Time Travel: I'm a Flower Thief

Above the Purple Gold Peak, the wind stopped and the clouds froze.

Xie Xiaoyi closed his eyes, and little by little, the soaring fighting spirit within him subsided.

It is absorbed into the bones and muscles, into the blood vessels, into every breath, and every heartbeat.

Wang Zijian watched quietly, his hands hanging down, and the sword intent that had once made the world seem to sink also subsided.

At this moment, the two of them looked exactly like two ordinary stone statues.

However, the martial arts practitioners watching below all felt suffocated.

The tiger-like creature was visibly shaken—

This aura...

It seems to be what Master said about breaking the four signs?

He recited in a deep voice: "No self, no other, no sentient beings, no life span!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Fang turned his head to look at Hu Si: "Fourth brother, you sensed it too?"

Tiger Rhino nodded: "Yes! Third Brother's current state of mind is somewhat similar to the Buddhist concept of 'breaking the four marks'."

Lu Fang turned his gaze back to the horizon and said calmly:

"In our Taoist school, there is also a saying about this state of mind, which is called 'breaking attachments and returning to one's true self, forgetting both self and things.'"

Situ Rui looked up at the sky: "Master, what do you think will happen next?"

Xie Daoyun shook his head slightly: "It should be decided in one move."

"Master, who will win?"

"When it comes to the art of swordsmanship, you should ask the man next to me—the Drunken Sword Immortal."

Hua Youwu didn't reply, but stared into the air and suddenly spoke: "It's starting—"

Above the Purple Gold Peak, Xie Xiaoyi suddenly opened his eyes, his entire body's aura twisting into a pure and ultimate "intention".

This "intention" soared into the sky, condensed, compressed, and shaped above his head.

In the blink of an eye, a towering "giant sword" phantom materialized, with Xie Xiaoyi's body as the hilt!

The sword is ancient and simple, without any sharp edge or gleam, yet it seems to bear the weight of the entire human world, exuding a savage ruthlessness that can shatter all shackles!

Almost at the same instant, the same scene unfolded on Wang Zijian's side.

Behind him, the void silently collapsed, transforming into the deepest "nothingness".

That "nothingness" is not emptiness, but a state of mind in swordsmanship.

This atmosphere spread, enveloped him, and transformed him into the core of the atmosphere.

A phantom image of a giant sword, entirely black and seemingly capable of swallowing all light, stands between heaven and earth, with Prince Jian at its center.

These two swords represent the ultimate sword intent in the human world.

"Slash—" Xie Xiaoyi shouted.

"I shall also behead you!" Prince Jian roared, his words becoming law.

The two colossal swords, formed from "humans," moved.

In an instant, time seemed to be stretched out, or compressed.

At the foot of Zijin Mountain, everyone stared wide-eyed.

All they could see were the two sword shadows that filled the entire sky, slowly and irresistibly approaching.

The sword tips finally met.

There was no loud noise, or rather, the sound was swallowed up by a more fundamental "annihilation" before it could erupt.

First, the light—

At the point where the two swords clashed, a white light more intense than the sun burst forth, instantly engulfing all colors.

Immediately following was an indescribable loud noise.

Click, click—!

The phantom images of two giant swords were frantically consuming, eroding, and obliterating each other at the center of their collision.

After a long while, only a hissing sound could be heard...

The outline of the giant sword began to blur, and countless points of light and black energy peeled off and dissipated from the sword.

That was the most direct depletion of their will and essence.

Just as the two giant swords were locked in a stalemate, their sword intents locked at an extreme juncture—

The sky suddenly darkened.

A distorted chaos appeared out of thin air, space collapsed layer by layer, time surged and turbulent, forming a huge spacetime rift.

The rift was pitch black, with an incomparably violent suction force that swallowed up even the air, light, and sword intent.

Xie Xiaoyi and Wang Zijian were at the center and had no time to react. Their bodies were instantly torn apart by the force of the rift and sent flying into that unknown void.

From the distant horizon, a phoenix cry rang out, and a crimson phoenix spread its wings, cutting through the clouds as it sped towards the horizon.

Xie Lingyun and Ning Hua stood on the phoenix's back and saw the space-time rift that devoured everything. Their expressions changed drastically.

"Xiao Yi..."

Xie Lingyun was deeply shaken; she understood all too well what the split void represented.

She was sucked into another cave back then. What if Xie Xiaoyi also enters another space-time... and can't come back?

She dared not think any further. She lightly touched the back of the phoenix with her toes, about to fly towards Xie Xiaoyi, when her wrist was suddenly gripped tightly.

Ning Hua gripped her arm tightly and shouted, "Xie Lingyun, don't go over there!"

Xie Lingyun struggled desperately, tears welling up instantly: "Master Ning, let me go! Xiao Yi is going to be swallowed!"

Ning Hua refused to let go and said sternly:

"This devouring power is different from the one you and Cui Juqing cleaved open back then. Look at that oppressive aura..."

Even Xie Mo's celestial physique might not be able to withstand it, let alone your Sun-Radiant Netherworld Realm. Going in would likely be a death sentence!

As he spoke, Ninghua, a Daoist Immortal at the Dao Inquiry Realm, unleashed his aura, forcefully suppressing Xie Lingyun. No matter how she struggled, she could not break free.

Xie Lingyun's tears streamed down her face as she stared intently at the dark crack, but could only watch helplessly.

In mid-air, Xie Xiaoyi and Wang Zijian were powerless to resist and were swallowed into the spatial rift in an instant.

The next second, the chaotic rift that had torn the heavens and earth apart suddenly contracted and closed.

The sky, which had just been filled with terrifying sword intent, immediately became clear and bright.

The wind was gentle and the clouds were light, as if the entire decisive battle and the spatial anomalies had never happened.

A deathly silence reigned atop the Purple Gold Peak, with everyone gazing up at the empty sky, stunned and speechless for a long time.

Xie Lingyun was instantly drained of all his strength and collapsed onto the phoenix's back.

......

The moment Xie Xiaoyi was swallowed whole by the spacetime rift, all his senses collapsed.

There was no wind, no light, no up, down, left, or right; even time itself was a jumbled mess.

The feeling of weightlessness gripped him tightly, his body felt as if it were being torn apart by countless invisible hands, or as if he were sinking into an endless, chaotic ocean current.

Past scenes, fragmented sounds, and unreal images flashed wildly before his eyes, too fast to grasp and too slow to bear.

The Ancestral Dragon True Qi and the four forces of Dragon, Phoenix, Qilin and Turtle spontaneously protected the heart meridian, but they could not stop the erosion of this strange space, and the meridians all over the body were trembling slightly.

Here there is no heaven or earth, no boundaries; everything is distorted bands of light and formless chaos.

The light bent into an eerie arc, the past and the future intertwined, making it impossible to tell what time it was or where we were.

There was no sound in my ears, yet it was as if millions of tiny buzzing sounds were hidden within, drilling straight into my mind.

He tried to raise his hand, to circulate his internal energy, but his body wouldn't obey him...

Helpless, Xie Xiaoyi could only follow this strange force, falling and floating continuously in this void and chaos.

Consciousness tugs back and forth between lucidity and confusion, blurring the lines between life and death...