Master Roshi Appears, Flying Nimbus and the Three-Star Ball

Son Goku's face was full of excitement.

He pointed at the bald old man and shouted.

"Is he that master? He looks so weird!"

Lin Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, a knowing smile at the corner of his lips, but said nothing.

A moment later, Old Turtle carried the old man in the floral shirt and came to a steady stop on the beach.

"Master Roshi, these benefactors are the ones who saved me," Old Turtle said respectfully.

The old man called "Master Roshi" jumped down from the turtle's back.

He carried a large turtle shell on his back and leaned on a wooden staff.

He cleared his throat and struck the pose of an enlightened master.

"Ahem! I am the God of Martial Arts, known as Master Roshi! Were you the ones who saved my old friend?"

Bulma was still too stunned to react.

Son Goku had already brazenly moved closer.

"The God of Martial Arts? You're amazing! My name is Son Goku!"

Master Roshi nodded. His gaze swept over Son Goku before landing on Bulma.

The air of a great master vanished from his face in an instant. His sunglasses slid down, revealing a pair of lecherous eyes.

"Hohohoho! What a cute young lady, so youthful and lovely! Would you like to come to Kame House with this old man for some tea and a chat about life's dreams?"

As he spoke, he struck what he thought was a very handsome pose.

Bulma's face instantly darkened.

"You perverted old man!"

Without a second thought, she kicked at him.

Master Roshi merely swayed aside and easily dodged it, letting out a strange cry of "Oho!"

"What a fiery little girl. I like it!"

Just as the situation was about to head in a strange direction, Lin Xuan, who had remained silent all this time, finally spoke.

"Master Roshi, I have long admired your name."

His voice was calm, yet it successfully drew Master Roshi's attention.

Master Roshi pushed his sunglasses back up and looked Lin Xuan over from head to toe, a hint of scrutiny in his eyes.

"Oh? You know me?"

"The God of Martial Arts, founder of the Turtle School—anyone with even a little experience has heard of your great reputation," Lin Xuan answered neither humbly nor arrogantly.

The flattery pleased Master Roshi greatly.

He proudly stroked his white beard.

"You've got a good eye! Then, as thanks for saving my old friend, I can grant you one wish! Tell me, do you want inexhaustible treasure, or martial arts that make you invincible under heaven?"

Bulma's eyes lit up at once, and she was just about to ask for the Dragon Balls.

But Lin Xuan spoke first.

His gaze shifted to Son Goku as he said leisurely, "Treasure and martial arts are both merely external things to us. But..."

His tone changed as he looked at Master Roshi, his eyes becoming somewhat profound.

"Seeing this child reminds this junior of an old acquaintance. That acquaintance was once your disciple as well. He was kind-hearted, lived in seclusion deep in the mountains, and passed all his martial arts on to his own grandson."

The smile on Master Roshi's face slowly froze.

He adjusted his sunglasses, and his tone became somewhat serious. "Who are you talking about?"

Lin Xuan's gaze remained fixed on Son Goku.

"His surname was Son, and his given name was Gohan."

Boom!

Those words exploded beside Master Roshi's ears like a bolt of thunder.

His body jolted violently. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes locked onto Son Goku, while his lips began to tremble slightly.

"G-Gohan's grandson?"

He quickly walked over to Son Goku and examined him closely.

The floodgates of memory burst open.

That exceptionally gifted disciple who had become gentle and kind after suffering a head injury.

That disciple who had found a Saiyan baby with a tail, treated him as his own grandson, and named him "Goku."

Everything fit.

"So... so you're Gohan's grandson. How is Gohan now?"

Master Roshi reached out, rubbed Goku's head, and asked.

Goku scratched his head, his face clouded with grief as he took out the Four-Star Ball.

"My grandpa was trampled to death by a monster on a full-moon night. This is his only keepsake."

The god of martial arts revealed a sorrowful expression upon hearing the news.

Bulma was completely dumbfounded.

What was this situation now?

This perverted old man knew Son Goku's grandfather?

And how did Lin Xuan know all this?

He not only knew the secret of the Dragon Balls and knew Son Goku, but now he even knew all about Son Goku's grandfather's martial lineage.

Bulma felt that her brain had completely stopped being enough.

This guy wasn't a prophet. He had practically memorized everyone's family registry!

Master Roshi sighed for a long while before finally calming down.

He looked at Son Goku, his eyes filled with affection and gratification.

"Good child, since you're Gohan's grandson, you're also my grand-disciple. This old man has nothing particularly good to give you, but I do have a small gift that might suit you."

As he spoke, he raised his head and shouted toward the sky.

"Flying Nimbus!"

The moment his words fell, a golden cloud sped over from the horizon and meekly stopped beside Master Roshi.

"This is the Flying Nimbus, the gods' vehicle," Master Roshi explained. "Only those with pure, innocent, and kind hearts can ride it. Anyone with even the slightest evil thoughts won't be able to sit steadily on it."

As he spoke, he cast Bulma a rather malicious look.

"Beautiful miss, would you like to try first?"

"I'll try it!"

Bulma didn't believe in such nonsense.

Pure and kind? It had to be some sort of biological electric field or magnetic field sensing technology.

She puffed out her chest and confidently sat on the cloud.

Then, without any surprise, she fell straight through it and landed hard on the beach.

"Ow!"

"Ho ho ho ho!" Master Roshi laughed gleefully at her misfortune. "Looks like this young lady has quite a few bad things on her mind!"

"You're talking nonsense!" Bulma's face flushed red with embarrassment and anger.

Master Roshi ignored her and turned to Lin Xuan. "Young man, would you like to try?"

Lin Xuan smiled and shook his head. "I'd better not."

What a joke. He was a meticulous schemer who relied on scripts and arrangements to farm merit, and he had watched plenty of educational materials in his previous life. How pure could his heart possibly be?

He knew himself well enough.

Seeing this, Master Roshi did not press the matter and finally turned to Son Goku.

"Goku, your turn!"

"Okay!"

Son Goku had been unable to wait any longer. With a running start, he leaped onto the Flying Nimbus.

A miracle happened.

The cloud held him steadily, without sinking in the slightest.

"Wow! It really flies! That's amazing!"

Son Goku excitedly bounced and jumped atop the cloud as the Flying Nimbus carried him through nimble loops in the air, tracing streak after streak of gold.

Master Roshi watched the scene and nodded repeatedly in satisfaction.

"That's right, that's right! Just as Gohan said, this child really is the purest child in the world! Good! From today onward, this Flying Nimbus is yours!"

Bulma tilted her head back and stared at Son Goku flying around overhead, her mouth wide enough to fit an egg.

Science.

Her scientific worldview had been utterly smashed to pieces today by this unreasonable cloud.

Just then, Lin Xuan's calm voice sounded beside her ear again.

"Heaven's will is inscrutable. Sometimes, an apparently meaningless good deed is precisely the shortcut to the result."

Boom!

Bulma shuddered all over and abruptly turned to look at Lin Xuan.

That was it!

Back in the mountains, he had been the one who overruled everyone's objections and insisted on returning the turtle to the sea.

He had been the one who said there would be an "unexpected delight."

As it turned out, not only had they obtained the miraculous Flying Nimbus, but Son Goku had also gained a bargain-basement grandmaster.

Everything had gone exactly as he expected.

This man wasn't making deductions—he had practically seen the future.

As Bulma looked at Lin Xuan's faintly smiling face, an emotion called "awe" rose in her heart for the first time.

After giving away the Flying Nimbus, Master Roshi seemed to feel that it still wasn't enough.

He stroked his chin and rummaged around on himself for quite a while.

"Hmm, as an elder, my meeting gift can't be too shabby. But this old man is dirt poor and doesn't have anything valuable..."

After feeling around for a while, he took a pendant off his neck.

It was an orange-yellow glass orb strung on a cord, with three red stars inside.

"Got it!"

Master Roshi handed the orb over.

"I found this at the bottom of the sea a long time ago. It was pretty, so I wore it as a necklace. Now I'll give it to you as thanks!"

Son Goku had no interest in it and was still playing with the Flying Nimbus in the sky.

The instant Bulma saw the orb, her gaze froze.

The Dragon Radar in her pocket let out an unprecedentedly frantic series of beeps.

On the screen, a point of light flashed wildly at the very center, perfectly overlapping with her location.

"Th-this is..."

Bulma's voice trembled. She snatched the orb away and nearly jumped up in excitement.

The Three-Star Ball.

It really was a Dragon Ball.

The Dragon Ball they had searched for so desperately, crossing mountains and rivers without hesitation—had just been handed to them as a token of thanks?

"Unexpected delight... a shortcut..."

Bulma muttered to herself. When she looked at Lin Xuan again, the awe in her eyes had turned into fervent worship.

A god.

This guy was absolutely a god!

At the same time, a golden scroll slowly unfurled in Lin Xuan's mind.

A clear line of text appeared.

text
[Facilitated a good karma and fulfilled an old friend's wish. Merit +1.5]

His Merit Value jumped from 0.10 to 1.60.

The smile on Lin Xuan's lips deepened.

This was an absolute steal.

After bidding farewell to the reluctant Master Roshi, the three of them set off once more.

Bulma drove the car, occasionally letting out a silly laugh as she played with the Three-Star Ball in her hand, muttering, "We're rich."

Son Goku sat atop the Flying Nimbus, zipping around beside the car and having the time of his life.

The atmosphere in the car had never been more harmonious.

Bulma took out the Dragon Radar and prepared to search for the next Dragon Ball.

On the radar's screen, a new point of light appeared far to the west.