The Birth of the Top 8

The final preliminary match ended, and the noise in the arena rose higher and higher. Everyone who had made it to the end was a true expert.

When the announcer read out the list of the final eight, the entire venue erupted in cheers.

"Son Goku!"

"Krillin!"

"Namu!"

"Giran!"

"Ranfan!"

"Yamcha!"

"Jackie Chun!"

Each name drew another wave of discussion and applause.

All of them had made a name for themselves in the preliminaries and were considered top contenders for this Martial Arts Tournament.

However, when the final name was announced, the atmosphere in the arena turned somewhat strange.

"And... Lin Xuan!"

The arena first fell into an odd silence, then erupted into louder discussion than at any previous name.

"He's here! It's him! That mysterious Number 66!"

"I still don't understand how he won. It looked like all his opponents defeated themselves..."

"Now that's a real master! He made his opponents surrender without even fighting! I'd say he's this tournament's champion!"

Amid the chatter, Lin Xuan remained seated cross-legged in the corner, his expression unchanged, as though they were discussing someone else.

Son Goku and Krillin ran over excitedly and kept congratulating him.

Elsewhere, Yamcha's expression shifted several times before he finally seemed to make up his mind.

He took a deep breath, pushed through the crowd, and walked up to Lin Xuan.

Under everyone's astonished gaze, the famous and ever-proud "Desert Bandit" bowed deeply to Lin Xuan.

"Mr. Lin Xuan!"

Yamcha's voice trembled, filled with both excitement and reverence.

"Please... please teach me!"

The sight left everyone around them dumbfounded.

Who was Yamcha? A martial arts prodigy as famous as Son Goku, renowned for his Wolf Fang Fist.

Yet someone so proud was humbly asking for guidance from a contestant who looked even younger than him?

Lin Xuan opened his eyes and looked at him calmly.

"Guidance about what?"

Yamcha's face flushed red. He gritted his teeth and voiced the doubt that had been weighing on him.

"My Wolf Fang Fist pursues speed and striking power. Its principle is to use speed against slowness, strength against weakness. But after watching you fight, I realized this isn't the highest realm of martial arts!"

His eyes were full of yearning.

"That method of yours... the way you make an opponent's own strength collapse, even turn against them... that realm of 'using softness to overcome hardness'—how can one possibly attain it?"

This was also the question in the minds of many martial artists standing nearby.

They all pricked up their ears, eager to hear what profound martial theory this master would offer.

Yet Lin Xuan's answer was very simple.

He looked at Yamcha and calmly spoke eight words.

"Follow the flow. Borrow force to strike back."

After saying that, he closed his eyes again.

"Follow... the flow? Borrow... force... to strike back?"

Yamcha stood frozen, repeating those words over and over, his brow tightly furrowed as he began to think.

Behind him, Puar scratched at his head anxiously. "Master Yamcha, what kind of guidance is that? Isn't that way too perfunctory?"

Son Goku looked equally confused. Scratching his head, he asked Krillin, "Krillin, what does 'follow the flow' mean? Does it mean you should fight with the wind? And 'borrow force to strike back' means using your opponent's strength? How is that possible?"

Krillin thought about it for a long time, but he could not figure it out either.

But the confusion on Yamcha's face gradually turned into sudden realization.

He slapped his hand sharply and bowed deeply to Lin Xuan once more.

"Thank you for enlightening me, sir! I... I think I understand now!"

He understood.

When he fought in the past, he had always thought about how to use his own momentum to forcibly break his opponent's momentum.

But Lin Xuan's realm was to completely abandon his own "momentum," observe his opponent's "momentum," and then, at the most critical point, give the slightest push with the smallest amount of force, causing that powerful momentum to collapse on its own.

Like a surging flood, there was no need to build a dam and stop it head-on.

All you had to do was carve out a small breach in the riverbank, and you could make it change course—or even flow backward.

This was what he understood as "going with the flow and borrowing strength to strike"!

Once Yamcha grasped this, he felt as though his entire worldview of martial arts had been rewritten.

He trembled with excitement, and the way he looked at Lin Xuan was as if he were looking at an immortal.

Just then, a somewhat comical old man wearing a wig and sunglasses walked over with a cheerful smile.

It was Master Roshi, using the alias "Jackie Chun."

"Ho ho ho, young man, your kung fu is quite impressive."

Master Roshi waved his fan as he casually asked, "Your footwork is very unusual. It doesn't seem like any ordinary style. May I ask which school you belong to, young man? What kind of fist technique do you practice?"

He was trying to use martial arts jargon to probe Lin Xuan's background.

The people around them fell silent again, eager to hear the origins of this mysterious expert.

Lin Xuan opened his eyes and glanced at him, the corner of his lips curling slightly in amusement.

He knew who this old man was.

"I have no school or sect."

Lin Xuan spoke slowly. His voice was not loud, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly.

"As for the method I practice... if I had to put it into words, it would be the art of 'the unity of Heaven, Earth, and Man, with yin and yang and the five elements in endless circulation.'"

Master Roshi: "???"

The smile on his face froze, and his mind filled with question marks.

The unity of Heaven, Earth, and Man? The circulation of yin and yang and the five elements?

What was all that supposed to mean?

Did it have even the slightest connection to martial arts?

Why did it sound like something a street fortune-telling scammer would say?

He felt that he simply could not continue this conversation.

Seeing his stumped expression, Lin Xuan leisurely continued, "All things have their principles, and all methods return to the Way. Fists and kicks are merely minor details. Aligning one's heart with Heaven is the true foundation."

Master Roshi was completely dumbfounded.

He felt that all the martial arts knowledge he had accumulated over several hundred years had been crushed to dust before this young man.

The two of them were not even discussing things on the same level.

He was still fixated on individual moves and techniques, while the other had already begun discussing the origin of the universe.

"I... I have learned much."

Master Roshi gave two dry laughs and slunk away in embarrassment.

He did not dare ask any more questions, afraid that this strange fellow might truly talk away his faith in martial arts.

Watching this, Bulma covered her mouth and giggled, though she became even more curious inside.

Just how many secrets was Lin Xuan still hiding?

As everyone was lost in their own thoughts, the broadcast sounded again, drawing all attention back.

"Contestants and honored guests! I will now announce the matchups for the quarterfinals!"

The arena instantly fell silent.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for the verdict that would decide their fate.

"First match! A battle between disciples of the Turtle School! Son Goku versus Krillin!"

"Ah?!"

Goku and Krillin cried out at the same time, staring at each other with helpless, wry expressions.

"Second match! Ranfan versus the ascetic monk Namu!"

"Third match! The mysterious veteran Jackie Chun versus Giran!"

With the first three matchups announced, there was no need to say who the remaining two contestants would be.

The announcer deliberately drew out his voice, building the atmosphere to its peak.

"The final match! And the match everyone has been waiting for!"

"'Desert Wolf' Yamcha will challenge the biggest dark horse of this Martial Arts Tournament—contestant Lin Xuan!"

"Boom!"

The moment the result was announced, the entire venue exploded.

Yamcha's body shook as he looked at Lin Xuan, his eyes filled with both excitement and fear.

Having just received guidance, he had to put it to the test in the ring in the blink of an eye.

Was this fortune, or misfortune?

"Please guide me!"

Yamcha gave Lin Xuan another solemn bow, this time as his opponent.

Lin Xuan merely nodded slightly in response.

That evening, to celebrate everyone advancing, Bulma booked out the best hotel on the island for a party.

The party was filled with all kinds of delicious food and drinks.

Since they were about to fight each other, Goku and Krillin were both nervous and excited as they traded challenges.

Yamcha sat alone in a corner, repeatedly gesturing through something as if he were still pondering the meaning of those eight words.

Master Roshi held a wineglass, his gaze occasionally drifting toward Lin Xuan, filled with wariness and curiosity.

The entire party was incredibly lively, full of laughter and cheerful voices.

Holding a glass of juice, Bulma wandered through the crowd, enjoying this rare chance to relax.

Suddenly, out of habit, she looked for that familiar figure, only to discover that Lin Xuan was not among the lively crowd.

She turned her head and saw him through the enormous floor-to-ceiling window.

Lin Xuan stood alone on the hotel terrace, his back to the bustle behind him.

He neither drank nor ate. He merely stood quietly with his head raised, gazing at the moon in the sky.

Moonlight fell over him, stretching his shadow long.

His profile was calm, and it seemed as though those dark eyes held an entire starry sky within them, impossible to see through.

He was clearly standing right there, yet it felt as if an invisible wall separated him from this lively world.

At that instant, an inexplicable sense of distance rose in Bulma's heart.

She felt as though... she was getting farther and farther away from him.