"Master, do I really need to enter the World Martial Arts Tournament? It feels like they're just children playing house." Krillin looked at the "crooked melons and cracked dates" before him, rather speechless.
These contestants all kept far away from Ling Yi and his group-or, more precisely, from Krillin.
Krillin's two years of challenging fighters had already made him famous. People had even given him the title of Invincible God of War.
Either these contestants had been hammered by Krillin themselves, or their masters had.
The contestants despaired at the thought of Krillin entering the tournament.
They could only pray they wouldn't face Krillin in the elimination rounds.
Fortunately, Krillin had never actually killed anyone, though the severity of his blows varied.
That put these contestants somewhat at ease.
Little Goku, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, and the Turtle Hermit, who had put on a wig, were among them.
This was their second time entering the World Martial Arts Tournament.
In the previous tournament, Little Goku had beaten Tien Shinhan by a single move and taken first place.
"Krillin, you're really entering the World Martial Arts Tournament Under Heaven? That's so unfair!" Little Goku said, thoroughly dejected. However confident he was, he felt nothing but despair against this new version of Krillin.
The gap in strength was too great. Little Goku could tell anyone else, "I'll definitely beat you next time," but he couldn't say it to Krillin.
"Yeah, this is obviously cheating," Chiaotzu chimed in.
The Turtle Hermit, Yamcha, and Tien Shinhan said nothing, but inwardly, they wholeheartedly agreed with Chiaotzu. This was fucking cheating.
"Haha, I can't help it. Master told me to enter." Krillin rubbed his bald head and smiled helplessly.
Everyone turned to Ling Yi. Although he wasn't a contestant, no one could stop him from going wherever he wanted.
"Young man, we meet again," the Turtle Hermit said to Ling Yi.
"Hello. Long time no see." Ling Yi nodded with a smile.
"Are you really Krillin's master? You look much younger than Grandpa Turtle Hermit. Can you teach me to train? I want to be as strong as Krillin."
"Ahem, Goku, that's rude," the Turtle Hermit said helplessly.
Ling Yi shook his head. "It's fine. Goku has an exceptionally tenacious Martial Dao heart. He's a promising seedling."
Then Ling Yi looked at Tien Shinhan and the others. "You're strong too, and your future achievements have no limit. I also hope you can become friends with Krillin."
"For certain reasons, I can only take one disciple. I can't teach my kung fu to anyone else."
Everyone was somewhat disappointed. Krillin was following an entirely new Martial Dao path; the Turtle Hermit had told them all about that. Moreover, the Turtle Hermit held Ling Yi's Martial Dao in extremely high regard, and had even remarked wistfully on several occasions that the path Krillin now followed was the true path of the Martial Dao.
They wanted to grow stronger too. They wanted to be as strong as Krillin.
"However, although I can't teach you, Krillin can." Ling Yi changed tack, glancing at Krillin as he spoke.
"Master, can I really teach them the Smiling, Proud Cultivation Technique?" Krillin was rather surprised. He knew very well just how powerful the Martial Dao his master had named Smiling, Proud Kung Fu was.
"Of course!"
Everyone's eyes lit up, their gazes burning as they looked at Krillin.
"However, you need to judge the limits yourself. You should know what terrible consequences there would be if bad people learned the Smiling, Proud Cultivation Technique," Ling Yi reminded him.
Krillin's heart tightened. At the thought of those terrible consequences, he couldn't help shuddering.
"Master... I, I..."
"What you do is your decision."
Krillin glanced at Son Goku and the others, deeply torn. Instinctively, he didn't want anyone else to learn the cultivation technique his master had taught him.
But when it came to Goku, Tien Shinhan, and the others-especially Goku-he felt he couldn't quite clear his conscience if he refused to teach them. Besides, his master had already said this much today. If he refused, wouldn't they curse him behind his back later?
"Let's discuss it after the tournament," the Turtle Hermit suggested when he saw Krillin's conflicted expression.
The tournament lasted three days in total, and Krillin easily took first place. There wasn't much to say about the process. After all, the gap between Krillin's strength and that of the Dragon Ball warriors in the original storyline was far too great.
After the tournament ended, Piccolo appeared, just as he had in the original storyline.
More precisely, it was one of King Piccolo's underlings, who had come specifically to kill these Martial Dao practitioners.
"Master!" Sensing an unfamiliar, evil presence rapidly approaching them, Krillin couldn't help calling out to Ling Yi.
"Just small fry. Deal with it yourselves." With that, Ling Yi snapped his fingers and vanished.
"Whoa, he disappeared! What kind of kung fu was that?" Little Goku asked in surprise, looking toward where Ling Yi had vanished.
"I sensed magical power," Puar said quietly.
"What's magic?" Goku asked.
Puar looked at Goku seriously. "I think even if I explained it, you wouldn't understand."
Little Goku was about to say something else when Krillin said coldly, "It's here!"
The moment he spoke, a monster covered in green descended from the sky.
"You're really out of luck." The green monster grinned savagely, then raised its hand and blasted a purple ball of energy at them.
"This feeling... oh no! Dodge, quick!" The Turtle Hermit seemed to remember something and shouted a warning.
But he seemed to have forgotten Krillin was there.
Krillin raised his hand and caught the incoming energy ball. With a little pressure, it vanished like a balloon being squeezed until it burst.
"What?" The monster was rather startled.
The Turtle Hermit froze too, then laughed. "With Krillin here, we won't have to worry even if King Piccolo comes out."
"You actually know about King Piccolo? Looks like you have to die." As an underling spawned by Piccolo, the monster shared his wariness of Martial Dao practitioners.
Anyone would find being trapped in an electric rice cooker for over a thousand years unbearable. After King Piccolo had been sealed by the Evil Containment Wave once, he had sworn to wipe out every Martial Dao practitioner.
Without a word, Krillin raised a finger and flicked it. Two Destructo Discs flew out, instantly severing the monster's four limbs. It fell to the ground with an agonized howl, its face filled with terror.
"Krillin, why didn't you kill it? This is King Piccolo's underling. You can't show it mercy," the Turtle Hermit said.
"Uh, Master said I'm not allowed to take lives before I turn sixteen."
"Is that so? Your master is right. You're still too young; it really isn't suitable. However, this monster is far too evil. It must be destroyed."
Krillin couldn't kill it, but the Turtle Hermit had no such reservations. He blasted the monster's head off with a Kamehameha, finishing it off for good.
Next came the Turtle Hermit's time to explain.
After learning how terrifying King Piccolo was, everyone immediately formed a temporary demon-slaying squad. Once they sensed King Piccolo's Qi, Krillin took everyone flying toward his location.
Elsewhere, Ling Yi had already turned invisible and appeared beside Piccolo ahead of them.
He needed to get close to Piccolo to analyze his skills.
Some might ask what there was to analyze about Piccolo's skills. His offensive moves didn't seem to hold much value for Ling Yi as he was now.
But one mustn't forget that, besides being a Martial Dao practitioner, Piccolo also possessed some very wondrous skills.
For instance, Piccolo could conjure a set of clothes in an instant. In the original storyline, Son Gohan's clothes had been conjured by Piccolo.
That ability was a little like magic, and also somewhat like a special power unique to Namekians.
Or perhaps this was one way to use divine power.
After all, Kami used divine power, a power exclusive to the divine race in Dragon Balls.
If he could analyze divine power ahead of time and extrapolate it to an advanced level, perhaps Ling Yi would no longer need to keep such a low profile.
Ling Yi had been exceedingly cautious in the Dragon Balls world. Although it wasn't quite stifling, it wasn't particularly satisfying either.
The Dragon Balls world's combat power was extremely high. If Ling Yi could build a solid foundation here, he would be much safer when he transmigrated to other worlds in the future.
Soon, Krillin and the others arrived.
At the insistence of Goku and the others, Krillin would take the stage as the finale, while the other Dragon Balls warriors challenged Piccolo one-on-one first.
"Damn you! You're actually treating me, King Piccolo, as a sparring partner! I'll kill you all!"
King Piccolo was furious, so he opened with vicious killing moves.
Yamcha, the first to fight Piccolo, didn't even last three seconds before a single move pierced his stomach.
Fortunately, Krillin had Senzu Beans, and Yamcha managed to snatch his life back.
Tien Shinhan went up second. Compared to Yamcha, he fared somewhat better. After all, Tien Shinhan had received relatively formal Martial Dao instruction, while Yamcha came from an unorthodox background.
Moreover, Tien Shinhan's talent and comprehension were both considerably better than Yamcha's.
But even so, Tien Shinhan only lasted a dozen or so moves before a punch from Piccolo nearly crippled him.
After eating the Senzu Bean Krillin handed him, Tien Shinhan gave a helpless, bitter smile. "The gap is just too great. I can't even see his movements clearly."
"It's all up to Goku now."