Po still couldn't believe it, even though he's had quite a few moments to process it. Standing right before him, in the a crime riddled city, was his father of flesh and blood. The one who helped bring him into this world. It was him, it was seriously him.

And he knew that it was true. From his currently bursting heart selling with cheer, he could tell that this older panda was telling the truth. This Li Shan was his father via blood.

His heart certainly felt and accepted it, but his mind has yet to catch up with the fact in full, hence why he was having trouble coming up with things to say to him.

"Li Shan...is it?" Po blinked softly as the name rolled off of his tongue. The older panda scratched the back of his head.

"Right. I can't really expect you to refer to me as Dad right here and now, can I?" Li Shan sighed as he scratched also scratched his cheek. "Because you have someone else to call that, don't you? The one that adopted you. A kindly goose named Mr. Ping?"

"Yes, that's him."

"I see. So by your given foster name, I would call you Po Ping."

"Mhm."

Li Shan smiled as he tilted his hat. "Well then, it appears I have a wonderful man to thank for raising you. I'm guessing he's certainly fed you very well, I take it?"

"I always eat my fill when I can. Though, it's always better to eat with friends. Feels a lot more complete that way, you know?"

"Ah right. Friends." Li Shan smiled as he turned towards the others with a nod. "He must be referring to all of you."

"Uh...yeah, that's us alright. We're his buddies! Ehe." Monkey chuckled as he was trying to play off how surprised he was by this turn of events. First a big woman of a panda, then a cute little girl panda, and now an elder male panda. Where are they coming from all of a sudden?!

"Pleased and honored to meet you." Tigress hummed while bowing to him despite her tattered clothes. Though as she did this, she was a little bit worried about how he would perceive them. How much did he hear about all of them together? Does he have a good perception of them, or something less than ideal?

Li Shan chuckled as he lightly pushed his hat back. "I hear that you cause a lot of trouble with my son wherever you all go."

"Eyup." Mantis admitted.

"It's super fun!" Viper nodded rapidly.

"We try to keep him, and each other, from dying. Most of the time." Crane deadpanned with a sigh. "It's too late to turn back from that influence, though. We've all become trouble magnets after having been exposed to him for so long, so we kind of just accepted it as it is."

"Nothing like being trouble magnets to set off a good adventure!" Mei Ling lightly nudged his shoulder, causing him to lower his hat in front of his face.

Mei Mei sighed before smiling quite widely. "Well, if anything, it's really nice to finally have you two reunited at long last! I thought we were never going to find you, that we were only chasing a ghost or something. But I'm super glad that we were able to get you two together! It's such a relief!"

"Cuddles!" Lei Lei chirped suddenly.

Po chuckled as he saw the little panda reaching out for him. He walked over and kneeled a bit before her. "Heya little Buddy. How are you feeling? You're not too hurt are you?"

"Nh!" Lei Lei shook her head as she runs up to Po to hug him. Briefly surprised, he warmly returned the gesture with the one arm he had.

"You're a tough little lady, aren't ya? It hasn't been that long, yet you look like you've bounced back from everything pretty quickly."

"Lei Lei is safe. Thank goodness." Li Shan sighed while fanning himself with his hat, before placing it back on his head. "It got a little crazy, but it looks like everything's worked out for the best." He lifted his head with a smile. "It's okay to be honest with me, you know. We pandas can be rather laid back, but also really capable of causing a fuss and causing a bit of pandemonium if we feel like it. So my son must be quite difficult for you to keep up with. A real pawful."

"No, not at all." Everyone sans Po and Mei Mei retorted while bowing their heads.

"Haha! You're good people." Li noted while tipping his hat. "It's really relieving to know that my boy has quite a reliable group of friends."

"Well it helps that Po is plenty reliable himself." Monkey lightly rubbed his nose while balanced on his tail. "I mean, just now he beat down that thundering gorilla guy so that me and the others could focus on taking down Qing. He would have made things way more difficult if he had stuck around it mess with us further."

"Safe to say, that Qing's position is now forfeit. Jinzhou's people will find someone better to lead them, I'm sure." Crane noted while brushing off his hat.

"Yeah. Good for that, means we really did save Monkey's bro, like we came here to do." Po nodded as he turned back to Li, scratching his cheek. "But I really wasn't expecting to see my birth dad all the way out here. Nor my childhood friend, or another small panda that also looks like me. It's just so much to take in at once. Maybe that's why I'm not really more emotional than I am right now."

Li hummed, walking over and placing a paw on his shoulder. "We were separated when you were just a young cub who couldn't talk yet, Lotus. I don't blame you for not feeling more emotional about this little reunion of ours. You've had far more time to establish an emotional connection with your foster father than myself." He nodded. "It's not a fault of yours, nor am I very offended or saddened by it. It's just the way things ended up."

"Yeah, I guess that's the what to think about it."

That being said, Li Shan didn't hesitate to pull his son into a big bear hug the moment things quieted down enough. "With all that being said...I'm immeasurably happy to see you. I'm so glad that you're alive. I'm so...so grateful that you lived. I well and truly thank you, Lotus. For being alive."

Po blinked owlishly, before be lightly wrapped his arm around the older panda and returned the panda cuddle, burying his head into his neck. It was beginning to come to him now. The warmth he could feel from the panda's heart was beginning to reach him even further, and as such he was able to respond with a more balanced perspective. He tightened his grip on the older panda while tears threatened to leave his eyes.

"I...I...I don't know how...what are we going to..."

Li slowly pulled back from him, smiling at his teary eyed son while wiping tears from his eyes. "It's alright, son. I just showed up in your life out of nowhere when you've already got a foster father who actually raised you. I'm not going to raise too much of a fuss if you're not entirely comfortable addressing me as your father just yet. I won't even be upset if you never do. Knowing that you're alive and well and happy, that's all I really need."

Po sniffled slightly, wiping his own tears with his arm. "R-Right..."

Mei Mei cooed delightfully at the two of them, before she sighed and wiped her brow. "It really is wonderful that you two got to see each other again."

"Right. Say, I'm curious." Li Shan noted when looking towards Mei Mei. "You happened to find him first. I didn't get to see it, so I'm wondering. How did it go?"

Mei Mei blinked, and she blushed while looking away, twiddling her fingers. "W-Well, you see, it was a nice and warming reunion where we had a bit of time to talk and hug, before we set off to find Lei Lei."

"I see."

"She also crashed into me and ended up sitting on my face." Po innocently raised his paw to point out, which sent Mei Mei into a red-headed, sputtering mess, while Tigress's eyes widened as she turned away and coughed into her fist. Viper and Mei Ling also felt rather shaken as they remembered how the two pandas first made contact. Li blinked.

"Oh my."

"N-No! It's not what you think! It was an accident, Li! An accident! Damn it, Lotu-I mean, Po! He didn't need to know that part!" Mei Mei groaned and sputtered while covering her reddened face behind her paws.

"He didn't?" Po tilted his head.

"NO! By the gods, that was NOT how I wanted to start that reunion off!"

It was the first time the rest of the guys heard of it. And so...

"Woah woah, time the hell out!" Monkey shouted as his paws made a 'T' gesture. "Did you just say that your very first interaction with this panda woman...was her crashing into you...and sitting on your face?"

"Yeah." Po answered honestly, lightly scratching the back of his neck. "It's kinda surreal, cause now I know how it feels like being on the other end of that. Literally. Everything kinda goes dark for a bit, and it feels like a large and cushy pillow is kinda sorta smothering you. Crazy stuff."

"Po, please STOP." Mei Mei begged as she began blushing even more, lightly smacking her friend upside the head.

"Somehow I'm not surprised, yet still baffled regardless." Crane sighed while hiding behind his hat.

"Po, my guy. You can't go randomly admitting to things like this with a straight face!" Mantis shouted while hopping onto his nose and holding him by the cheeks, surprising him a bit.

"I can't?"

"NO! This stuff is incriminating when you're in a relationship, man! How did Tigress even feel about that?!"

"I mean, she kinda saw it..."

"And she didn't tear you apart?!"

Tigress coughed again while avoiding eye contact with everyone. "It was, um, an accident. A sincere accident. There was no reason to be upset."

"Plenty reason to be embarrassed, though." Viper smiled awkwardly, scratching the top of her head with her tail.

"That's seriously what happened? How clumsy can you get?!" Wu Kong noted with folded arms, balanced on his tail while looking rather leery. "But still, that's quite an experience! Mind telling me a bit more? Maybe, uh, I can be next? Just to know what it's like?"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?! DON'T YOU HAVE ANY SHAME?!" Crane cawed in his face with a glare of irritation.

"He didn't even hesitate. There are times and places for this, dude. This ain't one of them. Pandas are tryin' to have a reunion here." Mantis groaned while shaking his head. "Why did we even bother saving you?"

"Okay, ouch!"

"Monkey, I apologize for saying this." Viper began with a brief swipe of her tail. "But your brother being in jail makes more sense by the minute."

"Alright, I know you're a reptile and all, but that was still way too cold-blooded!"

"Things get like this all the time." Mei Ling turned to Li with a playful yet tired smile.

"I can see that! You really are a lively bunch!" Li rolled with it with a hearty laugh, tipping his hat to the side.

"Yes yes, we're all super lively! Can we move onto a different subject, please?!" Mei Mei pleaded while her face was completely red. Now, Mei Mei takes a lot of pride in her hefty frame, quite a bit. But the fact that her reunion with Po began with an accident like that would certainly not go towards one of her prouder moments. She would rather move on from it and leave it behind, but that sounded easier said than done. "Accident. That's it."

"What was it that old tortoise Oogway used to say? 'There are no accidents?' Wu Kong pointed out with a smirk.

Mei Mei was silent for a moment, but Tigress immediately knew from the lack of light in her eyes that usually sparkled with upbeat energy, that she was pissed.

"...Come over here. I'll fulfill your little wish." Mei Mei smiles darkly. "I hope you take the time enjoy it, it'll be the last positive thing you'll ever feel! Because I'm your new executioner!"

"H-Hey! I'm just joking around! You look kinda serious about that!" Wu Kong looked towards his brother for help. "Monkey?! Back me up here, bro!"

"Who's your bro? Sorry, I've never seen you before in my life." Monkey bluntly denied with raised paws.

"Backstabber!"

"Your own flesh and blood agrees with Mei Mei's judgement! There's no escape!" Mei Mei cracked her knuckles and rolled up her sleeves. Wu Kong slowly began scurrying away, before going full sprint. "You've been judged to face Mei Mei's Fabulous Wrath! Punishment: Panda Pummeling! Accept your fate like a man!"

"Have mercy on me!"

"DENIED! Mei Mei the Merciless demands recompense for your offenses!"

"MONKEY!"

"You heard the lady. Who's brave enough to stop her? Certainly not me."

With that said and done, and a large female Panda chasing down an annoying primate in the background, Li now curiously turns to Tigress. "Curious, rather curious. It would seem that you and Lotus have become quite the acquaintances."

"I suppose you could say that." Tigress answered with a respectful nod. "Po and I have been somewhat close ever since we were cubs. Then we went on our respective training journeys for years, until reuniting in order to go on a newer, different journey. And it resulted in many an event leading up to now."

"Is that so? So when it comes to comrades, you're pretty much the first." Li rubbed his chin. "Though they said something about a relationship...?"

To Tigress's credit, the tint of red brushing her cheeks was well hidden by her fur, though she didn't change expression too much. "That's right. Me and Po have become each other's significant other. And we're still figuring these things out along the way."

Li rubbed his chin still, leaning closer to Tigress. "Have you been good to him?"

"Yes."

"Has he been good to you?"

"Very much so."

"Will you continue to be good to each other?"

"Always."

Li hummed towards Tigress, seeing the sincerity in her eyes despite her overall stoicism at the moment. Soon enough, he smiled as he tipped his hat. "Well then, guess I have nothing to worry about there. Good to know that he's in capable paws."

"Right. Ugh..." Tigress grunted as she briefly fell to one knee, lightly nursing her arm. Ok noticed that some of the others looked like they were about to fall over as well, mainly due to the exhausting battle they've had so far, and the toll it's had on their bodies.

"Gah, we've really been fighting for a while..." Crane sighed as he nearly collapsed to the ground from exhaustion, as well as his wounds.

"Oh! You've all been in a pretty intense battle. " Li blinked as he gauged everyone being injured throughout their battles. "Here, allow me." Li raised his paw, as a golden glow emitted from his paw.

Tigress blinked as she looked at her paws, and her eyes widened as many of her wounds began to close and heal. And she looked to see as everyone else's wounds began to heal up from their battles. She could also see that Mei Mei was pitching in on the healings doing so with a smile-glaring at Wu Kong-and surprisingly Lei Lei as well, giggling the entire time. They were bathed in a warm, golden glow, until the pandas ceased, and the flow slowly died down.

Once it cleared up, obviously the gang had some curiosities.

"Okay, woah. What the heck?!" Monkey exclaimed as he looked himself and the others over.

"Our wounds have healed!" Viper gasped while getting a good look at her scales.

"But how?!" Crane squawked, flapping his wings, which also felt a lot better.

Tigress gazed at her paws again, seeing the one she had stabbed through in her battle with Tai Lung, had mostly healed over, making a faint scar. She knew what this was. "They're using their chi to heal us." Everyone turned towards her in surprise, aside from the pandas. "I've never felt it like this before. This feels like, a more liberated use of chi manipulation. I don't know how to accurately describe it."

"Their chi just feels so...massive." Viper agreed with a hiss of awe.

Mei Mei clasped her paws. "We pandas have the highest and most potent chi reserves of all. Even way back into the ancient era. Our ancestors have used it for mostly healing."

"Though we eventually lost the knowledge of the technique." Li admitted with a sigh. "Throughout five hundred years, our knowledge of it was lost to time, and we've completely forgotten about it. Which is especially pathetic for me in particular, as I used to be known as Master Panda, before...you know."

"Wait, so if you've all forgotten how to use more advanced forms of chi manipulation, how are you able to do so now?" Crane wondered.

Li Shan looked towards the group and tilted his hat forward. "A kindly old tortoise helped everyone in our village remember."

"Oogway." Tigress and Po declared in shocked unison.

"'This is to repay the kindness of your ancestors.' That's what he said to us when he first appeared." Li Shan noted. "He said he knew our ancestors personally, having interacted with them before. I asked how he met with them and what happened between them, but he never really have a clear answer. Just that he was involved with the Panda Tribe at some point in his life. Way back then. He lived for a long time."

"That's one of the other things Oogway was doing...helping the Pandas regain their ability for advanced chi manipulation." Tigress deduced, and Po himself was looking surprised at what he was hearing. Oogway even stopped by the place where his birth father and the rest of the surviving pandas held up after the panda massacre? That would mean he always knew where they were.

And he never told Po.

Why?

Well, Po supposed that at the time he wouldn't have really cared. Not out of apathy, but because he was so used to and comfortable with life with Mr. Ping that he wouldn't have really considered it important, and he was on his own journey with Fenghuang. But after what he discovered with the Panda Massacre and Shen, by the time he's become more invested in his people as a whole, Oogway was already dead by then. By the time Po would have given more thought to it and would have prompted Oogway to provide that info, which he was sure he would have given or hinted at if he was curious enough, Oogway simply wasn't around anymore.

Knowing this simply made his passing an even deeper case of terrible timing.

Po also supposed that in a way, it wasn't Oogway's place to simply give away the location of the Panda Tribe, even to a fellow panda. That information could quickly get out of paw, and they clearly wanted to hide themselves for a reason. Several of them are obvious. It was likely that he new that Li would eventually come looking for Po himself, and thus didn't interfere with a potentially more natural type of reunion between father and son, rather than one he might have set up. It was very personal.

Whatever the case may be, this is turning out to be much deeper and intricate than Po expected, and it was already far beyond his expectations.

"In any case, we can go into more details later." Mei Mei narrowed her eyes. "Don't we have other friends of yours that might need a helping paw of plenty?"

Father! Tigress remembered, having gotten caught up in everything, thus being able to focus on this point. "We have to move everyone! Let's regroup with the others!"

"Right!"

With their next move decided, and having to force Mei Mei to halt her attempts on Wu Kong's life, the gang began making their way to Shifu and the others with their newfound panda comrades, hoping they weren't too late to help that group out.


Shifu could already figured out several things about this rampaging beast front of him. It was easy enough to tell that he was a malevolent person wrecking havoc and causing pain and suffering via beating people up for fun. He got that part loud and clear. Very much loud and clear.

What was becoming a problem was the fact that his durability was ridiculous. His hide is one of the tougher ones Shifu's ever come across in his days in combat, and that's quite telling considering there a lot of durable people who qualify as warriors, with Po and Tigress being notable examples.

Though this was something almost entirely on a different scale. Now, Shifu knew he wasn't the hardest hitting warrior around, mostly due to his size and stature. But gosh, none of his attacks so far have made the large beast in front of him so much as flinch. Boar roars as he slammed his fist where he imagined Shifu to be, which was effortlessly dodged due to how easily telegraphed the move was. Hearing the rubble around him being reduced from the sheer force of his blows, however? Shifu wasn't sure he could take a heavy hit like that and keep on fighting without consequence.

Though his problem was compounded due to having other things to worry about.

And one of them took the form of a chain hammer being thrown his way, which he nimbly dodged and kicked to the side, landing on his feet while surveying the origin. One of the members of the Lin still attempting to attack him, while others have been keeping his father Shirong busy. Multiple chain hammers shot towards him, in which he dodged them from multiple directions, kicking them away from him. He grit his teeth as the spikes from one managed to graze his shoulder. And from there, he barely managed to dodge another punch from Boar, again heading it smash smash into the ground and destroy it.

That seriously was making things rather troublesome, but be was regaining his focus on the manner.

"They're trying to break my focus on this Boar. Shirong is turning his best to divert his attention, but..." Shifu narrowed his eyes as he jumped over another chain hammers, then nimbly dodges another fist from Boar mid-air, which visibly irritated him with a grunt.

"Hey! Hold still! You're too small!"

"Why would I comply with that request?" Shifu scoffed as he jumped from one space to another, effortlessly dodging many of Boars heavy blows that easily left craters in the ground, causing quakes with each impact. Shifu knee that getting hit by one of those wouldn't be good for him in the slightest, so be had to stay clear of them. While also staying clear of the Lin Musk trying to break up his flow and get him hit.

Sure, easy enough.

Hopefully Shirong would keep having his back.

And indeed be was.

Shirong dodged to the side as the chain hammers threw his way missed it's mark. He proceeded to grab onto the chain itself and yank on it, twirling both it and the offending wolf around before slamming them into another wolf attempting to attack them. He looked to the side as he spins around another and kicks it towards another target.

"You're all a touch too obvious with your intentions, it's quite easy to tell what you're up to." Shirong scoffed while holding a paw in front of him. "I've been dodging attempts on my life since you were all whining pups!" He responded to their attempts of retaliation via throwing many of their chain hammers towards him at once, with him jumping straight upwards to avoid them. They brought they had him, as they tried throwing their chain hammers upwards towards him next, though the were ultimately apprehended as he knocked two of them to the side and threw one of the back to sender, smashing it into their skull and knocking them out.

He took a brief breath before brushing himself off. He could keep this going no problem. Anything for his son's sake. After all he's been through, it's only fair that Shirong would be here for him, at least for this.

Unfortunately, he couldn't be everywhere at once.

Shifu dodged yet another burrowing fist from Boar, narrowing his eyes as attempted to figure out what he could do. He couldn't waste any stamina striking uselessly. Any normal strike from him wasn't going to so much as make a dent on him, much less make him flinch. He probably wouldn't even feel it. Shifu needed something heavier in order to do any damage.

Though when he landed on his feet once again, he winced as he felt something jab into his side, briefly stumbling him.

"You're jumping around too much, you rat." Heilang snarled after a throwing knife stabbed into Shifu's side, courtesy of himself.

Shifu gritted his teeth, able to hear Heilang's muttering from the shadows.

"You finally stopped hopping around, small thing?!" Boar clenched his fists with a roar. "Good! I'll smash you to pieces like the vermin you are!" Shifu's eyes widened as he pulled out the knife in his side, only several moments short of managing to jump out of the way of Boar smashing his fist into him.

Shifu still grunted in pain from the recent knife wound, attempting to power through it. But with his focus briefly broken, he was unable to keep his continuous dodges for long; a chan hammer slammed into his back, intensifying immense pain in his back and further disorienting him.

"GOTCHA!" Boar roared with a malevolent grin as his large fist finally slammed into the stunned Shifu.

Shifu felt as if everything shattered upon impact, as he was launched across the street and crashing through several wrecked buildings, before finally slamming right into a more sturdy wall. Brief spurts of blood left his mouth, before he fell forward, rubble crashing stop him.

"SHIFU!" Mei Ling gasped at her beloved being launched from such a heavy blow. She briefly wondered if he could even get up from it. She attempted to make her way to him despite her numerous injuries already, but she was stopped by something stepping into her back, making her cough. She scurried into her back, only to feel a paw catch her by the throat. Her fox tail waved furiously as she felt his claws begin digging into her throat.

"You said quite a few insulting things about me and my clan before, didn't you?" Heilang snarled. "It'd still be a waste to kill you. I'm sure your body will be of use to someone somewhere. But your snark was pissing me off. And I'm sure it'd be the same for them too, which will reflect upon us even worse." He pulled his other paw back, claws unsheathed. "So, what's it gonna be, vixen? Want me to cut out your vocal cords, or rip out your tongue?" He narrowed his eye with a sinister sneer. "Know what? I'll do both for good measure. You can survive without them. It'll be better for where you'll end we're done with you. But don't worry, that vermin's bloodied corpse can be your treasured last memory of him. You can probably use that to cling to in order to endure whatever vile things are done to you afterwards!"

"Urk...!" Mei Ling gasped as she felt heavier pressure on her throat, Heilang's claws digging in deeper. She managed to feel a breath of air once Heilang felt a chain hammer slam into the back of his head, sending him for a painful loop as the world began spinning around him. Shirong landed in front of her, eyes narrowed.

"That's no way to speak to or treat a lady." Shirong stood up, helping Mei Ling to her feet. "Especially one that managed to steal my son's heart. She's an expert thief indeed."

"T...Thank you..." She breathed, more that he saved her than his compliment to her, though she was grateful for both.

"As for you...you should know better." Shirong scolded Heilang, who was simply snarling at the both of them. "From what I've seen or heard, my son is a formidable fighter. As such, even in situations like this, we do what many that are small and somewhat like us do when we going to life. We keep fighting."

"Pathetic! Stupid! Boring!" Boar roared as he smashed his way through several houses, sending more civilians scurrying about from their evacuated areas. "Is there no one else?! Someone else fight me! None of the others were able to do anything but crumple like weaklings! Grrr! Fine! I'll just smash everything to pieces!"

Something shot out from the rubble, and landed a few feet away from Boar, briefly gaining his attention.

"You really are just...a lumbering oaf throwing his weight around...aren't you...?" Shifu breathed, the top of his head and half of his face matter in blood, with a stream of it running down his right eye.

"Shifu!" Mei Ling gasped. He really was able to get up again after all.

"Huh? Didn't I break you already, with one punch? How you still standing?" Boar turned around to stare at the small, resilient creature in disbelief. "It still won't change anything! Boar is still gonna smash you to pieces! HARDER!"

"I'll take that...as a yes..." Shifu muttered, as he took a deep breath, and sighed. He gently slides his foot around, pivoting it slightly, while bringing his paws together. His breathing slowed, until it became even. The world around him briefly became silent, slowing down, focused. He could hear many things at the moment.

The flickering of flames in the distance. The concerned cocked of bystanders looking after their friends. The pitter patter of children desperately hanging onto their parents as they're running.

The concerned beating of Mei Ling's heart. The slow beating of Taotie's heart.

All sorts of sounds reached his ears as most things grew silent for him, as he closed his eyes.

Inner Peace...

"Damn it all! The damn rat just doesn't know when to give up!" Heilang snarled viciously as several Lin Kuei, including himself, swing their chain hammers, with a few throwing knives thrown into the mix.

"I'll smash you for good this time!" Boar sounded as he brought both fists upwards and slammed them down, causing all sorts of debris to shoot upwards and erupt outwards.

Shifu could hear all of it, coming towards him at once. And yet, it appeared as if they were in slow motion, barely inching bit by bit in his direction.

I finally...understand a bit more. Shifu muttered, his paws still neatly together as his ear flicked, his desk breathing resounding. After seeing more of China with my own two eyes, and interacting with multiple different people from different aspects of life, I'm beginning to understand more and more. There's still so much out there. There's still so much that I could do. The burdens around me...feel a bit lighter. I recognize this feeling.

Shifu breathed again, sighing as he channeled his chi, feeling it welling up within him.

I think I've finally discovered a key part of Fenghuang and Po's perspective on living their lives. Why it feels so familiar. And it goes back to one of the major things Oogway has taught me. In terms of philosophy, they've adopted something similar to Hing Kung.

He took another breath, as everything about to head down on him slowly began picking up speed again.

It's been right in front of me this entire time, and I haven't noticed. Balance. They don't allow the weight of the world to bear down on their hearts and souls and take control of them. No, instead, they are unbound, they make themselves weightless...

Shifu's eyes shot open.

So they can take control of the world!

With gathered energy, Shifu made his move and jumped upwards, avoiding the wave of debris that head his way. His momentum uninterrupted, Shifu could see the throwing knives heading his way as well, and simply jumped off of them once they reached them, taking the time to also take one of the flying chain hammers and send them back, smashing right into a wolf's chest. Not close to done, seeing more chain hammers being thrown his way, he managed to hop off if different flat ends of the chain hammers, slicing through the chain itself with his paws, and throwing them back to the ones that through them, knocking them out with their own heavy weapons.

"W...What the hell...!?" Heilang's eyes widened, unable to believe what he's seeing. Shifu was hopping off of the knives themselves as they were being thrown. That was what he saw, but it was near impossible to truly process.

Shifu landed with a graceful thud on the ground, barely making a dent in it. He stood stood up tall and wiped some of the blood off of his face. He began as he pivots his foot again, bringing his paws together, narrowing his eyes. He could hear Boar heading his way, throwing hey another punch in his direction. To the large beasts shock, Shifu near effortlessly pushed the fist away from him. "W-" He then punched forward with his paws glowing. Boar found a bright explosion going off in his face, sending him flying back across the field.

"Five Fingered Death Punch." Shirong blinked in surprise as he and Mei King worked in unison to kick away another wolf.

"Why you!" Boar groaned, slowly getting up despite the pain around his head. He ran towards him and struck again, only for Which to kick the fist to the side and ran around Boar, punching him all across his body with his paws glowing. He then zipped always many glowing marks left on Boar's body, before they all detonated in unison, an explosion going off that made a deep crater in the ground that splintered across the field.

"You place all of your weight into an attack, with no regard for recovering from the consequences. You lack balance. Truly all force and no finesse." Shifu smirked. "You remind me of my children when I first began training them as cubs. Too much force without the finesse to direct it. No idea how to control there sheer physical strength. Except, they were a lot cuter."

"Are you calling me ugly?!" Boar roared again, shooting his arm out of the ground to pull himself up.

"I didn't specifically use that word to describe you...but yes." Shifu deadpans while gracefully moving his paws in front of him, his focus sharpening further.

"Shut up! You're just a little thing! A thing I knocked away super easily! What can you possibly do?!" Boar roared outwards as he clenched his fist and threw a much heavier lunch towards Shifu. The red panda focused on the large beast before him as he stepped forward, and effortlessly pushed the fist to the side once more, making his eyes widen.

I'll be borrowing this from you, Master Wushen.

"I am Master Shifu. And so long as I never stop following my path of self-improvement, I can do anything." Shifu declared firmly. He then pushed his paw forward, and touched Boar's head.

Silken Moon Touch.

From contact, a burst of rippling blue energy exploded outwards, taking up a large amount of the city of Jinzhou itself, somewhat distorting everything for a bit. And afterwards, Mei King looked up towards the sky, and see that it's suddenly filled with bright and shining stars, complete with a bright and luminescent full moon. Her eyes reflected the light of it all, slowly blinking.

It was beautiful.

Soon enough, everything calmed down and returned to normal. Shifu, paw still outstretched, turned around, brought his paws together and lowered them with a deep breath. Seconds later, something huge slammed into the ground behind him, picking up dirty and briefly rippling his fur and making his mustache flow a bit. As the dirt cloud cleared, he turned around to see what caused it.

Boar had collapsed onto his back, arms and legs stretched out with his eyes completely white. He was completely unconscious. Even that, many Lin Kuei wolves soon fell from the sky and landed in heaps, unable to continue any further. Heilang crashed down, right into a house.

"Holy Moly..." Taotie groaned, having woken up just in time to see the technique. Though once his awe was given, annoyance took it's place. "Dang it, Shifu! That's a major crowd clearer! How about you start with that next time and save us some pain, huh?!"

Shirong just quietly shook his head with a chuckle. "My boy has become quite a powerhouse."

"That was amazing, Shifu! You did it!" Mei Ling cheered for him. Though Which didn't immediately turn right away, her smile turning flat with concern. "Shifu?"

"I...finally understand a bit more, where Po and Fenghuang are coming from. And I'm prepared to take what I learned from them and apply a thing or two to myself." Shifu's been on the fence for a while now, at least internally. But now, he's finally fully decided for himself. "So much has happened. I've met so many people. Reunited with others, and reconnected with them. And now that I've reunited with my father as well...something in my heart made a connection."

"Hm?" Shirong tilted his head curiously.

Shifu turned towards Mei Ling. And in his exhausted state, began stumbling towards her. "All of my life, I considered my duties as a Kung Fu Master to be more important than anything else. But because of how firmly I held to it without loosening, I ended up driving people important to me away, even if we both have faults." Shifu took another weakened step. "And after everything that's happened since then, I realize...what's truly important to me. Connected with people who truly matter to me. Including my family, my friends. And from there, I made a decision to dedicate myself to self-improvement so that I could protect them. To protect this feeling of mine that brings me so much incomparable joy. So long as I keep living my life on this world...I never want to drive anyone away again. Everyone important to me...I want to keep them as close as I possibly can."

Shifu eventually made it to Mei Ling, reaching out to gently take her paws. The fox blinked, looking into her beloved eyes as she spotted a renewed sense of conviction within them.

"I might have made my decision already, but I'm going to renew it here and now to you, to fully demonstrate my commitment to it." Shifu declared firmly. "Perhaps it's time that I found the resolve to fully give my life to something else. To all of you and your happiness. That of my friends. My children. My father." Shifu looked into Mei Ling's eyes, his own reflecting a much more sincere and passionate flow to them. "My beloved."

"Fu-Fi..." Mei Ling mumbled as she began tearing up slightly, attempting to wipe the tears from her eyes.

Shifu remembered something that he heard from Fenghuang, when they were within their first heard of training together. Something she said struck a cord with him. And now that he's comes this far, along with understanding what all of his loved ones have been through this far alongside himself, he's able to fully understand what she meant, and what it would entail. They were words that would describe nearly all of them at this point.

They were the words that would soon lead her down a malevolent path...yet somehow eventually, bring her back to a more benevolent one.

I'm going to be one of the strongest ever. That way, I'll be able to live the life that I want, free and to the fullest. I don't give a damn what anyone has to say about it, my life is my own. The ability to choose how I live my life, I'll never give that up for anything. Even if it doesn't always give me what I want...even if I'm rejected, discarded, and forsaken for it...I've made up my mind.

"I'm not quite confident enough to say I can live a life without regret. There are many things I wished I had done differently. But I have to keep going, regardless. I might live a life full of regrets...but I don't want to regret living my life." Shifu gently caressed Mei Ling's paws as he made his sincere declaration. "Is that alright with you, Mei Ling? You can steal many things, even my heart. But this resolve of mine, I'm afraid you can't have."

"...Fufi, I'm afraid you've just made a dangerous mistake." Mei Ling lifted her head as she gently caressed his cheek. "I might have just fallen in love with you again." It didn't take long for her to tenderly kiss Shifu due to all the mounting affection that she was feeling for him at the moment, and he seemed more than prepared to reciprocate give his easily be gave into it, returning it without a second thought. They both separated with a much brighter look in their eyes.

Right. After this, Mei Ling's made her decision for sure. She had something to ask Shifu's father, Shirong.

But not now.

There was still one more thing they had to take care of. Hopefully Fung beat them to it. He's feeling with family, after all.

Across town, Master Croc skids across the ground after parrying another tail sample from Lidong. The large reptile roared as Croc tried to think of what to do. He grit his teeth as he jumped away from another tail swipe, smacking him across the skull with his own and making him stumble back a bit.

At this point he's just going to keep rampaging. Croc needed to find a way to pin him down for good. Or at the very least, get him to calm down enough to stop attacking. He looked to the side as he noticing Fung looking on with worry. He shook his head as he glared at the large fellow croc in front of him.

Croc promised that Fung wouldn't be forced to fight his own cousin, and he also promised not to harm him too much. And he was intent on keeping that promise.

So his actions would have to steer towards pacifying.

"Lidong! My name is Master Croc!" Croc shouted at him with a strong and clear voice. Lidong roared at him as he slammed his tail where he was, with Croc managing to dodge to the side via a roll. "I am Fung's mentor! I've been taking care of him and teaching him for a very long time!" Lidong punched at him with numerous vicious roars. Croc continued to dodge most of the hits coming his way, each managing to whiff past his head. "I was simply interested in nurturing his inner potential! But over time, I've come to love him like a son!"

"What..." Fung muttered with his jaws slightly agape.

"He was a small little boy who had just separated from the friends he just made, with no parents of his own! I felt empathetic for him, I wanted to take care of him, since the world seemingly forsaken him! Hearing that his actual father discarded him left me infuriated! I cared not for his potential reasons before and I won't care now, be they true or false!"

Croc once again dodged another blow, this time jumping over Lidong and hoping onto the other side of him. He then twirled about and parried another tail blow, the ground rumbling around him.

"I've disappointed my student somewhat when we reunited in Gongmen, and ever since then, I wanted to restore that honored image he held of me, that kept honest to My strengths and my flaws! And after much hardship, we are here, where we clash with you, his cousin!"

Instead of simply waiting around, Croc charged and ducked under one of Lidong's punches, settling to slamming his tail into his midsection since he was briefly vulnerable. He doubled over, with Croc hoping onto his back and managing to pin him down.

"I will not allow Fung to fight his family like this! Lidong, regain your sense of self for both of your sakes!" Croc pleaded with the larger Lidong. "Fung is clearly distressed at the thought of fighting you! I refuse to let him endure that, you are family! Come to your senses!" Lidong growled viciously, snapping his jaws towards the elder croc and attempting to get out of his pin.

Then Fung stepped up with his helmet in his paws, looking Lidong in the eye.

"Lidong...please."

Lidong looked towards Fung, and for a moment, be completely stopped his more aggressive movements. Focusing solely on Lidong, he blinked several times, as his eyes began to regain focus, if only briefly.

"...Cou...sin...?"

"Yeah. It's me." Fung mumbled with a hopeful smile.

With Lidong briefly stopped, a paw was placed around the spots on Lidong's head where they burned spots were, and a golden glow surrounded him. Looking to the side, he saw what appeared to be a female panda who was emitting a golden glow from his paw, which he managed to sense was chi.

"W-What?! Who are you?!"

"A friend."

Lidong blinked in astonishment, briefly closing his eyes as he was bathed in a golden light. Once it died down, he reopened his eyes, which appeared a lot more focused, and the burned marks around his head mostly vanished. "Huh...I'm back to...normal...?"

"There. Good as new." Mei Mei smiled sweetly. "Now then, how about we have ourselves a little bit of a regrouping, shall we?"

It took a lot of effort, but the battles seem to have finally come to a close.

In the shadows, Heilang was cursing to himself as he was limping away, having been set a brutal defeat. He snarled to himself, his fangs showing as he briefly hit the wall next to him in rage.

"Damn it, damn it all! We were completely crushed!" Heilang muttered as he turned on a corner, attempting to find a place to recuperate outside of notice. "Tch. No matter, this isn't the end of the Lin Kuei. I will have my revenge. No matter how many times it takes, I won't stop hunting those bastards until I read their throats out with my own fangs!" Heilang viciously growled as he turned again. "Just you wait, ignorant fools. Your time will come soon enough."

"Funny. Because I think our time is going to last longer than you think."

Heilang's eye widened as he turned around to the sound of the voice. Song was sitting on a crate, with her parasol over her shoulder, let kicking out a bit. She winked and waved her paw.

"Hey there. You've really been put through the ringer, haven't you?"

"What the hell do you want?"

"Oh, nothing in particular right now. But I can't help but notice that you're trying to scurry away, hoping to live to kill another day." Song shook her head. "Sorry to say, not really, but that's not going to happen. You're never going to get another chance. I'm not letting you hurt my friends anymore in any way."

Heilang scoffed, standing up straight. "Hah! And what could you possibly do? Even in as poor a condition that I'm in, I'm more than capable of killing you while you're away from your friends. I might do so anyway, just to spite them!"

"Hmmm..." Song hummed, lightly tapping her lip with a paw. "True enough, you could take me on your own. I'm not too terribly strong. I'm more of a sneaky thief than anything." Song smiled as she opened her parasol and held it over herself, calmly twirling it. "I'm mostly just here to buy a few minutes until they show up."

"Wh-" Heilang was about to ask who, but suddenly he felt one pair of arms grab him from behind with one paw an cover his muzzle with another. Then he felt sheer agony course through his body as he felt a sword pierce through his back out of his chest. His eyes widened as due to the aforementioned person grabbing and restraining him being too strong to break free, be was completely helpless.

Someone suddenly landed in front of him, before smelly standing up with folded arms.

"Well well. What do we have here?" Su Wu purred as she watched Heilang's blood dripping down onto the ground from his newly gained sword wound. "Oh my goodness! Dear Heilang, what happened to you, my boy! You seem to have been literally stabbed in the back!" She playfully cooed as Heilang was kept from howling out in agony via her sister's restraining him. "My goodness, that doesn't look good at all. You might want to get that looked at with that single eye you have!"

"Good one, sis!" Wan giggled as she eventually released Heilang, who fell to the ground gripping his sword wound.

"You can go, Song. We'll take it from here." Wing told the snow leopard, who nodded and was quietly on her way.

"The Wu Sisters...ugh...why...why are you..."

"You're a stray dog that's going around biting whoever the hell you please. That's a no-no." Wing Wu voiced with her paws on her hips. "It's about time someone put you down."

"W-What..."

"But don't get the wrong idea. We're not doing this out of some sense of righteousness. We've long since accepted our roles as demons in the eyes of common folk." Su Wu walked up to Heilang and kneeled in front of him, gently lifting his head by the chin. "Thing is, even certain demons can have a sense of virtue to them."

"And then there's you." Wan Wu kicked at him with a stuck out tongue. "You murdered everyone in the Valley of Peace without a second thought. You had a chance to turn away from that, but you denied it."

"We're not strangers to killing en masse, but you took it too far. That was an entire Valley worth of people who did nothing to you. Wing Wu also chimed in.

"If anyone were to ask you if the Wu Sisters were among the most feared, notorious villains to ever grace China, they'd be correct. And we'd confirm it. We are evil villains indeed. Some might even justifiably call us monsters." Su Wu narrowed her eyes. "But, we are evil monsters with hearts. What you did was utterly heartless. There's a certain line, you see. And once you cross that line, one's malevolence becomes unacceptable even in the eyes of other monsters. You've crossed that line without hesitation." Su tilted her head. "Tell me, where's your precious pack? Your fellow Lin Kuei? All of you have been defeated this time. Did you leave them behind to save yourself?"

Heilang narrowed his eye. "My escape...was more vital..."

"Your unhesitating eagerness to leave your pack to an unknown fate to save your own hide first and foremost, sickens me."

"And...ugh...you're any better...?"

"Don't try that bullshit." Wing muttered. "The very first thing we sisters did was try and find and free each other. We mean the world to each other. There is no acceptable world without the three of us being together."

"And on top of that, the Valley of Peace was the place our friend Po was raised." Wan pointed out. "That's and added one."

"And yet another." Su Wu hummed as she rubbed her chin. "Do you remember your precious clan being responsible for Shen's precious Soothsayer perishing? She was helpless and couldn't fend for herself, and was his sole guiding light throughout his life, the mother he didn't appreciate until she was gone. Killed in cold blood with no one to comfort her, not even her surrogate son, who had no idea until it was too late, and is almost hopelessly aimless without her. Do you remember that?"

Heilang's eyes widened, wondering what was the point in her asking him about such a thing.

"Nevermind. The look on your face was answer enough." Su soon progressed, stamping her foot on his muzzle, arm on her knee. "Nevertheless, one thing is clear. You're going to die alone in the darkness you've always taken advantage of and made your home. And you'll do so with a pathetic whimper, rather than a defiant howl. That dignity shall be denied to you. You don't deserve it."

"Who are you to-" Heilang attempted to resist, but was soon yelping in agony as Wan twisted the sword into his back, humming all the while, with Wing smiling sadistically.

"Who am I? I am Su Wu, and my sisters are Wan and Wing Wu. We are the Wu Sisters. Notorious, feared villains even The Great Master Oogway warned others to be wary of. Be that as it may, we still have hearts. You do not. And now, you are currently at our mercy." Su Wu tilted her head with a twisted smile, her and her sisters eyes glowing in the dark. "How unfortunate for you, for we have none to give."

There was nothing left for Heilang, he wouldn't be slipping away again. The last thing he saw were the Wu Sisters eyes. The last thing he heard were their sadistic, malicious laughter. Last thing he felt was the blade further twisting into his back. The last thing he tasted was the blood in his mouth. And the last thing he smelled was his blood pooling around him.

No one bearing witness to his death but killers who couldn't care less about him. Su knew the others probably wouldn't approve too much if they found out, but she was prepared to live with that. She and her sisters were, to a certain degree, still villains to their core. Villains with hearts, but still.

It's fitting that they're the ones who did the dirty work when the need arises.


It took some time for things to quiet down around the city, but it was clear that the battle was well and truly over all around, and that it was a bit safer for citizens to come out of their hiding places and areas of shelter.

Bing slowly opened his eyes with a slow groan, blinking as light began entering them. He slowly begins sitting up, wondering what in the world happened.

"So, you're finally awake." His eyes widened at the sound of the voice, and quickly turned towards the source of it. It was none other than his only son, Fung. Who was currently looking towards him with folded arms and a slightly u sure look on his face.

"...Fung? Is that you?" Bing already knew the answer, could feel for it. But it was still surreal to be seeing his only son in the world right in front of him after so long. After he...right. Remembering it all, it was only understandable that Fung wouldn't exactly be very happy to see him.

"Yeah. Hey." Fung lightly scratched his cheek and looked away. "So...how's it going?"

"Uh...I'm alive. That's pretty good."

"Yeah..."

Fung hated how awkward this was already. Of course someone as laid-back and carefree as Po would have a much more simple and straightforward reunion with his own father, which was still rather surprising for him to be briefed about. Not to mention the two other pandas that accompanied him, both female. With one being small and cute and the other being big and beautiful.

And all four Pandas were currently stuffing their faces, with their friends watching on in amusement. Even Lei Lei was eating much more than one would expect from a critter so small.

Fung sighed. "Dad...your Terra Cotta Warriors..."

"Yeah, you and your friends managed to beat em'." Bing hummed. "I nearly conquered China they'd with those. So either they weren't as strong as they used to be, or everyone else simply got stronger."

"I'd say it's a mixture of both." Croc offered with a focused flare and folded arms. And next to him, as a mostly healed Lidong, who was nursing his head with a bit of a sheepish smile. "You've a lot to answer for, Bing. For both of these boys. In particular, the sin you've left behind." He narrowed his eyes, tail briefly shipping in irritation. "Only reason I'm not lashing out even more was upon Fung's own request. Frankly you des she a lot worse.*

"I know, I know..." Bing grabbed and shook his head with a groan. "Loser, loser, loser. That's seriously all that I this point. I mean, if takes a special kind of loser to dump his own kid, no matter what the reasons are!" Bing gritted his teeth and looked down at his feet.

"Yeah, that was pretty cruddy of you." Fung muttered while looking away from Bing, making him flinch. He would have thought that a little harsh if his son, but no. Fung was well within his rights to not have the happiest opinion on his father considering all that's happened.

"Uncle...it's fine. Fung's just really mad at you." Lidong muttered as he lightly scratched his aching head for a moment. "Because at the very least, he was able to say something like that to you. For a moment, we thought you were dead."

"Right." Croc sighed as he scratched the top of his head, before looking towards Bing again. "For the sympathetic view that we've all had an extremely long day, I'm going to hold off on reprimanding you further for now. But rest assured, I'm not done. This is also to comply with Fung's wishes."

"It is?"

"For as angry as he is with you, he does not wish terrible misfortune upon you. He wants you to live." Croc muttered, turning around and eating his own supper. Bing blinked and turned to Fung, who removed his helmet and also turned away with a huff and folded arms. Bing himself looked down and away from them, feeling rather scummy. Guess it was a bit if a fantasy to expect things to quickly smooth over after a reunion.

Fung sighed as he looked down at the ground.

Darn it, things are a lot more awkward than expected. Hopefully things will finally calm down.

Shifu's ears twitched, and he looked towards the skies. They twitched, and twitched some more.

"I still can't believe Father also reunited with his own father." Tigress muttered as she was kneeling a bit in front of Shirong, who was smiling kindly to her.

"I know. Strange, isn't it? A series of reunions, one after another. So, you're my foster granddaughter?" Shirong lightly raised his paw to hold her much larger one. "Such strong paws! I can definitely feel a warrior's physique on you. And yet also, an aura of graceful beauty."

Tigress nodded, bowing softly. "Thank you, Grandfather." It was strange to acknowledge him as such, but it was somewhat the truth of things, given the family situation. She was already wondering how in the world Tai Lung was going to react to this sudden revelation. And as she turned to Shifu for his perspective on the sudden possibilities, she put them on hold once she was the troubled look on his face. "Father? What's wrong?"

Shifu turned to look at her, his expression calm, get troubled. "I wish that I knew, Tigress. But despite these battles being over, I can't help but sense an ill omen..."

Despite the current conflicts being resolved, he had a terrible feeling that things were about to turn for the worse.


Meanwhile, back at the barren Valley of Peace...

"...This is really all that's left..." Jong Sung muttered as he and his son were standing near the Peach Tree, looking over the Valley of Peace, which he remembers has been burned down, it's residents killed.

Something he had a hefty hand in, out of spite. And now that he sees the damage for himself, he's filled with nothing but regret. And with that compounded into the fact that there's nothing he could possibly do to redeem that terrible crime he has a hand in.

"It's been so long. So long since that day happened. I look upon a land that used to be beautiful. And I wonder...was it really worth it?" Jong sighed, as his son held his hand as they both looked at the ruins of the Valley of Peace. "No matter how much I might ask for forgiveness, there's no way I'd ever be able to receive it..."

"Oh, forgiveness is what you seek"

Jong's eyes widened as he swiftly turned around to see someone he didn't expect to see. Master Ding levitating right in front of him with a sword floating around him, surrounded in a haunting red glow. And he couldn't remember his past self all that well, but he looked much more demonic than before.

"Wait a minute, Ding? How are you..."

"That doesn't really matter, does it? I had help. That's all you're required to know." Ding raised his arm, with a malevolent ball of malefic energy gathering in front of it. Without a word, he shoved it forward.

Jong gasped as the ball of energy shot right through his chest, sending him back a bit before he landed on his back, head to the side. His son's eyes widened as he suddenly ran up to his father, who no longer had any sign of life in his eyes. Nor his entire body.

"Papa? Papa?!"

Master Ding slowly descended to the ground, walking up to the Peach Tree and giving it a calm once over. "Ah. The Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. You've watched over the Valley of Peace for ages. And even when it's no longer to be, you still watch over it. You're a commendable plant indeed."

He says calmly, as he didn't think twice about setting the tree on fire after touching it, burning up the wood and all of its petals. Jong's son watched in terror, several torched leaves falling to the ground as the tree collapsed.

"Unfortunately, you are the biggest symbol of the age that Oogway began. That age, Oogway's era...it's come to an end. That's the will of my new master." Ding muttered. He then slowly turned towards the child that stayed idle next to his father's corpse. "Oh, you're here as well. Poor decision on his part." Ding slowly levitated towards the child as his hand gathered more energy, and he slowly began to smile. "Don't worry. I'm not so cruel as to force a child to go on without their parents. I'll reunite you both."

The boy's eyes slowly widened as tears began leaking in terror, all while Ding's smile slowly grew.

"I'd say that this will be quick and painless...but alas, that'd be lying."


No one knew what to expect on that day.

Everything was tidied and in order for a little bit. Lu Kang was speaking awkwardly with his Grandfather, who seemed to be insisting upon several things. Shen was sharpening his Guan Dao, looking rather troubled still due to his different conversations up to that point. Pang Bing was meditating just above everyone, looking just as troubled, if not more so. Peng, Bian Zao, and Lian were all eating cakes that Bian Zao prepared with their help. The atmosphere was gentle and serene for most involved.

That is, until something crashed through the wall.

Everyone was stunned as Fenghuang and Tai Lung crashed through the wall, battered and bruised all over. Peng and Mr. Ping were the first to react, dashing over to the two downed warriors.

"Uncle?! What happened?! Who did this to you?"

"FENGHUANG! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR EYE?!" Mr. Ping screeched in panic.

Shen's feathered bristled at the sound of that, quickly looking over to the owl's direction, only to be horrified. Because indeed, the owl was lacking one of her eyes, with it being forced shut to hide the now empty socket.

"What in the world?!" Emperor Kang's eyes widened at the sudden spontaneous crash. Lu Kang was just as confused. Just about everyone was surprised and shocked that Tai Lung and Fenghuang were out in such a defeated state. They had little idea as to what was going on currently.

Everyone, except for Pang Bing, Qilin, and Master Yao. The miasma that suddenly began to consume the entire area was more than enough to let them know what they were dealing with.

"Oh, sorry. I meant to knock a little bit lighter than that." Ke-Pa chuckled as he walked through the wrecked hole in the wall, waving cheerily, which pushed most people down to the floor against their wills. "Hello, everyone! Nice to meet you! Just stopping by to say hi, and whatnot. These two were just outside in the cold all by themselves! They could do with some company."

"What is the meaning of this?!" Emperor Kang stood up, stepping in front of Lu Kang. "Who are you?!"

"Oh? You wanna know who I am? I would think the Emperor would know of me at least by word alone, takes and stories passed from one to another. But nope! Everyone wants to forget about me. Why? I'm a pretty interesting guy! You know what? I'm not even insulted anymore, now I'm just saddened." Ke-Pa sighed, before he shook his head and grinned. "No matter. I'm kinda sorta over it by now. I have more important things to worry about. Anyway, it's only right to tell you, the Emperor, that there's going to be some big changes in regards to China as a whole."

"Changes?"

"Yup! Oh you're gonna love it, I promise! It comes in stages! Stage one!"

Ke-Pa waved his hand,.as several weapons from the Emperor's own guards were ripped from their hands. The blades soon twirled around and shot forth at a blurring speed, piercing the Emperor right into his chest, with one of them slashing his throat open. He gasped and blankly looked at the offending weapon that mortally wounded him, having no time to react aside from pushing his grandson out of the way. Blood trickled from the wounds as he fell to his knees for a brief moment, before falling to the side, still and silent.

"...Grandpa?" Lu Kang muttered quietly, it happening so fast that he hasn't fully caught up to the suddenness of the attack.

"Oh. You can't see the rest of it if you're dead. Whoops." Ke-Pa mock lamented, before chuckling with a wave. "Anyway, stage two should be happening right abo-" He stopped as he stumbled back, a crimson, malevolent might beginning to emerge from his being. "Ah! Ahahaha! Right on time!"

Fenghuang groaned as she opened her remaining eye, seeing the malefic presence around the pig quickly escalating, the darkness surrounding him getting more and more chaotic. It seemed to be painful for him, but he was mostly just laughing maniacally at what's to come. He managed to hold himself in place enough to place a hand in front of his eye, looking through it.

"Watch carefully, now. My return is nigh unavoidable. You're about to witness true terror!"

It was briefly horrifying to look at, for it appeared that something was trying to get scale the pig's body. It swelled slightly and cracked all over, red glowing cracks appearing like cracked glass. Before long, the body completely bursts apart, and what resulted from as a blinding red light that soon consumed everything around it for a bit. From a distance, one could see a large crimson explosion happening right before the building, which consumed it and destroyed nearly everything around the blast zone in a burst of blinding red destructive light. It was enough for the skies to turn red as well, darkening the clouds above.

When the light mostly died down, Fenghuang was coughing slightly. And the fact she was coughing at all was a surprises for she thought she she wouldn't be able to given what just happened. She looked around to see that everyone else was surprisingly alright as well. Again, mostly. They were still bruised up, with some even being bloodied. But they were mostly alive. And given that Pang Bing was holding up her paws while panting as a blur light surrounded her, Fenghuang guessed that she played a part in their survival.

Although it did result in a chunk of her right ear being blown clean off, along with a ragged bleeding scar across her face. She soon fell to the ground, unconscious from the strain.

Tai Lung groaned, also noticing that the rubble didn't crash on top of them, not really. It was mostly that they seemed to have completely stopped in place, their movements being halted. It appeared that someone else has played a role in their survival, as he and Fenghuang managed to deduce.

"I know this technique. The Clap of Stillness." Fenghuang muttered. "Looks like that crazy geezer managed to sa-" She began as she looked towards the elder in question, only for her eye to widen in horror.

Master Yao, the subject in question, had been able to hold the debris from the wrecked buildings at bay long enough for everyone to steer clear of them quickly. Though it was still a moment enough that could be taken advantage of. Hence, he was unsurprised when he found a spear telekinetically jammed through Yao's chest from behind. After making sure everyone got out of the way, he coughed blood before releasing the technique, everything falling around him, with him falling to the ground.

"MASTER YAO!"

Tai Lung, Peng, Bian Zao, Lian, and Shen all rushed to the downed elder, seeing that he was mortally wounded. Tai Lung turned the old master around so he could look at them. He slowly opened his eyes seeing the five of them, and smiled.

"Oooh. You're all alright. That's so nice to see..."

"Master Yao, don't speak! We need to get you some help!" Bian Zao shouted, truly distressed.

The elder shook his head calmly. "No no, that's quite alright...this looks quite terrible...I'm afraid I can't adventure with you all any further..."

"Damn it, old man! Just shut up! You can't do this!" Tai Lung desperately insisted. Master Yao briefly held up his hand, and Bian Zao was quick to take hold of it.

"There are...so many things in this world. I have missed out...on so much...sixty-five years of being stuck in a box...is quite boring, isn't it?" Master Yao chuckled while turning to the side. "And yet after my box was destroyed, I was no longer safe...no longer protected...no longer restricted. And...I was able to go on a wondering journey. Watching as the ones who'd... eventually inherit this era...continued to grow and change to adapt to the world..."

"Cease this, you old fool! You've spoken enough!" Shen ordered, almost just as desperately.

"From the most grand sights to the most simple comforts...I was able to enjoy all of these without restraint...and it was a joyful experience. For the first time since I was a young buck...I felt like I was truly living life. And it makes me happy that there are others who want to keep enjoying these things, and does their best to protect them. It brings forth...a new hope in the world..." Master Yao looked towards both Tai Lung and Shen. "The time...is fast approaching...for you two. The point of no return is nearly here...after this...you must ask yourselves...'What Am I Living For?'. You are...the only one who can answer that...for yourselves...the only ones that can decide what makes your lives worth living even after everything that's happened...is you."

"Master Yao, hang in there! It's not over yet!" Peng also insisted.

The elder headed the young man, but he was mostly in his own little world, like he always was. "Hehehe...thank you...for taking me out on...such a wonderful journey...all of you." Master Yao closed his eyes and smiled peacefully. "I had...so much fun...!"

Tai Lung's eyes widened as he felt life leave Master Yao completely, leaving nothing but a lifeless body. He looked at him in disbelief, almost completely unable to accept that such a thing happened. No way. Master Yao was perhaps the very first person to break through Tai Lung's rage, and persuaded him to seriously rethink the actions he took back then. If it wasn't for the brief company he had of him, if it wasn't for having something like Master Yao for all to, her never would have considered deviating from his assured self-destructive path. If anything, now that he was thinking about it, Tai Lung was deeply grateful for Master Yao randomly stumbling into his life, and possibly saving his own.

And now he's dead in his arms.

How is that fair?

How the hell was that fair?

Shen himself was shocked and horrified, as he recalled Pang Bing's concerns about Qilin showing up before the royal family. And after some consideration, he figured out why.

Legend has it that the arrival of a Qilin tends to coincide the imminent birth or death of a ruler or sage.

Both the Emperor, and Master Yao, are now dead.

He couldn't fathom how Qilin might be feeling if he remembers something like this being a concept.

"Master Yao..." A deep, demonic, booming voice soon echoed through the destroyed field, breaking through the gathered groups grief for a moment. "A Legendary Kung Fu Master renowned for his genius intellect, which tends to be hidden behind an eccentric personality. Said personality being born from a lifetime of being cut off from the outside world to keep the secrets you knew, safe. You're capable of using powerful Kung Fu techniques with nothing but your mind. You are considered one of the greatest Kung Fu Minds of all time."

The first thing they saw of him was his blood red eyes, then his red scaled body with a cream colored underbelly, and his sheer size as he slowly stood to attention, towering over most of them and making them feel like mere toys in comparison. The vile, sinister aura he exhibited threatened to suffocate them, with some like Lian falling to their knees in a vain attempt to endure it. The demonic dragon smirked malevolently, feeling nothing but euphoria at finally returning to full power after so many years.

And his first act as a newly restored demon king? Gleefully driving the knife in further.

"But alas, in the end, you were nothing but a senile, fragile old man."