Cultivation Begins

After flying through the sky for some time, Ye Bai finally caught sight of Korin Tower. Kami's place was above Korin Tower, so after flying to the side of the tower, Ye Bai continued upward until he reached the top. A white cat had long been waiting there.

"Are you Korin?" Ye Bai looked at the cat sage standing atop the tower.

"What do you want with me? I sensed your aura from a great distance away. You're a terrifying human." Korin looked nervous, sweat continuously beading on his forehead.

"I want to make a deal with you."

"Huh?"

"I need your Senzu Beans. I can trade fish for them."

"Senzu Beans? What do you need those for? Well, whatever. They're useless to me aside from filling my stomach. If you want them, you can have them." As he spoke, Korin went to a corner of the tower's roof, rummaged out a jar of Senzu Beans, then returned and handed it to Ye Bai. Ye Bai accepted it without ceremony, then tossed him a capsule Bulma had prepared beforehand.

"Here. It's full of fish."

Ye Bai had no intention of taking advantage of him. After giving him the capsule, he looked higher into the sky, but there was nothing there. Ye Bai continued flying upward. He flew for a very, very long time without seeing anything. He was still in the sky, Korin Tower had vanished below him, and there was still nothing above. Logically speaking, with Ye Bai's current battle power, flying into space should have taken no time at all. Yet he had been flying for nearly an hour and still saw nothing. With that thought, Ye Bai shouted loudly.

"Kami, I know you can see me. I mean no harm. I want to train under you, and I can help you eliminate Piccolo."

The moment Ye Bai finished shouting, an inverted hemispherical temple appeared in the sky. Ye Bai flew toward it, and this time, he reached the temple in no time.

Just as Ye Bai stepped onto the temple's white stone tiles, two figures approached from the distance, one tall and one short. Once they drew near, Kami spoke.

"How do you know about Piccolo?"

"Don't worry about how I know Piccolo. I bear no ill will toward you or Earth, and you should know that I'm an Earthling myself."

"I believe you also know my strength. I have the ability to help you solve your problem."

"But I need you to teach me how to train. Or rather, I need the person beside you to teach me how to train."

After Ye Bai finished speaking, he did not rush them. He simply looked at Kami and Mr. Popo, waiting for their answer.

"I can have Popo teach you how to train. Once your training is complete, you will help me kill Piccolo."

Kami hesitated for only a moment before agreeing. He could sense that the person before him bore no ill will toward Earth, and King Piccolo had been a burden weighing on his heart for a very, very long time.

"No, no. I won't be the one to kill Piccolo. When the time comes, I'll introduce someone to you. Have Popo train him then. He'll deal with Piccolo himself. That is his destiny."

Ye Bai shook his head. What a joke—if he got rid of Piccolo, where was he supposed to find Goku's babysitter?

Kami looked at Ye Bai but said nothing more, merely replying, "Fine," before leaving Mr. Popo behind to guide Ye Bai's training.

"Popo, when can we begin training?"

"First, suppress your aura to two-thousandths of its current level, then attack me. I need to understand your strength before I can tailor a training plan for you." Mr. Popo remained dark-faced and expressionless throughout.

After compressing his power to two-thousandths, Ye Bai looked at Mr. Popo. Mr. Popo simply stood there without moving. He seemed to be full of openings, yet something felt off.

"Whatever. I'll try it first."

Looking at Mr. Popo ahead of him, Ye Bai hesitated no longer. His left foot stepped forward, and his figure vanished instantly. When he reappeared, he was already behind Mr. Popo. Mr. Popo still did not move, merely hopping to the left. The afterimage behind him vanished, and Ye Bai appeared on the right.

Mr. Popo hopped again. Ye Bai had appeared behind him once more, sweeping a kick at his lower body. Ye Bai leaped up and kicked at Mr. Popo, but Mr. Popo evaded with a backflip. As he dodged, both feet followed through and sent Ye Bai flying.

Ye Bai hit the ground, then sprang back to his feet with a kip-up and charged at Mr. Popo again. This time, there were no flashy techniques. Ye Bai threw rapid punches and kicks, each leaving afterimages, yet he still failed to land a single hit on Mr. Popo. Instead, Mr. Popo casually punched him in the cheek.

"Enough. Stop. I understand your situation now."

Ye Bai stopped attacking and stood still, waiting for Mr. Popo's assessment.

"Your fighting style relies too heavily on your eyes and your sensing of aura."

After saying that, Mr. Popo took out a bell, two strips of cloth, and a stick. He tied the bell to the stick, then handed one strip of cloth to Ye Bai.

"Blindfold yourself. I will use this stick to attack you until you can last for half an hour." What followed was Ye Bai's time of solitary abuse.

Meanwhile, as soon as Krillin and the others returned to Kame House with the gravity chamber, they eagerly found an open area and set it down.

After entering the gravity chamber, Yamcha and Krillin discussed it and decided that Krillin would go in first to test the training. The others went behind the observation window. Once the training room door closed, Krillin recalled Bulma saying that Ye Bai's battle power had initially been about the same as Goku's. He had started with five times gravity, found the pressure insufficient, then raised it to ten times.

Krillin thought for a while and decided to turn on ten times gravity. He used the control panel by the door to raise the multiplier to ten, then pressed Start and walked to the center of the training room. The device activated just as he arrived, and the gravity rapidly increased. Krillin initially felt fine, but once it quickly reached its peak, he was flattened against the ground. It was not that he could not withstand this level of gravity—his body simply had not adapted yet.

Krillin forced himself up into a half-crouch and waited for his body to fully adjust. Before long, he had mostly adapted. He swung a fist and jumped a few times. Only after finding jumping somewhat strenuous did he begin training in earnest.

"Ahh~"

Ye Bai's left arm was struck again. The bell had clearly rung on the right, yet the attack came from the left. Ye Bai had already been struck for ten minutes. Sometimes the bell rang on the left and he was hit from the left; sometimes it rang on the right, only for his back to be struck.

The attack came again. This time, Ye Bai no longer listened to the bell. Instead, he listened to the wind. The bell rang on the left, but Ye Bai sensed a fierce gust coming from behind. He dodged forward, and sure enough, avoided it.

One minute later.

Ye Bai had successfully dodged for a full minute. "This time, it's on the left." Ye Bai shifted slightly to the right, but before he had even finished dodging, his right leg was struck. It was still that thin stick. It looked like an ordinary stick, yet it hurt terribly when it hit him. By all rights, Mr. Popo's battle power should not have been able to break through his defenses.

Yet when the stick struck his body, it hurt unbelievably badly. Other than the pain, however, there were no injuries whatsoever.

"Feel with your body. Feel with your heart."

Mr. Popo's voice carried not the slightest trace of emotion.

"Follow your body's instincts. Your body sees more clearly than your eyes."

"Ahh~"

This time, there was no sound of wind, not the slightest warning, and Ye Bai was struck again. Soon, Ye Bai's screams and the rhythmic smacking sounds filled the entire temple.

Smack

"Ahh~"