Time Travel: I'm a Flower Thief

"Sword, come!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a warm and smooth peach wood sword burst out of the window and flew straight into Li Qinglian's palm, carrying wisps of sword energy.

"Controlling a sword is not difficult; the difficulty lies in 'using qi to control objects.'" Li Qinglian made a sword incantation gesture, her fingertip pointing towards Xie Xiaoyi's brow.

"Close your eyes, concentrate your mind and gather your energy. First, draw your true energy into your dantian, then lift it up along your meridians to your fingertips. Think of 'control' in your mind and aim your power at the peach wood sword."

Xie Xiaoyi did as instructed, clearing his mind of distractions, and his internal energy slowly surged upwards according to his intention.

He stared at the peach wood sword, and with a thought, his fingertips suddenly released their inner energy.

The peach wood sword shook violently and then slowly floated up.

"This child is teachable!" Li Qinglian nodded in approval and continued to instruct him.

"Step lightly onto the ground with both feet, keeping your breath steady and your mind focused, and first stabilize your posture."

"Rise!" Xie Xiaoyi shouted, his toes stomping sharply towards the peach wood sword.

The sword hummed and trembled, actually lifting him slowly off the ground by half a foot. However, this was his first time riding a sword, and his body swayed like a willow leaf in the wind, his hands flailing wildly.

Li Qinglian continued to instruct: "Stay calm! Keep your breath steady, don't panic! Distribute your inner energy evenly on the soles of your feet, don't just concentrate it in one place!"

Xie Xiaoyi did as instructed, carefully spreading his inner energy in his dantian, letting it flow over his feet like water.

As if drawn by a force, the peach wood sword steadily rose into the air, skimming over the stone table and grazing the edge of the wine jar before spinning upwards.

He was overjoyed and urged his energy to surge forward. The wind rushed past his ears, and the peach wood sword carried him two zhang high, but suddenly he lost his strength and plummeted down.

Xie Xiaoyi's heart tightened, and he twisted his waist and abdomen, using the momentum of falling to do a clean somersault, landing steadily on his feet back in the courtyard.

He turned to look at Li Qinglian, scratched his head, and grinned: "We're still not very familiar."

Li Qinglian laughed heartily and pointed to the soles of his feet:

"Focus your energy on the Yongquan and Taichong acupoints, and distribute your true energy evenly to these two acupoints, instead of rushing it all upwards at once."

Xie Xiaoyi listened to the tips and tried them no less than seven or eight times. Fortunately, he was very agile and could land steadily every time he made a mistake.

After repeated attempts, he finally figured out the trick and was able to take off and land with some difficulty.

Xie Xiaoyi sheathed the peach wood sword, bowed to Li Qinglian, and said sincerely, "Thank you for your guidance, senior. I will now descend the mountain."

Li Qinglian shook the wine jar in her hand, a smile in her eyes: "You teach me the method of distilling liquor, I'll teach you the art of sword control, and we're even."

"Of course!" Xie Xiaoyi laughed heartily, his eyes brimming with joy.

"Hey kid, catch!" Li Qinglian flicked her wrist, and a tightly sealed jar of distilled liquor flew towards him.

Xie Xiaoyi reached out and steadily caught the wine: "Thank you for the wine, senior. I'll take my leave now."

He hugged the wine jar tightly, touched the ground with his toes, and used his inner energy to guide the peach wood sword, steadily lifting his body and flying down the mountain.

Li Qinglian watched the figure gradually disappear into the distance, a smile playing on her lips:

"Good lad, you have both the ingenuity to brew wine and the talent to fly on a sword. This martial world is about to become a bit more lively."

......

Xie Xiaoyi rode his peach wood sword, following the direction he remembered, and flew towards the quiet courtyard where he lived.

The wind whistled past his ears, and the aroma of wine wafted from his arms. He flew with increasing exhilaration, unable to contain his pride:

"I long to ride the wind and return, but I fear the jade palaces and crystal towers are too cold at such heights."

Flying over the courtyard, on a whim, he made the peach wood sword draw a beautiful arc in the air and started drifting.

Unexpectedly, he didn't control his strength well, and the peach wood sword suddenly jerked. Xie Xiaoyi cried out in surprise and was thrown directly off the sword.

His body fell quickly and suddenly, but he was drunk and didn't care at all, and laughed self-deprecatingly:

"Having once soared ninety thousand miles on my sword, today I fall and return to dust!"

Xie Xiaoyi hugged the wine jar in his arms, facing his back to the ground, and at the same time activated the Vajra Holy Guardian Body Technique.

With a muffled thud, he crashed heavily onto the bluestone slab in the courtyard, making the ground tremble.

After a while, he grimaced as he got up from the ground, dusted himself off, and was unharmed except for being a little shaken.

Looking down at the wine jar in his arms, he saw that the seal was intact and burst into laughter.

"No wonder everyone wants to reach the peak of the ninth rank; they're so resilient."

......

Xie Xiaoyi stayed at the Zhenwu Dao Sect for more than ten days, living a peaceful life, but he always kept the trip to the East Sea in mind and eventually had to set off.

On the eve of his departure, he touched the more than 10,000 taels of silver notes in his pocket, thought of Lu Tiansui's care and Lu Fang's kindness in giving him the dragon coins, and then he made up his mind.

Taoists don't value gold, silver, or worldly possessions, but there are always some things they can use in the markets and towns down the mountain.

Having made up his mind, he went down the mountain early the next morning with the silver notes in his pocket and hired several quick and efficient porters.

He first went to a general store and ordered a complete set of brewing equipment, including a large earthenware urn, a fine bamboo sieve, a copper condenser pipe, and several kilograms of yeast, and instructed the porter to deliver it directly to Li Qinglian's place.

They then went into a cloth shop and tea shop, where they bought more than a dozen bolts of top-quality Liuyun brocade and weighed several kilograms of Xueding Yunwu tea, which they then asked the porters to deliver to Master Lu Tiansui.

Finally, they went straight to the grain and mountain produce store, carrying several bushels of unpolished rice, two loads of dried bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and dried wood ear fungus, and three jars of refreshing fruit wine.

The cart was fully loaded, and the driver was instructed to deliver it to the Zhenwu Dao Sect's mountain gate, providing the sect with some daily necessities.

Finally, Xie Xiaoyi, carrying the tightly sealed jar of Cold Pool Fragrance distilled liquor, specifically sought out Lu Fang and shoved the jar into his arms:

"This jar of wine is specially for you, brother. Taste the flavor of our homemade brew!"

Lu Fang could smell the alcohol's potency even through the seal, and a hint of surprise flashed in his lazy eyes: "Good lad, you've been hiding this good stuff!"

On the other side, at the gate of the Zhenwu Dao Sect, porters and cart drivers were efficiently unloading goods.

The pile of brown rice and dried bamboo shoots looked like a small mountain, attracting many disciples to watch.

"This Xie Mo looks so young, but he's quite sensible!"

"Indeed! This gift may not be particularly valuable, but it's all things our sect can use!"

"I'm eyeing that flowing cloud brocade; it would be so comfortable to use as a lining for the sect leader's robe. And that fruit wine will be perfect for next month's vegetarian feast!"

As they were talking, Lu Tiansui walked slowly with his hands behind his back, his Taoist robe brushing against the stone steps, his expression calm and undisturbed.

Upon seeing this, the disciples quickly fell silent and bowed, but they couldn't hide the smiles in their eyes.

Lu Tiansui's gaze swept over the neatly piled mundane items, and he slowly addressed the disciples:

"Worldly matters are not worth disturbing the mind, and worldly etiquette is nothing more than human relationships. We who cultivate the Tao should keep our minds clear and pure, and not let trivial matters disturb our Tao heart."

The disciples suddenly realized and exclaimed in unison:

"This disciple will remember the teaching, 'Only when the mind is not attached to material possessions can one attain true freedom!' Master, should these worldly possessions... be sent back?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Tian slapped the back of the head of the Taoist priest next to him who had the loudest voice. The force was not heavy, but it was full of disappointment and frustration.

The Taoist priest winced in pain, clutching the back of his head and groaning. He looked up at his sect leader with a bewildered expression.

Lu Tian glanced at him sideways, showing no airs of a grandmaster whatsoever, and cursed:

"Fool! A pure Dao heart doesn't mean you should be pedantic! You're turning away something that's been offered to you, are you stupid?!"