Atop the earthen pillars, wherever the formation flags had been planted, the ground remained firm and the grass untouched by the flames of war. Not a single person inside the formation had suffered even the slightest injury.
"Witchcraft?" General Blue gaped in astonishment. The soldiers beside him exchanged bewildered looks.
Colonel Violet quietly slipped behind the soldiers and disappeared into the ranks.
Back atop the pillars, the Northern Black Tortoise Seven Constellation Flag, which had shimmered with black ripples, settled down. The enormous turtle shadow faded with it.
But the other three directions stirred again, glowing with blue, red, and white light.
The Eastern Azure Dragon Seven Constellation Flag shone blue, revealing a dragon's shadow; the Southern Vermilion Bird Seven Constellation Flag shone red, revealing a bird; the Western White Tiger Seven Constellation Flag shone white, revealing a tiger.
The White Tiger roared through the mountains and forests, subduing the lands in all four directions.
The Vermilion Bird cried across the heavens, answering the nine skies at the four extremes.
The Azure Dragon roamed between heaven and earth, commanding thunder and rain in all eight directions.
In an instant, the winds and clouds shifted, thunder and lightning clashed, vermilion flames raged, and metal and stone streaked through the air!
To Ox-King and the others from Mount Fry-Pan, it was an unprecedented spectacle, impossible to look away from.
To the Red Ribbon Army, including General Blue, it was a terrifying purgatory that left them paralyzed with fear!
The aircraft were like paper lanterns soaked in water, torn to pieces beneath the lightning and flames. The tanks and armored vehicles were like clay figures struck with a stick, smashed apart by metal and stone.
The bandits were like ants on a hot pan. Countless were killed or maimed, and the rest lost all composure. Lightning flashed densely in every direction, like a lid sealing them in, leaving them nowhere to run!
"Don't panic! Don't panic!" With no way out, General Blue could only shout helplessly, trying to steady his troops, but to no avail.
"Violet! Where's Violet?!" He could only call for the other leader, but that was no use either.
"Special Operations Squad! Charge up with me! This is witchcraft! We'll only survive if we take down the one casting it!"
To be fair, his shout did the trick. A dozen elite soldiers quickly gathered around him.
"Charge!" But just as he yelled, a blue beam of light shot over, pushing a glowing orb ahead of it. It blasted him and the dozen or so elite soldiers into smithereens.
That beam of light had naturally been fired from the Lesser Four Symbols Slip. It was Goku's Kamehameha!
And that wasn't all. One Kamehameha after another shot out, helping Wuchen quickly mop up the remaining enemies!
Before long, the entire bandit army had been wiped out, with the exception of Colonel Violet, whose whereabouts were unknown.
Wuchen immediately dispelled the formation. The sky and earth cleared once more, but Mount Fry-Pan had been left in ruins!
"Uncle Ox-King, check if anyone's been frightened." Wuchen was confident that no one on their side had been injured, but it was still important to comfort them.
After confirming everyone was safe, Wuchen helped Ox-King organize the group and clean up the battlefield.
All in all, the formation had worked perfectly, but it had truly been overkill.
With his and Goku's physical strength and agility, planes and cannons would mostly have been useless against them. They could still have won, albeit with a little more time.
However, the three Dragon Balls they carried made their location an open secret.
They couldn't choose the battlefield themselves, of course. Besides, using overwhelming force wasn't a waste of effort.
At Red Ribbon Army headquarters, Commander Red fell into deep thought as he watched the footage transmitted by the robotic surveillance devices.
This footage was even more baffling than the last, and offered even less useful information.
At first, things had gone well enough. They could roughly make out General Blue directing his troops to bombard the area.
But then the footage turned to static. By the time the other robotic devices were dispatched, they couldn't get anywhere near the scene.
They could only observe from a distance, sending back images of a localized area completely engulfed in lightning and fire.
When the phenomenon ended, the "localized area" looked like the end of the world. The troops he had spent years training had been utterly destroyed.
Meanwhile, the enemy had set up camp nearby, looking ready to rebuild their home.
"Officer Black, have you gotten in touch with Tao Pai Pai?!"
"Reporting to you, Commander, our people have made contact with Tao Pai Pai. He'll come in person to discuss his fee three days from now."
"Three days? That's too late. Go hurry him along."
"Yes, sir!"
"Wait! First, issue the order to activate the highest security alert. Anyone who appears within five kilometers of the base without notifying us in advance is to be killed on sight!"
"Yes, sir!" Officer Black hurriedly acknowledged the order and went to carry it out.
Back at Mount Fry-Pan—or rather, the Fry-Pan Basin—the battlefield cleanup was nearly finished.
The bodies left behind by the Red Ribbon Army had all been moved elsewhere and buried.
The wreckage of the aircraft and armored tanks was beyond repair. Most of it had been piled up as scrap, while Wuchen packed a small portion into Hoi-Poi Capsules.
"Uncle Ox-King, Goku and I need to find the other Dragon Balls as soon as possible. We probably can't help rebuild the village. This trouble was brought here by us, after all."
"Don't be so formal. If you and Goku hadn't helped, things could have been much worse. Go on and defeat all the bad guys. Don't let them get the Dragon Balls and do evil."
Ox-King paused after speaking, as if he had just remembered something. Then he added, "Once you've found the Dragon Balls, remember to come back as soon as you can. I'll prepare Goku and Chi-Chi's wedding."
Wuchen's head instantly started to throb. He'd almost forgotten about that.
"Um, Uncle Ox-King, about Goku and Chi-Chi..."
Wuchen had wanted to clear up the misunderstanding for Goku, but when he saw the hopeful look on Chi-Chi's face, he couldn't bring himself to say it in front of everyone. So he put it delicately:
"...They're still young. It's too early to talk about marriage. How about this? When they're older, if they're still in love, then as Goku's big brother, I certainly won't stand in the way." He still needed to ask about this properly and hear what Goku wanted.
So Wuchen hurriedly took Goku and flew away.
"Uncle Ox-King, there's no need to see us off. If Chi-Chi and Goku are truly meant to be, I'll bring Goku back to ask for her hand."
Only after they were up in the air did he summon the Flying Nimbus.
"Goku, I know you're innocent and don't understand a lot of things."
Looking Goku in the eye, Wuchen spoke earnestly:
"Getting a wife means getting married. After you get married, you live together, love each other, and treat each other with respect. Do you understand what I mean?"
"I thought it meant she'd give me food," Goku said, suddenly understanding. Then he asked, "After we get married, will Chi-Chi and I live together, like you and me, big brother?"
"Uh... I suppose you could say that."
"Oh. Living with a girl sounds like a lot of trouble."
"Don't you want to?" As if he'd caught the key point, Wuchen pressed him at once.
But Goku replied, "Since I already promised Chi-Chi, I'll marry her. Didn't you say that when you give someone your word, you have to keep it?"
"..." Wuchen opened his mouth, but couldn't think of what to say. It was true that he'd said that, but... Well, never mind.
"We'll discuss it again when you're grown up. If you still feel the same way then, I'll personally prepare the betrothal gifts and go ask for her hand." In the end, that was all Wuchen could say. Then he took out the Dragon Radar.
"Come on. Let's go here and get the last Dragon Ball first."
Wuchen could clearly tell that the opponents they were facing in their search for the Dragon Balls had far more power than Pilaf and his two companions.
They might already have sent people to seize the last Dragon Ball. It would be fine if it were out in the wilderness, but if it was in a village or town, it could lead to another disaster.
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