My name was Yang Podi, and I was just an ordinary working stiff.
How ordinary? I was nearly thirty-five and had graduated from junior college over a decade ago, yet I still had nothing to show for it.
I had entered society full of hope, only to end up buried in debt. I had worked in factories, sales, management, and e-commerce. From a complete newbie to where I was now, I had gradually grown numb.
My greatest hobby since childhood had been practicing martial arts, and I had dreamed of becoming a wandering martial hero ever since I was little. I had even studied martial arts, practiced sanda, and trained with weapons for that dream. My taste in weapons differed from other people's: they liked sabers and swords, while I liked spears. I always felt sabers and swords were too small and not manly enough, whereas spears were far more imposing. What I yearned for most was the ancient life of roaming to the ends of the earth with a silver spear on a white horse.
These days, I worked during the day and spent my evenings alone in my rented room, watching TV, animation, and porn. Lately, I had taken a liking to Douluo Continent. That animation really got the blood pumping.
But as someone with a little life experience, I kept feeling something was off about the plot when I watched the animation a second time. Then, after going back through the original novel and reading countless fanfics, I discovered that the original actually had so many plot holes. My entire outlook on life crumbled a little on the spot.
One day, I was really bored, so I watched porn in my rented room. Just as I was enjoying myself, the power suddenly went out.
I could not help cursing inwardly, What the hell? Why does this lousy rented room keep losing power? Did the breaker trip again?
I opened the window and looked outside. The surrounding rooms all seemed to have power.
I grabbed a battered stool to stand on, then climbed up and took a closer look. Sure enough, the breaker had tripped. I reached out to push it back up, only for a powerful electric current to surge from it. The shock instantly numbed my body, and I fell straight off the stool, losing consciousness on the spot.
Then I seemed to sink into endless darkness, and I even felt as though I was having trouble breathing. Was I in an emergency room now?
Suddenly, a flash of light filled my eyes, accompanied by a burst of commotion. "The baby's here! The baby's here! Finally!"
Then someone seemed to pick me up, and my entire field of vision spun.
When I looked closely, I discovered that the person holding me was an old man. He had a very resolute face, with an enormous scar across it.
Something about his expression looked familiar. Wasn't this Yang Wudi from Douluo Continent?
I looked at myself again. I was actually in Yang Wudi's arms. I struggled to turn my head, then waved my hands and feet, and immediately felt utterly weak. My hands were tiny, like an infant's hands and feet.
No, these were an infant's hands. I could not help thinking, What on earth happened? I only got an electric shock. How did I end up in the world of Douluo Continent?
I tried hard to open my mouth and make a sound, but all that reached my ears were soft whimpers, almost like crying.
Then everything spun again, and I fell asleep.
After days of sleeping and waking, I finally realized that I had probably transmigrated into Douluo Continent, and that I was the grandson of Yang Wudi of the Breaking Clan. My name was Yang Podi.
My father's name was Yang Zhentian, and my mother's was Niu Jinfeng. She seemed to come from the Defense Clan. My mother was also tall and powerfully built, with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, hardly any smaller than my father in either height or build. From what I heard, she seemed to be the biological daughter of Niu Gao, the Defense Clan's chief.
All of that was merely what I had heard. After all, as a newborn baby, I only caught scattered scraps of conversation. Besides, my most important task at the moment was to eat my fill and grow.
The advantage of having such a big, tall mother was that her granaries were well stocked. Every day, I did nothing but eat and sleep, then sleep and eat, largely unaffected by the outside world.
Of course, affecting the outside world was impossible too. After all, I was only a newborn baby who could not even speak. The occasional sounds I made were no different from crying.
At the time, the Clear Sky Sect was the greatest sect under heaven. The Breaking Clan stood at the head of its outer clans, and Yang Wudi was also the Clear Sky Sect's outer sect grand elder, a position of considerable power and status.
With the birth of his only grandson, visitors came in an endless stream, and I saw all sorts of faces. Among them were Bai He, chief of the Speed Clan; Tai Tan, chief of the Strength Clan; and Niu Gao, chief of the Defense Clan. Niu Gao was also my maternal grandfather.
Of course, I also met quite a few people from the Clear Sky Sect, including Tang Xiao, Tang Hao, and Tang Hao's wife, Ah Yin. Just like in the animation, Tang Hao and Tang Xiao were both tall and burly, their entire bodies seemingly brimming with strength. Tang Hao was not nearly as dejected as he had been during his time in Holy Soul Village in the original novel. On the contrary, he was even rather handsome. No wonder he had managed to win over a beauty like Ah Yin. Ah Yin looked very gentle and beautiful, and she even could not resist holding me.
Unfortunately, I was still a baby and did not feel much of anything. My only impression was that Ah Yin's body was very soft, as though it were brimming with vitality.
And from the looks of things, Ah Yin was not pregnant yet, so things would remain safe in the short term, at least. As for what would happen later, there was nothing a baby like me could do.
Half a year passed in this cycle of eating and sleeping. My throat seemed to begin developing gradually, and I could start saying the simplest words: Daddy, Mommy, and Grandpa.
The fact that I could already address people after half a year made the whole family extraordinarily happy, especially my grandfather, Yang Wudi. Every so often, he would pick me up and spin me around until my head swam. Grandpa himself never tired of it.
Of course, I also started trying to walk on the ground, though I could only manage a few steps each time. With my mother watching over me, it was relatively reassuring.
Once I could start addressing people, I was also weaned. My mother, Niu Jinfeng, was rather opposed to this, always feeling that children needed to drink more milk to grow up quickly.
But I found it rather uncomfortable. After all, in terms of my soul's age, I was already over thirty-five. Constantly clinging to my mother to breastfeed was hardly a solution.
My father, on the other hand, was quite pleased. He even got hold of plenty of meat from small Soul Beasts and made meat soup for me every day. I had no idea whether he was happy for his son or happy about something else.
The soup made from Soul Beast meat seemed extraordinarily rich in energy. Every time I finished eating, I felt invigorated and full of energy. No wonder the descendants of wealthy families had such a much stronger foundation than ordinary people. Even the most basic Soul Beast meat contained far more energy than ordinary fruit and vegetables, to say nothing of the major families' own training systems.
Another half a year passed like this. By then, I could more or less speak clearly and walk on my own, and my steps were quite steady.
My mother, however, kept following behind me, terrified that I might fall, like an old mother hen fiercely guarding her chicks.