The Great Ape Disaster! A Single Word Decides the World!

Boom!

A dull thud.

It wasn't an explosion, but penetration.

The extremely compressed Kamehameha shot through the thick steel ceiling like a red-hot needle piercing butter.

A round hole the size of a washbasin was instantly melted through the heavy steel plating.

There was no earth-shattering destruction.

Only extreme penetrating power.

Scalding molten metal dripped down, sending everyone scrambling back in fright.

At the altar on the castle's top floor.

The light of the seven Dragon Balls had gathered to its peak.

"Come forth!"

Pilaf raised both hands, his voice trembling as he prepared to recite the final incantation.

Before he could finish the chant.

The castle suddenly shook.

The floor beneath his feet trembled violently, as though an earthquake had struck.

"Wh... what's going on?"

Pilaf staggered and nearly fell.

In the secret chamber, Son Goku drew back his hand, panting hard with excitement written all over his face.

"It worked! Big Brother Lin Xuan! I blasted through it!"

"Great job!"

Bulma was shocked and overjoyed.

Looking at the light streaming through the hole, hope of survival instantly flared within her.

"Quick! Let's get out!"

Son Goku leaped up first, grabbed the edge of the opening, and climbed out in a few swift motions.

Lin Xuan supported Bulma by the waist with one hand and gave her a gentle lift, sending her up as well.

Oolong was the last to crawl out, using both hands and feet.

At last, the group escaped the steel cage.

They found themselves in an ornate corridor.

Pilaf's voice came from nearby.

"It's over there!"

Bulma's eyes lit up, and she charged toward the voice.

She kicked the doors open.

Pilaf and his two companions were gathered around the altar, preparing to summon Shenron.

The seven Dragon Balls lay quietly atop the altar.

"It's you!"

At the sight of them, Pilaf was scared out of his wits and turned to run.

"Where do you think you're going!"

Son Goku dashed forward and easily subdued Pilaf's trio.

Bulma rushed to the altar and swept all seven Dragon Balls into her arms, tears of joy welling in her eyes.

"Wonderful! Finally... finally, I've collected them all!"

Clutching the seven warm, lustrous spheres, she cried with joy.

She had given up too much for this moment.

Oolong cheered along with her. "Amazing, Miss Bulma! We can make a wish now!"

Son Goku grinned.

He had no interest in making wishes, but seeing his companions happy made him happy too.

Amid the ecstatic atmosphere.

Only Lin Xuan's expression did not change in the slightest.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze passing through the hole blasted open by the Kamehameha and into the pitch-black night sky outside.

A bright full moon hung high overhead.

It gave off an ominous glow.

"No."

Lin Xuan murmured to himself.

The real crisis was only beginning now.

"Huh? Why did it get dark?"

Son Goku noticed the change in the sky as well and instinctively looked out through the cave entrance.

He saw the full moon.

In that instant, Son Goku's body suddenly froze.

His pupils dilated, then contracted at once.

A violent, primal, utterly uncontrollable savagery erupted from the depths of his bloodline.

"Goku? What's wrong?"

Bulma sensed that something was off and asked worriedly.

Son Goku did not answer.

His body began to tremble violently, low growls unlike any human sound rumbling from his throat.

His heartbeat boomed through the silent room like war drums.

"Roar..."

The next second, his body swelled at a visible rate.

His orange martial arts uniform tore apart, revealing knotted muscles.

Black fur burst wildly from beneath his skin, covering his entire body.

His face twisted and stretched into the savage shape of an ape, sharp fangs protruding from his mouth.

"Aah! Wh-what is happening?!"

Bulma and Oolong staggered back in terror.

They watched helplessly as that innocent, cheerful boy transformed before their eyes into a terrifying Great Ape over ten meters tall.

Rumble!

The Great Ape's body burst through the ceiling, its enormous head smashing straight through the castle's dome.

Cold moonlight poured unobstructed over its crimson eyes, brimming with the urge to destroy.

It had completely lost its mind.

ROAR—!!!

A deafening roar unleashed a terrifying blast of air, sending everything in the room tumbling about.

The Great Ape lowered its head, its crimson gaze sweeping over the tiny, ant-like figures at its feet.

In its eyes, there were no companions—only things to destroy.

"Goku! It's me! I'm Bulma!"

Bulma tried to wake him.

His response was the Great Ape's massive palm, as broad as a fan, swinging down at her.

Whoosh—!

The wind from its palm howled with enough force to smash everything apart.

"Watch out!"

Lin Xuan stepped forward, wrapped an arm around Bulma's waist, and flashed away, narrowly evading the fatal strike.

Boom!

The giant palm struck the ground, making the entire castle shake violently. A huge handprint was smashed into the hard floor.

"Run!"

Lin Xuan shouted at Oolong and Pilaf's trio, who had been frozen with fear.

Everyone snapped back to their senses and scattered in screaming panic.

Having missed its strike, the Great Ape grew even more frenzied.

It straightened up and pounded its chest wildly with both fists, then began destroying everything around it indiscriminately.

Boom!

One punch smashed through a wall, and half a castle tower came crashing down.

Rumble!

One stomp reduced the magnificent corridor to dust.

Before this out-of-control beast, Pilaf's castle was as fragile as a toy built from sand.

"Help!"

Pilaf, Shu, and Mai scrambled away in a panic, rolling and crawling.

Bulma and Oolong were equally pale, able only to dodge the falling boulders amid the collapsing ruins.

A moment ago, they had been rejoicing in victory.

The next, they had plunged into the abyss of death.

The enormous contrast left Bulma's mind completely blank.

She watched the Great Ape wreak havoc, watched those unfamiliar scarlet eyes filled with brutality.

Nothing remained in her heart but endless fear and despair.

It was over.

This time, it was truly over.

Son Goku had turned into a monster. No one could stop him.

Every one of them would die here.

Just as everyone had fallen into despair, able only to await their deaths.

Only one person remained absolutely calm.

Lin Xuan stood atop a relatively intact roof, letting the violent wind whip at his clothes.

Not a ripple stirred in his eyes.

He simply watched every act of destruction by the Great Ape in silence.

Like an uninvolved observer, calculating something.

Finally, when the Great Ape turned and swung a claw toward the broken wall where Bulma and Oolong were hiding, he spoke.

His voice was not loud—indeed, it was very soft.

Yet amid the chaos and thunderous noise, it seemed to carry a strange penetrating force, reaching everyone's ears with perfect clarity.

"Cut off its tail."

Only three words.

Calm, yet carrying unquestionable authority.

Like a decree from a god.

Oolong, who had been screaming as he fled with his head in his hands, abruptly froze.

Bulma, on the verge of being consumed by fear, also stared blankly.

Cut off its tail?

The two instinctively looked behind the Great Ape.

There, a thick, furry tail swayed wildly with the Great Ape's movements.

That was it.

The tail.

Son Goku's defining feature was that tail.

This monster had a tail too.

Could that tail be its weakness?

The thought struck like lightning, cleaving through every fog of confusion in Bulma's mind.

She abruptly looked toward Lin Xuan. The man still stood high above, his expression indifferent, as though he were stating an eternal truth.

It was him!

Him again!

When everyone else had fallen into despair, he had once again revealed the answer with a single sentence.

"Oolong! Hurry! Turn into scissors! Cut off its tail!"

As if clutching the last lifeline, Bulma screamed at Oolong with every ounce of strength she had.

Oolong jolted from her shout and snapped back to his senses.

Though terrified out of his mind, his instinct to survive overwhelmed everything else.

"I... I don't want to die!"

He let out a miserable pig-like squeal, and amid a burst of white smoke, transformed into a pair of enormous metal scissors gleaming with cold light.

"Yaaahhh!"

Controlling the scissors, Oolong squeezed his eyes shut and flew wildly toward the Great Ape's rear.

The Great Ape's attention was fixed on Lin Xuan at the moment, and it never noticed the little "bug" flying up behind it.

Snip!

The thick tail was severed at once.

"ROAR—!!!"

The Great Ape's body suddenly stiffened, and it threw back its head with an incomparably agonized roar.

Then, that mountain-sized body began to shrink at high speed, like a punctured balloon.

Under everyone's shocked gazes, the Great Ape reverted to that unconscious, completely naked youth.

He fell from midair with a bang, smashing through a section of roof and plunging into the castle ruins.

The crisis was resolved at the very last moment.

Deathly silence hung over the castle ruins.

"Huff... huff..."

Bulma and Oolong collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath, their bodies drenched in cold sweat.

Pilaf's group also crawled out from their hiding place. Looking at the half-destroyed castle, they nearly burst into tears.

Everyone's eyes unconsciously converged on the man still standing at the high ground.

Lin Xuan met everyone's gazes, then slowly withdrew his own.

At that very moment, the golden scroll in his mind erupted with an unprecedented brilliance, as dazzling as the blazing sun.

A line of massive golden words slowly appeared.

[With a single word, you determined the outcome, reversed the Great Ape disaster, and saved everyone from the brink of destruction. You have gained a large amount of merit. Merit +66.]

His merit points surged instantly from 0 to 66!

He directly went all in on the cultivation technique.

BOOM!!!

A vast surge of energy beyond description erupted from the deepest depths of his soul.

That energy was so pure, so boundless.

It washed through every limb and bone in Lin Xuan's body, cleansing every inch of his soul.

An unprecedented sensation welled up in Lin Xuan's heart.

He knew.

The first trial of the heart was about to arrive.