Chapter 6: The Grind
Time: 20 Days Passed (Inside the Space).
Real Time: Only 7 Days Outside.
Life in the Green Willow District settled into a quiet, deceptive rhythm. To the neighbors, the couple in the corner courtyard were recluses—a failed cultivator and his mortal wife who rarely left their shack except to buy cheap vegetables.
But behind the bolted door of their bedroom, inside the spatial fold, a transformation was taking place.
The Routine.
Luo Feng and Luo Xia had developed a strict, military-like schedule to maximize the 3:1 Time Dilation. They treated time as their most valuable resource.
Morning (Inside): Farm work. Weeding the 1.5 acres and checking the fermentation jars.
Afternoon (Inside): Martial Arts training. Saber and Techniques.
Evening (Inside): Qi Cultivation.
Sleep (Outside): They would exit the Space to sleep in the real world.
The logic was ruthless: Sleep was "dead time." If they slept for 8 hours inside the Space, they wasted 8 hours of high-value accelerated time. But if they slept outside, less than 3 hours passed inside.
They were cheating the heavens, stealing extra time to breathe, work, and grow.
The Recovery of Little Gold.
Luo Feng walked to the edge of the farm, near the wall of swirling white mist.
Twenty days ago (Space Time), he had placed a dying, burnt-looking chick here. Now, a low, energetic chirp greeted him.
"Chee! Chee!"
Little Gold hopped out of a small nest he had built in the mud. He looked completely different. The bald patches were gone, replaced by downy feathers that weren't black, but a deep, metallic red with tips that shimmered like gold dust.
The violent heat that used to cook his organs was gone. Thanks to the Yin Mist balancing his body, his temperature was now warm and stable, like a cozy furnace.
He didn't run from Luo Feng. Instead, he hopped forward, flapping his small wings, and rubbed his head against Luo Feng's ankle.
"You're hungry again, aren't you?" Luo Feng smiled, crouching down.
He held out a strip of dried spirit meat. Little Gold snatched it eagerly, swallowing it whole. Then, the bird looked up at Luo Feng with intelligent, golden eyes. There was no fear in that gaze—only recognition. To this mutated beast, Luo Feng wasn't a master; he was the Provider. The one who saved him from the fire.
Luo Xia walked over, wiping her hands on her apron. "He's growing fast. Look at his beak."
Luo Feng nodded. The chick's beak was turning a dark, iron-gray color. "He's a Mutated Fire Crow. Even at Rank 0, his beak can probably crush a finger. But he knows us."
Luo Feng extended a finger. Little Gold hopped onto it, his talons gripping gently without breaking the skin. He let out a contented trill and puffed up his feathers.
"He trusts us," Luo Feng said softly. "When he grows up, he won't just be a pet. He'll be the guardian of this Space."
The Saber Practice.
After feeding the bird, the atmosphere shifted. It was time for pain.
Clack! Clack! Thud.
The sound of wood striking wood echoed through the mist-covered farm.
Luo Feng held a heavy wooden practice saber, his feet planted firmly in the black soil. He swung the blade with a horizontal chop—simple, brutal, and heavy.
"Heavy Plow Saber: Ridge Breaker!"
Luo Xia stepped back, her movement fluid like water. She held a lighter, thinner wooden blade. Instead of blocking his heavy strike directly, she twisted her wrist. Her blade slid along his, redirecting the force into the ground.
"Willow Leaf Style: Drifting Cotton."
Luo Feng stumbled slightly as his force hit nothing but air. He regained his balance instantly and grinned, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"You're getting faster, Xia," he praised, lowering his weapon. "Your reaction time used to be sluggish because the Five Spirit Roots clogged your perception. Now? You're moving like a true martial artist."
Luo Xia panted, her face flushed with healthy color. She looked at her hands in wonder. "It feels... clear. Before, when I saw a strike coming, my mind knew what to do, but my body wouldn't listen. Now, the Qi flows where I want it to."
Luo Feng walked over and adjusted her stance. He gently tapped her elbow.
"Tuck this in. The Willow Leaf style relies on tight defense. If your elbow flares out, a bandit will cut your tendon."
He moved behind her, guiding her arms through the motion. His chest pressed against her back, his hands covering hers on the hilt. "Like this. Use your waist to turn, not your shoulders. The power comes from the earth."
They moved in unison, repeating the forms over and over. There was no sect elder screaming insults at them. No competition for resources. Just a husband and wife, sweating into the soil of their own world, sharpening each other.
The Spirit Finger Lesson.
After an hour of saber practice, they sat by the bubbling Spirit Spring to rest. Little Gold hopped over and sat on Luo Xia's knee, watching them curiously.
"Husband," Luo Xia said, stroking the bird's warm feathers. "The Spirit Finger Plowing... can you teach me the combat application? I don't want to just be a farmer. If enemies come, I want to help you fight."
Luo Feng nodded seriously. "It's a difficult technique. It requires compressing Qi into a single point. It hurts."
"I can take it," she said firmly.
Luo Feng took her hand. "Okay. Close your eyes. Channel the Sun & Moon Qi."
He placed his fingers against her palm. "Don't just push the Qi to your fingertips. That will just break your bones. You have to make the Qi vibrate."
"Vibrate?"
"Imagine a drill," Luo Feng explained. "Spin the hot Yang Qi and the cold Yin Qi against each other at the tip of your index finger. Spiral them."
Luo Xia frowned in concentration. Her finger began to glow with a faint, unstable light.
"Ouch!" She flinched, shaking her hand. "It feels like needles!"
"That's normal. Your meridians aren't used to the pressure," Luo Feng soothed her, massaging her hand to disperse the chaotic energy. "Try again. Slower. Control the spiral."
They spent the next four hours like this. Luo Feng was patient. He didn't scold her when she failed. He simply corrected the flow, guiding her Qi with his own.
By the end of the session, Luo Xia managed to thrust her finger into a wooden post.
Thump.
It didn't pierce the wood like Luo Feng's, but it left a distinct, half-inch dent.
"I did it!" she cheered, rubbing her sore finger. Little Gold chirped in support.
"That's Stage One," Luo Feng smiled proudly. "Iron Finger. Keep practicing. In a few months inside here, you'll be able to pierce stone."
The Cultivation Grind.
As the "sky" of the Space—the white mist—dimmed to simulate night, the couple sat cross-legged on large flat stones in the center of the field.
It was time for the most important work.
"Focus," Luo Feng commanded softly.
They entered a meditative trance.
If an outsider were to see them now, they would be shocked. Behind Luo Feng's head, a faint, translucent projection appeared. A golden Sun orb on the left, and a silver Moon crescent on the right. They rotated slowly, creating a vacuum of energy.
Whoosh... Whoosh...
The dense Qi of the Space was pulled into their bodies.
Luo Feng felt the energy trickle into his Dantian. In the past, cultivating felt like trying to fill a bucket using a spoon with a hole in it. He would work all night for a single drop of progress.
But now?
The Sun & Moon technique filtered out the impurities instantly. The Qi flowed like a steady stream of water.
'It's not a flood,' Luo Feng thought, analyzing his progress objectively. 'I am not a Heavenly Genius who creates a vortex of Qi. I am still just... Average.'
He visualized a garden hose filling a tank.
'But I am no longer using a spoon. I am using a hose. It is slow. It takes time. But it flows constantly. It never stops. It never clogs.'
He could feel the barrier of Qi Refining Layer 4 solidifying, his foundation becoming dense and heavy.
Next to him, Luo Xia's aura fluctuated. The gray color of her skin—a side effect of years of bad cultivation—was fading, replaced by a pearl-like luster.
After four hours, they opened their eyes simultaneously.
Luo Xia let out a long breath of turbid air. "Husband... the barrier to Layer 2. It's loose. I think... within another month of inside time, I will break through."
"Don't rush it," Luo Feng said, checking her pulse. "We have time. Let the Qi build up naturally. When it overflows, you will break through without pain."
He looked at the "sky."
"We've been here for 24 hours," Luo Feng said, standing up and stretching his stiff joints. "Our bodies are rested, but our minds are tired. And we need to save the Space time for the crops."
"Sleep outside?" Luo Xia asked.
"Sleep outside."
They walked to the edge of the field. Luo Feng focused on the Anchor Point.
[Exit.]
Whoosh.
They appeared back in the cramped, dark bedroom of their shack. The air here was cold and smelled of dust, a sharp contrast to the warm, sweet air of the Space.
Luo Feng climbed into the squeaky wooden bed and pulled the thin quilt over Luo Xia.
"Goodnight, Xia," he whispered, holding her close to keep warm.
"Goodnight, husband."
They fell asleep instantly, their bodies resting in the fast-moving mortal world, while their minds prepared for another three days of grinding in the world that belonged only to them.