Month Two, Day Eight
Lin Feng stared at the failed formation with analytical detachment, his spatial perception mapping exactly where the dimensional anchor had collapsed. The third failure in as many hours—each one teaching him something new about why dimensional engineering was significantly harder than traditional void manipulation.
"The spatial geometry is correct," he muttered, consciousness divided into five streams to analyze different failure vectors simultaneously. "Energy distribution is optimal. Anchor points are stable. So why does the dimensional pocket collapse after three seconds?"
Elder Wei observed from across the workshop, his expression thoughtful rather than frustrated. Over the past month, they'd developed effective teaching relationship—Wei providing theoretical frameworks while Lin Feng contributed practical void manipulation insights neither could achieve alone.
"You're treating dimensional space like normal space," Wei said. "But pocket dimensions aren't carved from normal space—they're folded adjacent to it. The anchor points need to maintain connection across dimensional boundary, not just within local space."
Lin Feng's consciousness streams converged on that insight. He'd been creating spatial structures within normal reality, then trying to isolate them into pocket dimensions. But actual dimensional engineering required creating structures that existed partially in normal space and partially in dimensional space simultaneously.
"Cross-dimensional anchoring," he said slowly, working through implications. "The formation needs to exist in both spaces at once, maintaining structural integrity across the boundary between them."
"Exactly. Which is why dimensional engineering typically requires decades of study—you're not just manipulating space, you're manipulating the relationship between different spatial domains."
Lin Feng's analytical mind immediately began calculating how this changed his formation approach. Instead of single-domain spatial structures, he needed multi-domain architecture that maintained coherence across dimensional boundaries.
"Show me the mathematics," he requested.
Elder Wei produced jade slips containing Starfall Valley's theoretical frameworks for cross-dimensional coherence. The mathematics were complex—involving spatial tensors, dimensional boundary conditions, and energy conservation across domain transitions.
Lin Feng absorbed the documentation, his consciousness streams processing in parallel. Stream one analyzed spatial tensor equations. Stream two examined boundary condition requirements. Stream three studied energy conservation principles. Stream four identified practical implementation approaches. Stream five coordinated synthesis of all insights.
After twenty minutes of concentrated study, he attempted the formation again—this time designing anchor points that deliberately spanned dimensional boundaries rather than existing entirely within single domain.
The pocket dimension stabilized.
Three seconds passed. Five seconds. Ten seconds.
At fifteen seconds, minor fluctuations appeared but the dimension held. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds.
"Stable," Elder Wei announced, genuine excitement in his voice. "You just created a pocket dimension with thirty-second sustainability. That's advanced practitioner level after only five weeks of study."
Lin Feng maintained the formation carefully, his spatial perception tracking how energy flowed across dimensional boundaries. The structure was elegant—anchor points existed simultaneously in normal space and pocket dimension, creating stable bridge between domains.
At forty-five seconds, he deliberately collapsed the dimension, conserving spiritual energy. The pocket space folded back into normal reality smoothly, leaving no disruption.
"Forty-five seconds sustainable," he reported. "Spiritual energy cost is high—about thirty percent of my reserves for that duration."
"That will improve with practice and increased cultivation level," Wei assured him. "The important breakthrough is understanding cross-dimensional anchoring. Everything else builds from that foundation."
Lin Feng's temporal analysis projected forward, calculating progression timelines. Forty-five seconds now. With practice, perhaps five minutes within a month. By month six, stable pocket dimensions lasting hours. By month twelve, potentially permanent dimensional spaces suitable for sect applications.
The timeline aligned with sect founding requirements perfectly.
"What's next in the curriculum?" he asked.
"Dimensional expansion and time dilation," Wei replied, producing more jade slips. "Creating larger pocket spaces and manipulating temporal flow within them. Both significantly more complex than basic dimensional stability."
"How much more complex?"
"Dimensional expansion is perhaps twice as difficult as basic stability. Time dilation is an order of magnitude harder—you're not just folding space but altering fundamental physics within the dimensional pocket."
Lin Feng's consciousness streams immediately engaged with the challenge. Time-dilated training chambers would be revolutionary for disciple development, but the complexity involved was genuinely daunting.
"Estimated timeline for working proficiency in time dilation?" he asked.
Elder Wei considered carefully. "Most dimensional engineers spend five years mastering basic time dilation. With your advantages... optimistically, eight months. More realistically, twelve months. And that's just for simple dilation ratios like two-to-one or three-to-one."
"What about five-to-one dilation?"
"Advanced mastery level. Normally requires a decade of specialized study." Wei's expression turned calculating. "Though if anyone could accelerate that timeline, it would be someone with perfect meridians, void cultivation, and consciousness division capabilities. Still, I wouldn't expect five-to-one dilation in less than eighteen months."
Eighteen months was exactly when they needed it for sect founding. Lin Feng's analytical mind noted the precise alignment of timeline with requirements—almost suspiciously perfect, except Wei had no reason to calibrate estimates specifically to their founding schedule.
"I'll aim for basic time dilation in eight months," Lin Feng decided. "Two-to-one or three-to-one ratio for initial training chambers. We can expand to higher ratios after sect founding if possible."
"Pragmatic approach. The documentation for dimensional expansion and time dilation fundamentals is here—" Wei indicated jade slips "—along with practice exercises. Warning: time dilation practice will be spiritually exhausting. Budget carefully."
Lin Feng accepted the documentation, already restructuring his daily schedule mentally. Dimensional engineering had proven more complex than anticipated, but also more immediately rewarding. The breakthrough today justified the time investment.
Month Two, Day Fifteen
The Inverse Void Dao documentation project occupied three hours each morning, Lin Feng writing while Qingxue edited and organized. They'd completed the Foundations section after six weeks of work—twenty thousand words covering fundamental philosophy, basic void manipulation, and consciousness awareness principles.
"This section on accepting contradiction is excellent," Qingxue commented, reviewing his latest draft. "You've managed to explain a deeply philosophical concept through practical cultivation examples. But the section on void energy circulation needs expansion—you're assuming readers already understand spiritual energy basics."
Lin Feng read through the passage she'd flagged, his consciousness divided to analyze from both expert and novice perspectives. She was right—he'd written for someone with his level of understanding rather than complete beginners.
"I'll add foundational material," he confirmed, making annotations. "Three more paragraphs covering basic spiritual energy theory before introducing void energy specifics."
"Better. We also need more warning labels in the consciousness expansion section. You describe the techniques as straightforward, but attempting consciousness division without proper preparation could cause serious mental damage."
"Good catch." Lin Feng added prominent warnings about prerequisites and risks. "Anything else?"
"The practical exercises need estimated timelines. You say 'practice until comfortable,' but new cultivators need concrete benchmarks. How long should basic void gathering take before moving to next exercise?"
Lin Feng's temporal analysis projected typical learning curves based on his observations of other cultivators. "Two weeks for basic void gathering, assuming daily practice. One month for stable void manipulation. Three months for simple formations. I'll add those timelines."
They continued editing for another hour, Qingxue's systematic approach catching dozens of assumptions, gaps, and unclear explanations that Lin Feng's expert familiarity had overlooked.
"We're about twenty percent complete on total curriculum," she calculated. "Foundations section finished, Basic Techniques section sixty percent done. Current pace suggests nine months total for complete documentation rather than eight months estimated."
"Still within acceptable margin," Lin Feng noted. "We built buffer into the timeline specifically for overruns."
"Agreed. Though I'm concerned about the Advanced Theory section—that will require significantly more time than basic material. We might need to accelerate somewhere to maintain overall schedule."
Lin Feng divided his consciousness, analyzing their workflow for optimization opportunities. "We could increase daily documentation time from three hours to four, but that reduces time available for other obligations. Or we could accept that Advanced Theory gets completed during months ten through twelve rather than earlier."
"I prefer completing earlier sections thoroughly over rushing everything. Advanced Theory can be months ten through twelve—we'll have more expertise by then anyway, making the writing more efficient."
The pragmatic assessment aligned with Lin Feng's own thinking. Better to write advanced material later when they had deeper understanding than rush it prematurely.
"Agreed. Maintain three hours daily, complete sections sequentially, accept that Advanced Theory comes later."
Qingxue marked the adjustment on her organizational jade slip. Their sect founding timeline had hundreds of such micro-adjustments—small optimizations that collectively kept the impossible schedule manageable.
Month Two, Day Twenty-Three
Combat training had evolved into sophisticated pattern work as Lin Feng's seven-stream combat framework became increasingly refined. Han Shu and Liu Feng had developed specific drills targeting his weaknesses—situations where spatial perception provided less advantage, scenarios requiring pure speed over tactical analysis, combinations that forced consciousness stream reallocation under pressure.
Today's drill involved fighting while maintaining a stable pocket dimension simultaneously.
"This is ridiculous," Lin Feng muttered, his consciousness stretched across eleven streams—seven for combat operations, four for dimensional stability maintenance.
"This is essential," Han Shu corrected, launching another heavy strike. "If you're going to use dimensional techniques in actual combat, you need to maintain them under pressure. Otherwise they're training room curiosities, not tactical assets."
Liu Feng attacked from the opposite vector, forcing Lin Feng to defend on multiple fronts while his dimensional pocket fluctuated dangerously. One stream diverted to stabilize the pocket. Liu Feng's blade grazed his ribs—clean strike.
"Dead," Liu Feng announced clinically. "You prioritized dimensional maintenance over defense. Wrong choice."
"The pocket dimension was collapsing—"
"So let it collapse. You can create another dimension. You can't un-die." Han Shu's combat instructor tone brooked no argument. "In combat, staying alive always takes absolute priority over maintaining techniques."
The tactical wisdom was obvious once stated, but Lin Feng's instinct had been to preserve the formation he'd worked hard to create. Wrong instinct under combat pressure.
"Acknowledged," he said. "Dimension collapse is acceptable cost if it enables survival. Reset?"
They ran the drill twelve more times over the next hour. Each iteration taught Lin Feng better priorities—when to maintain dimensions, when to collapse them, how to use collapsing dimensions offensively by releasing stored energy explosively, how to create temporary dimensional pockets as distractions rather than sustained effects.
By the end, he could fight effectively while maintaining dimensional effects, but only by treating dimensions as tactical tools rather than achievements to protect.
"Better," Han Shu assessed. "You're starting to think like combat cultivator rather than formation specialist. Techniques serve survival, not the other way around."
"Though in fairness," Liu Feng added, "once you master dimensional engineering fully, some effects will be worth protecting. Time-dilated training chambers aren't something you casually collapse. The question is knowing which effects are tactical tools versus strategic assets."
Lin Feng's analytical mind processed that distinction. Tactical tools could be sacrificed for immediate advantage. Strategic assets required protection because their long-term value exceeded short-term benefits from abandoning them.
"How do I develop judgment for that distinction?" he asked.
"Experience," both bodyguards said simultaneously, then grinned at the synchronization.
"Every combat situation is different," Han Shu elaborated. "You develop intuition through repeated exposure. But general principle: anything you can recreate within minutes is tactical tool. Anything requiring hours or days to rebuild is strategic asset."
The framework provided useful heuristic for real-time decision-making. Lin Feng filed it away for future combat applications.
Month Two, Day Twenty-Eight
"You're at fifty-three percent progression toward Divine Domain Level 8," Grand Elder Bingxin assessed after their weekly cultivation review. "Ten percent advancement in four weeks is excellent pace—ahead of projections."
Lin Feng's consciousness divided to analyze the numbers. Fifty-three percent at week eight meant roughly six percent monthly advancement. At that rate, he'd reach one hundred percent by month fourteen—eight months slower than the six-month target.
"The progression rate is slowing," he observed. "First two weeks I advanced thirteen percent, second two weeks only ten percent, these past four weeks another ten percent. The curve is flattening."
"Expected behavior," Bingxin confirmed. "Early cultivation level advancement is always faster than late-stage consolidation. The final twenty percent of any level typically takes as long as the first fifty percent."
Lin Feng's temporal analysis recalculated based on that principle. If the pattern held, reaching one hundred percent would require not six months but closer to ten months.
"That's beyond target timeline," he said carefully.
"Which is why breakthrough cultivation exists." Bingxin produced a jade slip containing specialized techniques. "When natural progression slows, intensive breakthrough cultivation can accelerate advancement—at significant cost in resources and risk."
"What kind of cost and risk?"
"Breakthrough cultivation consumes spiritual resources at ten times normal rate and carries five percent chance of cultivation deviation if improperly managed. Most cultivators use it sparingly, only when desperate or when they have extensive support to manage risks."
Lin Feng's consciousness streams analyzed the tradeoff. Ten times resource consumption was expensive but manageable given their funding strategies. Five percent deviation risk was concerning but not prohibitive.
"When would you recommend attempting breakthrough cultivation for Level 8?" he asked.
"At eighty-five percent natural progression, leaving the final fifteen percent for breakthrough achievement. That provides maximum safety margin while still accelerating advancement." Bingxin's expression turned serious. "Attempting breakthrough cultivation too early increases deviation risk substantially. At fifty percent progression, deviation risk would be closer to twenty percent—unacceptably dangerous."
"So I continue natural cultivation until approximately month seven or eight, then use breakthrough cultivation for final advancement?"
"Exactly. That timeline puts you at Level 8 around month nine—three months beyond original target but still well within sect founding requirements."
Lin Feng's consciousness streams accepted the revised timeline. Three months slower than ideal, but still feasible given overall schedule buffer.
"I can work with that," he confirmed.
"Good. Now, I want to discuss your consciousness infrastructure development..." Bingxin shifted to detailed technical assessment of his nine-stream capabilities, identifying areas for improvement and projecting when he might manage sustainable ten or eleven streams.
The conversation lasted two hours, covering cultivation minutiae most cultivators never needed to consider. But then, most cultivators weren't attempting eighteen-month transformation from Divine Domain Level 7 to sect founder.
Month Two, Day Thirty
Evening found Lin Feng and Qingxue reviewing the month's progress against their eighteen-month plan. Two months complete, sixteen months remaining, dozens of metrics to evaluate.
"Cultivation advancement: on track after timeline adjustment," Qingxue read from her comprehensive documentation. "Dimensional engineering: ahead of schedule after today's breakthrough. Combat capabilities: progressing appropriately. Documentation project: slightly behind but manageable. Alliance relationships: maintaining adequately. Resource acquisition: concerning."
"Concerning how?" Lin Feng asked, his analytical mind immediately focusing on problems.
"We've acquired eighteen thousand spiritual stones through mission payments and formation documentation sales. Target for month two was twenty-five thousand—we're seven thousand behind."
Lin Feng divided his consciousness to analyze revenue streams. Mission payments had been lower than projected because they'd been selective about which operations to accept. Documentation sales were solid but couldn't accelerate without compromising quality.
"The trade arrangements through Azure Sky should begin generating returns next month," he noted. "That should bring us back on target."
"Should, but not guaranteed. I'm recommending we accept one high-value mission in month three specifically for revenue generation." Qingxue produced mission documentation. "Azure Sky has requested assistance with demonic cultivator investigation—estimated payment forty thousand spiritual stones for successful completion."
"Forty thousand?" That was more than double their two-month accumulated revenue. "What's the catch?"
"High risk. The investigation targets suspected Sovereign Monarch level demonic cultivator who may be rebuilding Crimson Empress organization. Combat is likely, danger is significant."
Lin Feng's tactical mind immediately engaged with the mission parameters while his consciousness streams analyzed risks. Sovereign Monarch level opponent was genuinely dangerous, but Azure Sky wouldn't request assistance if they thought he'd die attempting it.
"What role would I play?" he asked.
"Intelligence gathering using your spatial perception and consciousness division. Azure Sky provides combat support—you're there for tactical advantage, not primary combat role."
That was more manageable. Using his unique capabilities for reconnaissance while Azure Sky handled direct combat aligned with his strengths.
"Estimated time commitment?"
"Two weeks including preparation and execution. Significant but manageable within our schedule."
Lin Feng's temporal analysis projected forward, calculating how two weeks affected other obligations. He'd need to reduce cultivation time slightly and postpone some documentation work, but nothing catastrophic.
"When does Azure Sky need response?" he asked.
"Within three days. Mission would begin in two weeks."
"I'll need to consult with Grand Elder Bingxin about temporary training adjustments, coordinate with Han Shu and Liu Feng for mission support, and verify Patriarch Cloud Heaven approves." Lin Feng's consciousness streams organized the coordination requirements. "But provisionally yes—forty thousand spiritual stones would solve our resource concerns for next three months."
"Agreed. I'll send preliminary acceptance to Azure Sky pending final approvals." Qingxue marked the decision on her organizational documentation. "Anything else concerning from the month two review?"
"Your sleep schedule," Lin Feng said bluntly. "You're averaging five hours per night instead of eight. That's not sustainable for sixteen more months."
Through their dao companion bond, he felt her startled recognition that he'd been monitoring her rest patterns.
"Organizational planning takes time—"
"Organizational planning that leads to your collapse serves no one. We need to optimize workflow or delegate some planning tasks."
Qingxue's analytical mind reluctantly acknowledged the logic. "Delegating to whom? We can't share confidential sect founding plans with people outside our immediate circle."
"Xiao Ling," Lin Feng suggested. "She's proven organizational genius, absolutely trustworthy, and already knows most details from administrative work. We could bring her into complete confidence as future sect administrator."
The suggestion made Qingxue pause, consciousness processing implications. Bringing Xiao Ling fully into planning meant another person sharing responsibility, another perspective contributing insights, and genuine delegation possibility.
"She'd be valuable," Qingxue admitted slowly. "And she deserves the opportunity—she's been supporting us constantly without expecting recognition."
"Then we make it formal. Invite her to planning sessions, share complete timeline documentation, offer her administrative leadership position when Hollow Peak Sect is established."
"With appropriate compensation and authority commensurate with responsibility."
"Obviously."
They sealed the decision with synchronized meditation, their dao companion bond reinforcing mutual commitment to both sect founding success and sustainable process.
Two months complete.
Sixteen months remaining.
Five hundred and four days until Hollow Peak Sect's establishment.
The impossible continued to become merely improbable through systematic work, strategic planning, and partnership that distributed impossible load across multiple capable people.
Progress was progress.
Even when it was slower, more expensive, and more complicated than originally projected.
End of Chapter 76