pain, and crystal started to grow on it. But then it blurred and split apart into more illusions. I kept firing, trying to get them all as my Qi dipped quickly. But they picked up speed, making it harder and harder for me to track them.

I also had to focus some of my attention on creating more powerful balls of foxfire and hammering Qian Zhi with them to keep him busy, too. It was incredibly taxing on my focus and my Qi.

I didn’t know how long I could keep this up. But hopefully, with the three spirit stones I could drain, it would be long enough to either overwhelm them or for Pan Song to do something.

Hopefully.