Golden Judgment

Son Goku had remained silent, watching the battlefield.

A hint of excitement lingered in his eyes. It wasn't especially obvious, but it was the kind of fighting spirit a warrior couldn't hide when faced with a powerful opponent.

The corner of his mouth lifted ever so slightly. You wouldn't notice unless you looked closely.

On the battlefield, Jiang Che's golden energy blast was locked in a stalemate with the deep-purple beam of destruction spewing from Baby's mouth.

Their auras churned into a violent vortex. The ground split apart, trees were torn from the earth, and rocks flew in every direction like bullets.

The air was nearly scorching itself away, like a furnace in hell.

The stalemate lasted only a few seconds.

Jiang Che suddenly clenched his right fist, golden light flashing in his eyes.

The golden energy blast expanded several times over in an instant, blazing like the sun as it split the purple beam in two.

The golden torrent surged forward, unstoppable, and slammed straight into Baby's chest and abdomen.

Baby was struck like a meteor, his body flung away like a rag doll.

The impact sent him crashing through three mountains. Each time, he punched a hole dozens of meters wide through the rock, collapsing the mountains and sending boulders rumbling down their slopes.

He finally came to a stop with a deafening crash against the rocky slope of a fourth mountain.

The entire mountain shook as rubble poured down like a waterfall.

Baby roared furiously and struggled out of the rock face.

His fur was scorched black, half his body burned to a crisp, leaving his skin and muscles exposed.

Blood dripped from his limbs, quickly pooling on the rocks beneath his feet.

He panted heavily, his chest heaving, his eyes filled with shock and fury.

Jiang Che gave him no chance to catch his breath.

A flash of golden light, and Jiang Che appeared before Baby. Terrifying energy gathered in his right fist as he punched Baby squarely in the chest.

Blood burst from Baby's mouth and nose, blossoming into a grim spray in the air.

Once again, he was sent flying like a cannonball, tracing a white arc of compressed air before crashing into the ridge of a barren mountain in the distance.

The rocks shattered, the ridge collapsed, and dust billowed into the sky.

"Impossible! I absorbed the life force of so many humans!" Baby's furious roar drowned out everything.

He had completely lost his mind. His body suddenly swelled.

His muscles bulged like balloons, his fur grew wildly, and his bones twisted with a series of cracking sounds.

Within seconds, he had become a Great Ape dozens of meters tall. Veins bulged beneath his skin, his muscles swelled to their limit, and he looked like a monstrous black ape.

Baby opened his gaping maw, his fangs like daggers, and let out a roar that made the earth tremble.

"How could I lose to a lowly creature like you?!" he bellowed.

Jiang Che slowly raised his right hand. His movement was calm and remarkably steady, without the slightest hint of panic.

A dazzling orb of light formed in his palm, pure as the first ray of light at the birth of the universe.

The orb grew brighter and brighter, illuminating the entire landscape and bathing the battlefield in sacred golden light.

"Because..." Jiang Che's voice was quiet but firm. Each word cut through Baby's roars and the explosions. "A parasite like you has no right to call yourself a warrior."

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and hurled the orb into the sky.

The orb shot upward, pierced the clouds, and suddenly burst into a golden sun thousands of meters above the ground.

Then countless beams of light rained down from it, pouring over the land like a storm.

"No—!" Baby roared in despair and fled frantically.

The earth shook violently with every step he took, but the golden beams drew closer and closer. He couldn't shake them off.

At last, every beam sealed off his escape routes as if alive, trapping the Great Ape completely.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!" The explosions shook the heavens and the earth, one after another.

The ground shuddered violently, and the air itself seemed ready to tear apart.

Countless beams pierced Baby's body. A rain of blood drenched the earth, staining it dark red.

As his body exploded, it rapidly shrank. His muscles withered, his bones snapped, and his skin was riddled with charred holes.

"Uwaaah—aaaah!" His true body—a hideous black parasite—suddenly burst out of the Great Ape.

It had no fur, only a few twisted, slimy tentacles and a pair of bulging compound eyes. A nauseating stench wafted from its body.

It fled frantically, trailing a hazy streak through the air.

"Trying to run?" Jiang Che's gaze turned cold, devoid of pity.

His figure flashed, a golden streak cutting through the air as he appeared directly in front of the black creature.

This was Baby's true body—a parasitic creature that made one's skin crawl.

It curled in on itself, its tentacles trembling wildly as it begged in a bone-chilling voice, "Don't kill me! I'll serve you! I can help you rule the universe—all the planets and every living thing can become your power—you only have to..."

Jiang Che only gave a cold laugh and clenched his right hand.

An invisible force instantly bound Baby's true body in midair.

No matter how desperately its tentacles struggled, it was useless.

"A creature like you is a blight just by being alive." Jiang Che's voice was cold to the bone.

He slowly turned his palm, and a crimson beam of energy appeared.

The beam was as thin as a strand of hair, but its aura was utterly destructive, as if it could pierce through space itself.

"Ah—!" The beam pierced Baby straight through.

He screamed as his body twisted and peeled away within the beam, turning to ash. Every inch of him vanished into the wind.

His shrill wail echoed across the heavens and earth for a long time.

Everything fell silent.

The battlefield was a wasteland. The mountains were shattered, and not a trace of the bodies remained. Only Jiang Che was left, hovering quietly in the air as he coldly watched the place where Baby had disappeared.

[ Ding! Congratulations, host! Mission complete: Kill Great Ape Baby! Received 50,000 exchange points! ]

[ Current exchange points: 50,000 ]

The system's notification rang in Jiang Che's mind like a clear spring. The numbers flashed by, glowing with a faint golden light.

He stood where he was, a faint smile playing on his lips. Through the drifting dust, his gaze fell on the distant battlefield.

On the emerald-green grass, Baby's massive body had completely disintegrated, turning into countless specks of light that scattered on the wind without a trace.

Vegeta's limp body fell from the sky, his arms hanging at his sides as fragments of his battle armor traced several arcs through the air.

Son Goku pushed off with one foot and shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. He spun through the air and caught Vegeta securely.

The impact carved two deep furrows in the ground beneath Son Goku's feet, sending dirt and stones flying and raising a cloud of dust half a person high.

"Vegeta!" Son Goku dropped to one knee and laid Vegeta across his lap, his voice filled with urgency.

He gently patted Vegeta's cheek. Blood seeped between his fingers, flowing from the wound on Vegeta's temple.

Vegeta's eyes were tightly shut, his face pale, and his chest barely moved.

The clothes beneath his battle armor were in tatters. The exposed skin was covered in purplish bruises and dried blood, and his left arm hung at an unnatural angle. It was clearly broken.

But on closer inspection, though his breathing was weak, it was steady enough. His chest rose slightly once every few seconds.