NOVEL WEB Chapter 5: Learning to Walk
Breathing in the abundant scent of greenery, feeling the warmth of sunlight streaming in through the window, Ling Yi lazily woke up.
“It’s been a year already~”
Ling Yi murmured softly, lying in his little bed, surrounded by bluish shadows in the corner of his eyes.
Last month, accompanied by his parents, grandparents, and various other relatives, Ling Yi celebrated his first birthday on the Douluo Continent—his very first.
In the past month, Ling Yi had progressed from merely turning over and crawling to standing and walking.
Perhaps because of the nature of being reborn, with an adult soul growing once again from infancy, Ling Yi was experiencing a delayed infant sleep regression, which had yet to occur as of now.
Generally, infants go through cycles of deep and light sleep around three to four months old, shifting from normal sleep patterns to fitful sleep, often waking early or frequently during the night, leaving the parents exhausted.
Moreover, newborns typically sleep around eighteen to twenty hours a day. At two to three months, this reduces to about sixteen to eighteen hours, at five to nine months to fifteen to sixteen hours, and by the time they're one year old, around fourteen to fifteen hours.
But Ling Yi was different. From birth until the present, at one year and one month old, his sleep lasted more than twenty hours a day.
Were it not for Ling Yi waking up in an exceptionally good state of mind, with all other functions such as eating, drinking, and other bodily needs being perfectly normal, the Ling and Zhang families would have likely pooled their money to take him to the big city over a hundred miles away to see a Soul Master.
Although Ling Yi spent most of the past year asleep, during his waking moments he observed with keen interest. By the time he was four or five months old, as his vocal cords began to develop, he guided the conversations and topics around him even with sparse words, enabling him to get a rough understanding of his family's situation.
Naturally, like learning to walk, even though he could attempt standing and walking at an early stage, Ling Yi chose caution over haste, preferring activities focused on crawling and rolling to avoid harming his fragile bones. His speech development also progressed gradually, roughly in tandem with the growth of an average child.
Returning to the information Ling Yi has gathered.
First, about the timeline. It is currently the year 2592 of the Douluo Calendar, which means Ling Yi was born in the early spring of 2591 Douluo Calendar.
At present, Ling Yi is uncertain about which stage of the "Douluo Continent" story from his previous life this timeframe corresponds to. In high school, he had read the original novel and watched the animated series in his late twenties, but, truthfully, he never paid much attention to the Douluo Calendar years, being more captivated by the dazzling martial souls and exquisite character models. Who would focus on such details?
The Ling family's village is truly in the backwoods, with scant interaction with the outside world. Attempting to identify the current famous figures or events on the Douluo Continent is little more than a daydream.
Next, speaking of geography…
The Ling family resides in the Shanhai Village, located about one hundred and sixty li east of the capital city, Wood Plant City, in the Kingdom of Water Wood.
This kingdom is a small vassal state of the Heaven Dou Empire, one of the two major empires on the Douluo Continent, situated in the eastern fringes of the Heaven Dou Empire's territories. Its land area is smaller than half of the smallest province of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Within the Kingdom of Water Wood, there are only three major cities, including the capital Wood Plant City, while the rest are mostly small towns surrounded by numerous villages.
Returning to Shanhai Village, true to its name, it is flanked by both mountains and the sea.
To the west of the village lies the dirt road leading to Wood Plant City, bordered by flat farmland on either side.
To the south flows a river that originates further south and meanders through several villages, drawing a characteristically winding curve outside Shanhai Village, before flowing seventy or eighty li further east into the boundless sea.
Lastly, there’s Ling Yi’s family situation in this world.
On his father's side, his grandfather, Ling Changqing, is thirty-nine this year, and his grandmother, Yan Hong, is of the same age.
His father, Ling Xiaoshan, is eighteen, and his mother, Zhang Xiaoyu, is a year younger.
From grandfather Ling Changqing's generation, there were four siblings: Uncle Ling Changshan who ventured into the northern woods over a decade ago and never returned, presumed deceased; Granduncle Ling Changshui and Great Aunt Ling Changxiu.
Further up the lineage, Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother passed away two years before Ling Yi was born due to prolonged illness.
On his mother's side, there’s Grandfather Zhang Qiang, Grandmother Lu Yun, Uncle Zhang Dahe, Aunt Ling He, Cousin Zhang Lei, and Second Great Uncle Zhang Meng.
Above is the web of relationships that Ling Yi can currently access in this world.
As for the main character group, the Spirit Hall, the two great empires, and the upper and lower sects, they were all too distant for Ling Yi.
For the Ling and Zhang families, who were somewhat related in the neighboring areas, they informed Ling Yi that apart from the annual visit from the Spirit Hall deacon to awaken spirits in eligible children, there was no contact whatsoever with any soul master possessing spirit power in their locality.
If they couldn't even meet a soul master, understanding the world of soul masters seemed like a far reach.
Out of the dozens from the Ling and Zhang families, only three or four had traveled to Mu Zhi City, a hundred and sixty li away, and were considered to have seen the broader world.
Others, like Ling Xiaoshan and Zhang Xiaoyu, had only gone as far as Beikou He Town, forty li away, for the market.
If Ling Yi wanted to learn more about his current location and timeline, accessing the spirit hall branch in Beikou He Town would be the easiest.
However, if the timeline was around the collapse of the Spirit Hall, jumping in might just be 'holding a lantern in a latrine.'
Contemplating this, Ling Yi looked at his own small frame, just one year and a month old, quelling the little urgency he felt, and started pondering today's meals.
It is often said, “For the people, food is as important as the heavens.”
Among the vast sky and earth, having a meal is the greatest necessity of all.
No matter how distant the journey ahead may be, every bowl of rice in the present moment is crucial.
Without a full stomach, how can one have the energy to move their body and open their mind?
Having crossed through nearly four hundred days, what Ling Yi urgently needs to address isn’t whether he can awaken a powerful spirit at the soul awakening ceremony five years from now, nor is it whether he can awaken innate soul power.
Rather, it is the living quality of Ling Yi's small family of three that demands immediate improvement!
Having passed his first birthday, Ling Yi, who stopped breastfeeding almost three months ago, is deeply worried about his family's two-and-a-half meals per day.
Without the "Mystical Heavenly Skill" that the original story's protagonist had from birth, yet with the same meal of thin porridge, the nutrients he can absorb from such a diet seem hardly sufficient to awaken innate soul power.结束
(End of Chapter)
