Following the world spirit's decision, the influential practitioners, who all possessed deep resentment towards Cuo Qing Yi thought—
(Gu family, Teng family, and various other practitioner households, the young masters of these families were all considered individuals of great talent. For them to all die by Cuo Qing Yi's hand…)
(Radiant Sword Sect, Seven Star Sword Sect, the blood of numerous talents from various sects are on that devil's hand…)
(The vast majority of those who had died from that surnamed Cuo's hand were mainly members of the younger generation who demonstrated great potential.)
(The descendants of great war heroes of old—from that bloody war against three different star regions, several of them had also fallen to Cuo Qing Yi's hand…)
In a manner that can only be described as natural, thoughts of this nature gradually appeared on these individuals' minds.
(This surnamed Cuo came out of nowhere. There's reason to believe that he might be a foreign star region's spy…)
(If he was a foreign star region's spy, then… The deaths of so many younger generation talents, and key individuals can be explained.)
(The star region's barrier is still active, if he didn't come from another star region, then… What if he's actually a member of the invasive forces—who died in the earlier days of the war, and was reincarnated?)
(Reincarnation of a foreign star region's practitioner, who somehow recalled the memories of his previous life—leading to him to take revenge on this world…)
(A person like that, he can't possibly be left to live.)
Rather quickly, thoughts of this nature followed, and with it, rumors began to spread throughout the lands of all provinces and empires.
At first, rumors were simply rumors—there weren't any solid pieces of evidence to back up the claims of Cuo Qing Yi being a foreign star region's denizen.
However, due to the amount of resentment—that the various influential practitioners had towards Cuo Qing Yi, along with the numerous crimes that had been falsely pinned to his name, the rumors gradually became factual information.
...…
A week later, Cuo Qing Yi had managed to escape from the dimensional boundaries, and waiting for him in the outside world was—
"Devil Cuo!"
"Kill him! A foreign star region's spy like him should be killed on sight!"
"Shouldn't we interrogate him about what happened to the others that went into the tomb first?"
"Since he's there, the others are obviously all dead! Killing him would mean taking revenge for them, and for all the denizens of this world that died by his hands!"
Practitioners of various backgrounds stationed themselves at the entrance of what used to be Venerate Ghost Hand's tomb.
(…? What is up with these people? I'm used to being hated, but this is…?)
Before Cuo Qing Yi is able to get his thoughts in order, numerous divine arts are already hurled in his direction—forcing him to evade.
"Dammit…"
Having gotten accustomed to being chased after, Cuo Qing Yi's immediate reaction is to take advantage of the billowing dust clouds, and focus on fleeing, while offing as many individuals as possible during the process.
"After him!"
"Kill that foreign star region's spy!"
"…"
Hearing this again, Cuo Qing Yi can't help but frown, while thinking—
(Foreign star region's spy? Where did they come up with this?)
...…
After two months of fleeing, while killing off more than 300 enemies, Cuo Qing Yi finally found a place to hide—a cave in the middle of the mountains.
And as soon as Cuo Qing Yi had the time to catch his breather, he immediately thought—
(What's going on? Some of those people—the young aside, it's the old that's strange. I don't recall offending the majority of them, and yet, the hatred in their eyes…)
The kind of hatred that Cuo Qing Yi had seen in the older-generation-practitioners—who had participated in the act of hunting him down, that was the sort of hatred that one would direct at their mortal enemy, someone who had slaughtered their entire household.
It was the sort of hatred that Cuo Qing Yi would often see on a human—when they were glaring at a beast-kin.
(…I didn't have any chances to perform a soul search, but they called me a foreign star region's spy...…)
Unable to make sense of this situation, Cuo Qing Yi's expression darkens.
Having been in the practitioners' circle for over a decade now, Cuo Qing Yi has naturally heard about the events of the distant past, where three foreign star regions' forces had invaded this world for reasons long forgotten.
At the same time, the majority of the species—that made up the forces of the three star regions, most of them weren't humans, but spirits and beast-kins.
"…"
Picking up his calabash, and uncorking it, Cuo Qing Yi felt the urge to take a long drink, but as soon as the liquid entered his mouth, he felt the urge to throw up instead.
"…Ugh."
Forcing himself to down the water a portion at a time, Cuo Qing Yi seals the calabash, and sets it aside.
(Should take this chance to sleep a little…)
Thinking of this, he opens his storage pouch, and throws out several talismans—setting up a trap-type magic array, which would hinder approaching enemies, while also getting him to wake up.
With his safety measures established, Cuo Qing Yi takes out Mo Xiao, and runs his hand across it.
Out of all the items in Cuo Qing Yi's possession, this is naturally the item that has accompanied him the longest; and it being his primary weapon, he would keep it in his grip when sleeping—for it grants him a sense of safety.
(…In all my previous lives, I've always had an acquaintance of some sort, but in this life...… There're only enemies. …Will it be like this in the future as well?)
Parting his lips, Cuo Qing Yi's expression turns somewhat bitter.
Although he had figured that this might eventually be the case going forward, he still finds it somewhat difficult to get used to.
(…If I don't get used to it in this life, will I be able to...…- Would I have the heart to head to my next life?)
Narrowing his eyes, Cuo Qing Yi raises a sigh.
(I've been called a lunatic numerous times in this life… Assuming I have the heart—to head to my next life, how long would I be able to maintain my sanity? Or maybe… It might be easier to just be a genuine lunatic?)
Thinking of this, a droplet of tears falls from Cuo Qing Yi's right eye, and lands onto Mo Xiao.
As far as he was aware of, this was the first time that he had shed a tear after becoming a practitioner.
"…"
Glancing at Mo Xiao, Cuo Qing Yi mutters—
"They say that a magic treasure of great power would eventually develop a sense of self… A weapon spirit, was it? It would be… Nice to have someone to talk to."
Closing his eyes with a faint smile, Cuo Qing Yi falls asleep.
...…
However, in less than an hour's time, Cuo Qing Yi wakes up with a startled scream, while gasping for air.
"...…"
Faces of the people that he had killed, they would appear in his sleep—condemning him; despite having gotten himself accustomed to such occurrences, Cuo Qing Yi could never get himself to be unfazed by it.