First Clash

The Ki Blast hovered in Jiang Che's palm. It wasn't hot or on the verge of exploding, yet it carried an energy fluctuation that made the heart skip a beat—gentle as spring water, yet deep as a wintry pool.

The light illuminated half his face and left a faint golden shadow on the ground.

The air began to hum softly, like a thousand summer cicadas beating their wings in unison.

Vegeta and Gohan's pupils contracted at the same time.

Only a pinprick of light remained in Vegeta's eyes.

He leaned back slightly, as if struck hard by some invisible force.

He could feel that this energy had long since surpassed the level of an ordinary Super Saiyan.

It was like an iceberg beneath the sea. The part above the surface was only the tip; what lay beneath was so vast it was hard to imagine.

It was even deeper, more ancient, and purer than any energy they could sense.

Gohan's breathing grew shallow. His fingers curled slightly, and a thin sheen of sweat had already gathered in his palm.

The light from the Ki Blast fell across his face, suddenly bringing back a memory from long ago—the sense of power that had filled the air when his father first became a Super Saiyan.

But this energy was stronger, and it belonged to an entirely different realm.

Vegeta's lips slowly curled into a dangerous smile, a mixture of three parts admiration, three parts curiosity, and four parts ambition.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze sharpening, like a hunter who had spotted worthy prey. "You said you were special. Looks like you might actually be interesting."

Jiang Che withdrew the Ki Blast.

He gently closed his right hand, and the pale golden light shattered like bubbles in the sunlight and vanished. Even the humming in the air gradually died away.

He and Vegeta quietly met each other's gaze, neither looking up nor down, like two mountain peaks reflected on the same stretch of water.

The air was thick with tension.

Invisible and impossible to grasp, yet more intense than any smoke.

Their gazes collided in midair, like sparks from an unseen impact.

Gohan stood between them, as if caught between two ferocious beasts, the only barrier separating them.

He sighed helplessly, his voice carrying both the weariness of a young man and the composure of an elder. "Uncle Vegeta, don't rush into a fight."

Gohan stepped forward, blocking the aura that was gradually taking shape between them.

"Since Mr. Jiang Che has appeared on Earth, we should notify Mother Bulma first and find out how he got here." He raised his left hand, his fingertip already resting on his portable communicator. An icon indicating an outgoing call blinked on the screen.

Vegeta snorted, a low sound rumbling from his nostrils as he forcibly held back his fighting spirit.

He slowly unclenched his fists. His knuckles cracked.

At last, he looked at Jiang Che for two seconds, then turned around and let the wind stir his black hair, facing away from them.

Jiang Che quietly let out a breath.

His heartbeat returned to normal, and his taut muscles slowly relaxed.

At least he had made it past the first hurdle.

After speaking, Gohan turned and led the way.

He walked lightly, his footsteps leaving shallow dents in the earth. The scorched smell left behind by the battle still lingered in the air.

In the distance, several old trees snapped by the shock wave lay crooked on the ground, their stripped bark revealing pale splintered wood.

But they had barely gone a few steps when a violent surge of energy suddenly burst out behind them.

It was like an invisible palm slamming hard into the ground.

Pebbles flew, dust billowed, and fallen leaves swirled into a vortex, circling through the air.

The grass was torn open in cracks that spread in every direction like a spiderweb.

"Wait!" Vegeta's voice was low and dangerous, like a beast's growl forced up from deep in his throat.

His feet sank slightly into the ground. The rocks beneath him cracked, fissures spreading from under his soles like a dried-up riverbed.

Jiang Che furrowed his brow, sensing Vegeta's energy surging higher.

The air grew heavy, as if an invisible hand had closed around his chest.

The energy inside Vegeta surged wildly, roaring and rushing like magma in a volcano, swelling with every second toward a suffocating peak.

He slowly turned around.

The golden aura pouring off Vegeta blocked out the sunlight, casting twisted shadows.

Jiang Che saw that Vegeta's fists were clenched, his knuckles pale and the veins on the backs of his hands winding like vines.

Golden flames blazed fiercely around him, piercing the air with a sizzling sound as the heat shot upward.

Dust was swept up by the current of air, dancing and tumbling through the sky to form a pale golden halo.

"Uncle Vegeta!" Gohan cried out in alarm, immediately stepping between the two.

He spread his arms and leaned forward, trying to wedge himself into the invisible line separating them. "What are you doing?"

Gohan's voice was full of anxiety and panic. Sweat ran down his face, dripping onto the cracked ground and splashing into tiny droplets.

"Move, Gohan," Vegeta said coldly, leaving no room for discussion.

He stared fixedly at Jiang Che, his dark eyes sharp as knives, as if trying to see right through him.

His lips turned down slightly, his jaw tightened, and every muscle in his body spoke of hostility and wariness. "This guy makes me uneasy. A Saiyan with an unknown past suddenly shows up on Earth, carrying that bizarre power... I'm absolutely not letting him leave just like that."

As he spoke, Vegeta slowly reached his right hand behind him, spreading his fingers before abruptly clenching them.

The air gave a low boom, as though even the void itself had been crushed in his grip.

The wind swept past him, fluttering the hem of his black vest and revealing several tightly fastened belts.

Jiang Che's expression remained calm, his gaze as still as water.

He lightly patted Gohan's shoulder. The gesture was gentle, yet it made Gohan take half a step back despite himself.

Jiang Che's lips lifted slightly in a faint smile. His voice was flat, yet as cold and sharp as a freshly honed steel needle. "You want to fight?"

"Fight?" Vegeta's lips curled with scorn, amusement in his eyes tinged with disdain.

He tilted his head and lifted his chin, his golden hair swaying in the wind. "I just want to see what you're really made of."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly clenched his fist.

In that instant, heaven and earth seemed to tremble.

His golden aura erupted like a volcano, surging skyward and tearing the air into waves of scorching heat.

Vegeta's hair instantly stood on end amid the flames, turning into sharp, individually defined golden spikes that gleamed like metal in the light.

His eyes changed color too. His pupils shrank to pinpoints, and his icy green irises gleamed with a beastly ferocity.

A Super Saiyan.

The ground collapsed beneath his feet with a crash. Cracked stones were hurled into the air by the shock wave, then fell back to the ground, kicking up even more dust.

The wind howled around him. Trees in the distance shook violently, branches snapping one after another as leaves rained down.

Gohan had to raise an arm to shield his eyes. He staggered and stumbled back three steps before finally managing to steady himself.

Jiang Che remained where he was, without moving an inch.

The air currents stirred up by the golden flames whipped his clothes, and his long hair thrashed in the wind. Yet he stood as firm as a reef facing a raging tide.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, seeing through the dazzling light to meet Vegeta's gaze head-on.