The mountain road disappeared into clouds long before they reached the sanctuary.
Wang Ben walked beside his father through a world of white and gray, following a path that existed more in memory than in visible markers. The peaks around them were invisible, swallowed by the same winter fog that had clung to these heights for centuries. Only the occasional wind-carved stone confirmed they were still on the correct route.
Wang Tian carried the array case on his back, its weight negligible to a foundation establishment cultivator but its value incalculable. The formation components inside had cost months of work and more resources than the Wang clan could comfortably spare. And now they were climbing toward a place where those components might make the difference between life and death for a woman who had lived longer than most bloodlines.
"The Shen family chose this location well," Wang Tian observed, his breath misting in the cold air. "Remote enough that a failed breakthrough won't disturb anyone important. High enough that the natural qi density supports advanced cultivation."
"And hidden enough that enemies can't easily interfere." Wang Ben scanned the fog around them, his spiritual senses straining against their limitations. At qi condensation, he could detect cultivation signatures within a few hundred meters. Beyond that, the world dissolved into uncertain impressions and vague pressure.
[ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS: Mountain sanctuary approach]
[Altitude: Approximately 3,400 meters above sea level]
[Ambient qi density: 2.7x baseline (optimal for breakthrough attempts)]
[Natural formation patterns detected: Ancient defensive arrays, partially active]
[Note: Shen family has maintained this location for an estimated 800+ years]
The ancient arrays explained why the path felt strange beneath Wang Ben's feet. He was walking through layers of protection that had been refined over centuries, each generation of Shen cultivators adding their own modifications. The formations were passive now, dormant, but he could feel their potential waiting in the stone and soil.
"Someone's watching," Wang Tian said quietly.
Wang Ben had felt it too. A presence at the edge of perception, too controlled to identify but too powerful to ignore. It had been following them since they entered the mountain's true domain, maintaining perfect distance, neither approaching nor retreating.
"Shen Wuyan," Wang Ben said. "Probably."
"You sound uncertain."
"His cultivation is too high for me to sense directly. I'm reading the absence, not the presence." Wang Ben paused on a switchback, studying the fog. "Something that powerful is definitely watching. Whether it's him or something else..."
[THREAT ASSESSMENT: Observing presence]
[Classification: Unknown (cultivation too high for direct analysis)]
[Behavioral pattern: Escort monitoring, non-aggressive]
[Probability assessment: 89% Shen Wuyan, 11% other Shen family security]
The fog parted briefly, revealing a glimpse of the sanctuary above. Stone walls emerged from the mountain itself, as if the peak had simply decided to become architecture. Tile roofs curved in the traditional style, though the materials were far older than any building Wang Ben had seen in Redstone City. Wind chimes hung at intervals, their notes carrying frequencies that resonated with the defensive formations.
"Beautiful," Wang Tian murmured. "And dangerous."
"Everything the Shen siblings touch seems to be both."
They climbed the final approach in silence, the path widening into a proper walkway as they neared the sanctuary's entrance. The watching presence had withdrawn, satisfied with whatever assessment it had made. Guards were unnecessary when the mountain itself served as protection.
The gates stood open.
Shen Ruoxi waited in the main courtyard, her mortal shedding cultivation a steady pressure against Wang Ben's senses.
She looked different from the last time he had seen her. More focused. More present. The playful predator who had toyed with him during their early meetings had been set aside, replaced by something harder and more determined. She wore simple robes, dark fabric without ornamentation, the kind of clothing that wouldn't interfere with the energy flows of a breakthrough attempt.
"You made good time," she said by way of greeting. "The array?"
"Intact." Wang Ben gestured to the case on his father's back. "Ready for installation."
"Then we begin." Ruoxi turned toward the inner sanctuary, her robes trailing behind her like dark water. "Follow me. The meditation chamber is prepared."
They walked through corridors that had seen centuries of cultivation practice. Wang Ben studied the formation work embedded in the walls, recognizing protective patterns that had weathered centuries of use. The Shen family had been powerful for a very long time, and this sanctuary held the accumulated knowledge of that power.
[STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS: Shen family sanctuary interior]
[Formation integration: Multiple layers, oldest estimated at 600+ years]
[Primary functions: Spiritual isolation, qi channeling, breakthrough support]
[Note: Several formation patterns show modification marks consistent with Shen Ruoxi's cultivation signature]
She had prepared this place herself, over decades. The realization settled into Wang Ben's awareness with quiet weight. This wasn't just a family sanctuary. This was Ruoxi's chosen place to attempt her transformation, and she had spent years ensuring every detail supported that attempt.
The meditation chamber opened before them, and Wang Ben understood immediately why she had selected this specific room.
Stone walls rose in a perfect circle, formation-reinforced against spiritual pressure. The ceiling was domed, its surface carved with patterns that guided qi flow toward the center. A meditation platform sat at the heart of the space, surrounded by channels that would hold his array. East-facing windows caught the first light of morning, though fog currently obscured any view.
"The array goes here." Ruoxi indicated the channels around the platform. "Your father can supervise the installation. I assume you'll want to inspect the room's existing formations first."
"If you don't mind."
"I insist." A ghost of her usual smile crossed her features. "After all, if my existing defenses conflict with your array, we should discover that before I'm in the middle of breakthrough rather than after."
Wang Ben spent the morning examining every formation pattern in the chamber. His father worked on the physical installation, placing array components in the channels with careful precision, while Wang Ben traced energy flows and identified potential conflicts.
[FORMATION COMPATIBILITY CHECK: In progress]
[Sanctuary baseline formations: No conflicts detected]
[Qi channeling patterns: Compatible with Youming Sanctuary Array design]
[Isolation layers: Complementary function confirmed]
[Warning: Power differential requires careful calibration. Sanctuary formations operate at mortal shedding scale. Array designed for qi condensation power source.]
The power gap was expected. Wang Ben's array drew power from his own cultivation, which meant it operated far below the sanctuary's baseline capacity. But the design accounted for this, using efficiency and precision to compensate for raw power limitations.
"The outer isolation layer integrates cleanly," Wang Ben reported. "No conflicts with the sanctuary's existing defenses. The inner sanctum patterns will actually amplify the array's protection during peak stress."
"You designed for that." Ruoxi's voice carried a note of curiosity. "You've never seen this sanctuary before, but your array fits like it was built for this room specifically."
"I designed for the general principles of breakthrough chambers. This room follows those principles well."
[NOTE: Subject's observation accurate. Design specifications were partially based on Chen Database records of historical breakthrough chambers, which appear to follow consistent architectural patterns.]
Ruoxi studied him for a long moment, her ancient eyes weighing his words against whatever truth she suspected lay beneath them. Then she nodded, apparently satisfied.
"Complete the installation. We begin at dawn tomorrow."
The evening meal was simple by Shen family standards, which meant it would have bankrupted a lesser clan.
Wang Ben sat across from his father in a dining chamber that overlooked the fog-shrouded peaks. Ruoxi had withdrawn to her own preparations, leaving them alone with food that practically glowed with spiritual energy. Each dish had been prepared with ingredients that supported cultivation stability, the kind of meal that cost more than most cultivators earned in a year.
"She's afraid," Wang Tian said quietly, his chopsticks moving with the practiced ease of a man who had attended formal meals throughout his life. "Despite everything, despite her power, she's afraid."
"She's facing something that kills two out of three cultivators who attempt it."
"Even so." Wang Tian set down his chopsticks, his expression thoughtful. "I've known many powerful cultivators, Ben'er. Fear at her level usually manifests as arrogance, as denial. The truly powerful convince themselves they'll succeed because they've succeeded at everything else." He paused. "She hasn't done that. She knows exactly what she's facing."
"Is that better or worse?"
"I don't know." His father met his eyes. "But it makes me respect her more."
Wang Ben considered this while he ate. Ruoxi was a predator, dangerous and alien in ways that made normal social interaction feel like performance. But she was also someone who had chosen to face her limitations rather than pretend they didn't exist. There was something admirable in that, something that resonated with his own refusal to let fear dictate his decisions.
[PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT: Shen Ruoxi pre-breakthrough state]
[Observed indicators: Focused determination, acknowledged fear, realistic expectations]
[Historical correlation: Cultivators with this psychological profile show 7% higher breakthrough survival rates]
[Note: Correlation does not indicate causation. Sample size limited.]
Seven percent. Such a small number, statistically. But when the baseline was one in three, seven percent might mean the difference between survival and obliteration.
"Your array is ready?" Wang Tian asked.
"Fully installed. I'll run the final calibration checks tonight, but the integration is clean."
"And you? Are you ready?"
The question caught Wang Ben off guard. He had been so focused on the technical aspects, on formation work and threat assessment, that he hadn't considered his own state.
"I don't know," he admitted. "This is the first time I've built something that someone's life depends on. Not just their success or failure. Their actual survival."
"Welcome to the burden of competence." Wang Tian's smile was tired but genuine. "The more capable you become, the more others will rely on that capability. The weight of their expectations, their lives... it never gets lighter. You just get stronger at carrying it."
"That's not particularly reassuring."
"It wasn't meant to be." His father rose, moving toward the door. "Get some rest, Ben'er. Tomorrow you'll need every bit of focus you can muster."
Wang Ben sat alone in the dining chamber for a long time, watching the fog swirl beyond the windows. Somewhere in this sanctuary, Ruoxi was preparing for the most dangerous moment of her very long life. Somewhere in the shadows, Wuyan was watching, waiting to see if his sister would survive and if Wang Ben's array would prove worthy of the investment Phantom Gate had made.
And somewhere beyond the boundaries of normal reality, things stirred in the Youming.
[REMINDER: Breakthrough begins at dawn]
[Array status: Ready]
[Threat monitoring: Active]
[Unknown variables: Multiple]
Wang Ben rose and went to check his array one final time.
Dawn came like a wound in the fog.
The eastern windows caught the first light, filling the meditation chamber with pale gold that seemed almost sacred after the gray of night. Wang Ben stood at the edge of the room, his array humming with contained potential, watching Ruoxi take her position on the meditation platform.
She had changed into simpler robes, pure white fabric that would show any disruption in her cultivation. Her hair was unbound, falling around her shoulders in a dark wave. Her eyes were closed, her breathing steady, her mortal shedding cultivation settling into the absolute stillness that preceded major breakthroughs.
Wang Tian stood beside his son, his foundation establishment cultivation ready to provide stabilizing energy if needed. His role was support, not intervention. If the breakthrough succeeded, his presence would be irrelevant. If it failed catastrophically, his presence would be insufficient.
And then there was Wuyan.
The ancient cultivator had appeared at some point during the night, materializing from shadow without announcement. He stood on the opposite side of the chamber, his nascent soul cultivation completely hidden, his attention divided between his sister and Wang Ben in ways that made the younger cultivator's skin prickle.
[ALERT: Subject Shen Wuyan monitoring this unit's behavior with unusual intensity]
[Pattern analysis: Dual attention suggests assessment protocols are active]
[Recommendation: Focus on array management. Do not react to observation.]
Wang Ben forced himself to ignore the weight of Wuyan's attention. The ancient cultivator would watch regardless of Wang Ben's awareness. What mattered now was the array, the breakthrough, and the woman who had entrusted her survival to formation work built by a seventeen-year-old.
"I'm ready," Ruoxi said. Her voice was calm, steady, completely at peace with whatever was about to happen. "Activate the array."
Wang Ben reached for his cultivation, channeling qi into the formation circuits with practiced precision. The Youming Sanctuary Array came alive around the meditation platform, layers of protection unfolding like petals of some geometric flower. Golden light traced the formation lines, creating a dome of intertwined energies that would shield Ruoxi from external threats.
[ARRAY ACTIVATION: Successful]
[Primary isolation layer: Active]
[Hundun countermeasures: Online]
[Taotie countermeasures: Online]
[Wangliang countermeasures: Online]
[Overall protection status: Optimal]
[Warning: Unknown entity classifications remain uncovered]
The warning was familiar by now, a constant reminder of what Wang Ben couldn't protect against. He acknowledged it and focused on what he could control.
"Array stable," he reported. "Protection active. You can begin."
Ruoxi didn't respond. Her awareness had already begun to turn inward, leaving behind the physical world in favor of whatever space cultivators accessed during breakthrough attempts. Her cultivation signature flickered, changed, became something less solid and more fluid.
Wang Ben watched through the array's feedback mechanisms as her consciousness began to separate from her body. The process was gradual, careful, the product of decades of preparation. Ruoxi's spiritual awareness rose from her physical form like mist from warm water, expanding outward into a space that shouldn't exist.
The nascent soul realm.
[DETECTING: Breakthrough initiation sequence]
[Spiritual projection status: Stable]
[Physical body status: Maintained autonomic functions only]
[Subject's consciousness has entered transitional state between mortal shedding and nascent soul]
[Note: This is the most vulnerable phase. External threats can attack the projected consciousness while the body cannot defend itself.]
Ruoxi's body sat perfectly still on the meditation platform, breathing slowly, heart beating in a rhythm too slow for normal consciousness. But her true self, the spiritual essence that eight hundred years of cultivation had refined, was somewhere else entirely.
Somewhere the array couldn't fully see.
Wang Ben maintained his focus, feeding power into the protection formations, monitoring every fluctuation in the array's response. The golden light held steady around Ruoxi's physical form, barriers against threats that might try to reach her through conventional means.
But the unconventional threats, the things that hunted in the space between flesh and transcendence...
[ALERT: Anomalous energy signature detected at array boundary]
[Classification: Unknown]
[Behavior: Probing, tentative contact with outer isolation layer]
[Assessment: Something has noticed the breakthrough attempt]
Wang Ben's blood ran cold.
Something was coming.
END OF CHAPTER 80