Feeling "Qi"

A month later, Ye Bai sat cross-legged on a relatively flat rock outside the courtyard on Bun Mountain and slowly opened his eyes.

Just then, a figure in the distance came hopping over from the mountains with a fish more than twice his own size slung over his back. "Yo, Xiao Bai!" Goku called as he bounced over. "I caught a big fish today. Hurry up and start a fire so we can grill it!"

Ye Bai turned and walked into the courtyard to start a fire and prepare the meal. He had no idea how Goku had lived before he arrived. Before Ye Bai came, Goku had basically eaten nothing but grilled meat without any seasoning.

On Ye Bai's first day there, he had eaten the grilled fish Goku made and barely filled his stomach. As for the taste, there had only been the fish's natural freshness and sweetness.

Starting from the second day, Goku went out hunting while Ye Bai searched around the house for usable seasonings, along with a jar of salt left inside the house.

Other than cooking, eating, sleeping, and resting, Ye Bai did some basic training under Goku's guidance every day. In addition, without fail, he set aside two hours each day to meditate on his own and sense the existence of ki.

After eating and drinking his fill, Ye Bai stood up, burped, stretched his body, and said to Goku, "Goku, now that we've eaten and drunk our fill, let's spar a little to help digest."

Goku burped, his eyes lighting up as he hurriedly got to his feet. "Sure, sure! Xiao Bai, let's go fight outside the courtyard!"

Once Ye Bai and Goku had taken their stances, Ye Bai took the initiative and charged at Goku at high speed. His fists flew rapidly, but Goku blocked every blow. Then Ye Bai leaped into the air and whipped a beautiful kick at Goku's head.

Goku reacted even faster than Ye Bai. As Ye Bai's kick came toward him, he leaped backward onto a rock, used it as a springboard, and rebounded with a double flying kick.

Ye Bai had just landed when he saw Goku's flying kick coming at him. He could only cross his arms and take it head-on, and was kicked flying before landing flat on the ground.

Ye Bai simply stayed down, staring blankly at the sky as he thought, Goku's combat power at this stage seems to be around 10. By that calculation, mine should be around 5. So I'm just a scrub with a combat power of 5?

Thinking he had hit too hard and accidentally injured Ye Bai, Goku hurried over and asked, "Xiao Bai, are you okay?"

Ye Bai glanced at Goku, calmly got to his feet, dusted himself off, and walked toward the rock. "Goku, I'm fine."

"You're too strong. I'm way too weak right now—I can't beat you at all. I'm going to meditate and train."

Goku scratched his head and asked doubtfully, "Xiao Bai, does sitting there and training really work?"

Ye Bai sat down on the rock and replied, not entirely sure himself, "I'm not certain either. I saw somewhere before that meditation can help you sense ki."

Goku slowly leaned closer and asked, "What is ki? Have you sensed it, Xiao Bai?"

Ye Bai awkwardly rubbed his nose. "Not yet. Maybe I'm too weak right now to feel it."

"As for ki, I can't really describe it to you. It's probably a kind of energy that flows through your body and can make you stronger and faster."

Goku thought about it, then carefully sensed his body. He discovered that there really was a faint warm current within him, and he said to Ye Bai, "Xiao Bai, I think I can feel the ki you mentioned. Is it that warm thing slowly flowing through your body?"

Ye Bai froze when he heard that and stared at Goku, falling into deep thought.

Could it be that there isn't enough ki in my body for me to perceive it clearly?

Goku's combat power is 10, so he could easily sense the ki in his body. Of course, it might also be because Goku's talent is just that good, allowing him to sense ki even with a combat power of 10.

Just then, Goku jumped onto the rock and poked Ye Bai's cheek. "Xiao Bai, what are you doing?"

Ye Bai looked at Goku speechlessly. "I was thinking about something just now."

"Goku, try seeing if you can slowly gather the ki in your body into your hands."

Goku looked at his raised hands and muttered, "Gather the ki into my hands."

As Goku sank into thought, Ye Bai quietly watched from the side. Before long, a faint blue glow spread across Goku's body, and tiny blue specks of light slowly gathered toward his hands.

Ye Bai slowly moved closer to Goku, then carefully sensed the ki in his hands. Before long, the "ki" in Goku's hands gradually swelled larger.

Ye Bai sensed that something was off. Why had this ki grown to the size of a basketball and started bouncing around?

Just then, Goku said, "Xiao Bai, Xiao Bai, this ki feels like it's getting a little out of control. Like it's about to explode."

Ye Bai's expression changed drastically as he hurriedly said, "Goku, the ki is going to explode! Throw it out, quick!"

In a panic, Goku threw the ki in his hands toward a small hill in the distance.

With a deafening boom, shattered rocks exploded in every direction from the distant hill.

Ye Bai stared dumbfounded at the distant hill, where a huge round crater had appeared, and a wave of lingering fear washed over him.

Damn, I almost died. Goku's tough enough that he might've been fine, but if that had exploded beside me, I'd have been bruised black and blue.

Goku looked at the distant explosion and excitedly waved his arms around. "That was amazing! Xiao Bai, did you see that? That blue ball just now was incredible!"

Ye Bai looked at Goku helplessly. This guy is way too innocent, isn't he? He's not scared at all.

After Goku yawned, his eyelids drooped, and he looked a little exhausted.

"Xiao Bai, I'm so sleepy. My body feels really tired."

Ye Bai looked at Goku, thought for a moment, and said, "Goku, this should be normal."

"You just threw out all the ki in your body. Now that there's no ki left inside, you might need to rest and recover your strength."

Goku raised his head and looked at Ye Bai. "Is that so? Then I'll go take a nap first, Xiao Bai."

Goku turned and headed straight into the house, leaving Ye Bai alone in the courtyard to carefully reflect on the ki he had just sensed.

So this is what ki is like.

Ye Bai walked over to the rock where he usually sat and settled into a cross-legged position. He slowly eased his breathing, emptied his mind, and carefully tried to sense within his body the feeling of Goku's ki from earlier.

As his thoughts fell into blankness, his body gradually relaxed. His awareness felt like an endless darkness. After sensing the sound of his heartbeat and the rhythm of his breathing, faint blue points of light began flickering within the meridians of his body, though there were only a few of them and they glowed weakly.

After sensing the ki within his body, Ye Bai slowly guided them to circulate through him—first into his arms, then his chest, then the lower abdomen at his dantian—carefully feeling the differences as it reached each part of his body.

Suddenly, Ye Bai sensed the amount of qi beginning to decrease. The parts of his body that the qi passed through became ever so slightly stronger.

"Does this world use qi to strengthen the body? The body is a container, and qi is a tonic that slowly strengthens it? Saiyans are naturally stronger, so their qi capacity is naturally greater than that of Earthlings."

"The gravity chamber is the key to training the body. So when Dragon Ball Z began, Goku's battle power started soaring because the container—his body—had been strengthened. Or perhaps if qi isn't actively guided, its effect on strengthening the body is relatively slow? Forget it. Whether my idea is right or not, won't I find out by trying?"

"If my idea is correct, I'll tell Goku and have him train with me."

Ye Bai gathered his thoughts and began slowly guiding the qi through his body, using it to temper his physical condition.

Half an hour later, the last wisp of qi in his body vanished. Ye Bai stretched out his hands, clenched his fists, and felt his strength increase by the slightest bit.

"Sigh... It seems there's still too little qi in my body. It isn't enough for me to temper my physical condition for very long."

"Now that the qi is gone, I can only train my body step by step to strengthen it."

Ye Bai stood up, walked into the courtyard, lay facedown, and began training his body in the most primitive way possible.