The courtyard was still that morning, the sun glinting faintly across the rows of wooden dummies scarred by fire. Tai Lung's breaths came in heavy bursts, his body dripped with sweat, muscles trembling from the endless sequence of strikes, kicks, and firebending drills that Master Ronzu demanded of him.
And then, quite suddenly, his knees gave way.
his back hit the floor with a dull thud, chest heaving, vision spinning from sheer exhaustion. He looked up at Master Ronzu, whose calm eyes observed him without surprise.
"Apologies," Tai Lung managed between ragged breaths. "I am too tired to continue. Give me thirty minutes, and I will be able to continue."
Master Ronzu gave a short nod, but there was something thoughtful in his expression. His brow furrowed slightly as he muttered under his breath, "He definitely has a unique body."
His words were quiet, barely louder than a whisper, but Tai Lung's sharp hearing caught them. He raised his head slightly.
"How is my body unique?" he asked, voice steady despite his exhaustion.
Master Ronzu blinked in surprise, clearly taken aback. "You heard that?"
Tai Lung nodded once.
The old master regarded him in quiet wonder before replying, "You train too hard, and for too long. Someone your age shouldn't have that kind of endurance and stamina. In fact, this is my first time pushing someone your age this hard"
Tai Lung pushed himself up to a sitting position, still breathing heavily. "I have been training nonstop for a while now. It is only natural for my stamina and endurance to grow"
Ronzu shook his head, his lips twitching as though he found the boy both impressive and troubling. "Even children a few years older than you shouldn't possess your speed, strength, and endurance. There is a limit to how fast you can grow, but it looks as if it doesn't apply to you. Moreover, it takes you only thirty minutes to recover from complete exhaustion to the point where you can continue with the same pace. Even adults won't be able to do that." His eyes softened slightly as he added, almost reverently, "That's a blessed body by Agni, if I ever saw one."
Tai Lung's golden eyes lifted toward him. "So I am growing too fast compared to humans? How fast does a human grow normally?"
Master Ronzu let out a short, hearty laugh. "I praise you a little and you start to ask like you're not a human."
Tai Lung said nothing. He merely kept staring, his expression questioning and serious.
Ronzu's laughter faded. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Compared to others, you are not," he admitted. "Your body looks a year or two older than it should. Many twelve or thirteen years have less stamina, speed, and strength than you, not to mention your firebending. It's extraordinarily powerful for your age."
Tai Lung nodded lightly, his mind already spinning. He had long concluded that humans grew slower than animals had in his previous life, but hearing Master Ronzu's words made him realize it was even worse than he'd imagined. Still, if humans were truly that limited… why was he different?
Did he really possess some kind of special body? or did he do something special unintentionally?
Before he could dwell further, Ronzu spoke again, his voice calm but firm. "Don't let that get to your head. Even a normal person will be able to surpass you if they train hard enough while you're slacking."
For a brief instant, Po's round, smiling face flashed in Tai Lung's memory, a reminder of his past arrogance and underestimating his opponent. He quickly dismissed it.
"You don't need to warn me," Tai Lung said, his tone quiet but laced with conviction. "I know that very well. I don't plan on slacking now or underestimating anyone."
Master Ronzu didn't seem to take the boy's seriousness too deeply; he merely nodded, satisfied that his student understood the lesson.
"Tai Lung, You are meant for greatness. I know that" Master Ronzu said with a smile.
Tai Lung didn't react to his words, just stared at the dummies in front of him. But deep down, he hated these words, regardless of the truth behind them, because they reminded him of Shifu.
——————
The night was still, Tai Lung sat cross-legged in his room, his breathing slow, steady. Between his fingers hovered a small, trembling blue flame. It danced upon his palm like a living spirit, flickering in rhythm with his heartbeat.
He gazed at it quietly, Master Ronzu's words echoing in the back of his mind. 'A blessed body by Agni, if I ever saw one'.
[Was there truly something special about him?] he wondered silently.
The thought gnawed at him. He carried the knowledge and skills from his previous world, his previous life, to this one. In that life, his body had been forged in battle and under the discipline of Shifu, as unyielding as stone and sharp as blades. Yet this body, this fragile, human form was soft, unarmed. No claws, no fangs, no fur to shield it. Even the strongest adults he had seen lacked the raw power and speed his former self once possessed. Could such creatures ever rival what he used to be? He doubted it.
His flame quivered as he pondered. Perhaps his faster growth had nothing to do with fate or divine blessing. Perhaps it was his training, the endless hours of toil based on the training he knew from his past life, maybe it was just the unique training that drove his body to surpass others his age and nothing more. But even that didn't make complete sense. His chi, after all, had barely increased since he came here.
Then, a sudden clarity pierced his mind, a spark of understanding brighter than the flame in his palm.
[My chi… it's as strong as it was in my last life!]
His eyes widened. [I didn't start over… I carried it with me when I came here.]
The revelation hit him like a bolt of lightning. His fingers clenched instinctively, and the little blue flame vanished in a puff of smoke.
He sat frozen, feeling the pulse of chi that thrummed within his veins. Chi was life itself. It strengthened the body, quickened its healing, sustained its spirit. Yet his chi, vast and refined, had not been reborn anew. It did not grow with him, it was already there along with his spirit, immense and mature, waiting for his body to catch up.
That was why his body developed and surged beyond its limits. It wasn't a gift. It was the necessity of flesh and bone struggling to harmonize with the power caged inside, with his mature spirit.
The realization stirred something within him. There was a hope for him to reach similar feats of physical ability similar to his old body. His potential, at least as a human, was greater than most not because he was chosen or blessed, but because he had begun this life already ahead of others, born carrying the chi of a warrior from another world. His memories, his training, all of it would hasten that growth even further.
Master Ronzu's words returned to him, soft yet haunting. "You are meant for greatness."
He stared into the empty air where the flame had been.
[No,] he thought bitterly.[ I wasn't born with a special body. I wasn't meant for greatness. I was merely born with the effort of my past life.]
The truth did not fill him with pride. There was no joy, no warmth in the knowledge. Only a quiet, hollow ache, the sense that he was a fraud, a pretender blessed by nothing but borrowed strength. A cheater born in the wrong world, competing for a destiny isn't his.
He closed his eyes, exhaling slowly, forcing the thoughts away. They would lead him nowhere but despair.
[I will focus on my training,] he told himself. [That's enough. Nothing else matters.]
And as the night deepened around him, Tai Lung reopened his hand. A new flame, calm and golden this time, bloomed to life in his palm.
He stared into it without a word.