I Pick Up Trash, Yet Stand at the Top of the World

Everyone thought You Ta would never awaken an ability. On the day he finally came of age, his delayed differentiation at last arrived, and the rules required him to register and take an assessment at the White Tower. On the way there, You Ta secretly fantasized about having a soft, fluffy little animal for a spirit companion. He didn't need a powerful mental domain, just a clean and pretty one. But when the assessment results came back, they sentenced him on the spot: a D-rank sentinel. You Ta: The sky has fallen. Forget a spirit companion. His mental strength was so weak he couldn't even summon a tangible phantom, and his mental domain was riddled with cracks, utterly ruined. No one wanted to team up with him. He had no chance of getting White Tower resources, and he couldn't even get into the back of the line for a session in the guidance room. To survive, You Ta had no choice but to plunge into the surface wasteland and scrape by scavenging through the ruins. - After he entered Shensu Military Academy, everyone waited to see him make a fool of himself. Everyone assumed this bottom-ranked good-for-nothing would soon grovel before a guide, begging for a single mental cleansing. But then they noticed that You Ta dodged guides faster than anyone. When it came to high-risk contamination missions, he volunteered eagerly, and every time he ventured into ruins warped by contamination, he returned safe and sound without a scratch. Everyone: ? This kid is definitely hiding his true strength and pretending to be useless! After a cleanup mission, You Ta returned to the academy, utterly exhausted. The academy's hottest S-rank medical guide approached him of his own accord and gently offered, “Junior, let me cleanse the contamination on you.” You Ta jumped back three meters in fright and frantically waved both hands. “Don't come near me!” The guide: ? High-ranking sentinels and guides had access to the best resources, while You Ta could only crouch in a garbage heap and rummage through scrap. Radioactive smog and discarded parts were all the nutrients he needed to repair his mental domain. Rumors about him spread like wildfire. The White Tower's top officials held an emergency meeting through the night to work out what was going on. Elite sentinels and guides took turns testing him, and word spread across the wasteland: Shensu Military Academy was hiding a Dark Sentinel whose strength was probably unfathomable. Gradually, You Ta became the person A-rank guides dreamed of day and night, the person S-rank guides longed for constantly, and the person S-rank sentinels could never stop thinking about. He became the hope of the White Tower and the object of the SSS-rank prodigy guide's wildest fantasies. But You Ta paid no heed. A chubby Bernese Mountain Dog stayed by his side as they scavenged together. This novel is also known as: “Watch This Bottom-Ranker Become a God, Step by Step” Reader's guide: 1. The pursuer seems like a cool, aloof tough guy but is actually an upbeat, cocky puppy. Everyone thinks he's hated, but in truth he's adored by everyone. 2. The story centers on the protagonist. His pairing is with the SSS-rank guide mentioned in the blurb, Huo Erfu. 3. A wasteland sentinel-guide setting, with loads of original worldbuilding. Next up for presale: Sword in Hand, Unfettered Through Life. Please add it to your favorites, babies! The Dao Saint has seven disciples. Aside from the eldest, who formally made three prostrations and nine kowtows before entering the mountain to become his student, all the rest were “kidnapped” by the eldest disciple. The eldest taught the others to play chess, practice swordsmanship, and cultivate immortality. Eventually, he fell to the demonic path, and his junior brothers were baffled: “Isn't the eldest supposed to teach us that?” That's one thing he definitely shouldn't teach you! - Xu Cixue, the Dao Saint's eldest disciple, became the first immortal to ascend through the sword path. The three realms all marveled at him. With a single stroke, countless silver glimmers spread from his blade and stretched across the sky, like the Milky Way above the ninth heaven crashing down. Sadly, no one would ever see it again, because Xu Cixue was dead. Xu Cixue betrayed the alliance to the Savage Lands and released the great demon's seal. The sword cultivators guarding humanity's last line of defense at the Heavenly Chasm fell one after another. Yunshan Buzhe Sect was famous for protecting its own. The day the Third Patriarch personally came to suppress Xu Cixue, the old roles were reversed: the senior brother who had once stood before them was now in their place, and the six junior disciples stood against the Third Patriarch. Xu Cixue thought his master believed him. But the most fatal sword blow came from the Dao Saint himself. The greatest sword immortal in the three realms had his soul scattered and his life extinguished. The sword cultivators at the Heavenly Chasm gave their lives to hold back the Savage Lands' invasion. For five hundred years, the three realms enjoyed peace. Lou Jinghe, the seventh disciple of Buzhe Sect, ascended and became the second sword immortal in the three realms. The first thing he did: take up his sword and storm the sacred grounds of the Third Patriarch. The second thing: find his senior brother. The third thing: find his senior brother. The nth thing: find his senior brother. Five hundred years later, I was reborn as a mortal. In this life, I absolutely would not think about cultivating immortality again. Yeah, right! Bring me my sword! “Beyond the thirty-three heavens, immortals dwell above the nine skies. Immortals were once mortals, but mortals' hearts may not be steadfast. A single word or phrase can reveal the mystery. Why need ten thousand pages of alchemical texts? If people are not constrained by their bodies, the Great Firmament is right before their eyes.”* Xu Cixue lay leisurely on the back of a water buffalo, his hands pillowed beneath his head. After finishing the verse, he heard someone call, “Senior Brother.” The carefree, dashing sword immortal senior brother pursuer x the obsessive, twisted, dark junior brother recipient Reader's guide: 1. An older, Sue-like pursuer. Defend the right of a truly Sue-strong pursuer to be pursued and pampered! 2. The recipient is all about his senior brother, and he's quite insane (. 3. The blurb is still being worked on (I'm terrible at blurbs). 4. * From On the Manifestation of the Hidden and the Revealed, by Bai Yuchan, one of the Five Patriarchs of the Southern Lineage of Daoism in the Southern Song dynasty. Theme: Grow through adversity.