Piccolo's Crushing Defeat

Bang!

Li Ming deliberately held back to improve his martial arts realm, controlling his energy to a level only slightly stronger than Kami's before beginning the match.

Kami's abilities had actually become more inclined toward magic after separating from Piccolo. After all, he could create the Dragon Balls.

He formed a strange hand gesture and raised it. A force immediately erupted beneath Li Ming's feet, sending him flying.

In an instant, he was nearly a hundred meters in the air. Kami flashed behind him and brought both clasped fists down!

Li Ming sensed Kami's elusive energy a moment too late, but he barely avoided the vital point of his spine and raised his arms to block.

Thud!

The dull impact echoed out. Li Ming instantly became a blur as he fell toward the ground. The Flight Technique allowed him to fly, but it still required energy in midair.

Li Ming had no way to maintain the Flight Technique while taking that punch head-on.

As for Goku and the others, none of them showed any reaction. They were all confident they could withstand an attack of that level, so there was no reason Li Ming would lose to that move.

Boom!

Sure enough, Li Ming unleashed a shockwave toward the ground with a backhand, dissipating the force before charging into the sky again!

A single palm strike stirred up a violent gale throughout the entire arena!

"Ah!"

Some of the lighter spectators were blown straight away and crashed down in a daze. This spectator stand was simply inhumanely designed. Watching a match could cost someone their life.

Kami had clearly been extremely confident in that attack, but he never expected Li Ming to neutralize it so directly. A black dot instantly expanded before his eyes, and less than half a second had passed!

Crossing his arms, he precisely blocked Li Ming's punch. Li Ming raised an eyebrow, realizing where the gap lay.

To be fair, that punch carried no small amount of force. Yet at nearly the same speed, Kami, while possessing an Earthling's body, had still blocked his attack with perfect accuracy.

That was the difference in experience and martial arts foundation. It might seem useless in later battles where one could casually destroy planets, but when combat power was close, such a foundation was the key to victory!

Just as some races were born with transformations or other special abilities, martial arts cultivated to a profound level were no weaker than such talents!

Whoosh!

A punch came flying at him. This time, Li Ming narrowly dodged it, feeling only a faint stream of air brush across his cheek.

He raised his hand and returned the punch. At such close range, Kami naturally found it difficult to evade as well, and the blow similarly grazed past his face.

The two continued trading blows, their speed too fast for the naked eye to follow. Forget ordinary people—even Krillin and Tien Shinhan, who had only begun to grasp energy, found it extremely difficult to watch.

Goku, Master Roshi, and Piccolo could see clearly, and they watched the duel with complete focus.

As they exchanged blows, Li Ming gradually caught up to Kami's rhythm. With the advantage in strength and speed, he had even begun suppressing his opponent through technique.

Bang!

Suddenly, Kami changed his fist into a palm. After blocking Li Ming's frontal punch, he retreated.

A trace of blood had appeared at the corner of his mouth, and sweat covered his face. This body had clearly nearly reached its limit.

"Phew, phew..."

Li Ming, on the other hand, showed no change in his breathing. This battle probably did not even count as a warm-up for him.

Before long, Kami steadied his breath and said, "I never expected your rate of growth to be so fast. You have completely exceeded my expectations. Defeating Piccolo should not be a problem for you. Since that is the case, I leave him to you. Please make sure to defeat Piccolo."

"You can rest assured of that." Li Ming's actual attitude toward Piccolo was that he would kill him if he could. This was not the Piccolo who would later turn over a new leaf. The current Piccolo still carried the shadow of King Piccolo.

"Very well. Then I will give you a gift as thanks."

"Hm?"

Kami raised both hands, and his aura gradually became somewhat different. Though he appeared to be a lecherous middle-aged man, he now carried a noble and sacred presence.

Not only was there no sense of incongruity, it even made people feel the urge to kneel in worship.

Of course, Li Ming had no such thoughts. The battle instincts in Saiyan blood made it impossible for that race to worship so-called gods.

"Ha!"

A white light instantly enveloped Li Ming. Then, a refreshing sensation flooded every part of his body. Li Ming could not help clenching his palm. His strength had not increased, yet he somehow felt stronger than before.

"This is power cultivated by Kami. It cannot increase your strength, but it will help somewhat with your use of energy."

"Thank you," Li Ming said seriously.

This gift was no small thing. The power cultivated by Kami was likely what this world called immortal energy, divine power, or something similar.

In short, it was something one had to possess a certain "rank" to come into contact with. Li Ming had no intention of taking that path. Even if he did, he would become a god who wielded immense power like a God of Destruction. As for becoming a Supreme Kai... forget it.

Moreover, raising one's rank required certain special conditions and came with many restrictions.

For example, the lives of a God of Destruction and a Supreme Kai were linked. That alone was enough to make Li Ming stay far away, and he could not accept similar drawbacks either.

He could accept being killed because he was too weak. But getting schemed to death? What kind of death was that? It was far too suffocating.

In the final match, Piccolo faced Krillin with a heavy heart. They exchanged several rounds, and for some unknown reason, Piccolo actually tried to persuade Krillin to concede.

If this had been King Piccolo three years ago, he probably would have simply killed him.

Boom!

Krillin's strength was now very close to Goku's from three years ago. Piccolo had carelessly taken an energy blast head-on. It seemed to be Krillin's own original ability, a weakened version of the Homing Energy Blast.

It struck Piccolo squarely in the back, angering him and finally making him serious.

"Ha!"

A Tri-Beam instantly burst from his mouth! With no time to think, Krillin flew aside to dodge.

But the Tri-Beam passed almost right over the spectators' heads. The panicked crowd immediately began to stir. Even Master Roshi, Goku, and the others became anxious. They were not afraid, but if that attack landed in the crowd, very few people here would survive.

Piccolo seemed to have anticipated this. He flashed behind Krillin and smashed down with both clasped fists!

The heavy blow struck the back of Krillin's head. Even if it did not kill him, it could easily cripple him!

Whoosh!

Boom!

Li Ming's eyes shifted slightly as he spread a layer of energy over the arena's surface. Even so, a deep crater was smashed into it!

However, this prevented Krillin from having his neck snapped outright. He crawled out not long after. That physique was practically inhuman.

"I concede."

Though Piccolo was surprised, he did not continue trying to kill him. Honestly, ever since the previous Piccolo had separated him out, although he had indeed inherited the will, he had actually begun returning to his Namekian nature.

Even without Kami's "good" power, the evil part was no longer so pure.

Goku faced Tien Shinhan. There was no suspense in this match. Li Ming judged their relative strength with a single glance.

Judging purely by the strength of their energy, Goku was nearly twice as strong as Tien Shinhan and comparable to Piccolo. As for Li Ming himself, there was no comparison.

"Ah!"

Piccolo revealed his Namekian traits from the start. His arms suddenly stretched out as he attempted to catch Li Ming off guard, only to find that Li Ming had already left behind an afterimage!

Swish!

Bang! He instantly appeared behind Piccolo and sent him flying with a punch. While Piccolo was still in midair, he turned and fired a Tri-Beam!

Boom!

Li Ming did not dodge. There was no need to. As for knocking a Tri-Beam back with his bare hands, he could not do that yet. It required not only strength, but a certain degree of skill.

At the same time, Li Ming marveled at the power of these alien races. If Namekians were combat-types, their talents were actually greater than those of ordinary Saiyans.

That alone made it clear. Li Ming had not held back at all with that punch. A normal person—even a Saiyan—should have suffered a brief moment of dizziness and stiffness.

Yet Piccolo had immediately launched a Tri-Beam in retaliation.

The two flew into the air and traded blows. Piccolo's techniques all contained invisible energy, especially when he occasionally shouted and erupted with energy, directly knocking Li Ming back.

This should have been the Demon Clan technique Piccolo mentioned. The eruption of energy carried tremendous force. It looked simple, but was actually not easy.

At the very least, Li Ming could not yet repel Piccolo merely by erupting with energy. At most, he could prevent an opponent from getting close.

Boom!

Li Ming seized the opportunity and punched Piccolo in the back. To prevent him from recovering, he fired a Tri-Beam while Piccolo was falling!

A violent explosion swept across the entire arena. Fortunately, this attack primarily focused on penetration. Otherwise, the whole arena would have vanished!

After the smoke cleared, Piccolo lay in a crater more than ten meters deep. One of his arms had disappeared, and his aura was weakened to the extreme.

"Wait!"

Li Ming was about to finish him when Goku suddenly called out from afar. "Li Ming, I want to fight him myself. Can you not kill him?"

"Hmph." Li Ming understood that feeling well. Although he knew Goku's choice was foolish and carried the risk of letting a tiger return to the mountain.

But the common trait of Saiyans was probably that fighting came before food, and food came before everything else.

No matter how they grew up, fighting to their hearts' content would always come first.

Boom!

Li Ming fired an energy wave down without hesitation. This time, Goku did not stop him. When the smoke and dust cleared again, Piccolo had vanished.

"W-What?! Th-this, this, this... has contestant Piccolo been blasted into ashes by contestant Li Ming?"

The announcer asked shakily. To be honest, he could no longer understand anything that was happening, so he could only turn to Goku and the others for help. They had also protected him from the explosion's aftermath.

"No." Goku shook his head and looked into the sky. Piccolo's figure had already appeared more than a hundred meters away.

"You can live, but you cannot destroy Earth. That is my bottom line."

"Phew, phew..." Piccolo's severed arm had not regrown. His chest heaved violently. He had consumed too much stamina, and the arm could not regenerate in a short time.

"You will regret today's decision!"

"If you do not leave now, I will make you regret saying that." Li Ming's gaze gradually turned dangerous. Piccolo could no longer keep up the act and immediately flew away.

"The second match of the semifinals goes to contestant Li Ming!"