Wang Ben began reading the journal at first light.
The others respected his need for privacy, occupying themselves with boundary patrols and campsite exploration while he absorbed the words his grandfather had left behind. The leather binding was worn from handling, the pages filled with handwriting that grew more hurried as the entries progressed.
Year One, Month Seven.
I've found it. After decades of searching, following fragments of legend my wife shared before her death and ancient texts that most scholars dismissed as myth, I've finally located the seal. It's deeper in the Blackwood than any of my surveys indicated, hidden beneath formations that predate everything I've studied.
The seal is intact, but it shouldn't be. The energy required to maintain containment this long exceeds anything modern cultivation could produce. Whatever our ancestors were trying to contain, they built defenses meant to last forever.
I don't know what's inside. I'm not sure I want to know.
Wang Ben's breath caught. His fingers tightened on the leather binding until his knuckles whitened.
His grandfather had found it. The thing that had consumed his final years, that had drawn him deeper and deeper into the Blackwood until he never came back. Not a scholar's obsession, not an old man's eccentricity. This.
The Founding Site. The thing the Yue Clan sought. And his grandfather had found it first.
All those years of wondering. Of hoping. Of slowly accepting that Li Cheng was gone. And here was the answer, written in his grandfather's own hand: he had discovered something ancient, something sealed by people who had expected their work to endure beyond comprehension.
Year Two, Month Three.
I've established a monitoring network around the seal boundary. The anchor formations will alert me to any changes in the containment's integrity. So far, the seal remains stable, but the energy readings concern me.
Dark element. Ice element. Combined in patterns that shouldn't be possible.
I've reviewed everything available, cross-referencing scholarly texts with the fragments my wife preserved from her mother's records. The combination suggests something called a "convergence nexus," a place where different elemental forces were artificially merged to produce effects that natural cultivation couldn't achieve. The ancient cultivators experimented with things we no longer understand.
Whatever is inside this seal, it's been there for at least three thousand years. And it's still producing power.
The System stirred as Wang Ben read, cross-referencing his grandfather's observations with Archive data.
[ARCHIVE CORRELATION: Convergence nexus reference detected]
[Definition: Ancient cultivation site where multiple elemental forces were artificially combined]
[Purpose: Varied. Some were research facilities, others were power-drawing nexuses, some were... ritual sites for bloodline manipulation]
[Warning: The combination of Dark and Ice elements suggests a dimensional anchor drawing power from the Youming plane. Ancient cultivators used such connections to channel chaotic energy for forced elemental transformations]
[Note: If grandfather's assessment is correct, the site may still be drawing power. Three thousand years of accumulated chaotic energy... the seal may be the only thing preventing catastrophic release]
Catastrophic release. The words sent cold through Wang Ben's bones despite the morning warmth.
Year Three, Month Eleven.
The Yue Clan has begun searching. I don't know how they learned about the seal, but their expeditions are getting closer to the Blackwood each year. Their bloodline detection methods are sophisticated, more advanced than I expected.
I've strengthened the anchor network's concealment functions. As long as I maintain the formations, they shouldn't be able to locate the seal through normal methods. But it's only a matter of time before they try something else.
I've also discovered something troubling about the seal itself. The containment isn't purely physical. It requires bloodline verification to access. Not Yue Clan blood specifically, but the type of mixed-element affinity that the ancient cultivators possessed.
The same trait they later called "contamination" and purged from their lineages.
The irony is not lost on me. The thing they're searching for can only be accessed by the people they've spent centuries trying to eliminate.
Wang Ben's hands trembled as he turned the page. He saw his mother's face in his mind, pale against the pillows during her worst days. The cold that seemed to radiate from her skin when the seals flickered. The way she would hold his hand and smile, never speaking of the pain, never letting him see how much it cost her just to breathe.
The Yue Clan had done that to her. Had sealed away what she was and left her to slowly fade.
And the trait they had punished her for, the "contamination" they had tried to eradicate... it was the very thing that would grant access to what they sought.
The Ice that ran through her blood.
Year Four, Month Eight.
Li Mei is getting worse.
My daughter's condition deteriorates each time I see her. The seals Xu Lanying placed on her bloodline to hide her from the Yue Clan are slowly failing, and the deterioration is killing her. Wang Tian doesn't fully understand what's happening. He knows she fled from something, but not why. Not what she carries in her blood. Not that she never knew her true heritage until the seals began failing.
I've considered telling him. Telling both of them. But knowledge of the seal's location would put them in danger. The Yue Clan would stop at nothing to extract that information.
Better they remain ignorant. Better they believe I'm simply an eccentric old man obsessed with the Blackwood.
But I watch my grandson, and I see Li Mei in him. The same quiet determination. The same stubborn refusal to accept limitations others place on him.
He has his grandmother's spirit. I hope that's enough to protect him from what's coming.
What puzzles me is that Wang Ben shows no signs of the degradation affecting Li Mei. The seals were placed on her specifically, not on her bloodline as a whole. Perhaps that's why. Or perhaps the Yue blood runs thinner in him, diluted by another generation. I should be grateful, but instead I find myself watching him for symptoms that never appear.
Year Five, Month Two.
They've found me.
Not the Yue Clan. Someone else. Cultivators whose methods I don't recognize, whose techniques seem... wrong. They've been following my movements, studying my patterns. I don't know who they are or what they want, but I can't lead them back to the seal.
I've done what I can. Hidden this journal where I hope the right person will find it. Left what clues I dared. It's not enough. It will never be enough.
I'm going to lead them away. Draw them as far from the Blackwood as possible. Buy time for someone else to understand what I've discovered and make better choices than I could.
There's a formation marker near where I used to meditate. I carved it years ago, when I still thought I could solve this alone.
I hope this reaches my family. I hope they know I loved them.
- Li Cheng
Wang Ben closed the journal.
For a long moment, he simply sat there, the leather warm against his palms. Grief welled up from somewhere deep, tangled with pride and anger. His grandfather hadn't abandoned them. Hadn't simply disappeared into the forest and died. He had sacrificed himself, leading unknown enemies away from secrets that could destroy everything.
I'm sorry, he thought, though he wasn't sure if he was apologizing for his own doubts or accepting his grandfather's apology. Both, perhaps. I understand now.
The final entries explained everything. Li Cheng had drawn pursuit away from the Blackwood, from the seal, from the family he loved. And he had died doing it, never knowing if his sacrifice would matter.
But it had mattered. The seal remained hidden. The Yue Clan still searched without success. Whatever Li Cheng had given his life to protect, his death had bought years of continued concealment.
Wang Ben sat with that weight for a long time. The morning light shifted through the canopy, painting patterns across his grandfather's handwriting. Somewhere nearby, he could hear Lin Suyin giving quiet instructions to the scouts, their voices carefully distant, giving him space.
He should feel grateful. He should feel honored to carry on his grandfather's work.
Instead, he felt the crushing weight of everything Li Cheng had carried alone. The knowledge. The responsibility. The isolation. And now it was his to bear.
He looked toward the meditation platform, seeing now a carving that didn't match the others. Something his grandfather had left. A direction that led deeper into the forest.
Near where I used to meditate.
Whether it was a gift or a curse, he'd have to find out.
Wang Ben rose and walked to the platform's edge, staring into the forest's depths. The journal was still in his hands, though he didn't remember picking it up again.
Lin Suyin found him there, how much later he couldn't say.
"You read the journal."
"All of it." Wang Ben's voice was rough, and he didn't try to hide it. "My grandfather found what the Yue Clan is searching for. He spent years protecting it. Died protecting it."
Lin Suyin moved to stand beside him, close enough that he could feel her presence but not so close as to intrude. Her eyes traced the same depths of forest he had been staring into.
"What is it?"
"A convergence nexus. Old enough to predate the kingdoms and the clans." Wang Ben turned to face her, and saw her expression shift when she looked at him. Concern flickered there, quickly masked. He must look as hollowed-out as he felt. "The journal mentions a nexus chamber. The actual site, where the seal is maintained."
"And you want to find it."
The question hung between them. Part of him wanted to say no. Part of him wanted to seal the journal back in its container, walk away from this place, and let the secrets stay buried. His grandfather had died protecting this knowledge. Perhaps protecting it meant keeping it hidden forever.
But the Yue Clan was still searching. And his mother was still dying.
"I'm not sure 'want' is the right word." Wang Ben looked down at the journal in his hands. "Grandfather gave everything to keep this place safe. His freedom. His family. His life. If I walk away now..." He shook his head. "I can't make his sacrifice meaningless. And I can't save my mother without understanding what her bloodline means."
Lin Suyin was quiet for a moment. When she spoke, her voice was gentler than he expected. "He would be proud of you."
Wang Ben's throat tightened. He hadn't expected that. Hadn't expected her to offer comfort when he was trying so hard to appear steady.
"The expedition's time is limited," she continued, her tone shifting back to practical matters. "We can't explore indefinitely."
"Then we move quickly." Wang Ben tucked the journal into his pack with more care than strictly necessary. "The chamber is close. Grandfather wouldn't have placed his campsite far from the thing he was monitoring."
Lin Suyin studied him for a long moment, reading something in his face that he probably couldn't hide. Then she nodded. "I'll prepare the others. But Wang Ben..." She paused at the platform's edge. "Whatever we find down there, whatever secrets the chamber contains... some knowledge can't be unlearned. Are you certain you want to carry more weight than you already do?"
He thought of his grandfather's final message. Be careful.
"I'm already carrying it," he said quietly. "I have been since I read the first page. The only question now is whether I understand what I'm carrying."
Lin Suyin held his gaze for a breath longer, something like respect in her eyes. Then she turned and walked toward the others, leaving him alone with the forest and his grandfather's legacy.
...
The marker led them to a cliff face that showed no signs of concealing anything unusual.
But Wang Ben's family cipher knowledge revealed what others couldn't see. Hidden among natural rock formations, a sequence of carved symbols indicated an entrance that responded to bloodline verification. He pressed his palm against the stone. The ancient formations stirred, a pulse of warmth spreading through his hand. The cliff face shimmered and parted, revealing a passage that descended into darkness.
[LOCATION DISCOVERED: Nexus chamber access point]
[Age: Estimated 4,500+ years]
[Construction: Unknown methods, formation-enhanced preservation]
[Qi signature: Significant. Dark/Ice combination detected within]
[Warning: This location matches all parameters for the "Founding Site" sought by the Yue Clan. Proceeding may expose host to forces beyond current understanding]
Wang Ben stepped into the passage without hesitation.
Behind him, the expedition followed, their lights cutting through darkness that had remained undisturbed for millennia. The air grew colder as they descended, Ice essence mixing with the Dark element that permeated the stone.
They made camp after three hours, when the passage widened into a natural cavern. Whatever lay ahead would require them at full strength.
The cultivation session that night was the most intense Wang Ben had ever experienced.
[CULTIVATION SESSION: Nexus chamber proximity]
[Duration: 3 hours (interrupted)]
[Qi absorbed: 612 motes]
[Qi retained: 104 motes]
[Retention efficiency: 17.0%]
[Elemental composition:]
[- Dark: 267 motes (43.6%)]
[- Ice: 189 motes (30.9%)]
[- Earth: 98 motes (16.0%)]
[- Other: 58 motes (9.5%)]
[Environment: Nexus chamber access tunnel (Extreme Dark/Ice saturation)]
[WARNING: Unusual elemental absorption pattern detected. Dark element has never before achieved dominance in host's cultivation]
[Note: The nexus chamber's influence is affecting cultivation progression in ways that cannot be predicted. Host's elemental flexibility is allowing integration that would be fatal to normal cultivators]
Wang Ben ended the session early, disturbed by how easily the Dark element had integrated with his cultivation. The chamber's influence was stronger than anything he had experienced, its ancient power reaching out to shape him in ways he didn't fully understand.
Tomorrow, he thought. Tomorrow we reach the chamber itself.
Tomorrow, I learn what my grandfather died to protect.