Ancient era, within the Time King's higher-dimensional domain
The Time King opened his eyes at last. "So that's how it is."
"You saw the future?" Gohan asked.
"The past is merely the past, and the future admits of endless paths," the Time King replied, unruffled. "Because you're here, I can instantiate one particular future your timeline and look upon it."
"And… what will you do about it?"
"Let things follow their course." He answered a different question entirely. "In this era, my presence suppresses instability. We don't bud into countless parallel branches the way your age does. This age is a singular timeline. Even with your intrusion, the fabric won't fork anew."
"So you won't interfere with the future, and you won't alter the present either?" Gohan ventured. He thought he heard the answer already.
"Correct. To me, this world is a set of fetters. To 'surpass the world' is to shed those chains. What comes after that's yours to seize."
"You give me too much credit," Gohan muttered. "I mean, I do believe my potential is bottomless, but…" The thought of the Grand Priest of the Omni-King himself turned his mouth dry. Knowledge of "the plot" was one thing; catching up to ancient monsters who'd lived for eons was another.
The Time King chuckled. "Don't sell yourself short, little one. This wisp will point you on." He returned the ochre thread of Primordial Qi he'd drawn from Gohan, easing it back into his body.
"A guide? I don't feel anything special about it." Gohan searched inward, sifting through memory Kunlun's glow, the long road that had brought him here.
"Did you truly think achieving 'Super Saiyan' at your age was only hard work?" The Time King's smile grew knowing. "When you trained your body, this wisp tugged at your ki, driving it to cycle at speed. Picture your body as a cosmos. Each full circuit it traced through you nudged your ki a hair stronger. A small gain yes but swift."
"A full circuit through the body…" Gohan's eyes lit. "Like the 'microcosmic orbit' from daoist cultivation tales."
"'Microcosmic orbit' so that's what your world calls it." The Time King nodded, amused. "Fascinating."
"So I do have a cheat, huh?" Gohan grinned despite himself.
"A what?"
"Uh nothing. Your Majesty, could I ask a favor?"
"You want to control the Primordial Qi," the Time King said, seeing straight through him.
"Exactly. If it's that good, I'd be an idiot not to use it."
"You're thinking with your stomach," the Time King snorted. "Primordial Qi is a thing even gods can't hold. For you to talk about mastering it now that's boastful."
"Aw, so my only option is mindless grinding while it does its thing? That's… dumb."
"It's more wondrous than you think," the Time King said. "Perhaps in this world it can't even show its true shape. Even I haven't plumbed it fully." As he spoke, a breath of the same玄黄 xuanhuang hue coiled over his palm, indistinguishable from the strand in Gohan.
Gohan sighed. "Who knows how long it'll take me to break through this world's ceiling…"
"Care to gamble?" The Time King's eyes glinted with mischief.
"How do you mean?" Gohan blinked.
A seven-hued sphere of light blossomed out of empty air clear as crystal, its interior visible. Inside floated a ribbon of pitch darkness, black as spilled ink, and wrong in all the ways that made the skin crawl.
"When I opened heaven and earth, I harvested a strand of Eldritch Qi no less profound than the Primordial. Do you dare house it in your body?"
"Your Majesty… that sounds like a trap. You called it 'eldritch.'" Gohan stared at the thing. Even through the King's isolating force, his hair prickled.
"You're not wrong," the Time King admitted. "But in your world, the strong outnumber the sands. If you want to grow quickly if you want to shuck your shackles you'll need another road. Can you swear you'll reach transcendence on sheer solo training?"
"Why didn't you refine it yourself?" Gohan asked.
"I grew too fast," the Time King said simply. "After I cleaved the void, my power swelled by the day. I didn't need to cultivate. This strand and I were ill-fated. So yes or no? I won't force you."
Gohan's gaze fixed on the inky thread. Images surged the Grand Priest. Mister Popo. The Omni-King. Gods of Destruction. And things beyond them demonic gods, perhaps.
To live here, he would need effort and edge. Hard on others, and on himself.
"Screw it," he growled. "Either I crash and burn, or I soar forever."
The time machine's power failure had thrown him into this ancient age. That was one kind of chance. Meeting the Time King was another.
"One last thing," he added quickly. "Can you really send me back to my own timeline?"
"…Are you challenging me?" the Time King said at last, deadpan.
"Heh. Just… reassurance?" Gohan grinned, sheepish.
"I am the Time King," he snapped, like a ruffled bird. "Time. Understand? Well? Are you in or not?"
"I'm in. Worst case, I die again." Gohan let his guard fall and stepped forward.
"Good. Sit lotus posture." The Time King loosed the seals.
The Eldritch Qi stirred almost as if it noticed. Inside Gohan, the Primordial Qi bristled like a beast meeting a rival and whipped into a furious sprint along that inner orbit.
And Gohan's ki surged like a storm tide.
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