The River Dam Dispute

"Mr. Nam?"

As if deeply moved, Nam slowly rose to his feet, and everyone else stood up with him.

"Thank you." Nam's eyes glistened as he walked over to Wuchen and Goku.

"The heavenly way may be merciless, but it still follows its principles. Rely on yourself and save yourself." Wuchen jumped up and patted Nam on the shoulder in reassurance.

Afterward, the three of them comforted the villagers before riding the Flying Nimbus upriver to find the source of the dried-up river.

Yes, Nam climbed right onto the Flying Nimbus. He sat more firmly than Wuchen and was every bit as steady as Goku.

This stirred something in Wuchen.

Only those with pure hearts could ride the Flying Nimbus. The requirement was no small matter.

So Wuchen had never judged whether someone was good or bad by whether they could ride the Flying Nimbus. But anyone who could ride it was certainly no villain!

So far, counting himself, Goku, and Chi-Chi, Nam was the fourth person who had been able to ride the Flying Nimbus.

Nam was truly a rare person.

Relying on the Flying Nimbus's incredible speed, the three of them followed the river upstream and finally spotted traces of water before nightfall.

When they reached a slightly damp stretch of the dry river, patches of green appeared along its banks. Rather than rush to follow the water, Wuchen took the other two to find a suitable place to rest.

They continued their journey the next morning.

The farther they went, the more signs of life they saw, until an oasis appeared before them.

A lake sustained half a ring of woodland. The other half of the lake bordered a strange cliff.

Yes, the cliff was unusual. It wasn't made of rock, but some kind of strange substance.

Only a trickle seeped over the top into the lake, so the water pooled there instead of flowing out, leaving the river cut off.

"The problem is that stuff!" Wuchen said, eyeing the specially made cliff blocking the water supply, his anger rising. He could sense presences above, seemingly playing in the water.

"Come on. Let's go take a look." With no time to call the Flying Nimbus, the three of them leaped straight to the top of the cliff, dozens of meters high.

Sure enough, seven or eight monsters with thick tails, narrow wings, fat bodies, and broad palms were playing in the water. Every so often, they spat some strange substance from their mouths to reinforce the cliff!

Wuchen was about to attack, but Nam's voice rang out first. "Hey, could you come up here for a moment?"

Wuchen shook his head. He understood what Nam had in mind: he wanted to negotiate. Wuchen didn't agree with that approach. Even if they were going to talk, they should be the ones in control.

Though he disagreed with Nam's approach, Wuchen held back and watched in silence.

"What is it?!" To his surprise, the monsters actually came ashore, though they looked rather impatient.

"Please! Let this river flow again. You've blocked the water, so those of us living downstream have nothing to drink. To us, this water is the source of life," Nam pleaded, appealing to their feelings and reason.

"To us, it's the source of life too!"

"Our Giran clan loves clean water more than anything!"

"Your demand is downright rude!" The monsters grew furious, rejecting Nam's request one after another and accusing him of being rude.

"Please, at least share some of the water with us so our village can survive," Nam begged.

"Get lost!" One of them kicked him away.

Nearby, Wuchen held back Goku, who wanted to rush in and help, and watched in silence.

Nam kept pleading, but to no avail. In the end, the enraged monsters swarmed him and beat him up.

Just as Wuchen could no longer hold back and was about to step in, Nam finally fought back. After knocking one monster down, he grappled with the rest.

Nam wasn't a weakling. Even against seven or eight monsters with naturally immense strength, he held his own, trading blows with them. But Wuchen could tell that Nam was still holding back.

Before long, a much larger monster of the same kind came swooping down, apparently ready to join the fight.

Wuchen couldn't allow that. He flew up, easily seized its wings, and used his hand like a blade to sever its tail. "Don't interfere! Or you'll die!" Having said that, he released it.

The much larger monster let out a scream. One glare from Wuchen was enough to stop it from joining the fray; it didn't even dare make another sound, only gritting its teeth against the pain!

Hovering in midair—not using the Flight Technique, but a method of levitation—Wuchen continued to watch the fight below.

The evenly matched battle gradually shifted in Nam's favor. One by one, the monsters were knocked down, unable to fight back.

"Please, let the river flow!" Nam pressed his palms together, seemingly apologetic for his "rough behavior."

"We said no, and we mean it!"

"Go on, leave! Just wait until our big brother gets back. You'll be done for!" The monsters were still acting tough, putting Nam in a difficult position.

"Big brother?" High above, Wuchen looked at the tailless monster beside him. "You?"

The tailless monster trembled all over under Wuchen's gaze. Before it could answer, a tremendous force struck its face, and its head and body were dragged straight down.

Thud! The tailless monster crashed into the pile of other monsters.

"Big brother? What happened to you?"

"Big brother, where's your tail?!" That broke the monsters' confidence. How could their invincible big brother have been defeated? His tail had even been cut off!

"Don't kill us! Please, spare us. There are only nine of us left in the Giran clan. If you kill us, the clan will go extinct!" Whatever the others did, their "big brother" kept begging for mercy.

"We built that dam by using Super Rubber Saliva from our Giran clan to glue the stones together. Even we can't break it. There really is no way to destroy it. Please spare us. We know we were wrong..."

The tailless monster was utterly terrified, begging for mercy and pleading for its life. "Spare us, and we'll dig a new channel around the side!"

"No need!" Wuchen descended to a suitable height and fired a Kamehameha with his bare hands, striking the so-called dam. It shattered instantly!

The dam burst! A torrent of water surged down, unstoppable, rushing forward through the dry riverbed!

The tremendous force sent the monsters cowering together. Blood spurted from the "big brother's" severed tail, especially.

"My companion has a kind heart. For his sake, I'll spare your lives. Keep this river flowing for ten years. If you do evil again, I'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth, heedless of the heavenly way's benevolence!"

The nine Girans didn't dare harbor the slightest resentment. Instead, they gratefully bowed and thanked him.

After that, Wuchen said no more and lingered no longer. He took Goku and Nam back on the Flying Nimbus.

Nam stayed silent for a long time on the Flying Nimbus, as if struggling with something.

"I don't mean to change the principles you hold dear. But kindness is all well and good; it also needs the support of a firm hand. Isn't stopping evil and persuading evildoers to change another way of saving the good?" Wuchen clearly thought highly of Nam.

"Thank you." Relieved, Nam gave a hearty laugh as the knot in his heart came undone.

As the Flying Nimbus carried them over the village, all three of them smiled. The river below was flowing again.

Back in the village, Wuchen explained why they had come and, as hoped, obtained a Dragon Ball—the Two-Star Ball.

Before leaving, Wuchen left them a few things: a Hoi-Poi Capsule containing food, the essentials of Essence-to-Spirit Conversion, and a cultivation manual, the Wuji Orthodox Method—the same one he had taught Krillin.

Of course, Wuchen only allowed Nam to pass on some of it to others: the essentials of Essence-to-Spirit Conversion and the cultivation method for the Soul Condensation Realm.