Time Travel: I'm a Flower Thief

The maidservant, carrying the invitation, arrived at the inn where Xie Xiaoyi was staying for the second time.

When they arrived at Xie Xiaoyi's room, the maid knocked lightly three times on the door.

"Is Young Master Xie well?"

My master sent his maid to invite you, saying that the new tea has been brewed and he hopes you will come to Ya Yin Fang to enjoy it with him.

The door creaked open, and Xie Xiaoyi, dressed in a black long robe with his hair slightly disheveled and a hint of disdain in his eyes, appeared.

He took the invitation, glanced at it, then chuckled softly and handed it back to the maid.

The fish has taken the bait.

But I am a womanizer after all. When I want to get a woman, I either do it willingly or by force.

Unlike yesterday, when I was told to leave.

Wouldn't it be too shameful for me to be at Fu Yaoqin's beck and call?

"Please inform Master Fu for me that I drank too much plum blossom wine yesterday and am still hungover today. I'm afraid I've wasted your fine tea."

The maid hesitated for a moment, then quickly added, "If the young master is unwell, my master said it's possible..."

"No need. True friends are hard to find, and the tea would taste much weaker."

After saying that, Xie Xiaoyi turned around and closed the door, leaving the maid standing there holding the invitation, not coming back to her senses for a long time.

When the maid rushed back to Ya Yin Fang to report, Fu Yaoqin was sitting by the window, holding a chess piece in her hand and gently tapping it on the chessboard.

Upon hearing Xie Xiaoyi's reply, her hand holding the chess piece paused slightly, and the piece landed on the chessboard with a crisp sound.

Still hungover? Finding a kindred spirit is hard to come by, and even the tea tastes bland?

Fu Yaoqin repeated it in a low voice, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes.

Over the years, she has always been the one rejecting others; no one has ever rejected her.

Even the city lord Bai Letian's "Floating Wine Cups on a Winding Stream" was only attended by Fu Yaoqin after he invited her three times, out of respect for the city lord.

This young master Xie actually gave her the cold shoulder.

Is he... angry?

Or does he think I'm not his soulmate?

After a moment of silence, Fu Yaoqin looked up at the maid and said:

"In that case, prepare a jar of plum blossom wine and some freshly roasted tea, and send it to the inn for Young Master Xie."

......

Hearing the maid's footsteps fade away, Xie Xiaoyi slowly turned around and took out the wooden sword from under the table.

This wooden sword was personally carved by his senior brother Hua Lingshu. Although Xie Xiaoyi already possessed the "Guan Cang Hai" sword, he still couldn't bear to lose this wooden sword.

Since he had declined the beauty's invitation and had nothing else to do, he decided to practice his swordsmanship.

Xie Xiaoyi pulled out the crumpled "Kenpachi" book from under his pillow, picked up the wooden sword, and went out the door.

After many twists and turns, we found a secluded stream outside the city.

The stream babbles, and all around is quiet; it's the perfect place to practice martial arts.

He found a flat bluestone to sit on, and flipped through "Kenpachi" again, a mocking smile creeping onto his lips.

He laughed at his own foolishness, knowing full well that it was an ordinary sword technique, yet he still chose to practice it.

What are these "Swift Wind" and "River Breaker" techniques? They sound impressive, but when you break them down, they're just basic moves like chopping, hacking, picking, and stabbing.

It has absolutely no internal energy circulation techniques; it's definitely cheap stuff sold at a street stall.

He casually tossed the booklet aside, picked up his wooden sword, stood up, and assumed a starting stance.

"Sword One, Gale."

Xie Xiaoyi gave a low shout, twirled his wooden sword, and slashed at the air in front of him.

The movements were crisp and clean, but completely lacked any sense of technique or sword intent.

After practicing for less than half an incense stick's time, he lay by the stream, gazing up at the blue sky.

He lay sprawled on the bluestone, arms behind his head, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, swinging his legs.

A breeze swept across the stream, causing him to tilt his head slightly, his gaze falling precisely on the "Eight Styles of Swords" that had been casually tossed aside.

The sunlight slanted across the yellowed pages, making the rough illustrations of martial arts moves exceptionally clear.

At first, Xie Xiaoyi thought the lines on the figure in the picture were just the outline of clothes, but after squinting at it for a while, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

The figures in the painting are stiff in their poses, but the folds of their clothes are drawn in a particularly strange way.

It doesn't look like it's drifting in the wind; rather, it looks like...

It felt as if something was moving beneath the fabric, meandering and traveling along the body's limbs.

Xie Xiaoyi's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly sat up and grabbed the sword manual.

He ran his fingertips along the lines on the paper, becoming increasingly alarmed as he looked.

Those seemingly random ink lines, where are they supposed to be depicting the folds of clothing?

It clearly resembles a marked trajectory of true qi circulation!

Beside the slashing move, an ink line rises from the dantian, runs along the inside of the arm, and reaches the fingertips.

As he picked at the thorns, the lines circled around his waist and back, disappearing at his ankle.

Xie Xiaoyi became increasingly alarmed as he pondered the matter. Could this really be a peerless secret manual?

His breathing suddenly quickened, his fingers turning the yellowed pages, his gaze sweeping back and forth across the diagrams of Sword One Gale.

He then tried to follow the path of the true energy circulation.

The internal energy surged from the dantian, traveled along the meridians to the wrist, and then condensed at the tip of the sword.

This made him feel incredibly smooth and without any discomfort.

Xie Xiaoyi suddenly stood up, gripped the wooden sword, and combined the movements and breathing techniques shown in the diagram with Yan Fanyun's light footwork.

"Sword One, Gale!"

The moment the low shout fell, his figure shot out like a crossbow bolt, the sharp sound of the wooden sword cutting through the air almost converging into a single line.

fast!

too fast!

The usual sluggish opening move now carried a swift and deadly sharpness, the sword wind sweeping across the reeds by the stream, cleanly severing them in two.

Xie Xiaoyi was overjoyed and flipped to Sword Two: Broken Wood.

This move's energy trajectory leans more towards concentrating power. He found a small tree about the size of a bowl, followed the method to channel his energy into the sword, and then raised his hand to strike fiercely.

"Sword Two, Break Wood!"

"Crack!" After a crisp sound, the sapling broke off, the break being surprisingly clean.

I go!

I've struck gold!

Xie Xiaoyi became increasingly excited, flipping through Sword 3 Armor Break, Sword 4 Stone Splitter, and Sword 5 Star Breaker in succession.

But the more I practiced, the more I felt powerless.

When the true energy reached his chest, it became stagnant, and when he struck the rock, it only left a few shallow marks.

It is far less imposing than the "splitting rocks and piercing gold" depicted in the illustrations.

Xie Xiaoyi stopped, panting heavily.

He knew that his internal energy cultivation was too shallow, and he simply couldn't master the moves from the third level of the game.

He then flipped to Sword Six: Chasing the Moon and Sword Seven: Piercing the Sun. Looking at the even more complex and magnificent true energy trajectories, Xie Xiaoyi could only shake his head helplessly after practicing them.

Its power is really limited.

It only reached the level of power of the armor-piercing sword in Jianwang 3, without any improvement.

I still suffered from insufficient cultivation level and couldn't fully appreciate the artistic conception of the game.

Xie Xiaoyi rested for a while, then his gaze fell on the last page—"Sword Eight Laughs at the Mortal World".

This page contains no fierce moves, only a figure standing with his hands behind his back, a long sword hanging at his side, and ink lines on his clothes flowing slowly like a river.

The side note contains only one line of small print: "The sword remains sheathed, cultivating its power and accumulating strength; concealing its edge in clumsiness, it grows stronger with time."

Xie Xiaoyi stared at the figure and suddenly smiled.

He carried the wooden sword on his back, gazing at the babbling brook, and felt a sense of peace and clarity.

Sword Eight Laughs at the Mortal World is definitely the strongest move, but my cultivation and sword intent are not high enough to appreciate its profoundness.

Three poles in the sun.

Xie Xiaoyi tucked the wooden sword and "Kenpachi" into his pocket and slowly walked back to the inn.