Senzu Beans and Ultra Divine Water

Shenron dispersed, and the deserted island returned to peace.

Although he had obtained Planet Yardrat's coordinates, Son Goku was in no hurry to go there. Before that, he needed to squeeze every last benefit Earth had to offer.

First and foremost were the top-tier cheat items atop Korin Tower—the Senzu Beans, which could restore someone to full health as long as they still had a breath left, and the pot of Ultra Divine Water that could forcibly draw out the body's latent potential.

Korin's Sacred Land.

Deep within the boundless primeval forest, a towering pillar rose from the earth and plunged into the sea of clouds, its end nowhere in sight.

Son Goku stood before the tower's base, looking up at the ancient structure covered in the marks of time. Beside him, Bora, the burly Indian guardian of the sacred land, held his son Upa's hand as they watched the youth who had descended on the Flying Nimbus with reverence in their eyes.

"This is Korin Tower." Bora gripped his spear, his tone devout.

"Legend says that only martial artists with sincere hearts and extraordinary perseverance can climb it with their own hands and feet and earn an audience with the sage."

"With just hands and feet..." Son Goku murmured.

With his current power level of over ten thousand, he could have simply squatted and leaped, shooting straight to the summit like a cannonball. But on the path of martial arts, some formalities still had to be observed. He could treat it as a chance to temper his state of mind.

He patted the Flying Nimbus and let it go play on its own, then walked up to the tower and dug his fingers into its rough surface.

He drew a deep breath of the crisp, cold forest air and relied purely on his physical strength.

Bang!

A ring of air exploded at the tower's base, and Son Goku vanished from Bora's sight.

He truly was climbing, alternating his hands and kicking off with his feet in textbook form. But he was simply too fast. Every burst of muscular power created a dull boom in midair. Like a bolt of lightning streaking upward, he tore a white trail through the air.

One thousand meters.

Three thousand meters.

Five thousand meters...

The life-and-death trial that ordinary martial artists needed days and nights to struggle through was not even a warm-up to him. The freezing cold and thin oxygen at such heights, enough to chill one to the marrow, did not disrupt his breathing in the slightest.

Only a few minutes later, he pierced through the heavy rain clouds, and the hemispherical hall atop the tower, adorned with ancient totems, came into view.

Son Goku grabbed the edge of the summit corridor with one hand and lightly flipped himself over, landing soundlessly on the stone slabs like a falling leaf.

A breeze stirred his bangs, yet he had not shed a single drop of sweat.

At the center of the hall, a white cat leaning on a wooden staff had been waiting for him. Korin still had his signature cat eyes narrowed, appearing calm and composed on the surface, but the paw gripping his staff unconsciously tightened.

Having lived for eight hundred years, what had this old cat not seen?

Yet Korin swore that this was by far the most outrageous climber he had ever encountered. Not only had his time shattered the historical record, but more importantly, his divine senses were frantically sounding the alarm—within this seemingly reserved young man lurked an unparalleled ferocious beast.

"What an incredible young man!" Korin opened his eyes and studied the steady-breathed Son Goku.

"This old man has seen countless martial artists climb this tower. You are the fastest, and also the one I find hardest to see through."

"Korin, I have heard much about you." Son Goku cupped his fists politely.

"My name is Son Goku. I climbed this tower only to seek two things."

"Oh? So you came prepared!" Korin's whiskers twitched upward as he suddenly thrust his staff forward, the weapon slicing through the air with a sharp whistle as it went straight for Son Goku's throat.

Son Goku neither dodged nor moved aside. He merely extended two fingers and firmly caught the staff between them. No matter how Korin exerted himself, the staff did not budge, as though it had taken root in stone.

"You have already reached heights on the martial path that this old man cannot hope to attain." Korin withdrew his staff and sighed, completely abandoning any thought of testing him further.

"Tell me, what do you want? That pot of Sacred Water used to train one's movement techniques is probably no different from plain water to you."

"Ordinary Sacred Water is indeed useless." Son Goku released the staff and stared at the white cat before him. "What I want is the pot hidden deep within the icefield labyrinth—the Ultra Divine Water that can force out the extreme potential of the human body."

The moment he finished speaking, Korin's narrowed eyes flew open, his expression more solemn than ever.

"Young man, do you know what that is?" Korin's voice sank. "It is no miraculous elixir. It is deadly poison! Over the past few centuries, fourteen top martial artists who thought highly of themselves drank it. Without exception, every one of them died here in agony. With your current strength, there is no need for you to take such a risk."

"I know its danger better than anyone." Son Goku's tone was calm, but carried an unshakable resolve.

"A force far too immense lies dormant in my bloodline. It has not fully fused with my body. I need a strong medicine to break it down and rebuild it, to unleash my potential."

Seeing the clear, unwavering look in Son Goku's eyes, Korin fell silent for a long while. At last, he turned and headed deeper into the temple. "Follow me. Since your mind is made up, this old man will not stop you."

Passing through a concealed door, the two arrived in an ice cave filled with biting cold. Atop a stone platform in the center of the cave sat an ancient teapot in silence.

Son Goku did not hesitate. He stepped forward and poured himself a cup of cloudy liquid. Tilting back his head, he gulped it down.

For the first few seconds, nothing happened. Then, a pain like countless steel needles piercing his marrow exploded inside him. The poisonous water turned into berserk energy, mercilessly destroying every cell and every inch of his meridians.

"Urgh..."

Son Goku let out a muffled groan and dropped heavily to one knee, his fingers gouging deep marks into the bluestone floor. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, while strange purple-black veins surfaced across his pale skin as the poison spread wildly through his blood.

Pain!

A tearing agony beyond the reach of words.

This was a hundred times more terrifying than being pushed to his limits in the gravity chamber. Gravity was merely pressure from the outside, while Ultra Divine Water began destroying the body from within.

"Guard your mind! Don't let the pain devour your reason!" Korin shouted anxiously from the side.

Son Goku gritted his teeth so hard that the taste of blood filled his mouth. At the brink of collapse, he forcibly mobilized the vast ki within his body to hold on. If the original young Goku could endure it, then so could he.

Under the poison's stimulation, the Saiyan's monstrous genes fully awakened. The cells destroyed by the toxic water were reborn in the next instant, tougher than before, while the mighty current of ki coursed through his body and forcibly pressed that reborn power into his limbs and bones.

It was a brutal tug-of-war, an agonizing ordeal that lasted a full two hours.

When the purple-black markings on his skin faded and were expelled from his body as a layer of foul-smelling black impurities, Son Goku finally stopped trembling.

Huff—

He slowly exhaled a scorching, turbid breath and rose to his feet.

No earth-shattering aura erupted from him, yet the man standing there gave off an unfathomable, oppressive presence. His potential had been fully unleashed, and Ultra Divine Water had forcibly worn away the final barrier between his ancient Saiyan bloodline and his flesh.

"You... you actually endured it." Korin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his eyes filled with shock.

"Thank you for seeing this through, Master Korin." Son Goku clenched his fist, feeling explosive power course through his knuckles. The exhilaration in his eyes could not be concealed.

He reined in his aura, looked at Korin, and got straight to the point. "Besides the Ultra Divine Water, I'd also like to ask you for some Senzu Beans as backup."

Korin was straightforward about it. Without asking questions, he turned and went into the inner room, where sandalwood incense drifted through the air. Before long, the old cat came grunting out, dragging three coarse burlap sacks as tall as half a man.

"Take them! Senzu Bean production is still fairly abundant these days. There are at least several thousand beans in these sacks combined." Leaning on his wooden staff, the old cat's tone carried a hint of entrustment. "Perhaps Earth's future will depend entirely on you."

Son Goku crouched down and untied one of the sacks.

Before his eyes was a sea of blue-green, every bean plump and full. Looking at these inconspicuous little things, he could barely suppress the heat in his heart. These were the most absurd cheat item in the Dragon Ball world.

No matter how badly one was injured, swallowing just one would restore them to peak condition in the blink of an eye. It could even completely replenish exhausted stamina and keep hunger away for over ten days. For a Saiyan, this was the ultimate tool for exploiting the near-death bug to farm battle power.

Luckily, he had moved early enough. Judging by the timing, that fat Yajirobe was probably still out in the wilderness roasting wild boar and had not even come close to Korin Tower. If he had arrived a few years later, there would probably only have been a few dozen left.

Without the slightest hesitation, he stored the three huge sacks of Senzu Beans in a Capsule.

With the Senzu Beans safely secured, Son Goku had no intention of staying longer. He walked to the edge of the tower chamber, glanced at the rolling clouds below, then put two fingers in his mouth and let out a piercing whistle.

Whoosh—!

Before the whistle had even faded, the sea of clouds below suddenly split apart. A fluffy, bright-yellow streak of light shot upward with a howl and obediently hovered at his feet.

The Flying Nimbus.

Son Goku stepped onto it and waved to Korin over his shoulder. "Master Korin, until we meet again."

As soon as the words left his mouth, golden light surged. The Flying Nimbus turned into a dazzling meteor, forcibly tearing open a path through the clouds before vanishing from sight in an instant.

Leaning on his wooden staff, Korin squinted as the airflow blew against him. He stared at the fading golden trail for a long while without saying a word.