Volume Three: Deng Wa
Chapter XL
Victims II
Deng Wa introduced the Supreme Warlord of all China, along with the yak's fellow brothers of Li Han the Peacock Lord, Zhanshi the Lieutenant Army, General Oogway of Jade Warlord, and his beloved wife, Wugu. The Original Mightiest Warriors were the icon of justice and superior to the Emperor. They were all standing among soldiers around them, commemorating their presence. One soldier in a billowing green cloak was with five warlords, hiding the warrior's face in half but two eyes. Chen Xing took his peep near the mystery figure, whose striped tail was exposed underneath, dressing the whole armor in dark emerald scathe. The breast symbol of claws and arrows presented the archer's true leader.
Supreme Warlord of all China!
General Kai thundered his introduction that he was with his fellow brothers and wife fighting beside. Behind the Garden's barrier, the former Lord of Gongmen and Great Dragon gave their glimpse at the Mortal Mightiest Warrior. "Deng Wa got you," Tai Lung crooned with surprise, his gold eyes darting at Kai.
The rain of black arrows struck the Earth, and the warlord searched for his brother throughout the ruins of blood and smoke.
Mortal Kai peeped at the following sequence, which he sought of himself on the grass crossing his legs, bearing an injured soldier in his arm. Oogway was resting in the cave despite the multiple injuries, including the spear that pierced near under his heart. The yak could hear himself sobbing, his grief with a thousand stings in his heart, watching someone who died fighting next to him.
The temple was shaken by General Kai's scream, crying in the air.
Days went on for Kai holding his dear brother, fighting against the perils of extreme rivers, the harsh blizzard snow screaming, slowing him down. Nothing stopped him until Kai no longer felt the strength, there was no other way to die unless he gave his life to his tortoise brother; he was only superior in that he could survive against all nature. Leading to themselves across the sea of white, dissipating the fog and snow, lingered the ancient place of healing — the snow ridges that held houses and temples. There, Kai found hope.
Hope healed his brother, destined Kai to another level of his scheme after finding this "chi" he discovered for vengeance.
And vengeance robbed the Mightiest Warrior's life. Masters of Jade Palace could hardly reminisce Kai clenching his hooves, his blue-turning green eyes glaring at panda monks. Then the battle for brother against brother went on, rampaging the whole terrain.
The former Jade Warlord expressed his disheartening glance toward his brother, wielding his staff. "I am sorry, Kai. For all of it, we fought for," Oogway sobbed.
General Kai pierced his double halberd beside his right foot. "You fight for those pandas, Oogway. You threw all that honesty away because of you! I will never change! I want to stick with who I am and will continue to do so with my new power of chi!"
Vanquished by the hand of a tortoise who performed his signature move of Wuxi Fingerhold, Oogway watched the void of dark emerald, leaving with his yak brother's remains.
Centuries left with General Kai meditating in the Spirit Realm, the shapes of his horns enhanced to sharp edges, becoming a menacing figure. He searched for the elephant across the sea of green, entering the temple of a hundred columns. He searched for Master Elephant, whose spike balls and chain revolved over his wrists. Defeating the giant with incredible combinations of his jade hooves thrashing him in pieces, Kai rewarded chains with spike balls from their owner.
Instead of iron spikes, the Mightiest Warrior modified his blades linked on chains.
Later, the Jade Slayer hunted down more dead masters across the endless universe of the Spirit Realm. Each elder fused their body into a dawning yellow orb, transforming into amulets. Each amulet brought knowledge and physical attributes to Kai's mind, learning Kung Fu skills as his imaginary friend clarified about these warriors.
The approaching glance had General Kai with a loincloth meditate in a less gravity air, his chains revolving around with green blades. Hundreds of years in the forsaken world left him to forget who he was, but the title being a warlord kept inside him. He became the Spirit Warrior, like all the elders from the Mortal Realm, where they died.
His heart clenching inside left him breathing; with anxiety and shock, Kai's discovery of one's presence filled one word, turning toward the farthest edge of the horizon churned to lime-yellow.
Oogway?
Oogway passed on, introducing himself beside the Sacred Peach Tree with thousands of his companions, who all waited for his arrival. Claiming souls later, Kai engaged his eleventh Spirit Warrior, who smashed every bit of fragments to a chi with his clouded hammer. Master Ox wrinkled his heart after seeing Kai hurling and clenching links toward his dear companion, Master Thundering Rhino. Then the twelfth warrior intervened close to the abandoned temple, introducing the Great Dragon on the stairway. Defeating Tai Lung with blunt force trauma, Kai faced his old foe across the green and yellow sea. After the unexpected reunion, Oogway thought the battle ended five centuries ago, and Kai wished to fight again for a rematch.
"Took you long enough!"
Oogway taunted the yak in a friendly yet chuckling to his old friend. And Kai snapped, leaping to his brother.
The rest familiar scenes of him returning to the Mortal World from Oogway's chi (enough of his brother's power to return home) were reminiscing essences and scents of the Earth's nature. Think how you were long gone in prison, only one window of day and night without freedom as he was in the Spirit Realm throughout his dear life. After sending his Jade Warriors for Oogway's students, he discovered where they were after capturing Crane and Mantis in the abandoned junk ship in the scorching desert. General Kai faced masters of the striped feline, the serpent, the monkey, and the red panda, giving mockery to his tortoise brother's "tacky" statue.
He pointed his jade blade at the monument, describing the tale that served him with his former companion. "I loved him like a brother. And he — betrayed me."
Now, he vouched to destroy everything Oogway had created: his brother's story, forgetting memories of the Magnificent and how the tortoise buried him. Three separate scenes from the tale of Maker of Widows showed his pride in controlling Jade Warriors raiding the Panda Village.
One giant trudged with his swords toward the pandas. "So, Oogway. This was the one destined to stop me?" Kai queried Oogway's amulet and gave his parody glance at the Dragon Warrior, surrounded by pandas and his dear fathers, and his dear friend Tigress was holding Lei Lei in her arms.
The second unveiled the Dragon Warrior's dragon chi fighting back in the Spirit Realm and later giving all of Po's power to Kai in the air, who had filled with fulfillment sensing powerful chi.
"YEEEEEEEEEESSSSS! The power — is MINE!"
But his story did not end well for the Master of Pain; the last thing was hearing his deafening outcry before the nova blast silenced him.
The third and mystery answer to solve Kai's return introduced two amulets of emerald and rose, circulating together at the black ice lake of the Spirit Realm. Four eyes of crimson emerged from the shadows, and Prince Huoju and Lady Mingling found their treasure. With the palm of his hoof inside the mountain, Prince Huoju cast Kai's amulet to Po's chi, the storm of emerald screeching the yak's scream.
Escaping from Prince Huoju's mountain, Kai gathered all the remains of Huoju's scattered forces into hundreds of amulets, marching toward the East after surveying their thoughts about their "leader" heading straight to Gongmen City. Finding his long-lost weapons in a familiar palace of "Shui," Kai restored his strength and power beyond imagination. With enough radiance to return vengeance against all the masters, he would instead focus on his old enemy before taking Po's head.
General Kai encountered the tiger across the harbor's bridge during the fight between the five armies of Emperor Huangdi, Rhinoceros, Prince Huoju's Fire Clan, Pirates, and Jade Warriors.
"One kitten was blessed from the dawn, and the other glinted by a dwarf star."
Leading toward the defeat of Prince of Darkness through the Jade Slayer's ending, fighting the black bear Mingling, Kai struggled his resilience on the cliff, the blade from the bear suppressing his ebony magic. Fragmenting Kai, Mingling's venomous tongue voiced out.
"I know what it's like for you to have. Something much more valuable than taking the Dragon Warrior's chi and your tortoise brother's head."
After the bear's banishment from Wugu's amulet, the almighty General Kai fell to the lake, the splash submerging him in the deep. With chains snaring and blades dragging his weight down toward the void, you see him no more.
The ordinary former warlord left his words muttering, which Tai Lung and Shen could not detect; Kai looked away and leaned his back against the structure, sliding him to the floor in dismay. Wolf Boss's daughter reached out to yak, whose hooves flattened against his head, rupturing his soft moan.
Lotus extended her arms around his silky mane. "You're okay, Kai," she stroked him.
Jade Palace Masters and the Nine contemplated on Shaolin members, whose murmur voices swam out of the gallery, delivering each other's faces with unsettling postures. Maintaining his silver beam from his paw, Chen Xing regarded two owls, who the father surrounded his wing closer to his daughter, and Swan Dancer Amy was pressing her chest beside two birds.
"YOU ROBBED ME, XING!"
Next to the tiger emerged one's sinister glare, whose emerald eyes flooded light on Xing's scarred face as he turned to the next victim. And this victim surged with hisses of roar and grunts, the floor sketching a yin-yang platform and the gallery seats across two sides. Many Shaolin disciples drowned their gapes, their stares broadening at the red deer, whose wide arms spun chain links. You could sense ringing blades as they hurled next to your ears upon introducing Wang's fiendish face standing before you.
No. Deng Wa robbed you. Chen Xing unveiled his sympathy head.
"And Iron Antlers," Lei Lei raised her brows, observing the next sufferer in the air with her cousin in the Garden.
"That's him I heard about," Bao Panda recognized. "He does bad things, right?"
"Wang's a victim, Bao. His bad parent abused him for far too long," Lei Lei said.
"Bao, poor deer," Bao Gorilla tapped his chest with understanding.
Memories from the Iron Antlers separated three scenes of himself in different times, placing three as many regarded the young, the teen, and the adult. The first pictured of the boy who ran to the river and struggled swimming near the water, reaching out to his mother on the boat far onward. The second displayed a teenager keeping himself cornered from his father in the fighting room with antelope students; Le snapped his belt with his hooves, whipping at his son. Lei Lei gaped when covering her lips.
No weakness! No mercy! Wang's father declared with his harsh voice.
The third caught most glances with intensified gasps, unveiling two warriors of striped feline and red deer in bloody combat.
Chen Xing trapped his whole leg over Wang's belly, advancing his limbs to surround his throat while rolling on the floor, screeching his roar. The last thing before the episode was Wang's father slapping his son's head, filling the tournament arena with eyes full of silence. Continuing with the Iron Antlers evacuating with his brothers toward Gongmen City, the next day swarmed atrocious screams from bandits and collateral damages throughout city blocks of Gongmen. Wang combated the one-eyed gray rabbit amidst the cobblestone road with the antelope brothers, holding fast against the line of Huoju's fighters.
What made Wang widen behind these bandits advanced a giant wooden coach with two jade crocodiles hauling on fours, leading those on the road to jump away. On the ride were the peacock, two striped felines, and the panda; Wang burst his outcry at the coach.
"YOU MANIAC!"
Another scene shifted its swirl clouds into a sphere of gray lightning with the white dragon and the ebony web with crimson eyes at the heart of Gongmen. The final battle commenced with the Nine's Leader and the Prince of Darkness, the fight of heroes against Huoju's army with the bear in black. Wang was stuck underneath the pile of rubble from the bar house, which let him hide from the Wugu dragon who spat fire at half of the city in ruins. Orange tiles and bricks pinned his legs; he burst his cry before going unconscious until one of his brothers rescued him.
The night darkened the cobalt heaven with white sparks where Wang traveled alone; witnessed the Jade Slayer's ending toward the river lake. Iron Antlers leaped into the water, swimming to the void; basil chains floated, emerald blades resting on the surface. One grip enough to receive this excruciating power, the deer could not resist, and hate flooded inside his body, driving Wang burst his foams of roar.
The remainder of this scene witnessing Wang becoming Deng Wa's new student put every master drown their gasps, watching him wade out of the water with General Kai's blades.
"The Dagger of Deng Wa has been in Kai's weapons all along!" Master Storming Ox fixed, pointing at jade swords.
Glancing at the subsequence view, Wang knelt close to the Yellow River beside the peach tree, clenching his face as he boosted his agony scream. Revolving Kai's knives, casting with lime lightning on chains, Wang diced every bit of his old house from bottom to top, fragmenting to pieces. He reached out to one owner, a porcupine in lime tops who yelped for cry and help, sprinting toward the wooden bridge. Wang battered his punches toward the innocent villager; unable to resist stopping himself, the deer extended his hooves, radiating green pulses into gold. Porcupine villager's chi transformed into a vortex and an emerald amulet.
Instead of an amulet, Wang unleashed his lime lightning at his new ally, the complete body of a Jade Warrior standing before the new Jade Slayer. In each scene with a porcupine at place sniping warriors from village to village and city by city, Wang built a stack of Jade Warriors forming behind him, raiding one temple and the next. Assaulting the Valley of Peace from him and his army and the latter defending the cave from warriors, the Iron Antlers diced the whole mountain into bits, collapsing the terrain. One by one, the army of Jade Warriors marched on vast landscapes of horrors, their mass destruction wrecking every house and temple as their leader Wang strode. Following the aftermath, his swarm of avians and amulet shifters in lightning clouds dove and crashed into Wukong's residences throughout the districts, leaving traces of fires coughing out charcoal smokes.
One of Wang's victims filled Chen Xing's breath in despair, seeking the deer who fiddled his hooves on Lady Kasi, the black leopard warrior of Righteous Seven. A slight screech from Xing streamed aggravation in pain.
"XING!"
Po screamed just as Chen Xing wobbled his head into disorientation, pulses of silky green ribbon streams surrounding him. One by one, Shaolin Masters stood and marked their defensive stances, their main limbs unleashing yellow and dawn chi radiances. From Bingwen's scroll stood the badger ghost himself, striding forward to the old foe inside Chen Xing. The body from Deng Wa shifted the size thrice, forming himself into a vicious deer creature, who beckoned his disappointing look, clenching his hooves. With one of his hooves, Le grabbed his belt.
"You promised to bring my son home. You did this to my boy, Xing."
Those words are not Le's.
Le's face swirled to the yak's grim head. "Cowards like you who ruined that puny deer. You TAKE THAT BACK!"
Master Dog's head churned, growling. "Let your flesh tarnish* your bones to a rotten tree*."
The Indian Elephant heaved his trunk. "May my tusks plunge your rotten heart."
The black leopardess floated with her voluminous colorful robes. "I am His soul, and He is mine. Let your flesh drown in the darkness and fire."
Chen Xing snapped his silver eyes. "I am going to say this one time. Get out of my head," he growled.
The leopardess's face churned to a triangular face of white and ebony stripes, the menacing look delivering his grimacing teeth. "Why did you abandon your creatures from the sky and give in to those worthless beings?" Deng Wa demanded with his silvery and raspy tongue, whose straw garment undulated his right side. "You did not destroy me along with those filthy pandas after I murdered your dragons in cold blood. Their blood, I drank and feasted on their meat, made me stronger."
Chen Xing propelled his snow-white glare at the scroll, his claw thrusting his silver chi at Deng Wa ghost by the female's scream of metal and sheath sword. The white dragon cast her cloud form out of Xing's body, her lengthy body projecting toward Deng Wa's head. The remaining badger specter form and above the Fighting Square decayed to a scarlet brown, dissipating all victims' memories; Po's chi and Xing's silver beam ceased casting their lights toward Bingwen's scroll.
The white dragon stirred her scowl at the fading specter in the sky, booming her voice. "I vouched for Mortal people. Because they are my children."
Her body launched back into Xing, relieving the tiger from his thoughts clutching.
"PO!"
"SON!"
Tigress and Li Shan shouted, sprinting to the panda after Po crashed his two limbs on the platform. Crane flapped his wings on time before Tigress, Mr. Ping, and the Five checked in with their panda companion. With slight disorientation, Chen Xing fell back and had his forearms crash on the floor, which the bunny Hong stormed toward him.
"Po! Talk to me!" Mr. Ping widened at his son.
Po quivered his head and relieved his tense breaths. "Phew! What a rush," he exclaimed, then checked his tiger colleague ahead of him. "Buddy, are you okay?"
The Nine's Leader swam his head with haste when the gallery spread mutters, his silver eyes broadening toward Bingwen's scroll. "Where is he? Where's Deng Wa?" Chen Xing grimaced.
'Whoa, relax, buddy. He's not here anymore," the cobra Fanshe aided him. "Are you okay?"
Xing's paw pressed against his forehead. "By the Gods. I don't feel so good."
Hong propelled her tiny fist on Xing's upper shoulder, giving the tiger a wince. "Ow! What was that for?" his mouth was wide.
"Oh, he's fine. What does the doctor say while checking your vitals?" his bunny sister palmed his heart, her long ear registering thumps. "You are healthy! Humor the best, angry the worst. That badger is out, big brother."
Po and the Furious Five headed to their colleagues, checking the Nine's Leader, who saw the bear standing close to him. "You good, Xing? Let me help you up," Po reached his paw to the tiger, and Xing stepped up from the panda's strength. "What happened?"
The Nine's Leader roughened his breaths, panting. "Those flickers of emerald clouds snapped inside my head," he inspected Bingwen's scroll. "Deng Wa was furious."
"Oh, we saw him what he did," Mantis creaked his wings above Monkey's head. "That guy did mimic Kai's voice and Wang's. He's the main one behind all of those victims, alright!"
Monkey went close to Xing on fours. "What have you felt anything back there? We almost got you, but the badger forced his way close to you first."
I could not see or hear them. That badger Deng Wa let me watch his victims.
Chen Xing inspected his paws, still panting his breaths once more. "The way I felt my paw reaching out to the scroll, they. . . smothered his throat, wanting me to kill him."
"The specter invaded you close, making yourself uncomfortable," Tigress elucidated.
"Yeah. That sense of hatred from Deng Wa forced my rage, and my dragon prevented that illness."
The green insect chirped his wings, landing on Xing's left shoulder. "It's good you are breathing well, Xing. You did scare us a little. Well, most of us," Mantis commented, and Monkey agreed, bobbing his head.
The Nine's Leader could hear his grandmother filling her conclusion statement in front of the gallery as Shaolin Masters bore their eyes on her. "You sure you are alright, Xing?" the avian stepped forward.
"I'll live, Master Crane," the tiger nodded.
"Listen, Xing," Crane lifted his conical hat. "Now that the Masters of Jade Palace learned Deng Wa's history, I owe Kai some forgiveness, and he should do the same."
"My dad and my people will spread the tale," Po swore. "The history between Kai and pandas shall end."
Master Shifu tapped his wooden pole. "As honesty between Kai and Masters of Jade Palace remains tenuous, we will accept his pardon. In the meantime, when the time is right, your student may welcome to visit Jade Palace after Kai's recovery."
"Thank you, Masters," the tiger nodded. "Shall we bring our students out whenever the rest of the Shaolin Masters leave?"
"Of course," Po agreed, and the Furious Five did the same.
One by one, the Shaolin Masters departed Shui Palace as Shen was behind the garden barrier, peeping behind the gaps. Initially, the peacock sought his son's best friend by meeting two owls, who were crucial witnesses to seeing Wang's father commit minor and major crimes. Master Owl's daughter in light brown hanfu craved receiving fortunes after her experience of this sensible connection from Le, and her father dared not to see anyone lay hands on his daughter. Being overprotective of Master Owl, sharing his small detail before his daughter's disturbing tale, he clarified to the Nine's Leader that he and his family of owls were Le's neighbors in the Yellow River across the bridge.
Shen beckoned to see Master Storming Ox on the Fighting Square with the Dragon Warrior and Furious Five; the bovine was the last giving farewell to both parties of Jade Palace and the Nine.
"All that hate was Deng Wa's doing, putting every warrior against victims," the Great Dragon spoke next to the peacock, whose crests drooped behind his head. "I just remembered now. Oogway's words proved that his brother was in the fiend's hands before I faced Kai in the Spirit Realm."
Tai Lung sharpened his broad glare at the yak, who sat behind the brick fence into hopelessness. "That evil specter was in you. After Bo Shan banished him and freed Master Dog, what had Deng Wa found you, driving you mad before turning against your brother?"
Kai inspected his left hoof. "I do not know how I ended myself hating Oogway," he said in uncertainty. "I only searched for the ways of chi. When you give healing summonings, what can you withdraw the energy?"
Tai Lung and Shen briefly stared at their eyes before Kai continued. "Wherever I went away from Oogway after he decided not to spill bloodshed anymore, I had wanted power against the greater army. The only path to vengeance."
The one-eyed wolf stood forth toward the yak. "Those blades of yours forged from the line of Deng Wa, which had remained sleeping before his awakening," Wolf Boss said. "When you were not yourself, his dagger remaining in your swords has been right in front of your muzzle, Kai."
Kai rotated his hooves. "I damaged everything. The rest of the Spirit Warriors I encountered, and most of the mort—" he planted his hands against his eyes, shattering his voice with guilt, "—the people I taunted and stole their chi. What had I done?"
"Kai, all those rampages and mind clustering you and those victims were Deng Wa's doing, flooding all the deceives and loathsomeness," Wolf Boss persuaded him. "Now we know who did this to you, and right now, that badger ghost is crushing Wang's heart."
Seeing Kai so vulnerable to admit he was the fault to blame, Tai Lung brought up his thought about him being the problem, wanting to rematch after the leopard's defeat. Through that sense of his, opening his profound study, he felt his grandfather's flowing words of wisdom, mentioning one of who he was admirable before Kai turned evil.
"Po's father saw everything, and if I am not mistaken, he will share the rest of his story with all the pandas. They will learn this warlock specter," Tai Lung said, gesturing at him and the two. "We are often the worst ones who put bones to shatter, mentalities to trigger in despise, and all the chi to draw life away."
"And my paws to steal metals under one's command," Wolf Boss commented.
That counts. Shen thought, crooning his throat as Tai Lung continued.
"To ourselves who had lives of regrets, what Zhong mentioned earlier, it's time to put that behind," the leopard nodded, moving close to the yak. "I fought Kai defending Oogway in the Spirit Realm, not knowing Deng Wa was in the Beast of Vengeance. Thanks to my mother's grandson's discovery, we now know who the real enemy is."
Tai Lung extended his clouded paw to Kai, who raised his head perplexingly. "You fought by my grandfather's side in the Great War. And you have my respect."
Kai kept his gaze at Wolf Boss, who beckoned his slight nod to him with comfort. After knowing this former challenger who was part of the amulet collection, Kai stood up from Tai Lung's grip, and they gave their handshakes. "Does this mean we are mates now?"
Tai Lung's eyes glinted once the Garden's door opened with soft creaks. "As long as you do not steal my chi or my sister's and her friends. You can ask Po for one."
"Oh, great! You and Kai are friends now, Tai Lung!" The Dragon Warrior smiled, which had Tai Lung squirmed his lips.
"Oh, no, Po. They are giving blessings for a date night," Wolf Boss grinned his teeth.
Shen breathed out his chuckle once Tai Lung and Kai retreated their hands, making Po suppress his laugh. "Zhong. You are the most ludicrous and lighthearted companion I have ever known."
"Ha! Says my closest brother," Wolf Boss patted Shen's shoulder.
After Master Ox's departure, the Nine's Dancer sauntered on the Fighting Square, giving her eyes at her feline partner, who acquired Bingwen's scroll with his paws. Chen Xing called a goose servant who opened a small coffer with a yin-yang icon, leading the tiger to place the scroll in the chest; he told him where to set it in his grandmother's safe room.
After witnessing this tragedy and the specter antagonizing her feline partner, Lotus was aware of his experience. The abhorrence sense with Deng Wa's victims when Xing described the mentality attack. Becoming mindful of this hidden enemy who laid paws on sufferers let Lotus regard one she used to despise. She was incapable of thinking of Wang, who had his father's issues and now joined the badger as his new Jade Slayer.
Deng Wa ruined their lives. Why Wang? Why him? Lotus feared.
Chen Xing crossed his limbs after Biyu entered Ming's dojo house. "Whatever happens now, Lotus, Deng Wa is fully aware of me going near him," expected Xing. "Without knowing I encountered him last time, he has been inside Wang. You saw what Kai went through. And we know what Wang is leading to his fate. I fear that he will be worse than other victims."
"Now, that badger will stay close to Iron Antlers," Lotus warned. "What will you do if you reencounter Deng Wa, Xing?"
"While I am only going to capture Wang, Lotus, all the masters are willing to seize him, and they will annihilate him with their powerful chi. Like Po's greater power, he can get rid of him."
"If anyone destroys Wang, Deng Wa dies with him. By freeing your former competitor, there has to be another way. The question is: How do we eliminate Deng Wa?"
"There might be a way. Only one," he reflected on the canine's episode who combated his challenger. "Bo Shan engaged Master Dog and used his grip on his head, banishing the spirit."
"Are there any masters who bear this chi grip?" she rotated her paws.
"I do not think there's any master who grasps the chi of consciousness," Chen Xing mused at his feet with uncertainty. "Maybe one who does. The problem right now, Lotus, she is serving with Wang."
The wolf pulled her dark cobalt ears down. "Lady Kasi," Lotus figured.
Large and heavy steps from the Nine's Garden approached behind two warriors. "You showed me who I once was, Little Kitten. That Mighty General, the Supreme Warlord of all China, is no more. Tiny Badger ruined my life and made me turn against my brother, who I loved."
The tiger bridged his knuckle under his jaw with reflection. "What brought Deng Wa back to the Mortal Realm before he seized you? I am unsure what to seek that answer, but it remains a mystery for now. The next time if there's any lore related to the badger's tale, I could find what summons him back."
Kai grunted his muzzle. "By the time he returns to attempt one's life, I will be the first to rise and send him home crying. Again and again," the yak clenched his fist.
"Hmm. Let the Spirit Warriors take care of Deng Wa's fate," Xing assured.
The tiger began to inspect Tai Lung joining with Shen and the Masters of Jade Palace toward Shui Palace's gate, departing with Shifu. Tigress was strolling on the pathway with her aunt Chen Ming near the door where Po craned his head; the Nine's Master palmed the feline's cheeks and gave her lips bless on her forehead, giving two striped tigresses embrace. Tigress gesticulated her paw at her nephew as Xing did the same before she joined with Po, closing the palace gate.
One day, Nana will share her story with Tigress. I wish to know about her parents.
"What will you have your Mightiest Warrior student train next, Little Kitten?" Kai asked.
Once leading his silver eyes at one of the dying blossoms, Chen Xing linked his palms with a soft grasp, breathing in and out. Respiring long enough to repeat this concentration scenario on reflecting happy memories of his fellow brothers and sisters of the Nine, Xing extended his limb toward cherry flowers, his paw blending yellow from silver.
Kai filled his cold breath in awe, the sense of nostalgia impacting him to remember his tortoise brother, who performed his Tai Chi stance with panda monks. They outstretched their hands at the ash tree, which bathed with waves of gold returning to life as the peach tree had lived over a century. Maybe this "chi" was something more significant to master than retract energy. Was he not ready to use the panda's gift, which he rejected, which could change him into a different course? Kai went on the terrible path of greed and suffering.
This lesson is where I had failed my brother and those pandas who aided us. And now I am heading to my mistake again. Kai feared.
The Nine's Leader pulled his paws, leaving the healing cherry flowers to grow back. "That will be your newest teaching, Kai," Chen Xing said. "This will be a significant role not only to heal anything that touches, but the power of chi does all the capabilities. One of which will cleanse the rest of the Jade Warriors, one by one, returning to normal again. To test your chi is to deliver your mind into a balance. Clearing your thoughts of fog and doubtfulness will ease your tension. Like meditation, you are good at it. Let your mind flow with your light."
Lotus wavered her paw, whose chi pulsed with dawn and yellow, palming on Kai's hoof. "Will you master your chi with us, Kai?"
Masking his agitation, the former warlord stretched his little grin, his hoof resting on his chest. "As Oogway's blood brother, I will master my chi," he vowed.
A/N:
— Words tarnish and tree. I made the canine character giving reference to one game (grown-ups only).
— Twenty chapters left, pandoms! Twenty more to end Volume Three!
— A little late to be exciting here (I did so with writers on Discord last week after the 39th chapter when DW shared news), but hearing DreamWorks' news made an official announcement for KFP 4's release date on March 2024, which we've all been waiting for. LET'S GOOOOO!
— Other two new chapters will appear around September. After that, more than ten will go to deadlines near this year's final month. On that specific date will be a big event. Last August in 2021, I published a three-chapter streak, which introduced the new character going berserk as the new Jade Slayer. Like the last time, I will be planning to do another streak. A few guests (SheyConYamo's OCs) will emerge, including one familiar face. Stay tuned, and enjoy the beginning of your school/college year!