The day after his breakthrough passed quietly.
Wang Ben woke feeling different. Not dramatically so, nothing that would draw notice from casual observation. But his body moved with a new precision, responded with a sharpness that hadn't been there before. Late-stage body refinement. The beginning of the peak levels.
He spent the morning training, testing the limits of his enhanced physique. Each form flowed more smoothly. Each strike landed with more force. The pill was still working its way through his system, and the breakthrough had accelerated its absorption. He could feel the continued pressure of change, subtler now but still present.
[STATUS UPDATE]
[Body Tempering Pill absorption: 32.4%]
[Physical enhancement: +49% baseline]
[Note: Post-breakthrough absorption rate remains elevated]
[Projected advancement to Stage 8: 8-12 days]
His father noticed the change immediately.
"You broke through." Wang Tian studied him over breakfast, eyes assessing. "Last night?"
"Yesterday evening. It was quiet."
"The quiet ones often are." His father nodded slowly. "Late-stage body refinement. You're advancing faster than I expected."
Wang Ben said nothing. He couldn't explain the Body Tempering Pill's true effects, the System's optimization of its absorption. His father accepted that he had advantages, sources of strength that defied easy explanation. That would have to be enough.
Li Mei looked up from feeding Wang Chen, the baby making soft sounds as he grasped at his mother's fingers. "Two breakthroughs in as many months. People will talk."
"Let them." Wang Tian's voice was firm. "Our son is talented. There's no shame in that."
"I didn't say there was shame. I said there would be talk." Li Mei's expression was thoughtful. "The Xue Clan is already spreading rumors about how Ben killed that wolf. If he keeps advancing at this pace..."
She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to.
Wang Ben understood. In cultivation society, unusual talent drew attention. Sometimes that attention was beneficial. More often, it was dangerous. People with power didn't like seeing others acquire it too quickly.
"I'll be careful," he said.
His mother met his eyes, and something passed between them. An acknowledgment that carefulness might not be enough.
The afternoon brought patrol duties.
Wang Ben walked the eastern sectors with his team, cataloging the ongoing recovery from the beast tide. Six days after the attack, Redstone City was finding its rhythm. The worst of the damage had been cleared. The scattered beasts had been hunted or driven away. Life was returning to something like normal.
But the scars remained. Wang Ben saw them in the faces of the merchants who had lost stock to stampeding creatures. In the empty stalls where vendors had died on the walls. In the children who flinched at sudden sounds.
The city had survived. That didn't mean it was unchanged.
"Quiet today," Wang Hao observed. The team leader walked beside him, eyes constantly scanning their surroundings. "Too quiet, maybe."
"The Xue Clan is regrouping." Wang Ben kept his voice low. "Yesterday's confrontation was just testing our response. They'll try something else soon."
Wang Hao glanced at him. "You sound certain."
"I've been watching the patterns. Poisoned ingredients first, then public provocation. Each incident is designed to be deniable, to chip away at our reputation without giving us grounds for formal complaint." Wang Ben paused. "The next move will target something we can't ignore. Something that forces us to respond."
"You think like a strategist, not a patrol guard."
"Someone has to."
Wang Hao was quiet for a moment. Then: "The Grand Elder has noticed. He's been asking about you. About how you see things that others miss."
Wang Ben filed that information away. Grand Elder Wang Feng had been watching since the forest, since the lotus purchase. His interest was a weapon that cut both ways.
"What does he want?"
"I don't know yet. But I'd suggest being ready for a conversation."
They finished the patrol without incident. Wang Ben returned to the compound as the sun began its descent, his mind turning over the implications of Wang Hao's warning.
Dinner was a quiet affair.
The Wang family gathered in their quarters as evening shadows lengthened, a simple meal spread on the low table between them. Wang Tian sat at the head, his restored cultivation a subtle weight in the room. Li Mei sat across from him, Wang Chen cradled in her lap. The baby was drowsy, full and content, making occasional sounds as he drifted toward sleep.
Wang Ben sat between his parents, eating in comfortable silence. The day had been long but productive. His body was adapting well to its new strength. The patrol had revealed no immediate threats. For a moment, he allowed himself to believe that the evening might pass peacefully.
He should have known better.
One moment, there were three people in the room.
The next, there were four.
[WARNING: ANOMALOUS SPIRITUAL SIGNATURE DETECTED]
[CLASSIFICATION: EXTREME]
[Subject: Shen Ruoxi - Mortal Shedding Stage 9 (Peak)]
[Threat Assessment: ABSOLUTE]
[Note: Subject bypassed all detection until physical manifestation]
She sat at the table as if she had always been there. Between one heartbeat and the next, she had simply appeared, folding herself into the empty space beside Wang Ben with the casual grace of someone settling into their favorite chair.
Shen Ruoxi smiled. "Don't mind me. I just wanted to see the famous alchemist up close."
The room froze.
Li Mei's hands tightened on Wang Chen, maternal instinct warring with the paralysis of fear. The baby, sensing his mother's tension, began to fuss.
Wang Tian's face had gone pale. As a late-stage qi condensation cultivator, he could sense what Wang Ben could not. The depth of power contained in the woman sitting at their table. The casual enormity of her cultivation, barely suppressed, radiating outward like heat from a furnace.
Wang Tian's voice was barely a whisper. "This is her. The one you told me about."
It wasn't a question. Wang Ben could see the recognition in his father's eyes, the terrible understanding. His son had warned him about a mortal shedding cultivator who had taken an interest in their family. But hearing about such power and feeling it were entirely different things.
Shen Ruoxi tilted her head, examining Wang Tian with open curiosity. Her eyes traced patterns that Wang Ben couldn't see, assessing things that existed beyond his perception.
"Interesting," she murmured. "Very interesting. Your meridian patterns are unusual. Someone did quality work on those."
Wang Tian's jaw tightened. His meridians. His healing. She had seen through to the evidence of the Coldvein Lotus treatment in a single glance.
Li Mei's gaze darted between her husband and son. "Ben'er? What's happening? Who is this?"
Wang Ben forced himself to breathe. To think. Panic would help nothing. Shen Ruoxi could kill everyone in this room before they could blink. If she wanted them dead, they would already be dead.
"This is... a friend." The word felt strange in his mouth. "Of sorts."
"Friend!" Shen Ruoxi laughed, the sound bright and genuine and utterly terrifying in context. "I like that. We're friends now, Wang Ben." She leaned back slightly, her posture relaxed, as if she were exactly where she belonged. "Isn't that nice?"
[OBSERVATION: Subject displaying high amusement indicators]
[Assessment: Subject finds situation entertaining rather than threatening]
[Note: Entertainment value appears to be primary motivation for intrusion]
[Recommendation: Maintain composure. Avoid provoking additional interest.]
Li Mei was the first to move.
With the deliberate calm of a woman who had survived decades of cultivation politics, she shifted Wang Chen to one arm and reached for the teapot at the center of the table.
"Would you like some tea, Miss...?"
Shen Ruoxi turned her attention to Li Mei, and something flickered in her expression. Surprise, perhaps. Or interest. Most people cowered when she appeared. Most people stammered and trembled and made themselves small.
Li Mei was pouring tea as if entertaining an unexpected dinner guest were the most natural thing in the world.
"Shen," Ruoxi said. "And yes. I would love some tea. Thank you."
She accepted the cup with both hands, a gesture of respect that seemed almost reflexive. Old manners, ingrained over centuries. For a moment, she looked less like an ancient monster and more like a young woman accepting hospitality from her elders.
The moment passed. But it had happened.
"Your wife has excellent composure," Shen Ruoxi observed, addressing Wang Tian. "Most people in her position would be screaming by now."
"My wife has survived things that would break lesser people." Wang Tian's voice was steadier now, drawing strength from Li Mei's example. "We've learned not to waste energy on panic."
"Practical." Ruoxi sipped her tea, her expression thoughtful. "I can see where your son gets it from."
Wang Chen chose that moment to start crying. The baby's wails cut through the tension, demanding attention with the oblivious urgency of the very young. Li Mei began to rock him gently, murmuring soothing sounds.
Shen Ruoxi watched with an expression that Wang Ben couldn't quite read.
"He's young," she said quietly. "Two months?"
"Nearly." Li Mei's voice was careful.
"I had a brother once. Long ago." Ruoxi's eyes were distant, seeing something that existed only in memory. "He cried like that. Loud and fierce, demanding the world's attention."
The room was very still. Wang Ben felt as if he were witnessing something private, a glimpse behind the mask of ancient power to something more human beneath.
Then Ruoxi blinked, and the moment shattered.
But that was centuries ago. Before I became something that outlives everyone it loves.
Wang Tian cleared his throat. "Miss Shen. Forgive my directness, but why are you here?"
"Curiosity." She turned back to him, her smile returning. "I heard there was a Grade 8 alchemist in the Wang Clan who had recovered from a crippling injury after nine years. I wanted to see for myself."
"And what do you see?"
"Someone who was healed by methods I don't recognize." Her eyes sharpened, the casual facade slipping to reveal the predator beneath. "Your meridians weren't just repaired, Master Wang. They were rebuilt. Enhanced beyond their original capacity. Someone with significant knowledge did that work."
She glanced at Wang Ben, and her smile widened.
"Someone interesting."
Wang Ben met her gaze steadily. There was no point in denial. She had already seen too much.
"My father was injured by sabotage," he said. "When we discovered the truth, we found a way to help him."
"A way." Ruoxi repeated the word, tasting it. "Such a simple term for such complex work. The technique used on your father... it's not from any tradition I recognize. And I recognize most of them."
"There are many things in the world that even experienced cultivators haven't encountered."
"True." She set down her tea cup with a soft click. "But this particular thing has the feel of knowledge from somewhere very far away. Somewhere that isn't quite here."
The words hung in the air between them. Wang Ben felt the weight of them, the implication that she was seeing closer to the truth than anyone should.
[ALERT: Subject displaying analytical focus on host's knowledge sources]
[Assessment: Subject may be developing theories about anomalous information]
[Note: Subject's experience level (800+ years) provides extensive pattern recognition]
[Recommendation: Deflect without obvious deception]
"Miss Shen." Wang Ben chose his words carefully. "If you're asking whether I have secrets, the answer is yes. Everyone has secrets. If you're asking whether I'll share them with you... the answer is no."
Shen Ruoxi stared at him for a long moment. Then she laughed, genuine delight in the sound.
"You have spine, little cultivator. That's refreshing." She rose from her seat with fluid grace. "Most people at your level would be falling over themselves to answer my questions. Fear does that. Makes people eager to please."
"I'm afraid of you," Wang Ben admitted. "But fear doesn't change what I'm willing to share."
"No. It doesn't." She studied him with something that might have been approval. "That's what makes you interesting, Wang Ben. You feel the fear, but you don't let it control you."
She moved toward the door, then paused, looking back over her shoulder.
"I'll visit again. Your family is... entertaining." Her eyes found Li Mei, who was still rocking the now-quiet Wang Chen. "And your mother's tea is excellent."
Between one heartbeat and the next, she was gone.
The room remained frozen for several seconds. Then Wang Tian let out a breath he had been holding, and the tension shattered.
"Ben'er." Li Mei's voice was strained. "You need to explain. Now."
Wang Ben told his mother what he had already shared with his father.
He explained Shen Ruoxi's connection to the tea house owner. Her cultivation level. Her apparent interest in him as entertainment. He had told Wang Tian all of this days ago, but Li Mei was hearing it for the first time, her expression growing more troubled with each revelation.
"You knew about this?" she asked her husband. "You knew there was a mortal shedding cultivator watching our son, and you didn't tell me?"
"I only learned a few days ago." Wang Tian's face was grey. "And Ben asked me to keep it quiet while we figured out what to do. But hearing about such power... it's nothing compared to feeling it. That kind of strength is beyond anything we can oppose. Beyond anything the City Lord can oppose."
"I know."
"And she's decided you're interesting." Li Mei's voice was flat. Wang Chen had finally fallen asleep in her arms, oblivious to the crisis around him. "What does that mean for us?"
"I still don't know." Wang Ben felt the weight of the admission. "She says she's watching for entertainment. That might be true. Or it might be part of a larger game I can't see."
"Can we do anything?"
"Hide? No. She found us here, in our own quarters, without triggering a single formation. We can't hide from someone like her." Wang Ben paused. "But I don't think she means us harm. Not directly. If she wanted us dead, we would already be dead."
"Small comfort." Wang Tian's jaw was tight. "Having a mortal shedding cultivator drop by for tea is not something I ever expected to survive."
"You did more than survive. You treated her like a guest." Wang Ben looked at his mother. "That surprised her. I could see it."
Li Mei's expression was complicated. "She mentioned a brother. Someone she lost, centuries ago. For a moment, she almost seemed..."
"Human." Wang Ben nodded. "She's not a monster. Not entirely. She's just... very old, and very powerful, and very bored. We're entertainment to her because we're something she hasn't seen before."
"That's not reassuring."
"It's not meant to be. It's meant to be accurate."
Wang Tian rose, pacing the length of the room. His restored cultivation hummed beneath his skin, power that had been returned to him through methods Shen Ruoxi had recognized as unusual.
"She knows about the healing," he said. "She saw the evidence in my meridians."
"She knows it was unusual. She doesn't know how it was done, or where the knowledge came from."
"Yet."
"Yet," Wang Ben agreed.
They sat in silence, processing the implications. A peak late-stage mortal shedding cultivator had invaded their home, examined their secrets, and departed with casual promises to return. There was nothing they could do to stop her. Nothing they could do to protect themselves from her interest.
The only path forward was the one they were already walking. Get stronger. Build alliances. Hope that when the time came, they would have enough power to matter.
Li Mei broke the silence first.
"We should eat," she said. "The food is getting cold."
It was such a mundane observation that Wang Ben almost laughed. His mother, in her pragmatic way, was right. They couldn't change what had happened. They couldn't control what would happen next. But they could finish their dinner.
They could pretend, for a little while, that their lives weren't being watched by ancient eyes.
Wang Ben picked up his chopsticks and began to eat.
That night, after his parents had retired and Wang Chen had been settled in his crib, Wang Ben sat alone in the courtyard where Shen Ruoxi had first appeared to him.
The tea cup from that first visit was long gone. But the memory remained. The casual demonstration of power. The lazy interest of a predator examining curious prey.
Now she had met his family. Now she knew about his father's healing, about the unusual knowledge that had made it possible. She was circling closer, piece by piece, to truths he couldn't afford to reveal.
[OBSERVATION: Host displaying elevated cortisol levels]
[Assessment: Stress response appropriate for threat environment]
[Note: Subject Shen Ruoxi represents uncontrollable variable]
[Recommendation: Focus on controllable factors. Strength remains the fundamental variable.]
Strength remains the fundamental variable.
The System was right. It usually was. Wang Ben couldn't control Shen Ruoxi's interest. He couldn't predict her actions or divine her true motivations. But he could control his own advancement. His own preparation for whatever came next.
He closed his eyes and turned his attention inward, to the power settling into his enhanced body. Late-stage body refinement. Stronger than he had been yesterday. Stronger than he would be tomorrow.
One step at a time.
One stage at a time.
Until walking away was a choice instead of a necessity.
The next morning brought news that drove thoughts of Shen Ruoxi temporarily from his mind.
Zhao Yu arrived at the compound gates before dawn, his expression urgent.
"Ben. You need to hear this."
They walked together to a quiet corner of the training grounds, away from curious ears. Zhao Yu's face was pale, his usual energy replaced by something darker.
"My father was reviewing the forge commissions last night. Trying to track which families are still buying from us and which have been pressured to stop." He paused. "He found something strange."
"Strange how?"
"The Xue Clan's expenditures. They've been spending far beyond their legitimate income. Mercenary contracts, bribes to city officials, materials for their pressure campaign against your family. The numbers don't add up."
Wang Ben felt something cold settle in his chest. "How much beyond?"
"Three times their annual revenue. Maybe more." Zhao Yu met his eyes. "Someone is funding them, Ben. Someone who wants your family destroyed badly enough to invest a fortune in making it happen."
[CROSS-REFERENCE: XUE CLAN EXPENDITURE ANALYSIS]
[Data source: Forge commission records (Zhao family)]
[Estimated cost of pressure campaign: 2,400+ mid-grade spirit stones]
[Xue Clan reported annual revenue: 800 mid-grade spirit stones]
[Discrepancy: 300% overspend]
[Assessment: External funding source probable]
[Implication: Unknown party has significant interest in Wang Clan destruction]
Wang Ben stood very still, processing the implications.
The Xue Clan wasn't acting alone. They had backing. Resources that exceeded their own capacity by a factor of three. Someone, somewhere, was investing heavily in the Wang Clan's downfall.
"Who would do that?" Zhao Yu asked. "Who would spend that much to destroy one declining clan in a frontier city?"
Wang Ben didn't have an answer. But he intended to find one.
END OF CHAPTER 27