Chapter 58: Three Bound Beasts

A spear of pressurized water screamed past his shoulder and shredded a hanging root. He laughed and kept running. They had been at this for almost an hour. The beast was tiring and he was not.

When the next surge came in too fast, Lin Feng spun, planted his feet, and triggered the new skill he had bought specifically for this rematch.

[Aqua - Shock ]

A concussive ripple of force designed to disrupt water-based techniques slammed into the beast’s chest. The creature staggered, its control over the surrounding water flickering for a critical half-second.

That half second was enough as something smashed into the water beast’s side, driving it sideways. A low, bound growl echoed across the platform. It was the Ironback Marsh Reaver Lin Feng had forced into a bind eight days ago. Before the water beast could recover, a second shape dropped from the mist above and latched onto its back with barbed limbs. The Skypierce eagle, bound only three days prior.

Lin Feng grinned. "Gotta admit, binding two beasts in two weeks was pretty impressive."

"Yeah. With one of your ’items,’" Yu Mei commented dryly from behind him.

Lin Feng’s grin turned into a brief sulk as he remembered the ridiculous price.

[Item Purchased: Dominator’s Brand – 12,000 RP]

[Effect: Significantly increases success rate on targets ]

Whatever.

"Get the water beasty, my pets!" he shouted.

The two bound beasts kept the larger creature occupied, slamming and tearing, forcing it onto the defensive. Seeing it finally on its last legs, Lin Feng dashed in, drove a heavy Thick Face Counterstep into the soft seam under its jaw, and opened the window he needed. Will-Break Pulse flared.

It was still harder than the previous two. The water beast’s will was old and vicious. For a moment the bind resisted, scraping against his mind like wet stone. Then it locked.

Lin Feng let out a long breath.

[Hostile Beast Bind successful]

[Milestone Complete: 3/3 Hostile Beast Binds]

[Reward: 30,000 Rage Points]

[Current Rage Points: 65,400]

"Whew. Would you look at that."

Yu Mei dropped down beside him, shaking her head. "I don’t know how, but you make it work somehow. Fine. Keep your secrets."

Lin Feng laughed, the sound rough with leftover adrenaline. The last two weeks replayed in his head in a rapid, bloody blur.

After the swamp had locked them in, they had stopped looking for exits and started hunting with purpose. They went through multiple nodes and cleared many beasts, particularly two strong beasts chosen specifically for binding. The Dominator’s Brand had made the difference both times.

Also Yu Mei had stopped holding back, he had learned she was an earth elementalist with significant qi of her own. Between her power and his system tools, they had brought the targets down without losses.

The water beast had been pure revenge. With two bound beasts, upgraded skills, and the Brand, it had almost felt like overkill. Yu Mei didn’t even need to do anything.

Now the dense residual hostility left by the prolonged fight saturated the platform. Lin Feng sat down immediately, pulled the thick killing intent into his meridians, and drove it against the bottleneck that had been sitting at the peak of Level 4 for days. The breakthrough to Level 5 took longer and hurt more than the last one. When it finally cracked, the sensation wadls far more exciting.

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation — Level 5]

[Foundation stabilized]

"Took more effort and time than the last one."

Yu Mei stood watch while his circulation stabilized. "Each realm gets harder as you grow. Especially outside a sect. The next ones will be harder still."

Lin Feng stared at the three bound beasts now lingering at the edge of the platform, his reluctant, murderous new resources and sighed.

"Three more levels to go."

Yu Mei’s voice was quiet.

"And a lot of swamp still left to explore."

Lin Feng sat with his back against a thick root, letting the last of the circulation settle. The three bound beasts lingered at different distances around the platform.

He opened the system just long enough to check the number.

[Current Rage Points: 65,400]

Good, Lin Feng thought. At this rate I’ll have enough to buy it. The high tier item he had seen in the shop remained greyed out, locked behind Qi Condensation Level 7. Whatever it was, the description had been short and extremely promising for dealing with something far above his current class.

Yu Mei stood a few steps away, eyes moving between the three beasts.

"How stable are they?"

"Stable enough," Lin Feng said. "Doesn’t mean they like me."

"Can you control them in a real fight?"

"We’re about to find out."

He spent the next stretch testing basic commands. When the water beast "accidentally" sent a low wave that soaked Lin Feng to the knees, Yu Mei’s voice came from behind him.

"Impressive leadership."

"They’re works in progress," he muttered,

Yu Mei watched the mist beyond the platform. "Local residual fields are thinning. If you want denser hostility, we push closer to the deeper layers. The things that live there will notice the three of them."

Lin Feng stood, tested his shoulder, and nodded.

"Deeper it is."

They moved.

The bound beasts made travel stranger. While the Marsh reaver was a step behind them the Skypiercer took to the sky and the Water Beast followed them through a nearby stream. Ordinary predators sensed the forced hierarchy and usually gave the group a wide berth. The trade off was noise three powerful residual creatured moving together were impossible to hide.

Midway across a long, elevated root bridge, the system surfaced without warning.

[New Milestone Issued]

[Objective: Bind a Mythical-class beast]

Lin Feng stopped dead.

Yu Mei halted two steps later. "What?"

He stared at the notification, mind turning over the implications. The swamp’s deal was clear: remove the deep-layer beast. Kill it, drive it out, erase the problem. The system, however, now wanted him to bind it. A mythical class target. Something so far above his current Level 5 that the idea bordered on delusional.

And yet...

If he somehow forced a bind, the beast would no longer be a free-roaming threat. The swamp’s problem would still be solved. Both conditions might be satisfied at once, if binding something that powerful was even possible.

"I just had a thought" he said finally. "What if i try to bind the mythical beast instead?"

Yu Mei’s expression didn’t change, but her grip on the spear tightened. "Is that feasible?"

"No idea. But if it works, the swamp still gets what it asked for." He started walking again. "Remove the problem. Just... under different management."

They made camp on a high, defensible platform as the light under the canopy began to fail. The three bound beasts took up unwilling positions around the perimeter. Lin Feng sat near the center, back against a root, eyes on the darker mist ahead.

Yu Mei stood watch, spear planted. After a long silence she spoke without turning.

"The freedom it promised me... I’ve wanted it for a very long time."

Lin Feng glanced at her back. She offered nothing more.

He looked at the three resentful shapes that now answered (mostly) to him, then at the thickening dark that led toward the true deeper layers. Two objectives, one target. The swamp wanted the mythical beast gone. The system wanted it bound. His objective and Yu Mei’s only way to freedom ran straight through whatever was waiting in the deep.