Chapter 28 Counting Down Days

Lin Feng marked the first day on the back of the clearance slip with a single stroke.One hundred days to Level 8. Qi Condensation Level 3 to Level 8 was not a gentle request. It was a demand the sect had dressed in formal language and hung around his neck with a pale token.

He sat cross legged on his cot and ran through the route in silence. Meditation alone would not get him there, the system did not reward quiet virtue, and his foundation did not have the luxury of a pure genius’s growth curve. If he wanted Level 8 inside the deadline, he needed a plan.

Stabilize first, solidify Level 3 and then reak into Level 4 as the first checkpoint. Use restricted grounds for denser circulation. Convert conflict into resources only when the exchange rate was worth it. Push hard only after the route could bear the push.

Lu Cang watched him with deep suspicion. "You’re planning again. Means the next few days are going to become complicated for everyone near you."

"They already are," Lin Feng said, standing up. "That’s why I need better methods "

East Mist Terrace accepted his token with the same thin shimmer as before. He took a place at the edge of the platform, away from two inner path trainees already seated in cleaner postures, and began circulation with restraint.

In through the main route,compress near the dantian. Distribute only where the cycle needed reinforcement. Cut off the extra tension that used to leak into his shoulders and jaw during fights.

The first full loop was imperfect. The second was cleaner. By the fifth, he could feel a larger portion of the gathered qi remaining inside useful channels instead of dispersing as heat and wasted readiness.

One of the inner sect trainees opened his eyes and frowned when he noticed the pale restriction token at Lin Feng’s waist. He simply looked long enough to register the dislike, then closed his eyes again.

By midday Lin Feng stoppe because forcing longer sessions too early would turn progress into inefficiency. He left the platform with his breathing steady and improved.

On the second morning, he returned to the Restricted Counter with the clearance slip and a more specific target. The attendant recognized him this time and looked no happier for it.

"State your exchange category." The attendent said

"Cultivation support," Lin Feng said. "Lower shelf. Routing guidance if available."

What he received after payment was not a profound inheritance. It was a thin supervised booklet on basic inner sect circulation corrections, the material true inner disciples probably ignores after their first month. To Lin Feng, it was still denser and more practical than outer sect common sense. He read it once on the boundary steps, twice on the walk to East Mist Terrace, and then applied it immediately in practice.The difference was real.

Where his qi had previously scraped through turns, the corrected angles reduced resistance. Where he had over reinforced whole limbs, the guidance forced him to feed only the active meridians.

The system then finally responded.

[Cultivation efficiency has improved slightly]

[Host is no longer operating at a trash level]

[Progress toward Level 4: measurable but insufficient]

[Remaining days: 99]

Lin Feng opened his eyes. "Flattering."

When he descended the terrace path, Lu Cang was waiting with two steamed buns

"Well?" Lu Cang asked. "Are you Level 4 yet? Please say no, so I can continue believing the heavens still have order."

"Not yet," Lin Feng said, taking a bun. "But there’s some improvement."

"That is the least exciting form of progress possible."

They ate while walking toward the outer administrative quarter. For the first time in days, Lin Feng became aware of how quiet his system had been. Recovery and restricted cultivation had improved his route, but they had also starved the thing that made his growth abnormal.

That dryness lasted until they reached the Boundary Task Office steps. A pair of outer disciples were already there, arguing over a mid tier slip neither of them had the clearance to take.

"That’s him," the disciple said.

His companion looked over and scoffed. "I thought he’d be hidden in some inner courtyard by now. Turns out the sect only gave him a half pass and sent him back down to stand in line with everyone else."

Lin Feng stopped.

Lu Cang whispered, "Please keep walking. Please. The buns were peaceful. Let the buns remain the highlight of this morning."

Lin Feng ignored him and turned toward the two disciples with mild interest.

"You’re fighting over a task you can’t take," he said.

The first disciple’s face tightened. "What did you say?"

"If effort went into clearance the way it goes into opinions, you wouldn’t need to measure yourself against my token." He said.

A few nearby disciples turned their heads. The second one stepped forward, ears reddening.

"You think you’re special because elders couldn’t agree on how to throw you out?"

"No," Lin Feng said. "I think you’re angry because they didn’t put your name where you could point at it. That’s understandable. If I had your record, I’d also spend my morning discussing other people’s tokens."

The first disciple’s qi flickered hard enough to draw a warning glance from the office doorway attendant. His companion grabbed his sleeve, because starting open trouble on the administrative steps was a fast way to lose task rights.

"You—" the first disciple started.

Lin Feng tilted his head. "Careful. If you get banned from the board because of me, that really will make my clearance the most useful thing you touched today."

The disciple’s face went from red to dark. He shook off his companion’s hand, then forced himself to stop short of anything Enforcement could cite. The frustration had nowhere clean to go. That was enough.

[Suppressed hostility detected]

[Rage Value +74]

[Current Rage Points: 401]

[System Note: Host has resumed normal social nutrition after an unhealthy period of self restraint]

Lin Feng exhaled through his nose, almost pleased. It was the first real harvest in days.

Inside the Boundary Task Office, the noise of the board filled a narrower room. Lower tier slips covered the wall. Transport support, ridge patrol assistance, herb collection, outer formation checks. Most required standard tokens. A few carried a secondary seal matching restricted clearance.

Lin Feng stood before the board.

High risk beast extermination was out, solitary pursuit was out. He needed something minor, valid under partial access, and efficient enough to justify leaving cultivation time.A slip near the lower right corner fit.

(Boundary Task 07:)

Assist collection team in harvesting low grade Clearvein Grass outside the eastern ridge.

Team assignment.

Duration: one day.

Reward: minor contribution credit + resource stipend.

He took the slip from the board and carried it to the clerk. The clerk inspected his pale token, inspected the slip.

"Conditional clearance is valid for this grade," the clerk said at last. "Team gathers tomorrow before dawn at East Post Gate. Do not be late. If you disrupt the team leader’s schedule, you’ll be marked and removed from boundary tasks for a month."

"Who leads?" Lin Feng asked.

"Inner disciple on low duty rotation. Name’s on the copy." The clerk stamped the slip and handed back a duplicate. "You’re support personnel. Try to behave like it."

Lin Feng read the stamped copy once. It was just a minor assignment with enough structure to open the next layer of sect movement and, if the team contained even one proud face, enough friction to keep the system fed.

"Taking a quest already," Lu Cang said. "You’ve had clearance for two days."

"And what if the team hates you?"

"Then the mission is productive in more than one way."

"What if it’s dangerous?"

Lin Feng lifted the slip. "It’s grass, Lu Cang. If the grass kills me, the sect’s ranking system has larger problems than my recommendation."

They walked back toward Block C as the afternoon deepened. Outer disciples streamed around them on ordinary routes, carrying laundry, argument, and leftover gossip. At the dormitory door, he stopped and added another stroke beside the first on his clearance slip.

Day 2.

Tomorrow would make it Day 3, with ninety seven days left after that morning began.Lin Feng folded the stamped slip and set the pale token over it.