The summons came not to Li Yao's dormitory, but through a complex series of dead drops and anonymous messengers that spoke of Wang Zhong's tradecraft. A single, unmarked coin left in a specific crack in the sect's outer wall. The location: a private tea house in the merchant's quarter, one known for its discretion and sound-proofed rooms.
Li Yao went alone. He wore his simple disciple robes, his Perfection-stage aura suppressed to a gentle hum. He looked like what he was supposed to be: a promising but unremarkable outer sect member.
The room was spartan, smelling of sandalwood and old paper. Captain Wang Zhong sat at a low lacquered table, his back to the wall, a pot of steaming tea between them. He wore plain grey robes, but his aura was a contained maelstrom, a Late Core Formation pressure that filled the space without seeming to. He was the law here, and his presence was the only warrant needed.
He did not offer Li Yao a seat. He simply looked at him, his gaze a physical weight.
"Speak," Wang Zhong said. No greeting. No preamble.
Li Yao sat, the motion fluid and unruffled. He met the Captain's gaze, his own eyes clear and calm. "Captain Wang. Your son's path to Core Formation is a cliff. The Soaring Cloud Sect's method will push him off it. The pills you buy for him are painting the rocks at the bottom."
Wang Zhong's expression did not change, but the air in the room grew several degrees colder. "You presume to know my son's path better than the Soaring Cloud Sect? Better than my own alchemists?"
"I presume to know what my senses tell me," Li Yao replied. "The congenital flaw in his Celestial Sun meridian cluster is a fault line. The sect's method is an earthquake. I have been the one shoring up the cracks these past weeks. Ask him if the grinding pain has returned since he stopped taking my elixir."
A flicker in Wang Zhong's eyes. He had, of course, monitored his son. He knew.
"You propose this 'Stellar Core Method'. A heretical path. Dangerous."
"It is the only path," Li Yao stated flatly. "The orthodox path for him is certain failure. The Stellar Core Method is calculated risk. With the correct resources and my guidance, his chance of success is over seventy percent. Without it, zero."
"You guide him?" A hint of a sneer. "A boy from the gutter."
"A boy from the gutter who perceived a flaw your experts missed. A boy who has already stabilized your son's cultivation where your resources failed. A boy," Li Yao leaned forward, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial level, "who knows that the Soaring Cloud Sect is planning to open a new spirit stone mine in the Serpent's Spine mountains, and that they will need the City Guard's cooperation to secure it from the beast hordes and rival sects."
That was the true gambit. The System, by cross-referencing thousands of seemingly unrelated scrolls from the sect library, logistics requests, and elder movements, had pieced together the intelligence. The mine was a secret, a future source of wealth and power.
Wang Zhong was a statue. The revelation was a tremor in his impassive facade. This was no longer about his son. This was about the future political and economic landscape of the entire region.
"Where did you hear that?" The question was a razor.
"I listen," Li Yao said simply. "The sect sees your Guard as a tool. A sharp, loyal dog to be sent into the beast-ridden mountains while they reap the riches. I see an opportunity."
He laid it out, his words precise, his logic cold.
"You provide the resources for the Stellar Core Method. I guide your son to a successful, powerful Core Formation. He becomes not just another disciple, but a prodigy, one forged by a unique method. His value to the sect skyrockets. His loyalty, however, remains with you."
He paused, letting the implication hang.
"When the mine opens, you have a powerful agent inside, a son positioned for influence. The Guard's cooperation is not given for free; it is an investment. You negotiate for a share of the mine's output. You elevate the Wang family from a city power to a regional one."
He was offering a vision. A conspiracy. He was proposing that Wang Zhong use him, the gutter rat, to play the Soaring Cloud Sect at their own game.
Wang Zhong was silent for a long time, his fingers steepled. He looked at Li Yao not as a boy, but as a strange and dangerous new piece on the board.
"And what is your price in this... ambitious plan?" he finally asked. "Wealth? Power? Revenge against my son?"
Li Yao smiled, a thin, sharp thing. "My price is simple. I need the same resources for myself. A double portion. I, too, will form my Core. And I need your... non-interference. You will call off your hounds. You will not look too closely at my methods. You will allow me to ascend, unmolested."
He was asking for a partnership with the devil. He was asking for the resources to become powerful enough to no longer need the partnership.
Wang Zhong understood the paradox perfectly. To use this sharp, unpredictable tool, he had to allow it to sharpen itself, even at the risk of it one day cutting its master.
"You are playing a deep game, boy," Wang Zhong said, his voice a low rumble.
"We all are, Captain," Li Yao replied. "The only difference is, I can see the board."
Another long silence. Then, Wang Zhong gave a single, curt nod. "The resources will be delivered in two days' time. To a location of my choosing. You will have one month. If my son shows significant progress, the arrangement continues. If not..." He didn't finish the threat. He didn't need to.
"Understood."
Li Yao stood and left without another word. He had done it. He had turned his greatest enemy into a reluctant patron. He had secured the path to his Core Formation.
As he walked back into the bustling city streets, the System's message glowed in his mind.
"Strategic Objective 'Secure Core Formation Resources' achieved. Host has successfully manipulated local power dynamics. Warning: The alliance is inherently unstable. The probability of betrayal upon successful Core Formation is 89%."
Li Yao knew. He wasn't building a friendship; he was building a ladder. And he would kick it away the moment he reached the next floor. The resources were coming. The race to form his Core, the true foundation of immortality, had officially begun. The slow, meticulous burn was about to become a controlled explosion.