The descent from the pass dragged on, turning into a monotonous test not so much for the legs—which isn't surprising considering the company gathered here—as for the nerves. The winding rocky path meandering between rocks gradually gave way to soft, yielding earth covered with a springy carpet of fallen needles.
The air here, in the lowlands, was different—thick, humid, filled with sweet scents of wet wood, rotting leaves, and flowers. The Valley of Peace lived up to its name: one even breathed differently here, without that slight taste of snow I got used to in the Chorh-Gom mountains.
Our strange procession moved in silence, which was becoming more and more awkward—I set the pace, walking ahead with deliberate relaxation, and the Five kept a semicircle behind my back, maintaining a distance of five steps—this was an ideal distance for an attack, but also sufficient not to breathe down my neck. Their tension was felt physically, which I did not hesitate to report.
"You'll grind your enamel off," I threw over my shoulder, not turning around but twitching an ear. "The grinding of your teeth can probably be heard even in the Jade Palace. You'll scare away all the game within a couple of kilometers."
(Author's note: it would be more logical to use the Chinese measure of length—li, which is equal to about 500 meters, but I, with your permission, will lay a big metal bolt on such conventions for the sake of convenience of perception.)
"We are just vigilant," Tigress replied dryly.
"You are rather tense, and a tense warrior is a dead warrior. Shifu often told me in the past: 'Be like water, not ice. Ice breaks under pressure, but water flows around'."
A stifled grunt was heard—Monkey was clearly trying to suppress laughter, for which, judging by the instantly reigning deathly silence, he was immediately incinerated by the gaze of the Furious Five's leader—Tigress.
Need to occupy the time with something—walking in silence was unbearably boring, and curiosity, admittedly, took its toll. I was interested in what these people, known to me only from the cartoon, were really like.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask," I slowed down slightly, allowing them to get a little closer. "Will you keep calling each other by species affiliation? 'Tigress,' 'Monkey,' 'Crane'... Sounds kinda dry..."
"These are our titles," Crane said with pride in his voice, adjusting his wide hat with a wing on the go. "Accepting the path of a master, we accept the essence of our style, become its embodiment, and the name given at birth recedes into the background."
"Boring," I yawned, lazily plucking a blade of grass and clamping it in my teeth. "Everyone has a name given by parents. Or were you born straight in yifu (traditional Chinese martial arts clothing), with black belts and a scroll with pretentious quotes in your teeth? You, tailed one, what was your name before you decided that 'Monkey' sounds cool enough?"
The tailed guy scratched the back of his head, exchanging glances with Mantis. Amusement danced in his eyes.
"Well... Actually, Wu Kong."
I almost stumbled on level ground. Stopping, I turned around and looked at him with an undisguised smirk.
"Wu Kong? Seriously? Did your parents name you after the legendary Monkey King? High bar, kid. Hope you can ride clouds? Or at least enlarge a staff?"
"Can't do that; I took this name myself in childhood because I grew up on the street." He broke into a wide smile, clearly glad for the change of topic to something more familiar to him. "But I steal peaches no worse than him! And cookies. Especially almond ones."
"Wu Kong," Viper hissed reproachfully but without malice.
"What? I have a beautiful name. I like it. And what was your name, by the way? I already forgot, we've been calling each other titles for so long..."
"Master Viper," she cut off at first in a habitual tone, but catching my questioning, slightly mocking gaze, added quietly, almost in a whisper: "Lian. My name is Lian."
"Lian... Lotus. Suits you more than a simple designation of a poisonous snake," I nodded, examining her with an appraising look, from which the girl even blushed a little. "And you, green one?"
Mantis, walking next to Monkey, importantly adjusted the antennae on his head and puffed out his chest.
"Tang... In honor of the founder of the Northern Mantis style. My father was a fanatic of martial arts history and dreamed that I would become a great warrior, despite my size."
"Crane?" Crane blinked in surprise, as if thinking for a second, then answered.
"Tian He. Heavenly Crane."
"Also pretentious, and you, striped one?"
Tigress remained silent. Her face remained an impenetrable mask, and amber eyes dug into me as if trying to drill a hole in my head.
"She has no name," Monkey answered instead of Tigress, sympathy heard in his voice. "Shifu found her in the Bao-Gu orphanage. She was always just Lao Hu (Tigress)..."
So that's it.
The picture finally came together—she is another orphan raised by Shifu as the "ideal weapon," his attempt number two. Just like me...
Only I received the name "Great Dragon," which became my curse and even some mockery from fate, and she received only a standard name, clearly given without any feelings and hopes. I don't know what's worse—bearing the burden of a great destiny that will crush you, or not even having a normal name to hold on to.
"I see," I turned away, continuing the journey not to see her gaze. "Means we are of the same blood, Tigress. Children who didn't have a childhood, only training waiting for approval that never comes..."
No answer followed, but I felt the aura behind my back waver. I hit the mark, and she didn't like it.
It wasn't like that with me—Shifu doted on me, and even though he was obsessed with Kung Fu, and I really didn't have a normal childhood, I heard words of pride often...
"Why didn't you kill us?" suddenly asked Lian (Viper). Her voice was quiet, insinuating. "Back there, on the bridge... You could have thrown us off, could have finished us while we were unconscious. Why? It... doesn't fit with what we were told about you..."
"And what were you told?" I squinted.
"That you are a monster," Tang (Mantis) answered directly. "That there isn't a drop of pity in you. Personally, I remember the story where at a demonstration performance before masters from the Capital you broke Master Crocodile's leg simply because he seemed too weak to you..."
"Crocodile was an idiot and didn't know how to hold a block," I snorted. "And about pity... I didn't kill you not out of pity, but because it would be meaningless cruelty." I stopped and turned to face them, walking backwards. "You are the defenders of this Valley. If I slaughter you, who will chase away bandits? Who will take kittens off trees, or whatever else you do there? Shifu is already old; until he awakens Chi, he won't be able to prolong his life even more. He needs a replacement. You are weak, inexperienced, but you are Kung Fu masters obligated to protect these places."
"You talk about us like things," Wu Kong frowned.
"Rather like functions," I corrected. "I see you for the first time, so what sentimental feelings can there be? I learned your names a couple of minutes ago, actually..."
The sun was already setting, painting the sky in crimson and purple tones, when we descended into a wide lowland overgrown with dense deciduous forest. My stomach reminded of itself again with a demanding, rolling rumble, causing Tian He (Crane) to twitch a wing in fright, but I ignored hunger—movement appeared ahead.
Noise, crackling of branches, and crude laughter.
From the bushes, with hooting and whistling, a motley, noisy crowd spilled onto the road—a dozen and a half, no less. Dressed in rags, leathers, and pieces of old armor. Armed with whatever came to hand: rusty cleavers, clubs with nails, chains...
Crocodiles and monitor lizards, judging by the attributes of some of them. A gang of marauders, typical for such places—idiots who generally exist until their first "big" job, hence didn't have time to dress up and arm themselves properly. Masters crush such rot in the bud, not letting a strong gang like Ace's form.
"Halt!" wheezed the leader, a huge crocodile with one eye covered in a cataract, and a necklace of someone's teeth on a thick neck. He played with a huge hammer. "Payment for passage! Money, jewels, food! Turn out your pockets, travelers!"
His bravado evaporated exactly at the moment when his only healthy eye focused on the figures emerging from the shadow of trees behind my back.
He recognized them, couldn't help but recognize.
"Damn..." rustled through the ranks of bandits. Voices trembled. "Boss... Look! It's Tigress! And Monkey! It's the Furious Five!"
The bandits backed away, their formation wavered, and some of the smartest even began to look around for escape routes. The reputation of Shifu's students worked better than any weapon. The crocodiles clearly didn't burn with desire to mess with the Kung Fu elite about whom legends were made.
But then the leader's gaze fell on me.
"Oh, forgive me, respected masters, passage is free for you! The Lord put us to guard this road from robbers, but you are heroes cleansing the world of them, please, pass." Trying to hide fear with feigned respect, the reptile gang leader "explained," from which I almost laughed out loud and only a miracle and interest in where this would lead could hold me back. Actually, quite an excellent idea, if he didn't look literally like the embodiment of a "highwayman," it might have worked. Noticing that none of my companions thought to attack him, he seemed to become convinced that he managed to deceive the Furious Five, and after that, the gang leader apparently decided to regain confidence in his own strength. He poked a finger at me. "But you, pauper, pay the passage tax!"
The masters from the Furious Five tensed, shifting glances from me to this idiot, clearly ready to intervene if I snapped. Except maybe Viper looked calmer, and Monkey smiled slyly, and when he noticed I was looking at him, just winked... Okay...
I slowly exhaled, relaxing my shoulders. And, instead of attacking, laughed, not even trying to hold back. This made Tigress, Crane, and Mantis tense up even more, but Viper and Monkey, on the contrary, immediately exhaled, exchanging glances.
"We had a deal," having finished laughing and ignoring the bandits' words, I reminded, looking down at Tigress. "I promised not to arrange a massacre without need. This trash isn't worth it, so please, deal with them quickly and let's continue the journey." Taking a couple of careless steps to the side, I leaned against the trunk of an old twisted oak growing on the roadside and crossed my arms over my chest. "Deal with them. And show me what my father taught you over these twenty years."
The reptile bandit leader blinked, clearly not expecting such disregard. His face turned purple with rage, and his eyes narrowed, causing a small amount of scales around them to contract.
"Eh... You think you're the smartest?" he roared, losing the remnants of caution. "In the name of the Lord of these lands, pay for passage!" He swung the club, taking a step toward me.
Interesting fact—the Valley of Peace, unlike other provinces, has NO lord; city lords don't count as such, and the role of land lord is performed by the Jade Palace, in the person of Shifu.
"Take them!" barked Tigress.
And it began.
I saw them in battle from the side for the first time, not being their target.
And this spectacle was... educational. The fundamental difference between my philosophy (and the philosophy of Kung Fu masters from the Capital) and theirs was striking with every movement.
Tigress was very similar to me—her Tiger style largely resembled my Leopard style, so much so that an unknowledgeable person could confuse them, but there was a difference, and not only in style...
"Ha!"
A palm strike—and the leader's club shattered into splinters, a series of lightning strikes to the body—and the huge crocodile went flying, crashing into his henchmen.
But... she didn't finish off opponents. Her strikes hit large muscles, knocking out breath, paralyzing limbs, but not breaking bones like Xue Xia (Snow Panther) did and not killing like I did. She hit hard, effectively, but seemed to hold back at the last moment, which is why her strikes only knocked out the opponent.
What stupidity? The Tiger style is aimed at killing, not disarming or immobilizing; using it this way... Tigress could show at best a third of her true strength.
Wu Kong seemed not to fight at all, but played with opponents. He jumped on enemies' heads, using their shoulders as springboards, while his tail lived its own life, tripping, hitting opponents in weak spots, and snatching weapons flying at his allies or himself.
Also, he often set up opponents to be hit by their own allies—one crocodile swung an axe with a flourish, aiming at Monkey's head, who dodged at the last moment simply by leaning back, and the axe blade crashed into another bandit's shield with a clang.
"Oops!" Wu Kong laughed, hanging upside down on a branch and swinging. "You almost chopped off your friend's tail! Careful, guys, you'll hurt yourselves!"
Now his style was excellent for soft neutralization of a bunch of opponents, and he fought, albeit playing, but at full strength. However, in his case, I didn't like that Wu Kong turned the fight into a farce.
Lian (Viper) was the embodiment of flexibility—she moved with incredible grace and lightness, dodging blows with plasticity unnatural for an ordinary person. Her style resembled Monkey's in that she used the enemy's inertia against them.
Dive under a swing, quick leg grab, jerk—and two monitor lizard thugs fall with a crash, entangled in their own limbs. She tied them in knots, using painful holds and throws, while barely touching the ground herself.
She clearly lacked physical strength, and even though Lian was significantly stronger than an ordinary person, she lost to the same Tigress or Mantis; because of this habit, the girl simply didn't use her advantage even when she surpassed the enemy in strength.
Tian He worked on pickup, pulling comrades out of battle, and also sometimes flapped his wings, creating powerful air currents knocking bandits off their feet or raising dust, blinding them. He maneuvered around the battlefield, not letting enemies regroup or surround comrades.
Excellent implementation of the style, he made a good support, however, as an independent combat unit very controversial, and the problem is clearly in the master who trained him as a support fighter, not an assault trooper.
Last I assessed Tang (Mantis), who despite his small stature and thin build, darted between enemies like a green lightning bolt, delivering pinpoint finger strikes to nerve nodes and immediately knocking opponents to the ground. Now here's someone who cannot be called physically weak; honestly, not quite sure if even I surpass him in pure physics significantly.
Poke. Thug's hand with a sword hangs like a whip.
Poke. Leg buckles, and the bandit falls to his knees.
He immobilized without spilling a drop of blood; this required incredible knowledge of anatomy, strength, and precision.
I watched this with slight disdain mixed with understanding.
They didn't kill; during the whole fight, I didn't notice a single lethal blow, and there wasn't a drop of blood on the ground after the battle.
This was that very difference between masters from the Jade Palace of the new generation and masters from the Capital—the so-called "soft path."
The very one Oogway came to in old age and which Shifu apparently taught the new Furious Five, correcting mistakes made in my upbringing.
During the fight, I couldn't remain silent—one monkey mocked his opponent for excessively long.
"Wu Kong!" I shouted lazily without changing my pose. "Less pathos! You're wasting energy on unnecessary flips. Instead, you could have just kicked the knee and finished with him three seconds ago."
"But it's stylish!" shouted Monkey, doing a pirouette and kicking another thug in the jaw. "And the audience likes it!"
"The audience is not impressed," I grumbled.
Half a minute later it was all over. The gang of marauders lay on the ground, groaning and rubbing bruises.
I detached myself from the tree and slowly, sarcastically clapped my hands.
"Not bad. For a children's matinee. Why didn't you kill anyone?"
"We neutralized them," Tigress wiped sweat from her forehead, looking at me defiantly. "And no one died. That is the essence of Kung Fu—to protect, not destroy. We give them a chance to change."
"The essence of Kung Fu is in mastery and self-knowledge," I parried. "And leaving enemies behind your back so they take up arms again tomorrow and attack someone weaker than you—that's not mastery, but naivety. During my absence, the morals of the Jade Palace students have changed greatly, but..." I raised my hand, stopping her angry tirade. "You handled it, and I didn't intervene. A deal is a deal."
And then my stomach made a sound resembling the roar of a wounded dragon waking up from hibernation. Loud, prolonged, and very plaintive. In the ensuing silence, it sounded like thunder from a clear sky.
The Five stared at me. Even the defeated bandit with crocodile skin opened one eye.
"Calm down," I exhaled, pressing my hand to my stomach. "It's just stomach rumbling."
We moved away from the battle site so as not to smell the stinking bandits and settled in a small clearing by the river. The sun was setting, and twilight was gathering.
The Five took out their supplies—bland rice balls and dried fish. Extremely cheap food that keeps well enough for travel; taste, however, due to special preparation, such food has little—bland mush with a fishy aftertaste.
I sat aside, looking at the dark water.
"I hate this," I muttered, cursing the bastard who decided to conduct torture instead of feeding. "Didn't feed in prison, didn't let eat in Wei-Jin because of those idiots... I'd sell my soul for normal, hot food right now! Oh, to have some noodles..."
At that moment, Viper silently approached me; in her hands was a large rice ball neatly wrapped in a lotus leaf, she held it out to me, looking with sincere sympathy.
"Take it," she said quietly. "It's not much, but hunger is a bad advisor..."
I looked at this lump of cold rice, inwardly surprised at her kindness. She didn't mix poison in there, did she?
I remembered that smell of noodles in Wei-Jin. Hot steam, spices, meat... The memory was so vivid that my mouth filled with saliva.
"Thanks, Lian," I shook my head, gently pushing her hand away. Still not planning to risk it, and she doesn't possess Chi, and therefore simply cannot do without food. "But I'll decline. I haven't eaten normal food for twenty years and if I stuff my stomach with tasteless food now... I won't forgive myself." I sighed, looking at the first stars. "Damn Wei-Jin. There was an excellent noodle shop there... I almost felt the taste of the broth, it was perfect—spicy, rich... I'd give everything for a bowl of good noodles."
"You... like noodles?" Wu Kong suddenly asked. He stopped chewing and now looked at me with some strange interest.
"Who doesn't?" I snapped, not turning my head. "It's the best food invented by mankind."
Wu Kong nodded slowly, as if confirming some thoughts of his own, and some sly light lit up in his eyes. He exchanged glances with Mantis, and the corner of his mouth twitched in a barely noticeable smile.
"Yes..." Monkey drawled, biting his rice. "Noodles are power."
He said nothing more to me. But I noticed him look significantly toward where the village at the foot of the Jade Palace lay behind the hills.
I didn't attach importance to this—who knows what's in this jester's head: maybe remembering his past, or maybe just mocking.
"Alright," I stood up, brushing off my pants. "Rest is over. We need to find a place for the night before it gets completely dark. Don't want to sleep in a swamp."
We moved on, but now Wu Kong walked a bit more briskly, and I saw how, finding himself next to comrades, he quickly whispered something to them when I wasn't looking.
Viper nodded, Mantis rubbed his hands, and Tigress frowned but listened...