Flower 1: A Fiery Farmer Girl!

Things were getting pretty heavy at Granny Some's place, so I'm relieved to be out on the open road!

How am I gonna go about doing this, though?

I mean, "breaking hearts" in order to cultivate...

Do I just walk up to any random girl I see?

Do I have to just throw all my worst insults at her until she cries?

Although, the old hag did make it sound way more complex than I am thinking! Like, I would have to get in really deep with the girl before dropping the hammer, to give it that extra punch needed for it to count.

Hah! In that sense, I guess it's really no different from my occupation as an ogre!

Get in close--and go for the kill!

Feeling confident, as I walk along the dirt road I pass by many people, but sadly no pretty girls--all just dumpy farmer's wives, and old widows!

Well, it's true that it isn't safe for a pretty girl to walk the roads alone anywhere...

They might get jumped by a guy like me!

It's around afternoon when I make it to a village; and surprisingly, my feet aren't sore and I haven't lost my breath at all, despite not stopping for a rest even once along the way!

Eh? This isn't what I'm used to.

My old ogre body would have been seriously worn out by now!

Could it be due to my youth? Or...cultivation?

On second thought, it's probably the first--I don't figure any of Han Some's cultivation efforts would have remained with the body he passed on.

That's all...tied to the spirit, right?

Though am I really just a blank slate, or do I have some powers already?

Hmmph! I guess I will have to find out.

But anyway, this blank slate is starving like hell! The village I'm in is pretty "quaint," though: with clothesline hanging between the smashed together shacks these people call houses, and chickens clucking about.

Damn! It doesn't seem like I'll find any restaurants here...

A shame--my friend Han Some, it seems, died with a few coins stashed in his pants pocket--that I'd be more than glad to convert into a nice, steaming hot bowl of noodles!

So anyway, I'm sneaking on a chicken--about to grab it--when I hear voices...

Sounds like...a young couple arguing?

Eh. None of my business.

I only glance, before looking away, at a drama unfolding between a pair of young people:

The lady is flying out of the house, having a fit; while the man, hobbling on one leg as though the other is injured, tries to chase, loudly yelling after her.

"Sister, don't! It's too dangerous!"

Ah! So they're actually brother and sister, eh?

Curious, I choose this time to examine the lady--with some extra help from my super special ogre facial analysis power:

She's young: I would say barely older than 20, and though she's dressed in the same colorless rags of an average laborer I've been seeing all day, I immediately get the sense there's something more to this girl.

Well, and not to mention she's fairly pretty.

Her dark hair formed into a messy bun, like an afterthought. She's thin, with light, clear skin and cute features, with a big-eyed, honezt stare like someone who's never faced a betrayal in all their life...

Very soon, those eyes would be narrowed and dull, once I was through with her.

I...didn't want to think about it...

The things I was scheming were far worse than stealing a few coins!

I would be robbing parts of her very soul...

Still, I had to start somewhere.

I could never claim to be a virtuous hero, so I might as well embrace it...

The fullest dark Yang of my ogre blood.

...

...

"Ah, excuse me!" Fook Yu says, approaching the quarrelling siblings with an earnest smile and a friendly wave of his hand. "I hope I am not intruding too much, but what is it you lovely youngsters are bickering for?"

He points his hand to the hobbling young man in the doorway, perfectly maintaining his cheerful facade.

"I overhead big brother warning of danger."

"As a skilled, cultivating warrior--"

He gives a humble bow.

"I offer you siblings my protection, if need be."

The brother and sister then briefly exchange looks in silence, until the sister huffs and crosses her arms.

"I will take him, brother!" She firmly says.

"No! Absolutely not, Su Wang!"

Even with a cultivator, the Black Cobras are not to be trifled with!"

Su Wang, growling with frustration--

Turns to Fook Yu.

"I wish to go into town, but brother protests."

"You can't!" The brother chimes in, causing her pretty face to bear a scowl as she rolled her eyes. "The Black Cobra gang control the shrine path!"

"I would try my good fortune!"

"Your ambition is far too great, sister!"

"Maybe it is!" She stomps her foot.

"Still, I would prefer DEATH to towing these fields for all my years!"

Fook Yu scratches his chin.

He grins to himself in delight, at the display.

'My, my...it seems this beauty has a fiery hot temper.'

'Not only that...'

'The brother mentioned a gang!'

'A group of low-lifes like me--except they aren't clever enough to work alone, so they must rely on each other as a group!'

Fook Yu had always loathed such organizations.

To him, a truly strong man worked alone.

A gang was nothing but a group of weak cowards!

Looking at the farmer girl, his handsome face is swelling with confidence at what sounds like a fair test of his powers, pitting him against something he loathes so much.

"Is it a pit of snakes you fear?"

He laughs, unabashedly rolling his head back.

"I shall skewer them with my blade, and serve them on the grill--"he glances at the girl beside him, touching her shoulder--"should any attempt to lay a fang on this flower."

"O-oh." She looks up at Fook Yu, her flushed face only reaching up to his chest.

Big brother looks at him suspiciously.

"Really? Are you honestly as strong as you say, or just trying to get at my sister?"

The sister's mouth was ajar at his audacity--looking ready to argue, before Fook Yu softly held out his arm in front of her in appeasement.

"I can prove my abilities to you, if need be." He said to the wary brother.

"Whatever challenge--you decide!"

Brother smirked. "Alright!"

Thus, a series of challenges are to be given to Fook Yu by big brother, starting firstly with a test of his strength in towing an oxcart piled on with bags of rice and grain and weaved baskets of millet, in a flat clearing that lie just on the edge of the rice paddy and wheat farmlands.

For this challenge, Fook Yu is of course unsure of the outcome--whether he even possesses an enhanced strength in this "blank slate" form at all--yet still approached it with an unshakeable air of confidence.

"It will be effortless, for a cultivator like me!"

Then, noting Su Wang's fumbling lip and anxious eyes dwelling on him--

He pulls off his robe, and throws it at her face--laughing, as she is blushing and given quite a fright--while the brother watches in silent resentment.

Fook Yu, afterward, stands in position--grasping the fully-loaded oxcart.

He groans, and huffs. He strains his face--

He pulls with all his full might, and sure enough the cart does budge, as he pumps his legs to drag it along with him across the clearing in several laps, his beautifully tanned skin becoming moist with sweat.

Big brother and Su Wang observe in astonishment, until he finally stops, panting heavy, bending to his knees in exhaustion.

"See?" *huff* *huff* "Easy...as...walking."

For the next challenge, after Fook Yu caught his breath he was brought back into town and directed by big brother to a large, imposing structure with tiled roofs and dirty peeling walls, that loomed tall over all other buildings in the vicinity.

"There! It's the grain store! It's the tallest building in the village!"

"Show us you can jump on top of it!"

Nervously, Su Wang looks at Fook Yu, as he stares fixedly at the structure, which stood at an impressive 10 or so meters high.

"Mister...you can do this too, can't you?"

"I've heard legends of men who can leap unto the tallest buildings in one stroke."

"You're really one of those men...aren't you?"

Fook Yu looks to her, at the sheer trembling desperation in her eyes, and smiles. A tear is sliding down her face, that he quickly catches with his thumb.

By now, he was certain he'd figured her out.

"Even if I wasn't one such man..." He whispered--

Then, abruptly LUNGED--

Gliding through the air effortlessly, in total defiance of the laws governing nature--

To perch atop the granary's shingled roof.

Big brother and Su Wang both are looking up at him, as well as other villagers who may or may not have ever witnessed a cultivator's acts before; some trembling, before the awesome presence of the near-divine being that was the ogre named Fook Yu, reborn.

However, despite the audience he was gathering, Fook Yu's attentions were only honed on Su Wang, reaching one hand out towards her.

"I would still be your virtuous hero!"