Glacial Basin City hummed with the energy of a kingdom at war.
Wang Ben moved through streets that bustled with activity despite the cold, his eyes cataloging everything while his face showed only the mild interest of a traveling specialist. Conscription notices marked several intersections, their frost-preserved paper listing cultivation requirements and deployment dates. The architecture was different from Azure Crimson cities, built to channel and preserve Ice essence rather than dissipate it. Buildings rose in crystalline spires, their surfaces etched with formations that made them gleam like frozen waterfalls.
Wei Shufen's contact point was a modest teahouse in the eastern market district, its sign decorated with the symbol of crossed formation brushes. The kind of establishment where specialists gathered to discuss work and exchange information.
He entered to find the midday crowd in full conversation, cultivators of various levels discussing contracts and complaints. The air smelled of jasmine tea and the sharp bite of Ice-aspected incense. No one looked up as he took a seat near the back.
"Tea, traveler?" A serving girl appeared at his elbow, her qi signature marking her as early-stage qi condensation.
"Whatever the house recommends." Wang Ben placed the appropriate coins on the table. "I'm looking for Wei Shufen. I was told she handles formation contracts in this district."
"Mistress Wei is in the back room. I'll let her know you're asking."
The girl departed, leaving Wang Ben to study the teahouse's other patrons. Most were foundation establishment cultivators, the backbone of any kingdom's professional class. A few showed the signatures of core formation, their presence commanding subtle deference from those around them.
[ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS: Glacial Basin City, Eastern Market]
[Population density: High (commercial district)]
[Cultivation distribution: Predominantly foundation establishment, core formation minority]
[Dominant element: Ice (78%), Water (15%), Other (7%)]
[Notable observations: Formation specialist gathering point. Multiple potential intelligence sources]
[Risk assessment: Moderate. Cover identity appropriate for environment. Recommend caution regarding elemental signature examination]
Wei Shufen appeared shortly, a middle-aged woman whose cultivation showed the refined quality of someone who had spent decades in professional practice. Late-stage foundation establishment, Ice affinity, carrying herself with the confidence of established expertise.
"You asked for me." Her voice was neutral, businesslike. "I don't recognize you."
"Wei Ming. I'm new to the region. I was given your name as someone who might have work for a traveling specialist."
"Wei Ming." She studied him with calculating assessment. "Strange. You don't carry the accent of someone from the border territories."
"I've traveled extensively. Accents blur together after enough years on the road."
Wei Shufen's expression didn't change, but something in her eyes shifted. Recognition, perhaps, or simply acknowledgment that his answer had been the correct one.
"Come to the back. We can discuss opportunities in private."
She led him through the teahouse to a small office cluttered with contracts and formation diagrams. The door closed behind them, and her professional demeanor shifted into something sharper.
"Lord Shen sent word you were coming." Her voice dropped to a pitch that wouldn't carry beyond the room's walls. "You're the intelligence gatherer. The one investigating Yue Clan operations."
"You're Phantom Gate."
"I'm a businesswoman who maintains useful connections." Wei Shufen settled behind her desk. "The network here has been gathering fragments for months. The Yue Clan is moving resources toward something they call the Ancestral Recovery Project. Significant investment. High-level coordination."
"What do they seek?"
"That's what you're here to discover. We can provide access, cover, and a way out if things go wrong. But the actual intelligence gathering is your responsibility." She slid a packet of documents across the desk. "Your work assignments for the next week. Legitimate formation contracts that will establish your reputation and provide reasons to travel."
Wang Ben examined the contracts. Defensive array repairs at three different locations, each progressively closer to areas where Yue Clan activity had been noted. The approach was methodical, professional.
"What's the current situation with the Yue Clan?"
"Increased activity over the past six months. They've been sending expeditions into the eastern wilderness, searching for something specific. The royal court has given them unusual latitude, suggesting political backing at the highest levels." Wei Shufen's voice carried careful precision. "The expeditions have all returned empty-handed so far. Whatever they're looking for, they haven't found it yet."
"But they're still searching."
"With increasing desperation, if our sources are accurate. The Yue Clan matriarch has committed significant resources to this project. Failure is not an option they seem to be considering."
Wang Ben processed this, adding it to the intelligence he had already gathered. The Founding Site. The Ancestral Recovery Project. Something the Yue Clan wanted badly enough to redirect major resources during wartime.
"How do I get closer to their operations?"
"Carefully." Wei Shufen's expression hardened. "The Yue Clan is one of the kingdom's most powerful families. Their compound in this city is protected by formations that would detect most intrusion attempts. Direct observation is nearly impossible."
"Nearly?"
"There's a contracted formation master who handles maintenance on their secondary facilities. He's been complaining about the workload. A capable assistant might be welcomed." She indicated one of the contracts in the packet. "Complete the first two assignments successfully. Build a reputation for reliability. Then we'll arrange an introduction."
It was a slower approach than Wang Ben had hoped, but it made sense. Rushing into Yue Clan territory would only get him caught or killed. Patience would serve the mission better.
"I'll start tomorrow."
"Good. There's a boarding house on the next street that caters to traveling specialists. Clean rooms, reasonable rates, no questions asked." Wei Shufen rose, indicating the meeting was concluded. "Check in weekly. Any unusual activity, any sign of Yue Clan attention, you report immediately."
"Understood."
He left the teahouse with his packet of contracts and a clearer understanding of the path ahead. The infiltration would take time. But time was something he had, as long as he remained undetected.
...
The first contract took him to a merchant compound on the city's western edge.
The defensive formations had been damaged during a spirit beast incursion, their Ice-aspected structures fractured by the creature's attacks. The compound's owner, a portly merchant named Zhao Wen, watched anxiously as Wang Ben examined the damage.
"Can it be repaired?"
"The structural integrity is sound. The fractures are cosmetic, mostly." Wang Ben traced the formation lines with practiced fingers, his System providing analysis that far exceeded even what a foundation establishment specialist should possess. "The real problem is the energy flow. Someone who worked on this before didn't properly calibrate the Ice channels."
"The previous specialist was... less than satisfactory." Zhao Wen's voice carried diplomatic frustration. "He came highly recommended, but his work deteriorated after the initial installation."
"I see the evidence." Wang Ben began unpacking his formation tools. "I can restore full functionality. Two days of work, standard materials provided by your staff."
"And the cost?"
"The contract terms Wei Shufen negotiated."
Relief washed across the merchant's face. "You work with Mistress Wei? She has a reputation for quality connections. Please, begin whenever you're ready. My staff will provide whatever you need."
The repair work was straightforward for someone with Wang Ben's capabilities. The damaged formation required standard techniques, nothing that would reveal unusual skill. He worked carefully, demonstrating competence without excellence, the performance of a solid professional rather than an exceptional one.
But the work provided opportunities for observation.
Zhao Wen's compound conducted business with half the city's merchant community. Conversations drifted past while Wang Ben worked, fragments of gossip and commerce that painted a picture of Glacial Basin's economic landscape.
"The Yue Clan placed another large order last week. Expedition supplies, wilderness expedition equipment, specialized Cold resistance talismans..."
"I heard they lost another team in the eastern wilderness. Three foundation establishment cultivators, gone without trace..."
Wang Ben's hands didn't pause in their work, but something tightened in his chest. Three cultivators. Foundation establishment, like him. Gone. The wilderness didn't care about cultivation level or clan backing. That could be me, he thought, and the realization carried no drama, only the cold weight of probability.
"My cousin works for their secondary compound. Says they've been interviewing formation specialists for months. Nobody meets their standards..."
One of Zhao Wen's clerks paused near Wang Ben's work area, studying him with more attention than casual curiosity warranted. "Wei Ming, was it? Strange name for someone from the border territories. My family trades in those regions. I don't recall hearing of any Wei family formation specialists."
Wang Ben kept his hands steady on the formation lines, his expression showing only mild interest. "The border has many small villages. Not every specialist works for the major clans."
"True enough." The clerk's gaze lingered a moment longer before he moved on, but Wang Ben felt the weight of that scrutiny long after the man departed.
Too close, he thought, forcing himself to maintain the rhythm of his work. One wrong answer and Wei Shufen's network could unravel.
He filed each overheard fragment away, building a picture of the Yue Clan's activities piece by piece. The expeditions into the eastern forests. The losses they were sustaining. The unusual attention to formation work.
Something in the eastern wilderness was worth dying for. Worth the resources of one of the kingdom's most powerful families.
Evening cultivation in his boarding house room confirmed the ongoing anomaly.
[CULTIVATION SESSION: Hour 2]
[Qi absorbed: 423 motes]
[Qi retained: 61 motes]
[Retention efficiency: 14.5%]
[Elemental composition:]
[- Ice: 267 motes (63.1%)]
[- Water: 108 motes (25.5%)]
[- Earth: 32 motes (7.6%)]
[- Fire: 16 motes (3.8%)]
[Environment: Glacial Basin City (Urban Ice saturation)]
[Integration status: Stable]
[Note: Ice component of cultivation base now exceeds 60%. Host's qi signature increasingly compatible with local environment. This may aid in maintaining cover but creates potential complications if returning to Azure Crimson territory with dramatically shifted elemental balance]
[Recommendation: Continue cultivation but monitor total Ice saturation. Extreme imbalance may affect technique expression and recognition]
Wang Ben processed the warning, understanding its implications. His cultivation was adapting to the environment too well. If his qi became predominantly Ice-aspected, it might raise questions when he returned home.
But that's a problem for later, he thought. For now, the adaptation helps maintain cover.
A moment of doubt crept through the cold certainty. He was alone in enemy territory, his qi signature shifting daily, his identity a fabrication that one sharp question could shatter. No backup. No cavalry waiting beyond the border. Just him and the System, playing a game where failure meant death or worse. The boarding house room felt suddenly smaller, the walls pressing in with the weight of distance from everything familiar.
He pushed the fear down, buried it beneath tactical thinking. Fear didn't serve the mission. Analysis did.
He ended the session and reviewed his notes on the day's intelligence gathering. The Yue Clan's eastern expeditions. The losses they were accepting. The search for something that remained unnamed but clearly valuable.
The Founding Site, he thought. Whatever it is, it's in those mountains somewhere.
Tomorrow would bring the second contract, moving him closer to the network that serviced Yue Clan facilities. Each step brought him deeper into enemy territory, deeper into secrets that connected to his own family's mysteries.
He settled into sleep with the cold qi of the Frozen Jade Kingdom flowing through his meridians, feeling less like an intruder and more like someone returning to a place they had never known they belonged. The paradox should have troubled him. He was infiltrating enemy territory, lying with every breath, yet the Ice that saturated this land welcomed him like family. His mother's heritage, flowing through blood she'd tried to seal away, recognized this place in ways his conscious mind couldn't explain. Perhaps that was the cruelest truth of all: that the kingdom his people fought against felt more like home with each passing day.
...
The second week brought the opportunity Wei Shufen had promised.
His reputation had spread through the formation specialist community, word of reliable work at reasonable rates reaching the ears of those who contracted for larger organizations. The invitation came through proper channels, a request for assistance from Master Feng Zhilan, the formation specialist who handled Yue Clan secondary facilities.
"You're the one they call the Border Wanderer." Feng Zhilan was an elderly man whose presence carried the unmistakable density of advanced cultivation, likely core formation given the deference others showed him. "Unusual name for someone who seems quite comfortable in our kingdom."
"I've learned to adapt to wherever work takes me." Wang Ben maintained the casual demeanor of Wei Ming. "The border changes, but formations remain formations."
"A practical philosophy." Feng Zhilan studied him with the assessing gaze of someone who had trained many apprentices. "I've been overworked lately. The clan has increased their requirements significantly, and my regular assistants can't keep up. I need someone with skill and discretion."
"I can offer both."
"Discretion is particularly important. The clan values their privacy. What you see while working on their facilities stays within their facilities."
"I understand completely, Master Feng. Discretion is the foundation of any specialist's reputation."
Feng Zhilan nodded slowly, apparently satisfied. "Good. We begin tomorrow. The clan's eastern warehouse complex needs routine maintenance. Nothing exotic, but the volume is substantial."
Wang Ben accepted the assignment with appropriate humility, concealing the surge of anticipation beneath Wei Ming's professional mask.
He was in.