The Prelude Begins

His right arm shot out and seized her. King Cold's subordinate was instantly startled. Just as she tried to break free, she discovered that her strength could not even budge him in the slightest!

Her heart churned with shock, and she raised a hand to fire an energy blast at Li Ming.

Smack!

Unfortunately, Li Ming had no interest in taking an energy blast head-on. Though he moved later, he struck first, grabbing her other hand and forcibly turning her energy blast back toward herself!

Boom!

"Pfft!"

"Lady Gong!" King Cold's subordinates paled in alarm. They no longer cared about suppressing Babas and the others and rushed over.

Caught off guard, Gong was instantly gravely wounded. Her body flew away like a rag doll, kicking up clouds of dust that obscured Li Ming from view.

"Don't come over!"

Bang! Bam! Thud!

Gong sensed something, but it was already too late. Li Ming vanished from where he stood, and afterimages flashed one after another. Almost instantly, every alien present lost all signs of life!

When the last alien fell, Li Ming stood before Gong once more. These aliens ranged from mere foot soldiers with battle powers in the thousands to special forces members exceeding a hundred thousand. Without exception, every one of them had been killed in a single strike!

His domineering eyes looked down upon the alien before him as Li Ming said, "Does King Cold have people like you under him? I'll give you a chance. Pledge loyalty to me. This is also your last chance."

"Hmph!"

Despite her severe injuries, Gong did not yield. She glared fixedly at Li Ming, then seemed to aggravate her wounds. With a muffled groan, she said, "Lord Cold will avenge us!"

"Is that so? What a pity."

An energy blast instantly ended Gong's life. At this point, every special forces member King Cold had sent had been killed!

Whoosh!

The spaceship parked several thousand meters away abruptly lifted off, attempting to flee Yardrat. They had clearly learned what had happened to the others.

"Run! That Saiyan is too terrifying!"

"What is that...?"

A group of aliens who piloted the ship remained inside. They had stayed behind aboard the vessel and possessed little combat power. An energy blast suddenly came hurtling toward them, and amid screams and wails, the spaceship exploded outright.

Elsewhere, Li Ming examined their injuries. Pierre was the most severely wounded, with one arm completely missing. He could recover with the help of a medical pod, but it would take a long time.

After hesitating for a moment, Li Ming took out a Senzu Bean and had him eat it. He also ate one himself.

The muscles throughout Pierre's body swelled for a moment, after which his severed arm regenerated directly. Li Ming did not appear to have changed much on the outside, but the energy within him had become even more restrained.

"What is this?" Kainsen froze at first. Then he looked at Li Ming with near fanaticism. The miraculous effects of the Senzu Bean had utterly overturned his understanding of biology.

Seeing this, Li Ming gave him the last Senzu Bean he had on him and instructed, "See if you can analyze it. If you can, try to figure out whether it can be mass-produced."

"Yes!"

"Boss, what exactly is your battle power now?" Kulunxi directly asked the question they were all most curious about, though it was destined to receive no answer.

"I don't know either."

Seeing that none of their injuries were serious, Li Ming turned to look behind him. At some point, the elder had already come to stand behind them.

"Come with me."

The elder looked at Li Ming with a complicated expression, then led him outside the village and down a hidden passageway deep underground. Along the way, mysterious runes had been carved into the rock walls.

Li Ming naturally had excellent eyesight. Even in the dim light, he keenly noticed what had been etched there. It appeared to depict certain events from ancient times.

Li Ming did not know what the other bizarre images represented, but the giant ape roaring up at the sky immediately caught his attention.

As one of the oldest civilizations, the Yardratians were renowned throughout the universe for their various wondrous secret arts. These murals might well depict the ages witnessed by this civilization.

Click!

The final stone door opened. Li Ming followed the elder inside. Completely different from the murals outside, this was a vast underground chamber.

At its center stood a stone slab covered in all manner of runes. They bore none of the patterns one would expect from writing and looked more like random scribbles, yet they were filled with a profound, mysterious power. Li Ming even suspected that they were not merely Yardratian writing.

"These are the secret arts of our Yardrat."

The elder lightly tapped a spot to the left of the stone door, and flames immediately sprang to life throughout the cavern. This primitive method of illumination made the entire chamber seem even more mysterious.

Li Ming was naturally delighted. Since the elder had brought him here, that meant he had agreed to teach him the secret arts.

But unexpectedly, the elder continued, "Your power is dangerous, but you did help us in the end. You may learn these secret arts, but you must know your limits."

"Thank you very much."

After Li Ming spoke, the elder sighed again. He gave Li Ming a deep look, then turned and left.

Although the elder gave him a strange feeling, Li Ming did not dwell on it for now. His main objective was these secret arts. As for transforming into a Super Saiyan, he no longer cared about it as much.

Over the next few days, Li Ming sat quietly before the stone wall. Though the elder had not explained exactly what he should do, there were actually two ways to learn the secret arts recorded upon it.

One method was direct instruction, with a Yardratian personally teaching them.

The other was what Li Ming was doing now. The secret arts on the stone wall would be transmitted into one's mind through telepathy, but each person could learn only two or three at most.

This was likely related to the mental energy consumed by learning these secret arts. Any more would exceed the limits of one's mental strength.

Li Ming had mastered Instant Transmission, which meant he could learn at most two more techniques. So these past few days, he had not been studying—he had been choosing.

Energy Control, Space Confinement, Time Stop, Separation Technique, Spirit Eye, Gravity Technique...

There were simply too many. Merely reviewing them had consumed a great deal of his energy, and he had even found the Fusion Technique among them.

However, most of these secret techniques were support-type abilities rather than direct killing moves. Still, they were far more practical than straightforward finishing attacks.

With Energy Control alone, developing more techniques would only be a matter of time.

Space Confinement and Time Stop had similar effects, though the latter was stronger and came with greater restrictions. The actual effects of both depended on the user's strength. They could still work against stronger opponents, but only to a very limited degree—hardly useful, yet too valuable to discard.

The Separation Technique was the nemesis of the Fusion Technique, as well as certain special lifeforms. For example, Majin Buu would truly be finished if he encountered the Separation Technique and was broken apart.

Spirit Eye was rather interesting. It could reveal battle power, and as long as the target's battle power was not more than ten times his own, he could see it.

Gravity Technique functioned much like a gravity chamber, essentially serving as a portable gravity device. It could not be used directly on opponents and was more of a training aid.

In the end, after much hesitation, Li Ming chose Spirit Eye and Gravity Technique, giving up the more practical and specialized Separation Technique.

The reason was simple. Li Ming believed more in absolute strength. As long as he finished an opponent off in time, they would never have the chance to make a comeback!

Energy Control was also a good choice, but the reasoning was similar. He cultivated martial arts, and together with the mysterious inheritance Merus had given him, mastering those things would already be more than enough.

Over the following days, Li Ming began studying the two secret techniques, and his progress went very smoothly.

At the other end of the universe, on Earth, Li Ming had ultimately missed a thrilling battle.

The grassland was a complete mess. Son Goku and Raditz lay on the ground, while Piccolo was covered in wounds as well. Four-year-old Son Gohan was also lying nearby.

"Tch. Hahahaha! Son Goku, you're dead! Now Earth is mine!" Piccolo put on an exaggerated laugh.

"Cough!"

Goku still had one breath left. He barely opened his eyes, blood at the corner of his mouth, and said with a smile, "Hehe, you won't. Piccolo, you know that, don't you? New enemies will arrive on Earth in a year... cough!"

"Hmph!"

Piccolo snorted but did not refute him. He was no longer the King Piccolo of old. Though he hated to admit it, Goku had gradually changed him in his own way.

"Goku!"

A plane descended from the sky. Krillin, Master Roshi, and Bulma ran out. They had pursued them all the way from Kame House.

"Goku! Hang on! I'll go find a Senzu Bean and save you right now!"

Goku grabbed Krillin. The weakness in his arm made Krillin's heart tremble.

"Cough... Krillin, Grandpa Roshi, and Bulma, please tell everyone that new enemies will descend upon Earth in a year. And Gohan... help me tell Chi-Chi I'm sorry. Sorry..."

"Goku!"

Watching his disciple gradually fall silent, Master Roshi stood to one side without saying a word, his hands trembling slightly around his staff.

In the end, Kami took Goku's body away so that he could train with King Kai in the Other World and grow stronger. Piccolo took Gohan away, intending to train him into a warrior within a year.

After returning to West City, Bulma began searching for a way to contact Li Ming. Unfortunately, the universe was simply too vast, not to mention that Li Ming's spaceship had long since been destroyed.