Time Travel: I'm a Flower Thief

Xie Xiaoyi's consciousness seemed to be submerged in a bottomless abyss, the only sounds in the chaos being the sharp sound of sword energy cutting through the wind, and Hua Suwen's heart-wrenching cries.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he suddenly opened his eyes.

The first thing I saw was a plain-colored warm tent, a faint medicinal fragrance lingered in the air, and the bedding beneath me was incredibly soft.

Ok.

It is a medicine hut.

Xie Xiaoyi moved his fingers, but his bones still felt like they were falling apart, and the spot in his chest that had been injured by the black pearl felt suffocating.

"You...you're finally awake?"

A woman's voice rang out, sounding extremely tired but also incredibly excited.

Xie Xiaoyi turned his head and saw Hua Suwen sitting on a stool by the bed.

His eyes were dark and swollen, his chin was so sharp it was almost painful, and he was clutching a handkerchief stained with medicine in his hand.

When she saw Xie Xiaoyi open his eyes, she was stunned for a moment, and then tears streamed down her face.

"Senior sister...why are you crying?"

Xie Xiaoyi opened her mouth, her voice hoarse and barely audible: "You...how did you get so thin?"

Hua Suwen hurriedly took out a pill from her bosom and carefully fed it to Xie Xiaoyi while supporting his neck.

The pill melted instantly upon entering his mouth, and in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Xie Xiaoyi barely regained the strength to speak.

"What about that old monster?... And what about Master?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Hua Suwen's sobs stopped, her shoulders trembled violently, and tears fell even more fiercely, but she couldn't utter a single word.

Xie Xiaoyi's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition suddenly surged up.

He struggled to sit up, but Hua Suwen held him down firmly.

"Don't move!"

Your injuries haven't fully healed yet, senior brother...

"My senior brother exhausted all his efforts to pull you back from the brink of death..."

Senior brother?

Hua Lingshu?

Why doesn't she mention her master?

Xie Xiaoyi was filled with questions.

"Senior sister, what happened to our master?!"

His voice suddenly rose, and the sharp pain in his chest made his vision go black.

Forget about all that, Xie Xiaoyi gripped Hua Suwen's hand tightly:

"Tell me! Is he injured? How badly is he injured?"

Hua Suwen's lips trembled, and in the end she couldn't hold back, shaking her head as she cried.

Xie Xiaoyi's heart sank little by little, and that ominous premonition pierced deep into his internal organs.

The dull pain in my chest began to surge again, and the warm curtains in front of me instantly distorted into a blur.

Before he could even utter a groan, everything went black, and he fainted again.

In the hazy dream, there was no sword energy crisscrossing, no blood staining the ground, only forsythia and angelica covering the mountains and fields.

Senior Sister Hua Suwen walked ahead, carrying a bamboo basket, her skirt swaying gracefully.

Senior Brother Hua Lingshu held a medicinal herb in his hand and patiently taught him to identify the veins on the leaves.

His master sat on the bluestone and taught him acupuncture, medical principles, and how to identify poisons, as well as how to be a good person and practice medicine.

......

Three days later, Xie Xiaoyi was awakened by a ray of warm sunlight leaking in through the window.

As consciousness returned, he slowly opened his eyes.

"You're awake?" Hua Suwen exclaimed in surprise.

Just then, the door was gently pushed open, and a man dressed in a plain white robe walked in.

It was Hua Tianyi's eldest disciple, Hua Lingshu.

Hua Lingshu walked to the bedside, reached out and checked Xie Xiaoyi's pulse, and his expression immediately softened.

"His condition has stabilized; there shouldn't be any major problems."

He looked at Xie Xiaoyi's pale face and sighed, "Xie Mo, it's good that you're awake. You've been unconscious for more than twenty days."

More than twenty days?

Xie Xiaoyi was stunned.

Why haven't we heard from Master in these past twenty-odd days?

"Senior Brother, where is Master?"

Hua Lingshu closed his eyes, as if using all his strength, before slowly speaking:

"Master... passed away on the second day after you fell into a coma."

"boom!"

These words struck Xie Xiaoyi like a thunderbolt.

He froze, his hand gripping Hua Suwen's wrist suddenly loosening, his eyes frighteningly empty, muttering to himself:

"Impossible! My master's medical skills are unparalleled, how could this be...?"

"It's true." Hua Lingshu's voice was filled with deep sorrow.

"That day, Sect Leader Cui killed that old monster with a single sword strike. Actually, Master was also injured at the time. He could have survived, but Master did it to save you..."

Before he could finish speaking, Hua Suwen interrupted, "Senior Brother, don't say anything yet..."

"It's alright. His condition has stabilized. It's better to end the pain quickly than to prolong it. This matter can't be hidden, nor should it be."

Hua Lingshu's gaze fell on Xie Xiaoyi's face again, his voice filled with grief:

"That day, to save the people of Qinghe Town, Master used a poison array to subdue a large number of assassins."

But he himself was also struck by the old monster's magic weapon, his internal organs were ruptured, and he was already only half alive.

He carried a life-extending elixir, a priceless treasure he had acquired years ago. Even the most severely injured person could survive after consuming it.

Xie Xiaoyi glared and asked loudly, "Then why isn't Master eating? You even said it was for my sake?"

"But back then, in order to save Murong Wei, your pulse was severed inch by inch by the magical artifact, and you were on the verge of..."

Hua Lingshu's Adam's apple bobbed, and every word he spoke felt like a knife cutting into his own flesh.

"Your master looked at you without even hesitating."

Suwen chewed up the golden pill and passed it on to you, but there was only one golden pill...

After Hua Lingshu finished speaking, she abruptly turned her head away, trying her best not to let anyone see the tears welling up in her eyes.

The medicine hut was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, with only the rustling of leaves falling in the wind outside the window.

Xie Xiaoyi froze, her lips trembling for a long time, and then, in the next second, a loud, suppressed sob suddenly rang out.

The crying sounded like that of a dying young animal, its throat hoarse, its cries heart-wrenching, its whole body trembling.

"Why did I save Murong Wei...?"

"Why should I meddle in other people's business...?"

His mind was filled with images from before he lost consciousness.

Murong Wei's resolute stance in front of everyone, the cold glint of Wu Zhu's arrow, and his own outrageous words, "I don't owe you anything anymore."

He was just feeling guilty and acting impulsively, wanting to pay off that inexplicable "debt".

But he never expected that this moment of reluctance would cost his master his life!

Xie Xiaoyi cried so hard he almost passed out, and Hua Suwen, seeing him like this, also shed tears.

She finally couldn't hold back any longer and stepped forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Xie Xiaoyi's head, pressing him against her warm chest, her voice choked with emotion yet tender:

"Don't cry, junior brother!"

Before he died, Master said that you did it to save people and that you had a chivalrous heart.

He was relieved; he never blamed you.