The path to strength
The path to strength
[Tai Lung's POV]
I like to believe that I am someone who learns from his mistakes. A person who can reflect on his past actions to act better in the future.
Every day, I am better than I was yesterday. Every day, I work in hopes that I will be even better tomorrow.
So you can imagine, how much it bothers me that a random bear in Mielin city, someone who was not even mentioned in the movies was able to overwhelm me, even if it was briefly.
It has been on my mind ever since that day. It made me question my own strength and the faith I had in myself as the strongest.
Of course, I could make a bunch of excuses like Wuboa's strength that overwhelms me comes at the cost of his life, he became a mindless beast so even if he overwhelmed me, I was never in danger, or the fact that I was not exactly in my best shape while fighting him.
But those were in the end, excuses.
The fact that someone could overwhelm me, no matter the method or drawback was completely unacceptable.
I was trying to become the strongest in the history of this world, so being the strongest present living being was the bare minimum in my opinion.
There were people like Oogway, Jindao, Kai, and even future Po who were all stronger than me than I was now.
To add salt to the wound, these were all people from China. If we take the whole world, was I confident that I was the strongest in the world right now?
Although as a world of Kung Fu, China naturally dominate the rest of the world when it comes to strength, the point still stands.
Even Wubao was someone unknown. Yet he was that powerful, it really opened my eyes that many things happened during my imprisonment and there were hidden threats in this world.
It was unacceptable.
I needed to get stronger. So much stronger than I am right now.
I wanted to be able to take down kingdoms and empires by myself. Being the strongest when it came to a one-on-one fight was not enough.
I was not trying to get stronger through mastering Chi alone either. Especially when I was a unique case that had two Chi inside the body, I did not even know when I will be able to use Chi like I wanted to.
So I needed a different way to get stronger.
Luckily, I have just the right method to get stronger. It was the greatest boon I had, one that was soon to make me stronger than ever before.
Knowledge of another world.
It was not limited to one world either, as the modern world contained the knowledge of other different worlds in the form of fiction.
Thought to be fiction, but they were real. I was the proof of that so that means that other world thought be fiction there was also real.
In my past life, I was a Kung Fu enthusiast who thought and dreamed of nothing but Kung Fu my entire life. I spent my entire life practising real Kung Fu and other forms of martial arts.
Not only that, I had the hobby of reading stories, novels, manga and watching animes, movies, TV shows etc that have anything to do with marital arts.
Coupled with the knowledge I had from this world of Kung Fu by mastering the one thousand scrolls of kung fu - which was all the Kung Fu Oogway had created - my knowledge of martial arts and kung fu was vast.
Master Oogway was the creator of Kung Fu, not the creator of all Kung fu styles that existed in this world. So I was not kidding when I said I might surpass Oogway's knowledge when it came to different styles and techniques of Kung Fu.
But the question was whether I could replicate and use that knowledge in this world.
Could I use martial arts from different worlds? Say, maybe Renewal Taekwondo? Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist?
At first, I thought no. Different world works with different logic and power systems so I shouldn't be able to copy them. Maybe use the theory behind them to create similar styles?
But then I realized, I could create miracles on a small scale. While I was in a state of inner peace and my Chi became one with the world, I could achieve impossible feats.
I can do more than just catch cannons which should be logically impossible. I can do more than enhance my senses. I could do more than slow down time in my perspective.
The people in this world were backward, even with all the wisdom that Oogway had, when it came to imagination and a way to use a power, he would fall short.
Inner Peace, the ability to create miracles on a small scale. It might not be much to people born in this era like Po and Oogway other than a basic enhancement but for me, the one who possesses otherworldly knowledge.
It will make all the difference in the world.
It's like giving a dagger to someone with hands and someone without hands. The one who would find more use with the dagger was the one with the hands.
Similiar to that, I have something special. Something which both Oogway and Po did not have even though they might be the chosen one of the universe.
I have a cheat of my own.
"hehehehahahaHaHaHaHAHAHAHAHA!!!" I started laughing madly as my laughter echoed through the Pool of Scared Tears.
It was the place where Shifu trained Po to be strong enough to face me. It was also said to be the birthplace of Kung Fu.
I had come here in hopes of finding out a method I could use to get stronger and improve myself. And just like I had hoped, I did it.
I made a breakthrough.
Shunpo or flash steps. It was a special movement that let you move from point A to Point B faster than the eye could follow. The concept behind the technique was covering a distance with the least amount of steps.
It sounded impossible if you did not have their Reiatsu or if you were not a Shinigami. How am I going to cover the same distance with lesser steps? Should I take longer strides? It was not logical and you would need a miracle to do it.
But with the help of inner peace and its ability to create small miracles, I will be able to do it. I can create that miracle which I would need to execute that technique.
Although I still cannot affect the outside world as a master of Chi could, I can at least achieve the impossible when it comes to my own body and the area near me.
That was all I needed to copy other martial arts and techniques. It would be more than enough to make up for the difference in logic or power system.
What other techniques could I learn and replicate? Rokushiki? I would love to get Tekkai for my defence.
It would be easier to replicate techniques rather than an entire martial arts. I have to be wise in what I choose to copy as too many techniques would ruin my fighting style.
I need to choose techniques that would suit my fighting style and master new techniques one at a time.
But the first thing I needed to learn was a movement technique. The world of Kung Fu Panda was extremely lacking in movement technique, especially one that suited my style so this shall be the first technique I learn,
Shunpo/Flash Steps.
After all, as a martial artist once said, 'In the world of Kung Fu, speed defines the winner.'
"Cover a distance between point A and point B with the least amounts of steps huh?" I asked myself while walking to a place that had an open plain where I could move freely.
"It doesn't sound too complicated. There are more nonsensical techniques in this world." I said to myself as I finally began my journey towards strength.
I did not need to follow this universe's path to strength.
I will create one on my own.
A true warrior makes the best of every advantage and weapon he is gifted with. Let's put that to the test, shall we?
The ability to create small miracles with Inner Peace, my knowledge of different worlds and my genius in Kung Fu.
Let's see how far that can take me.
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