After dinner, Long Xiao prepared to visit Lu Tianxing at the hospital, so he asked Yang Xiaoyue to drive Lin Xuan home.
Long Xiao's trust in Yang Xiaoyue completely dispelled her doubts.
Watching Lin Xuan and Yang Xiaoyue leave, Long Xiao took a taxi to the hospital.
After Lu Tianxing was out of danger, he stayed in the intensive care unit for three days and was only transferred to a general ward today.
Long Xiao pushed open the door and entered the ward. Lu Rui was feeding Lu Tianxing water, and Ji Yuelan was looking at her phone.
Upon seeing Long Xiao arrive, Lu Rui and Ji Yuelan quickly stood up to greet him.
"Long Xiao, thank you so much. If you hadn't intervened, I would have died long ago."
Looking at Lu Tianxing, whose face still had faint traces of dark energy, Long Xiao replied politely, "It was just a small effort, no need to be so formal."
Long Xiao took Lu Tianxing's wrist and examined his internal condition.
His internal injuries were recovering well, but a significant amount of malevolent energy had gathered within him. The green vital energy he had infused into Lu Tianxing's body during the rescue had been almost completely neutralized.
Clearly, the source of the malevolent energy was still within Lu Tianxing, otherwise, it wouldn't have accumulated so rapidly. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
"Director Lu, there's something I need to remind you about. Your malevolent energy is still accumulating, and the source is still with you."
Hearing Long Xiao mention the malevolent energy again, Lu Tianxing felt a slight displeasure, though he didn't show it.
"Long Xiao, I was injured during a mission failure. It shouldn't have anything to do with malevolent energy, right?"
Long Xiao shook his head and said, "Things like luck and destiny cannot be explained by modern science. It's like traditional Chinese medicine; if you try to explain it with modern science, it sounds like witchcraft, yet traditional Chinese medicine can cure illnesses."
"Brother Long, why is that?" Ji Yuelan asked from the side, looking puzzled.
Long Xiao glanced at Ji Yuelan and explained, "The reason is simple: scientific definitions only align with Western philosophical frameworks. Traditional Chinese medicine is not purely medical; it's a combination of philosophy and human biological systems. Therefore, it doesn't fit the definition of modern science."
"Is traditional Chinese medicine unscientific then?" Lu Rui asked.
Long Xiao shook his head. "Traditional Chinese medicine is the science of us Chinese people, not Western science. If you try to explain it with Western philosophy, of course, it's unscientific. But if you explain it with our Chinese philosophy, it's very scientific."
Lu Tianxing felt that what Long Xiao was saying was both profound and easy to understand.
"Long Xiao, can you explain to me what malevolent energy is?"
Long Xiao pondered for a moment and then shook his head. "Explaining malevolent energy requires too much foundational knowledge. Most of what you learned in school was transmitted from the West, making it difficult to explain."
"I don't understand. How can you make me believe I'm being plagued by malevolent energy?" Lu Tianxing asked.
Long Xiao smiled. "This is simple. To me, malevolent energy is a faint, indistinct black aura. If you let me see your belongings, I can find the source."
He paused for a moment. "You are severely injured right now, so your senses are very acute. Once the malevolent energy is removed, you'll feel it immediately."
After being admitted to the hospital, Lu Tianxing had changed his clothes. Only his watch, phone, and some identification remained with him.
Long Xiao examined Lu Tianxing's phone and documents but found nothing unusual. When he picked up the watch, he sensed something abnormal.
Upon closer inspection, the watch showed no trace of malevolent energy.
"This is strange. You have malevolent energy in your body, and this watch has been on your wrist, yet it shows no sign of it."
Long Xiao voiced his confusion while examining the watch.
Long Xiao asked Lu Rui to find some tools, as he intended to open the back of the watch.
Ji Yuelan said, "Brother Lu, I'll go. I know the doctors here."
Soon, Ji Yuelan returned with a small toolbox containing over a dozen tools.
When Long Xiao opened the watch's back cover, he immediately saw a white bone the size of a rice grain hidden inside. The malevolent energy was emanating from this bone.
He poured the bone onto the table and examined it closely with a magnifying glass. Everyone was stunned.
This rice-sized bone was a finely carved skull.
"What is this? Why is there a skull inside the watch?" Lu Tianxing asked, looking at the magnifying glass in astonishment.
Long Xiao shook his head. "This is a type of black magic. Director Lu, you've been set up."
Looking at the watch, Lu Tianxing found it hard to believe. "I've worn this watch for seven or eight years. Did someone tamper with it long ago?"
Long Xiao shook his head. "Impossible. If you had been plagued by malevolent energy before, you wouldn't have survived this long. Someone must have come into contact with your watch and placed it there. It couldn't have been more than ten days ago."
Lu Tianxing watched as Long Xiao closed the watch's back cover. "I will investigate this matter thoroughly. What should we do with this skull?"
Long Xiao carefully picked it up, wrapped it in paper, and put it in his pocket. "I'll take this back and see if there are any clues."
Having found the source of the malevolent energy, Long Xiao took out the silver needles he carried and performed acupuncture on Lu Tianxing to remove the malevolent energy from his body.
In just a few minutes of acupuncture, Lu Tianxing felt a sudden lightness in his body. The grogginess he had felt that morning had disappeared.
"I feel it now. I was feeling groggy this morning and thought it was due to lack of sleep, but it was caused by the malevolent energy."
Long Xiao stayed at the hospital for two hours. As he left, he glanced at Ji Yuelan and sighed helplessly. The accumulated green vital energy he had recently gathered was all used to remove Lu Tianxing's malevolent energy. Treating Ji Yuelan's damaged heart meridian would have to be postponed.
Long Xiao returned to the Lin family and made dinner. The Lin family members returned one after another. At Madam Lin's birthday banquet at noon, Lin Wei had repeatedly praised Long Xiao. Nangong Yue felt honored, and for the first time, she smiled at Long Xiao upon entering the house.
"Long Xiao, you should have seen the way people looked at the fire-red insect amber, like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden..."
Lin Hao excitedly recounted what had happened after Long Xiao left. Long Xiao felt a pang of regret, wishing he hadn't given away the box if he had known it contained fire-red insect amber.
According to the records in the insect manual, fire-red insects possessed extremely high fire-attribute vital energy. If he could absorb their energy, his cultivation would undoubtedly increase significantly.
After dinner, Long Xiao returned to his room early to study the "Dragon Treasury."
Every night, Long Xiao studied some content from the "Dragon Treasury," and every morning, he practiced the basic cultivation techniques of "Dragon Abyss." His vision was broadening, but his strength was increasing very slowly.
In the morning, after the Lin family had all left, Long Xiao went to the Xinglin Traditional Chinese Medicine Hall.
The renovation team had arrived. Over a dozen people were unloading tools and materials from the vehicles. Xinglin Traditional Chinese Medicine Hall, which had been silent for over twenty years, was bustling with activity once again.
Long Xiao helped for a while and was about to head to the vegetable market when a Hummer appeared. Hei Gou, with his arm in a cast, got out of the car with a few of his subordinates.
Long Xiao stood by the car and watched Hei Gou. Hei Gou quickly walked over and knelt before Long Xiao with a thud. "Hei Gou was blind and offended Brother Long. I beg Brother Long for forgiveness."
Long Xiao looked at Hei Gou with a stern face. "It's good that you know you were wrong. Don't bully others with your power from now on."
After standing up, Hei Gou took out a bank card and said, "Brother Long, this is a token of my brother's respect. Please accept it."
Long Xiao shook his head. "I don't need the money. You and your men can stay here and help for a few days. If anyone comes looking for trouble, deal with them."
Seeing that Long Xiao refused, Hei Gou didn't dare to say more. He put the card away and nodded. "Don't worry, Brother Long. I'll be responsible for the security here."