Mysterious Space

By the time Luo Zhe regained consciousness, the stars had shifted, the white veil of dawn had descended, and the sun was shining high above.

Below, the flow of pedestrians was endless and hurried, their voices occasionally shouting, "Make way, move aside!" while the nearby highway was already filled with the relentless blare of car horns.

With a sudden jolt, Luo Zhe scrambled up from the floor.

The watch on his wrist displayed the time: seven-fifteen and thirty-seven seconds in the morning.

Luo Zhe frowned, sat cross-legged, and stared with a heavy expression at the pool of dried, blackened blood on the floor.

"The article on the Genetic Energy Cultivation Method never mentioned that one would vomit blood during practice."

"And..." Luo Zhe reached down toward his lower abdomen, pressing against his dantian, feeling carefully. "I felt it clearly last night—a sensation of intense explosion."

Focusing all his consciousness on the area three inches below his navel, Luo Zhe scrutinized every detail. In the depths of his being, he sensed a suction force, like a black hole in the cosmos, possessing an overwhelming pull.

Whoosh!

Luo Zhe felt as if he had fallen into a state of semi-blindness, the entire world turning gray and hazy. When he felt his vision return to normal—

He discovered!

Before him was a gray-white space!

And he was currently standing at the very center of this expanse!

It was a peculiar space with very low visibility; beyond a ten-meter radius from where Luo Zhe stood, everything was obscured, as if some invisible force had forcibly partitioned the space beyond that distance.

"What is this place??"

Luo Zhe stared at his surroundings, dumbfounded. Given his current knowledge, he could not identify this place at all.

"Damn it all, the article didn't say that practicing the Genetic Energy Cultivation Method would lead to trans-dimensional travel! I only started practicing yesterday, for heaven's sake!"

"Am I already this overpowered!?"

But that made no sense...

Luo Zhe began to practice a set of basic martial arts taught at the Dojo—straight punches, hanging chops, blocks... After finishing the simple, unadorned routine, there were no earth-shattering displays or spatial fractures to be seen.

"Could I be dreaming?"

He reached out and pinched his arm hard.

Hiss!

It hurt!

So, this was definitely his own body!

"Shouldn't have been so heavy-handed, damn, it's already bruised." He rubbed the bruise carefully with his palm, trying to disperse the pooled blood.

"Right!"

Luo Zhe suddenly thought: if this really was his body, were all his parts still intact?

He hurriedly pulled down his pants to take a peek. Big brother, you better not have gone missing!

Thank goodness! The goods were still there!

After a thorough check, Luo Zhe confirmed that this was indeed his own body, which meant that the space before him was also a real, physical location.

At the very least, he was physically present within this space!

Luo Zhe decided to investigate further!

He first looked around the cramped space. Since it was quite small, he reached the end after only a few steps. At the hazy boundary, an invisible membrane blocked his path. Beyond it, one could vaguely see gray gases drifting leisurely, occasionally merging into the membrane without causing a single ripple.

Luo Zhe tried to push against the edge, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move forward even half an inch.

Despite receiving a flurry of angry, desperate punches from Luo Zhe, the invisible membrane remained as steady as Mount Tai, keeping silent without so much as a peep!

Perhaps this membrane was once a loyal fan of TVB dramas, deeply understanding the phrase, "You have the right to remain silent, but anything you say will be used as evidence in court," and thus it diligently played the role of a silent tool.

(The membrane itself: Whether you're a gangster or a thug, I am who I am, a firework of a different color!)

Next, Luo Zhe walked along the edge, confirming that the space was a hemisphere with a ten-meter radius, encased by the invisible membrane.

"Am I really going to be trapped here to die?" Luo Zhe sat down on the ground in distress.

This miniature space was filled with gray-white colors; other than that, it was empty. It was like a gray-white box, deathly silent and devoid of life.

Such a small space was clearly a prison, and he was locked inside. The worst part was that there were no supplies whatsoever.

What the hell!

Things had gone wrong while practicing genetic energy last night, and now he was inexplicably trapped here.

Could it be that this was his zodiac year of bad luck!?

But he was only twenty-one! This "year of bad luck" was arriving way too early, wasn't it!?

Time ticked by, second by second, while this gray-white space remained as unchanging as the eternal stars. Luo Zhe raised his hand to check his watch; it displayed nine-eighteen and thirty-three seconds in the morning.

He had been in this space for nearly two hours, yet he still had no clue how to leave.

This was completely beyond anything he had ever learned!

This was a question way out of his league!

Dear teachers, I will definitely study hard from now on, please just make sure to bless me so I can leave this place alive!

I'm begging you!

However, it is strange; from last night until now, Luo Zhe has not eaten for a full 14 hours, yet he currently feels no hunger at all.

Although a martial artist's physical fitness is far superior to that of an ordinary person, it still falls within the category of a normal human; the basic needs of eating, drinking, and excreting still exist, at most with a much slower metabolism than the average person.

But here, it is as if his bodily functions have completely ceased their consumption!

No, to be precise, it is not that his bodily functions have ceased, as Luo Zhe can feel that his physical functions are all normal.

Whether it is his breathing or the flurry of punches he just unleashed upon the membrane, both have consumed a fair amount of energy.

Luo Zhe hadn't noticed it just now, as his attention was entirely focused on this stubbornly resisting membrane, and he hadn't realized that after such a wild beating, he wasn't even panting!?

It seems the reason lies within this space itself.

Assuming the Five-Heart-to-Heaven Cultivation Method posture, Luo Zhe calmed his mind and quietly sensed the movements around him through his five hearts.

The moment he entered a meditative state, Luo Zhe felt as if the entire world...

Lit up!

The entire space was interwoven with countless fine threads—red, blue, gold—various colors of threads turning the gray-white space into a colorful dye vat. Between these threads, one could vaguely see small clusters of transparent gas drifting through.

When this transparent gas drifted around Luo Zhe's body, it was drawn in by the tiny vortices formed by the cosmic energy being absorbed through the soles of his feet, the palms of his hands, and the crown of his head, then permeated into his body through these vortices.

"Ah—" A shuddering sensation originating from the depths of his bone marrow!

This familiar shudder, the same feeling as absorbing cosmic energy yesterday, was exactly the same!

This small space actually contained a massive amount of cosmic energy!

Even when Luo Zhe was not in a cultivation state, the dense cosmic energy would still spontaneously pass through his five hearts and slowly permeate his body, thereby maintaining the consumption of his bodily functions. Furthermore, the excess cosmic energy within his body was silently converting into Genetic Origin Energy, slowly strengthening his physique.

Most importantly, this process was passive!

In other words, even if Luo Zhe did not actively cultivate, the large amount of cosmic energy contained in this space would continuously enter his body, improving his physical fitness and, consequently, his strength.

Thinking of this, Luo Zhe's eyes lit up; if he could find a way to enter and exit freely, this space could become an excellent place for cultivation.

"Hah!"

With that thought, Luo Zhe no longer bothered to maintain the Five-Heart-to-Heaven posture, lying flat on his back and staring blankly at the gray air currents drifting ten meters above him.

He had been here for so long already; if there were a way to come and go freely, he wouldn't be trapped here like this.

Fortunately, staying here didn't make him feel hungry, which at least guaranteed he wouldn't become the first martial artist to starve to death—otherwise, he would lose face in a big way.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration crossed his mind!

He had entered this mysterious space because, when he concentrated his consciousness to sense the anomaly in his dantian, he perceived an inexplicable suction force, and then he inexplicably appeared here.

If he were to make a bold assumption now, this mysterious space he was currently in was actually a mysterious space opened up within his dantian when he practiced the Five-Heart-to-Heaven Cultivation Method.

Connecting this to the massive explosion he felt in his dantian while practicing Genetic Origin Energy last night, Luo Zhe felt he had discovered a new world!

Regardless of whether this space was truly opened up within his dantian, if he followed this line of reasoning and concentrated his consciousness to sense his dantian again while in this space, surely he wouldn't end up appearing in yet another space, right?