Ki fading meant death!
In the Dragon Ball world, ordinary beings could never completely erase their own energy.
Even spirits who had regained their physical bodies after death were no exception.
Based on Yamiru's speculation, as well as his confirmation after seeing Son Gohan at Mount Five Elements, the so-called "dead" who bore halos were no different from the living in the mortal world—aside from that very halo. In terms of their physical forms, there wasn't much of a difference…
Ki was directly linked to the heart and mind.
Because of this, whether one was good or evil, friend or foe—at least on the level of Ki—there was no way to conceal it.
Yamiru was precisely the kind of martial arts master who could see into the hearts of others.
And in this chaotic era where the demon race was running rampant, he had discovered a powerful and unparalleled righteous Ki!
Without hesitation, he steadied his emotions and rushed toward the source, hoping to find the owner of this energy. Perhaps it could help him make sense of the current situation.
After all, he still didn't fully understand why the Grand Supreme Elderly Lord had sent him to this place. But looking at it from another angle, Yamiru was at least very clear about what he sought: to keep growing stronger—to become so powerful that he could, with a single punch, blow up the Earth.
Overcoming challenges was the path to true strength.
---
With Yamiru's speed and endurance, he ran at full tilt for two entire days, yet he didn't come across a single living person.
The land was desolate, devoid of life.
In some of the areas he passed, remnants of battlefields remained—ruins scattered with lifeless bones, broken armor, and rusted weapons, almost indistinguishable from the very earth itself.
Feeling something stir within him, Yamiru stopped and reached out to touch one of the remnants. The moment his fingers made contact, the decayed remains crumbled into dust.
He could only sense the Ki of the living—any lingering energy within these dead objects was imperceptible to a martial artist.
It was just like in the manga when Son Goku and his friends sensed someone's death—the classic line being, "Their Ki… has disappeared". Ki was indeed tied to the soul, but it was also rooted in the physical body. Once the body lost its vitality, whatever remained was nothing more than stray energy—like the power sources in androids, completely undetectable to Son Goku and the others.
However, the Golden Veil could still pick up subtle traces.
A golden glow flickered in Yamiru's eyes as he examined the broken armor fragments in his hand. Faint streaks of light remained on them.
The light of righteousness.
If Son Goku were to raise a Spirit Bomb right here, Yamiru had no doubt that even these lifeless remnants would respond to the call of his righteous heart and willingly contribute their energy.
"I never thought about it before, but now it seems like this ancient history of the demon race wreaking havoc on the world… has lasted for many, many years."
Using his Golden Veil, Yamiru scanned the battlefield ruins around him. Aside from a few scattered remnants of righteous energy, most of what remained was the unmistakable demonic aura of the demon race—an aura that, through his enhanced vision, bore an eerie resemblance to the omnipresent dark-gold Hellish Ki lingering in the environment.
He walked over and picked up a skull that clearly didn't belong to an ordinary human. Its cranial structure had horns and openings, while its teeth were as sharp as those of a beast.
Under the scrutiny of his Golden Veil, traces of demon Ki still clung to the skull.
Moments later, the demon skull crumbled in Yamiru's hand and dispersed into the wind.
Dark-gold energy…
Yamiru looked down at his own clawed hands, covered in black scales. Taking a deep breath, he focused his thoughts—and the dark-gold Hellish Ki drifting in the air around him was drawn toward him, becoming part of his being once more.
"It does boost my power, even if only slightly," he murmured to himself. "And with the protection of the Dragon God's Mark on my hand, I won't be corrupted by these Hellish energies. However… this is still an external force. The stronger it is, the further it pushes past my own understanding. If it grows beyond my control, I may not be able to command the sheer magnitude of Hell's power…"
Yamiru fell into deep thought.
He recalled what Master Korin had once told him—true martial arts mastery was the art of making the useless useful.
Before today, Yamiru had always thought that the "useless" aspect of martial arts realms outweighed their usefulness. After all, no matter how high your martial arts realm was, if your power was far inferior to your opponent's, they could still beat you to death with random punches. But now… Yamiru seemed to have experienced the "usefulness" of martial arts realms.
Because, when all was said and done, even the hellish energy that Yamiru was now absorbing clearly exceeded the power he had when in his original human form!
Absorbing hellish energy at the level of a Super Saiyan, Yamiru knew he definitely couldn't control it. That was easy to understand. But since this was still a power that exceeded his own, why was Yamiru able to easily control and use it now? Yamiru reflected on this seemingly obvious matter, and slowly the fragmented thoughts that had appeared during his past training connected together. He suddenly understood something.
A single Senzu Bean could save Master Roshi and also save a Super Saiyan. The energy difference between the two was beyond a billion times!
But compared to the energy of the Heavenly Realm, it's nothing more than a speck of dust in the vast ocean. Similarly, the great gods of the Yellow Springs were each weaker than the next, but they had the authority to access Heavenly Realm energy, allowing them to easily reshape a Super Saiyan's body.
For the entire realm, whether it's the Heavenly Realm or perhaps even the Dragon Realm, energy, ki… these things are everywhere and essentially worthless!
"What really matters is the heart that controls the power, and the mindset of how to acquire power..." Yamiru muttered to himself.
Dr. Gero, with his genius mindset, could elevate the energy level of his androids from below 100 to several hundred million in a short period. This was the method of scientists like Dr. Gero.
On the other hand, warriors like Son Goku increased their strength through physical training, combining it with combat experience to reach new heights.
Absorbing hellish energy to expand power, and then using advanced martial arts realms to control it—this... this could be my path going forward? Yamiru froze in place, lost in thought. Is this the reason why Taishang Laojun sent me to this era? Finally, he looked at his monster-like claws and scratched his head.
This is so ugly! He felt quite frustrated, but it seemed like it wasn't the time to worry about that.
"They're basically already decayed; it probably hasn't been just a few years or decades..." Yamiru paused for a moment, quickly pulling himself together and continuing on his path.
However, before long, he sensed something unusual.
"Something's following me."
Yamiru didn't turn around, but his keen senses allowed him to detect an unusual aura trailing behind him from afar.
"Such a strange aura, it comes in threads—are they animals?"
"No, this feeling..."
He thought for a moment, stopped in front of a large rock, crouched on it, and turned to look back at the barren land he had come from.
Beneath the sparse vegetation on the wilderness ground, several small traces rapidly approached Yamiru—finally, they broke through the surface with a crash, revealing several giant fanged snakes!
"..."
The strange snakes lunged toward him, but Yamiru didn't choose to avoid them. He simply watched them twist their bodies calmly.
Yamiru's right dragon claw, not knowing when, had extended sharp claws that gleamed coldly.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss..." The venomous snakes bared their fangs in front of Yamiru, seemingly aware of his poised right claw and not daring to move recklessly.
Yamiru's golden eyes, however, were fixed on the end of the snakes that had broken through the surface.
"Hahaha, you actually discovered me!"
As his gaze followed, a massive dark golden humanoid energy surged up from the ground.
In the blink of an eye, the figure had landed on the ground. Rolling off his body, he was a green-faced, fanged monster with bizarre green skin covered in eerie scales. The venomous snakes in front of Yamiru were actually connected to the creature's body, as though they were growing out of his torso.
This was clearly a demon.
Yamiru's sharp eyes focused on him, and he realized that this demon's strength... was even stronger than Aunt Jina's by a good margin! His battle power was probably around eight or nine hundred.
Looking at the surrounding environment...
Yamiru was pondering whether the dark golden demonic energy around him was enough to consume, and how much he could take before losing control, when the demon warrior, emerging from the ground, laughed and said, "I am Maliza, a demon warrior under the command of Lord Samuel the Demon King. You're quite the odd one, but to detect me in advance—impressive! Which Demon King do you serve under?"