Going Out to Cultivate

Jiang Yun now had new thoughts regarding his path of cultivation.

"With my current foundation, it is no longer enough to continue researching the subsequent stages of martial arts. Although I know much and am aware of how powerful future enemies will be, my understanding of the essence of martial arts is still too shallow."

Jiang Yun fell into deep thought. He had reached a minor bottleneck; once he broke through, the road ahead would be smooth, but if he failed, he would face endless mountain ranges and deep ravines.

Since transmigrating, he had always trained alone. Perhaps it was time to go out and gain experience to broaden his horizons. Although he knew the future trajectory of events, he had never actually lived through them—these were two very different concepts.

Perhaps visiting the legendary Korin Tower would be a good idea. He could see if he could learn from the cat hermit, who possessed hundreds of years of wisdom and understanding of ki, to perfect his own path of cultivation.

With that, Jiang Yun began his journey of external training.

Walking across the vast Dragon Ball Continent, Jiang Yun suppressed his power level and wandered through the boundless land. Along the way, he had snatched food from tigers, raced against elk, competed in swimming with sharks, and even tested his physical strength against elephants.

Before Jiang Yun stood a magnificent tiger. Its stripes gave off an intense sense of impact, and its massive size far exceeded the tigers of his previous life. The "king" character marked on its forehead spoke volumes of its status as the king of the forest; just looking at it was intimidating.

It was currently eyeing a group of zebras playing by the water. The zebras, with their black and white stripes, frolicked carefree, completely unaware of the approaching danger.

The tiger, in turn, did not notice the extra competitor: our protagonist, Jiang Yun. He was currently suppressing his ki, terrified of scaring away the tiger that was helping him train.

Yes, he was practicing his ki control. By snatching food from a tiger, he honed his mastery over his energy. Only by delving deep into nature and aligning with it could he make significant progress. This was different from training in the city, which was why he usually avoided urban environments.

Of course, the main reason was that a gravity training room had not yet been built. The scientists he had recruited were simply no match for Capsule Corp; the gap was immense.

Otherwise, why wouldn't he use such an effective training method?

The magnificent tiger remained immersed in the joy of its impending hunt, completely unaware of Jiang Yun's approach. This showed the subtlety of Jiang Yun's ki control. His goal was to snatch the tiger's prey without using any ki at all.

Suddenly, a zebra seemed to notice something and let out a shrill cry. It was a sentry. As the sound rang out, the herd panicked and began to bolt.

The tiger lunged, chasing down a slower zebra. At that moment, Jiang Yun also shot forward, swifter than a cheetah. Just as the tiger was about to bite its prey, Jiang Yun struck the zebra on the head with his palm, knocking it unconscious.

He grabbed the prey and sprinted away, leaving behind the frustrated, impotent roar of the tiger.

Following this, he began racing against elk, learning how to unleash his speed more explosively.

By swimming against sharks, he discovered that reducing unnecessary movements yielded greater efficiency, making his strikes even faster.

This was likely the technique Korin taught Kid Goku in the original story—using the ruse of the Ultra Divine Water to gradually impart these skills. One had to admit, these masters truly knew their craft; they were worthy of being called ancient relics who had lived for hundreds of years.

After wrestling with an elephant, he realized that while the elephant's attacks were slow, that was only relative. It was very similar to the charged attacks of the Dragon Team, where power was concentrated into a single point to unleash greater destructive force.

Take, for example, the Dodon Ray of Master Shen's school. By channeling energy into a single finger, it possessed immense piercing power. In the early stages, it even surpassed the Kamehameha. The Dodon Ray required less ki than the Kamehameha, making it naturally superior in the early game. It wasn't that it couldn't compete in the late game, but rather that no one continued to develop it. The fact that fighters like Tien Shinhan eventually broke away from Master Shen suggested that the Crane School had ceased to be pure martial artists, and their techniques were no longer practiced in the later stages.

Perhaps people in ancient times realized the cultivation of ki through battles with wild beasts. After all, humans on Earth were naturally weak and only sensed the existence of ki through the process of strengthening it.

They were not like most people in the universe who were born with powerful ki. Their development of energy was too crude, requiring a Scouter to detect power levels.

Jiang Yun continued his training, setting his sights on the direction of Korin Tower...

Half a year later, two people sat cross-legged, eating roasted meat. One of them was, naturally, Jiang Yun.

The other was a bit plump, with long hair reaching past his shoulders that didn't look well-groomed. His face was full of longing for the meat, and a katana hung at his waist—he was clearly a wandering samurai.

He was stout, with small eyes, spiky hair, and dressed in traditional Japanese style, wearing a vertical-striped kimono and wooden clogs. He was a master of Iaijutsu, and his voice sounded very much like Krillin's.

Yes, it was that fat man, Yajirobe.

Speaking of Yajirobe, Jiang Yun was no stranger to him. He had a deep impression of this man, whose power level upon his debut was no less than Kid Goku's. His entrance had been incredibly cool.

With a single, masterful Iaijutsu strike, he had slain the son of King Piccolo who had come searching for the Dragon Balls. His combat prowess was by no means low.

Regarding this man, Jiang Yun felt a sense of frustration at his wasted potential. In his eyes, Yajirobe's talent far exceeded that of the Earthling Krillin. Without much training, his starting power level was already high, comparable to early Kid Goku. Later, during the defense against Vegeta, he had snuck up and cut off Vegeta's tail, saving everyone in a desperate moment.

This proved that his combat power at the time was not inferior to Krillin and the others; otherwise, a wounded Vegeta could not have been ambushed so easily. From this small detail, one could see his high level of skill in Iaijutsu.

Yet, with such superb talent, Yajirobe later became a Senzu Bean delivery boy and even a major consumer of the beans, completely squandering his gift.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yun felt a surge of irritation. It was a total waste of talent!

He couldn't help but want to recruit him.

"Mr. Yajirobe, your martial arts skills are so good, why not join my Martial Alliance?"

"Martial Alliance? What's that? I'm not interested in joining others. My greatest interest is being full!"

Hearing Yajirobe's words, Jiang Yun's eyes lit up. That's right, he could use this to recruit him.

"Mr. Yajirobe, don't worry. The conditions in our Martial Alliance are excellent. There is an endless supply of gourmet food, though it requires strength and contributions to the Alliance. We own the largest catering industry in West City; we can definitely satisfy your needs!" Jiang Yun coaxed.

"Really? Jiang Yun, can your Martial Alliance really keep me full? I can eat a lot, you know." Yajirobe said, tempted.

Why was Yajirobe such a glutton? It was his secret. He had been a voracious eater since childhood, even eating his village into poverty. After the samurai who taught him died, he began to wander, always struggling to get enough to eat. His body always absorbed food quickly, which was why he was always worried about his next meal.

This was likely why he never left Korin Tower later on. It was also because of him that Senzu Beans became so scarce; he had eaten through Korin's hundreds of years of accumulation, which showed how unique his constitution was.

Seeing an opportunity, Jiang Yun said, "I won't let you down. We have tens of thousands of people working for us; you won't be disappointed."

The two looked at each other and smiled, both believing they had gotten the better end of the deal.