I Level Up By Making Enemies

The first marker stones appeared out of the mist like pale bones. Orchid patterns were carved into them. Beyond the stones, the path broke into wet black soil and standing water. Two women inwhite robes stood at the boundary and they saw him immediately as he approached the swamp.

The taller one lifted her spear staff before he had even reached speaking distance. Vines along the nearest marker stone stirred as if it was waking. The other women started forming a seal with her fingers, and the surface of a nearby pool tightened unnaturally, responding to her qi.

”Stop,” the taller one said. ”This is Orchid Veil restricted ground. No men beyond the markers.”

Lin Feng raised both hands loosely. ”Calm down, ladies. I’m expected.”

”You’re a male,” the other women replied as if that alone closed the matter. ”Turn around and get out.”

”I have a guest seal from Flowing Wind Sect Master Yue Qingfeng.”

That only made their expressions harden. In their eyes he was either lost, lying, or testing how soft the sect have become.

The taller one did not even asked to see the seal, she simply chose to attack him. Water surged up from the pool in a compressed lash, while the marker vines snapped out low for his ankles. Lin Feng activated Fleet Footed Dash carrying him off the centerline. The water strike ripped through the space where his chest had been and split a reed bed apart. He cut inward before the vines completed their coil, forcing the taller women to retract or risk binding her own partner’s angle.

Qi reinforced his own arms as he deflected a second water blade with the back of his wrist and stepped through the spray. The shorter disciple tried to pin his footing by hardening the mud under him into clinging slurry. He slid off it and sent a palm toward the taller one’s shoulder to break her rhythm. She blocked it, but her eyes sharpened with surprise .She clearly not expected him to last the opening exchange. But still against two of this at this pace, he don’t know how long he can hold on.

Then a third person appeared. Lin Feng only saw the new seal flash at the edge of vision before a vine struck his side and threw him into a shallow pool. He rolled, coughed, and got one knee under him in time to catch the next attack on both arms. The impact numbed his fingers. One against two had been possible for a few minutes . One against three, on their terrain was not possible at all.

”Subdue him.” The third women said.

A binding lattice vine climbed his calf. Another water lash forced him to choose between guarding his head or his free leg. He chose his head, got his stance ripped half awaynand had to burn another burst of movement skill just to avoid being dragged facebfirst into deeper water. His back hit a marker stone hard enough to knock breath from his lungs.

Alright. Lin Feng shoved a hand into his pouch, forced qi into Yue Qingfeng’s guest seal, and raised it as the next binding strike came down.

The seal flared.

The vine attack halted mid lash. All three women froze, eyes locked on the token as its recommendation pattern unfolded inlight.

The taller one’s expression twisted. ”That—”

”I did say I was expected,” Lin Feng said, still half in the pool.

None of them apologized. The women were stillbfurious enough to continue anyway, seal or no seal, but a fourth presence pressed through the mist before she could decide. The other three went rigid quickly seeing the new presence.

The woman who arrived looked older than them by several years. Her robes were darker orchid, edge marked with authority lines, and her gaze took in Lin Feng’s soaked figure with open distaste.

”You used a Flowing Wind command seal on our boundary,” she said.

Lin Feng held the seal up more politely this time.

”Guest recommendation from Sect Master Yue Qingfeng. I’m not here for your inner grounds. I only need access to the swamp.”

Her eyes narrowed.

”Watch him,” she told her disciples.”If he leaves the marker line, cripple the leg he uses first.”

Then she turned back into the mist and was gone.

They did not invite him under shelter. They left him by the boundary stones with wet clothes and three hostile pairs of eyes. Lin Feng wrung out one sleeve, then gave up and let the rest hang.

The three disciples infront of him were all young, sharp faced and difficult to look away from. Back on Earth, Jack would already have been working on wooing them. For a brief second, the old habit surfaced and he thought that if the place was full of faces like these, the exile might not be pure suffering.

Then he remembered the water whip and the vine lattice. Any one of them looked ready to drown him and be done with it.He smiled anyway, which immediately worsened the atmosphere.

”What are you smiling at?” one disciple demanded.

”Relief,” Lin Feng said. ”I was worried the welcome would be unfriendly.”

The third disciple’s fingers flexed. ”Keep talking. The senior sister only said to watch you, not to tolerate your ramblings.”

”Then you’ll have a very tense watch,” Lin Feng replied. ”I’m many things but quiet is not one of them.”

[Irritation detected]

[Rage Value +34]

[Current Rage Points: 996]

They kept him there long enough for his clothes to stop start clinging. Mist moved over the black water in slow sheets.When the senior finally returned, she was no longer alone. An elder came with her.

There was no need for an introduction. The elder’s presence was enough. Her gaze pinned Lin Feng in place.

”You are Lin Feng.”

”Yes.”

”Flowing Wind sent a man into the Veiled Orchid Swamp on temporary external recommendation.”

The elder’s tone treated the sentence itself as offensive.

”Yue Qingfeng’s seal is genuine. That buys you some consideration.”

Lin Feng cupped his fists. ”Consideration is all I’m asking for.”

”You will receive less than that,” she said.

”Access conditions are as follows. You may enter the outer and middle channels of the Veiled Orchid Swamp at your own risk. You will not cross into sealed orchid core zones. You will not approach Orchid Veil Sect residence grounds for any reason. We provide no lodging, no medicine, no guides, and no rescue obligation. A watch token will track whether you remain inside permitted bounds. If you break restriction, harass our disciples, or create a mess, we will expel you or punish you under Orchid Veil law. Since you are not our disciple, our generosity begins and ends with not drowning you at the swamp”

The disciples looked openly satisfied by the last line.

Lin Feng nodded. ”Clear enough.”

The elder studied him one more moment, as if still debating whether Yue Qingfeng’s respectability was worth this exception between rival sects. Then she turned slightly to the senior sister.

”Issue the watch token. If he dies in the fog, retrieve that and the Flowing Wind seal. Nothing else.”

No one wished him good fortune. The senior sister flicked a cold metal tag toward him. When it touched his qi, it sank against his wrist like a shackle. The boundary mist ahead loosened a bit, acknowledging the ugly little permission he had been granted.

As he stepped past the marker stones, the taller disciple finally spoke behind him.

”Oh, and outsider,” she said. ” The swamp is not quite peaceful as you might think. ”

”That’s fine,” he said. ” I think peaceful places are overrated anyways.”