I Level Up By Making Enemies

Lin Feng’s body felt like it had been taken apart and put back together wrong. Every breath pulled at the torn muscles in his side. The deep gash on his thigh kept seeping and his qi was scraped so low that staying conscious took real effort. A few paces away, the bound beast lay with its eyes locked on him, radiating constant, quiet hatred. The connection between them felt thin. Every time his focus slipped, it tightened like a wire around his skull.

Yu Mei crouched beside him and pressed a bitter smelling paste into the worst of the shoulder wound. It stung.

”Hold still,” she said. ”If you die next to my shelter I have to deal with the body. And I’d rather not.”

Lin Feng let out a slow, careful breath. ”I’ll try not to die and make a mess for you.”

”See that you don’t.” She tied the bandage tighter. ”That bind is unstable as it’s still showing too much resentment. If you lose consciousness for too long, it might break through the bond and then might not ever wake up.”

He already knew as he could feel it. Yu Mei stood and wiped her hands. ” But you made too much noise. My shelter isn’t quiet anymore. I’ll let you stay a few more hours so you don’t bleed out on my doorstep. After that, you take your new pet and move. There’s a secondary root hollow half a day from here. It can handle residual hostility better than this place. I’ll point you to it. That’s as far as i can help you for now.”

Lin Feng looked at the beast. It stared back with pure, patient hate.

”And reinforcing the bind?”

”You’re in no condition to force anything right now,” she said flatly. ”Trying will probably kill you. Move first, recover second and eal with that angry monster third, if you live long enough.”

He didn’t have the strength to argue.

”Fine.”

Yu Mei gave a short nod, as if that was the only acceptable answer. She went back into the shelter and returned with a waterskin, another strip of cloth, and a small pouch of dried bitter roots.

”These will keep fever down. Don’t waste them.”

She set them beside him and stepped back. The bound beast tracked her for a moment, then returned its glare to Lin Feng, reminding him the only reason it hadn’t moved was the thin, painful connection between them.

Lin Feng rested his head against the root wall and breathed carefully. He had a foundation that currently felt hollow, one unstably bound beast that hated him. The swamp around them was too quiet. Something else would notice the leftover chaos eventually.

A few hours. Then he would have to move. He kept his attention on the burning thread of the bind, using the constant resentment like an anchor to stay conscious, and waited for enough strength to stand.

Hours crawled. The creature had not moved from its spot. Lin Feng tried a tiny qi cycle. Just enough to keep his foundation from collapsing further. Even that small effort made the injuries flare and the bind connection shudder. He stopped quickly.

Yu Mei moved in and out of the shelter without wasting words. She once came over to press two fingers against the side of his neck, testing his pulse with a clinical frown. She didn’t offer comfort. She offered time, and even that had a limit.

When the light in the mist had shifted enough to show that several hours had passed, Lin Feng finally forced himself to sit up straighter. Black spots swam across his vision. He waited them out.

”I need to move,” he said. His voice came out rough.

Yu Mei stepped out of the shelter and looked him over. ”Can you actually walk, or are you going to fall on your face ten steps from my door?”

”I’ll walk.”

She gave a short, skeptical sound, then crouched and drew a rough set of landmarks in the dirt. ”Secondary root hollow. Half a day if you’re healthy but probably longer in your condition. Stay to the left of the double twisted mangrove, and remember to avoid any gray root patches, and if the mist starts moving against the wind, get low and stay still. The hollow sits between three large root pillars. It funnels residual hostility outward instead of letting it pool. That’s why it can handle that thing better than here.”

Lin Feng memorized everything.

”The bind will be tested on the road,” she added. ”The beast will push and if you lose the connection halfway, you’ll die. If you try to force a full reinforcement in your current state, you also die. Your only job is to arrive with both of you still breathing.”

He nodded. Before standing, he opened the System Shop. His body was too damaged to ignore.

[Current Rage Points: 13,062 ]

He looked for recovery and injury treatment. Most options cost more than he could justify right now. One practical item sat in the usable range.

[Bone Flesh Mending Salve – Mid Grade]

[Effect: Accelerates closure of deep tissue and muscle damage. Reduces bleeding. Mild meridian soothing. Single use.]

[Cost: 2,800 RP]

He bought it.

[Rage Points remaining: 10,262]

The small jade container appeared in his hand. He pulled the stopper and smeared the sharp smelling salve across the worst of the thigh gash, the shoulder tear, and the deep bruise along his ribs. Heat sank into the wounds almost immediately, followed by a deep, itching tightness as the medicine forced tissue to start knitting. It wouldn’t make him healthy, but it might keep him from ripping everything open again the first time he had to move fast.

Lin Feng put the empty container away, braced one hand against the root wall, and stood. His legs shook. The bound beast rose at the same moment, movements stiff with resistance. The wire in his head burned.

”Follow,” he forced through the connection.

The beast’s hatred spiked. For a second the bind felt like it would tear. Lin Feng pushed back with pure stubborn will, teeth gritted, until the creature took one reluctant step, then another. It followed, but every movement showed the promise of violence.

Yu Mei stepped aside.

”Don’t come back here if you lose control of it,” she said.”

He left the shelter without looking back. The beast padded after him at a distance of several paces, eyes never leaving his back.

The journey was slow and ugly. Every step pulled at his injuries, even with the salve working. He had to stop twice in the first hour just to keep from blacking out. Each time he stopped, the beast tested the bind with a sudden mental shove, a low growl, a spike of killing intent. Lin Feng had to answer every test with focus and spite, reinforcing the thin connection through sheer refusal to let go. Sweat mixed with the leftover blood on his robes.

At one point a cluster of aggressive vine spines sensed weakness and lashed out from a wall of roots. Lin Feng cut them away with the knife, movements awkward while still holding the bind steady. The effort left him breathing hard and seeing spots again.

The mist stayed mostly cooperative. Once it began to sheet against the wind and he dropped low immediately, dragging the beast’s attention with him through the connection until the pressure passed. Yu Mei’s warnings kept him alive more than once.

By the time the three large root pillars came into view, the light had started to thin and Lin Feng’s entire body felt like one continuous bruise. The secondary hollow sat between the pillars exactly as she had described a natural depression where the residual energy flowed outward instead of collecting. The air felt cleaner of lingering hostility, yet still dense enough for cultivation later.

Lin Feng staggered down into the hollow and nearly collapsed against the nearest root wall. The bound beast followed and, after another burning push through the connection, lay down at the outer edge. Ot simply waited there with it’s eyes glowing faintly with hate in the dim light.

Only then did Lin Feng let his legs give out properly.

He sat there breathing, one hand pressed to his side, the other loosely curled as if he could physically hold the bind in place. The salve had helped as the bleeding had stopped and the deepest tears felt less likely to split open, but he was still far from functional. His qi remained critically low. The new milestone mentioned that he have to bind three more beasts like this one to complete it. He can’t even imagine however he’s going to do that.

For now the only goals that mattered were simple. Stay conscious, keep the bind from rupturing and r ecover just enough to not die in this hollow.

The resentful beast watched him without blinking. Lin Feng stared back, jaw set, and began the long, careful process of stealing back enough strength to survive the night.