How lucky was Li Xing?
All he had to do was complete missions, and his strength would keep increasing.
Once his physique reached 10, his combat power would increase tenfold, rivaling a Saiyan's Great Ape Transformation.
All he had to do was keep at it.
His energy increased a little through training and grew further with system mission rewards;
his physique was strengthened by his Devour Ability.
He had nothing to worry about when it came to getting stronger.
Who in the Dragon Ball World could beat this kind of training method?
If he could recruit Pilaf, then use technology in advance—things like Nutrient Solution to boost nutrition, sparring partners, and gravity rooms—
and carefully monitor his body to create a reasonable training plan,
wouldn't that be more effective and faster than the primitive training Sun Wukong and the others did?
Otherwise, he definitely wouldn't have chosen the mission to recruit Pilaf.
"Good thing I can leave for now. I should be out of here soon."
Li Xing looked at his stats.
Physique: 1.21. Energy: 9.
He had raised his energy to its current level through his own training.
The only troublesome thing was his lifespan. So far, it hadn't changed at all: 25.
What a pain. His strength was increasing too slowly.
Li Xing soon caught up with Xiao Wu and Ashu.
They weren't stupid. Li Xing was cold, but he treated them well. If they stuck with him, they might gain a powerful ally in the future.
They never would have guessed that while they were after Li Xing's strength, he was thinking of devouring them.
The stronger person got to call the shots.
He climbed into the vehicle and ordered them to keep going.
Li Xing had a feeling that the car he'd just heard belonged to Sun Wukong and the others, drawing near the desert.
There was little point in staying behind.
If so, he might as well withdraw.
It was a shame to leave such a good place to grind for experience.
Li Xing didn't dwell on it. Plans never kept up with changing circumstances.
He didn't think he was the protagonist, with good fortune always falling into his lap.
He couldn't just wish for something and have it happen.
He'd gone from a combat power of a little over 5 to nearly 11. That was already excellent.
He'd prepared in advance here, but he wouldn't need to do that at Fire Mountain.
Once he got close, he could charge straight in and fight Ox-King a few times. His strength would increase rapidly.
By then, he'd have a much better chance of reaching Pilaf Castle.
He could also train hard along the way.
Once his energy broke through 10, his overall combat power would reach 12.
At that point, Ox-King wouldn't pose nearly as much of a threat.
Even if his strength was three times Li Xing's, putting him in the thirties—
Well, fine. Li Xing really couldn't beat him.
Forget a combat power in the thirties. Li Xing wasn't even sure he could win against someone at 20.
"No, I have to improve my fighting skills.
Unless I keep hiding forever, I won't be able to avoid these battles."
Li Xing made up his mind. His usual laziness gave way to a sense of urgency.
Since he didn't know what else to do, he'd take part in the story and fight the strong people in this world whenever the system didn't assign him a mission.
Especially the Saiyans.
They were all monsters. If he could recruit one or two and have them fight for him,
that might be a great option.
He'd ended up in the Dragon Ball World for no apparent reason, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do.
He claimed he was worried about his life, but really, he just wanted to take part in the Dragon Ball World's grand, sweeping battles.
The Dragon Ball World was dangerous, but compared with the Marvel World or DC World, it was actually much safer.
Earth had only been destroyed once. The rest of the time, as long as he didn't go looking for trouble and made a point of avoiding danger, he'd be fine.
If it came to it, he could always flee beyond the universe to escape danger.
Three days later.
Xiao Wu and Ashu were panting heavily.
"My lord, it's so hot."
"This is unbearable."
Li Xing looked at the pair, drenched in sweat, and felt speechless.
Weak!
They were really weak.
Aside from decent willpower, they had nothing going for them.
"You're too weak. Once I'm done with this, I'll train you properly."
By "this," Li Xing meant what he'd do after recruiting Pilaf.
Pilaf could conduct research, but Xiao Wu and Ashu were a pair of useless weaklings.
Since they had no other use, training them properly would at least give him something to do.
"Huh?"
The two stared at him in a daze, tongues hanging out as they looked at him, dizzy.
They couldn't hide the fear in their eyes.
Would they be able to withstand Li Xing's training?
Li Xing could rip dinosaurs apart with his bare hands and kick giant beasts aside.
Li Xing paid no attention to the two would-be Spartan trainees. He stared intently at the desolate town ahead.
"This is Fire Mountain, right?"
The two nodded like chicks pecking at grain.
They just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. They didn't care what the place was called.
They both relied on technology, after all. They just needed to get back to King Pilaf and regain access to all their tech. Then they'd be back in action in no time.
"My lord, is something going on here?"
Li Xing got out of the vehicle.
"Follow me."
He realized they might resent him for speaking so coldly, so he softened his tone a little and explained.
"There's a castle on Fire Mountain, filled with gold, silver, and jewels.
Of course, the flames on Fire Mountain are strange. They can temper a person, but even we can't get close.
So forget about the treasure inside."
Li Xing kept walking at the same pace, his expression calm.
"But the castle's owner escaped and is in this town.
All we have to do is defeat him, and we can get our hands on some of the castle's treasure."
"You said your king was doing research, didn't you?
I'm sure he could use some money to fund it.
The people we ran into before were ordinary folks, so I didn't want to go after them.
But this is Ox-King we're talking about, an evil man. There's nothing wrong with robbing the rich to help the poor, is there?"
Li Xing sounded completely relaxed, as if all he had to do was beat some nobody.
Xiao Wu and Ashu grew excited as soon as they heard him.
Why had they followed Pilaf in the first place?
For money, of course.
Now Li Xing was taking them to rob someone. How thrilling.
"My lord, really?"
Li Xing answered by tossing the question back to them.
"It'll only take a day or two. Why not find out for ourselves?
We've already spent this long. A day or two more won't make much difference.
If we bring back a pile of treasure, King Pilaf won't have much reason to punish you, right?"
Xiao Wu and Ashu exchanged a glance. They both thought Li Xing was right, and they would follow him.
Li Xing didn't pay them any mind. As they continued forward, a sense of foreboding crept over him.
Ox-King wasn't a good person. Even Master Roshi had said his reputation was bad.
That was enough to suggest the real Ox-King was far more evil than Li Xing had thought.
And when Sun Wukong and the others met him, Ox-King had attacked first.
Taking all this information together, Li Xing knew better than to let his guard down.
He focused completely, watching and listening in every direction.
Whoosh!
Li Xing's heart lurched. He pushed off with both legs and leaped sideways like a cannonball.
Boom!
A tremendous crash sent dust billowing, and the ground shuddered.
The moment Li Xing landed, he turned to look at his attacker.
Who else could it be but Ox-King?
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