Weeping clouds spread in great folds across the sky and the air tasted like cold metal. Jax could feel every movement Peng made, as if Peng’s body was his own. The sweep of his stallion tail, the rise and fall of the mane that propelled them forward, the strength in his muscles and legs as they moved in a great galloping motion.
As daylight appeared above the horizon, Jax saw in front of them an amazing sight, a scene that looked like it came from the pages of the Arabian Nights. A huge palace, with rows of tremendous white pillars holding up an ebony roof. The white pillars were water spouts, funnels of spinning air, sucking water up into the clouds. It was one of the most beautiful sights Jax had ever seen.
Concentrate your mind, Mingzi. The great storm lies beyond.
Jax gathered his thoughts, making them more powerful, preparing himself for the battle that lay ahead.
As they approached the rising pillars, Peng’s reflexes were quick and alert. He dodged the water spouts, weaving in and out, and soon they were through to the other side.
I can see it! Jax was staring into the distance at a huge wall of rolling dark energy.
A bolt of lightning like a golden serpent struck suddenly, close to Peng’s side.
He turned swiftly, barely missing its bite.
Another flashed to his left.
Then another.
The crash of thunder jolted the skies. Jax felt it reverberate inside him like a piece of struck metal. For a moment he wondered if he was strong enough for this. Then he pushed the thought away. There was no room for self-doubt, not while he was part of Peng. That would only lead to confusion. And they couldn’t go into battle like that. Now he understood why he had to undergo the temple training before he could meet Peng. He needed the strength of mind and body to withstand being carried along by a creature who had the power to bring Nature back into balance. And he needed the courage to face as powerful a foe as the one that lay ahead of them.
As they approached the massive hurricane, wind and rain glanced off Peng’s face. Jax felt each drop like a knife nicking his own skin.
Only by thinking as one can we overcome this thing, Mingzi.
Jax knew instinctively what to do. We have to find the eye. That’s where it’s most vulnerable.
Down below, the sea looked like shattered green glass as white waves criss-crossed each other in a boiling frenzy. The light began to change from grey to purple-black.
Keep your mind focussed now, Mingzi. Peng flew straight into the eyewall of the hurricane.
As Jax concentrated on shutting out everything else, he pushed Peng on in waves of thought. They were moving faster now and more freely. Peng’s mane surged and billowed as his legs cut into the eyewall in great striding motions.
Jax could feel the wind trying to tear them apart, buffeting them this way and that, but he and Peng were strong, working as one.
Suddenly, without warning, Jax felt a sickening sensation as if someone was dragging him down and choking him.
Keep your mind focussed, Mingzi! Peng had felt it too.
But their minds were separating.
Then blackness rolled in.
The fox spirit looked down at Jax’s body, lying within the magic circle, still warm with life but empty of spirit. He smiled as he stroked the gold necklace that gave him so much power – ten gold squares linked by fine chains, and in the middle of each square was engraved a mythical bird with a tiny emerald eye. It was the necklace that belonged to a Peng Master. And now it was his, part of his gold hoard, the source of his strength. He was one step closer to controlling the great beast, Peng.
The fox spirit had now returned to the shape of the big rough boy. He bent down on his hands and knees and inspected the circle of herbs. Did I distract him enough? Just one small break and the protective circle is useless. Now, where is it? Ah, yes. The fox spirit smiled as he gently blew the herbal powder away. The magic was broken.
Quickly lifting Jax by the feet, the fox spirit dragged the lifeless body into the water, but stopped at the sound of loud shouting.
‘Leave him alone!’ screamed Yu Yu as she came running towards the lake. Buzzy was close behind her, his dislocated arm now reset and almost as good as new.
The fox spirit glared at them from the water. ‘You’re too late,’ he snarled, holding Jax’s head under. ‘Soon I will be the one to control the mighty Peng.’
Yu Yu sprang like a wild tiger, hurling her body at the fox spirit. They both fell backwards into the water. She punched him down with one hand and reached over with the other, lifting Jax’s head to give him a chance to breathe. But the fox spirit was on top of her again. They struggled, arms and legs splashing, lashing out, whirling like two wild crocodiles.
While Yu Yu was fighting the fox spirit, Buzzy quickly jumped into the water and dragged Jax to shore. Just as he was kneeling down to check his friend’s breathing, the fox spirit came flying onto the bank. Yu Yu waded out of the water after him. At that moment, the sequence of hand signs the Abbot had taught her to use against fox spirits came to her in a flash. She began performing them over and over again.
The fox spirit staggered backwards, visibly weakened. But when he touched the gold necklace around his neck, his strength was renewed, and he rushed towards Jax’s body. Buzzy quickly stood up as the fox spirit approached and threw a punch, but the creature barely felt the blow.
‘Get away from him!’ Yu Yu yelled, drawing out her Flying Star.
As Jax lay on the ground, his body began to slowly pulse with life. The ancient banyan tree was feeding him rich energy from deep within the earth. He felt his mind become alert once more.
He opened his eyes and saw the fox spirit bending over him, his mother’s gold necklace hanging from the animal’s neck. Jax reached up and pulled down hard on the necklace. It broke at the clasp and fell into Jax’s hands. Immediately, he felt a surge of energy like a shock of electricity shoot through his body.
The fox spirit staggered. No longer in possession of the gold necklace, and already weakened by Yu Yu’s hand signs, he fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
Without Jax, Peng had found himself falling, tumbling over and over. The hurricane was too strong, tossing him about and lashing his body. But all of a sudden, he felt the Peng Master return with a jolt.
Mingzi, focus your mind. Give me strength.
Quickly, Jax gathered his thoughts and began concentrating on Peng. At once Peng’s legs grew stronger and his tail and silver mane rose and fell like a great billowing sail, deflecting the cutting rain and daggers of lightning. Soon they regained control and pushed forward, passing through the fierce eyewall into the eye of the storm.
All of a sudden… silence surrounded them.
Inside the eye, the temperature was warm and the air completely still. A solid wall of white cloud enclosed them, and up above, a circle of blue sky made it seem as though they were inside a gigantic well. It was hard to believe that this peaceful place of extreme beauty was the heart of a whirling tumultuous force that could destroy anything that lay in its path.
Mingzi, we must grow and expand and fill it up. Then carry it away.
Is that possible? How can we do that? But as soon as the thought appeared, Jax knew that it had no place inside the mind of a Peng Master. He pushed all doubt away. What do I need to do?
Let go of yourself.
Jax had tried practising this with the Abbot. But it was so difficult to let go completely. No matter how hard he tried, he was still aware that he was Jax, a person, an individual. He had to cease being Jax and completely lose himself inside Peng.
Concentrate with me, Mingzi.
Jax focussed his mind on Peng’s mind until he saw a single stream of light grow brighter and brighter then his own thoughts became like vapour. Gradually he was no longer Jax, or Mingzi, or a boy. He had given himself over to the great beast. He had become Peng, the mighty controller of Nature.
Peng now felt complete at last. He looked up at the circle of blue sky above and breathed in the energy from the sun, the moon and the stars. And his body began to expand.
As the hurricane spun in one direction, Peng flew in the other. They were like two wild beasts fighting to the death.
Hurricanes are fed by warm air so Peng had to make it come with him, to take it up to the cold where its strength would be weakened.
Peng was growing, filling up the eye of the hurricane. And as he picked up speed, he caught the wall with his scales, whipping up the white clouds, making them follow in his airstream. The sound was ferocious as the hurricane roared its anger.
But Peng could now feel the hurricane weakening. He had made it spin in the opposite direction to slow it down. Now he wrapped the spinning mass around his body like a silken cocoon, and took it high up into the stratosphere. Then, when he was far above the earth, he shook himself violently. The dark energy split apart. Swirling cloud trails spun out in all directions. Like tendrils in a desert, reaching out for water that wasn’t there, they soon withered and died.
All at once the world fell silent and still. Peng and the Peng Master had risen again.