The Path of Choice

Watching Son Gohan close his eyes again, Karin's expression turned a little strange.

After thinking it over, Karin still asked, "Are you sure you can fight with your eyes closed?"

"No problem, Karin the Immortal. Please attack as you normally would."

Son Gohan, eyes shut, answered at once. Right now, his field of vision was nothing but darkness, but from that one time he had been sent flying, he had sensed something different.

What Gohan wanted to sense was not the so-called sound of the wind, nor was he relying on disturbances in the airflow to judge the direction of his opponent's attack.

He did not even know how to sense killing intent or anything like that. What he planned to do was let his body choose what to sense on its own.

The mind was like a marshal, while the hands, feet, and body were like the front, center, left, and right armies. As a marshal, it was impossible to attend to every single detail.

What needed to be done was to issue the main combat objective. The rest would be left to the generals and lower-ranking soldiers of each army to act on their own, as long as they coordinated according to the greater goal.

Converted to Son Gohan's situation, that meant relying on the information given by the brain and letting the body automatically react to the enemy's attacks.

And to achieve that ability, all kinds of information had to be provided to the brain.

For example, changes in the airflow caused by the enemy's movements; for example, the senses' perception of light and darkness; for example, the perception of killing intent, and so on.

But Sun Chao had closed his eyes. After all, he did not have Son Goku's incomparably rich combat experience, so he could only grope his way forward.

After all, no matter what, Karin could not possibly try to kill Sun Chao, so he did not need to worry right now. This was the best opportunity to test the idea in his mind!

Whoosh—

Son Gohan suddenly shifted to the side, making Karin, who had appeared beside him without warning, miss completely. After landing, Karin looked at him in surprise.

"How did you sense my attack?"

Karin did not attack again. Instead, he stopped where he was and looked at the person before him as he asked.

Son Gohan opened his eyes and said, "I just dodged subconsciously. There wasn't any special sensing."

Karin's face showed confusion and incomprehension. If the other party had been a martial arts master, being able to do this would still be understandable.

But this kid had not had any martial combat experience before, and he had even closed his eyes, yet he could actually pull off something like this?

Subconscious dodging...

A flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Karin's mind. He had once heard that within the higher realms of martial arts, there was an elusive, ethereal state called Ultra Instinct.

But even Karin, who was the god of martial arts on Earth, had never been able to grasp the slightest clue about that state. Could this kid before him have touched it?

A thousand thoughts turned in Karin's mind. At this moment, he increasingly could not see through Sun Chao, this child's body with the soul of a man from the future.

Whoosh!

Son Gohan ducked, once again avoiding Karin's sudden attack, as if he had long since known the other party's attack pattern.

"Tell me exactly what you felt," Karin asked.

He now wanted to know what Sun Chao had sensed, too. After all, Karin was confident that the airflow fluctuations caused by his movements were absolutely minimal, and he had not released any killing intent at all.

"My body just sensed danger, so I directly dodged ahead of time," Sun Chao said, opening his eyes.

"Sensed danger?" Karin raised a paw and rubbed his chin, as though pondering something.

A moment later, Karin suddenly said, "Close your eyes. We'll continue."

Hearing this, Sun Chao nodded and closed his eyes again.

Bang!

The next second, Son Gohan was once again kicked flying by Karin. After rolling across the ground several times, he came to rest against the wall.

"That idea of yours, strictly speaking, can only be used on opponents whose strength isn't too far from your own."

Karin sat on the railing opposite him and clicked his tongue as he commented, "Once the other party's strength surpasses yours by too much, like with me, even if you sense danger, you simply have no way to dodge."

Son Gohan climbed back to his feet. After thinking for several seconds, he said, "This mode of mine isn't just for defense. It can also counterattack according to what I sense."

Karin's whiskers trembled. In a puzzled tone, he said, "You mean that while sensing the enemy's attack, you want to dodge and counterattack at the same time?"

Son Gohan nodded.

Karin shook his head helplessly and sighed. "This path of yours sounds very strong, but it's far too difficult. So difficult that the current you absolutely can't do it. Even if you were ten times stronger, you still couldn't."

"Even I, who have already lived eight hundred years, currently can't come close to what you're describing."

"You should know that this kind of fighting method places a truly terrifying burden on the body. Your current flesh simply can't withstand it."

Indeed, Sun Chao had no way to deny that. After just trying it for a short while, he already felt a little dizzy.

Son Gohan, however, said stubbornly, "I know you mean to advise me that this path is too difficult, and that I should avoid trying it as much as possible."

Hearing this, Karin nodded and said, "It's true that martial arts require perseverance and an indomitable spirit, but a goal that reaches too far beyond your grasp will instead make it impossible for you to advance an inch on the martial path."

Son Gohan was not discouraged. Instead, he pressed on, "Then may I ask, Karin the Immortal, is this path one that can be walked, or is it completely impossible?"

Looking at the resolute gleam in the other party's eyes, Karin could only answer in an affirmative tone, "Your path isn't wrong. If your body can be tempered to a certain level, then your idea will become the strongest combat mode."

As expected of Earth's god of martial arts. Even if his physical body had not reached that level, his insight and judgment had already reached a certain height.

"I know. You're Goku's son, and in martial arts talent, you're stronger than many ordinary people. But I still suggest that you take it one step at a time."

"As for this kind of fighting method, you can absolutely cultivate it when the time comes."

Son Gohan knew, however, that the earlier one cultivated Ultra Instinct, the better. Otherwise, once one trained normally, it was very easy to fail to cross that threshold—just like Vegeta.

Vegeta's prince-style fighting methods meant he could not even touch the threshold of Ultra Instinct, and could only keep searching for stronger states within the realm of Super Saiyan Blue.

It could even be said that, at that time, Son Goku and Vegeta had already set out on two different paths.

Son Goku kept delving deeper into battle awareness and technique, while Vegeta kept digging further into both body and energy.

There was simply no accurate way to judge which was right and which was wrong. You could say the Grand Priest, Angels, and Gods of Destruction all knew Ultra Instinct, but did the Omni-King know it?

Knowing Ultra Instinct did not mean one was the strongest. Not even the Grand Priest had ever said that.

Son Gohan wanted to choose Ultra Instinct, but that did not mean he did not want to delve into deeper realms as well.

Because even Son Goku, who had cultivated to Super Saiyan Blue and even used ten-times Kaioken, could not withstand the overload Ultra Instinct placed on the body.

So the importance of the physical body was beyond question!