"Ah!"
With a loud bang, after shattering the scar-faced man's knee, Lin Xing's figure moved and he sprinted away.
After this time reversal, instead of rushing to the stone platform as he had in the past, he bypassed the stone platform altogether and ran towards the northeast, into the forest.
Lin Xing wanted to see what it was that made the Mountain God and the village chief so reluctant to let him past.
The forest, rarely visited by humans, appeared dense and dark, but Lin Xing could vaguely discern a path, as if carved by the comings and goings of the Mountain God over the years.
The deeper he followed the path, the more Lin Xing could smell a pungent stench, like a mixture of countless corpses and feces left to rot over an extended period.
While speculating that this place might be the Mountain God's lair, the forest behind him suddenly shook violently—it was the Mountain God pursuing him.
"I clearly didn't go to the stone platform this time..."
Watching the rotting, foul monster charge towards him, a moment of realization flashed through Lin Xing's mind, "Are they trying to prevent me from delving deeper here? It seems that there surely is some secret in this direction that neither the Mountain God nor the village chief wants anyone to discover; the Mountain God has even been guarding nearby."
In the subsequent time reversals, Lin Xing targeted this direction and continuously advanced.
He felt as if he were parkouring through the woods.
He had to familiarize himself with the terrain constantly, adjust the allocation of his stamina constantly, and after dying repeatedly, choose a swifter path. He even began to use the terrain to his advantage, widening the distance from the Mountain God and trying to sustain running further despite the pursuit.
Finally, after hundreds of attempts, Lin Xing passed a large number of bones and animal carcasses to see a giant green rock.
On the rock were strange symbols as if written in blood, causing Lin Xing to pause momentarily.
The Mountain God behind him seemed to reach the height of its frenzy, crawling on all fours like a wild beast, lunging at him with the intent to rip and tear.
Lin Xing took the opportunity to circle around the large green rock and found rows of smaller characters behind it.
"Daoist Bai Yun, suppressed the evil spirit here..."
The sight stirred something in Lin Xing, "Suppressed the evil spirit here? Does it refer to the Mountain God? Has it been suppressed?"
He wanted to read further but could no longer withstand the Mountain God's onslaught and was slammed to death.
After that, Lin Xing broke through time after time, reading the contents on the green rock until he finally read all the text.
According to the description, the place had once been where Jiang Family Village discarded its elderly.
Due to consecutive years of war and grain requisitioning, the village's food supply was insufficient, and every year, the eldest among them were abandoned here.
Elderly without labor ability or tormented by severe illnesses stayed here, often starved to death.
Over time, many corpses accumulated here, gathering a great deal of resentment.
Then, at some point, a man-eating creature appeared.
Initially, only some villagers who came to leave their elderly noticed; they discovered some elderly's bodies torn and eaten by some unknown animal.
But later, children from the village also started to disappear, causing widespread panic among the villagers.
It was during this time a Taoist who claimed to be Daoist Bai Yun passed through this area, subduing the evil spirit for them, leaving behind the great rock inscribed with Evil Suppression Talismans to continue containing the site, preventing new evil spirits from arising.
Staring at the story recorded on the rock, a contemplative expression crossed Lin Xing's face.
And on the last visit to the green rock, he stared intently at the Evil Suppression Talisman in front of him, etching its content firmly into his mind.
...
Recovering from the dissipating intense pain once more, the image of the Evil Suppression Talisman kept replaying in Lin Xing's mind.
In fact, upon seeing the Evil Suppression Talisman on the green rock, new memories began to resurface in his mind.
"Evil Suppression Talisman, a talisman specially used to subdue evil spirits, and effective only against such spirits."
Lin Xing thought to himself, "If Daoist Bai Yun said he had already suppressed the evil spirit, why is the Mountain God still alive and thrashing?"
He had yet to fully understand the true nature behind these happenings, but one thing he did grasp.
"Since both the Mountain God and the village chief are so averse to my reaching that place, it implies that the Evil Suppression Talisman must be useful."
With this in mind, Lin Xing gradually came to a decision.
He could directly use the large green rock inscribed with the Evil Suppression Talisman to confront the Mountain God, but Lin Xing did not intend to do so.
Lin Xing's first plan he wanted to attempt... was to master the art of talismans himself and then draw an Evil Suppression Talisman to suppress the Mountain God.
Back when he awakened the Daoist Child's memories, Lin Xing already knew how to practice the art of talismans.
And now, repeatedly recalling the memories about talismans in his mind, he felt that this plan was very feasible. Moreover, throughout the entire process, it could not only deal with the Mountain God but also take this opportunity to master the skill and enhance his strength.
"To master the talismans, I must first achieve the first level of meditation."
"I can't practice here..."
Lin Xing looked toward the direction of the stone platform. He had to make sure that each time he died before the little girl was eaten by the Mountain God, or that they died at roughly the same time, to ensure that the subsequent time reversal would go back to before the little girl was eaten.
If he died a while after the little girl's death, it could happen that after the time reversal... the girl had already died.
This clearly did not align with Lin Xing's goal.
And so, they saw Lin Xing snap the knee of the scarred-faced man with a twist of his hand and swiftly moved to the position of the stone platform.
Then he directly sat down in front of the stone platform, not caring about the surprised village chief, and immediately started to meditate right there.
The village chief, watching this man sprint over and sit down, couldn't help but ask curiously, "What are you doing?"
Not just him, Bai Yiyi was also full of doubt, not understanding why Lin Xing was pressing the scarred-faced man to lead the way one moment and then suddenly sprinting over here to sit down and meditate.
Lin Xing did not explain to them, instead trying to immerse himself completely in the practice of meditation.
Inhale—exhale—
Lin Xing adjusted his body, collecting his stray thoughts, trying to focus on his own breathing. He pursued an ethereal state while contemplating the workings of his own body through the breaths he took.
But the village chief's voice kept coming, constantly disturbing his state of mind.
The appearance of the Mountain God next severely affected Lin Xing's focus.
The commotion caused by the giant figure, the wailing of children on the stone platform, the stench that hit him, and the approaching death and severe pain... all seemed to hinder Lin Xing's meditation practice.
Lin Xing could only die time and again, then continue his attempts.
This meditation between life and death initially only brought him feelings of irritability, tension, and panic.
But with the number of deaths increasing, perhaps thousands? Perhaps tens of thousands? Lin Xing had lost count.
He gradually began to feel numb to it all, finding that he could finally ignore the various external stimuli and pour his entire heart into the breathing of his body. His spirit also seemed to become more ethereal.
As the foul wind faced him, Lin Xing suddenly opened his eyes, viewing the gaping maw of the Mountain God biting down, he found that there was no longer any trace of fear or panic in his heart.
And when time reversed, and his body reappeared unscathed, there seemed to be no joy or relief in his heart either.
Through this process from life to death, and death back to life, Lin Xing's spirit remained calm, continuing the state of his meditation.
If the past Lin Xing faced death with a strong will and actively overcame it, then at this moment, he had gradually learned to adapt to it.
"Is this reaching a state of trance?"
At the same time, something new emerged in Lin Xing's mind.
After mastering the first level of the Sickle Sword Technique and the second level of the Taiqing Long Fist, he had finally mastered a third skill—meditation at level one.
And as he reached the first level of meditation, Lin Xing first felt his heart and lung strength receive a powerful boost.
Not only that, as his meditation reached the first level, his insight into himself went deeper. He also found that the skill information in his mind, which had only been a vague sensation, had now become clear.
In his perception, the Sickle Sword Technique, Taiqing Long Fist, and meditation were like three small glows orbiting in his mind.
Now that he had mastered the first level of meditation, he could even clearly sense his progress in these three skills.
But this sense was still somewhat abstract, so Lin Xing tried to describe this abstract perception with numbers.
As he conceived of it this way in his mind, his bodily insight gradually conformed to his own understanding and ultimately translated into numerical descriptions.
So a moment later, three numbers slowly emerged behind the three skills.
Sickle Sword Technique (First Level 2%)
Taiqing Long Fist (Second Level 0%)
Meditation (First Level 0%)
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