"Thank you." Shen responded, taking the packet and shoving it in his beak. Breaking it down with a few bites, the peacock made short work of it.
"So who do you guys think that voice was? He seemed to know... all of us, I guess, and seemed particularly interested in going after Shen." Mantis said with a glance in the leucistic bird's direction.
"I didn't recognize it." Shen shook his head, frowning. "A sorcerer of some kind, perhaps."
"Yeah well, whoever he is, he's going down!" Po exclaimed, pointing at the ground.
"Wonder if he's connected to the shadow demons at all. Those things we just fought seemed kind of weak..." Mantis commented.
"That's because those weren't what I encountered outside Gongmen City. Those were... conjurations or something." Shen stated with certainty, giving a single nod as he felt his strength returning to him. There was still the sensation of something... foreign within his body, however, and it didn't sit well with him.
"Well come on guys! Let's go! What are we waiting around here for? Sooner we get out of these caves, sooner we can get a ship!" Po exclaimed, leading the way as he waved them on.
Viper slithered next to Shen. "Po's right, you know. The goal of kung fu is never to destroy one's opponent, but to help them heal, and bring them back on the path of the enlightenment. You weren't always so dark, Shen. I'm sure when you were a young one, you were sweet, kind, gentle, heh, your parents' little peachick, right?" she smirked.
He regarded her suspiciously. "So what if I was?"
"It just proves you changed because of circumstances, and not because you were always that way. If you truly seek inner peace, the first step is to reconcile your past with your present." Viper explained. "I would think Po is living proof that anyone can find inner peace, no matter their past. He didn't let the fact that you scarred him change that."
Shen said nothing in response, though he was listening to what the snake had to say.