Each One's Training

After eating his fill at Korin's, he bade Korin farewell, then took off with Flight toward where Piccolo and Son Gohan were.

"Looks like everything went smoothly! Goku should still be running along Snake Way right now, huh? Ten Senzu Beans should be enough to keep him going until Planet of King Kai."

Son Wuling arrived to find shattered, broken rocks everywhere. Son Gohan was asleep on the hillside, now dressed in a new outfit: the same orange martial arts uniform as Son Goku, except the character for "demon" was written on both the front and back, and a sword rested beside him.

"Wuling, you finally came!"

Piccolo floated in the air, his green face tense, his icy eyes glinting faintly beneath the starry night sky.

"Thanks, Piccolo. When I saw the moon get destroyed, I immediately thought of Gohan's situation." Son Wuling looked at him without the slightest fear and smiled.

"That brat really does have astonishing potential. Wuling, I've helped you watch over this snot-nosed little crybaby. It's time for us to start training too, isn't it?" Piccolo shouted at Son Wuling.

"Tomorrow morning. I haven't had a moment to rest all day. Yawn..."

Son Wuling yawned, then continued, "Oh, right. Tien Shinhan's and your meditation gave me a huge inspiration. Piccolo, you have the calmest, sharpest mind I've ever seen, and you're incredibly knowledgeable too, so I thought of you. If this really works, we might actually be able to defeat the Saiyans who are coming next—and even surpass Goku."

"Surpass Son Goku? You? Hmph. Son Wuling, I'd like to see what exactly you're talking about." Piccolo snorted and turned his back on Son Wuling.

Son Wuling's expression did not change at all. The current Piccolo no longer had the sinister aura of the previous generation. Suddenly, Son Wuling smiled and shouted after the departing Piccolo, "Oh, right. I'll have to trouble you to train Gohan with me during this time too."

"What?"

Piccolo's body wobbled, and he nearly fell straight out of the air. His expression was truly something to behold. He still had to look after that sniveling brat? This period alone had already driven him nearly insane.

The next morning, Son Gohan woke from his dream alone and began his journey of survival. Meanwhile, Son Wuling and Piccolo stood atop a distant mountain peak.

"Ki. Piccolo, my control and perception of ki are extremely sensitive. I can sense that aside from the air, Earth itself, the flowers, grass, and trees all possess ki."

Son Wuling spread open his palm. Under Piccolo's gaze, the surrounding ki slowly gathered, eventually forming a white energy blast.

"Wuling, you mean to...?" Piccolo's eyes widened as he stared at Son Wuling in disbelief.

"That's right. Watch closely, Piccolo!"

The ki in Son Wuling's palm merged into his body and was slowly absorbed throughout his entire body.

Piccolo could sense that Son Wuling's power had vaguely become several degrees stronger.

"No wonder you and Son Goku surpassed me by so much. But Wuling, what you're talking about can't be this simple, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't need my help." Piccolo asked Son Wuling.

"Yeah! But Goku doesn't have it. I explained it to him for ages, but Goku couldn't understand what I meant, so I gave up."

Son Wuling smiled, then handed Piccolo a diagram of the human body's internal structure. Pointing at the three deliberately marked dantian locations, he said, "Every living being has a limit to its ki. What I'm imagining is whether ki can be stored in the dantians. If ki is stored there, would a living being's limit increase as well? But I don't know how to guide ki into the dantians."

"Lower Dantian, Middle Dantian, Upper Dantian! Wuling, although I don't want to praise you, I really have to say this: you're truly a genius. But Wuling, you overlooked something. The fact that the cells in your body can absorb ki means you haven't reached your limit yet!" Piccolo said as he looked at Son Wuling.

"I haven't reached my limit?"

Son Wuling looked at his hands and sank into thought. In the future, it seemed as though it would become Son Goku's stage alone: Super Saiyan. Krillin, Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, and the others were more like they had been shackled, never again able to keep up with Son Goku and Vegeta.

As for the dantians, how could Son Wuling possibly have forgotten them? He could only secretly enjoy Piccolo's praise and say nothing. However, he was indeed shocked to learn that he had not yet reached his limit. It seemed he had underestimated himself.

"Piccolo, do you want to give it a try too? It might hurt a lot, though!"

Son Wuling spread his palm, and the gathered ki this time was the size of a basketball.

"I..."

Piccolo, who had been about to refuse, suddenly stopped. His current strength lagged far behind Son Wuling and Son Goku. Son Goku had gone to train with King Kai, and he did not want to be left so far behind by Son Goku and Son Wuling!

"Bring it on, Son Wuling!"

"Ah..."

Piccolo's miserable scream echoed throughout the entire valley. All the ki Son Wuling had gathered was poured into Piccolo's body in one go, slowly being absorbed by his body. It took at least several hours before he recovered.

The swollen, overly full feeling in his body vanished. Piccolo looked at his hands. He had grown stronger. That ki belonged to the world, the ki that existed in nature.

"Stronger..." Piccolo looked at himself as his power suddenly surged by a huge amount! Then he abruptly thought of something and hurriedly looked toward Son Wuling.

"Don't worry, I know what you're concerned about. I calculated it for a long time, and Kami and Korin both looked it over. There's no problem. How could I do something as reckless as forcing growth? This ability is very useful to us, but it can only be used once a month. Otherwise, it really will damage the foundation. Now, we need to solidify our strength!"

Son Wuling assumed a fighting stance toward Piccolo.

"Fine, Wuling, come on! This is a perfect chance to test my current strength too!"

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Piccolo and Son Wuling collided in the air. Explosions rang out without end, their figures moving at incredible speed. Every clash caused the nearby valleys to collapse.

As for why Son Wuling had never used this on Son Goku or Krillin and the others, drawing Natural Energy into the body carried enormous risks. Without an understanding of the body's structure, it could damage one's foundation!

Son Goku aside, one needed to understand not only the meridians, acupoints, body, heart, small intestine, and other internal organs, but also be able to properly control Natural Energy. Previously, merely a fingernail-sized amount of Natural Energy had hurt Krillin unbearably. Tien Shinhan and the others could not handle it either.

This method suited him. He could control Natural Energy within a radius of one meter and draw it into his body, while Piccolo could endure ki the size of a basketball. Even so, Son Goku would still catch up. Back at Mount Paozu, his strength had always been able to stay close behind Son Wuling's!

Time passed, and more than two months went by. At The Lookout, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, Krillin, and Chiaotzu trained under Kami's guidance!

Son Gohan had also become much stronger over these two months, his personality considerably more resolute. He joined Son Wuling and Piccolo's training as well, though it was only sparring, with Son Gohan being taught techniques!

Meanwhile, Son Goku, whose battle power had reached over one thousand, had finally spent two months reaching the end of Snake Way and caught sight of Planet of King Kai!

"Finally, I'm here. Whew... There's only one Senzu Bean left. Once they're gone, I really won't know what to do!"

Son Goku rose into the air with Flight and flew toward the planet standing atop the cloud!

Just as he arrived at Planet of King Kai, an immense pressure suddenly sent him crashing down onto its surface. His body felt as though it had been filled with lead, and his movements became extremely sluggish.