Chapter 33 Milestone Completed

By the second stretch of road after leaving the mountain path, Lin Feng finally understood how small his world had been.

Inside Flowing Wind Sect, every courtyard had rules. Even with people hating him him there were rules so his enemys couldn’t teach him a lesson without bringing trouble upon them as well, prompting them to rely on subtle methods to try and sabotage him. But outside, it was different. If someone decided have a problem the only real question was whether you could make them regret the attempt.

The land kept sinking as he walked. Trees grew denser. Pools of standing water appeared more often between the reeds, and the air thickened with that same floral dampness from the day before. According to the map overlay, he was still short of Orchid Veil territory, but close enough that ordinary travelers thinned out.

That should have been his first warning. The second came in the form of three men standing under a leaning camphor tree where the path narrowed between two wet ditches. They weren’t wearing proper sect robes. One had a patched leather guard over his shoulder. Another carried a hooked short spear. The third, clearly the leader, smiled when he saw Lin Feng approaching alone.

"Afternoon traveller. We have a toll for travellers on this path." The leader said.

Lin Feng stopped a polite distance away. "For what? The excellent scenery?"

"Hahahaha! Funny aren’t you? The toll is for safe passage," the man said.

The one with the short spear looked over Lin Feng’s outer sect clothes and low presence, then visibly relaxed. "He’s only an outer sect disciple.

"Even better," the leader said. "An outer sect disciple shouldn’t argue with pricing."

Lin Feng glanced at the ditches on both sides, then at their spacing. They looks like a shakedown crew and not elite killers. Bandits who lived off travelers too weak and too rich.

Ever since the assessment, he had been careful with the system. So much had happened so he had restrained himself. But out here, there was no need to hold himself back. He almost smiled.

"How much?" he asked.

"Well Ten low grade stones is our usual toll " the pleader said. "Or everything in that pouch you’re carrying.

Lin Feng nodded seriously. "That’s indeed a bold price. "

The man with short spear frowned. "What?"

"I mean it as praise," Lin Feng said. "I mean you had to have a thick skin to be shameless enough to make a living by begging off the travellers. Certainly thicker than my skin.

The leader smile thinned. "You’ve got a mouth."

"And you’ve got free time. We all work with what we have." Lin Feng shifted his pouch higher on his shoulder. "Also, if this road is so dangerous, why are the only beasts I’ve seen the ones collecting tolls?"

The third man, who had stayed quiet until now, spat into the wet grass. "He’s stalling."

"No no no... Stalling implies I need help. And i certainly don’t need any help with you lot. Lim Feng smiled.

[Hostile intent rising]

[Rage Value +46]

[Current Rage Points: 671]

The system’s pulse felt almost nostalgic. So he had been too careful. That much was obvious now. After the assessment, every movement inside the sect had been watched, recorded, or judged against his hundred day condition.

The leader stepped forward. "Enough!! Hand over the pouch now!"

Lin Feng sighed. "If I had ten stones sitting around for every idiot under a tree, I wouldn’t be travelling on foot."

"Then we’ll take what you do have."

"That’s another issue," Lin Feng said. "You looked at my clothes and decided I’m weak. But you were completely wrong again. "

The man’s face darkened. "You looking down on us?"

"Well, Yeah. "

[Rage Value +63]

[Current Rage Points: 734]

The quiet one moved first, which Lin Feng had expected. Men who talked least often hated longest when mocked in public. The man cut in low from the right, aiming to grab the pouch strap and drag him off balance.

Lin Feng activated Fleet Footed Coward Dash.

His body lightened and slipped sideways, just enough for the grab to close on air. He let the man’s momentum carry past him, then shoved the man’s shoulder toward the ditch. Hard enough to make the landing undignified. The quiet one staggered into the shallows with a splash and a curse.

The short spear came next, sweeping across at mid torso. Lin Feng leaned back, felt the tip kiss cloth, and stepped in before the man could recover the shaft. He kicked the man’s knee and slammed an open palm into his chest with Qi in it. The man hit the camphor root hard enough to lose his breath. That left the leader

The man had a knife out now, anger finally overtaking. "You’re dead."

Then he lunged. Lin Feng twisted the man’s wrist, and used the same ugly boundary logic that had worked before. Unbalance, redirect, embarrass. The knife hit the dirt. The leader followed it to one knee when Lin Feng kicked the back of his calf.

For a second, the only sound was water dripping off the quiet man’s sleeve in the ditch.

Lin Feng picked up the knife, examined it, and tossed it into the deeper reed water.

"An advice," he said. "Next time, charge less or get more powerful before dealing with a sect disciple."

The leader glared up at him, face twisted.He shoved himself up on one elbow, chest heaving, eyes bloodshot with anger.

"I’m going to kill you. If I see your back on here and the wetlands, I’ll put a blade through it."

The man with short spear muttered, "Boss—"

"Shut up!" The leader’s gaze never left Lin Feng. "Remember his face. This isn’t finished."Lin Feng looked down at him for a moment, then smiled slightly.

[Target’s hatred has crossed the threshold]

[He now genuinely wishes for your death]

[Rage Value +140]

[Current Rage Points: 962]

[Milestone Progress: 10/10]

[Congratulations! First Major Milestone

Complete]

[Reward pending settlement]

[System Note: Host finally finished the starter collection]

He put the screen away, stepped around the men in the mud, and continued down the wet path before the leader’s newfound murderous commitment could turn into a second, less stupid attempt.

Lin Feng exhaled and only then realized how much he had missed that sensation. If he was going to reach Level 8, denser qi environments would matter but so would remembering the engine that made him different in the first place.

He walked until their voices broke apart behind him.Only then did he open the system again and skim the panel. Over eight hundred points. Not a fortune after his earlier skill unlocks, but the first real harvest in days that didn’t come wrapped in sect procedure.

Tempting to spend. More tempting to save until the swamp showed him what kind of tools it would demand.

The road grew wetter. Board sections appeared over the worst mud, old and half sunk. Mist clung lower to the ground, and the orchid smell started growing. Once, something large moved through the reeds to his left hard enough to shake water from the stalks. It did not come out. That was fine. He was not hunting unknown beasts...yet

Near dusk, the map overlay pulsed.

[Approaching marked boundary: Orchid Veil influence]

[Warning: Regional customs may not favor host]

Lin Feng looked ahead. Pale stone markers rose from the marsh edge, carved with orchid patterns and veiled line script. Beyond them, the path continued into thicker mist and darker water, where trees stood like half drowned pillars. A pair of female disciples in light orchid white robes were already waiting by the first marker, watching his approach with open vigilance.

Men were not ordinarily supposed to come here.

Lin Feng touched the guest seal in his pouch and walked toward them anyway. The swamp was close. And unlike the toll collectors, they does not look easy to talk into embarrassment.