AZI Volume 7 Chapter 20.5 Intermission – Charred Village

Two weeks after Cuo Qing Yi had decided to become a practitioner—

"There!"

"Give chase!"

"…"

A Radiant Sword Sect elder and a pack of disciples had found him—leading to Cuo Qing Yi being left with no choice but to continue to flee.

"Over there!"

"Surround him!"

The chase lasted for three days and two nights before Cuo Qing Yi managed to escape.

During that time, more than 30 disciples of the Radiant Sword Sect had been killed by Cuo Qing Yi, while the elder who was a part of the chase sustained retreat-worthy injuries.

If Cuo Qing Yi had learned anything from being chased for that long, it was that strength was everything in the practitioners' circle.

Negotiation and the likes within the practitioners' circle, these can only be performed when the two sides involved were able to see one another as equals.

Being a rogue practitioner—who was only in the Qi Condensation realm, it goes without saying that the people chasing after Cuo Qing Yi didn't see him as an equal.

And it wasn't long after that, that another elder of the Radiant Sword Sect had come to find trouble with him—leading to Cuo Qing Yi being hunted down by the various members of this sect for more than two months.

It's difficult to say if it was fortunate or misfortunate, but the killing of the Radiant Sword Sect's disciples had allowed Cuo Qing Yi to accumulate a vast amount of cultivation resources, causing his cultivation base to breakthrough into the Foundation Establishment realm in less than a year.

Since strength is the most important asset to have in the practitioners' circle, Cuo Qing Yi was rather happy about his breakthrough.

However, in the same instance, Cuo Qing Yi came to the realization that the fastest way to acquire strength was to take risks, and to compete against others for rare opportunities.

Hatred and grudges would inevitably form as a result of competition, where death was a common occurrence.

And with it being a common occurrence, it didn't take very long for Cuo Qing Yi to offend several sects and practitioner households for various reasons.

Amidst his days of fleeing and killing off pursuers, the white flute in Cuo Qing Yi's hand, the practitioners' circle had come to call it Mo Xiao.

"I heard that this surnamed Cuo enjoys drinking the blood of his enemies. That's why he always carries a gourd with him."

"Tch, that's such a minor detail. Have you heard the tales of him painting an entire household red?"

"What about the time he caused an entire sect to disappear overnight?"

Within the span of five years—while being hunted by the various forces of the practitioners' circle, Cuo Qing Yi had made his name well-known throughout the entirety of the Danqing Empire.

By this point, even those in the other empires had come to know his name.

...…

A decade after he had become a practitioner—

"…"

Cuo Qing Yi stands in front of what should have been a gate.

The signboard, which should have had the name of the village painted onto it, more than half of it had been charred by flames—making it impossible to see what the first two words on it were.

"…"

Considering how the scent of smoke continues to linger in the air, not much time had passed since the entirety of this village had been razed to the ground.

Charred corpses—both humans and animals, are scattered here and there.

And with how badly damaged the earth and the various buildings are, attempting to find an intact corpse that isn't missing a portion of itself would be a rarity.

"…"

Walking through the village that he had grown up in, Cuo Qing Yi maintains silence.

Prior to leaving the lands of the Danqing Empire for good, Cuo Qing Yi—out of pure curiosity, had wanted to visit this village.

He had no intentions of entering the village originally, and only wished to look at it from a distance, but now—

"Immortal… Just what is an immortal? And for what are they respected for?"

Seeing handprint-shaped craters throughout the village, Cuo Qing Yi knew that it was none other than the practitioners—that he had grudges with, that ended up razing this village to the ground.

"…"

Arriving at the spot, where his home should be, Cuo Qing Yi is greeted to the sight of charred rubble.

Waving his hand, Cuo Qing Yi lifts the rubble aside with the power of his cultivation base, and beneath the rubble, he sees—

"…"

Three bodies.

The first two are clearly that of an adult, and the third—

"…"

Taking a few steps backwards with his complexion turning pale, Cuo Qing Yi covers his lips.

Judging by the size of the third corpse, it was clearly only an infant.

Assuming the two larger-statured corpses to be the bodies of his parents, then this infant-sized corpse, it should belong to a sibling that Cuo Qing Yi had never met.

"…"

Raising his head towards the dark skies, Cuo Qing Yi presses his brows together—forming an expression of pain and discomfort.

Seeing all these corpses, which all came about as an indirect result of his actions, anger was the first emotion to be felt, but rather quickly, this emotion was overwritten by a feeling of fear.