Dust Aspires to Rival the Stars

The autumn harvest.

It happened after Xu Xi led the "condemned people" beyond the borders.

Step by step.

With whole hearts and united strength.

With hoes in their hands, they cultivated the land and sowed rice seeds. Under the soil-stained yellow sky, they earned the fruits of their labor as human beings.

Sweat transformed into tangible hope.

Illuminating every pair of dim eyes.

Xu Xi knew that those who had once "died" were beginning to come alive again.

What they faced next was the world itself - deathly ill, hiding all truths in shadows, lifeless and stagnant.

"Yingxue, let's depart."

"Yes, sir!"

The young girl picked up her spear and jogged behind Xu Xi.

...

[Simulation Year Nine, Autumn]

[You and the impoverished commonfolk together witnessed a great harvest]

[Although each person's share amounted to pitifully few grains of rice, it was the first time the harvest truly belonged to them]

[Some wept, some laughed wildly]

[The people following behind you no longer appeared dazed and confused; you saw light in their eyes]

[Winter arrived silently, and the earth was once again covered in ice and snow]

[You persisted in your daily punches, each ordinary fist containing the roar of your blood energy's inner universe]

[You persisted in your daily sword practice, each simple strike splitting the clouds in the sky]

[You persisted in daily observation, using martial vision to study and mimic the world's operations, further perfecting your blood energy's inner universe]

[Heaven rewards diligence, reaping what you sow]

[Your ceaseless training, your persistence through seasons, pushed your strength further]

[Though you didn't deliberately practice martial arts, time itself evolved miracles beyond the ordinary during your long persistence. Your martial arts began to mysteriously unite, resonating with your internal blood energy universe]

[Besides training, you remained vigilant about the Xuanqi Province's capital, worried they might deploy troops during heavy snowfall]

...

[Your worries didn't come true]

[This winter remained as peaceful as the last]

[The people celebrated the new year jovially, celebrating this year's harvest. Among rising flames, you gave Wu Yingxue a New Year's gift]

[It wasn't gold or silver - in today's Survival Army, grain was far more precious than precious metals]

[It wasn't jewelry - the tomboy girl was never interested in such things]

[What you gave the girl was a "precious" grass spikelet]

[You remembered clearly that she particularly enjoyed eating these]

Another New Year's Eve.

Wu Yingxue received the grass spikelet from Xu Xi.

Her expression was full of surprise.

"Sir, who gives this kind of thing for New Year's!"

The girl complained loudly: "Sir is such a fool!"

After speaking, she grumpily put the grass spikelet in her mouth, chewing it slowly as the familiar sweetness spread through her mouth.

"Haha, sorry, sugar is too scarce in the city, this is all I can afford to give."

Xu Xi laughed.

He too put a grass spikelet in his mouth, savoring that hard-earned sweetness under the starlit night sky.

...

[Simulation Year Ten, you are 25, Wu Yingxue is 19]

[After winter, the Survival Army grew increasingly larger]

[More and more refugees, unable to bear the Great Qin's taxes, voluntarily joined the ranks of the Survival Army, becoming fools one after another]

[Wu Yingxue expressed her concerns to you]

[She worried that the widespread transmission of the Fool's Technique would equally strengthen Great Qin's power]

[You smiled, telling the girl not to worry]

[Because those in high positions would not willingly practice the Fool's Technique, and those forcibly turned into fools would eventually become members of the Survival Army]

[Simply because they too wanted to live, to become people with choices]

[In summer, the Survival Army led by you swept through Xuanqi Province with even greater momentum, occupying more than half the province]

[The provincial capital of Xuanqi Province finally took action]

[From scout reports, you learned that they not only deployed provincial troops but also called upon border armies from several passes, with the number of Innate Martial Artists exceeding eight]

[You knew deeply this battle would be difficult, destined for many deaths. You allowed the fearful to remain in the county, as your original intention wasn't to send people to their deaths]

[But no one was willing to leave]

"Brother Xi is good in every way, just too honest. What if he gets bullied when we're not around!"

"That's right, I want to protect Brother Xu!"

"If Master Xu and Young Miss Wu aren't leaving, we're not leaving either!"

Riding donkeys and mules.

Wielding hoes and kitchen knives.

The undisciplined commoners formed an even larger Survival Army before Xu Xi's eyes, declaring they would share his fate.

Xu Xi looked up at the sun.

The sunlight seemed particularly piercing today.

Making his eyes sour.

...

[The war began, a bloody war that destroyed all life and peace]

[Facing Great Qin's armored cavalry, the fools of the Survival Army could only employ the simplest human wave tactics, desperately blocking the horses' advance like madmen]

[They chopped until their hoes and knives broke]

[They bit until their teeth shattered]

[Countless survivors showed fearlessness in this moment, becoming an impenetrable human wall, blocking those trying to ambush you]

[You fought with Great Qin's Innate Martial Artists while the girl covered you]

[You worked together, sometimes with fists shaking mountains and rivers, sometimes with spears cutting through the sky, using all your strength to suppress all enemy Innate Martial Artists]

[This was the only thing you could do for the fools]

[Without Innate Martial commanders entering the battle, ordinary Great Qin soldiers could hardly defeat these fearless peasants]

[You won]

[The Survival Army won]

[Though the victory was devastating]

The battlefield resembled a bloody unfurling scroll painting.

Scattered with mutilated corpses and twisted pools of blood, weapons and dismembered limbs submerged within, barely visible on the surface.

The dead were forever gone.

The living could barely stand.

In every sense, they had squeezed out every last bit of energy from their bodies.

"Huff—" Xu Xi sat leaning on his blade, panting heavily, behind him an even bloodier scene.

"Sir, let me carry you."

Though she could barely stand herself.

Wu Yingxue came before Xu Xi, tremblingly extending her hands, wanting to carry him on her back.

She succeeded in lifting him.

But fell at the first step.

Together with Xu Xi, both fell into the blood pool, their entire bodies becoming extremely disheveled.

"Let me do it instead," Xu Xi gritted his teeth, enduring his body's pain, standing up from the ground.

This time, he tried to carry the girl.

Thud—

Xu Xi failed too.

The battle had been so intense that even their blood energy universes were exhausted, causing both to fall again, their faces covered in blood and mud.

Utterly disheveled, completely undignified.

After a moment's pause.

Both burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! Hahahaha!"

For the final attempt, neither Xu Xi nor Wu Yingxue tried to carry the other, instead supporting each other, stumbling forward slowly.

Walking together toward the provincial capital of Xuanqi Province.

Behind them, in the brilliant sunlight, were countless survivors of varying heights, similarly enduring pain as they walked.

The wind rose.

Humble dust sought to fly to the high heavens.

To stand shoulder to shoulder with the brilliant stars.