To Eat, To Live

Ah...

Ugh...

Lips trembling, throat dry and hoarse, face blank and lifeless.

Gazing at the distant flames rising into the sky.

The people of Qingniu Town felt as if their throats were also burning.

Unable to produce clear voices, only pure sobs and pain remained.

Their eyes were filled with despair.

The lower class is the most resilient, enduring a life of hardship that often accompanies them throughout their lives. Even when exiled to the borderlands, living alongside dangerous demons, they didn’t feel much difference.

It was just a life of suffering, made slightly more bitter.

When exiled to the borderlands by Great Qian, the people of Qingniu Town didn’t collapse.

When living next to terrifying demons, the people of Qingniu Town didn’t collapse.

They were like weeds.

Tenaciously taking root in the borderlands, doing everything they could to survive.

But humans are not cold, unfeeling machines. How could they endure suffering indefinitely without breaking?

At this very moment, in this very place, the people of Qingniu Town finally reached their limit. Watching their town burn in the flames, they shed tears of despair and helplessness.

“Brother Xu, my home is gone…”

“My home is gone…”

The dark-skinned man, who always used to smile so warmly.

Carrying his elderly mother on his back, he let out a cry like never before, a cry of pain, a cry of hoarseness.

That was the place he had lived since childhood.

A place he cherished as something beautiful.

Now it was gone. Everything was gone.

Niu wailed, crying like a child, so helpless and sorrowful.

“Get up, Niu.”

Xu Xi stepped forward, helping the man steady his mother, then patted his shoulder lightly. Meeting his empty, lifeless eyes, Xu Xi spoke softly:

“Let’s go.”

“Brother Xu, where are we going?”

“To eat. To live.”

Such simple words, yet they carried an immense allure.

People who had lost everything, who had nothing left, had no choice but to keep moving forward.

They didn’t understand ideals, nor did they comprehend life, but they knew the importance of the words “to eat” and were deeply drawn to them.

Almost involuntarily.

They followed that figure, advancing through the snowstorm.

Wu Yingxue watched this scene for a long time, only snapping out of her daze when the group was almost lost in the snowstorm. She hurried to catch up.

“Sir, wait for me!”

……

[Qingniu Town disappeared]

[In the physical sense, burned to ashes by a group of ferocious fire crows, leaving nothing behind]

[You watched the town burn, then looked at the devastated people, and decided to lead them away from the winter borderlands]

[You left]

[The people of Qingniu Town followed you]

[Wu Yingxue once asked you curiously why the people listened to you so obediently. You denied this claim]

[Eating and living are instincts everyone desires. All you did was guide them in that direction, nothing more]

[The winter borderlands were overrun with demons, and you encountered them many times. Fortunately, your strength was extraordinary, and each time you managed to fend them off]

[You decided to lead the people along a small path provided by Wu Yingxue, heading into the heart of the Thirteen Prefectures of Great Qian]

[This was the only way you could think of to ensure more people survived]

[The journey to the exit wasn’t long, but only for you and the girl. For the people of Qingniu Town, this snowstorm-filled journey was far too arduous]

[You had to spend extra time, staying vigilant and attentive, to ensure no one went missing along the way]

[Along the way]

[You encountered another town that had also taken root in the borderlands]

[Compared to Qingniu Town, this town was even more tragic, with severed limbs scattered everywhere, blood staining the snowy roads, and collapsed buildings crushing everything in their path]

[The demons that attacked here had already left, leaving behind an empty, silent town]

[You searched the town but found no usable supplies. However, you did find a few survivors who had narrowly escaped the demons’ clutches]

Standing before you.

Could they even be called people?

Their clothes were tattered, their hair a mess, and their eyes hollow, as if broken.

“…”

No matter how you called out to them, there was no response.

Clearly, these people had suffered even greater trauma than the people of Qingniu Town.

“Yingxue, bring me some jerky.”

The girl quickly handed over a piece of jerky.

It was made from demon meat.

Xu Xi tore it into small pieces with his fingers, then used his inner energy and blood qi to warm and soften it, feeding it bit by bit into the survivors’ mouths.

Feeling the food enter their mouths, they finally reacted, chewing mechanically.

“This world…”

“Really gives people no chance to live.”

Xu Xi sighed.

There were many demons in winter, which meant demon meat was abundant, so food wasn’t an immediate concern.

Thus, Xu Xi could afford to be generous with the survivors.

But beyond that.

There was little else he could do.

Xu Xi was only a Heaven Realm martial artist at the Observation Stage.

He could kill demons, and he could kill “people,” but he couldn’t rebuild a collapsed town, nor could he bring the dead back to life.

“We must keep moving forward.”

……

[You gave food to the other survivors]

[Food reserves were plentiful, even abundant during the demon-infested winter]

[The real difficulty wasn’t food, but surviving the harsh winter]

[To your surprise]

[The survivors you had fed eventually stumbled after you, their faces still blank with despair, but their sickles and pitchforks were unmistakable]

[They asked where you were going, what you ultimately planned to do]

[Your answer was “to live”]

[You were blunt, stating that in the end, you might become enemies of Great Qian, enemies of the “great ones” everyone feared]

[Some were shocked, calling you a rebellious traitor who would be beheaded by the court’s great ones]

[Others were confused, unable to understand why living had anything to do with Great Qian]

[Your answer was simple]

“This world is sick, gravely sick.”

“Great Qian is sick, and you are sick too. That’s why no one can live.”

“What I want to do is cure this sickness, so that everyone can live.”

In the howling wind.

Amid the blizzard.

Xu Xi spoke these words to the survivors who had followed him.

Some seemed to understand, while others didn’t at all.

Their eyes were filled with confusion and chaos.

A few stayed behind, choosing to remain in the ruined town.

But most, armed with sickles and pitchforks, joined Xu Xi’s group. There was no complex reasoning—they simply believed Xu Xi could help them survive.