Krillin had no nose, but Ling Yi could just about accept looking at him. After all, Krillin was still a little squirt, and small meant cute; cute was justice.
But Master Roshi really looked too damn much like a turtle that had become a spirit.
His neck was far longer than an ordinary person's, his head was polished to a shine, and he walked bowlegged and hunched over... especially with that enormous turtle shell on his back, he didn't look like a normal human, no matter how Ling Yi looked at him.
Of course, there was no need to take an anime world too seriously. Turtles talked, and pigs could fly...
But for Ling Yi, seeing these strange new species for the first time was a little hard to accept. At least in the short term, he would have trouble getting used to Master Roshi's appearance.
He looked almost exactly the same as he did in the anime, but it was precisely because he looked identical that it felt so weird.
If you didn't believe it, take some beautiful anime girls and throw them into the real world. No matter how good they looked in the manga, you'd think they were monsters.
When he saw Ling Yi and Krillin descend from the sky, Master Roshi narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses, utterly shaken.
He could see through Krillin's cultivation at a glance. He had clearly only just entered the Martial Dao, so there was nothing much to say about him.
But he couldn't see through the young man before him.
As far as he could sense, this was an ordinary young man. But how could an ordinary young man possess the ability to fly? Moreover, the young man's manner of flying was very similar to the Flight Technique. In other words, he was flying using Qi, not some special ability.
Since he cultivated Qi, there was no way he wouldn't give off any Qi, yet Master Roshi couldn't sense any Qi from him.
There was only one reason for this. Leaving aside the young man's strength, his control over Qi had reached a level so refined that Master Roshi could scarcely imagine it.
At the very least, he couldn't do it himself. No, as far as Master Roshi knew, no one could do it, not even his teacher Mutaito or that cat atop Korin Tower.
Master Roshi couldn't see through Ling Yi, but Ling Yi saw through Master Roshi at a glance.
The old man's body contained a vast amount of Genki. This Qi was stored in certain cells, distributed throughout his body.
But this method of storing Genki was extremely crude.
The special nature of this world made it easier for people to sense the existence of Genki. Its abundant Genki also made some people's cells more active and better able to contain Qi.
The Martial Practitioners of this world called these active cells.
And people who possessed active cells had an easier time becoming Martial Practitioners.
About twenty percent of the cells in Master Roshi's body were active cells.
In Krillin's body, active cells accounted for about sixty percent.
The number of active cells determined the upper limit of their potential. Master Roshi's Battle Power was limited to two or three hundred, while Krillin's ultimate Battle Power could exceed one hundred million.
In other words, whether someone could become a Martial Practitioner depended on whether they had active cells in their body. As for cultivation methods, they didn't seem important. As long as they were willing to put themselves through hell, they could keep breaking through their limits. Each breakthrough allowed these active cells to absorb more Qi, and they could then strengthen themselves and use various skills through some simple applications of Qi.
So... Ling Yi reached a conclusion that left him at a loss for words. In the Dragon Balls World, the Martial Dao referred more to ways of using Qi, such as various skills. As for methods of cultivating Qi, they were crude in the extreme.
Ling Yi wondered if Dr. Gero had mastered a method of turning ordinary cells into active cells, and that was how he had created androids with unlimited energy. That seemed highly possible.
"Your disciple Krillin pays his respects, Master Roshi." Krillin bowed to Master Roshi with utmost seriousness.
Master Roshi nodded, but his gaze remained fixed on Ling Yi.
"Young man, you caused that tsunami earlier, didn't you?"
"I just made a breakthrough and didn't control my strength properly. Master Roshi, could you demonstrate all your martial techniques? My martial arts have reached a bottleneck, and I need to draw on a strong fighter's martial arts to break through." Ling Yi stated his request directly.
"Is that so?" Master Roshi didn't refuse, nor did he dare to. Someone who could trigger a tsunami simply by making a breakthrough was already far stronger than he could imagine.
"Young man, watch carefully." Master Roshi didn't use his full strength; after all, he was only demonstrating his moves.
Kamehameha, Thunder Shock Surprise, Six-Body Technique...
The more Ling Yi watched, the more disappointed he became, and the more he shook his head.
The Kamehameha was simply a release of energy. Foreign Shock Surprise merely used Qi to strengthen bioelectricity. As for the Six-Body Technique, it was nothing more than an optical illusion created by changing movement speeds.
Ling Yi could sense that people in this world had meridians and Dantians.
But clearly, they hadn't mastered a method of cultivating their meridians and Dantians.
Or perhaps Qi was so easy to obtain in this world that these Martial Practitioners instinctively believed Qi should be stored in cells and cultivation meant putting themselves through hell.
"The Martial Dao of this world seems to have taken the wrong path." Ling Yi thrust one hand forward, sending a terrifying blast of energy surging out that split the surface of the sea in an instant. This was the energy attack Ling Yi unleashed by imitating the Kamehameha.
Then Ling Yi raised one hand, and a giant flaming palm over ten meters wide appeared out of nowhere. It slapped the surface of the sea, sending waves over ten meters high into the air. Not only that, but the giant palm didn't disappear after plunging into the water. Its terrifying heat instantly brought the seawater to a boil, and great clouds of steam rose into the air.
"Disperse!" Ling Yi waved his hand and dispersed the giant flaming palm. Only after a long while did the sea finally grow calm again.
"Young man, what did you mean when you said our Martial Dao had taken the wrong path?" Master Roshi asked with a frown.
Ling Yi said nothing. He walked straight up to Krillin and said in a low voice, "Don't resist!"
The next moment, Ling Yi pressed a finger to Krillin's forehead and sent the top-tier martial arts cultivation method that the Passive Cultivation Aura had finished fusing into Krillin's body.
"Focus all your efforts on comprehending it. Don't let stray thoughts distract you!" Ling Yi spoke again, then guided the small amount of Qi in Krillin's body to circulate between his meridians and Dantian in a certain pattern.
Krillin's aptitude and comprehension were extraordinary. After Ling Yi had guided him through two cycles, he was able to guide his Qi to circulate between his Dantian and meridians on his own.
Ling Yi pressed downward, and Krillin instinctively sat cross-legged on the ground and entered a state of cultivation.
Master Roshi watched curiously without stopping him. He knew that Ling Yi had imparted a completely new system of Martial Dao cultivation to the little baldy.
Ling Yi couldn't help marveling at how perfect this world was for Martial Practitioners.
Before long, white Qi flames began to burn around Krillin of their own accord. His presence rose rapidly by geometric multiples, and almost in the blink of an eye, the Qi bursting from him had surpassed Master Roshi's current level.
"How is that possible?" Master Roshi could hardly believe it.
"Besides the muscles, blood, bones and internal organs you know about, the human body also has invisible meridians and Dantians. The upper Dantian opens the Sea of Consciousness, the middle Dantian opens the Tanzhong, and the lower Dantian absorbs all kinds of Qi. The meridians connect the internal organs, bones, blood and flesh. Internal Breath circulates between the Dantians and meridians, forming Great Zhou Tian and Small Zhou Tian cycles that strengthen the body from the inside out."
Ling Yi had probably become addicted to teaching. Without realizing it, he had slipped into the role of a teacher.
"Your cultivation method is unbearably crude. Absorbing Qi into cells is fraught with endless difficulties; without a special constitution, it's hard to become a martial artist. With cells absorbing Qi, not only is there waste, but a great deal is lost during circulation. I'd guess you can only bring out one part of your strength's power out of ten."
"It's only because this world is filled with Genki. Otherwise, with such a crude cultivation method, the idea of becoming a martial artist would be laughable."
As he spoke, little baldy Krillin's presence surged again, and the Qi flames around him changed from white to pale gold. He leaped straight from an ordinary Martial Practitioner to the Foundation Establishment Stage, at a speed even more outrageous than riding a rocket.
But Ling Yi knew this was only the beginning.
Earth Grade martial arts and the Genki of this world had produced a remarkable reaction.
"You should have sensed it. The number of active cells in this little baldy's body has increased. That's what it means to strengthen oneself from the inside out. If he followed your cultivation method, his achievements would be limited. Once he reached the limit of his potential, there would be no possibility of further progress."
Master Roshi stared at Krillin, shaken beyond measure. Could it be that my Martial Dao was wrong? Could this be the true Martial Dao?
Of course, that didn't mean the Martial Dao of this world had no merits. At least where skills were concerned, the people of the Dragon Balls World had developed them to the utmost.
What was more, this was only the Martial Dao on Earth.
The Dragon Balls World was an enormous world, where parallel universes and multidimensional universes both existed.
Ling Yi was interested in the cultivation methods of the various races in the universe, such as the magic-like system of Planet Yardrat and the cultivation method systems of the God Race, the Angel Clan and the Devil Clan.
Perhaps Ling Yi could find an opportunity to fuse a Heaven Grade cultivation method from the cultivation systems of these races.
Besides that, there were bloodline transformation systems like the Saiyans'.
A single transformation could increase one's strength dozens or even a hundred times over. If Ling Yi uncovered the secret of transformation, his strength would make a qualitative leap.
At the thought, Ling Yi could hardly wait. But before that, he needed to upgrade the Passive Cultivation Aura and activate a few more passive auras.
Compared with the true powerhouses of the universe, especially those of the God Race and the Angel Clan, he was still just a weakling.
So Ling Yi needed even stronger cheats.
Raise the Passive Cultivation Aura to level 5, activate the Passive Devouring Aura, activate the Passive Energy Conversion Aura...