Chapter 29: The Silent Birth
Time: Six Months Later.
Location: The Green Willow Courtyard (Real World).
Time flowed like water, indifferent to the struggles of men.
Half a year had passed since Luo Feng broke through to Qi Refining Layer 5 and formed his secret alliance with Fatty Wang. In the cultivation world, six months was merely a blink of an eye, but for Luo Feng, it was a period of intense preparation and agonizing patience.
Green Willow City remained surface-level calm. The clans still fought over scraps, the hunters still died in the mountains, and the mortals still struggled to pay rent. But underneath the mundane surface, currents were shifting.
Luo Feng's grand plan for the "Phoenix Spirit Pavilion"—the high-end luxury shop that would monopolize the high-grade wine market—was ready. The contracts were signed. The branding was perfected. The "Hunger Marketing" strategy was mapped out to the finest detail.
But the grand opening had been delayed.
Fatty Wang had run into unexpected trouble. A sudden succession crisis in the main Wang Clan had forced him to return to the capital for three months to defend his position against a ruthless cousin. Without Fatty's physical presence to manage the political heat and the City Lord's tax inspectors, Luo Feng had made the prudent decision to pause the supply.
He didn't mind the wait. He needed the time.
The autumn wind swept through the courtyard, carrying the scent of dry leaves and approaching winter. Luo Feng sat on the cold stone steps of his porch, a whetstone in his left hand and the Spirit Iron Saber in his right.
Scrape. Scrape.
The rhythmic sound of metal on stone was hypnotic. The blade was now razor-sharp, gleaming with a cold, predatory light that seemed to drink the afternoon sun.
Luo Feng's aura had settled. He was no longer the jagged, explosive rookie who had desperately killed Rat-Eye Liu in the woods. The constant consumption of Spirit Rice and the mental discipline of managing the Farm had tempered him. He was calmer. Deeper. Like a dormant volcano.
He closed his eyes, extending his mind.
Spirit Sense: Active.
An invisible radar expanded from his glabella, pushing past the courtyard walls, sweeping through the alley, and filtering through the neighbor's roof.
Range: 15 Meters.
He could feel the heartbeat of a stray cat sleeping on the wall. He could feel the vibration of a carriage passing two streets away. It was a sphere of absolute control.
Inside the bedroom behind him, the peaceful silence was shattered.
"Nngh..."
A low, strangled groan drifted out.
Luo Feng's hand froze mid-stroke. The saber hovered over the whetstone.
"Xia?"
He waited, hoping it was just a bad dream.
"Ahhh!"
Another groan followed, this one louder, laced with sharp, biting pain that tore at Luo Feng's composure.
Luo Feng vanished from the steps. He didn't run; he used the Wind Step technique, blurring into the room in a gust of displaced air.
The bedroom was warm, but the atmosphere was thick with panic. Luo Xia was clutching her stomach, her face pale as a sheet and beaded with cold sweat. Her fingers were digging into the mattress so hard the fabric was tearing.
"It's... it's time," she gasped, her eyes wide with fear.
Luo Feng's heart skipped a beat. He rushed to her side, placing a hand on her forehead. She was burning up.
"It's too early," he said, his voice tight but controlled. "It's only been eight months, Xia. You have a month left."
"He... he doesn't want to wait," Luo Xia grit her teeth, a massive spasm of pain arching her back off the bed. She screamed, a raw sound that made Luo Feng's hands tremble.
Luo Feng realized the cause instantly. It wasn't an accident. It was the resources.
For months, Luo Xia had been consuming Spirit Milk, Mutated Yams, and Spirit Rice. She lived in the Farming Space where the ambient Qi was ten times denser than the outside world. The baby hadn't just grown; he had evolved. He had absorbed enough energy to complete his gestation early.
He was strong. And he was impatient.
The Perimeter.
Luo Feng forced himself to be cold. Panic would kill them both.
"Breathe," he commanded gently, though his own pulse was hammering like a war drum.
He quickly helped Luo Xia lie back, adjusting the pillows to elevate her hips. He reached into his storage pouch and pulled out a Blood Vitality Pill—a high-grade medicinal pill worth 20 Spirit Stones.
"Eat this," he placed the pill in her mouth. "It will keep your strength up. Do not faint."
Luo Xia swallowed it, her breathing ragged. "Husband... the Farm? Should we go to the Farm?"
"No," Luo Feng said firmly. "We cannot."
He had researched this. The Farming Space was a separate dimension. Moving between the Real World and the Space caused a minor spatial fluctuation—a "teleportation pressure." For an adult, it was nothing. But for a newborn soul entering the world, that spatial tear could shatter their spirit.
They had to do this in the Real World.
And the Real World was dangerous.
"I have the midwife," Luo Feng said, squeezing her hand. "She is in the guest room. I will get her. You just focus on breathing."
He kissed her forehead, wiped the sweat from her brow, and turned to the door.
He fetched the midwife—an older, deaf-mute woman he had hired weeks ago specifically for her discretion—and practically shoved her into the room with a basin of hot water.
Then, Luo Feng stepped out onto the porch and closed the heavy wooden door.
He stood alone in the darkening courtyard.
He looked up at the roof.
"Caw."
Little Gold, the Fire Crow, was perched on the highest roof tile. The bird had grown significantly in the last six months. His wingspan was now over a meter, and his feathers were no longer just black; they were tipped with molten gold. He looked like a statue of judgment cast in bronze.
"Watch the sky," Luo Feng projected his thought via Mental Manipulation, connecting his mind to the bird's. "If anything flies over this courtyard... bird, bat, or cultivator... burn it."
"Caw!" (Understood. Kill.)
Luo Feng stood in the center of the courtyard, facing the gate. He released his Spirit Sense to its maximum limit.
15 Meters.
It covered the yard, the walls, and the shadowy alleyway outside.
He drew his saber. He didn't sheath it. He stood like a guardian deity, his Metal and Fire Qi circulating silently through his meridians, ready to unleash a Solar Bullet or a Heavy Plow slash at the slightest disturbance.
The Struggle.
Hours passed.
The sun set, surrendering the sky to heavy, dark storm clouds that rolled in over Green Willow City. The air grew thick and oppressive. Thunder rumbled in the distance, shaking the ground beneath Luo Feng's feet.
Inside the room, the sounds of struggle intensified.
"Push! You must push, Madam!" the midwife gestured frantically, her muffled shouts audible through the wood.
Luo Feng could hear everything. With his enhanced hearing, every sound was amplified. He could hear the tearing of sheets. He could hear the midwife's rapid heartbeat. But mostly, he heard Luo Xia.
He heard her sobbing his name. He heard the ragged, animalistic sounds of pain that no person should have to endure.
"Luo Feng... help me..."
Every scream felt like a knife twisting in his gut.
He wanted to rush in. He wanted to use his Qi to push the baby out, to take the pain away. But he knew he couldn't. His Qi was violent—Fire to burn and Metal to cut. If he injected that energy into her womb, he would kill the child and burn his wife.
He was powerless. The man who could kill a Layer 5 Assassin could do nothing but stand in the rain.
Boom!
A crack of lightning split the sky, illuminating the courtyard in a harsh, blue strobe light. Rain began to fall—heavy, cold sheets of water that soaked Luo Feng's robes instantly.
In that flash, Luo Feng's Spirit Sense picked up a movement in the alley.
Fast. Low to the ground.
'Enemy?'
Luo Feng didn't hesitate. He didn't wait to identify it.
He flicked his finger.
Thwack.
A small stone shot out from the ground, powered by his telekinesis. It punched a clean hole through the wooden fence and struck the shadow in the alley.
Yelp.
A wild dog yelped in pain and scrambled away into the darkness.
Luo Feng didn't relax. He didn't lower his saber. His knuckles were white on the hilt, the rain dripping off the blade.
"Come on," he whispered to the storm, his voice cracking. "Come out, son. Don't hurt your mother anymore."
The Silence.
Suddenly, the screaming stopped.
It didn't taper off. It cut out instantly.
The storm outside seemed to hold its breath in sympathy. The thunder paused. The wind died down. The only sound was the relentless drumming of rain on the roof tiles.
Luo Feng froze.
He waited for the sound. The sound every father waits for. The cry. The wail of life entering the world. The sign that air had entered the lungs.
One second.
Two seconds.
Ten seconds.
Silence.
Absolute, terrifying silence.
The midwife didn't speak. Luo Xia didn't speak. The baby didn't cry.
"Xia?" Luo Feng's voice trembled.
He couldn't wait anymore. He kicked the door open, snapping the latch.
The room was warm, smelling heavily of iron (blood), sweat, and medicinal herbs. The midwife was standing by the foot of the bed, holding a bundle of white cloth. She looked terrified. She was shaking, staring down at the bundle in her arms.
Luo Feng ignored the baby. He rushed to the bed first.
Luo Xia was lying limp against the pillows. Her hair was plastered to her face, her skin translucent and grey.
"Xia!" Luo Feng dropped to his knees, grabbing her wrist.
He pushed his Qi into her—gentle, controlled—checking her meridians.
Thump... thump...
Her pulse was weak, fluttering like a dying bird, but it was there. She was unconscious from exhaustion, but her life force was stable. The Blood Vitality Pill had done its job.
Luo Feng let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He quickly wiped the hair from her face, kissing her cold forehead. "You did it. Sleep now. I have him."
Only then did he turn to the midwife.
The old woman was backing away, her eyes wide. She held the bundle out to him as if she were holding a bomb.
"Give him to me," Luo Feng commanded.
He took the bundle. It was heavy. Heavier than a newborn should be.
Luo Feng looked down.
There, wrapped in the simple cotton cloth, was his son.
Luo Tian.
The baby wasn't crying. He wasn't purple or wrinkled like a normal newborn. His skin was fair, glowing with a faint, healthy luster, as if he had been carved from white jade.
But what froze Luo Feng's blood were the eyes.
The baby's eyes were wide open.
They were dark, clear, and frighteningly focused. There was no cloudiness of a newborn. They were abyssal pools of intelligence.
They weren't looking around aimlessly. They were looking directly at Luo Feng.
And his hands...
Luo Tian wasn't flailing or reaching for comfort. His tiny hands were clenched into tight fists, held against his chest in a defensive posture, as if he were ready to fight the moment he left the womb.
Luo Feng concentrated his Spirit Sense.
There was no System panel to tell him what he was seeing, but he didn't need one. He could feel it.
The air around the infant's nose wasn't just air. It was a vortex.
Every time the baby inhaled, the ambient Qi in the room was pulled into his tiny lungs. He wasn't just breathing oxygen; he was instinctively devouring energy. The raw Spirit Milk and Yams his mother had eaten had transformed his baseline physiology.
"You..." Luo Feng whispered, staring into those silent, dark eyes. "You didn't cry."
The baby blinked once. Slow. Deliberate.
Luo Feng felt a chill run down his spine. This wasn't just a child. This was a creature born of the Farming Space, nourished by resources that wars were fought over.
He was born silent.
He was born watching.
Luo Feng held the boy closer. A fierce, protective instinct roared inside him, mixing with a strange sense of unease. He touched the baby's cheek with his calloused finger.
"Luo Tian," Luo Feng named him, his voice rough with emotion. "You will not cry. Crying is for the weak. You are a predator."
Outside, the storm finally broke. The rain hammered against the roof like a thousand war drums, signaling the start of a new era.
Luo Feng looked out the window into the dark, wet night, holding the silent child against his chest.
The business with Fatty Wang was waiting.
The enemies were waiting.
And now, he had a son who was born clutching his fists.
"The quiet ones are the most dangerous," Luo Feng murmured.
The baby didn't smile. He just shifted his grip, his tiny fingers wrapping around Luo Feng's thumb with a strength that was shocking.
The waiting was over. The era of the Phoenix Spirit Pavilion was about to begin.
[End of Chapter 29]
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