INT. PO'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS
Po's eyes snap open in the darkness. He sits bolt upright in bed, gasping silently, his chest heaving. His eyes are wide with terror, the image of Xian's powerful punch burned into his mind. He looks around his room, disoriented for a moment, realizing it was a vision.
Without a word, his face etched with grim determination, Po throws back the covers and gets out of bed. He grabs his robe and lights a small lantern, his gaze fixed on the doorway. He doesn't speak, doesn't hesitate. He simply moves, driven by the terrifying glimpse of Xian's power.
INT. JADE PALACE, SCROLL ARCHIVES - CONTINUOUS
The flickering light of Po's lantern illuminates the long, shadowy aisles of the scroll archives. He walks with a newfound urgency, pulling out scrolls at random. Advanced Blocking Techniques. A History of the Five Constellations. None of them feel right.
Frustrated, he pulls out one last, simple scroll from a plain wooden case. He unrolls it. The text is mundane: "A Treatise on the Proper Maintenance of Training Dummies."
Po sighs in disappointment. "Dummy maintenance. Great. That's definitely going to help."
He carefully rolls the scroll back up, puts it back in its case on the library shelf, and turns his back to leave, convinced his search is pointless.
As he takes a step away, a soft, fiery light begins to emanate from behind him. He sees the warm glow reflecting on the shelves in front of him and freezes.
He slowly turns around. The glowing Celestial Phoenix symbol is now blazing brightly on the outside of the very scroll case he just put back.
His heart pounding, Po approaches the case again. He takes out the same scroll he just read. He unrolls it on a nearby table.
But the text about training dummies was gone. In its place, the text was different. Written in elegant, ancient script that seemed to glow with a soft, inner light, was a new and profound message.
He stares in awe, his voice a hushed whisper as he begins to read.
PO (V.O.): "The Path of the Celestial Phoenix is unlocked by Three Great Keys of the Spirit."
He moves his paw down to the first key.
PO (V.O.): "The First Key is Wisdom: To know the universe, one must first look inward and know the self."
He continues to the second, his brow furrowed in concentration.
PO (V.O.): "The Second Key is Sacrifice: To protect the balance of all things, one must be willing to give of the self."
He moves his paw down to the third and final key, his heart pounding with anticipation. But his face falls. The bottom of the ancient scroll is tattered and torn, a large piece missing as if ripped away centuries ago. The final passage is incomplete.
PO (V.O.): "The Third Key, the final step to touch the sky, is..."
Po traces the torn edge with his finger. The rest of the words are gone. His heart sinks. It's a dead end. But then he notices one final line of text at the very bottom of the scroll, almost like a footnote to the prophecy.
PO (V.O.): "Know this: When the brightest flame is ready, it will not need to burn... it will only need to be."
Po stares at that final, cryptic line. His mind instantly flashes back to Master Yang's arrival in the Hall of Warriors.
FLASHBACK: Master Yang stands at the entrance, his voice echoing, "Because when the darkest shadow returns to the light, the brightest flame must be ready to receive it."
END FLASHBACK
Po looks from the scroll to the darkness around him, a look of awe, terror, and dawning purpose on his face. He now knew the scroll and the master were speaking of the same thing. He had found the path to defeating Xian, but it was a broken map with a profound riddle at its end.