"I never thought Jiang Hong, despite being seriously ill, could also have such an emotional side."
In the sickroom, Lin Xing exclaimed with emotion, "That little girl must have a deep connection with him."
Just then, the voice of the cat toy on the bedside sounded in Lin Xing's mind, "Do you really believe him? He doesn't seem like the kind of person who knows the method to open the door."
Lin Xing said, "It's worth a try, and if the village chief is really trafficking in humans, I cannot just sit idly by."
Hearing Lin Xing's words, Bai Yiyi knew Lin Xing was about to meddle once again. However, upon reflecting that the other party possessed the ability to reverse time, the danger in taking a risk seemed minimal.
And thinking of time reversal, a flash of insight surged in Bai Yiyi's heart, "Wait... maybe Lin Xing isn't really being meddlesome."
She remembered how he developed a scythe technique after a deadly fight with an old man wielding a firewood knife, honed the Taiqing Long Fist to the second level during a skirmish with two army ruffians on the village dirt road, and gained experience in group combat when he broke out from the villagers' siege.
She thought to herself, "Time reversal isn't just a means for Lin Xing to save his life; it's also a method for him to hone his skills."
"Training in a life-threatening environment is far more useful than daily practice. Countless reversals of time mean countless life-and-death fights, allowing him to advance by leaps and bounds in moments, at a rate unimaginable to others."
"This must be the real reason behind Lin Xing's meddling!"
"On the surface, he plays the fool, always seeming to court death, but in reality, it's in order to gain opportunities to use his abilities and thus achieve rapid growth in a short time. This indicates he has tremendous ambition."
Thinking this, everything suddenly seemed to make perfect sense to Bai Yiyi.
She had never believed in anyone genuinely being righteous, wanting to punish the evil and uphold justice.
She only believed everyone ultimately had their own motivations, which for most people were likely related to their interests.
Now that she understood Lin Xing's patterns of action, he suddenly seemed very astute in her eyes.
"This man uses righteousness as a disguise, engaging actively in life-and-death battles for growth. His heart likely harbors unfathomable ambitions."
But suddenly, Bai Yiyi was slightly startled, "But why would he willingly reveal his ability to reverse time to me?"
"Wait, when did he reveal it in front of me? It seems it was after I had unintentionally shown that I possessed many skills..."
Instantly, Bai Yiyi tensed up, "Could it be that he was already thinking of cooperating with me at that time? So his repeated mentions of time reversal... could they be hints directed at me?"
At this moment, Lin Xing, seated cross-legged nearby, seemed all the more inscrutable to her.
Yet, the more it was so, the more Bai Yiyi felt glad she had taken this disciple, thinking to herself, "With Lin Xing's rate of growth, perhaps I will be the one calling the shots in the Taiqing Sect in the future. Let him be the Sect Leader and I, the Supreme Elder."
At this thought, Bai Yiyi couldn't help but chuckle as she watched Lin Xing seated in meditation.
"Wait..." Bai Yiyi observed Lin Xing, who was meditating, noting his slightly closed eyes and palms facing upward, and couldn't help but ask, "Lin Xing, are you practicing meditation?"
"Hmm," Lin Xing replied, "I am trying to comprehend the Daoist Child inheritance. Now that my martial arts have reached the second level, what's left is to practice meditation at the second level and talismans at the first level."
Recalling the memories that had awakened in his mind, Lin Xing explained, "However, to practice talismans, I need to reach the first level of meditation first."
"Although I can't fully master these skills here, I've never tried meditation before. I plan to lay the foundation here first. Once the door opens, I can progress more quickly."
Bai Yiyi couldn't help but say, "Meditation is the slow, persistent training practiced by old monks and Taoists. Even the fastest practitioners take a year or two to advance one level, and the slower ones might take ten to eighteen years. With that time, you could better spend it honing your martial arts, comprehending the inheritance, or even going further."
In Bai Yiyi's view, the energy and time spent in comprehending the Daoist Child inheritance, and the achievements gained from it, were nowhere near the benefits of practicing martial arts and following the soldier's inheritance.
Yet, Lin Xing shook his head and said, "My memory tells me that the Daoist Child inheritance suits me better than the soldier's inheritance. I trust my memory."
Bai Yiyi originally wanted to persuade him further, but she suddenly thought of her previous assessment of Lin Xing.
"Lin Xing is no ordinary person, he is someone good at disguising, with great ambition, and acts decisively. Since he insists on choosing the Daoist Child's inheritance, perhaps there really is a reason..."
With this thought, Bai Yiyi decided not to persuade any further, but to see what Lin Xing would actually do.
So, the time that followed was spent in Lin Xing's meditation practice.
He sat cross-legged on the ground, adjusting his posture as he remembered it, striving to empty his mind and focusing all his attention on his breathing.
However, during this process, he couldn't feel the so-called trance from his memories, nor could he shut out the distracting thoughts, nor could he sense the functioning of his body through his breathing as he remembered.
He only felt more and more irritable as he sat, unable to resist the urge to move slightly.
In the blink of an eye, it was evening, and Lin Xing still had no success with his meditation.
After dinner, he lay directly on the bed, starting to ponder whether it was still necessary to practice sitting meditation.
But just moments later, he suddenly felt it difficult to breathe, and his head also started to ache.
In a vague sense, he seemed to see someone rushing in and carrying him out, with more and more people crowding around, and doctors starting to perform emergency treatments...
But before Lin Xing could react to the next step, he suddenly lost consciousness.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself sitting cross-legged on the ground, clearly having returned to the past.
"Did I die?"
Lin Xing paused slightly, this being a rare instance where he didn't immediately realize the cause of his death after reversing time.
"Why?"
Lin Xing propped his head, thinking, "I remember..."
He began to recall the circumstances before his death: "A headache... chest pain... feeling unwell... rescued? Could it be that I died suddenly from an illness?"
"But I sleep and rise early every day, eat meals on time, and exercise regularly; dying suddenly would be incredibly unlucky."
After a while, a caregiver knocked on the door and brought in dinner.
Seeing the meal placed on the table, Lin Xing's gaze suddenly sharpened.
He recalled every detail in memory and could not think of any signs of attack.
"Then maybe there's only one possibility left."
Looking at the meal in front of him, Lin Xing pointed at it and said, "There's poison in this."
The caregiver paused for a moment, thinking Lin Xing was delusional, but then saw Lin Xing continue to shout about the poison.
After a commotion, Lao Zhong came up to him and seriously asked, "Are you sure there's poison in this?"
Lin Xing retorted, "Of course, I've already been poisoned to death once."
The caregivers around grew more skeptical, and Lao Zhong frowned, but considering that the patient was arranged by Wei Zhi, he still took the meal out for testing.
Not long after, the entire building C abruptly went into a state of martial law, all personnel were consolidated under strict control, and Wei Zhi also arrived in front of Lin Xing at the first opportunity.
"You were right, your meal was indeed poisoned, but how did you know?"