I Level Up By Making Enemies

But poor Lin Feng learned quickly that the raised root platform was never going to save him nor give him an advantage. The water beast rose in a surge of black water and crushing intent, its plated body gleaming with moving streams of water qi.

Every motion dragged the environment with it and bades of pressurized water carved across the roots. Heavy, hammer like surges tried to smash Lin Feng off the platform and into the deeper channels where he would drown in seconds. The air itself felt hard to breathe under the weight of its presence.

Lin Feng burned through his Qi trying to keep up with it. Fleet Footed Dash and the upgraded Blackroot Traction kept him sliding across slick roots that should have dumped him into the water. Thick Face Counterstep bought him half seconds of counter space that he immediately spent on survival rather than real damage.

A water lance opened a deep, burning cut across his chest. A blunt impact slammed him into a root wall hard enough to make his vision flash black and fill his mouth with the taste of blood. His foundation felt like a candle left out in a storm.

It was not a fight but a one sided punch down, Ling Feng realised just as another heavy surge ripped the last solid footing from under him. Lin Feng hit the roots hard, rolled, and ended up with his back against the final high root cluster.

Blood now ran freely down his side and chest and his qi was scraped almost dry. The water beast loomed above him, water qi gathering into a dense, killing point aimed straight at his heart. There was no more room to Dash away and the Pungent Ward Vial wasn’t working on this thing either.

So this is it, Lin Feng thought, the clarity was strange and cold in the middle of the pain. Now I understand why the Orchid Veil disciples looked at me like I was already a corpse when I first stepped into this swamp. Why Yu Mei never bothered pretending I would last. This place is a gauntlet that keeps raising the difficulty until the intruder breaks. I am just the next body on the floor.

The killing blow began to fall. Then a vast, cold, and clearly irritated pressure descended across the entire stretch of water and root towards them. The surging water froze mid motion. The water beast’s gathered killing intent shuddered and compressed, as if an invisible hand had closed around its will and squeezed.

A voice that seemed to come from the water, the roots, and the air itself spoke a single word.

”Enough.”

The water beast convulsed. Pure territorial fury warred against the deeper will of the swamp. For a moment it tried to push forward anyway, determined to finish the intruder. Then the pressure increased and the beast let out a distorted, furious sound, then was forced backward, step by step, into the deeper channels. The black water closed over its plated body.

The immediate killing intent vanished, suppressed rather than destroyed.

Lin Feng collapsed onto one knee, coughing blood, barely able to stay conscious.

[Extreme environmental hostility detected]

[Orchid Veil Swamp irritation signature recorded]

[High density residual field absorbed]

[Bonus settlement triggered]

[Rage value : 12,000]

[Current Rage Points : 22,962]

[Note: As usual Host has become a significant and repeated disturbance. Consequences follow.]

The pressure did not lift from Lin Feng. But it turned on him.

The mist around the platform thickened into a crushing weight and roots shifted under his hands. The air itself pushed against his body with a force. This was the vast, annoyed will of the swamp deciding that he would no longer be tolerated in there.

There was no negotiation and no explanation.

The force closed around him and moved. Lin Feng felt himself dragged backward through root, mist, and water at a speed he could not resist. The breath was crushed from his lungs and vision darkened at the edges. The last clear sensation was the sharp, final feeling of being thrown across a boundary that immediately sealed behind him.

When the pressure finally released, he hit wet ground hard and rolled. He choked, spat blood, and forced his eyes open through the swimming black spots.

The heavy, watchful density of the middle layer was gone. He survived for now but when he eventually tried to go back in, he already knew the boundary would refuse him until something changed, until he found a way to make the swamp accept him or... Make a deal with it.

Lin Feng spat the last of the blood from his mouth and forced himself up onto one knee.

”Damn,” a familiar voice said. ”Trouble really does follow you everywhere, huh?”

Lin Feng turned his head. The muscular disciple stood a few paces away, arms crossed, the blonde chick was beside her. Both of them were staring at him with open disbelief.

The muscular one looked him up and down. ”You look like shit.”

Lin Feng wiped blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. ”You look better than the last time I saw you.”

She blinked, then let out a short, sharp laugh and stepped forward. Her hand came down on his back in a heavy, friendly slap.

The impact drove the air from his lungs and dropped him flat onto the wet ground. Fresh pain flared through every half healed injury.

”Well?” she said to the blonde one. ”What do we do with him? The token hasn’t made a sound.”

The blonde disciple glanced at the dull watch token on Lin Feng’s wrist.

”You’re right,” she said quietly. ” Officially, he hasn’t violated our rules.”

”And unofficially?” the muscular one asked.

”Unofficially the swamp itself just spat him out.” The blonde one’s mouth tightened.

”He’s still a permitted guest on paper, but the swamp he was sent to have rejected him. He can’t go back in. He also can’t just sit out here on the boundary forever. This is still Orchid Veil territory.”

”I’ll report it,” the blonde one decided after a moment.

”This is above us. The elders need to know a guest was forcibly expelled by the swamp itself. Stay with him. Don’t let him do anything else stupid before I get back.”

The muscular one gave Lin Feng a long, flat look.

”Oh, I’ll watch him,” she said. ”He’s not going anywhere.”

The blonde disciple turned and left at a quick pace, heading toward the sect and the muscular one stayed behind.

”Well what did you do?” she asked as she looked down at him. ”I’ve never seen the swamp just spit someone out before.”

Lin Feng stayed on the ground for a moment, breathing carefully. ”Apparently I made enough noise to irritate it.”

Her eyebrows rose. For a fraction of a second something like real impression crossed her face. Then it was gone, replaced by a wide, menacing grin.

”Well. You’re probably getting lashed and kicked out of the territory if you’re lucky.”

Lin Feng rolled onto his back and stared up at the gray sky. The near death clarity from the water beast fight still sat in his chest. He had been one blow away from dying. The only reason he was still breathing was that he had managed to annoy an ancient swamp spirit enough for it to shut the whole situation down and throw him out.

Thinking about it, when the swamp appeared in front of him, it was mentioned that he would have no protection. But had it wanted to, the swamp could have let the water beast kill him, right? He thought.

In a way the swamp saved his life, but not out of kindness as it made sure to kick him out as well. Either way he can’t just sit idle as only 73 days left for the deadline to end and he have made a promise to yu mei too. But now the swamp itself had locked the door and he had no idea how to get back in.

The blonde chick returned soon with a hardened expression.

”We’re escorting him inside,” she said. ”This is rare enough that the elders want to see him.”

The muscular one stared. ”Really?”

”Really.”

She looked back down at Lin Feng and shook her head. ”Damn. You must be the unluckiest bastard alive.”

”Hold him.” The blonde chick said.

”Ladies, i can walk on my own.” Lin Feng said and tried to stand on his own.

”With those injuries you’ll just slow us down. Shut up before I throw you over my shoulder.”

Lin Feng shut up and let them drag him along.

The walk from the swamp edge to the Orchid Veil Sect was long enough for the landscape to change completely. Wild, root choked margins gave way to cleaner paths and ordered herb fields. Disciples in pale robes gathering plants or walking patrol stopped dead when they saw a bloodied male being escorted by two of their own.

Lin Feng kept his expression flat and his mouth closed. Being the only man in a sea of staring women was exactly as strange as it sounded.

The sect gates were tall, pale stone wrapped in living vines that bloomed with small white flowers. The guards on duty looked at Lin Feng like he was trash, but they stepped aside when the muscular disciple gave a short explanation. The moment he passed under the arch, the difference between Orchid Veil and Flowing Wind hit him.