The fighting had been going for less than an hour when things started to go wrong.
Wang Ben had been splitting his attention between Wang Qing's formation array and the distant shapes moving through the Xue Clan's eastern district. On the array, the lights of their groups pushed forward in steady formation. From the ridge, he could make out flashes of light where techniques clashed, but not much more.
"Their defenses are cracking faster than expected," Wang Qing murmured, tracing two fingers along the array's edge. "The outer formations were weak."
"Or they wanted us inside," Zhou Wei said from the far end of the ridge.
...
On the ground, Zhao Daniu's group pushed through a narrow street behind the second wave. His son ran beside him, practice sword replaced by real steel, grip too tight on the handle. Around them, the sounds of the first clash echoed off stone walls.
The Wang Clan's first group had already breached the outer wall. Zhao Daniu could see the gap from here, formation lines still sparking and dying along the edges where the array had been broken.
"Stay close," he told Zhao Yu. "Don't get separated."
They pressed deeper. The storage buildings loomed ahead.
...
On the ridge, one of the lights on the array surged forward, then stopped. Then another.
"Something's wrong," Wang Ben said.
Wang Qing adjusted his spectacles and leaned closer to the formation array. Three lights were pulling back. A fourth flickered and went still.
Wang Qing's face went tight. "There's at least a peak late-stage foundation establishment cultivator in there." He looked up from the array, jaw set.
Then one of the lights on the array began to flicker. Wang Ben's eyes snapped to the position below.
Zhao Daniu's group. The light was flickering fast, surrounded by others that weren't theirs.
"Zhao Daniu's group is cut off," Wang Ben said.
Zhou Wei looked. "We've already signaled. Nothing else we can do from here."
"Help won't reach them in time."
Zhou Wei didn't answer.
The light flickered faster. The choice should have been harder. It wasn't.
Wang Ben stood.
"I can reach them. There's a path on the east side no one is watching."
Zhou Wei stared at him. "You're a body refinement cultivator. Who could you possibly save? You'd just be throwing your life away."
"I've been watching the situation for the last hour. I know where the gaps are. If I move now, I can reach them."
Zhou Wei looked at Wang Qing.
The elder studied Wang Ben for a long breath. "You understand that if something goes wrong down there, no one can help you."
"I know."
Wang Qing held his gaze for a breath, then nodded.
Wang Ben didn't wait for him to change his mind.
Down on the ground, it was different.
Noise and heat and the copper smell of blood. Techniques screamed past him. His legs locked for three heartbeats before something deeper took over and the fear moved somewhere he could carry it.
He ran. Down the ridge, through the cleared streets, into the district where the fighting was thickest. He moved through the gaps he remembered from the array. Between dueling pairs. Through courtyards where no one was looking.
He found them pressed against the side of a building, bloodied and pinned down.
"Wang Ben?" Zhao Yu's voice cracked with disbelief. "What are you doing here?"
"Getting you out." Wang Ben pressed himself against the building's wall, gasping for breath.
Zhao Yu's left arm hung at his side, blood soaking through the sleeve. He was fighting one-handed.
"Two down, two still fighting." Zhao Daniu appeared beside his son, blood streaking his face. "We can't pull back. They cut us off every time."
"There's an alley between this building and the next," Wang Ben said. "It was clear when I came through."
Zhao Daniu looked at him. "You're sure?"
"Yes, it's where I came from."
A blade rang against the building's corner.
"We go." Zhao Daniu turned to his people. "Zhao Yu, stick with Wang Ben. I'll help the others and follow."
They moved.
The alley was narrow. Wang Ben led them through at a run.
Twice, Xue Clan guards crossed ahead of them. Both times, the group pressed flat against the walls and waited.
Halfway through, one of them stepped around the corner, blade rising. Zhao Yu shoved Wang Ben sideways and lunged with his good hand. The guard stumbled back.
"Left here," Wang Ben breathed. "Then straight. This is the way I came."
They emerged into a wider street. The sounds of fighting were behind them now.
Wang Ben let himself sag against a wall, his legs threatening to give out beneath him. His heart hammered against his ribs. His hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Zhao Yu looked at him. "You came down from the ridge."
"Yes."
Zhao Yu laughed. It came out broken and wet. "You're insane."
"Probably."
They walked together toward the wang clan. Wang Ben's eyes drifted up and caught something on a distant rooftop. A figure, standing still. Not fighting. Not fleeing. Just watching.
For a heartbeat, it seemed to look back at him. Then it was gone.
...
The sun was fully risen by the time the fighting ended.
The eastern district had been taken.
Wang Ben found his father in a courtyard they'd turned into a place for the wounded. Wang Tian moved between them, hands steady.
Eighteen wounded. Three dead.
"Wang Ben."
He turned to find Grand Elder Wang Feng standing behind him. The elder gave nothing away.
"Walk with me."
They left the courtyard.
"You left the ridge."
Wang Ben didn't deny it.
Wang Feng stopped walking. "A body refinement cultivator running into a battlefield full of qi condensation and foundation establishment cultivators." He turned to face Wang Ben. "Where does that kind of recklessness come from?"
Wang Ben didn't have an answer.
Wang Feng studied him for a long moment. Whatever he saw, he kept to himself.
"This is just the beginning, Wang Ben." Wang Feng's voice dropped. The scarred side of his face twitched, something Wang Ben had never seen before. "So far the fighting has been between the weaker cultivators. When the mercenaries arrive, it won't be."
He paused. His jaw set, and something settled behind his eyes. The look of a man who had already decided what he was willing to lose.
"People will die who you never thought could die." He looked at Wang Ben directly, and for the first time the Grand Elder looked old. "You have no strength to spare for others right now. Keep yourself alive first."
He held the look a moment longer, then turned and walked away. There was something burning behind his calm now, barely held.
Wang Ben watched him go. He'd seen the Grand Elder angry before, seen him cold, seen him commanding.
He'd never seen him like that.