Bab 19: Learning Kung Fu
(3rd Person POV)
"... hahaha you are indeed wise Oogway. But since that is the case you know what I want don't you?" Petyr laughs.
"The more you take, the less you will have."
"Nonsense. If that were the case, then you would never be able to accept gifts or the talents you were born with. Taking something for no reason and just because you can, is indeed destructive and will lead to nothing. But that isn't what I am doing. My mind is clear and the plans are in motion."
"Ah yes, the plans. But life is not controllable, Petyr. There will always be things that you can not control. That is the beauty of life."
"You are correct, which is exactly why, I am preparing for anything. This is no different."
"..."
Oogway wanted to say something but stopped when he felt a presence next to him. It was like looking into a clear lake. An exact and perfect copy of Oogway floated there in front of him, smiling just as gently and wisely as the original was. OG-Oogway sighed and looked at Petyr.
"No need for the dramatics, tortoise. I will not kill you. Po will still need to meet his family ... does he not?"
"Oh? You know more than you let on, Petyr. But I suppose the Universe is a very big place. I wish you luck and thank you."
"No need," Petyr says and then nods to Copy-Oogway.
Together they move into the water below, disappearing from the current place. When they reappeared, they were in the Mirror Reality. Petyr thought about staying in the Spirit Realm to train but then changed his mind. There was nothing better for training than his own Mirror Reality.
"What would you like to learn?" Copy-Oogway asks.
"Everything."
"Then let's start."
.
Copy-Oogway started to teach Petyr all that he knew. Of course, Petyr could use his ability to copy everything, but that wasn't ideal. In martial arts, he wanted to gain experience and while he could fight Tai Lung, his lack of experience resulted in Tai Lung doing much better and surprising Petyr. Despite them having the same skills, since Petyr copied them, Tai Lung's adaptability and fighting experience allowed him to change his style on the fly and force Petyr to use his Essence and repel the force of the attacks.
So Petyr waited with copying every skill and ability Oogway had. He allowed himself to go through the training, no matter how hard it was.
Oogway was a good teacher and his tremendous wisdom allowed him to find the best way to teach Petyr. From physical training to meditation and then to the martial arts that were brutal and aimed to break the body only to then build it back up again. Anything Tai Lung did, or the Furious Five or even Po was done by Petyr and then more. Oogway went all out on this and didn't hold back anything.
Whenever Petyr finished his training and was physically broken, Oogway would heal him using chi.
The training slowly advanced and as it did, Petyr was tasked with doing similar training as the Furious Five and Tai Lung did. Some of those were the ones from the Training Hall in the Jade Palace.
The Jade Tortoise of Wisdom to train balance and coordination.
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The Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors. A collection of rotating, steel-studded wooden posts taking the shape of crocodile warriors, each section of the mannequin moves independently of each other, requiring quick reflexes and speed as well as dexterity to avoid or counter.
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The Seven-Talon Rings, are a collection of swinging wooden rings. The goal is quite straightforward, to swing effortlessly from one to the other and pass through one with inches to spare.
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the Field of Fiery Death is an area of flame-spewing pipes. It intends to teach the value of balance and that an apparently safe surface could turn on you at any time.
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And the worst of all, the Adversary. The Adversary is a punching dummy. But don't let its appearance fool you. Filled with sand from the upper deserts, it absorbs the punishing blows of any opponent and returns them tenfold. The harder you punch, the harder it punches pack, tenfold ... let that sink in. You have to punch with the correct technique or you are punished.
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Petyr learned to control his body, how to strike pressure points and defend against them, how to use one's senses to the extreme and how to fight without them. There was not one moment where Petyr was not fighting someone, except when he was meditating. Meditation was a core part of the training and despite it not being Petyr's style, he vowed to go through with all the training in earnest. So he agreed.
He understood that some of the more mystical skills in the Kung Fu Panda world required understanding of both oneself and the world or universe around you. The first problem was the idea of 'inner peace'. To advance to greater stages in his training and eventually learn chi, Petyr had to find his inner peace and that proved very hard.
Petyr was not like that. He was a scemer a manipulator, someone that liked things to go as he wanted them to. He was not the one who listened to what the universe told him and then created prophecies, but the one who forced his will onto the universe around him. The aspect of 'letting go' of some of the control he had worked so hard to acquire and then facing his faults and misgivings was what unnerved him. He had no interest in a Universe that told him what was right and what wasn't.
That's why the training went on for a long time.
Between his meditation, Petyr would face more and more opponents, conjured by Oogway. He would fight hordes of wolves with various weapons, or Kung Fu Masters and even Oogway himself. The old tortoise was truly a broken character. His strength and speed bellied his age and the way he looks. His gentle Chinese grandparent-like way of holding himself didn't show his ferociousness in battle when it mattered.
.
As time passed differently in the Mirror Reality compared to outside, the time Petyr spent training was decades, but only a few years passed in the real world. Petyr could have changed the time willingly or just travelled back to the exact moment he left, but that wasn't necessary. He didn't want to bother with the boring task in Gulltown he had accepted.
Just before Petyr was about to stop trying to reach his inner peace, Oogway was once again ready with advice.
"You need to change your course."
"What do you mean?"
"When the path you walk always leads back to yourself, you'll never get anywhere."
"So you mean, that I should become a benevolent and friendly human which puts the anguish of those around him as his top priority?" Petyr asked heatedly.
"Hehe, Your mind is like this water, my friend. When it is agitated, it becomes difficult to see. But if you allow it to settle, the answer becomes clear."
"..."
Petyr ponders for a moment and then realises what he is talking about.
"You are talking about control."
"Indeed. You will never find your inner peace until you let go of the illusion of control. You like to play the puppeteer, controlling events and people either forcefully by copying them or by manipulating them indirectly. But you must understand that by use your power, the fewer actually real interactions you will have and become lonely. Even the one we have now is not really something that is based on mutual interests.
If you continue to manipulate the events around you indirectly, you will also become lonely because you won't ever trust someone and prepare for contingency after contingency. I believe there already is one such character in the Multiverse, is there not?"
"And how would you know about the Batman?"
"I don't, but you do. The Mirror Reality is a wonderful thing indeed. But what I am trying to tell you, is that there are certain things you won't be able to control if you actually want to enjoy your life and not just survive. Challenges, connections ... those things make life worth living."
Petyr thought about it. He started to meditate and thought about his ambitions, his actions thus far and what he achieved. It was true that there wasn't really any human connection he had with someone who wasn't a clone he created. There was one, of course, Merala, the former Bed Slave from Yunkai he saved. He hadn't copied her yet but was thinking about it.
His preparations and now the travelling through the Multiverse was a form of preparation and adventure. He liked to be the puppeteer and manipulate things behind the scenes. If he wanted connections he would first see that he could grow strong enough to ignore danger. But until then, he wouldn't back down. The world and the wider Omniverse are a truly frightening and dangerous place, he can't afford to grow complacent.
He threw everything Oogway said away. While it is wise of him, it only applies to the world he lives in and not the broader horizon that Petyr has. So it doesn't help him. Every animal in the world of Kung Fu Panda is vegetarian and doesn't eat meat, out of courtesy for ... well animals. They don't know the danger of what it means to be killed or cut yourself lightly and then get an infection. They don't understand the meaning of killing to get what you want.
So Petyr found his inner peace. He understood that what he was doing wasn't wrong, he just thought that it might be wrong, because of the word 'peace'. Inner peace doesn't mean doing good all the time and turning into a philanthropist. It just means making peace with your own shortcomings and accepting who you are. And that's what Petyr did.
"It seems that you found your inner peace. Good. We can finally move on to the next step," the old tortoise says.
.
The training continued, but this time the subject of chi was taught. Chi refers to a spiritual energy found in living things in the Kung Fu Panda universe. It is presumably a power associated with Kung Fu. Though it resides in all living things, those who have exhibited the closest connection and the largest concentration of chi are the giant pandas of the secret panda village. But Oogway is a master of chi manipulation and its usage in both Kung Fu and outside of it.
Chi literally translates as "breath", "air", or "gas", and figuratively as "material energy", "life force", or "energy flow".
There are a variety of ways to use chi and the limits are not clearly defined. Oogway himself can use chi to basically 'pass on' and then reside in the Spirit Realm instead of dying the natural way. He can use chi to augment his body and make it stronger both offensively and defensively, send out energy attacks, seal powerful dark spirits, create forcefields, interact with non-physical things, create fire or electricity, fly, use telekinesis, use it for transmutation, connect to the universe and gain precognitive visions, and much more. Healing is the easiest way to use chi because chi is basically life energy.
Petyr learned everything he could from Oogway. They fought against one another over and over again. After Petyr would lose, he was healed by Oogway using chi and then they started again. The millennia of experience Oogway had, although it wasn't exactly that much, showed and he didn't lose once, since Petyr refrained from using his Essence to reflect attacks.
.
The two were fighting again. Oogway was flying high in the air and started to quickly write in the air using chi. The word push was written in large Chinese writing and flies towards Petyr.
After the seriously long time that passed since they started training, Petyr changed drastically. Martial arts is not just a physical way of life, but also a spiritual one. And while he hadn't changed much, he was much more powerful and sure of himself. He had learned the value of waiting and not rushing into everything. It wasn't necessary to always do something and sometimes you could allow yourself some respite.
Petyr was wearing only loose pants, so his upper body was visible.
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While it looks like he is just standing still, those who could see chi, would see an ocean of chi that surrounds him. Petyr looks at the attack coming from above and jumps into action. He pulls back his fist and then infuses his chi into it. He focuses on his intent and then punches forward.
The punch forms a giant fist that collides with the chi attack from Oogway.
*BOOOOM*
...
It was finally finished. The training has finally come to a close and Petyr managed to draw against the old tortoise. Now, that the training is over, Petyr copies all of Oogway's skills and abilities, just for good measure. He didn't need them anymore, but why not take them anyway? It would be a waste.
He undoes Oogway and then focuses on the world of ice and fire. It is time to continue to play the game.
______________________________
The power jump is considerable but not that extreme. He is still mortal and can die but it's a start. ASOIAF will not always be the place he stays in. At some point, he will leave for good or for a very long time.
There are still some things he will do and one of them might surprise you.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone