Chapter 39 Back Into The Swamp

A boot nudged him hard in the ribs.

"Wake up. We gotta go."

Lin Feng’s eyes snapped open. The sky above the trees was still more gray than blue. The fire had burned down to cold ash. The muscular chicknstood over him, already packed and looking like she had been awake for a while.

He sat up, groaning as his back protested the night on hard ground. "Good morning to you too."

She watched him stretch, expression flat. "It’s good that you didn’t actually try anything stupid last night.

Lin Feng glanced at her. "What, were you expecting me to?"

She glared at him and then just shrugged. They ate the leftover cold rabbit and a couple of the fruits in silence. When they finished, Lin Feng packed the leather satchel properly, filled the waterskin to full again, securing the knife and wrapping up the remaining meat.

"Any advice before I go back in?" he asked while tying the flap.

She glanced at him. "Don’t wander into the deeperbuntil you can handle what’s already in the outer channels. And don’t die somewhere annoying to retrieve."

"That was helpful."

"You’re welcome."

They started walking. The forest was quiet in the early light. Lin Feng kept his thoughts to himself for most of the trip. If she did knew he was peeping on her yesterday, she certainly wasn’t showing it.

When the trees thinned and the first banks of swamp fog became visible, he saw that the blonde disciple was already at the swamp boundary path with a spear resting on her shoulder.

She looked Lin Feng up and down. " Oh he came back."

"Apparently. I was actually expecting him to bolt the moment i wasn’t looking." the muscular one said.

The blonde one gave a short laugh and stepped aside. The muscular chick stopped at the edge of the heavier fog and reached into her sleeve. She pulled out a small, dull green jade slip and held it up.

"Take it."

Lin Feng blinked. "What is it?"

"A basic exit marker. It only works inside the outer channels. If you get turned around and want to run back out like yesterday, channel a bit of qi into it. It’ll tug you toward the nearest allowed boundary path." She tossed it to him. "Don’t lose it. We’re not giving you another one. And it won’t help you if you go past the middle channels or try anything stupid."

He caught it and turned it over in his fingers. It was plain, slightly warm, and clearly restricted. Still better than walking in circles again.

" I appreciate it," he said, tucking it into the satchel.

She studied him for a second longer, then gave a short nod.

"Token’s still active. Rules haven’t changed so stay in the allowed channels. If you push past them, it won’t be me who comes to drag you out. Try to last more than a day this time."

Lin Feng almost smiled. "I’ll do my best to disappoint you less."

He turned and walked into the fog.

The temperature dropped almost immediately. The air grew heavier, wetter, full of that disordered qi that both helped and fought him. Behind him the two disciples’ voices faded. Ahead, the swamp waited like it had all the time in the world.

He stopped after a few dozen steps and deliberately looked back, fixing the shape of the exit path in his mind even with the jade slip now in his bag. He needed to know the way with or without their toy.

Only then did he turn forward. The system flickered at the edge of his vision.

[Location: Veiled Orchid Swamp – Outer Channels]

[Days Remaining: 76]

[Item Acquired: Restricted Exit Marker]

[Note: Host is slightly better equipped. Competence remains optional.]

Lin Feng snorted and kept walking. The first stretch felt familiar in a bad way. Same clinging mist and same wet roots that tried to roll under his feet. He moved slower than he wanted to, as he stopped to check landmarks and cut away the worst vines with the new knife instead of tearing at them with his hands. The satchel’s weight on his shoulder was strangely reassuring knowing he can have water and food even if he gets exhausted on the way.

It took him most of the morning to reach the area he had been in the day before. The leaning trunk he had slept under was still there, damp and unremarkable. He stood there for a moment, cycling a short breath of the local qi just to feel it again. It was still wild, still hard to hold if he stayed too calm. He didn’t linger there.

The outer channels had given him a starting point. They weren’t going to be enough for Level 8. Not in seventy six days. He needed denser qi, stronger residual hostility.

The Muscular chick advised him to not venture far inside til if he can’t handle the outside zone, but he have no choice but to travel to deeper zones if he needs to grow in power.

Lin Feng adjusted the satchel, and looked toward the thicker fog where the middle channels began. Then he walked inside.The fog had been getting thicker for a while when it suddenly thinned.

Lin Feng slowed, one hand on the satchel strap, the other near the knife. He had been ready for heavier pressure and maybe another beast. What he got instead made him stop completely.A wide open field stretched out in front of him with hundreds of flowers. They covered the ground in gentle waves, moving slightly even though there was almost no wind.

The usual swamp stink was gone, replaced by a faint sweet scent. Even the qi felt different, like it wanted to be cultivated instead of fighting him every step of the way.He stood at the edge and stared.

"What the hell..."

After a day of mud, fog, and things trying to kill him, the place looked like close to heaven. For a moment he just took it in. The tension in his shoulders eased without him noticing.What’s the worst that could happen?The thought came easily. He could sit down, drink some water and he even had the urge to meditate for a moment. But deep inside something still nagged at him.He couldn’t put his finger on it.

He stepped forward anyway and the flowers brushed against his boots, soft and harmless. He walked further in, scanning left and right. Nothing. Suddenly a flicker caught the edge of his vision, something shifting on the left. He turned his head quickly but found nothing there except for more flowers.

He kept walking and again he felt another small movement and this time on the right. But when he looked, everything was still again. The nagging feeling in the back of his head grew a little stronger, but the qi here really did feel good.

He stopped near the middle of the field and exhaled.Maybe he was just paranoid. The swamp had trained him to expect the worst. Not every pretty thing had to be a trap.He crouched, set the satchel down, and reached out to touch one of the nearer blooms. The petals were cool and smooth. In his peripheral vision, something long and thin slid through the flowers behind him.

Lin Feng frowned and stood up again. He turned a full slow circle. The field looked exactly the same as when he entered. No animals, no insects. Not even the usual tiny swamp flies that got in his eyes everywhere else.

Wait!! A place this alive, this full of flowers, and nothing else moved in it.

His stomach tightened."Oh, shit," he muttered. "They’re fucking carnivorous plants."