Douluo: Ant Power Breaks the Sky

Chapter 1-Awakening
Douluo Continent, southwest of Tiandou Empire, Fasnuo Province.

Hetan Village, a simple and plain name, is a small village with only more than 200 households outside Xiyuehua City in Fasno Province. It got its name because there is a river beach not far from the village.

A small figure sat on a flat stone by the river, wearing a straw hat and holding a thin bamboo pole in his hand. The sunlight shone through the gaps between the leaves, scattering on his body in patches, forming patches of light that swayed gently with the breeze, bringing a cool breeze amid the warmth brought by the sunlight.

The child stared at the water surface intently, waiting for the signal that the fish would take the bait. Occasionally, a dragonfly would fly across the water surface, creating ripples, and the child's eyes would move with it, but he would soon return to his focus on fishing, because it was related to whether he could have an extra meal today.

Suddenly, there was a slight ripple on the water, and the bamboo pole in his hand could feel a pulling force. The child's heartbeat accelerated, and then he raised the bamboo pole in his hand instantly, and a small fish was instantly brought out of the water.

Looking at the fish still jumping around on the grass, the child in a straw hat caught the fish and put it into the bucket he was carrying. He couldn't help but smile at the fish's tender face in the bucket.

Looking at the fish in the bucket, the child seemed to remember something. The smile on his face slowly disappeared, and a hint of sadness hung on his young face.

"Unconsciously, six years have passed. I don't know if I can awaken my soul power after coming here." The child looked up at the sky, and an expression on his childish face did not match his age.

It was obvious that this child did not belong to this world, and even he himself did not know how he came here.

He just took a nap after get off work and when he opened his eyes, he found himself a baby. It was like Zhuang Zhou dreaming of being a butterfly. However, this dream lasted for six years and he still hadn't woken up from it. Gradually, he accepted this reality.

He was raised by the villagers of Hetan Village since he was a child. When he saw that many villagers could summon objects out of thin air to serve as their tools, he knew that he had come to an extraordinary world.

A few years later, when he was able to speak, he realized where he was.

Douluo Continent, the legendary fantasy floor tile, is the most unfriendly world to civilian players. Without golden fingers and inheritance, you are not even cannon fodder. The only chance for civilians is to rely on the slight possibility of mutation when awakening their martial spirits.

The child stood there, looking at the fish in the bucket with a daze. His name was Shi Yi. In his previous life, he was an orphan just like he is now. This was the name the dean gave him. In the dean’s words, his surname was Shi, and he was picked up in the year of Yi Hai. Hai was the zodiac sign, so he was named after the heavenly stem. Yi can also be extended to mean inferior, better than Jia but second only to Jia. The position Yi also matched his fate. The perfect position was in line with the doctrine of the mean, so he was named Shi Yi.

When he was still a child, he didn't know what the doctrine of the mean was, what his destiny was. He only understood that A was better than B. But when he grew up, studied, and worked, he gradually realized that this perfect position was not easily achieved. B might represent the upper limit of ordinary people and also the upper limit of most people.

Many people try their best but still cannot reach the B-level position. A person's fate has already determined the highest point that person can reach. This is also more obvious in this world. But when Shi Yi came to this strange yet familiar world, his fate was changed to a certain extent. This is also the variable that the dean often mentioned in his memory.

"There are fifty great ways, forty-nine of which are derived from the heavens, and one of which is hidden by humans. Perhaps I can catch the only variable."

Just as Shi Yi was reminiscing about the past and daydreaming, a fish was flapping in the bucket. His hands were full of mucus from catching the fish, and he accidentally knocked over the bucket. The only fish in the bucket was swept along by the surging water and into the riverbank.

Shi Yi was slightly startled. Looking at the disappearing fish, there was no anxiety on his young face, but instead a smile.

"Xiao Yi, stop fishing. The soul master is almost here." A dry, hoarse and slightly anxious voice sounded in Shi Yi's ears.

Shi Yi turned around and saw a hunched figure not far away looking at him. This figure was none other than Li Changshou, the chief of Hetan Village. As the village chief, he had naturally helped Shi Yi before.

"Grandpa Changshou, I'll be right there!" Shi Yi called out without even having time to pack his things. His childish voice was filled with a hint of excitement and anticipation.

Recently, the Spirit Hall is awakening the children of school age in the villages near Yuehua City. There is no specific time for their arrival. Shi Yi only knows that every spring the Spirit Hall will come to villages like theirs to awaken the children of school age.

Since Shi Yi learned to walk, he has witnessed four spirit awakening ceremonies. However, this small village with only 200 households has not seen a spirit master for several years, which shows how difficult the awakening is.

The small figure ran to the hunched body, Shi Yi took the old man's slightly withered hand and said, "Grandpa Changshou, let's go."

Feeling the warmth of Shi Yi's palm, the old man's cloudy eyes fell on Shi Yi, and a smile appeared on his wrinkled face. He nodded slightly and said softly: "Let's go, the soul master is still waiting. Xiao Yi is so smart, maybe he can awaken his soul power."

"Then I'll take advantage of your good wishes." Shi Yi smiled and walked slowly with the old man, feeling expectant but not impatient.

"Oh, haha... You, I don't know where you learned these words at such a young age." Li Changshou smiled and shook his head.

Shi Yi did not answer, but just smiled in agreement and walked slowly towards the village with the old man.

No one would dislike a smart child. As an orphan in his previous life, Shi Yi had been struggling in society for many years, and flattery was just the most basic thing.

The precocious Shi Yi even made many residents of Hetan Village want to adopt him, but Shi Yi fooled them in a naive way. It was not that he had any problem with the villagers, but he was an orphan in his previous life and had long been accustomed to living alone. Parents was an extremely unfamiliar word to him. Shi Yi also understood that he had long lost the ability to trust others unconditionally.

Everyone wears a mask to a greater or lesser extent in real life. Getting closer and getting to know a person in depth often comes at a certain price. Now the villagers are still kind to him. Shi Yi thinks there is nothing wrong with maintaining the current relationship with the villagers. If he has the ability, he will also repay the villagers' kindness one by one.

Shi Yi held the village chief's hand and followed the winding path until they gradually saw smoke from cooking. The two greeted each other along the way and slowly walked towards the wooden house located in the center of the village. This was the Spirit Hall of the village. It did not require anyone from the Spirit Hall to build it. The residents of each village would spontaneously work together to build it, because this wooden house might be the place where the goddess of luck would descend and take them to change their destiny.

The outer wall of the wooden house was stained with a light brown color by the years, and the roof was covered with thick moss, which made it look quite quaint. As soon as Shi Yi approached it, he could hear the chattering of the children. Shi Yi stopped and waited for the arrival of the soul master with the village chief beside him.

Soon, a young man came into the village with a package. He looked to be in his twenties, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, and a very handsome appearance. He was dressed in a white suit with a black cape on his back. There was a fist-sized word "Soul" in the center of his chest. This was the standard attire for the Spirit Hall's direct staff.

"Hello, respected Battle Spirit Master, I am sorry to bother you again this time." Li Changshou bowed to the young man, and Shi Yi also supported him and bowed together.

The man said nothing but nodded arrogantly in return. "I don't have much time, let's get started." The young man urged.

"Master Soul Master, please." Upon hearing this, Li Changshou hurriedly took Shi Yi's hand and invited the young man into the wooden house.

Shi Yi looked at the back of the young man as he slowly walked in. This young man had been here for four years and seemed to be the soul master in charge of this village. They didn't even know his name. It was obvious that the young man liked the title of "Soul Master" very much.

When Li Changshou led the young man in, the children immediately quieted down and naturally lined up, looking at the young man expectantly. Shi Yi glanced at Li Changshou and slowly walked to the edge of the team. Li Changshou also hunched over and slowly backed out of the wooden house, as if he was afraid of disturbing this important ceremony.

A trace of disgust flashed across the young man's face, his brows slightly wrinkled, and he quickly began to open the package in his hand. The wooden house was not used on weekdays, that is, on the day when awakening was approaching, the villagers would clean it spontaneously, so there would naturally be a musty smell of wood.

The young man quickly arranged a hexagonal black stone array on the ground. Shi Yi looked at the black stones on the ground with curiosity, and his tender little hands couldn't help but squeeze them, because he understood that in this world where martial spirits determined everything, he would soon be able to glimpse his own fate.

"When I call your name, please stand at the center." The young man said calmly to the children.

The wooden house was not very bright, with only a few beams of light coming in through the windows. The young man was standing in the dark, and his arrogant look made the children a little scared. When they heard what the young man said, the children nodded timidly, and some of the less timid ones seemed too scared to respond.

Seeing this, Shi Yi bowed slightly to the young man and said, "Yes, Master Soul Master."

The young man looked at Shi Yi with a hint of surprise in his eyes, and then he heard the next sentence, "The village chief said that the soul master is a good person, you don't have to be afraid."

The young man who heard this also forced a smile and nodded, saying, "Kids, I'm here to help you awaken your martial spirits, don't be afraid."

Then, the young man waved his hand and shouted, "Summon, spear."

An extremely ordinary iron spear appeared in the young man's hand. It was completely black, and the tip of the spear was sharp and gleaming with metallic luster. Along with the appearance of the spear, the young man also performed a gun flower in a very showy manner.

This made Shi Yi, a social animal who lived in modern civilization in his previous life, feel extremely immature. He couldn't help but secretly tap his little toes in embarrassment. However, Shi Yi still clapped his hands out of respect. The children around him looked at the young man's childish eyes full of expectation and admiration, and clapped along with Shi Yi.

After seeing the young man’s embarrassing performance, the children were no longer afraid, and one by one they began to act obediently according to the young man’s requests.

As the first child slowly walked into the awakening circle, the whole wooden house sometimes lit up and sometimes dimmed, and the children seemed very conscious, one after another.

"The sickle... come and test your soul power... without soul power... you can't become a soul master..."

"Blue Silver Grass? You don't need to test it. A useless martial soul has no soul power."

"Hammer...moonflower...fan...shovel..."

The children who awakened these martial spirits slowly returned to the team with lost looks on their faces. Looking at the lost looks on the children's faces, Shi Yi's face was full of emotion. No matter in which world, changing one's destiny is an extremely difficult thing.

"Next one." As if due to the constant activation of the awakening array, the young man's face showed a trace of fatigue, and there was impatience in his voice.

Shi Yi slowly walked into the awakening magic circle with his eyes closed, as if he was welcoming the arrival of his destiny. A familiar green light lit up, and his body was surrounded by a layer of faint light. Shi Yi only felt a warm feeling rising.

As time passed, the light became brighter and brighter. Shi Yi could clearly feel something in his right hand as if it was about to break out of his body. As his heartbeat gradually accelerated, the feeling became stronger and stronger.

Suddenly, there was a slight movement in his palm, which made him tremble all over. "Alive?"

Shi Yi opened his eyes suddenly, a trace of fear flashed in his eyes, and an ant appeared in the palm of his right hand. Its body was slightly larger and more slender than a normal ant, with a large head, a pair of compound eyes and long antennae.

The young man also looked at the ant in Shi Yi's hand with great surprise. As a soul master, he certainly noticed that the "martial soul" in Shi Yi's hand was a living thing. Even though he had never seen the martial soul of such a living thing, he could understand that Shi Yi's martial soul had mutated.

"It's actually a mutated martial soul, but it's just an ordinary ant." The young man couldn't help but sigh as he looked at Shi Yi.

Shi Yi looked at his palm and felt a hint of excitement in his heart. Even if his martial soul was an ant, as long as it mutated, most of them would be able to awaken their soul power. Moreover, his situation seemed very similar to Yu Xiaogang's.

Shi Yi never expected to awaken some amazing martial spirit, because he knew that it was unrealistic. According to his understanding of Douluo Continent, powerful martial spirits should be passed down from generation to generation by spirit masters.

Every family has a genius in the first generation, and the martial soul will grow with the soul master's cultivation. Then the martial soul passed down to future generations will also have some characteristics that the ancestors obtained through their own efforts to improve their cultivation and add soul rings.

"Let's test its soul power. I don't know what kind of mutation this is, but according to my experience, as long as a mutated martial soul appears, it will have some soul power." The young man whispered to Shi Yi.

Shi Yi nodded and said, "Thank you, brother."

After saying that, Shi Yi slowly placed his hand on the blue crystal ball in front of the young man.

……

(End of this chapter)