"You flatter me!"
Tien Shinhan had not expected Grand Supreme Kai to think so highly of him.
As it happened, though, he thought the same of himself.
For him as he was now, the future held limitless possibilities!
With the battle over, Tien Shinhan, Grand Supreme Kai, and Son Gohan chatted for a while longer.
Tien Shinhan also had a meal of Grand Supreme Kai's favorite noodles.
"It's about time. I should head back to train."
His adventure at Grand Supreme Kai's place was complete, and Tien Shinhan still had his next training plans.
To achieve his modest goal of catching up to a Super Saiyan, he still had plenty mapped out in his training plan.
"You're leaving already? Still, for a martial artist like you, training really is the most important thing.
"All right. With your strength, you'd have no trouble going back the way you came, but I'll save you some time anyway."
As Grand Supreme Kai spoke, she took out her glaive and traced a circle in the air before her.
The next moment, an exit from the Mount Five Elements Space appeared in midair.
"This is the exit from the Mount Five Elements Space. You can leave through here."
Tien Shinhan thanked her, but just as he was about to step through the exit, something occurred to him.
"Oh, right. This exit leads back to Earth, doesn't it? Don't send me onto Snake Way."
To be safe, Tien Shinhan asked for confirmation.
"Oh dear..."
Grand Supreme Kai let out a startled cry at his words.
"Don't tell me this really leads to Snake Way?"
Tien Shinhan's expression changed drastically. If he had not asked, wouldn't he have gone straight to the Other World?
He had survived climbing Mount Five Elements and entering the Eight Trigrams Furnace, only to end up dead by taking the safe passage out. That would be a terrible loss.
A lingering fear stirred in Tien Shinhan's heart.
"Haha, I'm teasing you. This exit leads straight to Earth. Do you think I'm someone who would make such a basic mistake?"
But Grand Supreme Kai soon covered her mouth and snickered. Clearly, her startled cry had been a prank on Tien Shinhan.
Ever since Tien Shinhan had climbed Mount Five Elements, he had acted as though he feared nothing in heaven or earth.
She had simply wanted to scare him with a prank.
Sure enough, Tien Shinhan did have things he feared. Wasting his training time was something he did not want to see happen now.
Tien Shinhan was speechless. Never mind that this old woman, tens of thousands of years old, looked like a beautiful young girl-he had never expected her personality to conceal such an absurd side.
As for whether she would make such a basic mistake, Tien Shinhan really could not guarantee it.
After all, her duty was to manage the Eight Trigrams Furnace, yet in Tien Shinhan's memories, she had failed to notice even a hole in its bottom.
Only when Ox-King's castle caught fire and Goku came looking for her did she learn that the Eight Trigrams Furnace was broken.
Or perhaps she had known it was broken all along and had simply been too lazy to endure the heat inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace to repair it herself.
Of course, Tien Shinhan only let these thoughts pass through his mind.
If he actually said them aloud, this absurd Grand Supreme Kai would surely bristle and fly into a rage!
"Hehe, of course Lady Annin wouldn't make a mistake like that. It was just a rather frightening joke."
Tien Shinhan played along with her, then stepped into the spatial exit without further hesitation.
At the same time, he heard Son Gohan call out from behind him.
"Tien Shinhan, when you get back to Earth, please tell Goku that I'm doing very well here. Tell him not to wish me back to life even if he collects all the Dragon Balls!"
Inside the passage, Tien Shinhan curled his lip at those words.
Well, well. Son Gohan really is Master Roshi's disciple!
He gets to spend every day beside an old woman who looks like a beautiful young girl, and now he doesn't even want to come back to life.
Tien Shinhan shook his head.
Different people had different choices and paths.
Besides, pursuing martial arts did not conflict with beautiful women. He himself found it quite pleasing to the eye to have Launch staying at Kami's Lookout.
What was more, Launch could switch between two personalities. She could entertain guests, handle the kitchen, wield a machine gun, and rob a bank!
One word!
Versatile!
Before long, Tien Shinhan emerged from the passage and saw Korin Tower soaring into the sky not far away.
I didn't expect Grand Supreme Kai to position the exit so accurately. It connected straight to the vicinity of Korin Tower's Sacred Land.
This didn't just save me the time it would take to descend Mount Five Elements. It even saved me the flight across Earth.
Tien Shinhan thought to himself that despite Grand Supreme Kai's absurd antics earlier, she had been quite reliable in placing the passage's exit.
The only small flaw was that he had not been able to go tell Fortuneteller Baba he had returned to Earth.
But Tien Shinhan soon shook his head again.
With Fortuneteller Baba's miraculous divination abilities, she would probably learn before long that he had returned safely. There was no need to tell her specially.
Tien Shinhan put aside the stray thoughts about this adventure and fixed his gaze on Korin Tower.
At the same time, Kami's eyes suddenly widened at Kami's Lookout.
"An incredibly powerful presence has suddenly appeared on Earth. If it belongs to someone evil...
"Huh? This presence is Tien Shinhan!
"He's become this strong in just a few days. What sort of trials and training has he gone through?"
Sensing the powerful presence suddenly appear on Earth, Kami could not help but worry deeply.
The strength of this presence already far exceeded his own.
It even utterly surpassed Son Goku, who had now grown stronger than him.
If such a powerful presence belonged to an evil being, Earth would probably be unable to escape destruction.
But after sensing it more carefully, Kami immediately confirmed that this powerful presence actually belonged to Tien Shinhan!
Although Tien Shinhan's fighting strength had already been considerable before, his presence now was nearly twice as powerful as it had been a few days earlier.
Kami's anxiety instantly turned to joy.
With such a powerful warrior on Earth, even if King Piccolo, whom he had split off from himself, made a comeback, he would pose no threat.
Even if he were ten times stronger, he would not be able to affect Earth's fate at all!
This made Kami's existing desire to step down in favor of someone more capable grow even stronger.
He looked at a young martial artist as powerful as Tien Shinhan, then at his own aged self.
He was already growing impatient to pass the position of Earth's Kami to Tien Shinhan.
Not only Kami, but Krillin and Goku, who had begun training at Kami's Lookout over the past few days, also sensed Tien Shinhan's powerful presence.
"Tien Shinhan, you're back!"
A short while later, after first visiting the hall at Korin Tower to greet Master Korin, Tien Shinhan headed up to Kami's Lookout with Launch and Chiaotzu, who had stayed there over the past few days waiting for his return.
"Tien Shinhan, you're back!"
The moment he arrived at Kami's Lookout, before Kami could find a way to bring up passing on his position, Goku and Krillin had already come over to Tien Shinhan.
Goku and Krillin's faces were full of eagerness. They clearly wanted to have a fight with Tien Shinhan and test themselves against him first.
Although Kid Goku had previously said he would catch up to Tien Shinhan in three months, that did not mean he would hold back from sparring with Tien Shinhan in the meantime.
Especially after sensing how much stronger Tien Shinhan's presence had become compared to a few days ago, neither Goku nor Krillin could suppress their fighting spirit and desire to test themselves against him.
"Never mind. I'll watch them fight first."
Seeing this, Kami could only postpone what he wanted to say.
Besides, for him and Mr. Popo, this was also a good opportunity to get a proper look at Tien Shinhan's current strength.