Disclaimer: Don't Own KFP

Author's Note: Alright. This is the part 3 of the chapter. I've been running parallel on my own comics, errands and this. I saw some views count in the second chapter. I don't know if it's a good news or not. But if you've your time reading through this chapter. Any feedback would be appreciate. Let me know what you think about the story so far. I've tried to polish the writings, but if there's still any mistakes, I apologize.

THE PAST BEYOND OUR HISTORY

Shifu waited in the meeting area, isolated from the outside in a small room. Sometimes, he wondered why he would even be here at this moment. The room had no windows, no decoration except a few chairs, separated in between by a rather plain working desk.

No much to see here, he thought, adding another reason for him to be bored. However, his boredom lifted quickly when he heard the door opened behind him.

"Sorry for your wait, Master Shifu." Magistrate Tao set through the door.

Shifu quickly bowed in polite. "It's okay, I didn't wait too long."

His words drew a chuckle from the magistrate, and they both shared a hearty grin.

"So ermm.." Shifu continued. "You called me for something urgent, I presumed?"

The magistrate took a few second to sip in his mind. "Why, of course, Master Shifu. Please, have a seat."

As Shifu slowly sank himself into one of the guest chairs, he thought he heard Tao locked the only door into the room. Question came quick, and his mind was rumbling with all sort of plans.

What is he planning?

"Locking the door?" Shifu asked without hesitate.

Tao only reply with a finger across his lips. Then, as clumsily as he did, Tao walked over and took his seat in front of Shifu. Dividing between them is an empty work desk.

"Shifu, what I am going to tell you, I wish you could keep it to yourself, and if it is convenient for you. You can tell your students as well."

"Urrhh…" Shifu murmured. That's weird. "Okay."

"Good," Tao nodded. "My family, Shifu" he began, "had been watching this valley ever since it started its baby steps. Out from the world we choose, we never left our eyes off its course."

Uncertain to where Tao was getting at, Shifu only nodded in respond.

"This valley," Tao continued, "is full of secrets, Master Shifu. Secrets that are too dark to be mentioned. Through generations, we, the Tao family had, dare I say, experienced most of these memories. We were told to keep our mouth shut. And yet today, I think someone wanted to bring this secret – one of the secrets - to the surface again."

Shifu chuckled. "What kind of secret? If it's history I think we would be best to know."

But Tao's eyes were serious. "I would say that is a very good point of view. Certainly, learning from our past is a great step ahead for a wider future." He leaned back on his chair. "But these secrets I speak off, might be too much to bear."

"Like what?" Shifu challenged. He too became curious.

Tao eyed at him silently across the table. Somehow, Shifu sensed the gears working behind his head.

"Remember the ten thousand soldiers who fought to defend the valley from bandit invasion?" Tao questioned.

"Yes," Shifu muttered. "They all dead aren't they? It's quite a tale to speak of in children's age. More like a legend to motivate patriotism."

"Indeed, indeed." The answer certainly correct, but Tao's eyes grew sharp on him. Leaning forward from his chair, the magistrate now looked straight in his face, making him felt uneasy.

"Yes of course." The bear said. "But where do you think those bodies were buried? You see, Ten thousands is a very, very large number …"

"Well, sir." Tigress took a deep breath, trying hard to maintain her fake smile. "Is there anything else you wanted to share?" She felt a tremble in her voice.

Keep it steady, Tigress. You're just being helpful. Helpful is your nature… YOU love to be helpful..

The goose thought for a moment. "Urmmm… I supposed not."

"Okay then, if you don't mind-"

"Well yes, yes there is one more thing."

What is it? Tigress shut her eyes and drew a quick breath. Temper, Tigress, temper!

"Y-yes?" She gritted out, trying hard to force a friendly smile. She thought she could felt a twist at the end of her lips.

"I found one letter written in an unknown language," said the goose. "It was dropped by one of the attackers when they ambushed me."

Curiosity instantly overtook her agitation. "Did you happen to bring it here?" she asked.

"Why, yes," the goose chirped. His hands began digging in his backpack.

Oh finally. Tigress rolled her eyes, Something to top off the annoyance. I bet whatever weird languages it is, Shifu would-

"What the hell is this?" She shot out as soon as she saw the letter handed out to her, her eyes went as big as a cup. Almost.

Her friends grouping behind the building didn't seem to treat patient anymore longer. All of them rushed out of their hidings, and squeezed their faces in front of the letter, hoping to take a better look.

As Shifu plodded on the icy route back to the Jade Palace, he began to question his doing. There are moments in his life that were even more bizarre than this. But somehow they never failed to surprise him with a different line of facts.

"When the soldiers died," Tao's voice rang in his head. "their belongings, as well as their … luxuries were buried along with them."

Shifu's ears raised a pitch. He retracted back into his seat. "What? You're talking about treasure hunt?"

"No, no," the bear protested. "These are the less compared to what I am going to tell you."

Silence seized Shifu. It struck him like a brick.

The bear cleared his throat, allowing Shifu time to calm himself down. "When the thousands died, the history of this valley died along with them."

"What? You sure?" challenged Shifu in disbelief.

"Yes, that's all I can put it," Tao pressured. "Now tell me, what's the history before these thousand soldiers…"

"Well," Shifu murmured, "There aren't any, they are the first generation of the valley..."

Wait… something's not right. He heard Tao chuckled before him. And damn the hell if he didn't start questioning this fact at this very moment.

"Or so they speak," Tao announced, but oddly he decided to not venture into the subject further. He changed topic instead, about a book. "Time before us, they used to kept a book with them. Allowing them to keep track of the important events scattered in this valley, as well as some of the journals written by some ranked leaders.

Tao leaned forward. "Everything is in there, Shifu. Or at least, part of our history."

The village was still far from his view. Shifu had yet to exit the grooves section of the valley either. The magistrate's house is located far away from the village. For his reason, Tao only give that he wished to be in peace from all the work.

Thought began to race in his mind as he continued to travel down the clear pavement.

"What's this?" asked Shifu when Tao suddenly handed him an oval shaped plate. It was well worn from ages, with a lot of scratch marks here and there on the surface. At the center of the flats, stood a needle liked pillar.

Tao took a moment to think. "I believe this had something to do with locating the Chamber of the Sleepers."

"You mean... T-Tomb?" Shifu's voice cracked. "You want me to break into the tomb of our ancestors?"

Part of him says Tao is out of his mind. But part of him says that's was not exactly what Tao wanted. And the later somehow proved to be closer.

"My family had been keeping two of these for years," Tao explained. "But one of them was stolen three days ago."

Shifu felt a surge through his stomach. "So you think someone else is after the tomb?"

The magistrate nodded. "And better yet, they maybe after the book of history.

"Even if I am a magistrate with authority power," Tao added. "I don't think I will be able to find a fitting person than you to help." A smile can be seen on his face. "Would you accept my request on this, Master Shifu?"

Alone on the pavement, Shifu continued to exam the plate as he walked. Even if Tao had explained how the thing worked for him, he was still inside his own fog.

The shadow of the sun will show you the exact spot. Tao explained. Four fragments, four different times to exist. All into one intersect.

Although Shifu wanted to ask more, their conversations were interrupted when a servant of the villa knocked on the door, saying that someone came here to see him.

The moment he exit the room, he spotted the visitor – a grey fox, dressed in deep blue, tall, but not muscular. He was probably at the age of thirty. From the look of his outfit, the fox may be working as a trader.

Some trader he is, Shifu thought. For a trader to be meeting the magistrate face to face, it's not usual.

Suddenly, he heard a rush in the nearby bushes. Hiding the plate behind his back, Shifu made a quick turn to the source of the sound. The moment he came into view, he saw a shuriken hovering over the air, coming towards him. He dodged it, but merely having his throat cut off by the edge.

A few more shuriken come flying out of the bush, and Shifu quickly flexed in a lightning speed, dodging them all before rolling off the road. The moment he was on his foot, he made a dash behind a tree.

He stood there quietly, leaning his back on the trunk while he peaked on the opposing bushes.

Someone was there. He knew it. Yet when the shuriken stopped flying, the rushing sounds stopped.

"Come out, whoever you are!" Shifu shouted.

For a moment, he thought he was an idiot telling his assassins to show themselves. But then, they actually responded.

"Of course." A tone said, followed by soft chuckle afterward.

The voice is quite clear despite the distance between them; until he realized that it actually came from above him. It was too late. He looked up, only to see a fist came smashing into his view.

The pain left him unbearable. His muscle went jolted for the moment. He quickly lost his sense of balance. Crashing down to the snows beneath him, his vision soon blurred out into darkness.

The six students were sitting around the kitchen table, eyeing everything that move around them. The letter was laid on the middle like a flat sheet. None had touched it since this afternoon. The silence continued to last like an eternity. Frankly speaking, they were worried because their master hadn't shown up after he left. Po had decided to start the cooking, saying "It's better to worry without starving."

By the time the red horizon reached into total darkness, Tigress shoot up from her seat.

"That's it," she said. "I'm going to find him."

"Me too," said Viper.

"I'm with ya," Mantis chirped.

"That won't be necessary."

The familiar voice instantly raised a pitch in their senses, cutting out their thoughts as it bolted into their ears. Turning to the exit, they quickly spotted their grand master.

"Master Shifu!" shouted the gang at once.

"Oh man, where have you been!" Po joyfully asked. But as quick as the joy came, it left. "What's wrong with your face?"

"This?" Shifu motioned over the bandage on his nose. "Broken nose."

Tigress rushed forward, leading him to the chair. "Where did you get that from?" She sounded horrified.

"Relax," Shifu said. "I am okay."

His students exchanged a look at each other, practically not buying it.

During dinner, Shifu filled them in with the events he had with Tao. Most of them just keep exchanging look at each other, showing signs of disbelief. When he finished the story of his ambush, Shifu pulled out the oval plate.

"They didn't come here to steal this, however," said Shifu, putting the plate on the table. "They stole the fragment instead. They knew I had it with me."

"So," Mantis took a long around. "You want us to stop them from reaching the tomb?"

"I guess so. So far I haven't thought of any other way yet."

"Wait, master," Tigress shot in. "Is the book really that important to be stayed unknown? It's our history anyway. We deserved to know."

The question fell in silence. Shifu had been thinking this for a long time. He may assume that the history contained some twist or turns that would cause a lot of political issue. But they are living in a valley, there is no way political issue would exist here. And better yet, there merely had any mountains of authorities here. If eliminating the fact that political issue existed. What else should they be dealing with? Maybe it was the treasures after all?

So the only answer he could give now is…

"I don't know."

Tigress raised an eyebrow.

Then, another question came from Po. "We had a tomb here? In this valley, really?"

That's a damn good question. Shifu thought inwardly. He may have lived in this valley for years, but he never saw or heard any existence of a tomb, especially when it contains ten thousands corpses. Now, ten thousands corpses meant a huge number. The population in the valley doesn't even reach half of that. Maybe because they were dead, and this is what left of their ancestors?

Shifu shook his head. "What matter the course is, it seemed that Tao wanted to stop the secret from getting out."

Again, another stare exchanged among his students.

"Whoever is going to find the rest of the fragments, they need the sunlight." Shifu held the plate up, "because the shadow will be the only guidance to the rest of the fragments, and to our tomb."

"They got their first one now." Tigress said. "Let's hope the others remain untouched."

"If they had, we can always trace the location," said Shifu. "Tao mentioned, when the sunlight hit the exact spot, the area will sparkles. And that will be our signal.

"We may not know the exact location, but the time of the fragments to show themselves are very different to one another. So scattering yourselves over a large area might be able to cover a good portion of the possible hiding place."

"You know how to use that thing, Master Shifu?"

Another damn good question, Shifu felt a sweat behind his head as he frowned at the wooden plate in his hands. "No."

The rest of his students dropped their jaw.

"Well," Po coughed. "Try this one first." He handed Shifu the letter which they got from the goose earlier. "You know what it says? It was like… Found after the bandits raided his home and his cart."

Shifu stared blankly at Po, before turning his attention to the letter.

"Please say yes," Po started biting his lips.

Shifu looked through the letter. His eyes began darting from top to bottom. He started to sweat as the pressure built within him. His students certainly noticed his cold sweat. Whatever the letter was saying, it can't be good from his expression.

Yet an inward silliness and a very desperate miscalculation, a very nerve breaking answer came forth. "No."

END OF CHAPTER

A/N: So... That's part of it. Ten Thousand Corpses, could be just under your feet. And you don't know it... Please Read and Review.