The City Treasure Hall had never seen crowds like this.
Wang Ben stood near the entrance, watching cultivators push and jostle toward the redemption counters. The expedition survivors had descended on the city's central trading hall like locusts, their jade merit tablets clutched in white-knuckled grips. Everyone wanted pills. Everyone wanted talismans. Everyone wanted whatever edge they could buy before the tide hit.
"Sixty points for a Grade 9 healing pill? That's robbery!"
"Take it or leave it. There's a line behind you."
"I need something for my nephew. He's only early-stage body refinement. He won't survive without..."
"Next!"
The desperation in the air was thick enough to taste. Wang Ben had seen fear before, in the eyes of patrol members facing beasts beyond their strength, in the moments before combat when the body understood what the mind refused to accept. This was different. This was an entire city realizing that walls and formations might not be enough.
He moved deeper into the hall, observing the chaos with clinical detachment. The Wang Clan contingent had claimed a section near the eastern counters, coordinating their purchases as a group. Elder Wang Feng stood at their center, his scarred face impassive as he directed the distribution of resources among clan members.
Nearby, the Huo Clan was buying in bulk: healing pills, defensive talismans, anything that could keep their people alive through extended combat. Their losses during the expedition had hit them hard, and now they were spending everything they had to prevent worse.
The Xue Clan's approach was different. More calculated. Wang Ben noticed their representatives focusing on offensive items: weapon enhancement oils, attack talismans, pills that boosted combat power at the cost of recovery time. They were preparing to kill, not just survive.
[OBSERVATION: Clan purchasing patterns reveal strategic priorities]
[Wang Clan: Balanced defensive/offensive approach]
[Huo Clan: Survival-focused, high healing item ratio]
[Xue Clan: Aggressive posture, minimal defensive purchases]
[Dao Clan: Reduced presence following elder's death]
[Assessment: Resource allocation will favor higher-cultivation purchasers]
[Note: Body refinement cultivators are being deprioritized across all clans]
Wang Ben watched a young outer disciple turn away from the counter, his face ashen. The boy couldn't have been older than fourteen, his cultivation barely past early-stage body refinement. He'd probably spent his entire merit total on whatever scraps the hall had been willing to sell him: a single low-quality healing pill and a paper talisman that might block one attack if he was lucky.
It wouldn't be enough. They both knew it.
The boy caught Wang Ben's eye for a moment, something like recognition flickering across his features. Then he was gone, swallowed by the crowd, just another face that might not survive the week.
"Wang Ben!"
Zhao Yu pushed through the crowd, his father following in his wake. Zhao Daniu was a broad man with the scarred hands of a lifelong forger, his mid-stage qi condensation cultivation lending him enough presence to part the crowd without effort. Both of them wore the practical clothes of craftsmen rather than the formal robes of main family cultivators.
"We were hoping to find you here," Zhao Yu said, clasping Wang Ben's forearm. "Father's been wanting to meet you properly since I got back."
"The famous Wang Ben." Zhao Daniu's voice was gruff but warm. "My son hasn't stopped talking about you since the wolf attack. Wang Ben this, Wang Ben that. I was starting to think he'd invented you."
"Father," Zhao Yu muttered, embarrassed.
"What? It's true." Zhao Daniu stepped closer, his weathered face creasing into something between gratitude and assessment. "So you're the one who saved my son's life. The one who killed a Jade Snow Wolf at early-stage body refinement."
"We saved each other," Wang Ben said. "The wolf would have killed us both if either of us had been alone."
"That's not what Zhao Yu tells me. That's not what Wang Hao's report says either." Zhao Daniu's eyes were sharp despite his friendly tone. "My son says you moved like a man who'd been fighting for decades. Says you read that beast like it was an open book. Says you stayed calm when everyone else was panicking."
Wang Ben kept his expression neutral. "I got lucky. The wolf was already wounded."
"Luck." Zhao Daniu snorted. "I've been forging weapons for thirty years, boy. I know the difference between luck and skill. What you did wasn't luck." He paused, studying Wang Ben with the same intensity he probably used to evaluate ore quality. "But that's your business. Whatever secrets you're keeping, they're yours to keep."
The bluntness surprised Wang Ben. Most people danced around their suspicions, probing with indirect questions and meaningful silences. Zhao Daniu simply acknowledged the mystery and moved on.
"This isn't the place for proper conversation," Zhao Daniu continued, glancing around the chaotic hall. "Too many ears, too much desperation. Come to our home after the tide passes, assuming we all survive it. I'll make tea, we'll talk properly, and I'll show you the forge."
"I'd like that."
"Good." Zhao Daniu placed a hand on Wang Ben's shoulder, his grip firm and calloused. "And I meant what I said earlier. If you ever need equipment forged, weapons, armor, tools, anything, you come to me. I'll give you the same rates I give family. Better, if the work warrants it. That's not charity. That's a debt being paid."
"That's generous, Elder Zhao. Thank you."
"It's not generous. It's owed." Zhao Daniu released him and nodded toward the exit. "Zhao Yu, say your goodbyes. We have work to do before the tide hits. The city guard ordered three hundred spearheads, and they're not going to forge themselves."
Zhao Yu lingered as his father moved toward the exit. "He likes you. He doesn't like many people."
"He seems... direct."
"That's one word for it." Zhao Yu's expression sobered. "Listen, I don't know what you're planning for the tide, but whatever it is, be careful. The reports from the northern scouts are bad. Worse than anyone's saying publicly. They're talking about Rank 3 beasts in numbers we've never seen before."
"I'll be careful."
"You'd better be. I still owe you a life." Zhao Yu clasped his forearm one more time. "See you on the walls, Wang Ben. Try not to die before I can repay what I owe."
Wang Ben watched them go, then turned his attention back to the crowd. The Treasure Hall's supplies were dwindling visibly, shelves emptying faster than attendants could restock them. By tomorrow, there would be nothing left but the dregs.
He didn't need what they were selling. His father had something better in mind.
The workshop smelled of herbs and heat.
Wang Ben entered to find his father already at work, Spirit Fire dancing beneath a secondary cauldron while the primary vessel sat cooling on its stand. The deep orange flames cast dancing shadows across the walls, turning the workshop into something that felt almost sacred. Shelves lined every wall, packed with ingredients in jars and boxes, their labels written in his father's precise hand.
"Close the door," Wang Tian said without turning. "I don't want interruptions."
Wang Ben obeyed, then moved to the preparation table where ingredients had been laid out in neat rows. He recognized most of them from his studies: spirit grass for base binding, ironwood bark for structural integrity, three different varieties of medicinal flowers whose names he couldn't immediately recall.
"You wanted to see me."
"I need an assistant." Wang Tian finally turned, his eyes carrying the weight of too many sleepless hours. Dark circles had formed beneath them, and his robes were wrinkled from continuous work. "The clan needs more pills than I can produce alone. Your mother would help if she could, but her cultivation isn't suited to the work. That leaves you."
"I don't have alchemist training."
"You don't need it. Not for what I require." Wang Tian gestured to the ingredients. "Preparation, measurement, timing. Following precise instructions without deviation. Can you do that?"
Wang Ben studied the array of materials. The System was already cataloging them, cross-referencing with its database of cultivation knowledge.
[INGREDIENT ANALYSIS: Initiating]
[Spirit Grass (Grade 9): Binding agent, low toxicity, optimal grinding: 180 rotations]
[Ironwood Bark (Grade 8): Structural stabilizer, fire-resistant, requires 4-hour soak minimum]
[Moonpetal Flower (Grade 8): Qi enhancement, mild sedative properties, handle with clean instruments only]
[Crimson Lotus Stamen (Grade 8): Blood purification, heat generation, volatile if over-processed]
[Azure Dewdrop (Grade 9): Cooling agent, essence preservation, must remain sealed until use]
"I can follow instructions," Wang Ben said.
"Good. We'll start with the basic preparations while I finish this batch." Wang Tian nodded toward a mortar and pestle carved from what looked like white jade. "The spirit grass needs to be ground to fine powder. Not too fine; you want visible granules, about the size of sand grains. Grind it too much and it loses potency. Too little and it won't bind properly."
Wang Ben took up the mortar and began working. The spirit grass resisted at first, its dried stalks tougher than they appeared, but he found the rhythm quickly. Pressure, rotation, lift. Pressure, rotation, lift. The System counted rotations automatically, tracking the changing consistency of the powder.
His father worked in silence for a time, adjusting the Spirit Fire's intensity with subtle manipulations of his qi. The flames responded like living things, brightening and dimming according to patterns Wang Ben couldn't quite follow. Deep orange shifting toward gold, then back again, each change accompanied by subtle shifts in the cauldron's bubbling.
The workshop felt different from how Wang Ben remembered it. During his childhood, this space had been a place of disappointment: his father attempting refinements that always failed, the Spirit Fire flickering weakly, the smell of ruined batches hanging in the air. Now it hummed with purpose. With power.
"One hundred fifty rotations," Wang Tian said without looking up. "Check the consistency."
Wang Ben examined the powder. The System confirmed what his eyes told him: the granules were slightly too coarse. He continued grinding, maintaining the same pressure and rhythm, until the texture matched what his father had described.
"Done."
Wang Tian glanced over, nodded once, and returned to his work. "Set it aside. The ironwood bark needs to be cut into strips, thumb-width, no thicker. Use the silver knife, not the steel one. Steel reacts poorly with the bark's essence."
The afternoon continued in this fashion. Wang Tian issued instructions; Wang Ben followed them precisely. The rhythm was meditative, almost peaceful, despite the urgency underlying everything they did.
Midway through preparing the Crimson Lotus stamens, Wang Tian spoke again.
"You've been drawing attention."
"You mentioned that last night."
"I'm mentioning it again because it matters." Wang Tian didn't look up from his cauldron. "Wang Hao submitted his official report this morning. The Patriarch read it personally. Your name appears seven times. Seven. In a report about a ten-day expedition with nearly fifty casualties."
Wang Ben kept working, separating the delicate stamens from their stems with careful precision. "I did what was necessary to survive."
"You did more than that. You made tactical observations that experienced cultivators missed. You landed a killing blow on a beast a full realm above your cultivation. You kept your head while others panicked." Wang Tian's voice was carefully neutral. "Those aren't the actions of a boy who started training two months ago."
The workshop fell silent except for the crackle of Spirit Fire and the soft sounds of preparation work.
"I learn quickly," Wang Ben said.
"No one learns that quickly." Wang Tian finally turned to face him. "I'm not asking you to explain. I know you won't, or can't. But I need you to understand something."
He stepped closer, his expression shifting from alchemist to father.
"The beast tide is coming. When it hits, people will die. Good people, strong people, people who've been cultivating for decades. And when the chaos reaches its peak, no one will be watching you closely." His eyes held Wang Ben's. "Whatever advantages you have, whatever secrets you're keeping, that's when you use them. Survival first. Explanations never, if that's what it takes."
Wang Ben held his father's gaze. "I understand."
"Do you?" Wang Tian studied him for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "Maybe you do. You've understood too much since you woke up from that wolf attack." He returned to his cauldron. "Finish the stamens. We have a long night ahead."
Li Mei brought food at sunset, Chen bundled in a carrying wrap against her chest.
The baby was awake, his eyes tracking the dancing Spirit Fire with unusual focus. At nearly two months old, he shouldn't have been able to follow movement so precisely, but there was no denying the way his gaze locked onto the flames and stayed there.
"He does that every time I bring him near the workshop," Li Mei said, noticing Wang Ben's attention. "Your father thinks it's the spiritual energy in the flames. Says babies with strong spiritual roots are drawn to cultivation phenomena even before they can walk."
"He's growing fast," Wang Ben observed. The baby did look larger than he remembered from even a week ago, his features more defined, his movements more coordinated.
"Too fast, some might say." Li Mei set a tray of food on an empty section of workbench, careful not to disturb any ingredients. "But I'm not complaining. Strong children survive. That's all that matters now."
She lingered in the doorway, watching her husband and eldest son work side by side. Something in her expression softened, a warmth that cut through the worry she'd been carrying for days.
"You look like him," she said quietly. "When you concentrate like that. The same focus. The same intensity."
Wang Tian glanced up, a rare smile crossing his tired features. "He has your stubbornness. Won't stop until the work is done."
"That's not stubbornness. That's sense." Li Mei adjusted Chen in his wrap as the baby made a soft sound. "Eat. Both of you. The city won't fall tonight, and starving yourselves won't help anyone."
They ate quickly, efficiently, the food disappearing with the mechanical precision of people who had more important things on their minds. Wang Ben tasted little of it: simple rice and vegetables, sustenance rather than pleasure. His attention kept drifting to the corner of the workshop where a small wooden box sat waiting.
The wolf core.
He'd carried it back from the patrol where everything had changed. His father had preserved it, studied it, waited for the right moment to discuss its potential. That moment, apparently, was now.
Wang Tian noticed the direction of his gaze. "You've been looking at that box all day."
"You said you had something in mind for it."
"I do." Wang Tian rose, crossing to retrieve the box. He set it on the workbench between them and lifted the lid.
The core sat on a bed of preservation cloth, a sphere of crystallized essence about the size of a chicken egg. Its surface was pale blue, the natural color of a Jade Snow Wolf's spiritual energy, but dark veins ran through it like cracks in ice. The poison. The serpent venom that the wolf had absorbed over months or years of territorial conflict.
"Normally, this would be worthless," Wang Tian said. "Toxic cores can't be used for standard pill refinement. The poison corrupts the process, turns medicine into poison." He picked up the core, turning it in his fingers. "But you're not a standard case."
[ANALYSIS: Jade Snow Wolf Core (Toxic Variant)]
[Grade: 8 (contaminated by venom)]
[Primary essence: Ice/wind-attributed spiritual energy]
[Secondary component: Marsh Serpent venom (integrated)]
[Toxicity level: High for standard refinement]
[Potential application: Body tempering for poison-resistant cultivators]
"What are you proposing?" Wang Ben asked, though he already suspected the answer.
"A Body Tempering Pill." Wang Tian set the core down carefully. "The poison in this core would kill most cultivators. Their bodies would reject it, fight it, and lose. But body refinement cultivators are different. Your entire cultivation is built around forcing your body to adapt, to grow stronger through stress and challenge."
"You want to poison me. Controllably."
"I want to give your body something to fight against. Something that will force it to grow stronger or die trying." Wang Tian's expression was grave. "It's dangerous. I won't pretend otherwise. But you've already survived exposure to this wolf's blood. Your body has some resistance, some adaptation. With proper refinement, with the right supporting herbs, I believe you can absorb this core's power without being destroyed by it."
Wang Ben looked at the core. The dark veins seemed to pulse faintly in the Spirit Fire's light, like blood through dying vessels.
"What would happen if it works?"
"Your body refinement would accelerate. Dramatically." Wang Tian paused, his eyes distant with calculation. "I've been studying this core since you brought it back. The spiritual essence is exceptionally pure. That wolf was old, powerful, likely approaching Rank 3 before the poison began degrading its core. Combined with the right refinement technique, the right supporting ingredients..."
He trailed off, then met Wang Ben's eyes directly.
"If I do this correctly, the pill could carry you all the way to peak late-stage body refinement. Not immediately; the process would take days, perhaps weeks. But the medicinal power would continue working until your body reached its natural limit for this realm."
Peak late-stage body refinement. The absolute ceiling before qi condensation.
"And if it doesn't work?"
"The poison overwhelms your system. Your organs fail. You die in considerable pain." Wang Tian's voice was flat, clinical. "I give it roughly seventy percent odds of success. Maybe higher, given your... unusual constitution."
Seventy percent. Three in ten chance of dying.
[SYSTEM ASSESSMENT: Body Tempering Pill (Toxic Variant)]
[Success probability: 78.3% based on Host's unique physiology]
[Risk factors: Organ stress, neural inflammation, cardiac arrhythmia]
[Mitigating factors: Previous wolf blood exposure, enhanced pain tolerance, accelerated healing baseline]
[Recommendation: Proceed with caution]
[Projected outcome if successful: Body Refinement Stage 6 → Stage 9 over 1-3 weeks]
[Note: This exceeds standard body tempering pill parameters]
[Note: Refinement quality will be critical to outcome]
"When would you do it?" Wang Ben asked.
"Tonight. If you agree." Wang Tian gestured to the workshop around them. "I have everything I need. The refinement will take four to six hours. You'd take the pill before dawn, give your body time to begin absorbing it before the tide hits."
"And during the tide?"
"You'll be in pain. Significant pain, as your body fights to process the medicinal power. But you'll also be growing stronger, even as you fight." Wang Tian's eyes hardened. "It's a gamble. I won't force it on you."
Wang Ben considered the core, the workshop, his father's tired face. The beast tide was coming. People would die. His father had said so himself. Mid-stage body refinement might not be enough to survive what was approaching.
But peak late-stage body refinement might be.
"Do it," he said.
Wang Tian didn't look surprised. "You didn't even ask about the side effects."
"Would knowing change whether I should take it?"
A ghost of a smile crossed his father's face. "No. It wouldn't." He picked up the core again, his expression shifting back to professional focus. "Then let's begin. I'll need your help with the preparation. This won't be an ordinary refinement. I'm going to push for the highest quality I can achieve. Peak Grade 8 if I can manage it. Anything less might not be sufficient for what we're attempting."
The refinement took six hours.
Wang Ben watched his father work with a focus that bordered on reverence. This was not the broken man he'd known for fifteen years, the alchemist who'd lost his fire and barely managed low-quality pills. This was Wang Tian as he'd been meant to be: a Grade 8 alchemist operating at the peak of his abilities, pushing himself toward something extraordinary.
The Spirit Fire blazed brighter than Wang Ben had ever seen it, deep orange shot through with veins of gold that pulsed in rhythm with Wang Tian's heartbeat. His father's hands moved in complex patterns, guiding the flames with qi manipulation so precise that even the System struggled to fully analyze it.
[REFINEMENT OBSERVATION: Stage 1 of 9]
[Technique complexity: Exceeds standard Grade 8 parameters]
[Spirit Fire intensity: 147% of baseline]
[Assessment: Wang Tian is operating beyond his documented skill level]
[Note: Enhanced meridians may be contributing to improved performance]
The wolf core dissolved slowly, its essence merging with the supporting ingredients in patterns that seemed to shift between order and chaos. One moment the mixture in the cauldron appeared stable; the next, dark tendrils of poison would surge toward the surface, threatening to corrupt the entire batch. Each time, Wang Tian's flames would intensify, forcing the toxins back into submission.
"More moonpetal essence," Wang Tian said, his voice strained with concentration. "Three drops, no more."
Wang Ben measured the pearlescent liquid with exacting care, releasing exactly three drops into a prepared channel that fed into the cauldron. The mixture shuddered, then settled into a new equilibrium.
"Good. Now we wait."
The second hour was worse than the first. The poison in the core seemed to sense what was happening, fighting against its own integration with increasing desperation. Twice Wang Tian had to physically restrain the mixture with qi barriers, his face sheening with sweat from the effort.
By the third hour, something shifted.
The chaos in the cauldron began to organize itself. The dark veins of poison stopped fighting and started weaving, threading through the blue essence of the wolf core in patterns that looked almost intentional. Wang Tian's flames gentled, no longer forcing compliance but encouraging transformation.
"It's working," Wang Tian breathed. "The toxins are integrating instead of corrupting. I wasn't sure it was possible."
[REFINEMENT OBSERVATION: Stage 5 of 9]
[Core essence integration: 67% complete]
[Toxin binding: Stable and synergistic]
[Medicinal structure: Exceeding baseline projections]
[Quality assessment: High Grade 8 (approaching peak)]
Wang Ben watched, transfixed, as his father guided the process through its final stages. The mixture in the cauldron condensed, its volume shrinking as spiritual essence concentrated into denser and denser forms. Colors shifted: pale blue darkening toward sapphire, the purple veins of poison taking on an almost luminous quality.
The fourth hour brought the pill formation stage. This was where most refinements succeeded or failed, Wang Tian explained in terse fragments between adjustments. The condensed essence had to be shaped, compressed, sealed into a form that could survive ingestion and release its power gradually. Push too hard and the pill shattered. Too gentle and it never formed at all.
Wang Tian pushed.
His Spirit Fire roared to intensities that made Wang Ben step back despite himself, the heat palpable even from across the workshop. The mixture in the cauldron screamed, there was no other word for it, as it was forced into a shape it resisted with every fiber of its being.
"Come on," Wang Tian growled through gritted teeth. "Come on, you stubborn..."
The resistance broke.
The Spirit Fire dimmed suddenly, its fury spent. And floating at the center of the cauldron, rotating slowly in the residual heat, was a pill unlike anything Wang Ben had ever seen.
It was the size of his thumbnail, perfectly spherical, its surface a deep sapphire blue that seemed to contain its own light. Purple veins traced patterns across it like lightning frozen in ice, and the whole thing pulsed with a slow rhythm that matched Wang Ben's heartbeat.
"Peak Grade 8," Wang Tian said, his voice cracked with exhaustion and something that might have been wonder. "I've never... in all my years of refinement, I've never achieved a peak-quality pill before. Not once."
He retrieved the pill with trembling hands, setting it on a jade dish to cool. Up close, Wang Ben could see the way light played across its surface, the faint pulse of contained power that seemed to beat in time with his own heart.
"The enhanced meridians," Wang Tian continued, almost speaking to himself. "The technique that healed me... it didn't just restore what I'd lost. It made me better. Stronger. I felt it during the refinement. Channels I never knew I had, capacity I never imagined..."
He shook his head, setting aside the mystery for later contemplation.
"Rest for an hour. Let the pill stabilize. Then we'll proceed."
Dawn was still two hours away when Wang Ben swallowed the Body Tempering Pill.
The taste was bitter and cold, like frozen medicine left too long on the tongue. It slid down his throat with a weight that seemed wrong for something so small, settling into his stomach with an almost audible impact.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the heat began.
It started in his core, a spreading warmth that might have been pleasant if it hadn't grown so quickly. Within seconds, the warmth became fire, racing through his body along paths he couldn't see but could definitely feel. His muscles seized. His bones ached. His skin flushed with blood rushing to places blood wasn't meant to rush.
[BODY TEMPERING PILL: Activated]
[Quality: Peak Grade 8]
[Medicinal potency: 340% of standard Grade 8]
[Absorption initiated: 0.3%]
[Physical stress levels: Elevated but manageable]
[Projected absorption timeline: 1-3 weeks to completion]
[Projected final cultivation: Peak Body Refinement (Stage 9)]
Wang Ben gritted his teeth against the pain. It wasn't unbearable. Memories that weren't his own contained suffering far worse, and knowledge he shouldn't possess included accounts of laboratory accidents that made this feel like a mild inconvenience. But it was persistent, waves of heat and pressure rolling through him in cycles that refused to end.
His muscles burned. Literally burned, the medicinal power forcing them to break down and rebuild in accelerated cycles. He could feel the fibers tearing, restructuring, becoming denser and more powerful with each passing moment. The pain was the price of that growth.
"The first hour is the worst," Wang Tian said from somewhere nearby. His voice seemed distant, separated from Wang Ben by layers of physical sensation. "Your body is fighting the foreign essence. Once it starts adapting instead of resisting, the pain will diminish."
Wang Ben managed a nod. Speaking seemed like too much effort.
The System continued tracking the process, its clinical observations a strange comfort amid the physical chaos.
[Absorption: 1.2%]
[Muscle fiber density: Increasing (+4% from baseline)]
[Bone calcium concentration: Increasing (+2% from baseline)]
[Cardiovascular efficiency: Improving]
[Toxin integration: Proceeding normally]
[No signs of organ rejection]
Time became difficult to track. The pain ebbed and flowed, sometimes spiking so sharply that Wang Ben's vision went white, sometimes receding enough that he could almost think clearly. His father remained nearby, monitoring his vital signs with the attention of a man who understood exactly how close to disaster they were walking.
"Your heart rate is stable," Wang Tian reported during a relatively calm period. "Breathing is strained but not dangerous. The pill is working exactly as it should."
Wang Ben focused on the System readouts, using the clinical data to ground himself against the physical storm.
[Absorption: 4.7%]
[Current cultivation status: Body Refinement Stage 6 (enhanced)]
[Physical capabilities: +11% from baseline]
[Estimated capabilities at full absorption: +180-220% from baseline]
[Pain levels: Decreasing as adaptation progresses]
Eventually, gradually, the worst of it passed.
Wang Ben opened eyes he didn't remember closing. The workshop had lightened with pre-dawn gray, the Spirit Fire now banked to embers. His body ached in ways he'd never experienced, a deep soreness that reached into muscles he hadn't known existed.
But beneath the soreness, something else.
Strength. Growing strength, like a tide rising within him.
He flexed his hands experimentally. The response was faster than he expected, the muscles tighter, more controlled. He could feel the difference in how his body moved, not dramatically transformed, not yet, but noticeably improved.
[BODY TEMPERING PILL: Active]
[Current absorption: 8.4%]
[Estimated time to full absorption: 1-3 weeks]
[Current status: Body Refinement Stage 6 (significantly enhanced)]
[Physical capabilities: +18% above baseline, increasing steadily]
[Projected status at full absorption: Peak Body Refinement Stage 9]
[Note: Absorption rate accelerates during physical exertion]
"How do you feel?" Wang Tian asked.
Wang Ben rose to his feet, testing his balance. Everything felt more stable, more grounded, as if he'd gained ten pounds of muscle without any of the bulk. "Like I'm being rebuilt from the inside out."
"That's exactly what's happening." Wang Tian handed him a cup of water. "The pain will come and go over the next several days as the pill continues working. Each wave will be less intense than the last. And with every wave that passes, you'll be stronger."
Wang Ben drank deeply, the cool water a relief against his overheated throat. "You said peak late-stage body refinement."
"If the pill performs as it should, and given its quality, I see no reason it won't, you'll reach the absolute limit of body refinement within a week." Wang Tian's expression was complicated, pride and concern and something else mixing together. "That's three full stages of advancement. Normally that would take months. Years, for some cultivators."
"The beast tide will hit before then."
"Yes. You'll be fighting while the pill is still working, still changing you." Wang Tian paused. "The pain during combat will be... significant. But so will your strength. You'll be stronger than any mid-stage body refinement cultivator has any right to be, and you'll keep getting stronger as the battle continues."
Wang Ben processed this information. Fighting through transformation. Growing stronger even as he bled and struggled. It was a strange kind of advantage, painful and dangerous, but undeniable.
"You handled that well," Wang Tian said quietly. "Better than I expected. Better than most cultivators would have."
"I've experienced worse."
The words slipped out before Wang Ben could stop them. Wang Tian's eyes sharpened, questions forming that he chose not to voice.
"Get some rest," he said instead. "Real rest, in a bed, not meditating. The pill works faster when the body is relaxed." He moved toward the workshop door, exhaustion evident in every step. "The clan council meets at noon to finalize defense assignments. You'll be expected to attend."
"The tide?"
"Tomorrow, most likely. Maybe the day after." Wang Tian paused at the threshold. "The reports from the northern scouts are worse than anyone's saying publicly. Rank 3 beasts in numbers we've never seen. Something drove them out of the deep forest, and now they're coming here."
He left without elaborating.
Wang Ben sat alone in the workshop, feeling the pill's power pulse through him with every heartbeat. The pain was still there, a constant pressure beneath his skin, but it was manageable now. Almost comfortable, in a strange way. The price of growing stronger.
His body was changing. Strengthening. Preparing for what was to come.
[SYSTEM OBSERVATION: Host physical parameters improving steadily]
[Combat effectiveness projection: Significant increase by beast tide arrival]
[Estimated capabilities at tide contact: +40-50% from baseline]
[Estimated capabilities at tide conclusion (if absorption continues): +100-120% from baseline]
[Note: Absorption rate accelerates during physical exertion]
[Note: Peak body refinement achievable within 1-3 weeks at current rate]
Wang Ben closed his eyes, letting exhaustion claim him. Tomorrow, or the day after, the beasts would come. The walls would be tested. People would die.
But he would be ready.
Whatever strength he could earn before then, he would earn it. And this pill, his father's masterwork, the best refinement Wang Tian had ever achieved, would carry him further than anyone expected.
Peak late-stage body refinement.
The thought settled into him alongside the pill's power, a promise of strength to come.
END OF CHAPTER 20