The assault began at midnight.
Enemy cultivators poured from the western darkness in numbers that exceeded anything Wang Ben had witnessed since arriving at the fortress. The tactical displays lit up with hostile signatures, thousands of red markers converging on positions that the fortress had spent weeks reinforcing.
[COMBAT ASSESSMENT: Enemy offensive initiated]
[Estimated force: 2,500+ cultivators]
[Composition: Mixed cultivation levels, foundation establishment majority]
[Command presence: Core formation leadership confirmed, possible mortal shedding coordination]
[Target sectors: 4-7 (Metal-deficient zones)]
[Assessment: This is the expected follow-up to Iron Gate tactics. Major offensive designed to test reinforced positions]
"All formation teams to battle stations!" Commander Feng's voice echoed through the communication arrays, amplified by spiritual energy. "Hold the line! Show them what Azure Dragon is made of!"
Wang Ben took his position at the Sector 4 support station, his hands already moving to strengthen the arrays that would bear the assault's initial impact. Around him, other formation masters worked with desperate efficiency, channeling power into defensive structures that hummed with barely-contained energy.
The first wave struck the walls like a hammer against stone.
Techniques clashed against formations, Ice and Wind energy battering the defensive arrays that Wang Ben and his colleagues had spent weeks repairing. The Metal-reinforced nodes held, their enhanced structures absorbing damage that would have broken lesser formations.
"Node 4-7 under pressure!" someone shouted. "Energy reserves dropping!"
Wang Ben shifted his attention to the threatened node, his qi flowing into support channels with precision that his Scripture training had perfected. The node's energy stabilized, its reserves replenished by his careful additions.
"Holding!" The formation master at the node's primary station sounded surprised. "Holding at eighty-three percent!"
The battle raged on.
Hours passed in a blur of desperate work.
Wang Ben lost track of how many times he shifted between nodes, how many energy reserves he replenished, how many failing formations he stabilized. The assault was relentless, wave after wave of enemy cultivators throwing themselves against walls that refused to break.
[FORMATION STATUS: Hour 4]
[Sector 4: 71% integrity (holding)]
[Sector 5: 68% integrity (holding)]
[Sector 6: 72% integrity (holding)]
[Sector 7: 64% integrity (critical threshold approaching)]
[Host energy expenditure: 67% of reserves]
[Note: Pace unsustainable beyond 2-3 additional hours. Enemy showing no signs of withdrawal]
"Sector 7 needs reinforcement!" Liu Feng's voice cut through the chaos. "Wang Ben, can you get there?"
"Moving!"
Wang Ben sprinted through corridors that shook with distant impacts, his body responding to weeks of conditioning. Sector 7 was the weakest point in their defensive line, its Metal-deficient arrays struggling against the concentrated assault.
He arrived to find the formation team fighting a losing battle. Three of the five support stations were dark, their operators either exhausted or wounded. The remaining two cultivators channeled energy with desperate determination, but they were clearly flagging.
"I'm here!" Wang Ben took position at the central station, his qi immediately flowing into the array's primary channels. "Focus on the auxiliary nodes! I'll hold the core structure!"
The energy demands were immense. Sector 7's arrays had been weakened by weeks of degradation, their Metal components stretched thin despite the reinforcement work. Every technique that struck the walls drew power from reserves that were already dangerously low.
Wang Ben reached deeper into his cultivation base, drawing on reserves that his efficiency advantage had accumulated. His qi flowed with the precision of Scripture training, each mote of energy deployed where it would have maximum effect.
I can't reveal too much, he thought even as he worked. But I can't let this sector fall either.
The balance was impossible. He chose survival over secrecy.
His qi poured into the array with efficiency that no qi condensation cultivator should have been able to achieve. The formation structure responded, its energy levels rising as Wang Ben's contribution exceeded normal limits.
"How are you doing that?" One of the other formation masters stared at him with shocked recognition. "That's... that's efficiency beyond anything your cultivation should allow!"
"Focus on your work!" Wang Ben's voice was sharp with the strain of effort. "Questions later! Survival now!"
The sector held.
Dawn brought a pause in the assault.
The enemy withdrew to regroup, their initial offensive blunted by defenses that had proven stronger than expected. The fortress tallied its costs in the gray light of morning, numbers that struck him like individual losses.
"Casualties." Captain Liu's voice was flat with exhaustion as she reported to the command center. "One hundred and twenty-seven dead. Three hundred and fourteen wounded."
[POST-BATTLE ANALYSIS: Morning assessment]
[CASUALTY REPORT: Battle of Night Watch]
[Dead: 127]
[Wounded: 314]
[Missing: 3]
[Classification breakdown (dead):]
[- Body refinement: 41]
[- Qi condensation: 52]
[- Foundation establishment: 28]
[- Core formation: 6]
[- Mortal shedding: 0]
[Cause analysis: Combat (89), Formation failure (23), Energy exhaustion (15)]
Wang Ben listened to the numbers, already imagining the names he would read on the memorial wall. One hundred and twenty-seven more names. One hundred and twenty-seven more people who had woken yesterday expecting to survive.
"The defensive analysis was accurate." Commander Feng's voice carried exhaustion layered over satisfaction. "The enemy concentrated on Sectors 4 through 7, exactly as projected. Our reinforcement positioning saved lives."
"The tactical team's work proved valuable, Commander." Captain Liu nodded toward where Wang Ben stood among the other analysts. "Their pattern recognition gave us the warning we needed."
"Then credit where credit is due." Commander Feng's gaze found Wang Ben directly. "Young Master Wang Ben's analysis contributed significantly to our preparation. The fortress acknowledges his service."
It was public recognition, the kind Wang Ben had been trying to avoid. But in the aftermath of a battle that could have gone much worse, he found it hard to care about visibility.
One hundred and twenty-seven dead. Without the analysis, without the preparation, that number would have been higher.
That was what mattered.
Wang Ben found Zhao Yu in the medical ward.
His friend lay on a cot near the eastern wall, his left arm wrapped in bandages that covered burns from Ice techniques. The fierce vitality that usually animated Zhao Yu's every movement was absent, replaced by the hollow stillness of someone who had pushed their Battle Soul past its limits.
"You're alive." Wang Ben settled onto a stool beside the cot. "When I heard you were wounded..."
"It's nothing." Zhao Yu's voice was weak but carried its usual stubbornness. "A glancing hit during the eastern feint. The physicians say I'll be fine in a few days."
"The eastern feint was a diversion. You shouldn't have been there."
"Someone had to hold that sector while the main force focused on the west." Zhao Yu's eyes met his directly. "I made a difference, Wang Ben. For the first time since we arrived, I actually fought. Actually contributed."
Wang Ben looked at his friend, seeing the mix of pain and pride that marked a young man who had finally tested himself in real combat. Zhao Yu had been eager for this, burning with the desire to prove his Battle Soul's worth.
Now he had his proof. And the scars to go with it.
"You did well." Wang Ben meant it. "The eastern sector held because of cultivators like you."
"The fortress held because of cultivators like you." Zhao Yu's voice grew serious. "I heard about Sector 7. The formation masters are talking about it. A qi condensation cultivator sustaining output far beyond what his stage should allow."
"Rumors get exaggerated in combat."
"Do they?" Zhao Yu studied him with eyes that held more perception than Wang Ben was comfortable with. "Most qi condensation cultivators can't sustain that kind of output for hours. I've seen enough formation work to know that. I don't know how you do it, and I won't ask. But whatever it is... thank you. For using it to keep us alive."
Wang Ben felt the warmth of his friend's trust, unearned and yet offered freely. Zhao Yu knew something was unusual. He had chosen not to press.
"Rest," Wang Ben said. "Recover. The enemy will be back."
"I know. And when they come, I'll be ready." Some of the old fire returned to Zhao Yu's eyes. "We'll face it together."
"Together."
...
The cultivation session that evening was brief but necessary.
Wang Ben's reserves were depleted from the battle's demands, his qi channels strained from hours of formation support. The Scripture's methods helped him recover faster than normal, his enhanced efficiency converting absorbed spiritual energy with unusual effectiveness.
[CULTIVATION SESSION: Hour 1.5 (Recovery)]
[Qi absorbed: 387 motes]
[Qi retained: 44 motes]
[Retention efficiency: 11.5%]
[Elemental composition:]
[- Earth: 18 motes (40.9%)]
[- Metal: 12 motes (27.3%)]
[- Fire: 8 motes (18.2%)]
[- Wood: 4 motes (9.1%)]
[- Dark: 2 motes (4.5%)]
[Environment: Azure Dragon Fortress (Post-battle recovery)]
[Status: Reserves recovering. Full capacity projected within 48 hours]
[Note: First milestone stability confirmed. Host's efficiency now reliably above 10% threshold]
11.5%. Still climbing, still growing, still hidden beneath a qi condensation exterior that revealed nothing of his true capability. The battle had forced him to show more than he wanted, but the chaos of combat provided cover. People remembered results, not the details of how those results were achieved.
He would have to be more careful going forward. But tonight, staying alive had outweighed staying hidden.
...
The memorial wall received its new names at sunset.
Wang Ben stood before the freshly-inscribed characters, reading each one with the attention that he had developed over weeks of this ritual. One hundred and twenty-seven names. One hundred and twenty-seven stories that had ended too soon.
Zhou Ping, mid-stage foundation establishment. Sector 5 defensive position. Died during concentrated assault.
Chen Wei, late-stage qi condensation. Formation support team. Died from energy exhaustion during array repair.
Liu Xiang, early-stage body refinement. Medical corps support. Died during evacuation assistance.
The names went on, each one a weight that settled into his heart. He didn't know most of them. Had never spoken to them, never shared meals or conversations. But they had died defending the same walls he defended, fighting the same war he fought.
That connection was enough.
"You're reading them again." Liu Feng appeared beside him, carrying two cups of tea. The ritual had become familiar.
"I always will." Wang Ben accepted the tea. "For as long as there are names to read."
"That's a promise that will break you eventually."
"Maybe." Wang Ben looked at the wall, at the hundreds of names that had accumulated since his arrival. "But I'd rather break from caring too much than survive by caring too little."
Liu Feng was quiet for a long moment. "Your grandfather used to say something similar. Li Cheng, I mean. Before he disappeared."
"You knew him?"
"Not well. But he came to this fortress once, years ago. He talked about the importance of remembering. Of keeping count of what the war costs us." Liu Feng's voice grew distant. "He said that the moment we stop counting, we've already lost. Even if the walls still stand."
Wang Ben felt the echo of his grandfather's philosophy in those words. The man he had never met, whose work he was still discovering, had understood something that most cultivators preferred to ignore.
The war wasn't just about survival. It was about what kind of people they remained while surviving.
"I'll keep counting," Wang Ben said. "For him. For all of them."
...
Lin Suyin found him as the evening deepened.
She moved with the silent efficiency that characterized her order, appearing at his side without announcement or explanation. Her expression carried something new, a tension that suggested information she hadn't yet decided how to share.
"You did well in the battle." Her voice was pitched low, private. "Sector 7 would have fallen without your intervention."
"The formation team held together. I just helped."
"You did more than help. I have sources in the repair crews. They're saying you performed above your cultivation level for hours." Lin Suyin's eyes met his directly. "That kind of performance invites questions."
"Questions I can't answer."
"Questions you won't have to answer, if you're careful." Lin Suyin glanced around, confirming their privacy. "The battle provides cover. People's memories are unreliable under stress. But there's something else. Something you need to know."
Wang Ben waited, sensing the weight behind her words.
"The Silent Path has intercepted intelligence from the Frozen Jade Kingdom." Lin Suyin's voice dropped further. "There's a search underway. A coordinated effort involving multiple high-ranking cultivators."
"A search for what?"
"Something called the Founding Site." Lin Suyin watched his reaction carefully. "We don't know exactly what that means. The intelligence is fragmentary. But the search criteria are specific. They're looking in the Blackwood."
Wang Ben felt the implications settling into place. The Blackwood, where his grandfather had built a surveillance network. The Blackwood, where something that produced Dark and Ice energy simultaneously was being monitored.
The Blackwood, where answers waited.
"The Yue Clan is coordinating the search," Lin Suyin continued. "One of Frozen Jade's most powerful Ice cultivation clans. They're marshaling significant resources: multiple high-ranking cultivators, formation specialists, extensive documentation."
The Yue Clan. The name meant little to him beyond general knowledge of Frozen Jade's major powers. But the scale of the search suggested something important enough to draw a clan's full attention, in the same forest where Li Cheng had spent years watching.
"This isn't coincidence," Wang Ben said.
"No. It isn't." Lin Suyin's expression was grim. "The Silent Path believes there's a connection between the Founding Site, whatever it is, and the anomalies your grandfather was monitoring. We don't know what that connection is yet. But we need to find out."
"The expedition. We need to go back."
"When the fortress can spare you. The immediate crisis takes priority. But yes, eventually, we need to return to the Blackwood." Lin Suyin placed a hand on his arm, the touch unexpectedly warm. "Be ready, Wang Ben. Whatever the Yue Clan is searching for, whatever your grandfather was watching, we need to understand the connection."
She slipped away into the evening darkness, leaving him alone with the memorial wall and the weight of new mysteries.
...
Wang Ben stood in the fading light, looking at the fortress that had become his home.
The walls still stood. The formations still held. One hundred and twenty-seven people had died, but thousands more had survived. The enemy would return, would try again to break what they had failed to break tonight.
And he would be here. Working, fighting, growing stronger in ways he couldn't reveal.
This is what it means to be here, he thought. This is what I'm fighting for. Not glory. Not power. Survival. For everyone who can't fight for themselves.
The Yue Clan was searching for something. His grandfather had been watching something. The pieces hadn't connected yet, but the pattern was there, waiting to be understood.
The war continued around him, extracting its price one life at a time. But somewhere in the tangle of threats and secrets, patterns were forming. Answers were waiting.
He would find them. Whatever it took.
Wang Ben turned from the memorial wall and walked back toward his quarters, ready to rest, to recover, to prepare for whatever came next.
The storm had broken over them.
They had survived.
Now it was time to discover what lay beneath.