Chapter 8: The Breakthrough
Time: 30 Days Passed (Outside).
Space Time: 90 Days (3 Months).
The air inside the Farming Space was thick with silence, broken only by the rhythmic breathing of two people.
Luo Feng sat cross-legged on a large, flat gray stone in the center of the field. His shirt was off, revealing a body that had changed significantly over the last three months. The thin, malnourished frame of the slum dweller was gone. His muscles were now defined, tight, and humming with hidden power.
Next to him sat a wooden bowl, empty except for a few golden grains of Yellow Jade Rice.
For ninety days (inside time), they had eaten nothing but this High-Grade rice. They drank nothing but Sun & Moon Spring Water.
Their bodies were no longer mortal vessels filled with sludge. They were clean.
Luo Feng took a deep breath.
Inhale.
Behind his head, the projection of the Sun and Moon was no longer faint. It was vivid, rotating with an audible low hum.
'I am full,' Luo Feng thought, his brow furrowing in concentration. 'My Dantian is overflowing. The Qi is pressing against the walls of my meridians like a flood trapped behind a dam.'
He had reached the peak of Qi Refining Layer 3.
This was the wall. The exact same wall that had stopped him for ten years in the Sect. The barrier between "Early Stage" and "Middle Stage."
For a genius, breaking this wall was as easy as piercing a sheet of paper.
But for Luo Feng, with his Five Spirit Roots, this wall was made of iron.
"Husband?" Luo Xia whispered from a few feet away. She could feel the pressure radiating from him. The air around him was distorting heat waves.
"It won't break," Luo Feng gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead. "The Qi is there. The volume is enough. But the impurities in my old foundation are too stubborn. They are hardening the bottleneck."
He opened his eyes. They were bloodshot.
"I need a hammer."
He reached out his hand. "Xia. The wine."
Luo Xia immediately grabbed a ceramic gourd sitting by her feet. It was the Cloud Mist Wine—the very first batch they had brewed using the Star Grass and Yin-Yang Potting technique.
She handed it to him.
Luo Feng uncorked it. The scent of rain and spirit herbs wafted out.
"This wine dissolves impurities," Luo Feng muttered, staring at the clear liquid. "Let's see if it can dissolve a ten-year grudge."
He tilted his head and downed the entire gourd in one go.
Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.
He slammed the empty gourd onto the stone.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then, his stomach roared.
The Explosion.
The wine didn't burn like alcohol. It exploded like a Spirit Bomb.
The Star Grass essence, refined by the Sun & Moon Qi, rushed into his bloodstream. It acted like a cleaning acid. It hunted down the sludge of "Mortal Dust" clinging to his meridians and vaporized it.
Hiss!
Luo Feng groaned, clutching his stomach. It felt like he had swallowed boiling lead.
"Husband!" Luo Xia moved to help him.
"Stay back!" Luo Feng commanded, his voice strained. "It's working!"
Inside his body, the dam was cracking. The impurities that held the bottleneck together were dissolving under the potency of the wine.
Luo Feng seized the moment. He grabbed the swirling mass of Qi in his Dantian—now supercharged by the High-Grade Rice he had eaten for months—and slammed it against the weakened barrier.
'Open!'
Boom.
A dull thud echoed inside his body.
'Again!'
Boom.
'OPEN!'
CRACK.
A sound like shattering glass rang out, audible even to Luo Xia.
Luo Feng arched his back. A shockwave of air blasted outward from his body, flattening the grass around the stone.
The floodgates opened. The Qi that had been stuck at Layer 3 rushed into the new, wider channels of Layer 4. As it flowed, it didn't just fill him; it changed him.
His skin began to itch violently. A layer of gray, sticky substance was forced out of his pores—the accumulated toxins of thirty years.
Beneath the grime, his muscles knit together tighter. He felt his skin becoming denser, tougher. This wasn't a spell; it was the natural result of entering the Middle Stage. His mortal flesh was beginning to transition into a cultivator's body.
Luo Feng opened his eyes. A flash of white light illuminated the dark pupils.
He slowly exhaled a breath of black, foul-smelling air.
[System Notification: Host Breakthrough Detected.]
[Current Rank: Qi Refining Layer 4 (Middle Stage).]
Luo Feng looked at his hands. He clenched his fist. The air popped audibly in his palm.
"I did it," he whispered, his voice trembling. "Ten years... I finally crossed the threshold."
Luo Xia rushed over, ignoring the foul smell of the impurities on his skin. She hugged him tightly, tears in her eyes. "You did it! You're a Layer 4 Cultivator now!"
Luo Feng hugged her back, feeling the immense strength in his arms. Layer 4 was the requirement to be an Outer Sect Disciple. He was no longer trash. He was a real cultivator.
But before they could celebrate, the ground beneath them shook.
Rumble...
The Expansion.
"What's happening?" Luo Xia looked around in panic. "Is the Space collapsing?"
"No," Luo Feng stood up, his eyes gleaming. "It's growing. My cultivation powers the Space. When I grow, the world grows."
They watched in awe as the thick wall of white fog that defined the boundaries of their 10-acre farm began to roll back.
It was like a curtain being pulled by a giant hand.
Rumble... Rumble...
The black soil extended.
10 Acres... 12 Acres... 15 Acres.
The fog finally stopped, settling into a new boundary. The farm was now 50% larger.
But the new land wasn't Black Spirit Soil.
Luo Feng walked toward the newly revealed southern section. The ground here was different. It was dry, cracked, and colored a deep, vibrant Red. Heat radiated from the ground, making the air shimmer.
Little Gold, who had been sleeping near the spring, suddenly woke up.
"Chee! Chee!"
The fire crow flew past Luo Feng like a red streak. It landed in the center of the Red Clay area and rolled around in the hot dust, chirping in pure ecstasy.
[System Notification: Space Upgrade Complete.]
[New Area Unlocked: Yang-Fire Red Clay (5 Acres).]
[Properties: High Temperature. Rich in Fire Element. Accelerates the growth of Yang-attribute plants.]
Luo Feng knelt and touched the red earth. It was hot to the touch.
"Fire soil," Luo Feng murmured. "We can't plant Rice here. It will burn."
"Then what do we plant?" Luo Xia asked, wiping sweat from her brow as the heat wave hit her.
Luo Feng looked at Little Gold, who was happily burying himself in the hot dust. A plan formed in his mind.
"We plant ingredients for Body Tempering," Luo Feng said, a dark smile playing on his lips. "And... we plant Fire Spirit Fruits. If we can grow things that explode with energy, we can brew wine that drives the high-level cultivators crazy."
He stood up, looking at his expanded domain.
Layer 4. 15 Acres.
"The preparation is over, Xia," Luo Feng said, turning back to the Anchor Point (The Bedroom). "We have the strength. We have the goods. Tomorrow... we expand the business."
[End of Chapter 8]