The Gods' Gaze

"Three years. Because more people have been entering the tournament, the World Martial Arts Tournament has changed from being held once every five years to once every three years!"

After lunch, Wuchen and Goku left on their Flying Nimbus.

Yamcha seemed to have suddenly remembered something. He ran outside and shouted up at the sky, but the two were already out of sight.

Each brother rode his own Flying Nimbus, and by dusk, they had arrived at the Southern Archipelago.

The spiritual energy here was even more abundant than in West City. It looked like Master Roshi had already started spreading the cultivation methods.

They went straight to the island where they had trained with Master Roshi and Krillin before, and the brothers descended. It was just as quiet and peaceful as it had been before.

"Gramps! Krillin! Launch! We're here to see you!" Seeing a two-story house, Goku called out at the top of his lungs.

Before long, Master Roshi and the others came out of the house. Sea Turtle was there too. When they saw the brothers, Goku and Wuchen, smiles spread across their faces.

"Goku, Senior Brother Wuchen, you're back!" Krillin ran over excitedly to greet them, then held hands with Goku as they jumped and spun in a circle.

"Goku, Wuchen, come inside! We were just about to eat," Launch said, raising the spatula in her hand and inviting everyone in.

As soon as they entered, the aroma of the food wafted straight toward them, whetting everyone's appetite.

After a whirlwind of eating, not a morsel remained on the table. They had even mixed the gravy into their rice.

Goku and Krillin were delighted to see each other again and chatted happily. Wuchen and Master Roshi went outside to take a walk and discuss their plans for cultivation.

Only Sea Turtle stayed behind to help Launch clean up in the kitchen.

"So the nearby islands have mostly learned how to generate spiritual energy?"

"That's right. I've also taught a few people how to refine spiritual energy, open the Consciousness Realm, and condense the Origin Soul. They all have good character, and I made them promise not to pass the methods on. But given enough time, they're bound to spread. You should plan for that in advance."

As he spoke, Master Roshi's expression grew solemn. Spreading these methods would certainly do some good, but it would inevitably have negative consequences for most ordinary people as well.

"Don't worry, Gramps. I understand. Ultimately, it's about balance. As cultivation spreads, the gap in strength between people will keep growing. In time, the strong will inevitably prey on the weak, and there may even be extreme cases where someone massacres a crowd over a single grudge."

After spending so long on Earth in the Dragon Ball world, Wuchen had no intention of completely disrupting its relatively peaceful state.

"There are two main things we need to do. First, we should narrow the disparities that exist across the board as much as possible. We can roughly manage that with pills and cultivation methods."

"Second, we need to restrict the strong as much as possible to prevent extreme incidents. The only way to do that is through overwhelming force."

The two discussed the details of these broad plans for two days and came up with an initial strategy.

But they couldn't put it into action yet. At the very least, they had to wait for the people who had already received the methods to grow stronger and become allies.

After leaving behind some pills and taking some medicinal herbs with them, Wuchen and Goku said their goodbyes.

They needed to settle down and cultivate too, to digest what they had gained recently.

"Someone's here!" When they arrived at the house on Mount Paozu, they were startled to find someone standing at the entrance.

The person was pitch-black all over, with pointed, upturned ears and eyes like marbles. He wore a white hat and pants with a red vest, and his round figure made him look like a ball.

"Who are you?" Even Goku was startled by his appearance, his eyes wide.

Wuchen also spoke up. "May I ask what brings you here?"

"Hello, I'm Mr. Popo. Kami asked me to come find you." The person was indeed Mr. Popo.

"Kami?" Wuchen was taken aback. He had heard of him. Korin had mentioned him once during a casual chat.

"May I ask why Kami wants to see us?" According to Korin, Kami oversaw everything in the world, yet few people knew of him. If so, he shouldn't appear in person without good reason.

"I can't really explain. Come with me to Kami's Lookout, and Kami will tell you personally." Mr. Popo hopped onto a flying carpet and motioned for the two to climb aboard.

"Then we'll trouble you to show us the way, Mr. Popo." The brothers exchanged a glance. Wuchen nodded slightly, then they each hopped onto their own Flying Nimbus and gestured for Mr. Popo to lead the way.

Before long, Mr. Popo led them to the sky above Korin Tower.

Wuchen couldn't sense Korin's presence either. It seemed Korin really had gone traveling.

"Put the Power Pole into that hole, and you'll be able to reach Kami's Lookout," Mr. Popo said, pointing at an opening at the top of Korin Tower.

"Goku, go ahead." After hesitating for a moment, Wuchen let Goku take out the Power Pole and follow Mr. Popo's instructions.

Goku set the Power Pole in place, and it immediately extended on its own, reaching up into the blue sky.

Mr. Popo spoke again, apparently explaining things to them. "Outsiders can't enter Kami's Lookout, or even discover that it exists. Only when the Power Pole is returned to its proper place does Kami's Lookout appear, allowing outsiders to enter."

Hearing Mr. Popo refer to them as outsiders over and over made Wuchen less wary.

He didn't know what sort of person Kami was. But in some ways, Mr. Popo was a lot like Goku. For instance, the way he spoke was more direct and less tactful.

"Let's go up." One rode the carpet while the other two rode their clouds, flying upward along the Power Pole.

A moment later, a gigantic sphere came into view. At first glance, the Power Pole looked like a thin string holding up a huge balloon.

Only after flying around to the other side did the brothers realize that the "sphere" had been cut in half at the middle. It was a hemisphere, with the flat side facing the sky and forming a broad platform.

On the platform stood three buildings, one large and two small. They weren't particularly tall, but were quite distinctive and pleasing to the eye.

Three open-air corridors connected the three entrances on different sides of the largest building.

Behind it stood the two smaller buildings, which seemed to be storage rooms.

The platform was also cleverly laid out, with greenery and a spacious, level area for activities.

"Wait here a moment. I'll go ask Kami to come out." Mr. Popo told them to wait, then went into the main hall.

Goku looked around, full of curiosity. Wuchen took a careful look around too. Honestly, he thought the place was quite nice.

Before long, Mr. Popo came back out, accompanied by someone with an even stranger appearance.

The person's skin was green, while the areas where his muscles bulged were pale yellow, crossed by red markings. His ears were broad, his face pointed, and the top of his head protruded outward, with antennae growing from it.

The person—the Kami—slowly addressed the brothers.

"So, you've come. I've been watching you for a long time."