Snake Way's Ten Thousand Miles to King Kai's Planet, Cell's Emergence Brings Chaos to the Mortal World

At dawn the next day, they bid farewell to Master Roshi and Bulma. Led by Qi Tian, they headed straight for Kami's Lookout. Passing through the palace above the clouds, they found Kami, white-haired and long-bearded, standing before the hall. His gaze swept over the group before finally settling on Qi Tian. He gave a slight nod. "The Saiyans will arrive soon. I'll have to trouble you all with Earth's coming ordeal. The entrance to Snake Way is ready, and King Kai has received word."

Goku curiously examined the resplendent Kami's Lookout, then leaned over to look at the narrow, winding path stretching into the sky behind the palace. "This is Snake Way? It doesn't look that long."

"Snake Way stretches for a million li. Its gravity is unstable, and illusions abound along the way. One misstep, and you'll fall." Kami spoke calmly. "An ordinary martial artist might spend their entire life without reaching its end. Take care of yourselves."

Before he had finished speaking, Goku had already leaped onto it. The instant his feet touched Snake Way, his expression changed slightly—gravity here was three times that of Turtle Hermit Island, and the path was only wide enough for one person. On either side lay an endless sea of clouds, with no bottom in sight.

"Interesting!" Goku grinned. Rather than being afraid, he broke into a mad sprint. Pale blue energy wrapped around his body, while the power of Fourfold Fission stabilized his form. He became a streak of blue light, racing down Snake Way.

Krillin and Yamcha followed close behind. The air currents on Snake Way shifted unpredictably—at times, violent winds surged; at others, illusions clouded the mind. The two focused their minds, using their energy perception to distinguish the path as they ran and honed their mental control.

Qi Tian walked at the rear, his pace neither hurried nor slow. His Divine Essence Heavenly Awareness spread out, taking in the entirety of Snake Way. The gravity nodes and sources of the illusions along the route were all perfectly clear to him. Rather than using his power to break through them, he took advantage of the unique environment to slowly deduce the methods of the sixth stage of the Divine-tier Body Tempering Art.

The ten-thousand-li Snake Way became a moving training ground for them. They ran by day, tempering their bodies and wills; at night, they sat cross-legged to regulate their breathing, stabilizing their energy cores amid the chaotic gravity. In merely seven days, the three of them covered what ordinary people would have taken months to traverse. Their energy control and mental resilience improved tremendously.

When the tiny planet at the end of Snake Way came into view, Goku waved excitedly. "We're here! Is that King Kai's Planet?"

The planet was small, its surface covered in grass and strange rocks. A little house stood at its center, and a blue-skinned oddball with antennae was sitting on the grass. He held a grasshopper in one hand and smiled as he watched them land.

"Oh, a few little fellows have arrived." King Kai stood up and brushed grass clippings from his hands. His eyes swept over the group before resting on Qi Tian. One brow rose slightly. "Your aura is rather interesting."

The gravity on King Kai's Planet was ten times that of Earth, roughly equivalent to the gravity fields they trained in every day. Goku stretched his limbs and felt utterly at ease, without the slightest discomfort. "This gravity is nothing special. I thought it'd be much tougher."

King Kai did not get angry. He merely chuckled and lightly tapped a finger. An invisible spiritual pressure abruptly descended, and Goku felt his head sink. His body swayed, and the smile on his face instantly froze.

"Martial cultivation isn't just about tempering the body. You must temper the spirit as well." King Kai clasped his hands behind his back and spoke unhurriedly. "If you want to train here, you'll first have to pass my test."

In the days that followed, their training on King Kai's Planet officially began.

King Kai did not directly teach them techniques. Instead, he began with the most basic methods of exerting force and spiritual resonance. His martial philosophy was uniquely his own, emphasizing "using the spirit to command energy, and using energy to drive the body." It pushed the body's potential to its absolute limit, and it unexpectedly shared quite a few similarities with Qi Tian's Divine Essence Body Tempering Art.

Goku learned the fastest. He already possessed an astonishing intuition for martial arts and quickly grasped the threshold of the Kaio-ken. By integrating the Kaio-ken's explosive method into his Fourfold Fission energy, he could double his combat power for a short time. Though the burden was considerable, his explosive strength far surpassed anything from before.

"Kaio-ken: Double Fission Burst!"

Goku gave a low shout, and the aura around him surged severalfold. He threw a punch, sending shockwaves sweeping across all of King Kai's Planet. Even distant rocks were blown into the air. After retracting his fist, he panted heavily, but his eyes were filled with excitement. "So strong! This is how fighting should feel!"

Krillin, meanwhile, made rapid progress in energy control. The spiritual techniques King Kai taught him allowed his control over the Destructo Disc to reach a microscopic level. He could now manipulate twelve energy blades at once, forming a more complex spinning-blade array that combined cutting, sealing, and pursuit. Its power and range rose to another level.

Yamcha combined his energy balls with King Kai's force-exertion techniques and created the "Wolf Fang Energy Ball Array." Several energy balls circled his body, integrating offense and defense. They could bombard targets from afar or unleash bursts at close range, completely making up for the weakness in his long-range abilities.

Qi Tian, on the other hand, spent most of his time discussing the Dao with King Kai. One was proficient in Divine Essence body tempering, while the other deeply understood the origins of cosmic martial arts. By verifying their insights against each other, both gained much. From King Kai's comprehension of cosmic laws, Qi Tian completed the final missing piece of the sixth stage of the Divine-tier Body Tempering Art.

That day, Qi Tian sat cross-legged atop King Kai's Planet. Black-gold Divine Essence and golden force energy fused completely, forming a tangible suit of black-gold battle armor across his body.

[Ding! Detected that the host's Divine-tier Body Tempering Art has broken through to the sixth stage. Epic sign-in triggered.]

[Would you like to sign in?]

Qi Tian silently confirmed.

[Ding! Sign-in complete. Rewards distributed.]

[1. Permanent combat power +4000. Current base combat power: 29700.]

[2. Divine-tier Body Tempering Art · Sixth Stage Complete: Divine Essence Armor Manifestation. Integrates offense and defense, can deflect seventy percent of force and rebound fifty percent; bodily vitality rises another level, and as long as the soul remains undying, the body cannot be destroyed.]

[3. Divine Essence Thought Slash: Condenses divine awareness into a blade that can directly attack an enemy's soul origin, ignoring physical defenses.]

A warm current swept through his body. Qi Tian's black-gold armor shimmered, and with a slight movement of his fingertip, an invisible blade of divine thought shot through the air. Silently, it cleaved apart a distant boulder. The rock remained intact on the outside, but the soul imprint within had been completely annihilated.

"Divine Essence Thought Slash..." Qi Tian murmured, his gaze profound. This technique specifically targeted the soul, making it the perfect counter to Piccolo's demon clan origin and Cell's biological consciousness. It was a true killing move.

King Kai watched from afar, clicking his tongue in amazement. "That technique of yours is even more domineering than my Kaio-ken. With you around, Earth may just survive this calamity."

Qi Tian shook his head slightly. "The Saiyans are only one part of it. On Earth, there are greater troubles still."

His Divine Essence Heavenly Awareness had long since pierced through the clouds and returned to Earth.

Within a demonic cavern deep in the mountains, Piccolo's aura had completely transformed. A dark-gold Demonic Essence Mystic Armor covered his entire body, and the horns on his forehead were faintly visible. His demon clan origin had fully awakened, and his aura was several times stronger than even his previous blood-burning state. At that moment, he emerged from seclusion and stood atop a mountain, overlooking the land below.

Meanwhile, in the direction of the desert, Dr. Gero's laboratory had fallen completely silent. A cold, greedy aura spread from underground, and wherever it passed, the life force of living beings rapidly vanished—Cell had broken free from his cocoon.

Just as Qi Tian had sensed, the underground laboratory beneath the desert had become a field of ruins.

The glass of the incubation chamber had shattered into pieces, and dark green nutrient fluid had spilled across the floor. Cell stood before the control console, his insect-like head turning slightly. The stinger at the end of his tail was embedded in Dr. Gero's chest, frantically absorbing his life energy and memory data.

"Dr. Gero..." Cell's deep, hoarse voice rang out, carrying an icy mockery. "Thank you for creating me. In return, everything you have shall belong to me."

Dr. Gero's eyes were wide open, his face still bearing a terrified disbelief. In his wildest dreams, he had never imagined that the ultimate life-form he had painstakingly created would make him its first meal.

After draining the last trace of energy, Cell casually flung aside the shriveled corpse. Countless streams of data flashed through his dark red pupils. Goku's energy-core fission, Piccolo's demon clan regeneration, Qi Tian's Divine Essence traits... the information of every powerful warrior had been engraved into his genes.

"I'll absorb more life energy first. Once I grow into my perfect form..." Cell licked his lips, then vanished in a flash from the laboratory entrance. "I'll come find you all and enjoy you one by one."

Over the next half month, strange incidents occurred one after another across Earth.

People vanished inexplicably from villages and towns, leaving behind only desiccated husks. There was not a trace of blood, as though their lives had been sucked away into thin air. Panic began to spread, and the militaries of various nations intervened to investigate, yet they could not even find a shadow of the culprit.

Atop a mountain deep in the wilderness, Piccolo stood with his hands behind his back, sensing Cell's aura as it roamed everywhere. A cold smile curled across his lips.

"A man-made monster, huh? Somewhat interesting." Not only did he make no move to stop him, he watched with cold indifference. "He can clear away the small fry for me and let me see how Qi Tian and the others react. Once the Saiyans arrive and the world descends into chaos, it will be time for my demon clan to reclaim Earth."

He closed his eyes. Dark-gold demonic flames slowly circulated around his body as he continued polishing the final degree of perfection in his Demonic Essence Mystic Armor.

On King Kai's Planet, the month-long training period came to an end.

The combat power of Goku and the other two had undergone a complete transformation. In their normal states, they were nearly twice as strong as when they had left Turtle Hermit Island. With the explosive power of the Kaio-ken, Goku could even triple his combat power for a short period, while Krillin and Yamcha had both made tremendous progress of their own.

"It's time to go back." Qi Tian looked toward the horizon, his Divine Essence Heavenly Awareness locking onto Cell's constantly moving presence on the ground. "Something's happened down there. A monster is feeding everywhere. If we wait any longer, the trouble will be huge."

Goku's eyes lit up. "A monster? Stronger than Android 17? Perfect! I can test out what I've been training!"

King Kai waved a hand and yawned. "Go on, go on. The Saiyans will arrive in just over three months, so make the most of your time. If you can't hold out, remember to come up and find me."

The group bade King Kai farewell and sped back along Snake Way.

Training on King Kai's Planet had come to an end, but the real trial had only just begun.

Cell, newly emerged from his cocoon; Piccolo, fresh from completing his secluded training; and the Saiyans, set to descend in three months—three crises converged as dark clouds had long gathered over Earth.

And the return of the Turtle Hermit Island group was the first clap of thunder heralding this storm.