The sea breeze, carrying the tang of salt, swept across the little clearing in front of Kame House.
Master Roshi watched Bulma, who was beaming with excitement, and Lin Fan, whose expression remained calm. Behind his sunglasses, his little eyes darted back and forth.
"Don't get excited just yet, young lady."
He spoke slowly, his voice still raspy and grandfatherly. "That just now was a warm-up. The real test starts now."
"Ah? There's more?"
Bulma's face immediately fell.
Just then, two orange-clad figures came running over. It was Son Goku, back from delivering milk, and Krillin, whose training session had just ended.
"Old man! We're back!"
Son Goku called out energetically. He spotted Bulma and Lin Fan at once. "Huh? You're still here?"
"Goku, Krillin, just in time."
Master Roshi beckoned them over. "Come on, you two can join in too. This test is simple."
As he spoke, he rummaged through the pocket of his floral shirt and finally pulled out something round and shiny.
It was a wrapped milk candy that looked delicious.
"Watch closely."
He placed the candy on his open palm. "The rule's the same as before. Whoever can take this candy from my hand before I count to ten passes the test. Simple enough, right?"
"Oh! Snatching candy! I'm good at that!"
Son Goku perked up at once and immediately took an attack stance.
Krillin nervously swallowed and fixed his gaze on Master Roshi's hand.
Bulma stamped her foot angrily. "That's not fair! You're obviously giving those two brats special treatment. They're your students!"
Master Roshi chuckled without explaining and began counting. "One!"
As soon as he spoke, Son Goku shot forward like a cannonball, moving so fast that he kicked up a gust of wind!
His hand reached straight for the candy in Master Roshi's palm.
But Master Roshi's wrinkled hand, which seemed to move so slowly, gave the tiniest twitch. With a slight turn of his wrist, he made Son Goku's grab miss; Goku's fingertips only brushed the wrapper.
"Two!"
Master Roshi didn't even move his feet. He casually extended the cane in his other hand, right into Son Goku's path, forcing him to twist away at the last moment.
Krillin seized the chance and darted in low from the other side, nimble as a little fish. He reached out to snatch the candy.
"Three!"
Master Roshi's candy-holding hand suddenly lifted, easily evading Krillin's reach. Then his elbow dipped as if by chance, landing right on Krillin's bald head and pressing him down with an "Ouch!" He nearly hit the ground.
"He's too fast! I can't even touch it!"
Krillin rubbed his head and complained.
"Four! Five!"
As he counted, Master Roshi moved with effortless ease. He took only the smallest steps, yet always managed to dodge the increasingly rapid combined attacks of Son Goku and Krillin.
His palm was like it had been coated in oil. The candy sat as steady as a rock in his hand, and no matter how the two students lunged for it, they couldn't even touch its edge.
Bulma fretted from the sidelines. "You idiots! Grab it from underneath!"
"Left side, left side! Oh, come on!"
Lin Fan remained where he was, without charging in like Son Goku and Krillin.
He could tell that Master Roshi seemed casual, but his control over his body and his sense of distance were already perfected. There was no way to take the candy by force.
What's more, although his opponent had suppressed it exceptionally well, the vast, ocean-like True Qi within him—and the extraordinary presence of a grandmaster—couldn't be faked.
But the rule was still to "take it," not to "defeat him."
"Six! Seven!"
Master Roshi dodged with ease, then glanced at Lin Fan from the corner of his eye. Seeing that he still hadn't moved, he wondered: Has this kid given up? Or is he scared stiff?
Lin Fan drew a deep breath. The faint strand of True Qi inside him began to circulate faster.
True Qi at the first level of Qi Refining couldn't be projected to injure someone, let alone used to take something from a distance.
But... what if his goal wasn't to "pull it over," but to apply the tiniest, most precisely timed "interference"?
He focused all his attention and locked his spiritual sense onto the milk candy in Master Roshi's palm.
His True Qi struggled out through his fingertips, not as an impact, but as an almost imperceptible force that gave the candy the slightest... "nudge."
This wasn't some powerful spell, but the most rudimentary application of force—a mere glimpse of the technique, based on the understanding of "the nature of things" in the Great Dao Source Scripture.
"Eight!"
Master Roshi was just about to dodge another lunge from Son Goku when he suddenly felt the candy in his palm... twitch ever so slightly?
It was as if a faint static charge had flicked it, or some tiny bug had bumped into it.
The movement was so small that Bulma, Son Goku, and Krillin didn't notice anything unusual.
But Master Roshi felt it!
His control over his own body was so precise that not even the slightest sensation in his palm escaped him!
The candy... moved on its own? No!
And in that interval, which lasted less than a hundredth of a second—
"Nine!"
Lin Fan's voice suddenly rang out, reminding them of the countdown.
Son Goku didn't know what had happened, but his animal instincts caught that fleeting "opening"!
He reached out again in a sudden lunge, astonishingly fast!
Master Roshi reacted and was about to move his hand away as before, but to his surprise, the tiny twitch had shifted the candy ever so slightly. Its perfect balance and the feel of its position in his palm had changed by the smallest amount!
That tiny change made his smooth movement falter for a fraction of a second—so brief it was almost nonexistent!
Smack!
Son Goku's fingers finally touched the wrapper. Master Roshi's hand immediately snaked back like a fish, but the candy was already flying into the air, flicked out of his palm by Goku's fingertips!
"Ah! He got it!" Krillin shouted.
Quick as a flash, Son Goku jumped up and grabbed the milk candy in midair. He landed and raised it excitedly. "I got it, old man! I got it!"
Master Roshi: "..."
He stood there, staring at his empty palm, then at the candy in Son Goku's hand. His sunglasses were nearly slipping off. What had just happened?
Did the candy jump by itself?
Or was it that kid...?
His gaze snapped toward Lin Fan, who had been standing quietly the whole time.
That last little twitch had definitely had something to do with this seemingly frail kid!
But what had he done?
Master Roshi hadn't sensed any impact from True Qi at all!
It was as if... something had gone wrong with the candy itself?
Bulma didn't care about any of that. She cheered, "Yes! He got it! Great job, Goku! Now we can all go, right?"
Master Roshi gaped, unable to speak for a long moment.
He stared at Lin Fan, his eyes filled with uncertainty and intense curiosity. This kid... was weird! Seriously weird!
He cleared his throat twice to hide his embarrassment. "Ahem... well... I suppose you've passed."
He took the candy back from Son Goku, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth. Mumbling around it, he grumbled, "Young people these days... always coming up with crooked tricks..."
But the way he looked at Lin Fan had changed completely.
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