Yin-Yang Harmony! This Fire Must Be Extinguished This Way!

Master Roshi's words made everyone's hearts sink.

He would flatten the mountain along with the castle.

What would be the point of saving anyone then?

"No! You can't!"

Ox-King let out a roar, his enormous body trembling.

"My daughter is still in there! Chi-Chi is still in there!"

His eyes were bloodshot, like a beast driven into a corner. In his agitation, terrifying heat radiated from his massive body.

Bulma completely panicked as well.

She clutched her hair and paced in circles.

"What do we do? What do we do? Is there really no way at all?"

Science wouldn't work.

Brute force wouldn't work either.

Her mind had gone completely blank.

Son Goku's little face scrunched up as well. He couldn't understand it.

"Grandpa, can't you just put out the fire without destroying the mountain?"

Master Roshi smiled and wiped away some sweat.

"You think I don't want to? The essence of the Kamehameha is destruction. I can't control it to destroy only the fire without harming the mountain."

"Then what do we do?"

Just then.

Lin Xuan stepped forward.

"Master Roshi, your Kamehameha possesses the utmost strength and purest yang energy. Nothing can withstand it."

Lin Xuan's voice was calm.

Yet it was like a clear spring, instantly washing away the anxiety at the scene.

"Using extreme yang energy against spiritual fire that is likewise extreme yang is no different from adding fuel to the flames. Even if you managed to suppress it by force in the end, the result would only be mutual destruction."

Master Roshi froze.

"Spiritual fire?"

Lin Xuan nodded, his gaze settling on the sea of flames, his eyes profound.

"This is no ordinary fire. It is the essence of an Eight-Trigram Furnace, formed when the earth's spiritual veins became congested and ignited on their own. Its nature is violent, and its flames spread across the land."

"To extinguish it, brute force won't do. You need finesse."

Bulma was utterly confused.

"Eight-Trigram Furnace? What is that? What finesse? What exactly are you talking about?"

Lin Xuan ignored her. He only looked at Master Roshi and spoke four words.

"Balance yin and yang."

"Balance yin and yang?"

Master Roshi murmured those four words. A glimmer flashed through his cloudy eyes, as though he had grasped something, yet as though he had grasped nothing at all.

Lin Xuan did not rush to explain. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Ox-King, who was on the verge of going mad.

Ox-King had nearly lost all reason. Meaningless roars came from his mouth, while the energy around him was wild and violent.

"When the heart is unsettled, the energy cannot be at peace. If you go on like this, you'll only make the fire here burn even stronger."

As Lin Xuan spoke, he took out a talisman from his robes.

It was a half-finished Heart-Calming Talisman he had carefully made in his spare time over the past few days, based on insights he had gained from ancient texts.

"Calm."

He softly spoke the two words, then gave the talisman a light wave in Ox-King's direction.

The talisman ignited without fire, instantly turning into a streak of light that shot into Ox-King's forehead.

The next second.

Ox-King, who had been frantic only a moment ago, suddenly shuddered.

The red rapidly faded from his bloodshot eyes, restoring their clarity.

The violent aura pouring from his body seemed to be pressed down by an invisible hand, instantly becoming docile.

He stood there stupidly, panting heavily, his eyes full of confusion.

What had happened to him just now?

Why had he suddenly calmed down?

That move stunned the entire room once again.

Master Roshi's eyelids twitched wildly as he stared fixedly at Lin Xuan.

Talismans?

This was no longer within the realm of martial arts.

This was true "sorcery"!

Bulma's jaw nearly hit the floor.

She had already given up trying to use science to understand everything happening before her.

Only two words remained in her mind.

A miracle.

After soothing the Ox-King, Lin Xuan finally turned back to Master Roshi.

"Master Wutian, you're a martial arts grandmaster. You should understand that qi itself has no attribute. Its nature depends entirely on the user's intent."

Master Roshi nodded thoughtfully.

"You mean..."

"Exactly."

Lin Xuan confirmed his thought.

"What you need to do now isn't maximize the power of the Kamehameha, but change its 'nature.'"

"Replace that supremely forceful, blazing destructive qi with supremely yielding, tranquilizing qi."

"Use water to overcome fire, softness to overcome hardness. That is the right path."

Change the nature of qi?

After hearing this, Master Roshi's expression became more solemn than ever.

The theory sounded simple, but putting it into practice was harder than climbing to heaven.

He had trained in the Kamehameha his entire life. It had long since become a part of his body.

What he had always pursued was greater speed, greater strength, and greater destructive power.

Now, asking him to reverse that was harder than making him create an entirely new martial art.

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

Master Roshi shook his head, his face bitter.

"You can."

Lin Xuan's tone allowed no doubt.

He walked step by step until he stood before Master Roshi, looking directly into his eyes.

"Forget destruction. Forget power. Forget every notion you have about the Kamehameha."

"Now close your eyes and imagine the depths of a cold, dark sea."

"There is no light, no sound—only silence and cold."

Lin Xuan's voice carried a peculiar guiding power, and Master Roshi unconsciously followed his instructions.

Master Roshi closed his eyes.

"Your qi is not meant to destroy, but to soothe. Not to erupt, but to embrace."

"Feel that tranquility. Let it flow into your body. Let your qi become like that deep sea as well—cold and calm."

Master Roshi stood motionless.

His explosively muscular body visibly relaxed and settled.

That sharp, grandmaster's aura gradually faded, replaced by a quiet simplicity.

A minute later.

Master Roshi suddenly opened his eyes.

His gaze had changed.

The previous sharpness was gone, leaving only unfathomable serenity.

"I think I understand."

He murmured to himself, raising his hands into the opening stance of the Kamehameha before his chest.

"Ha..."

He began to gather qi.

His movements were slow and gentle.

This time, what gathered in his palms was no longer violent, dazzling blue lightning.

Instead, it was a deep azure sphere of light, like the midnight sky.

The sphere of light gave off no destructive aura. Instead, it carried a coolness that put people at ease.

The surging heat waves around them seemed soothed upon touching that aura, becoming tame.

"—Ha!"

Master Roshi thrust both hands forward.

There was no earth-shattering boom.

No world-destroying impact.

A deep-blue beam composed of pure, tranquil energy silently surged forward.

The next second.

This "night sky" collided with the towering sea of fire.

There was no explosion.

No clash.

No sound.

A bizarre yet breathtaking scene unfolded.

The raging flames, hot enough to melt steel, abruptly fell silent the instant they touched the deep-blue beam.

The violent red rapidly faded into docile orange, then softened into gentle yellow.

In the end, all the flames were assimilated and dissolved by that deep-blue tranquility.

Not even a wisp of smoke remained.

It had taken no more than three seconds.

The inferno that had burned on Flame Mountain for who knew how long was extinguished just like that.

A cool night breeze swept past. The mountain remained, and the black castle atop it, aside from being scorched black, was completely intact.

No one spoke.

Ox-King stood with his mouth wide open, his huge eyes bulging as he utterly failed to process the surreal sight before him.

Son Goku wore the same dazed expression as he scratched his head.

"The fire fell asleep?"

Master Roshi lowered his head and stared at his utterly ordinary hands, overwhelmed by immense shock.

Feeling that unprecedentedly calm yet powerful ki within him, he had pushed open the door to a new realm he had never imagined.

As for Bulma, she had completely given up trying to think.

She merely stared blankly at Lin Xuan.

At the man who had remained calm from beginning to end, as though he had done nothing more than a trivial task.

The shock and confusion had vanished from her beautiful blue eyes.

All that remained was the purest, most fervent admiration—something nearly akin to faith.

Science?

In the face of a miracle, science was nothing but bullshit!

"Chi-Chi! My Chi-Chi!"

Ox-King was the first to snap out of it. Letting out a roar of wild joy, he broke into a run and charged like mad toward the castle atop the mountain.

At that moment, the golden scroll in Lin Xuan's mind bloomed with an unprecedented brilliance.

[Pacified the earth vein's spirit fire, harmonized yin and yang, saved countless living beings from fire and suffering. Merit +3.0]

His merit points shot up from 4.8 to 7.8!

He had gone all in!

Then, an immense, indescribable cool sensation welled up from the depths of his soul and instantly washed through his entire body.

A realization then flooded into his mind.

Lin Xuan could clearly feel that the final barrier between himself and the Dust-Cleansing Realm had become incredibly thin.

With just one final push, he could break through completely!

This haul was absurdly profitable.

Before long, Ox-King came running down from the mountain with a little girl dressed somewhat like Seven in his arms, his face beaming with joy.

"Benefactors! My great benefactors! This is my daughter, Chi-Chi! Thank you so much!"

Ox-King was so excited that he could barely speak clearly. He insisted on dragging them all into his castle for a grand feast.

To show his gratitude, he generously handed the six-star ball hidden in the castle over to Bulma.

At last, all six Dragon Balls had been gathered.

Bulma excitedly pulled out the Dragon Radar, preparing to locate the final one.

She pressed the switch.

On the radar's screen, the six points of light had now all converged in one place.

And the seventh—the final point of light—was flashing wildly.