Back in his youth, he used to fight alongside Sensei Wu and Lord Garmadon in many battles. Like his son, Kai, he was headstrong and reckless, but a skilled fighter and a loyal ally. One night, he and Sensei Wu were searching for samurai bandits, but when he spotted the silhouettes of scarecrows, he mistook them for the bandits and sprung into battle. The next morning, he was forced to apologize to the farmers that owned the scarecrows for his mistake. Subsequently after young Garmadon departed from Master Chen, a battle between the Elemental Masters and the Serpentine struck.