Two days passed without incident, but the threat Shen Wuyan had warned about still lingered at the edges of Wang Ben's awareness. The negotiations continued their slow grind toward resolution, and Delegate Liu Changyun's hostile attention remained a constant pressure whenever Wang Ben attended the sessions. But assassination attempts required opportunity, and the Wang Clan had taken care to limit those.
In the meantime, other matters demanded attention.
The treatment chamber had been prepared with meticulous care.
Wang Ben stood beside his father in the room where Li Mei lay on a cushioned platform, her eyes closed and her breathing steady. Privacy formations hummed in the walls, blocking both observation and any stray spiritual energy from disrupting the delicate work about to begin.
Wang Tian had spent days preparing for this moment. His foundation establishment cultivation flowed through channels that had once been crippled but now burned with restored strength. In his hands, he held a jade vessel containing a precisely measured portion of the Frostcore treatment, the alchemical solution that represented his expertise and his love for the woman who had never stopped believing in him.
"Ben'er," his father said quietly. "I need you to monitor her meridians during the treatment. Your formation sight can detect irregularities that my spiritual senses might miss."
Wang Ben nodded, settling into a position where he could observe without interfering. This was not his area of expertise. Alchemy and medicine belonged to his father's domain. But his ability to perceive energy patterns might prove valuable if something unexpected occurred.
Li Mei opened her eyes, meeting her husband's gaze with the trust of twenty years. "I'm ready."
"I know you are." Wang Tian's voice was gentle but focused. "The treatment will feel cold at first. Don't fight it. Let the energy find its path through your meridians."
He began to work.
The Frostcore treatment was designed to address the specific damage that cold-aligned spiritual energy could inflict on a cultivator's meridian system. Li Mei had suffered from this condition for as long as Wang Ben could remember, her cultivation stagnated at the third stage of qi condensation despite decades of effort.
Wang Tian applied the treatment in careful stages, guiding the alchemical solution through Li Mei's meridian pathways with the precision of someone who understood both the science and the art of what he was doing. His foundation establishment cultivation provided the control necessary to manage the delicate work.
Wang Ben watched through the lens of his formation sight, observing the flow of energy as it moved through his mother's spiritual system.
[OBSERVATION: Li Mei meridian analysis]
[Host cultivation assessment concurrent with paternal treatment administration]
[Initial observation: Meridian pathways show expected cold-damage scarring patterns]
[Secondary observation: Anomalous formations detected at major junction points]
Wang Ben felt his attention sharpen. Anomalous formations?
[DETAILED ANALYSIS: Meridian junction formations]
[Pattern: Structured energy barriers at qi condensation advancement nexuses]
[Characteristics: Too regular for natural damage. Too precise for accidental formation]
[Assessment: These formations appear designed rather than incidental]
[Note: Design patterns suggest protective function rather than destructive intent]
Wang Ben's thoughts raced. He watched as his father's treatment flowed around the anomalies without recognizing them for what they were. The formations were subtle, woven into the damage patterns so thoroughly that normal observation would classify them as scarring rather than intentional structures.
But to Wang Ben's enhanced sight, the distinction was clear.
Someone had placed formations in his mother's meridians. Someone who understood formation work at a level that exceeded anything Wang Ben had encountered outside the System's archives.
"Father." He kept his voice low, not wanting to alarm Li Mei. "There's something you need to see."
Wang Tian's cultivation shifted, his attention dividing between the treatment and his son's concern. "What is it?"
"The damage patterns. They're not what we thought." Wang Ben moved closer, placing his hand near his mother's wrist without touching. "Look at the major junction points. The scarring follows regular intervals. Too regular."
His father's eyes narrowed. He adjusted his focus, examining the areas Wang Ben indicated with the careful attention of a Grade Eight alchemist who had spent decades studying meridian systems.
"That's... not possible."
"It shouldn't be. But it's there."
Wang Tian withdrew his treatment application, leaving Li Mei in a stable but unfinished state. His expression had shifted from focused physician to troubled investigator.
"What are you two whispering about?" Li Mei's voice carried worry despite her attempt at lightness. "Is something wrong?"
Wang Tian exchanged a glance with Wang Ben. The question hung between them: how much to reveal?
"Mei'er," Wang Tian said carefully, "the cold damage in your meridians isn't entirely natural. There are formations woven into it. Very subtle ones. They appear to be... barriers."
Li Mei's face went very still. "Barriers?"
"At the advancement points. The places where your cultivation would need to break through to reach the next stage." Wang Tian's voice was gentle but his words carried weight. "Someone deliberately created structures that prevent your cultivation from advancing."
The silence that followed was profound.
Li Mei sat up on the treatment platform, her movements slow and careful. Her eyes held something Wang Ben had rarely seen from his mother: uncertainty bordering on fear.
"Who would do that?" she asked. "Who would want to prevent me from advancing?"
"That's what we need to understand." Wang Tian sat beside her, taking her hand. "These formations are sophisticated. Beyond anything I could create. Beyond most anything I've encountered in forty years of medical practice."
[QUERY: Meridian formation origins]
[Analysis: Formation patterns show characteristics of advanced protective ward design]
[Estimated creation date: 20-25 years prior based on energy degradation patterns]
[Note: Design philosophy consistent with preserving host life at expense of cultivation potential]
[Assessment: Creator prioritized subject's survival over subject's advancement]
Twenty to twenty-five years ago. Wang Ben felt the timeline settle into his thoughts with troubling implications. That would place the formation work around the time of Li Mei's youth, before she married into the Wang Clan.
"Mother," he said quietly. "Who had access to you before you met Father? Someone who understood formations. Someone who might have had reason to... limit your potential."
Li Mei's expression shifted through several emotions before settling into something distant and pained.
"My grandmother," she said finally. "Xu Lanying. She raised me after my parents died. She was... she studied strange things. Old techniques that no one else understood."
Wang Tian's grip on her hand tightened. "You never mentioned she practiced formation work."
"I didn't know that's what it was. She called it 'arrangement.' Said she was arranging things to protect me." Li Mei's voice had dropped to barely above a whisper. "She disappeared when I was twelve. Left one morning and never came back. The only thing she left behind was a letter."
"What did it say?"
"Most of it didn't make sense. Something about cold and preservation. About how the cold would keep me safe until the right time." Li Mei met her husband's eyes. "I thought she had gone mad. The years before she left, she became increasingly paranoid. Said people were watching. Said we were in danger. I thought it was just the ramblings of a troubled old woman."
Wang Ben felt the pieces beginning to connect, though the full picture remained hidden.
[INTEGRATION: Li Mei background data]
[Grandmother: Xu Lanying, disappeared approximately 30 years prior]
[Documented behavior: Formation expertise (called "arrangement"), protective focus, paranoid ideation]
[Quoted letter fragment: "The cold preserves. The cold protects. When the time is right, the ice will melt."]
[Assessment: Xu Lanying deliberately sealed Li Mei's cultivation potential as protective measure]
[Unresolved question: What threat justified this extreme action?]
"Mother." Wang Ben chose his words carefully. "Do you still have that letter?"
"I kept it. I don't know why. It hurt to read it, and I stopped trying to understand it years ago." Li Mei's face held the weight of old grief. "It's in a box with my childhood things. Why?"
"Because whatever your grandmother was afraid of, she was willing to sacrifice your cultivation to protect you from it." Wang Ben met his mother's eyes. "That suggests the threat was significant. And if it was significant enough to justify sealing your potential for three decades, we need to understand what it was."
The logic was cold, but Wang Ben couldn't escape it. Xu Lanying had been a skilled formation master, skilled enough to create barriers that had evaded detection for over twenty years. She had given up her own life, disappearing to parts unknown, all to protect her granddaughter from something.
What could possibly justify such extreme measures?
Li Mei retrieved the letter an hour later, her hands trembling slightly as she unfolded the aged paper.
The Wang Clan had gathered in the patriarch's study, the seriousness of the discovery warranting the attention of more than just Wang Ben and his parents. Wang Tiexin sat in his customary position, his ancient eyes thoughtful as he listened to the explanation of what the treatment had revealed.
"Read it," the patriarch said. "All of it."
Li Mei nodded and began.
"My dearest Mei'er,
If you are reading this, then I have done what was necessary and am no longer able to explain in person. I know you won't understand, and I know you will hate me for what I've done. But please believe that everything, every strange action, every frightening warning, was done out of love.
The cold in your meridians is not damage. It is armor. I placed it there when you were young, before you could understand or object. The formations will prevent your cultivation from advancing beyond the early stages, and for that I am sorry. But advancement would have awakened things better left sleeping. It would have made you visible to eyes that have been searching for decades.
The cold preserves. The cold protects. As long as you remain frozen, they cannot find you.
I cannot explain more. Knowledge itself is dangerous. But know this: your blood carries something ancient, something precious, something that certain powers would kill to possess or destroy. I have spent my life hiding you from those powers. Now I must spend what remains of it leading them away.
Do not look for me. Do not investigate what I've told you. Live your life, love your family, and let the ice keep you safe.
When the time is right, the ice will melt. Not before.
Your grandmother who loves you more than life, Xu Lanying"
The silence that followed was absolute.
Wang Ben's thoughts churned through the implications. Ancient bloodline. Powers searching. Formations designed to hide rather than harm. His mother had been sealed not as punishment, but as protection against something that her grandmother had believed worth any sacrifice to avoid.
[ANALYSIS: Xu Lanying letter contents]
[Key claims: Li Mei possesses unusual bloodline heritage. This heritage attracts dangerous attention when cultivation advances. Formations were installed as concealment mechanism]
[Consistency check: Letter written 30+ years ago. No known bloodline incidents in Li Mei's documented history. Sealing formations have remained intact. If claims are accurate, concealment has been successful]
[Outstanding questions: What bloodline? What powers are searching? Why would advancement make her "visible"?]
[Note: Investigation recommended but high risk. Acting on partial information may trigger the scenario Xu Lanying sought to prevent]
Wang Tiexin spoke first, his voice measured. "Daughter-in-law. Did you ever sense anything unusual about your heritage? Any family stories, any old legends about your ancestors?"
Li Mei shook her head slowly. "My mother died when I was very young, and my father was often away. Grandmother raised me for the most part. She never spoke about the family beyond basic things. Names, places, nothing more." She looked down at the letter in her hands. "I thought she was just a strange old woman who loved me. I didn't know she was..."
"A formation master of significant skill," Wang Ben finished. "Those barriers are intricate work. Whoever Xu Lanying was, she understood principles that most practitioners never encounter."
"And now we must decide what to do with this information." Wang Tiexin's gaze swept across his family. "The barriers have held for thirty years. We could leave them in place, honor Xu Lanying's wishes, and hope that whatever she feared has passed."
"Or we could investigate," Wang Tian said. "Carefully. Quietly. Try to understand what we're dealing with before making any irreversible decisions."
"Either choice carries risk." The patriarch's ancient eyes settled on Li Mei. "But the choice should be yours, daughter. This is your life. Your cultivation. Your heritage."
Li Mei was quiet for a long moment, staring at the letter that had rewritten everything she thought she knew about her grandmother, her condition, her entire history.
"I want to know," she said finally. "I've spent twenty years wondering why I couldn't advance, blaming myself, feeling like a failure. Now I learn it was intentional, that someone who loved me chose to limit me for reasons she couldn't explain." Her voice hardened. "I deserve to know what she was protecting me from. I deserve to decide for myself whether that protection is still necessary."
Wang Ben understood. The anger in his mother's voice was the anger of someone who had been denied agency over her own life, even if the denial came from love.
"We'll find out," he said. "Carefully, as Father said. But we'll find out."
Wang Tiexin nodded slowly. "Then we proceed with caution. No actions that might attract the attention Xu Lanying warned against. No sudden changes to your cultivation state." He looked at Wang Tian. "Can the treatment continue without disturbing the formations?"
"I can work around them. Address the real damage while leaving the barriers intact. It won't restore her full potential, but it will improve her condition without triggering whatever alarm systems might be in place." Wang Tian's expression was troubled but determined. "It's not the treatment I planned, but it's the safest path forward until we know more."
Li Mei's face held conflicting emotions: relief at understanding her condition, fear of what that understanding implied, determination to face whatever came next.
"Then we start there," she said. "Treatment for the real damage. Research into my family's history. And patience until we know what we're actually dealing with."
Later that evening, Wang Ben sat alone in his workshop, his thoughts turning over everything he had learned.
His mother carried some form of unusual bloodline, significant enough that her grandmother had sacrificed her own life to protect her from those who would seek it out. The formations in her meridians were not damage but deliberate concealment, the work of a formation master whose skills exceeded anything Wang Ben could currently achieve.
[QUERY: Bloodline concealment formations]
[Search parameters: Historical records of heritage-masking techniques]
[Results: Multiple references in Qingxuan Transcendent Archive to bloodline concealment methods used during ancient conflicts]
[Notable pattern: Concealment typically employed when heritage would attract attention from powers capable of tracking spiritual resonance]
[Note: Further research requires specific bloodline identification. Insufficient data to narrow search]
The System could tell him that such techniques existed, but without knowing what specific bloodline Li Mei carried, it couldn't provide targeted guidance. The mystery of grandmother Xu Lanying remained exactly that: a mystery.
But mysteries could be solved. Wang Ben had spent the past two years uncovering secrets that others had believed impossible to know. He had navigated the attention of nascent soul cultivators, the machinations of domain politics, and the demands of powers that viewed mortals as instruments rather than people.
He could solve this mystery too. In time. With care.
For now, he filed the information away with all the other secrets he carried, adding one more weight to a burden that grew heavier with each passing month.
His mother deserved answers. His family deserved to understand what they were protecting.
And somewhere out there, the powers that Xu Lanying had feared were still searching for something they believed Li Mei's bloodline possessed.
Wang Ben would make sure they never found it.
END OF CHAPTER 92