Wang Ben woke to gray dawn filtering through the forest canopy, his body stiff from six hours of motionless cultivation. The mental fatigue from veiled presence had eased from critical levels to a persistent ache behind his eyes, manageable, but a reminder of how close he'd pushed the technique's limits.
He checked the formation crystal secured in his inner robe pocket. The intelligence it contained was worth more than his life: registry entries, bloodline purge records, his great-grandmother's execution order. The Yue Clan knew someone had infiltrated their camp. Whether they thought him dead or not, the risk remained.
Time to move.
Two days after escaping the Yue expedition, the border still seemed impossibly distant. The journey was taking longer than Wang Ben had anticipated.
His body, still recovering from the chase and veiled presence strain, demanded rest that circumstances wouldn't allow. The Yue Clan might think him dead, lost to the ancient beast's territory or the miasma that had killed their own cultivators. But Wang Ben couldn't afford to assume safety. Each hour brought him closer to friendly territory.
The formation crystal pressed against his ribs with each step, a constant reminder of why he was pushing through exhaustion. If the Yue Clan caught him before he reached the border, the intelligence would die with him. Thirty years of his mother's hidden survival, his great-grandmother's execution, the Ancestral Recovery Project's secrets, all recorded in that small crystal.
Almost there. Just keep moving.
He traveled through the night, using the dense Blackwood canopy to mask his passage. Veiled presence remained beyond reach, his mind still recovering from the previous day's strain. Physical stealth would have to suffice. The ancient forest had provided temporary concealment, its wood essence masking his trail, but he knew better than to trust temporary solutions. The border lay ahead, and with it, safety.
Dawn found him at the edge of a frozen lake, its surface bearing the scars of ancient battles. Beyond, the terrain shifted toward the contested borderlands where neither kingdom held clear dominance.
Another three days, he estimated. If nothing goes wrong.
Something went wrong within the hour.
The ambush came from directions he hadn't anticipated.
Wang Ben had been watching for pursuit from behind, tracking the Yue Clan's likely approach vectors. He hadn't expected them to have forces ahead of him, positioned along the escape routes he had memorized during his infiltration.
They knew, he realized as Ice techniques erupted around him. They knew someone was gathering intelligence. This was always a possibility they prepared for.
Six cultivators emerged from concealment, their Ice qi forming barriers that cut off his escape. All foundation establishment, their techniques coordinated in patterns that suggested training for exactly this kind of intercept.
"Hold position," the lead cultivator commanded. "You're surrounded, intruder. Surrender the documents you stole, and your death will be quick."
Wang Ben assessed the situation in heartbeats. Six opponents, late-stage foundation establishment average. Barriers preventing retreat. His own cultivation, displayed as qi condensation but actually performing at foundation establishment efficiency.
If I had veiled presence available, I could vanish completely. But my mind can't sustain it yet. Have to fight through.
The math was unfavorable. But not impossible.
[COMBAT ASSESSMENT]
[Opponents: 6 foundation establishment cultivators]
[Average level: Late-stage (estimated)]
[Technique profile: Ice-based, coordinated assault patterns]
[Host advantage: Unexpected efficiency, multi-element flexibility]
[Survival probability: 23% (direct engagement), 67% (tactical exploitation of environment)]
[Recommendation: Use terrain and elemental disruption. These cultivators expect Ice-dominant combat. Surprise them]
Wang Ben moved before they expected, his enhanced efficiency translating into speed that a mid-stage qi condensation cultivator shouldn't possess. The first barrier shattered under a strike that carried more force than they had prepared for.
"He's stronger than reported! Adjust formations!"
Too late. Wang Ben was already through the first gap, using the moment of confusion to break their containment pattern. The coordinated assault required specific positioning; without it, their advantage dissolved.
He didn't try to defeat them. He tried to escape.
The chase resumed, but now he had enemies behind and enemies ahead. The Yue Clan's intercept team joined forces with pursuing elements from the expedition, their combined numbers turning the escape into a running battle that spanned kilometers of frozen wilderness.
The Phantom Gate safe house was supposed to be secure.
Wang Ben reached the coordinates he had memorized, finding the concealed entrance in a hillside that overlooked the contested zone. Inside, two agents waited, their eyes widening at his condition.
"You're alive." The senior agent's voice carried surprise. "The network reported the Yue expedition's alert. We assumed the mission was compromised."
She was older than Wang Ben had expected, her face lined with the kind of weariness that came from decades of operating in shadow. But her eyes held steady calculation, the gaze of someone who had survived by never flinching from hard choices.
"It was. I have the intelligence. We need to move."
"The withdrawal route isn't ready for another week. The border crossing points are all being watched."
"Then we find a new crossing point." Wang Ben pressed the formation crystal containing the recorded documents into the agent's hands. "This needs to reach Shen Wuyan. Whatever the cost."
The agent examined the crystal, her expression shifting as she recognized its significance. "What did you find?"
"Everything. The Founding Site, the Ancestral Recovery Project, the bloodline purges. All of it."
Silence stretched between them. Then the agent nodded, professional understanding replacing personal curiosity.
"We'll get it out. But the pursuit..."
"Is closing in. I estimate six hours before they find this location."
"Then we leave now. Agent Qin, prepare the emergency route."
The second agent moved immediately, gathering supplies and equipment with the efficiency of someone trained for exactly this scenario.
The senior agent caught Wang Ben's eye as they prepared. "First time running for your life behind enemy lines?"
"Second. The first went smoother."
A ghost of a smile crossed her weathered face. "They always do. It's the second one that teaches you what this work really costs." She checked her blade, the motion practiced and automatic. "Stay close. Follow my lead. And if I tell you to run, you run. No heroics."
Within minutes, they were ready to depart.
But six hours had been optimistic.
The attack came as they emerged from the safe house.
Ice techniques slammed into the hillside, collapsing the entrance and forcing them into the open. Yue Clan cultivators appeared from multiple directions, their numbers suggesting that the entire expedition had been redirected to the pursuit.
"They tracked the crystal's energy signature," the senior agent realized. "The documents are marked with location formations."
Of course they are, Wang Ben thought bitterly. That's why they left them accessible. They wanted someone to steal them.
"Agent Qin, take the intelligence. Get it to the border. We'll hold them here."
"Senior, there are too many..."
"The mission comes first. Go!"
The second agent didn't argue further. She grabbed the crystal and ran, using stealth techniques to slip away while Wang Ben and the senior agent prepared to face impossible odds.
Twenty cultivators approached, including two core formation elders. The same ones who had been searching the deep Blackwood when Wang Ben infiltrated their camp.
"You should have stayed in the deep Blackwood," one elder said, his voice carrying across the battlefield. "The ancient beast would have finished you eventually. Instead you ran here, to this... what is this place? A waystation? A smuggler's den?" His eyes swept the collapsed safe house. "No matter. You die here, thief, and whatever you stole returns to us."
Wang Ben felt the senior agent's presence beside him, her cultivation steady at peak foundation establishment. Not enough. Not nearly enough against core formation power.
"I'll hold the right flank," she said quietly. "You take the left. Give Agent Qin as much time as we can."
"You don't have to..."
"Don't. This is what we signed up for. Just make sure the intelligence gets home."
She charged before he could respond, her techniques erupting in patterns designed to draw attention rather than win battles. The Yue Clan cultivators responded, their coordination momentarily disrupted by her aggressive approach.
Wang Ben used the opening to engage the left flank, his hidden efficiency allowing him to match foundation establishment opponents despite his apparent qi condensation cultivation. But he couldn't sustain combat against superior numbers indefinitely.
We're buying time, he reminded himself. That's all. Time for Agent Qin to escape.
The battle lasted longer than it should have.
The senior agent fell far too quickly, overwhelmed by three foundation establishment cultivators who finally coordinated their attack effectively. Wang Ben saw her go down, Ice techniques piercing her defenses from angles she couldn't block.
Her qi signature flickered. Dimmed. And then, with a finality that hit him like a physical blow, went dark.
His throat closed on her name, whatever it truly was.
She was still moving, somehow, dragging herself toward another attacker even as blood crystallized on the frozen ground. "Run!" Her voice was weak but commanding. "The mission, idiot. Finish the mission!"
If I tell you to run, you run. No heroics.
Something cracked inside him. Rage and grief and helpless fury surging through his meridians in a wave that threatened to overwhelm his control. For one terrible heartbeat, he wanted to turn back, to throw himself into the mass of enemies, to make them pay...
But the agent's eyes found his across the battlefield. Still calculating, even now. Still making the hard choice.
He ran.
The guilt would come later. For now, survival required focus. But even as he fled, he felt the absence where her presence had been, a cold hollow space that no amount of Ice qi could fill.
Wang Ben pushed his cultivation beyond safe limits, burning qi reserves that would take weeks to replenish. His efficiency climbed under the stress, the System registering gains that should have been impossible through normal cultivation.
[EMERGENCY CULTIVATION ADAPTATION]
[Stress-induced efficiency increase detected]
[Current efficiency: 13.8% (climbing)]
[Warning: This rate of advancement is abnormal. Long-term effects unknown]
[Immediate benefit: Enhanced speed and recovery during escape]
[Note: Host is approaching the 14% threshold. Continued stress may trigger premature milestone development]
He didn't care about milestones. He cared about surviving the next hour.
The pursuit continued, but the senior agent's sacrifice had bought enough time. Agent Qin had disappeared into the contested zone, her stealth techniques apparently successful against the tracking formations. The intelligence would reach Shen Wuyan.
Wang Ben focused on his own escape, using every trick he had learned during months of operating behind enemy lines. His Ice-dominant cultivation actually helped now, making him harder to track against the ambient spiritual energy of the border regions.
The final confrontation came at the contested zone's edge.
One core formation cultivator had maintained pursuit while the others fell behind, his power allowing him to close the gap that Wang Ben's efficiency had created. The elder emerged from a frozen streambed, Ice techniques already forming around his hands.
"You've led us on quite the chase, thief," the elder said. "Four of my cultivators dead to that ancient beast. Days wasted tracking you through hostile territory. And for what? Documents you'll never deliver." His eyes narrowed. "Not bad for a qi condensation nobody. But the chase ends here."
"You'll have to catch me first."
Wang Ben ran, knowing he couldn't fight a core formation cultivator and survive. But the border was close. Just a few more kilometers...
The Ice technique struck his leg, numbing it instantly. He stumbled, nearly fell, kept moving through pure determination. Another technique grazed his shoulder, the cold penetrating deep enough to affect his circulation.
"Surrender and I'll make it quick. Continue resisting and I'll freeze you from the inside out, one organ at a time."
Wang Ben didn't respond. His focus was entirely on the ridge ahead, where he could see Azure Crimson patrol markers beginning to appear. If he could reach that line...
The core formation cultivator appeared in front of him, having used a movement technique that crossed the remaining distance in a heartbeat. Ice crystals formed a cage around Wang Ben's body, halting his momentum completely.
"I told you it ends here."
"Actually," a new voice interrupted, "I believe it ends somewhat differently."
The three cultivators who materialized around the core formation elder wore the crimson and gold of Azure Crimson Domain's border guard.
All three were late-stage core formation, their combined presence creating pressure that made the Yue Clan elder's power seem diminished by comparison.
"You're in Azure Crimson territory, Elder." The lead cultivator's voice carried cold authority. "Fifty paces past the contested zone. Whatever grudge you hold against this man, pursuing it here makes it our business."
The Yue elder's expression twisted with fury, but his tactical assessment apparently agreed with his opponents. Three against one in hostile territory, with the kill already compromised.
"Azure Crimson harbors thieves now?"
"Azure Crimson protects its borders. Your quarrel is your own, but you'll settle it in your own lands. Not ours."
The Ice cage dissolved. Wang Ben fell to his knees, his body finally acknowledging the accumulated damage of the past days, the sprint through hostile territory, the veiled presence mental strain, the running battle. Rest wasn't optional anymore. It was necessary.
"This isn't over," the Yue elder promised. "Whatever he stole, we'll recover it. You can't protect one thief forever."
"We don't need to protect him forever. Just long enough for him to cross our border. Which he has." The Azure Crimson cultivator's voice carried finality. "Leave. Now."
The standoff held for another moment. Then the Yue elder retreated, his presence fading toward Frozen Jade territory.
Wang Ben remained on his knees, breathing hard, feeling the weight of everything that had happened settling onto his shoulders. Relief washed through him, not just at the rescue, but at the timing. He couldn't have maintained concealment much longer with his mental fatigue. The border guard's arrival had come exactly when he needed it.
The senior agent died for this intelligence. Four Yue cultivators died to a Core Formation beast while I hid and survived.
The weight of those deaths settled into his chest. He'd survived the expedition, the ancient ape, the pursuit, the ambush. Others hadn't.
The border guard cultivators moved away, their duty fulfilled. Three other figures emerged from the treeline, these ones wearing no insignia at all. Phantom Gate. They must have been tracking the situation, waiting to see if their intervention was needed.
It hadn't been. The border guard had handled it.
The Phantom Gate agents didn't offer comfort. They simply lifted him to his feet and began escorting him deeper into friendly territory.
"Agent Qin reached the border two hours ago," one of them reported. "The intelligence is already on its way to Shen Wuyan."
"Good." Wang Ben's voice was hoarse. "That's good."
"You look terrible."
"I feel worse."
They traveled deeper into Azure Crimson territory as dusk painted the sky in shades of red and gold. Behind them, the Frozen Jade Kingdom's mountains gleamed with cold indifference, the border now kilometers distant.
Ahead, the journey home waited.
The cultivation session that night was recovery and reflection.
[CULTIVATION SESSION: Border Territory]
[Duration: 4 hours]
[Qi absorbed: 478 motes]
[Qi retained: 67 motes]
[Retention efficiency: 14.0%]
[Elemental composition:]
[- Earth: 202 motes (42.3%)]
[- Ice: 115 motes (24.1%)]
[- Fire: 73 motes (15.2%)]
[- Water: 50 motes (10.4%)]
[- Wood: 28 motes (5.8%)]
[- Metal: 10 motes (2.2%)]
[Environment: Border territory between kingdoms (transitional composition)]
[Note: Elemental balance shifting from Ice/Dark (Frozen Jade + Blackwood) toward Earth/Fire (Azure Crimson). Host's flexibility adapting smoothly to environmental gradient]
[Physical status: Moderate damage, recovering]
[Mental status: Elevated stress, guilt processing]
Wang Ben absorbed the information without reaction. The efficiency increase was expected; he had pushed himself harder in the past days than at any point since the Scripture had first awakened his potential.
But the number felt hollow. Power without purpose. Advancement purchased with another's life.
She died so I could escape, he thought again. A Phantom Gate agent whose true name I never learned. Someone who followed orders without question, and paid the price for it.
Tools of the Phantom Gate. Lives spent because intelligence has a cost.
The guilt settled into his bones alongside the lingering cold of ice cultivation. Both would be with him for a long time.
Three days later, Wang Ben stood in a chamber beneath Azure Dragon Fortress he hadn't known existed, waiting for the debriefing that would close one chapter and open another.
The mission was complete. The intelligence was delivered.
But the weight of what he had learned, and what it had cost, would stay with him forever.