The nexus chamber defied comprehension.
Wang Ben stood at the passage's terminus, looking out over a cavern that shouldn't exist beneath the Blackwood's roots. The space stretched for hundreds of meters in every direction, its walls carved with formations that glowed with the same Dark/Ice energy his grandfather's journal had described.
And in the center, suspended by chains of crystallized power, hung something that made his mind flinch away from direct observation.
[OBSERVATION: Nexus chamber central feature]
[Classification: UNKNOWN. No Archive reference matches observed phenomenon]
[Description: Sealed containment structure, age indeterminate, construction methods beyond current understanding]
[Energy signature: Extreme. Dark/Ice combination at levels that would be fatal to most cultivators]
[Warning: Direct approach not recommended. Seal integrity may be affected by proximity]
[Note: This is almost certainly what the Yue Clan seeks. The scale and power involved exceed anything documented in accessible records]
[Geographic anomaly: Dark/Ice energy signature incompatible with Blackwood regional baseline (Wood/Earth). Structure classification: Artificial or transplanted. Origin predates current geography]
"We can't go further." Lin Suyin's voice was hushed despite the cavern's vastness. "Not without preparation we don't have."
"Agreed." Wang Ben forced himself to look away from the central structure. "But now we know it exists. Now we understand what grandfather was protecting."
The expedition retreated, sealing the passage behind them with formations Wang Ben improvised from his grandfather's notes. Layer upon layer of concealment, the entrance disguised to look like natural stone. Without knowing exactly where to search, even a nascent soul cultivator might walk past it a dozen times without noticing.
And the secret would remain protected, as Li Cheng had intended.
...
The return journey passed in contemplative silence.
Wang Ben processed what he had seen, trying to reconcile the ancient power of the nexus chamber with everything he understood about cultivation. The structure dated to the founding era of the great clans, perhaps earlier. Whatever the Yue ancestors had built or claimed here, whatever was contained within, belonged to an age before the kingdoms consolidated, when cultivation sects warred openly for dominance.
And the Yue Clan never forgot, he thought. Their ancestors built this place, or took it. And now they want it back.
The expedition emerged from the Blackwood after eleven days, their supplies depleted but their mission accomplished. Wang Ben carried his grandfather's journal and artifacts, physical evidence of Li Cheng's decades of secret work.
Azure Dragon Fortress welcomed them with relief that spoke to how dangerous the deep forest was considered.
"You found something." Commander Feng's assessment was immediate. "Your expression says you found something significant."
"The truth about what my grandfather was monitoring. The reason he disappeared." Wang Ben's voice was measured. "The details are... complicated. But the strategic intelligence is valuable."
"Debrief with the intelligence section. Then rest. You've earned it."
...
The weeks following the expedition blurred together.
Wang Ben divided his time between fortress duties, intelligence analysis, and the careful work of processing everything his grandfather had left behind. The journal contained more than the entries he had read in the forest: technical notes, formation diagrams, observations about the seal's behavior over years of monitoring.
Elder Wang Hongwei came to receive the family artifacts, his expression grave as he studied his old colleague's final testament.
"Li Cheng always was the careful one," the elder said quietly. "Planning for contingencies the rest of us never considered."
"He died protecting something he believed was too dangerous to let anyone find." Wang Ben's voice carried the weight of that knowledge. "The Yue Clan, whoever else was hunting him... he led them away from the seal, knowing it would cost him everything."
"That sounds like Li Cheng." Elder Wang Hongwei's eyes glistened briefly before composure reasserted itself. "He spoke of you often, in those last years. The hopes he had for you."
The elder's hands trembled slightly as he turned a page of the journal, and Wang Ben realized this wasn't just duty. This was grief, held at arm's length for seven years, finally given permission to surface.
"I barely remember him now. I was so young when he disappeared."
"You were. But he saw something in you, even then. The same determination he had. The same willingness to sacrifice for family." Elder Wang Hongwei was quiet for a moment, his gaze distant. "The last time I saw him, he told me he'd found something important. Something that would take time to understand. I thought he meant formation research. Some academic puzzle that would occupy his retirement years."
His voice cracked, just slightly. "I should have asked more questions. Should have known that Li Cheng never did anything without purpose."
"You couldn't have known."
"No. But I could have listened better." The elder placed a hand on Wang Ben's shoulder, his grip firm despite the emotion in his voice. "You've inherited that trait... the determination, the willingness to sacrifice. Use it wisely. And when the people who love you ask questions... try to answer them. Before it's too late."
As the elder prepared to leave, he paused at the door. "The extended deployment weighed on everyone. Nearly five months, far beyond the original twenty days. The Bastion kept deferring their share, and the Prince's household sent compensation instead of relief."
"The Prince took the loss of Iron Gate personally," the elder added, his voice quieter. "A fortress that stood for two hundred years, fallen on his watch. He didn't just send orders. He led the counterattack himself."
Wang Ben absorbed that. "The prince went to Iron Gate?"
"With his imperial protectors. Mid-stage mortal shedding cultivators, some of them. They recaptured the fortress within weeks and held it while engineers rebuilt the damaged formations." The elder's expression carried grudging respect. "He stayed there for months, overseeing reconstruction personally. That's why reinforcements here were delayed. Every resource went to securing the southwestern front."
"But the rotation happened."
"It did. While you were in the forest." The elder's voice softened. "The younger formation masters went home first. They'd been here longest, missed their families most. Fresh specialists from other clans took their places. Commander Feng finally approved the system I'd been requesting for months."
The full scope of the changes only became clear as the weeks settled into routine.
Wang Ben had noticed the changes immediately upon returning from the Blackwood, of course. New faces working the formation arrays. Unfamiliar voices calling out during shift changes. The Wang Clan contingent thinned considerably. But processing his grandfather's legacy had consumed his attention, and only now did he have space to consider what it meant.
Wang Tian found him on the walls one evening, watching a group of formation specialists he didn't recognize calibrate a detection array.
"The replacements are impressive," his father said, gesturing toward the new arrivals. "Formation specialists from across the domain. Clans we'd barely heard of sent their best." He paused. "The Crimson Bastion finally released their obligations, and Prince Huo Zhanlong coordinated the response through his administrators."
"Why?"
Something like pride colored his father's voice. "Because the Wang Clan's reputation preceded them. When the Prince sent word that Azure Dragon Fortress needed formation support, clans volunteered. Not because they were obligated. Because they wanted to work alongside the specialists who'd held the line for nearly six months."
The full scope of that reputation became clear over the following days.
Letters arrived from Redstone City with news that extended beyond family matters. The Wang Clan's coffers had swelled from the extended deployment contracts. Their influence had spread beyond the city, beyond even the domain's borders. Merchants who'd never dealt with the clan now sought introductions. Minor noble houses that had ignored them for generations suddenly remembered old connections.
Most significantly, Prince Huo Zhanlong himself had sent a personal commendation. Not through intermediaries or official channels, but a letter bearing his seal, praising the Wang Clan's dedication and sacrifice. It now hung in the clan's main hall, Chen Shuwen had written, where every visitor could see it.
"We've become something more than we were," Wang Tian said during one of their evening conversations. "Six months ago, we were respected formation specialists in Redstone City. Now we're known throughout the domain. The price of that recognition..."
He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to.
Wang Ben understood. The months away from home. The danger. The uncertainty. Li Mei's condition worsening while they served at the frontier. Rising influence came with costs that couldn't be measured in spirit stones.
"It wasn't wasted," Wang Ben said quietly. "The connections, the reputation, the Prince's favor. They're tools. Resources we might need."
Wang Tian studied his son for a long moment. "You're thinking about your mother."
"I'm always thinking about her."
His father's expression softened, and for a moment the proud alchemist disappeared, leaving only a worried husband. "I know I don't always understand the path you're walking, Ben'er. But I see how hard you're working. How much you're carrying."
He placed a hand on Wang Ben's shoulder, his grip firm despite the emotion in his voice.
"Whatever you need from the clan's new position, whatever doors need opening, whatever favors need calling in... they're yours. We didn't build this influence for its own sake. We built it for family."
The words carried weight that Wang Ben felt deeply. His father had always supported him, even when that support required faith in things Wang Tian couldn't fully comprehend.
"Thank you, Father. That means more than you know."
...
Li Mei's condition worsened in the weeks that followed.
The letters from Redstone City came with increasing frequency, each one carrying news that Wang Ben dreaded to read. His mother's treatment sessions had intensified. The physicians reported worsening symptoms they couldn't explain. Chen Shuwen's careful script described what she could see: the exhaustion Li Mei tried to hide, the cold that radiated from her even in heated rooms.
"The seals are degrading faster." Wang Tian's voice was quiet during one of their private conversations, a letter from home crushed in his hand. "The physicians say it's normal progression, but..."
"But they don't know what the seals actually are." Wang Ben's knowledge of his mother's true condition gave his words certainty. "They're treating symptoms without understanding the cause."
"You know something." Wang Tian's eyes sharpened. "Your expeditions, your research... you've learned something about her condition."
Wang Ben hesitated. His father knew about the seals, knew Xu Lanying had placed them to protect Li Mei from some unnamed threat. But he didn't know what Wang Ben had learned during his time behind enemy lines. The Yue Clan documents describing certain bloodlines as "contaminated." The coordinated search patterns that matched the locations of Li Cheng's formation anchors.
Give him enough to understand. Not so much that it destroys him.
"The war isn't just about territory," Wang Ben said carefully. "The Frozen Jade forces are searching for something in the Blackwood. Something connected to ancient bloodlines." He met his father's eyes. "The same kind of bloodline that Grandmother Xu was trying to hide."
Wang Tian went still. "You're saying the people hunting your mother..."
"Are part of what's driving this war. Or at least, they're using it as cover." Wang Ben's voice was quiet. "The seals are failing, Father. And the people Grandmother Xu feared are closer than they've ever been."
"Can the seals be removed?"
"I don't know. Removing them might release what they're containing. And I don't know if that would help or hurt her." Wang Ben met his father's eyes, letting him see the uncertainty there. "I'm still learning, Father. Still trying to understand what can be done. But I won't stop until I find an answer."
Wang Tian's jaw tightened, and for a moment Wang Ben saw something he rarely witnessed in his father... not just determination, but fury. The quiet, burning kind that didn't fade.
"Then keep learning." Wang Tian's expression carried determination that matched his son's, underlaid with something fiercer. "Whatever it takes, we save her. Together."
Wang Tian departed with the next rotation convoy three days later.
"I need to be with her," he said at the fortress gates, his pack already loaded onto the transport. "The letters... they don't capture how bad it's getting. I can hear it in what your grandmother isn't saying."
Wang Ben clasped his father's arm. "Go. She needs you more than the fortress does right now."
"And you? Will you be alright here alone?"
"I'm not alone. And I have work to do." Wang Ben managed a smile that felt more genuine than he expected. "Find out everything you can about her condition. Write me with details the physicians might miss. If there's a solution, I'll need to understand exactly what we're dealing with."
Wang Tian pulled him into a brief embrace, the kind they rarely shared. "I'm proud of you, Ben'er. Whatever happens... I want you to know that."
Then he was gone, the convoy disappearing down the eastern road toward Redstone City. Wang Ben watched until they vanished from sight before returning to his duties.
...
The cultivation session that night showed continued progress.
[CULTIVATION SESSION: Azure Dragon Fortress]
[Duration: 5 hours]
[Qi absorbed: 567 motes]
[Qi retained: 102 motes]
[Retention efficiency: 17.0%]
[Elemental composition:]
[- Earth: 218 motes (38.4%)]
[- Metal: 153 motes (27.0%)]
[- Fire: 112 motes (19.8%)]
[- Water: 52 motes (9.2%)]
[- Wood: 32 motes (5.6%)]
[Environment: Azure Dragon Fortress (Mixed signatures)]
[Status: Qi Condensation Stage 6 (true)]
[Progression: 71% toward Stage 7. Steady advancement continues]
[System observation: Host efficiency stable at 17%. Second milestone (20%) remains distant. Current focus on consolidation rather than advancement recommended]
The numbers were encouraging, but Wang Ben's attention was divided. His mother's condition, the nexus chamber's secrets, the Yue Clan's continued search... everything connected in ways he was only beginning to understand.
...
A letter arrived the next morning, his mother's handwriting still elegant despite the tremor he could detect in certain strokes. Wang Ben read it alone in his quarters, tracking the careful words she chose to reassure him.
Ben'er,
Your grandmother tells me the clan's reputation has grown beyond anything we imagined. A prince's commendation hanging in our hall. Your grandfather would have been so proud.
The physicians continue their treatments, and I continue to humor them. They mean well, even if they don't understand what they're treating. I think of you often, working so hard at the fortress. Know that whatever you're searching for, whatever answers you're seeking... I have faith in you.
The cold is stronger lately. I won't lie to you about that. But I've lived with it for so long now that it feels almost familiar. Like an old companion I've learned to tolerate, if not welcome.
Be safe. Come home when you can.
Your mother
Wang Ben set the letter down with hands that wanted to shake. He could read between the lines, could see what she wasn't saying. The seals were degrading faster than the physicians understood. Months, perhaps. A year at most.
The bloodline the Yue Clan marked her for death for possessing, he thought. The Ice that runs through her veins.
He pulled out fresh paper and began writing his reply, choosing words that would offer comfort without empty promises. He was working on something. Research that might help. But Redstone City was hundreds of kilometers away, and all he could offer from this distance was determination.
Mother,
I found some of what I was looking for in the Blackwood. Grandfather's work. His notes. Understanding that I'm still processing.
I know the cold is getting stronger. I know the physicians don't have real answers. But I'm learning things that might matter. Secrets that grandfather protected. Knowledge that connects to your condition in ways I'm only beginning to understand.
I can't promise a solution yet. But I promise I won't stop searching until I find one.
Stay strong. I'll come home as soon as I can.
Wang Ben
He sealed the letter and sent it with the next supply convoy heading to Redstone City. Hundreds of kilometers of distance. Weeks between correspondence. And a mother whose time was running out while he pursued answers in ancient ruins.
The answer was there, somewhere in the intersection of bloodlines and ancient seals and powers that had been locked away for millennia.
He just needed to find it before time ran out.
As sleep eluded him, Wang Ben found himself reviewing what the System had compiled about his mother's heritage.
[ARCHIVE REFERENCE: Li Mei Bloodline Summary]
[Maternal lineage:]
[- Yue Bingqiu: Li Mei's maternal grandmother. Fled Yue Clan approximately 100 years ago to escape bloodline purge. Sought refuge with childhood friend Xu Lanying. Gave birth to daughter Yue Hanying while in hiding. Remained long enough to see her daughter marry Li Cheng. Later departed and died under unknown circumstances. Ice affinity]
[- Yue Hanying: Li Mei's mother. Daughter of Yue Bingqiu (father unknown). Raised by Xu Lanying after her mother's departure. Married Li Cheng (Xu Lanying's son). Died young after giving birth to Li Mei. Passed Yue bloodline to daughter]
[Paternal lineage:]
[- Xu Lanying: Originally of Xu Clan, married into Li Clan. Li Cheng's mother, Li Mei's paternal grandmother. Raised Yue Hanying as a favor to her friend Yue Bingqiu. Placed protective seals on Li Mei approximately 30 years ago to conceal Ice bloodline from Yue Clan detection. Fate unknown]
[- Li Cheng: Li Mei's father. Li Clan (NOT Yue-descended). Son of Xu Lanying. Metal affinity. Formation master. Missing approximately 7 years. Was guarding nexus chamber in Blackwood]
[Current generation:]
[- Li Mei: Daughter of Li Cheng and Yue Hanying. Ice affinity (inherited through maternal line). Sealed for 30 years. Seals now failing]
[- Wang Tian: Li Mei's husband. Wang Clan. Fire affinity. Grade 7 Alchemist]
[- Wang Ben (Host): Son of Li Mei and Wang Tian. All-element flexibility (Scripture-derived, NOT bloodline-inherited)]
[Note: The Yue Clan hunts Li Mei for her Ice bloodline, which they consider "contaminated." Host's elemental flexibility is unrelated to Yue heritage]
The connections were clear now, laid out in the System's precise notation. His mother's Ice came from Yue Bingqiu's line. His own flexibility came from somewhere else entirely.
Two different gifts. Two different dangers.
And both converging on the secrets his grandfather had died to protect.