Mortals Seek Selfish Desires, Daoists Solely Inquire the Path of Guardianship

Shenron's voice resounded in the depths of everyone's soul.

"Any wish can be granted."

Those words carried a deadly temptation, hammering against every heart.

A few seconds later, Oolong was the first to break free from Shenron's divine might.

His piggish face twisted with extreme greed.

"Me! My wish is!"

He howled at the top of his lungs, trying to speak before anyone else.

"I want a pair of..."

Before he could finish, a foot slammed viciously into his face.

"Get lost! You stupid pig!"

Bulma's eyes were bloodshot. Excitement, fear, and wild joy twisted together into a complicated expression on her face.

"This wish is mine! I was the one who worked so hard to gather the Dragon Balls!"

She rushed to the front, raised her head toward the enormous dragon's head that blotted out the sky, clasped her hands together, and spoke in a trembling voice.

"Oh Shenron! Please grant me the most perfect Prince Charming boyfriend in the whole world!"

She practically shouted it.

After shouting, even she froze.

Was this really what she had crossed mountains and rivers for, what she had risked her life again and again to obtain?

A boyfriend?

Lin Xuan's calm face surfaced in Bulma's mind.

That man always solved every problem in the most unbelievable way at the most critical moments.

His composure, his unfathomable depth, had made her genius brain crash time and time again.

Compared to someone like him, a so-called "perfect boyfriend" suddenly seemed ridiculous and pale.

"No! That's not right!"

Oolong clutched his bleeding nose and scrambled back over, wrapping himself around Bulma's leg.

"Panties! I only want panties! I was the first one to make a wish!"

"Shut up, all of you!"

From the corner, Pilaf somehow found the courage to scream as well.

"King of the world! I want to become king of the world! Shenron! Listen to me!"

The ruins had become a complete mess.

Under Shenron's indifferent gaze, mortal selfish desires played out in a farcical yet tragic spectacle.

They shouted and tugged at one another, each trying to be the first to stuff their wish into Shenron's ear.

Amid that chaos.

A hand gently pushed aside Bulma and Oolong, who were still arguing.

Lin Xuan stepped out from the crowd.

He looked at no one as he began walking, step by step, calmly toward the dragon's head, larger than a mountain.

Set against the panic, excitement, and greed of everyone around him, his calmness seemed utterly out of place.

And all the more glaring for it.

"Hey! Lin Xuan! What are you doing?!"

Bulma froze, then called out instinctively.

"Come back! It's too dangerous over there!"

Oolong and Pilaf also stopped arguing, staring at the man's back in confusion.

Was this guy trying to rush in and make a wish too?

But he did not look the least bit anxious.

Lin Xuan ignored the clamor behind him.

He did not stop until he reached the edge of the light radiating from the Dragon Balls.

He raised his head to meet those scarlet dragon eyes, his gaze as still as an ancient well.

His powerful spirit allowed him to face this dragon might, enough to make an ordinary mortal's soul scatter, without being affected in the slightest.

He knew very well that the first trial of the heart demon brought about by his breakthrough now hung over him like a sword, ready to fall at any moment.

Before the heavenly tribulation descended, he had to strengthen this fragile mortal body of his.

Lin Xuan slowly opened his mouth. His voice was not loud, yet it carried a strange rhythm, clearly overpowering the wind and everyone's pounding hearts as it echoed beneath the night sky.

"I wish to protect the living beings of this planet."

The moment he said that, the people behind him who had been about to start arguing again fell silent.

Bulma's eyes widened, her face filled with disbelief.

Protect?

What was he talking about?

Lin Xuan did not pause. In that same calm, even tone, he continued, voicing a wish that was enough to overturn everyone's understanding.

"I beseech Shenron to show me the 'Way of Protection,' and to lay the 'foundation for walking that Way' for this mortal body of mine."

The words fell.

It was as though someone had pressed pause on the entire world.

Time froze in that instant.

Bulma was completely dumbfounded. Her mouth hung open, her mind blank, utterly unable to process what she had just heard.

Seeking the Way?

Laying a foundation?

He... he... he had actually made such a philosophical, such an ethereal wish to Shenron?

Was he insane?

This was Shenron, who could grant any wish!

Wealth, power, immortality... all those things were within easy reach, yet he wanted none of them. Instead, he asked about some profound and mysterious "Way"?

Oolong's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He could not understand it at all.

"Is something wrong with this guy's head? What kind of opportunity is this, and he wants some 'Way'?"

Pilaf's trio exchanged looks, feeling as though they had just heard something utterly absurd.

They had gambled everything, built a castle, and developed weapons, all for the sake of ruling the world.

Yet this man, standing before an opportunity that could effortlessly fulfill their lifelong dream, had asked a question they could not even comprehend.

The sheer absurdity struck everyone's nerves.

Yet the most shocked one was not any of these mortals.

It was the ancient deity above the sky.

The instant Shenron heard Lin Xuan's wish, his crimson dragon eyes, burning with eternal fire, suddenly contracted.

It was an exceedingly subtle yet incomparably clear change.

For the first time, those cold, indifferent eyes that regarded all things as insignificant revealed an almost... human surprise and bewilderment.

Since its creation, it had existed through untold ages and granted the wishes of countless mortals.

Some sought wealth, some sought power, some sought resurrection, some sought youth.

Those wishes came in all forms, yet at their core, they were all the same.

They were all meant to satisfy personal desire.

But now...

This mortal, as tiny as a speck of dust, was asking it for a "Way."

A "Way" of "protection."

This wish had completely exceeded its design, exceeded its understanding of the very word "wish."

Shenron fell silent.

Its enormous body coiled across the heavens, utterly motionless.

The world sank into an unprecedented silence.

Bulma could even clearly hear her own heart pounding like a drum.

She looked anxiously at Lin Xuan, then at the silent Shenron, a powerful unease rising in her heart.

Had Lin Xuan's wish... angered Shenron?

Just as the oppressive atmosphere was about to drive everyone mad, a low, distant dragon's roar slowly rang out, as though it had come from beyond the nine heavens.

The voice no longer carried that emotionless, mechanical quality from before. Instead, it held a trace of... indescribable complexity and approval.

"Never has a mortal sought the Way from me."

Shenron's enormous eyes focused on Lin Xuan once more, their gaze so profound that it seemed ready to see through his very soul.

"Your wish exceeds my design, but... I acknowledge your vow."