With the sect master's guidance, Luo Chen's secret training sessions began in earnest.
Three times per week, Luo Chen would meet with Sect Master Tian Qing in a private chamber deep within the sect's tower. These sessions lasted hours, during which the sect master would provide guidance and identify problems in Luo Chen's technique.
"The issue with your current cultivation," Tian Qing explained during one session, "is that you are still thinking of Space Law and Time Law as two separate things. You need to deepen your understanding of their common ground. Do you know what causes space to exist? And what causes time to flow?"
Luo Chen considered the question carefully. In his meditation, he had observed both laws in action, but he had never specifically examined what generated them. "I... don't think I know, Sect Master."
"The answer is the same thing: causality. Events cause other events. This chain of causality creates the flow of time. A cause must occur before an effect, and the flow from cause to effect creates temporal progression. And causality operates differently depending on distance and spatial relationships. The closer you are to the cause, the sooner you feel its effects. The farther away, the longer the delay. Space and time are two expressions of the same fundamental principle—the relationship between cause and effect."
Luo Chen meditated on this insight for hours afterward. If causality was the root of both space and time, then perhaps the next stage of his cultivation would involve understanding and manipulating causality itself—not just the space and time it generated.
The sect master also provided him with access to advanced meditation techniques that accelerated his progress. Luo Chen advanced from the fifth stage of Spiritual Awakening to the ninth stage in just two months—a breakthrough rate that would have seemed impossible before he'd had access to the sect master's guidance.
During this same period, Luo Chen continued his friendship with Qing Xue, though they had to be increasingly careful to keep it from drawing attention. The other disciples had begun to notice the two of them spending time together, and some started to speculate about their relationship.
One evening, as they sat in their favorite garden spot watching the sunset, Qing Xue asked him directly about his unusual advancement rate.
"Luo Chen, I've noticed that your cultivation has advanced incredibly fast over the past months. You started at the same level as most outer disciples, and now you're approaching the peak of Spiritual Awakening. How are you progressing so quickly?"
Luo Chen hesitated. He wanted to tell her the truth about his dual law cultivation, about the sect master's guidance, about everything. But he also knew that such knowledge was dangerous. The more people who knew about his unusual path, the greater the risk of exposure.
"I've been fortunate to have good instruction," he said carefully. "The sect master identified certain areas where I could improve my technique, and I've been working on those specific improvements."
Qing Xue studied his face for a long moment. "You're hiding something," she said finally. "I can tell you're keeping secrets. But I also understand that you might have reasons for doing so. I won't push you to reveal what you're not ready to share. Just know that if you ever do need to talk about it, I'm here to listen."
Luo Chen squeezed her hand gently. "Thank you. That means more to me than you know."