Chapter 55: Breaking a Trail

A/N: Hey everyone! Here's the final chapter of the week! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 55: 

“Li Lan, stop!” Pan Song called out.

I halted in my steps, my whole body tensing up for any sign of trouble. I couldn’t really fight with the ever-cold Xing Yaling’s unconscious form in my arms, but at the very least, I could try and dodge. Although even as Pan Song stopped next to me, I couldn’t see what had caught his attention.

We weren’t too far from the clearing where we’d fought the beast-like men who’d caught up to us. We’d only been running for a couple of minutes and were in a sparse bit of underbrush with trees all around. They were normal-sized trees that were as tall as two stories max, which formed a dense canopy that put everything around us in shade.

Nothing moved around us, and the only sounds I could hear were a few birds and quite a few insects in the distance. But that was all.

“There’s a formation up ahead,” Pan Song said, pointing to where we’d been going.

I squinted my eyes but couldn’t make anything out. But he was the Formation Master, so I would just have to trust him on this.

“What is it?” I asked, bouncing on the balls of my feet. We had no idea how long we had before more of the people with our attackers came looking for us, so I was more than a little anxious to keep going.

Xing Yaling’s condition also made me want to hurry. She was still as cold as ever. I wasn’t sure if that meant anything, given her cultivation and techniques, but her breathing was still shallow and her wounds were untreated. The bleeding might have stopped thanks to the low-quality healing pill we fed her, but I doubted that would be enough and might not last.

Although she was at the late stage of Qi-Gathering so I was more than a little unsure of her vitality. Still, better to be cautious than careless with this kind of thing.

“It’s an obscuring formation,” Pan Song said as he took several slow steps forward. “I recognize the type. It’s similar to the ones I’d set up for us in the past. But this one is designed to cover a much larger area. It's… likely something set up by the formation master helping—that had been helping Qian Zhi and these people.”

“Can you get us through it?” I asked, taking a worried glance behind us. 

There was still no sign of pursuit, but if we didn’t hurry, that would likely not last. Even at our best, we were hardly experts at not leaving a trail through the forest. As we were now, it was likely that people would be able to track us down from where we’d fought. 

“I can,” Pan Song said after taking another slow step forward. “Yes… In fact…” He shook his head. “This whole formation seems to be set up sloppily. Perhaps they didn’t find it very important, or I suppose they didn’t expect anyone not allowed would be coming from this side. But yes, just follow me, and I should get us through it. I won’t even need to interact with the formation.“

I sighed in relief and moved to follow him. Carrying Xing Yaling, I stayed a couple of steps behind as he slowly walked forward. We continued like this for a moment before mist started to appear all around us. It started slowly at first, but then all of a sudden, I had to move closer to Pan Song to not lose him in the fog.

“Just stay close,” Pan Song said, carefully scanning around us before walking diagonally from where we’d been going. His voice sounded muffled despite how close I was to him. “They used a common formation for this, and didn’t bother to hide the flaws. So I can follow the path I remember from my studies and not get us turned around in circles.”

“Alright, lead the way,” I said, following along as we walked. 

After only a minute or so, Pan Song grew more comfortable and started moving faster. I kept up easily, and we walked what felt like a spiraling path. We turned randomly, and the mental map in my head of our path made me think we were walking around in circles. But I trusted Pan Song, so I followed despite what my eyes and instincts were telling me.

We exited the formation not long after that, the mist dispersing into nothingness and revealing the normal gloomy forest once more. After taking a couple more steps forward, I looked back to see that the mist seemed to fade into nothingness, as if it wasn’t even there.

“Good job,” I said, letting out a sigh of relief. 

“Thank you,” Pan Song said, grinning before we took off again, moving back at full speed.

As we ran, I considered what we needed to do now. Assuming there were no more formations in our way, our main worry at the moment was more of those people tracking us down. Which meant we needed to break our trail. Only then could we safely stop somewhere, take care of Xing Yaling’s wounds as best as possible, and then figure out where we are and how to get back to the city.

But how did we do that?

We could try harder to be careful, doing our best not to disturb any plants and stuff as we moved. But this forest wasn’t really thick enough that our footprints weren’t relatively easy to make out with the enhanced senses of a cultivator. Or worse, a cultivator’s spirit sense. So just being careful didn’t seem enough.

But what else could we do? Perhaps if we ran into a river, we could use it to break our trail. I wasn’t sure if that was safe given Xing Yaling's condition, but that still required us to luck into finding a river first. Another option would be for me to try and dig a discreet hideout for us and try to hide it… 

That was a possibility, too. But I wasn’t sure I wanted to try something like that while they could still be following our trail. If only there were a better way to avoid being tracked…

We continued like this for some time, changing direction a couple of times in hopes of misleading anyone following us. I ruminated over what else I could do to break our trail until we had to slow down as Pan Song began to tire.

It was as we were slowing down that a better idea finally came to me.

“Do you think you can carry Xing Yaling?” I asked Pan Song.

Pan Song looked at me with a tired face and winced. “I… I could, but I wouldn't be able to run as fast as we’ve been going. Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s fine,” I said, shaking my head. “I have an idea. I’m still worried about more of those guys tracking us down. I want to create a second trail for them to follow to a dead end. If you can carry her, we can split up for a bit, and I’ll create a slightly more obvious trail elsewhere. Then I’ll use my Earth Wader technique to come back without leaving any signs of my passage.”

“How will you find us?” Pan Song asked and tapped at one of the pouches at his waist. “I have a Sound Transmission talisman, but you don’t have one, do you?”

“No, I don’t,” I said, though I couldn’t help but stare at the pouch he tapped. “I planned on using something else. But before that… What are the chances you can reach one of our friends with that?”

“Unless they're nearby… Pretty low,” Pan Song said, shaking his head. “The range is enough to cover all of Everlake City, but only that. Unless we get lucky and someone we know is nearby, it wouldn’t work… Although… Perhaps if I…”

He trailed off.

I waited a moment before prompting, “Perhaps what?”

“I have studied a formation that… Well, I’m not quite sure if it would work. It's only an idea I just came up with. But… If I have some time to study the sound transmission talisman, and it's compatible, I might be able to temporarily make it extend the range of the transmission. I don’t know if it would be far enough to reach Everlake, however. That’s still likely too far. But it would increase our chances.”

“That’s better than nothing,” I said, shrugging. “We should try it after we meet up again. I’ll dig us a hideout and hopefully we’ll have the time to rest and do that.”

“But how will you find us again?” Pan Song said with a frown.

“With this,” I said, making my tail—which was still weird despite how normal it felt—wiggle behind me. 

With a thought, I made the tail transform, turning it into its fox form. My vision split, but it was a lot less disorienting this time since I was expecting it and had experience with it. 

I looked down at my fox body as it looked up at me. Its paws were leaving little footprints behind it as it kept up with our slowed pace. That could be an issue.

“You’ll probably need to let it ride your shoulder,” I said, turning back to Pan Song. “So our two trails don’t look too different in case they still end up seeing yours despite mine being more visible. But as long as it's with you, we can communicate, and I can find my way back to you.”

“You can get that far from it?” Pan Song asked. 

“Yes,” I said, nodding. “It’s got about a mile range. That should be plenty of distance to hopefully mislead any pursuers."

Pan Song nodded and moved closer. “Alright then. I suppose we might as well do it now. I’ve rested enough.”

“Okay,” I said, and carefully placed Xing Yaling into his arms. 

Once he had a good hold of her, I had my fox leap up on his shoulder. It took some adjusting to get it in a comfortable position for both of us—I ended up having to wrap its tail around his neck—but we managed. 

“Alright then,” I said, giving him one last nod. “I will see you in a bit. Stay safe.”

“You as well,” Pan Song said, nodding before moving off. He didn’t go as fast as we’d gone before, but he was more cautious with his steps.

I watched him and my fox go for a moment, then took off in another direction. Unlike him, I was a little more obvious. But not too much so, as I didn’t want them to think I was trying to get them to follow me. Just enough that hopefully it would fool anyone following us and give us more time.

I just hoped it would be enough.

—line break—

I traveled for quite some time alone. Well, at least physically, anyway, as I could see through the eyes of my fox, so it didn’t quite feel like I was alone. If I wanted to, I could have spoken with Pan Song, too, but I decided against it.

I didn’t have much to say, and he needed to focus on being stealthy and staying safe. I needed to be on the lookout for any dangers as well. Whether it be a spirit beast or our pursuers catching up unexpectedly fast.

That last part worried me the most. Especially when I double-backed a couple of times to leave more sets of tracks and to make it look like we split off multiple times. I really hoped it was convincing, as every time I did it, I expected to run face-first into more of those beast-like men. It was more than a little nerve-racking.

Thankfully, though, neither I nor Pan Song encountered any more of them before I started to feel my fox reach the limits of my range. The connection to it started to feel… stretched, for lack of a better word. It was a sign that I had to head back, and I couldn’t help but feel relieved at that.

I stopped in front of a tree before leaping up upon it, making sure to leave some marks as I did. I jumped back off a moment later, making sure my footprints blended in with the ones I’d already left. Hopefully, this would further confuse whoever had followed my trail up to this point. 

Perhaps it would make them think I tried traveling in the canopy above. It would further confuse them and make it harder for them to realize the trail just disappeared.

With that taken care of, I activated Earth Wader and sank into the ground. I dove deep into the earth, far enough that my Earth Sense couldn't feel the surface, and then I kept going deeper. I wanted to be out of range of anyone's spirit sense on the surface, and I could navigate from just the feeling of where my fox was.

When I’d reached a depth I felt safe at, I started traveling back towards Pan Song.

“I’m headed back,” I said through my fox as I traveled.

Pan Song jolted for a second, almost knocking my fox off his shoulder, before he turned a wary gaze to my fox. “I… I hadn’t realized you could speak through this.”

Huh… Had I not mentioned that? Thinking back on it, I had said we could communicate. Maybe he thought it would’ve been less straightforward.

“Sorry, must have slipped my mind,” I said through the fox. “But yeah, I can speak through this.”

“Well, at least it's convenient,” Pan Song muttered, shaking his head as he continued to travel. 

The section of the forest he was in wasn’t much different from where I’d been. Just lots of trees and some underbrush, with only normal animals around. Pretty boring, but it was still more interesting than what I was experiencing underground. So I kept most of my focus on my fox as I traveled.

At the same time, I started to relax a bit. Despite traveling inside the earth, where it was cold and I couldn’t see a thing, I was probably as safe as I could be at the moment. I got even safer the further I traveled away from the tracks I left. The only way I could be caught now was if there was a Foundation Establishment Master around.

I wasn’t sure of the range of the spirit sense of such a high-tier cultivator, but I thought they might still be able to find me despite my depth. Higher-tier cultivators were bullshit like that. Yet even then, they would have to know to look underground, too. So even if such a cultivator was after us—which was unfortunately a possibility—I was likely still safe for the moment.

It was just too bad I couldn’t stay like this forever. Not without abandoning my friend and Xing Yaling. Even if that wasn’t the case, there were other things limiting how long I could stay like this. Like how much Qi I had. 

Earth Wade had an upkeep cost, and I didn’t currently have any good ways to replenish my reserves. Which was why, well before I would have preferred, I was forced to exit the safety of the ground. My reserves were starting to dip below half, and I didn’t want to let them go any lower.

So I rose from the ground, took a moment to reorient myself once I was back on the surface, and started jogging back toward Pan Song. That part of my journey was much more tense, forcing me to keep my head on a swivel.

Thankfully, I didn’t run into any danger, and eventually I started to feel myself nearing my fox. I let out a sigh of relief at that and picked up my pace.

“I’m close now,” I said through my fox, causing Pan Song to jolt again but only slightly this time. “Let’s find a good inconspicuous spot for me to dig us a hideout so we can look at Xing Yaling’s wounds and maybe set up that thing with your sound talisman.”

“Alright,” Pan Song said, nodding as he stopped to look around.

I looked for a place as well, but kept my pace up. The trees were starting to thin out near us, making it easier to travel and also letting more rays of sunlight through the canopy above. It looked like mid or late afternoon.

“Hey,” I said once I got within sight of Pan Song. 

He was standing in front of a dense bit of underbrush that was surrounded by a copse of trees. A decent place to hide the entrance of our hideout. He nodded at my appearance and moved to lay Xing Yaling on the ground.

“Her wounds are mending slowly,” Pan Song said, standing quickly and rubbing his arms. Guess she was still very much unnaturally cold. “But her breathing hasn’t changed much, and that is as much as I can tell. I’m not very experienced with wounds.”

I grimaced. “Me either. I think the most we can do is bandage her wounds and maybe feed her our last pill. But I’ll dig us a hideout first if she seems stable.”

“Good, I will set up a…” Pan Song started to say, reaching into the pouches at his waist before trailing off. He sighed. “I will set up an obscuring formation. We shouldn’t leave it up here, in case our pursuers bring their Array Master with them. Also, you should know that I won’t be able to create any more defensive formations. They can only be used so many times, and I lost the remains of my good ones when Xing Yaling… When that last fight ended.”

“Oh…” I said, turning to him with a frown. Damn… I’d been relying on his defensive formations a lot over the last while. Not having that was not great. But I suppose it was just another thing we would need to deal with. “Alright. Just set up the obscuring formation. We’ll deal with not having your defenses later. Is there any way for you to create more flags with what you have? And what about your other formations?”

“I don't have the resources to create any more flags that would let me create the level of defenses we would need to be effective,” Pan Song said, dashing my hopes as he started to place flags around the area. “But I my offensive formations like Myriad Hands and Infernal Whips are still good.”

“Alright then,” I said as I pushed my way into the copse of trees and underbrush, doing my best to be as careful as possible so it didn’t look obvious someone had been here. Like I said, we would worry about the lack of defensive options later. Kneeling down, I placed a hand on the ground and used Reinforced Burrow Creation to start digging.

I started by making a long, narrow tube. It was just big enough for us to drop down while carrying someone. I went down maybe 10 feet before I created a small room for us. 

I would have gone deeper except for two things. One was Qi again. I’d recovered some on the run back, but it still wasn’t enough for me to be careless. The other reason was just that more depth wouldn’t really help. We needed air after all, which meant we had to keep an open shaft to the surface. And so any extra depth wouldn’t really help all that much against spirit senses or other detection methods.

I finished the room, giving us enough space to stand without hitting our heads and enough room for us all to lie down. After that, I went back up, using my Skill to create a stone ladder to make it easier for us to enter and exit.

With all that done, I waited for Pan Song to disable his formation. When it was down, I began collecting the flags for him while he moved to pick up Xing Yaling. He had two working hands after all, making it far easier for him to climb down a ladder while carrying her than for me.

When he’d reached the bottom of the ladder, I made my own way down as well. Though not before giving our surroundings one last look for signs of any danger. There were none. For now.

I handed the flags back to Pan Song when I reached the bottom. Taking them, he started setting up the same formation down here. Apparently, while it wouldn’t do anything visually, it could help hide us from spirit senses. That was something I was relieved to hear. Also, while underground, it would not be noticeable to any passing Array Masters.

As he worked, I went over to check on Xing Yaling’s injuries. From what I could tell, Pan Song was right, and her wounds had started to close. In fact, her largest wound on her stomach seemed to have already scabbed over. Everything else was about the same, and I didn’t have any water to clean up her wounds. 

Without much else I could do, I took off my outer robes and ripped half of it up into crude bandages. The rest I folded into a pillow to put under her head before I got to work covering her wounds and feeding her our last healing pill. Part of me was reluctant to do that last part, but I rationalized that Xing Yaling waking up soon would help our chances a lot more than a single low-quality healing pill.

With that done, I slowly dropped to the floor to sit down, finally able to relax. Pan Song finished about the same time, doing the same, and looking exhausted. We weren’t out of danger just yet, but at least for now, we were relatively safe. Hopefully, it would last long enough for us to get an idea of just where we were and how we’d get back to the city.

If we were lucky, we would have lost the assassins and just have to deal with that. Though unfortunately, I couldn’t help but feel we weren’t that lucky. Not with the kind of people behind this assassination and everything else.