The debriefing took place in a chamber beneath the fortress that Wang Ben hadn't known existed.
Shen Wuyan waited there, projecting through a communication array that shimmered with power far beyond anything the fortress normally possessed.
The Phantom Gate had provided resources for this mission: agents, safe houses, escape routes. But Wang Ben understood by now that Shen Wuyan operated on his own terms. He worked with the Gate, not for it. Whatever he sought from the Founding Site intelligence, it was personal.
Wang Ben's formation-trained eye recognized sophistication beyond his ability to fully analyze. The inscription patterns were layered with redundancies he'd never seen before, design principles that exceeded his Grade 9 certification.
[Formation analysis: Communication array]
[Grade: 5 (Mortal Shedding level)]
[Qingxuan Archive comparison: Similar architecture to Stellar Communication Arrays from the Third Cultivation Era. Adaptive response layers. Aura transmission capability.]
[Assessment: Master-level work. Crafted by someone who understands formation theory at fundamental level, not merely application.]
Most communication arrays transmitted image and sound. This one carried something more: a faint pressure that made the air feel heavier, as if Shen Wuyan were standing in the room rather than projecting from thousands of kilometers away. The formation wasn't just transmitting his image. It was channeling a trace of his cultivation aura.
Whoever had built this was exceptional. And expensive.
Shen Wuyan's projection regarded him with cold assessment.
"You survived." Shen Wuyan's voice carried no warmth, only assessment. "Many didn't expect you to."
"One Phantom Gate agent didn't." Wang Ben's voice was flat. "The senior agent at the safe house. She died ensuring the intelligence reached you."
The words came out clinical. Controlled. Anything else and he'd have to acknowledge the weight pressing against his ribs, the agent's final command still echoing in his skull, the image of her charging into impossible odds burned into his memory. Later. He could process it later. Right now, the mission mattered. Making her death mean something.
"Agent Qin delivered the documents successfully. The intelligence is intact." Shen Wuyan's expression remained neutral, but something in his tone, a sharpness, a hunger almost, suggested he'd already reviewed the contents thoroughly. This wasn't routine intelligence processing. This was a man who'd been searching for something specific for a very long time. "Now give me the context. What did you observe that the records don't capture?"
Wang Ben organized his thoughts, pushing aside the anger that Shen Wuyan's casual acknowledgment of death provoked. The intelligence came first. Personal feelings came later.
"The Yue Clan's Ancestral Recovery Project is exactly what its name suggests. They're trying to recover something from their founding era, something that requires bloodline verification to access." He described the expedition, the Founding Site, the documents he had recorded. "The site predates the current kingdoms by at least three thousand years. It's not a cultivation location in the normal sense. It's... something else. A nexus point, maybe. A place where the original Yue Clan accessed power that modern cultivators don't fully understand."
Shen Wuyan leaned forward slightly. The first unguarded movement Wang Ben had ever seen from him. "A site predating the kingdoms by three thousand years. Before the current cultivation era began." His voice remained a whisper, but there was intensity beneath it. "What did the documents say about the original access methods? The deeper chambers they couldn't reach?"
Wang Ben noted the reaction. Filed it away. Whatever Shen Wuyan sought, it wasn't just intelligence value. It was something older. Something personal.
He answered carefully. "The documents contained location formations. Tracking markers. That's how they found the safe house so quickly. It was a trap from the start. They left the intelligence accessible, knowing someone would take it."
"And yet you escaped." There might have been approval in Shen Wuyan's tone. Might have been. "The bloodline purges?"
"They eliminated branches they deemed contaminated. Families that displayed elemental flexibility instead of pure Ice affinity." Wang Ben paused, controlling his voice. "My maternal great-grandmother was one of them. Yue Bingqiu, daughter of the Eastern Shore branch. Marked for death for the crime of absorbing multiple elements. Her daughter married my grandfather Li Cheng, and my mother Li Mei inherited the bloodline."
Shen Wuyan's expression didn't change, but something in the quality of his attention shifted. He had known about Li Mei's connection to the Yue Clan, had told Wang Ben as much before the mission began. But the details, the execution orders, the bloodline purges, the seals, seemed to interest him beyond mere intelligence value. Even a cultivator who had lived nearly three millennia seemed to find weight in the revelation.
Wang Ben filed the observation away. Shen Wuyan never showed interest without reason.
"The seals my great-grandmother Xu Lanying placed were meant to hide her from detection, but they're deteriorating." Wang Ben kept his voice steady. "She was marked for death thirty years ago, expected to die within twenty years. She's lived twice that long through pure stubbornness."
Silence settled over the chamber.
"This complicates things," Shen Wuyan said finally. "The Founding Site, the bloodline requirements, your personal connection. Intelligence becomes leverage becomes vulnerability. You understand this."
"I'm aware."
The formal debriefing continued for hours.
Wang Ben described everything he had observed, from the expedition's composition to the artifacts they had recovered from the Founding Site. He detailed the Yue Clan's frustration at being unable to access the site's deeper chambers, their need for bloodline diversity they had systematically destroyed.
"They can't complete their Ancestral Recovery Project," he concluded. "Not without the purged bloodlines they eliminated. The irony would be amusing if it weren't so devastating."
"The intelligence value is substantial," Shen Wuyan acknowledged. His eyes held something Wang Ben couldn't read. Satisfaction, perhaps, but also calculation. Whatever he'd been searching for in the Yue Clan's history, this mission had brought him closer to it. "You've fulfilled the terms. The second favor is discharged. One remains."
Wang Ben noted what Shen Wuyan didn't say: no mention of sharing this intelligence with the Phantom Gate's leadership, no discussion of organizational benefit. The Gate had provided resources, but this was Shen Wuyan's prize.
"One remains." Wang Ben's voice was steady. "When will you call it in?"
"When the time is right. The third favor is the most valuable. I won't waste it on anything less than decisive."
"Your sister," Wang Ben said. "I haven't seen her since the breakthrough. Is she..."
"In the Crimson Phoenix Kingdom, last I heard. Then the Emerald Serpent Kingdom." Shen Wuyan's tone was flat, uninviting of further questions. "She's acquiring materials I need. Rare ones. The kind that don't appear on legitimate markets."
Wang Ben understood. Rare materials that required a nascent soul cultivator to "acquire" meant either heavily guarded or taken from people who wouldn't part with them willingly. Shen Ruoxi's new cultivation level made her capable of things she couldn't have attempted before.
"For what?"
"My business." The words carried no heat, only finality.
The projection flickered, indicating the end of Shen Wuyan's participation. "Return to your duties, Wang Ben. The fortress needs your skills. And remember: your mother's condition is your business. I have no interest in personal matters." A pause. "Unless they become relevant to my research."
The projection faded, leaving Wang Ben alone in the underground chamber.
He sat in the silence for a long time, processing what had just happened. The second favor discharged. One remaining. The intelligence delivered, but to what end?
Shen Wuyan hadn't asked about the Founding Site for the Phantom Gate's benefit. He hadn't probed the ancient techniques to help the war effort. Everything had been personal. Research into something that predated the current cultivation era by millennia.
Shen Ruoxi traveling across empires, acquiring rare materials through force. Shen Wuyan studying ancient sites and lost knowledge with an intensity that went beyond professional interest.
The pieces didn't form a complete picture. Not yet. But Wang Ben knew better than to assume Shen Wuyan did anything without purpose. Nearly three thousand years of life had made him patient. And dangerous.
He filed the observations away. Another piece of a puzzle he couldn't yet see. Another reason to be very, very careful about that final favor.
But beyond Shen Wuyan's mysteries, the cost of this mission weighed heavier...
Four Yue Clan cultivators, dead to the Ancient Darkwood Ape. The senior Phantom Gate agent, charging into impossible odds so he could escape. Agent Qin, carrying the crystal to safety while others died to buy her time.
This is what intelligence costs, he thought. Lives. Sacrifices. Debts that can never truly be repaid.
The knowledge he had gained sat heavy in his chest. His mother's bloodline, marked for death. His great-grandmother's flight from execution. The seals that had kept Li Mei alive ten years past her expected death.
And somewhere in the Blackwood, perhaps, the very thing the Yue Clan sought. The thing his grandfather had spent years monitoring. The thing he had disappeared to protect.
Grandfather knew, Wang Ben realized. He knew what the Yue Clan was searching for. He found it first. And he died to keep them from claiming it.
The implications multiplied faster than he could process them. But one thing was clear: he needed allies. People with resources and information that the Phantom Gate might not provide.
Lin Suyin's request from before the mission echoed in his memory. If you go into enemy territory, whatever you learn about the activity in that region, consider sharing it with the Silent Path.
He had made no promises then. But now, with knowledge that connected his grandfather's work to ancient secrets, he found himself reconsidering. The Silent Path had resources. Connections. Intelligence about the Blackwood that the Phantom Gate might not prioritize.
I can share some of it, he decided. Enough to honor the request. Enough to build the alliance. But not everything. Never everything.
Some secrets were too dangerous to share with anyone.
That evening, Wang Ben found himself at the memorial wall.
The fortress maintained a space for honoring the fallen, stone tablets bearing the names of those who had died in service. He stood before it, studying names he didn't recognize, thinking of names that weren't there.
The senior agent. A Phantom Gate agent whose name he'd never learned, whose death would never be publicly acknowledged.
He could still hear her voice in his memory. Run! The mission, idiot. Finish the mission! Her job had been to get him out alive. She'd done her duty until she couldn't anymore. Agent Qin had carried the intelligence crystal to the border, completing the mission where the senior agent had fallen.
That was the contract. She'd been paid to keep him alive, and she'd done it. But knowing that didn't make it easier to stand here, safe, while her name would never be carved anywhere.
He stayed until the evening chill drove him back inside.
...
He found Lin Suyin in her quarters near the fortress intelligence wing the following morning.
Silent Path's role had evolved since the war began. What had started as supply convoy contracts had grown into something more valuable: Lin Suyin's expedition teams gathered intelligence across the region, reporting unusual activity to fortress command. Her company had become the military's eyes in places soldiers couldn't go without drawing attention.
The decision to seek her out had solidified overnight. Silent Path had been tracking his grandfather's anchor network for months as part of their Blackwood monitoring assignment. They might have pieces of the puzzle that Wang Ben needed. And unlike the Phantom Gate, this was an official military channel. Strategic intelligence, shared through proper means.
"Wang Ben." Lin Suyin rose from her desk as he entered, her expression shifting from professional neutrality to careful interest. "I heard you returned from Frozen Jade territory. Fortress command mentioned you might have strategic intelligence to share."
"I do." He closed the door behind him. "Things that connect to your Blackwood monitoring. Things fortress command should know."
"I'm listening."
Wang Ben organized his thoughts carefully. What to share. What to withhold. The balance that would honor her request without compromising Shen Wuyan's interests or his own secrets.
"The activity in Frozen Jade territory connects to something called the Founding Site. An ancient location that predates the current kingdoms by at least three thousand years." He watched her expression sharpen with interest. "The Yue Clan has been searching for it. They believe it holds power from their founding era, techniques and artifacts that could restore capabilities they've lost over centuries."
"The Founding Site." Lin Suyin tested the words. "We've encountered references in historical texts, but nothing concrete. You have confirmation it exists?"
"I have confirmation they found it. Or part of it." Wang Ben chose his next words with care. "The site requires bloodline verification to access fully. The Yue Clan can enter, but they can't reach the deepest chambers. They need genetic markers they no longer possess."
"Because they purged them." Lin Suyin's voice was quiet. "The Yue Clan bloodline purges. We have records of unusual activity over the decades, families disappearing from their registries."
"They eliminated branches they considered contaminated. Families that displayed elemental flexibility instead of pure Ice affinity." Wang Ben kept his expression neutral. "Now they need those bloodlines to complete their Ancestral Recovery Project, and they've systematically destroyed every carrier they could find."
Lin Suyin absorbed this, her mind clearly working through the implications. "And your grandfather's surveillance network? The anchors he placed throughout the Blackwood?"
"Connected." Wang Ben met her eyes directly. "The energy signatures he was monitoring match descriptions of the Founding Site. Whatever the Yue Clan is searching for in Frozen Jade territory, my grandfather may have found something similar here. In the Blackwood. In Azure Crimson territory."
The silence stretched between them as Lin Suyin processed the revelation.
"That would explain why he spent seven years watching one location," she said finally. "Why he disappeared rather than return home. He wasn't lost. He was protecting something."
"That's my theory."
"And the connection between the Founding Site and your family? Your grandfather's monitoring, your mother's condition..." Lin Suyin's gaze was too sharp for comfort. "There's more you're not telling me."
"There's always more." Wang Ben's voice was steady. "Some of it I don't fully understand yet. Some of it isn't mine to share. What I've told you is what I can offer. The Silent Path can use this intelligence however serves your interests."
Lin Suyin studied him for a long moment. Then she nodded slowly.
"You've grown careful, Wang Ben. More careful than most your age." There was something like respect in her voice. "The Silent Path appreciates the intelligence. We'll add it to our analysis and see what patterns emerge."
"I want to be informed of what you find. Anything about my grandfather's network, anything about the Founding Site in Azure Crimson territory."
"A fair exchange." Lin Suyin extended her hand. "I'll file this through fortress command as a joint intelligence operation. Your family's connection to the Blackwood makes you an asset, not a conflict of interest. Information flows both directions."
Wang Ben clasped her hand. "Agreed."
"Then welcome to military intelligence work." A hint of amusement crossed her features. "It's more complicated than merchant negotiations, but the stakes are higher. And the resources are better."
She released his hand and returned to her desk, already reaching for documents that would incorporate his intelligence into Silent Path analysis.
Wang Ben departed, feeling the weight of new obligations settling alongside the old. Shen Wuyan. Silent Path. Family. Fortress.
How many masters can one person serve? he wondered.
The answer, he suspected, was however many he needed to protect the people he loved.
...
The cultivation session that night marked another threshold.
[CULTIVATION SESSION: Azure Dragon Fortress]
[Duration: 5 hours]
[Qi absorbed: 512 motes]
[Qi retained: 74 motes]
[Retention efficiency: 14.5%]
[Elemental composition:]
[- Earth: 198 motes (38.7%)]
[- Metal: 134 motes (26.2%)]
[- Fire: 89 motes (17.4%)]
[- Ice: 67 motes (13.1%)]
[- Water: 24 motes (4.6%)]
[Environment: Azure Dragon Fortress (Mixed signatures, Metal/Earth dominant)]
[Note: Continued stress-induced advancement. Efficiency increased 0.9% during mission conditions (13.6% → 14.5%). Pattern suggests high-stress environments accelerate cultivation progress beyond normal training rates. Approaching premature milestone development threshold.]
[Note: Elemental composition returning to pre-mission balance. Ice component declining as environment shifts. Host's flexibility continues to demonstrate unusual adaptation capacity]
[System observation: Host approaching 15% threshold. Current rate suggests milestone achievement within 2-3 months]
[Status: Qi Condensation Stage 6 (true), Stage 7 (approaching)]
The efficiency had climbed faster than expected. The stress of the mission, the combat, the constant strain of operating behind enemy lines... all had accelerated his cultivation in ways that normal training couldn't match.
The System feeds on challenge, he realized. The harder I push, the faster it develops.
The insight was valuable. But it also raised concerns about what he might have to endure to continue advancing at this pace.
Lin Suyin's message arrived the next morning.
"The analysis is preliminary, but the correlation is too strong to ignore." Her voice was quiet in the secure meeting room. "Your grandfather's monitoring methods align with the Yue Clan's search criteria. The thing he was watching... it matches their description of the Founding Site's energy signature."
"The Founding Site is in the Blackwood."
"The Founding Site, or something connected to it. Perhaps an access point. Perhaps a piece of what the Yue Clan seeks." Lin Suyin spread documents across the table. "Based on what you told us about the Yue Clan's search methods, we cross-referenced with your grandfather's anchor designs. The bloodline resonance detection principles they use... we've seen similar approaches before."
"Where?"
"In your grandfather's notes. The anchor formations he established throughout the Blackwood use similar detection methods." Lin Suyin's expression was serious. "Li Cheng wasn't just monitoring something. He was guarding it. Preventing the Yue Clan from finding what they're looking for."
The revelation settled into Wang Ben's understanding with the weight of inevitability. His grandfather, sacrificing himself to protect ancient secrets. Disappearing not because he was lost, but because he was leading enemies away from something they couldn't be allowed to find.
"We need to investigate the deeper Blackwood," Wang Ben said. "Grandfather's trail leads somewhere. I need to follow it."
"Not yet. Your efficiency is valuable, but you're still qi condensation. The deep Blackwood requires core formation at minimum to survive, and even that's no guarantee." Lin Suyin held up a hand to forestall his protest. "I'm not saying never. I'm saying not until we've prepared properly. Better equipment. Better intelligence. Better understanding of what we might face."
"How long?"
"Months, at least. The war continues. The fortress needs your skills. And your parents would notice if you disappeared again so soon." Lin Suyin rose from her seat. "Use the time wisely. Continue your cultivation. Continue your professional development. When the opportunity comes, you'll be ready."
She departed, leaving Wang Ben with answers that only created more questions.
The Founding Site was in the Blackwood. His grandfather had died protecting it. The Yue Clan was still searching.
And somewhere in that ancient forest, secrets waited that could change everything.
Patience, he reminded himself. The strength to wait is as important as the strength to act.
The advice was sound. But following it had never been his strength.