Chapter 74: Fear
[Tai Lung's POV]
I am strongest.
That was no illusion nor was it an exaggeration.
But was I invincible? Was I undefeatable?
Seeing myself completely paralysed and poisoned through underhanded means by the enemy I respected more than hate, the answer to that question slowly appeared in my mind.
"Now please die, Tai Lung." His words echoed in the inner cavity of my ears, my body which was completely still and paralysed gave weight to his words. They felt like hammers.
..
..
Yes.
"A pebble should not tell a mountain to move." I said with a smile as I pulled at my blue Chi which was at the innermost part of my being.
It was something I said to Shifu a few days ago (Chapter 66). 'You can't only have destruction, sometimes you also need to heal and give life.'
During the week I spent training in the Jade Palace, I did more than just train my usage of Chi to cause massive destruction. I also learned how to use Chi to heal myself and others because the last thing I wanted was to have to watch the people I care about die in my hands or be killed by a petty poison.
I let my blue chi - which was more responsive to healing techniques than my white chi- flow through my body and heal the damage the poison had done to me.
I did not know how the healing techniques worked as that was something most stories never delve into in my past life, but I just imagined my cells working faster and giving birth to new cells and strengthening my immune system to fight against the poison.
The fact that I didn't have much clue about how healing works did not matter as I used a massive amount of Chi to make up for it.
My body started releasing steam as my temperature rose sharply. My wounds started disappearing at a visible speed.
I regained the ability to move my body again as I slowly stood up and cracked my neck. I could feel the astonished gaze of Master White Tiger on my back.
"Hmmm?" I wondered out loud as I felt something come up from my throat.
*Spat*
I spat out a thick dark liquid which smelt like blood but also something else.
"hehehehehahaha." I started laughing and turned to face Master White Tiger.
The reason I accepted his challenge and humoured him was that I was strong. I knew whatever trick he could pull up from his sleeves, it mattered not to me.
I was too strong now and Chi was too versatile.
In a way, I was happy that he did such things to me.
The allied kingdoms were dishonourable as they kept the invasion a secret as long as they could. They did not declare a battle against us nor did they announce their alliance.
They have broken the Codes of War. They have broken their honour.
But I held the kings responsible for that and thought at least the warriors and master were different, simply following the order of their king,
But now I knew they were not honourable either.
So, why hold back?
*Wooosh!!*
I used flashsteps to reach him at a speed he had never witnessed before. It was too fast that his mind didn't even have time to register if it was real or an imagination.
"You have eyes but you do not see Mt. Tai." I said when I was in front of him.
A joke.
That was the last words I offered him before I plunged my hand through his chest, effectively destroying his heart.
His body froze, without a heartbeat. His eyes shook and widened to the limit as he locked his gaze with mine. Then everything turned bright blue in his vision as I used fire bending and burned his body.
In a matter of seconds, his body turned into ash and was carried away by the winds of the battle. He would not even have a proper grave by which his loved ones could remember him.
The Champion of Dali, the Guardian of the Great City Master White Tiger.
He died just like that. His death unhonoured.
Because that was how he lived.
...
...
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I shifted in my position and turned towards the battlefield again. My soldiers were still winning as only a few hours had passed. The valley made it so that the soldiers engaging in combat were always the same and the only difference was that the enemy had plenty of replacements for the dead. So they had nigh unlimited stamina.
So although we were winning right now, I knew we would lose in a drawn-out battle. I needed to do something about that.
.
.
"I told him the consequences of doing such things would be heavy" I heard a voice from behind me and I turned to look at the person who was able to nearly sneak up on me.
The Turtle Monk.
He was the eternal Kung Fu master of Tang whose age was unknown. He was a monk who rarely got into conflict through the years and was said to be a relative of Oogway himself.
But unlike Oogway who was old and wrinkly, the Turtle Monk was an extremely big and muscular guy with wide shoulders and huge arms. He was also grey in colour and he wore a big green necklace.
"But I am surprised you were able to shrug off the poison I made so easily. You have come further in mastering Chi than I could have ever expected." He said in a calm voice but rather than his words, I was more focused on what he was doing.
He was waving his hand around in the air as if he were catching something even though there was nothing there. But if you looked closely, you could tell that he was using a slight wind manipulation and he was grabbing tiny ashes in the air and putting them inside his wine bottle.
It was the remaining ashes of White Tiger. My blue flames never leave ashes and completely burned any fuel but it seemed I missed some.
"I wouldn't do that if I was you." I told him in a flat tone, yet it promised something if not followed, something not too pretty.
I had bestowed White Tiger the punishment of not even having a proper grave, he would not defy me.
"Why not?" He asked me and continued catching ashes in the air before putting them inside his bottle, "Why must one act dictate the value of a life lived? He was just doing what he should, trying his best for the people."
I scoffed. "Tell that to Oogway in the spirit realm."
"Now I won't ask again." I said and turned my body towards him, readying myself to take action.
He stopped.
"Right." He said and ceased his action of catching the ashes. He tucked his bottle at the side of his belt and he breathed loudly and slowly as I looked at the odd turtle.
I felt no malicious intent for him, forget about seeing me as an enemy, he didn't even see me as an opponent. And he was also extremely calm around me.
He did not fear me. He did not fear the worst thing I could give him.
He did not fear death.
How odd. I had come across very few who did not fear death. He was one of them.
"I wouldn't focus on fighting an old turtle if I was you." He said suddenly, right before I was going to lunge at him. " I believe you have more pressing matters."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
He stayed silent for a while.
"He's here."
??
The fuck? Who is?
"What do yo-" My words evaporated in my throat as I snapped my head to look behind me.
I did not even pay heed to the Turtle Monk who sneaked away and went into hiding after that, because there was something gravely wrong about reality.
I looked at the direction of the opposing army and I looked further behind them and into the endless expanse of the horizon.
I did not even have time to doubt as that feeling grew bigger and bigger in my chest. It started in my heart, then my stomach until my whole body was filled with a deep sense of unease.
Instincts I had honed for years and some I did not even know about, started crying out, screaming at me. This was different from when I first engaged with White Tiger, this was something much worse.
'What is this?' I asked myself when I felt the unfamiliar emotion in my chest.
Then I finally realized that something was approaching the battlefield. It was fast, too fast that I could not see it nor sense it with my Chi.
What was it? I wondered. It couldn't have been artificial. Was it a meteorite?
There was no sound, there was no object, and there was no telling as it moved at a speed far incomprehensible to me. It felt like I was trying to sense light itself with how fast it was moving.
But then, in a split second, everything changed again. I felt intention, I felt bloodlust. The thing was an animal!!
No..
An enemy.
"Everyone RUN!!!!" I managed to scream out to my soldiers but then it reached us.
It was impossibly fast, its speed seemed to ridiculule the very law of space itself.
I was not sure what happened next because there was no sound and I couldn't see it. The world cried out in despair and the most violent shockwave and tornado descended on the earth.
Mountains were cleaved.
Then I finally found out what the feeling in my chest was. It has been so long since I felt that emotion so I had nearly forgotten it.
..
..
Fear.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!*
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Author : Two chapters today it is.
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