The expedition made camp in a protected valley two days' travel from the ancient site.
Wang Ben observed from the ridgeline above, cataloging the security patterns that would determine whether he could get closer. The Yue Clan cultivators had established a defensive perimeter using Ice formations, their barriers creating overlapping zones of detection that would alert them to any approaching threat.
But they were preparing to sleep. And tired cultivators made mistakes.
He watched through the evening as shifts changed, guards rotating through positions with the mechanical regularity of established protocol. The core formation cultivators had retired to the central tent, their discussion continuing in tones too low to carry.
The night watch changes at the fourth hour, he noted. That's when attention wavers. That's when I move.
The infiltration began in the darkest portion of the night.
Wang Ben approached the camp using techniques that suppressed his cultivation signature to near-invisibility, his Ice-dominant qi blending with the environment so thoroughly that the detection formations registered him as nothing more than ambient energy. The method was improvised, born from his unusual elemental flexibility, but it worked.
He slipped through the outer perimeter during the watch change, when guards were focused on their relief rather than the shadows beyond the firelight. The camp's interior offered more concealment, supply crates and equipment creating pools of darkness between the illuminated areas.
The central tent was his target. The core formation cultivators had spent hours inside after returning from the Founding Site, and their discussion had suggested the presence of documents, records, evidence of what they had discovered.
Two guards stood at the tent's entrance, both late-stage foundation establishment, their attention split between watching the camp and fighting the cold-induced drowsiness that afflicted even cultivators in these conditions.
Wang Ben circled to the tent's rear, where the fabric met the ground with a gap that maintenance had neglected. He flattened himself against the frozen earth and slid beneath the edge, entering the tent's interior with practiced silence.
The tent was larger inside than it appeared, spatial formations expanding its dimensions to accommodate the expedition's leadership. Tables bore maps, artifacts, scrolls, the accumulated evidence of the Founding Site exploration. And in the corner, sleeping on elevated platforms, the three core formation cultivators rested with the deep unconsciousness of exhausted power.
Wang Ben moved through the space with careful precision, his eyes scanning each document for intelligence value. Maps showing the expedition's route and the site's location. Diagrams of the structure they had explored. Lists of artifacts recovered and their potential uses.
And then he found the records.
[INTELLIGENCE: Ancestral Recovery Project Documentation]
[Classification: Yue Clan Internal, High Security]
[Content summary: Historical analysis of clan bloodline branches, purge records, site access protocols]
[Notable entries: "Contaminated Lines Registry," "Purification Verification Methods," "Founding Site Access Requirements"]
[Personal relevance: HIGH. Documents contain information about bloodline purges that may include host's maternal line]
Wang Ben's hands trembled slightly as he unrolled the first scroll. The characters were written in an archaic style, but their meaning was clear enough.
The Contaminated Lines Registry.
Names filled the document, organized by branch family and date of purge. He scanned through decades of entries, each representing a family deemed impure by the main clan's standards. Marked for death. Hunted down. Eliminated from the lineage.
And there, thirty years ago, the entry he had dreaded finding.
Yue Bingqiu, daughter of the Eastern Shore branch. Contamination type: Mixed element absorption. Purge method: Execution ordered. Status: Subject escaped before purge completion. Notes: Subject displayed unusual elemental flexibility inconsistent with pure Ice lineage. Presumed sealed by external party. Expected lifespan if sealed: 15-20 years.
His maternal great-grandmother's entry. The woman who had fled the Yue Clan. Her daughter had married Li Cheng and passed the bloodline to Li Mei, the contamination, the death sentence.
Expected lifespan: 15-20 years.
His mother had survived thirty years. More than what the Yue Clan had predicted for bearers of this bloodline. Yue Bingqiu had escaped the purge, but her daughter had died young after marrying Li Cheng. Li Mei, born from that union and carrying the contaminated bloodline, had been sealed by Xu Lanying (Wang Ben's great-grandmother through Li Cheng) to hide her from the Yue Clan. Living on borrowed time that the Yue Clan had never intended any of them to have.
The rage that surged through Wang Ben was unlike anything he had experienced. Hot and cold simultaneously, Fire and Ice warring in his meridians as his body reacted to the truth of what had been done to his family.
They marked my great-grandmother for execution, he realized. Hunted her bloodline across generations. My mother has lived thirty years in hiding because Xu Lanying sealed her to keep the Yue Clan from finding her. Thirty years of a slow death from failing seals because the alternative was immediate execution.
The seals had saved Li Mei's life by hiding her bloodline signature. But seals weren't meant to last forever. After three decades, they were breaking down, poisoning her cultivation from within. She was dying anyway, just more slowly than the Yue Clan had intended.
He forced the anger down, burying it beneath the discipline that had kept him alive through situations that should have killed him. Now was not the time for emotion. Now was the time for evidence.
The second document explained the Ancestral Recovery Project in detail.
The Yue Clan had discovered, through centuries of research, that their bloodline's power had diminished since the founding era. The ancient site they sought contained methods for restoring that power, techniques and artifacts that could reverse the gradual weakening.
But accessing those secrets required verification. Bloodline confirmation at a level that the main clan could no longer provide alone.
The purged lines, the document explained, were removed because their elemental contamination threatened lineage purity. However, analysis of founding era records indicates that the original Yue bloodline possessed greater elemental flexibility than current standards acknowledge. The "contamination" we eliminated may have been a trait preserved from our earliest ancestors.
Wang Ben read the passage three times, ensuring he understood its implications.
The Yue Clan had purged families for displaying the very trait that their ancestors had possessed. They had eliminated their own genetic heritage in pursuit of a purity that was, itself, a deviation from their origins.
And now they couldn't fully access the Founding Site because they had destroyed the bloodline diversity it was designed to recognize.
Irony doesn't begin to describe it, he thought bitterly. They murdered their own future in the name of purity.
The third document contained maps and access protocols for the Founding Site's interior. Most of the structure remained sealed, awaiting bloodline verification that the expedition couldn't provide. But the recovered artifacts included formation patterns, cultivation methods, and historical records that the Yue Clan intended to study in depth.
Wang Ben committed the maps to memory, then carefully recorded key documents using a formation crystal that the Phantom Gate had provided. The evidence would support his verbal report, providing proof that couldn't be dismissed as fabrication.
Time to leave, he decided. I have what I came for.
The escape began smoothly.
He retraced his path through the tent, slipping beneath the fabric gap and emerging into the camp's shadowed perimeter. The guards hadn't noticed his infiltration; they wouldn't notice his departure.
But the detection formations had other ideas.
Wang Ben felt the barrier's attention shift toward him as he approached the outer perimeter. Something in his qi had changed during his time in the tent, some emotional residue from reading his mother's death sentence that had disrupted his careful suppression.
[WARNING: Detection formation activation imminent]
[Cause: Qi signature anomaly (emotional fluctuation detected)]
[Estimated time to alert: 3-4 heartbeats]
[Recommendation: IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL. Stealth compromised]
Wang Ben didn't run blindly. The moment the alarm sounded, his mind shifted to the patterns drilled into him by the Scripture.
Veiled presence. Now.
He'd only learned the technique recently, practiced it in controlled environments with nothing at stake. This was different. Real danger. Real pursuit. He focused on the mental pattern the Scripture had shown him, feeling his cultivation signature respond.
The technique settled over him uncertainly at first, like a garment not quite fitted to his frame. His qi compressed inward, folding back through his meridians in a way that felt unnatural, forced. Then suddenly it clicked. The spiritual energy vanished completely, leaving no trace for spiritual sense to detect.
Is it working? he wondered, maintaining the concentration with effort. It feels right, but...
[VEILED PRESENCE: Active (FIRST COMBAT APPLICATION)]
[Concealment status: Complete spiritual signature suppression achieved]
[True cultivation: Qi Condensation Stage 6]
[Projected signature: NONE (undetectable to spiritual sense)]
[Stability: 89.2% - technique unfamiliar, concentration required]
[Warning: Mental strain accumulating. Estimated sustainable duration: 47 minutes before mental fatigue forces deactivation]
[Note: Cannot maintain during active combat. Technique collapses if host enters combat state. Choose: reveal or flee]
[CAUTION: First real-world application. Performance under duress untested. Monitor stability closely]
Behind him, the Ice barriers shattered. The alarm erupted across the camp, and eight cultivators poured into the night, their qi signatures blazing with intent.
"Intruder! Eastern perimeter! Mid-stage qi condensation signature detected before concealment!"
The voices carried frustration. Wang Ben felt a surge of hope mixed with uncertainty.
They can't sense me anymore, he realized. The technique is actually working. But for how long?
Their spiritual senses swept the area repeatedly, searching for the cultivation signature that had triggered the alarm. But veiled presence held: no qi trace, no spiritual presence, nothing for them to lock onto.
"Where did he go?"
"Nothing on spiritual sense! He's vanished completely!"
"Spread out! Track him by physical signs!"
Keep it stable, Wang Ben thought, maintaining the mental pattern with focused concentration. Don't break. Don't waver.
Six foundation establishment. Two core formation. Eight cultivators total, all searching blindly while he moved through the darkness mere dozens of meters away.
But the technique was new, the mental strain building faster than he'd expected from practice sessions. Sweat beaded on his forehead despite the night air.
The chase led through dense Blackwood wilderness.
Wang Ben used the ancient forest to his advantage, choosing paths that favored his concealment over their numbers. Narrow passages between massive tree trunks that prevented formation flight. Ravines carved by rushing streams where the sound of water masked his movement. Root systems of thousand-year-old trees that created natural cave networks.
He moved carefully, avoiding sudden bursts of speed that might disturb the environment too obviously. The veiled presence was holding, but the mental effort of maintaining it while fleeing was greater than anything he'd experienced in practice. His head was beginning to ache, a dull pressure behind his eyes that warned of approaching limits.
How long can I keep this up? he wondered. The technique is working, but...
Physical traces were all they had now: broken branches, disturbed leaves, footprints in soft earth. Without spiritual sense to guide them, they were tracking like mortal hunters rather than cultivators.
[PURSUIT ASSESSMENT]
[Current lead: 180 meters, stable]
[Enemy composition: 6 foundation establishment, 2 core formation]
[Pursuer tracking method: Physical traces only. Spiritual sense sweeps detecting no target]
[VEILED PRESENCE status: 81.4% stability (declining slowly). Complete spiritual concealment maintained but mental strain accumulating]
[Mental fatigue: 31.2% - technique unfamiliar, sustained concentration taxing]
[Time remaining at current stress level: 34 minutes before collapse likely]
[Assessment: Pursuers operating without spiritual sense guidance. Forced to rely on visual tracking and environmental disturbances. Significantly reduced pursuit efficiency]
Behind him, frustrated voices carried through the forest. They'd lost his trail three times already, their spiritual senses sweeping uselessly through empty space.
"He's still out here! He can't have just vanished!"
"No signature, Elder! Nothing at all! It's like he doesn't exist!"
Wang Ben felt a grim satisfaction despite his growing exhaustion. The technique was working better than he'd dared hope for a first real application.
The core formation cultivators were methodical, though. They spread their subordinates in a wide net, covering escape routes while tracking the general direction of his flight through physical signs alone.
Twelve hours to the border, Wang Ben estimated grimly. But I can't maintain veiled presence that long. Not even close.
The mental strain was intensifying faster than expected. Pressure building behind his eyes, concentration fragmenting at the edges. He'd practiced the technique for at most fifteen minutes at a time in controlled conditions. This was different. Fleeing through hostile territory while maintaining complete concealment for thirty minutes already, with pursuers actively hunting him.
Thirty-four minutes left, he reminded himself. Then the technique collapses and they'll sense me immediately. Unless I find a way to break contact before then.
[ALERT: Environmental change detected]
[Ambient qi composition shifting]
[Earth 61% → 54%]
[Wood 24% → 18%]
[Dark 4% → 17%]
[Water 8% → 8%]
[Toxin trace elements: Rising (3% → 9%)]
[Analysis: Approaching territory with unusual Dark qi concentration and toxic contamination]
[Warning: Miasma signature detected. Possible spirit beast dead zone]
Wang Ben slowed, his instincts prickling. The forest had changed. Trees here were twisted, diseased, their bark blackened and peeling. The undergrowth was sparse, sickly. The air carried a faint acrid smell that made his throat tighten.
What is this?
Then he heard it. A deep, wet huffing. The sound of something massive breathing through fluid-filled lungs.
[WARNING: UNKNOWN SIGNATURE DETECTED]
[Classification: Spirit beast (Core Formation equivalent)]
[Estimated rank: 4 (Core Formation class, late-stage estimated)]
[Element: Dark/Wood with toxic miasma signature]
[Behavioral assessment: Territorial. Extreme aggression likely]
[Recommendation: IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL]
Wang Ben froze. Behind him, the Yue Clan pursuit was closing. Ahead, something that could kill him as easily as breathing.
And that breathing... it sounded wrong. Like poison being exhaled with every breath.
Choice time. Turn back into their arms, or risk whatever's ahead.
The decision took three heartbeats. He moved forward, into the dead zone, betting that whatever beast claimed this territory would be equally hostile to the Yue Clan.
More hostile, he hoped. Please be more hostile to them.
The cave mouth opened like a wound in the hillside, surrounded by blackened, dead trees. Purple-gray fog seeped from the entrance, pooling on the ground like liquid. The smell was overwhelming now. Rot and toxins and death.
Wang Ben circled around the entrance, finding a cluster of massive roots that formed a natural hollow. He pressed himself into the space, gritting his teeth against the mental strain as he forced veiled presence to hold steady.
Don't collapse now, he thought desperately. Just a bit longer. Just until they arrive.
...
[VEILED PRESENCE stability: 68.3% - critical mental fatigue]
[Mental exhaustion: 58.7%]
[Warning: Technique collapse imminent if strain continues]
The concealment wavered for a heartbeat, his concentration slipping. Then he caught it, pulled it back into place with effort that made his vision blur.
Hold. Hold. HOLD.
Then the Ancient Darkwood Ape emerged.
When it straightened to full height, it towered fifteen meters tall. Muscle and fury wrapped in dark fur matted with centuries of accumulated forest grime. The violet-black markings around its eyes and mouth seemed to pulse with concentrated toxin. Its breath came in wet, rumbling huffs, each exhalation releasing visible purple fog.
[SPIRIT BEAST ASSESSMENT]
[Species: Ancient Darkwood Ape]
[Rank: 4]
[Cultivation equivalent: Core Formation class (precise stage unconfirmed due to realm gap)]
[Threat level: EXTREME - Host survival probability 0.1%]
[Warning: Miasma concentration lethal to Foundation Establishment and below. Qi Condensation exposure time: <2 minutes before respiratory failure]
[Recommendation: REMAIN CONCEALED. DO NOT MOVE. DO NOT BREATHE DEEPLY]
Wang Ben stopped breathing entirely, drawing on qi to sustain himself while maintaining veiled presence through sheer desperation. The ancient ape's head swung slowly, scanning its territory. Those sickly green eyes passed over his hiding spot without pausing.
Still holding, he realized with exhausted relief. The technique's working even against a beast this powerful. But I can barely...
[VEILED PRESENCE stability: 61.8%]
[Mental fatigue: 67.4% - approaching collapse threshold]
The strain was excruciating now. Every second of maintaining the concealment felt like holding up a mountain with his mind alone.
Then the Yue Clan pursuit burst into the clearing.
Six foundation establishment cultivators in formation, with two core formation elders directing from above. They stopped abruptly as they saw the dead zone, the miasma, the cave entrance.
"What is this..."
The Ancient Darkwood Ape roared.
The sound shook the forest, a challenge and a promise of violence. Then it exhaled, and concentrated miasma poured from its mouth like a plague given form.
The purple fog washed over the first three foundation establishment cultivators. Their qi barriers held for perhaps three seconds. Then the barriers corroded, dissolved, shattered, and the miasma reached flesh.
Wang Ben watched in horror as they convulsed. Coughed blood. Fell.
Dead in under thirty seconds.
"DARKWOOD APE!" One of the core formation elders' voice cracked with recognition and fear. "No, wait... that size... RETREAT NOW!"
"Elder, the intruder..."
"IS ALREADY DEAD!" The elder's command cut through rising panic. "If that thing's miasma killed three foundation establishment cultivators in SECONDS, none of us survive prolonged exposure! And it's PEAK core formation or close to it!"
The Ancient Darkwood Ape charged.
Despite its massive size, it moved with terrible speed. One arm swung in a devastating arc, and a fourth foundation establishment cultivator simply ceased to exist. Crushed so thoroughly that nothing remained but a crater in the earth and a spray of blood.
"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"
The Yue Clan cultivators scattered, using every movement technique they possessed to flee. The core formation elders threw Ice barriers behind them as they retreated, but the Ancient Darkwood Ape shattered the first barrier with a single blow.
It pursued for a hundred paces, roaring fury. Then it stopped at the boundary of its claimed territory, watching with ancient intelligence as the humans fled.
Satisfied that the intruders were gone, it turned back toward its lair. Paused. Sniffed the air.
Wang Ben held perfectly still, veiled presence wrapped around him like armor, not daring even to breathe.
The ancient ape's gaze passed over his hiding spot again. Lingered for one terrible heartbeat.
Then it huffed, a wet, dismissive sound, and lumbered back into its cave.
Wang Ben waited twenty minutes, motionless, barely conscious from oxygen deprivation and mental exhaustion. The moment he judged it safe, he released veiled presence.
The technique collapsed like a dam breaking. Relief and exhaustion crashed through him simultaneously.
[VEILED PRESENCE: Deactivated - TECHNIQUE COLLAPSE DUE TO MENTAL EXHAUSTION]
[Total sustained duration: 51 minutes (exceeded initial estimate by 4 minutes through desperate concentration)]
[Mental fatigue: 74.9% - critical levels reached]
[Physical status: Oxygen deprivation (severe), minor miasma exposure (non-lethal), mental strain damage (moderate)]
[Assessment: First combat application successful. Complete spiritual concealment maintained despite extreme duress. Host pushed beyond safe operational limits through force of will]
[Recommendation: Withdraw to clean air. Rest MINIMUM 2 hours before attempting technique re-activation. Future applications should respect sustainable duration limits]
[Note: Technique performed beyond expectations for untested combat deployment. Log success for training reference]
Only when he was certain the beast had settled did he move, crawling backward through the roots, retreating from the dead zone one agonizing pace at a time. His head felt like it was splitting open. His thoughts were fragments, barely coherent.
A kilometer away, he finally allowed himself to collapse against a living tree, gasping in clean air. His head pounded. His lungs burned. Every muscle trembled with exhaustion.
But he was alive.
Behind him, in the distance, he could hear the Yue Clan regrouping. Their voices carried through the forest, faint but audible.
"Four dead. FOUR. And we didn't even engage it properly."
"The intruder went into the dead zone. If he's not already killed by the ape, the miasma will finish him within the hour."
"Elder, should we..."
"No." That was the core formation elder, voice tight with barely controlled fear. "We don't have time for this. The expedition is exposed while we chase one thief. Four dead is already too high a cost. Whatever he learned, the damage is done."
"But..."
"That thing is OLD. The size, the miasma potency... peak core formation or damn close." The elder's voice was tight with barely controlled fear. "We just lost four cultivators in under a minute, and we didn't even engage it properly. In its own territory, saturated with who knows how many centuries of accumulated poison. Continuing this pursuit is suicide."
Silence.
"Return to camp. We have what we came for. Let the beast and the miasma finish him."
The sounds of departure faded into the distance.
...
Wang Ben remained against the tree for another hour, waiting for his body to recover, waiting to be certain they weren't coming back.
He'd escaped.
The cost had been four Yue Clan lives and nearly his own, but he'd escaped.
The cultivation session that night was necessity, not preference.
Wang Ben found shelter in a hollow beneath a fallen giant tree, far from the Ancient Darkwood Ape's territory. The ambient qi here was normal Blackwood composition: Earth and Wood dominant, with traces of Dark and Water. Clean. Safe. Life-sustaining.
His body demanded rest. His mind demanded processing.
[CULTIVATION SESSION: Recovery meditation]
[Duration: 6 hours]
[Ambient environment: Blackwood Forest (Earth 61%, Wood 24%, Water 8%, Dark 4%, Metal 2%, Fire 1%)]
[Qi absorption:]
[- Earth: 47 motes (44.3% of retained)]
[- Wood: 31 motes (29.2% of retained)]
[- Water: 14 motes (13.2% of retained)]
[- Dark: 8 motes (7.5% of retained)]
[- Metal: 4 motes (3.8% of retained)]
[- Fire: 2 motes (1.9% of retained)]
[Total retained: 106 motes]
[Efficiency: 13.6% (stress-induced progression during escape)]
[Elemental composition shift:]
[Previous (Frozen Jade territory): Ice 74.4%, Water 14.1%, Earth 7.3%, Wood 2.8%, Dark 1.4%]
[Current (Blackwood Forest): Earth 38.7%, Wood 21.3%, Water 14.5%, Dark 8.2%, Ice 12.1%, Metal 3.4%, Fire 1.8%]
[Assessment: Rapid rebalancing toward local environment. Ice dominance fading as distance from Frozen Jade territory increases. Dark element absorption increasing (Blackwood Forest influence)]
[Note: Host's flexibility continues to demonstrate unusual adaptation capacity. Elemental shift this rapid would cause severe cultivation instability in normal cultivators]
The cultivation steadied him. The fear from facing the Ancient Darkwood Ape faded to memory. The exhaustion from maintaining veiled presence eased. The minor miasma exposure was purged by clean qi circulation.
But the documents he'd read... those remained.
Yue Bingqiu, daughter of the Eastern Shore branch. Contamination type: Mixed element absorption. Purge method: Execution ordered. Status: Subject escaped before purge completion.
Expected lifespan if sealed: 15-20 years.
His mother had survived thirty years. More than the Yue Clan had predicted. More than they'd intended any of their "contaminated" bloodlines to achieve.
She had survived because she was stronger than they knew. Stronger than they had any right to expect from someone they had condemned to slow death.
And now I know what they did, he thought. Now I have proof.
The rage still burned, cold and hot together, but it was controlled now. Channeled into purpose rather than destruction.
He would return to Azure Crimson territory. He would deliver his intelligence and repay the second favor he owed. What had started as a debt to Shen Wuyan had become something far more personal.
And then, when the time was right, he would make the Yue Clan answer for what they had done to his family.
Tomorrow, I head home, he decided. Time to end this.