Xue Feng lowered his eyes from the clinic window.
The wounded cultivator was still backing toward the alley. Wang Ben felt his qi weakening as he moved. Blood ran from his wrist, and the arm hung uselessly beside him.
[OBSERVATION: Demonic enhancement dissipated. Cultivation reduced from qi condensation stage 9 to stage 7. Source: Host spiritual sense.]
He was still stronger than Zhao Yu. He looked once at Xue Feng. He swept his good hand across Zhao Yu's path, throwing out a burst of corrupt qi. Zhao Yu ducked beneath it. The man turned and fled into the alley.
Zhao Yu went after him.
Xue Feng walked toward Wang Ben. Black lines moved beneath his skin, and his qi pressed against Ben's chest. He held his sword loosely at his side.
"I have been waiting a long time for this."
Wang Ben shifted toward the clinic entrance, keeping his blade between them. His left arm still hung numb. He brought his sword farther across his body to cover that side.
Xue Feng struck before he had finished moving. The blade came faster than any of the three men's attacks.
Wang Ben caught the blade at an angle and turned with it. The edge passed his ribs. He tried to bring his point back toward Xue Feng, but the other sword was already coming around.
He pulled his arm in too late. Steel cut through his sleeve and opened his forearm.
Xue Feng raised his sword again.
Wang Ben met the third cut with his blade across his body. The force drove it back toward his chest. He gave ground, one step and then another, until he was almost at the clinic steps. Pain pulled across his wounded ribs as he stopped.
Xue Feng laughed, a wet sound that caught in his throat.
"Are you ready to die, Wang Ben?"
He turned his sword in his hand and glanced up toward the golden light in the window.
Wang Ben raised his point. He could not take another blow like that. Blood was running down his forearm toward the hilt.
A foot struck the stones near the alley.
Zhao Yu came back into the street at a run, his saber in his hand.
"He got away."
He came straight toward them.
Xue Feng turned to meet him.
Zhao Yu's saber struck the sword aside. He stepped in, and Wang Ben felt his qi rise again. It had been building toward an advance for days. Now, as Zhao Yu brought his blade back for another cut, the pressure abruptly strengthened and held.
[OBSERVATION: Zhao Yu advanced from qi condensation stage 1 to stage 2. Combat pattern consistent with Battle Soul activity supporting instinctive timing and advancement.]
Wang Ben moved with him.
Zhao Yu cut at Xue Feng's sword arm. Xue drew it back and swung at his head, but Zhao Yu was already ducking. Wang Ben thrust beneath the passing blade. Xue twisted away, drawing his elbow in to avoid the point.
He came back at Wang Ben with a downward cut. Ben caught it on his sword and felt the force drive through his wrist. His arm bent. Before Xue could press the blade farther down, Zhao Yu's saber came toward his exposed side. Xue pulled free to turn it aside, and Wang Ben followed with a short thrust that forced him back.
Pain dragged at Ben's ribs as he recovered his footing. He kept his point up.
Xue struck at Zhao Yu again. Black qi thickened around his sword. Zhao Yu stepped outside the cut, leaving Wang Ben room to come at Xue's other side. Xue wrenched his blade across to catch Ben's, then tried to turn it back toward Zhao Yu.
His leg buckled.
Wang Ben pulled his sword clear. Neither blade had reached Xue's body.
The inscriptions beneath Xue Feng's skin were brightening. His free hand went to his chest before he looked down. He pressed his palm hard against the marks there, his teeth clenched.
"No," he said. "Not now."
Zhao Yu checked his next step. His saber stayed raised.
Xue Feng straightened his leg and lifted his sword toward Wang Ben. The black qi gathered around it, then scattered. A thin curl of smoke rose from his collar.
"I am not finished!"
He tried to come forward. His knee struck the stones.
Wang Ben could smell burning flesh. More smoke rose between Xue's fingers. The pressure against Ben's senses faltered, surged, then faltered again.
Xue stared at his hand. He drew it away from his chest, exposing the lines burning beneath it.
"Every time," he said. "Every time I pushed harder..."
His sword shook. He looked up at Wang Ben.
"He told me to use it. The hate. As long as I hated you enough, I could keep going."
He coughed, spattering the stones with black blood.
"But he kept taking. There would have been nothing left of me."
Wang Ben held his sword ready. Xue's eyes moved back to the marks on his chest.
"A vessel." The words were barely audible. "That was what he wanted. Not my revenge."
His fingers opened. The sword fell beside his knee.
Xue convulsed and pitched forward onto his hands. Smoke rose from his shoulders as he struggled to lift his head.
[ANALYSIS: Observed inscription failure and subject's account indicate slow refinement into a permanent vessel. Excessive qi extraction is damaging the meridians. Overexertion has accelerated the collapse beyond survivable limits.]
Zhao Yu moved beside Wang Ben, breathing hard. His saber shifted toward the man on the ground.
"Wait," Wang Ben said.
Zhao Yu stopped. Wang Ben kept his own blade between them and Xue Feng.
Xue Feng's elbows gave way. He fell onto his side, then rolled onto his back. Smoke rose from his chest.
"He swore," he said. "He told me what to do. I did all of it."
His head turned toward Wang Ben.
"Why?"
Wang Ben had no answer. He watched Xue's hands, keeping his sword raised.
Xue gave a short laugh that broke into coughing. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
"You think it will be different for you?"
He tried to lift his head. The marks brightened, and his back arched off the stones. When he could speak again, his voice was thin.
"I had a future. Before your father's failed breakthrough. Before the sabotage. Before my clan decided to use it against yours."
He stopped to draw breath.
"I was going to surpass you. All of you." His fingers scraped against the street. "The strongest of my generation."
Wang Ben stood within reach of him. He could hear Zhao Yu breathing beside him and the faint crackle from the burning inscriptions.
Xue Feng's eyes closed. His fingers stopped moving. The light beneath his skin began to fade, leaving the black lines visible again.
Wang Ben held his position.
Then Xue opened his eyes.
He rolled onto his side and planted a foot beneath him. Black qi gathered around his fists as he pushed off the stones. His eyes were on the clinic doorway.
Wang Ben stepped into his path, bringing his sword across.
Zhao Yu was already there.
His saber broke the black qi in front of Xue's fists without touching him. Zhao's feet slid against the stones, but he held the way to the steps.
Xue Feng's knees struck the street. His arms folded beneath him as he fell, and another spasm ran through his body. The last bright marks went dark.
Wang Ben moved beside Zhao Yu. Xue lay at their feet, his cheek against the stones. A breath rattled out of him.
They waited.
His chest did not rise again. The pressure Wang Ben had felt from him was gone.
Zhao Yu lowered his saber. Wang Ben still held his sword.
...
Physician Luo came out through the clinic door. His face was pale. He looked at the bodies, then at the blood on Wang Ben's sleeve.
"Come inside, young master."
"My mother first."
Wang Ben sheathed his sword and went past him. Each step up the stairs pulled at his ribs.
The golden light had faded from the receiving room. The two guards lay where they had fallen. Beyond them, Li Mei stood with Chen pressed against her shoulder. She turned when Wang Ben reached the broken doorway.
"Ben."
She caught him with her free arm and pulled him close. Pain went through his side. He held still until she loosened her grip.
"I thought..." Her hand moved to his cheek, then stopped at the blood on his sleeve. "You're hurt."
"Luo is waiting downstairs." He looked at Chen, then back at her. "Are either of you hurt?"
She shook her head. Her fingers trembled against his face.
Wang Ben let out a breath. "Xue Feng is dead."
Li Mei looked toward the window. She kept her arm around him.
He remembered the different attention he had felt on the way back from the market. He still did not know whose it had been.
Zhao Yu reached the landing behind him, his saber sheathed. His face had gone pale. He looked into the room and stopped.
"We should go down," Wang Ben said.
Li Mei shifted Chen in her arms. Wang Ben walked beside her to the stairs, and Zhao Yu followed them down. Luo met them below and brought Li Mei to a seat with the child.
At the entrance, Zhao Yu stopped again. His hands were shaking. He looked down at them.
"I don't..." He swallowed. "Ben, I don't know..."
Wang Ben put his right hand on his shoulder.
"You don't have to explain it now."
Zhao Yu nodded without looking up. He sat on the top step outside the clinic door, elbows on his knees. Wang Ben let go and returned to Luo.
The physician had laid out clean cloth. He eased the bloody sleeve away from Ben's forearm, then made him sit while he examined the cut along his ribs. The movement had opened it again. Ben kept his left arm in his lap.
The City Lord's guards arrived while Luo worked. Some stayed in the street, holding back the people gathering around the bodies. Others came to the clinic to ask what had happened.
Wang Ben answered their first questions. They asked Zhao Yu as well, then spoke to people from the neighboring shops. One of the guards told Ben there would be more questions at the formal hearing.
By the time Luo finished binding Ben's ribs and turned to his forearm, the three bodies had been carried out of the street. Water ran between the stones where the blood had been. Across the way, a merchant opened his door and stood watching before going back inside. People began passing the clinic again.
"You need to rest," Luo said. "These cuts will keep opening if you keep moving. Even with healing pills, your body needs time."
"I know."
His mother sat nearby, rocking Chen. The child was unharmed, tucked against her chest. She watched the physician's hands as he drew the bandage around Ben's arm.
Wang Tian came through the door with Grand Elder Wang Feng behind him. Two Wang guards followed them inside.
His father crossed to him.
"Are you all right?"
Wang Ben nodded. "Mother and Chen weren't hurt."
Wang Tian looked over the bandages, then turned to Li Mei. He bent over her chair and gathered her and Chen against him. She caught his robe in her hand.
The Grand Elder drew a chair beside Wang Ben.
"Tell me what happened."
Wang Ben began with the approaching qi he had felt upstairs. Wang Feng listened, then turned to the two guards who had come with them.
"See to our men in the upstairs room. Bring them home."