They came with the dawn.
Wang Ben had been on the city's northern wall all night. He wasn't alone anymore. Word of his warning had spread, and by the time the sky began to lighten, cultivators from every clan had gathered. Wang Clan. Dao Clan. Even Huo Clan guards, sent by the City Lord to see for themselves.
The pressure in his meridians had grown worse, a tightness that wouldn't ease.
Then the sun rose, and the shadows on the northern road resolved into shapes.
Wang Ben gripped the parapet, forcing his tired eyes to focus. The morning mist clung to the road, but even through it he could see the column of figures approaching. Dozens of them. Moving with the unhurried confidence of predators who knew their prey had nowhere to run.
His meridians had only just begun to open. He couldn't read cultivation levels. But he didn't need to.
The three figures at the front weren't hiding.
Pressure crashed over the wall. Wang Ben's gut clenched. His newly opened meridians screamed with it, raw and untrained, flooding him with sensation he didn't know how to process. Whatever was coming, it was vast.
A woman stood among the Huo Clan guards, a spear resting against her shoulder. Wang Ben recognized her from the beast tide. She'd helped bring down the ironclad bear. The pressure rolling off her was heavier than anyone else on the wall.
She went pale.
"Mortal shedding cultivators," she said quietly.
If someone like her was afraid, there was nothing else to say.
The strongest people from the clans were late-stage core formation. The woman with the spear might be the same, maybe higher. None of it mattered against mortal shedding.
"Sound the alarm," Wang Ben heard himself say. His voice sounded distant, disconnected from the cold dread in his stomach. "Sound every alarm we have."
The guard beside him didn't move. He was staring at the approaching group with blank eyes.
"NOW."
The shout broke the paralysis. Within moments, alarm bells were ringing across the city.
...
The City Lord's hall had never been so full.
...
Wang Ben stood near the wall. Every clan was represented. Wang Clan elders. Dao Clan, with Grand Elder Dao Lingwei herself. The Huo Clan's own people filled the rest of the room. The woman with the spear stood near the back, arms crossed.
The Xue Clan had not been invited.
"You're certain of these numbers?" Grand Elder Wang Feng's voice was controlled, but Wang Ben could see the tension in his shoulders, how his hand kept drifting toward his sword.
"The elder on the wall confirmed it. Three mortal shedding cultivators at the front. More cultivators behind them."
"Impossible." The Huo Clan aide shook his head sharply. "Mortal shedding cultivators don't operate in frontier territories. The regional powers would never allow..."
The woman with the spear spoke from the back of the room. "The Bastion doesn't know." Her voice was flat. "If they did, they'd have sent someone stronger than me."
The room went quiet at that.
"I've seen demonic cultivators before," the spear woman said. "The question is why they're here now."
The silence that followed was absolute.
"The Xue Clan..." someone began.
"Who else would have brought them here?" Dao Lingwei said. No one argued.
City Lord Huo Zhenyang stood. The room went quiet.
"Bring me the Xue Clan patriarch. Now." He turned to the room. "Wang Feng. Dao Lingwei. Secure your people and fall back to the inner districts. My forces will hold the outer walls as long as we can." He paused. "Whatever has happened between us ends here."
No one argued.
The clans moved. Wang Ben left with the Wang Clan group, but his mind was already somewhere else.
Ruoxi had called it entertaining. Whatever was on that road, she hadn't been afraid of it. If anything, she'd seemed excited.
And Wuyan was still in the city.
He didn't know what asking would cost. But he didn't know what not asking would cost either.
He passed Dao Zhen in the corridor. Their eyes met. Neither of them spoke.
...
...
Outside the city, the three mortal shedding cultivators had stopped on a low rise overlooking Redstone's northern wall.
The tallest of them cracked his neck and smiled. "Finally."
"Took them long enough." The second brother was sharpening a blade across his knee. "We've been sitting in that forest for weeks watching them play their little war. I was starting to think the Xue feng that fool would never call."
"He was always going to call." The youngest was quieter than the other two. Calmer. "People like him always do. They just need to run out of options first."
"And the city?"
"Ours. Once we're done, the Blackwood is open." The youngest glanced back at the column behind them. "The Elder wants the territory secured before winter."
"And the clans?"
"The Xue clan patriarch thinks we're here to help him win his war." The quiet one's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Let him think that."
The tall one laughed. "How long do we keep pretending?"
"Until we don't need to."
The second brother sheathed his blade. "And if they resist?"
The youngest looked at the city walls. People were gathering on them. He could feel their cultivation from here. Weak. The strongest among them wouldn't last a breath against him.
"Then we stop pretending sooner."
He started walking. The others followed.