27 Chi and Inner Peace

[Tai Lung's POV] 

For the next month, I stayed cooped up in the library of the Jade Palace breezing through the countless scrolls that held knowledge of this world.

Unfortunately, there was not much information on mastering Chi as I hoped there would be. Maybe it was done on purpose by Oogway to prevent such power from getting into the wrong hands, or maybe it was too rare to be documented. I did not know.

Out of the countless scrolls, only around ten of them mention the use of Chi to affect the outside world. But even then, they dealt with the teachings of how to use Chi to heal others or give life to dead plants.

There was not a single scroll that dealt with Chi and how it could be used for combat. Which made sense as I would've definitely learned it in the past if there were.

Although that might be the case, my time spent in the library was very beneficial. Even the scrolls or Kung Fu theory which I had studied in the past - after getting memories of my past life - gave me a new perspective and I could comprehend it in a different way.

I also got to learn new informations which I had deemed useless in the past. Specificaly about the species which had been thought to have gone extinct hundreds of years ago.

Humans.

Oogway talked about the human species in one of his scrolls that note down every species in this world. There, it was mentioned that humans were furless and fragile animals that were born inferior to other animals in almost every way.

It also talks about how the humans were considered extremely ugly by the people and often taken as slaves. They made for good workers and slaves because they could work small jobs for a long time. They had huge endurance when it came to physical activity that was not so intense.

It was because they could produce sweat and their furless body made it so that they rarely went overheat and could work for longer hours. The people living in Mongolia used to run a big human slavery trade but as of now, humans were considered extinct.

I did not know how to react at first since I used to be the same species in my past life but I was not as affected as I hoped I would be.

I also got to read the other scrolls which Oogway had written while I was imprisoned and I have to say, although I may hate him for what he did to me, I also respected him greatly. His wisdom and knowledge knew no bounds.

He was also the creator of Kung Fu, something I had come to fall in love with, so it was hard to not respect him.

I also went out frequently to train the Furious Five and to ger some exercise during the one month I studied.

My relationship with the others was slow going but at least now, I was seen as a fellow resident of the Jade Palace and not simply a villain that was staying here.

I had taken my role as their elder and senior seriously, guiding them and teaching them with my limited knowledge. With all the wisdom I quoted from my past life, I think their negative feeling towards me was slowly turning into respect.

....

Today marked the end of my study session as I walked out of the library and closed the door. I had not gotten the enlightenment I hoped for but I came out wiser.

I was a warrior and I never liked these scholar-type things so I think I did a good job focusing only on reading for a whole month.

I went out of the Hall of Warriors and climbed down the steps as I made my way towards the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom.

When I reached the Peachtree, I stood at the edge of the cliff and enjoyed the scenery of the Valley of Peace.

It was beautiful. I could understand why Oogway had decided to make this place his permanent home.

The beautiful landscape of China had a mystical feeling to it. There was the bright sun on the horizon that lit up the sky clear blue. 

The clouds spread out like waves in the sky while some came down low enough to hide the peak of the mountains.

There were tall mountains the size of skyscrapers and rocky mountains with green algae covering them. A mighty Waterfall shaped the land as its rhythmic crashing made for a melodious sound. The song of nature.

I took in a deep breath and took in the world around me. Then I went under the shade of the Peachtree and sat with crossed legs and I started meditating.

I closed my eyes and tuned off the rest of the world and only focused on my life force or in this case, Chi.

The world lost all its identity as a new perspective of the universe opened up to me. A universe where everything was made up of energy called Chi.

Inner Peace.

It was a concept taught by Oogwat himself. It was a state of absolute peace between the mind and the spirit. 

How someone achieves inner peace is different from person to person. But it mostly involved the acceptance of oneself. Be it your past, your regret, your mistake, your flaw or your identity.

When you accepted all of these, when you accept yourself, you attain inner peace.

Although it sounds simple, it was very hard to achieve and Kung Fu masters spent their whole life trying to attain inner peace with most of them failing.

After all, how can someone truly accept themselves? If a person was given the chance to change anything about themselves, would they reject it and chose to stay exactly as they are?

Be it talent, looks, physical attributes, upbringing, past mistakes etc. Everyone wanted to change, it was only a chosen few who could sit there and say 'I am content with being myself. Be it my past, how I grow up, who I am, I accept all.'

It was because of this that masters who were of old age attain inner peace. When you are old, you are not as ambitious. You don't desire a lot of things.

You feel like you have lived your life and there is not much you can do anymore. Hence it's easy to accept yourself.

A young soul on the other hand would always want to be stronger, richer, want to be loved, desire a different upbringing, regret their life descisions etc. This holds them back from achieving inner peace.

In this harmonious state where the spirit and the mind are at peace, you are able to harness the flow of the universe.

You do this by becoming one with the world.

In this world, only sentient beings have the trouble of accepting themselves. A tree accepts that it is a tree, and so does a rock, the mountain, the sky and the clouds. 

A tree had never wanted to change. A rock never wished it was a mountain. So when you finally attain inner peace, you become like the world itself.

If you can't accept yourself, how can the world accept you? Therefore in the sate of inner peace which was self acceptance, you are accepted as a natural part of the world.

Your Chi started seeping out of your body to interact with the outside world and becoming one with the world. By doing this, you are unconsciously using your Chi to make miracles happen around you.

That was how inner peace works and the power it gives.

Otherwise, it made no sense how Po was able to catch cannonballs fired at him. He was no master of technique to be able to redirect the force of the canon, and it made no sense how the canons did not losse their energy after being stopped, he was using his chi to make miracles.

As you become one with the world, by accepting yourself, your chi seeps out of your body. You can then use your chi to a small margin and influence the world. 

Not by much though as the world you can influence is limited to something close to you. I used it once to slow down time from my perspective, Po used it to stop and redirect cannon balls and Oogway was said to heighten his senses to the point he could hear the flaps of a butterfly wings.

Like I said, create small miracles.

As you become one with the world, you can change it and control it as if it was your body. All this was done with the universal energy called Chi.

That is what it meant to harness the flow of the universe. To harness Chi was to harness the flow of the universe,

"huuuuuuuu~..." I breathe out as I felt my Chi seep out of my body to interact with the world.

It was the first time I had truly meditated like this and I made an important discovery in this instant.

Of course.

When everyone else obeyed the rules of the universe, I had to be different. I just had to be troublesome and come out unique.

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"I have two Chi."

Danmit. 

What does this even mean?

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[Hours later]

I have two different Chi inside of me.

The other one was mine, it was white in colour and I have had this Chi from the very moment I learned to infuse Chi into my attacks.

But the other one was new, it was blue in colour and it stayed in on the deeper part of my body and spirit. 

I focused more as I looked deep inside myself. My Chi had two layers, the outer layer was made up of white familiar chi but deep inside, under my white chi was a blue Chi.

I kind of had an idea why I had two Chi but it did not make sense. It would be more logical if I had a bigger Chi or if my original Chi changed.

So why did I have two types of Chi?

I let out a sigh as I knew I was not getting answers from anyone. I was probably the only one to have this issue and I would have to find out the answers by myself.

Hopefully, it was nothing bad.

My thought was cut short as I felt a sudden contact on my back. I instantly perked up and turned to see Tigress sitting behind me and resting her back on mine.

I was so focused that I became unaware of the outside world. I wouldn't be able to do this anywhere else but home.

This was one of the reasons I decided to live in the Valley of Peace.

"What are you doing?" I asked to which she just proceeded to get comfortable leaning against me.

"I was here to call you for dinner." She said and I looked at the sky. The sun was beginning to set and evening had come.

"And..." I trailed off as I questioned about what she was doing.

"I don't know." She said and closed her eyes before melting on my back, "it feels good to be around you."

I was taken aback and became slightly flustered.

I quickly shook my head as I realised the reason why she was comfortable around me. It was due to my Chi which was leaking out around me. Nothing more.

Chi was the universal energy of the world, so it must've felt rejuvenating just to be around me.

My Chi was affecting her body, filling her with energy and lessening her exhaustion from training.

I let myself go and stopped being in my inner peace state as I leaned against her as well. Maybe it won't hurt to rest like this until my Chi slowly returned to my body.

The Chi which was outside my body slowly went back into my body as I rest, not meditating or focusing.

A simple rest.

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*Purrr~*

That was not me.

Tigress was purringing softly as she leaned on my back. She seemed to be enjoying herself.

I looked back at her and at the small content smile on her face.

Out of every student of the Jade Palace, my relationship with Tigress was the best followed closely by Po.

Maybe it was due to the days we spent traveling or maybe it was because I was personally teaching her Kung Fu since we had similar strength and build.

But I have come to care for her a little. Like a younger sister I never had.

"...."

I entered inner peace and my Chi which was returning in my body, stopped it's flow and leaked out again.

It won't hurt to let her enjoy this a little.

She had trained hard this past month.

So she deserves rest.

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[Must see IMAGE!!]

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Author : The workings of inner peace and Chi was never explained to my knowledge.

This mostly came out of my own understanding and I made some things up.

I hope you can understand the power system I am trying to give the world and the explanation.

I have a new cover pic too. Commissioned by fartxzy on IG. Check him out.

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Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn