The sun had barely risen when Wang Ben and Zhao Yu finished their analysis.
They sat in a corner of the training grounds, speaking in voices too low to carry. The estate was just beginning to stir around them, cultivators emerging for morning practice, the clatter of the kitchens preparing breakfast echoing across the courtyards.
The numbers Zhao Yu's father had uncovered kept circling back to the same conclusion: someone outside Redstone City was paying for the Xue Clan's campaign. No amount of re-checking changed that.
"So who?" Zhao Yu asked. He'd been turning it over all morning, the same frustration tightening his jaw. "Who would invest that much in destroying one declining clan?"
Wang Ben had no answer yet. The Wang Clan wasn't important enough to warrant this level of attention. They were a third-tier clan in a frontier city, their influence waning for decades. There was no practical value in their destruction that would justify the kind of money flowing into the Xue Clan's coffers.
Unless the investment wasn't about the Wang Clan at all.
"Maybe it's not about us," he said slowly. "Maybe we're just a target of opportunity. The Xue Clan wanted to take us down anyway. Someone else is funding them for their own reasons."
"What reasons?"
"I don't know yet." Wang Ben stood, brushing dust from his robes. "But your father hears things. Keep listening. Note who the Xue Clan has been meeting with, especially anyone from outside the city."
Zhao Yu nodded. "I'll talk to him. The forge hears everything eventually."
They parted ways as the training grounds began to fill. Wang Ben took a long route back through the eastern corridors, letting the walk carry him past vendor stalls and messenger posts while he picked apart possibilities one by one.
The Huo Clan wouldn't fund the Xue against the Wang. They were neutral administrators, invested in city stability. The Dao Clan was too weak and too allied with the Wang Clan to be involved. External enemies seemed unlikely. The Wang Clan had no significant feuds beyond Redstone City's borders.
Which left... what?
Someone with resources and motive that Wang Ben couldn't yet see. Someone patient enough to work through proxies. Someone who wanted the Wang Clan destroyed but didn't want their involvement known.
He needed more information. But information cost resources they didn't have, and the Xue Clan's campaign against them was already squeezing those resources tighter every day.
...
The squeeze became personal that afternoon.
Wang Tian had planned to attend the regional auction at Jade Spring Hall, a neutral venue that served all four clans equally. He needed materials for his alchemical work, and the auction was the most reliable source for quality ingredients.
He returned within an hour, his face carefully blank in a way Wang Ben had learned to recognize.
"What happened?"
His father sat heavily at the table. Li Mei looked up from where she was nursing Wang Chen, concern flickering across her features.
"The auction house has adopted a new policy." Wang Tian's voice was carefully empty. "Wang Clan members are no longer permitted to bid. Our credit is under review."
The words hung in the air.
"They can't do that," Li Mei said. "Jade Spring Hall has served all clans for a century. Their neutrality is what keeps them in business."
"They can do whatever the Xue Clan's money tells them to do." Wang Tian's grip on his cup went white. "The manager wouldn't even meet my eyes. He just recited the policy like he'd been practicing it all morning."
Anger tightened behind Wang Ben's ribs. It didn't directly attack the Wang Clan. It made their lives harder, forced them to find alternative sources for materials that would cost more and be harder to verify for quality.
A war of coin and trade. Slow strangulation rather than open attack.
"Can we appeal to the City Lord?" Li Mei asked.
"On what grounds? A private business changing their policies isn't a crime. The Huo Clan has no authority to force them to serve us." Wang Tian shook his head. "And even if they did, making this a formal complaint would only advertise our weakness."
Zhao Yu had mentioned something the day before, relaying gossip from his father's forge: an unfamiliar merchant had been seen meeting with Xue Clan retainers twice in the past week. Whoever he was, he wasn't local. That kind of attention didn't come without reason.
"So we find alternatives," Wang Ben said.
His father looked at him. "Such as?"
"Zhao Daniu knows people outside the main auction houses. Smaller suppliers, private traders. They won't have the same selection, and they'll charge more, but they won't be under Xue Clan pressure."
Wang Tian's cup sat untouched beside him. "You've already thought about this."
"I've been thinking about a lot of things." Wang Ben met his father's eyes. "The Xue Clan isn't going to stop. Every day they'll find new ways to make our lives harder. We need people and suppliers who don't answer to places like Jade Spring Hall, because those places can't be trusted anymore."
"Then we start there." His father straightened in his chair. "Arrange a meeting with Zhao Daniu. I'll need to know what his people can actually provide."
"Zhao Yu's mother stopped by this morning," Li Mei said. Both men turned to look at her. "She asked if we'd like to join them for dinner tonight. I said yes."
A flicker crossed Wang Tian's face. He exchanged a glance with his wife, brief and private.
"Good," Wang Tian said. "I can talk to Zhao Daniu about the supply situation then."
...
The Zhao family home occupied a modest courtyard in the eastern section of the estate, where the retainer families lived. The space was smaller than the main family's residences, but it was immaculately maintained. Flowering plants lined the pathways. The furniture, though old, gleamed with careful polish.
Zhao Daniu met them at the door, still wearing his leather apron, soot darkening the creases of his knuckles. The forge behind the home was banked but not cold, its heat bleeding through the courtyard walls.
His wife stood beside him, a small woman with sharp eyes and a warm smile. "Come in, come in. The food's almost ready."
The dining area was simple but clean. The table was set with obvious care, the dishes arranged neatly. The room smelled of well-cooked food.
Zhao Yu wasn't there — still on evening patrol — but a girl Wang Ben hadn't met before was helping set the table. Fourteen or fifteen, with intelligent eyes.
"My daughter," Zhao Daniu said. "Zhao Lin."
"It's an honor to meet you." Zhao Lin's voice was soft but steady. She bowed to Wang Tian and Li Mei, then turned to Wang Ben. "And you as well, Young Master Wang. My brother speaks of you often."
"Zhao Yu is a good friend," Wang Ben said politely. "We've trained together many times."
"He says you're the reason he started taking morning drills seriously." Zhao Lin smiled. "Which I'll believe when I see it."
They took their seats.
The food was excellent despite its simplicity. Zhao Daniu's wife served the courses herself, waving off Li Mei's offer to help.
As they ate, Wang Tian brought up the auction house. Zhao Daniu listened with the focused attention of a craftsman assessing a problem.
"I know people in Ironforge," Zhao Daniu said. "Smaller suppliers, less formal. They won't have everything you need, but they can cover the essentials. The premium will be a fifth to a third above auction prices."
"That's acceptable," Wang Tian said. "Reliability matters more than cost at this point."
"I'll make arrangements tomorrow."
While the older generation talked business, Zhao Lin directed her attention to Wang Ben.
"My brother's been stuck at peak late-stage body refinement for months," she said, pouring tea for both of them. "He won't admit it's bothering him, but I can tell. Do breakthroughs always take this long?"
"It depends." Wang Ben took a bite of the braised vegetables. They were well-prepared. "Some come quickly. Some take patience."
"Zhao Yu isn't known for patience." She said it with fondness. "What about you? Do you enjoy cultivation? The process itself, not just the results."
Wang Ben considered the question. It was more thoughtful than he'd expected.
"I enjoy improvement," he said. "Being better at something than I was yesterday."
"That's honest, at least." She reached for her own cup. "Most people just say they want to be stronger."
Zhao Lin glanced toward the adults' conversation, then back. "Can I ask you something? My brother came home from patrol last week talking about a wounded boar. Said you convinced the team to let it go."
"It wasn't a threat. There was no reason to kill it."
"That's what Zhao Yu said." She turned her tea cup between her fingers. "But he also said the rest of the team wanted to finish it. You changed their minds."
Wang Ben shrugged. "They just needed a reason to think about it instead of reacting."
Zhao Lin was quiet for a moment, studying her tea. Then she looked up. "My brother doesn't notice things like that. But I do."
It wasn't a compliment. It was a statement of fact, offered without decoration. Wang Ben looked at her with fresh interest.
Wang Ben continued eating.
The dinner continued for another hour, the conversation easy and unhurried. Wang Tian and Zhao Daniu talked supply routes while Li Mei spoke quietly with Zhao Daniu's wife about the baby.
Finally, as the evening drew to a close, Wang Tian rose and thanked them for the meal.
"It's nothing," Zhao Daniu said. "We look after our own."
They walked back through the estate in comfortable silence. Wang Chen slept in Li Mei's arms.
...
The next morning, Wang Hao found Wang Ben in the training grounds.
"The Grand Elder wants to see you," he said without preamble. "This afternoon. His study."
Wang Ben felt his chest tighten. Wang Feng, the Grand Elder. Mid-stage core formation. The strongest combat cultivator in the Wang Clan.
"Did he say why?"
"He doesn't explain himself to team leaders." Wang Hao's face gave nothing away. "But I'd suggest being prepared for anything."
Wang Ben said nothing. Whatever the Grand Elder had seen in him, it had been enough to warrant a summons.
Now he wanted a closer look.
Wang Ben returned to his forms, but the movements were hollow, automatic. What had Wang Feng observed? What conclusions had he drawn?
Zhao Lin's words from last night surfaced unbidden. My brother doesn't notice things like that. But I do. If she had noticed, who else had?
The Grand Elder's interest could shelter them or expose them, depending on the answers Wang Ben gave this afternoon.