Douluo Continent, Sun Moon Federation.
A heated, passionate battle was underway, taking place in one of the Federation's currently popular soul-tool games.
"Go! Get in there and Q to interrupt his E!"
"What the hell are you playing? Gai-a!"
"I expound upon your dreams!"
A middle-aged man, his face flushed with rage, had just finished several days of hard work. On this rare day off, he was enjoying his meager holiday, gathering with the buddies he had arranged to meet for a rare session of the popular 5v5 game, Martial Soul Wars.
It was a rare occasion when all of them were free, enjoying a long-awaited get-together after their last parting.
Only, his gaming journey wasn't going smoothly today.
The five brothers had agreed to queue together, only for it to turn into the awful situation before them.
"Genius Gamer S!"
Looking at the "enemy" on his screen who was sending his blood pressure soaring, he couldn't help shouting, his face reddening as his blood surged.
The opposing midlaner had picked the legendary sword fanatic, "Ji," to lane against them, stepping through his slippery E moves, each step like claws and fangs.
In those exchanges, he had beaten the brothers until they couldn't fight back at all. Even their five-man ganks had been mercilessly dismantled.
With only a sliver of health, that guy had actually slid back and forth, disinfecting as he fought, fiercely draining health from them. After a few exchanges, not a single drop of his health was his own.
In the end, he had even-Ji!
Pentakill! ACE!
Under that sword saint's lead, the opposing team had swept through like a blade splitting bamboo, fighting ferociously, smashing all their front-tooth defenses, pressing straight toward the crystal, and taking it in one fell swoop.
At the very instant it ended, a message popped up.
Genius Gamer: [Five against two and you still get counter-killed. Do you even know how to play?!]
Before they could even react, the opposing MVP had left the match and swiftly logged off, not giving him a single chance.
Seeing this, the already exhausted man suddenly perked up. As though he had drunk strong liquor, his face flushed crimson, and even the room seemed to grow hot.
"Fuck!"
Tonight, he wouldn't be sleeping.
Meanwhile, a six-year-old boy logged off with a somewhat nasty smile. Using his superior skills to smurf in the low-rank pond was simply too delightful.
Today, Genius Gamer S had once again completed the daily task he had assigned himself.
He rubbed his wrists, left his seat, and stretched.
"One game a day really is relaxing and fun."
The boy's name was Zhou Yang, a transmigrator. In his previous life, he had been an ordinary orphan. By chance, he had seen two children crossing the road nearly get knocked to their knees by a hundred-ton Dayun truck. Not wanting that sight to sully his eyes, his body had instinctively rushed forward to push them aside, after which he had begun his showdown with the Dayun mecha.
"Let me declare this in advance: you are the challenger!"
Zhou Yang pointed a knowing finger at the hundred-ton Dayun truck before him.
The strongest flesh versus the strongest tonnage!
Beast Clan against Vehicle Clan. The advantage was his.
Surely all the great battle-machine kings in the comments knew perfectly well that, as a member of the Thunder Gorilla clan, he would easily handle a mere Vehicle Clan member.
Absolutely doable, easily doable, unquestionably doable, dammit!
A mere hundred-ton truck-take my Thunder Gorilla Fist!
As for what happened next, on a battlefield filled with the Vehicle Clan and Beast Clan at 31 degrees 14 minutes north latitude and 121 degrees 29 minutes east longitude, in this showdown between the strongest and the strongest-what had happened in Shanghai that day?
Surely the audience was already eagerly anticipating it. He had heard all their voices (forcibly). There was simply no helping them. Sit tight.
[Kinetic energy] plundering and converting [potential energy] produced the [hidden backup energy] capable of unleashing limitless explosive power.
But at that moment, the [potential energy] on the road outside some unknown branded store was already steadily losing strength under forced braking, just like when Wild Gorilla had once fought a combined ultimate move head-on. So long as the vehicle changed direction and adapted one step ahead of [inertia], it could slow through friction, successfully preventing the collision of [kinetic energy] and [potential energy].
At that moment, the driver, already very close to [stopping], had begun to think it was done. Unexpectedly, the brake pedal-the same model used in some million-yuan luxury car-snapped right then. Just as the vehicle was about to hit the two children ahead, Zhou Yang actually appeared directly between the vehicle and the children through the attraction of [kinetic energy]!
Zhou Yang didn't even need to choose his movements. As though the actions had been burned into his body, he had already pushed the two children aside, using the reaction force of that overwhelming strength to complete a [collision].
Zhou Yang had already activated his [hidden backup energy]. Drawing on the [collision] born from the two children, he charged on without losing momentum, directly facing the Vehicle Clan member before him. Everything was within arm's reach.
On the road at that moment, there was no longer anyone who could prevent [kinetic energy] and [potential energy] from drawing together.
[Hidden backup energy] activated!
With an event none of them had time to catch, the [collision] between the Beast Clan and the Vehicle Clan occurred.
Speaking of which, did anyone know which tribe this unfamiliar Vehicle Clan member belonged to?
After a thoroughly exhilarating bout of heaven-and-earth-spinning, Zhou Yang slowly stood up.
"Could it be..."
"That's right. Zhou Yang won."
Thud!
His body, which had only just straightened, collapsed again.
His muddled vision cleared again. Zhou Yang felt only that the earth had flipped upside down. Looking closely, he discovered he was the one who had fallen.
"I'm sorry I couldn't let Lord Dayun enjoy himself."
Coming to his senses, he opened his eyes from those jumbled fantasies and found a phone in his hand.
I seem to still have something I have to do...
At that moment, Zhou Yang understood his final mission.
And so, with astonishing willpower, he endured the agonizing pain and burned his last Hamon.
Zhou Yang: "Brothers, remember to delete it after watching. I'll be going on ahead."
Who could have imagined that this thing he had once treasured, which even his friends had never seen, would now be so readily entrusted to others? At the same time, he transferred his final balance, down to the last odd amount, to his most trusted brother.
His brother far away: ?
"I really... really took one long detour..."
Then came the transmigration. Compared to his previous life, after coming to this world, things had finally changed-
He had finally gone from an orphan in an orphanage to an orphan in this world who had just lost his grandmother.
Well, at least it was a little better than his previous life. He had been adopted by an old lady. Just tell him that wasn't a change.
The old lady had once had a son, but he had joined the Blood God Legion and died fighting on the front lines. One snowy day, she had found Zhou Yang in swaddling clothes, nearly frozen to death, and had adopted him from then on. Fortunately, she was openhearted and had cared for Zhou Yang like her own grandson.
Before leaving, he looked at the old woman on the Buddhist shrine before him, offered incense to that kindly, gentle-faced elder, pressed his palms together, and bowed.
"Grandma, today's the day I awaken my Martial Soul. I hope I awaken a good one."
Ever since learning that he had transmigrated to this Douluo Continent, he had prepared himself to welcome this entirely new second life. Whether good or bad, he would enjoy his second life to the fullest.
At the very least, as an armchair fan who had only read some of the novels and hadn't eaten much shit, he already had plenty of information-enough, at least, to live peacefully in this world.
Now making his entrance was... the holder of the Book of Half-Understanding, Intelligence Zhou Yang.
After leaving home, he took a little over ten minutes to reach the Spirit Pagoda.
Every few months throughout the year, this place held a free group Martial Soul awakening.
Everyone in Douluo could undergo a Martial Soul awakening at age six. It counted as a local specialty.
Of course, waiting for the free awakening wasn't strictly necessary. The Spirit Pagoda also offered a dedicated awakening service, but awakening required a substantial fee that ordinary families could hardly afford.
Generally, only minor factions adopted this approach.
For ordinary families or those in no hurry, compared with paying an expensive fee to awaken early, this free awakening was naturally the best choice.
The Federation's initiative with the Spirit Pagoda to offer free Martial Soul awakenings both facilitated registration by the Federation and allowed for school assignments and enrollment. It could be said to have helped many ordinary families, just like the Martial Soul Hall twenty thousand years ago.
Soon, it was Zhou Yang's turn. Led by a staff member, he entered a pitch-black room with an elderly man inside.
A densely intricate six-pointed star formation was engraved on the floor, while peculiar carved symbols covered the room's surroundings, mysterious and wondrous, drawing the eye.
Zhou Yang looked around briefly before returning his gaze to the elderly man before him.
The staff member who had brought him pointed out the Martial Soul awakening room and then left alone.
The elderly man conducting the Martial Soul awakening wore the Spirit Pagoda's robes. A special yellow badge on the fabric at his chest displayed his identity as a Spirit Master.
"Children, come stand here."
The kindly elderly man smiled at Zhou Yang and pointed to the formation beside him.
"Don't be nervous. The Martial Soul awakening will be over very soon."
Zhou Yang nodded, walked inside as instructed, and followed the awakening steps he had learned.
Specks of starlight swirled around the elderly man's palm. Luminous white Soul Power flowed into the formation, immediately activating the awakening array. White light spread through its lines, radiating a dazzling brilliance that enveloped the entire awakening chamber in a sea of white.
Zhou Yang immediately felt a comfortable warmth envelop him, suffusing his whole body as though he were soaking in hot water.
This feeling was even more refreshing and comfortable than leaving troubles and clamor behind after hard labor on a bitterly cold snowy day, returning home, and stepping into the bathroom to enjoy a hot shower. It truly made one give voice to delight, unable to resist a soft hum.
His body was also stirred by this peculiar power, gradually heating up, as though a domineering, fiery fluctuation of energy had emerged from the deepest reaches of his soul.
An incomparably dazzling dark-gold radiance burst directly from his entire body, driving out the peculiar energy from before and taking over his whole body.
This power raced wildly through his body as though traversing unoccupied land, completely enveloping him in a single instant.
Like water filling a bottle up to its neck, this power erupted when it accumulated to its peak within him.
Crack, crack, cra-
At that moment, the world was stripped of all sound. Everything was so silent.
Everything around him seemed to have been robbed of its color by that dark-gold light, leaving a mottled whiteness.
Time had stopped.
Looking at the phone hanging in midair after he opened his hand, Zhou Yang was utterly horrified.
"Did I just Za Warudo the world?"
"Could my Martial Soul be-"
A golden figure immediately flashed through Zhou Yang's mind.
Golden, time stop, big guy, invincible.
Surely there was only one answer matching all those traits?
That's right. It had to be-
Zhou Yang felt only a vast power gathering at his waist, transforming without restraint. All sorts of belts appeared, cycling through one after another until his eyes were dazzled.
After a series of transformations, it seemed to reach its endpoint, becoming a heavy golden watch adorned with splendid patterns, peculiar and mysterious.
"This is?!"
At this sight, Zhou Yang's gaze instantly changed, becoming astonished and knowing.
How could he possibly fail to recognize this belt?
Although it differed from what he had expected, by now his body had already begun moving instinctively.
He took a deep breath. Immediately afterward, the relaxed relief on his face vanished as it tightened into solemn seriousness.
He, Zhou Yang, held it together.
Without any hesitation, the belt replaced his brain, and Ohma replaced thought!
The domineering power of Ohma within Zhou Yang erupted, forming a densely intricate clock barrier on the ground, constructed from countless interlocking, shifting dark-gold gears.
The central three-dimensional circle with a horizontal line extended across the barrier, resembling an opening eye, as though proclaiming the awakening of a demon king.
The ground beneath his feet immediately cracked apart. Scalding, blazing magma rose, surged together, and flowed toward Zhou Yang. The barrier became the pattern of a mask's compound eyes. Its two dark-gold hands spread to either side from midnight, slowly turning with an absolute might that commanded domineering majesty and towered above the world.
Clang! Clang!
The two hands spread in different directions at an angle of 120 degrees, becoming a
"Henshin!"
The instant he understood he had become Ohma, Zhou Yang's body moved! He slapped the belt!
A clanging sound rang out, like a herald recounting this great king's symphony.
Dark-gold gears emerged in successive rings, covering Zhou Yang's surroundings and enveloping him completely.
**[The moment of blessing-**
The most benevolent! The kindest! The highest! The strongest king!!
**Ohma Zi-O!!!]**
The demon king's proclamation, accompanied by the long tolling of bells, resounded through the world. Trembling golden light erupted, soaring into the sky with an unparalleled, domineering might that conquered all, illuminating this world.
With effortless ease, it suppressed the world's time and space.
As the golden gears exploded into golden light, a towering, two-meter figure appeared, clad in interwoven dark-gold and pitch-black armor. His body seemed wrapped in watch straps, inscribed with time.
At that moment, Zhou Yang could feel that his condition was stronger and fuller than ever before. Unable to help marveling, he gave a loud, ringing cheer.
"Powerful, invincible, supreme!"
With only the slightest exertion, the space before his palm shattered thunderously, revealing a vast expanse of void.
This world had not yet grown enough to bear even a sliver of his power.
This also made him realize what his transformation had just brought about.
There was no longer any sign of the elderly man who had just helped him awaken.
"Holy crap, where'd the old man go?"
Realizing this, he acted decisively.
He waved his hand. Under time's mighty power, the elderly man, who had been swallowed and erased by that vast, domineering power at some unknown point, returned to his original position amid a series of bizarre twitching motions, maintaining his pose.
"Sometimes, being too powerful is a kind of trouble too."
It was just like how Alatreon's mere existence, through the passive effect of its innate talent, would transform everything around it into a divine domain.
Even a trace spilled from the power of the King of Time's transformation was a weight the weak could not bear. Like the wheels of history rolling over them, it was a lifetime others could hardly reach.
The surrounding buildings destroyed by his transformation effects returned to their original state as he reversed time. Even the void was easily filled and repaired by him, made as good as new.
This was Ohma's power, infinitely profound, capable of changing heaven and earth.
Zhou Yang could feel the fluctuations of his body and soul calling to it, resonating and interacting, clearly conveying his intentions.
With a thought, the King of Time understood his own state. This power was merely a drop in the ocean of the true power of Ohma.
The power erupting now was only meant to awaken him, this "king."
At this point, without the slightest reluctance, the King of Time simply let all of it go and canceled his transformation.
The power of Ohma, enough to make everyone covet it, was poured by Zhou Yang into the ritual of "awakening" just like that.
And at the moment he awakened, the various belts that had just cycled across his waist emerged one by one, turning into watch faces shrouded in spheres of light, suspended in midair.
Zhou Yang casually reached out and caught the watch face that matched his wishes perfectly.
But as Zhou Yang accepted the Ridewatch, all the Ridewatches seemed to receive an order, turning into streaks of light that returned to his body.
"Hey, don't go so fast! Let me grab another one."
As the Rider Ridewatches streamed into his body, Zhou Yang spotted one with his sharp eyes and grabbed it outright.
In the end, all the Rider Ridewatches returned to his body, leaving only the two he clutched tightly in his hands.
One transformed into a red mechanical rhinoceros beetle and quietly floated away, while the other became a black card case bearing a small golden dragon emblem, which he put away.
At the same time, a dark-gold ball of light gathered before him, splitting into two objects.
One became a driver with symmetrical black-and-white halves, while the other turned into a white Ridewatch with a plastic texture.
A large Rider portrait was printed on the Ridewatch, looking ninety percent similar to Zhou Yang's previous form, except that the face in the portrait shone with a purplish-pink light.
It was none other than the most basic Zi-O Ridewatch.