Whispers of a Pale Orchid Demon!
I'm in my room at the inn, trying to make sense of this curious new discovery, as rain still pours and lightning crashes outside the window.
I know Han Some's body didn't have a tattoo before!
Although, hmm...
The strange "bee sting" I felt earlier...
Could that have actually been caused by this tattoo? At the moment it must have "magically" appeared on the side of my neck? Perhaps having something to do with my cultivation...
I'm not exactly well-versed in all this mystical cultivation cow dung, truth be told. I just know that a cultivator must follow his or her cultivation method in order to be able to punch harder and fly farther, until eventually they become immortal gods. Really, all I know is what Granny Some had told me, so I am much like an infant stumbling through the dark in all this.
All of a sudden, I feel the spot of my tattoo burn like it's the bite mark of a viper, and I reflexively gasp and touch it, as a voice beckons to me from the emptiness:
"So, a new inheritor has been chosen, after the old one failed to meet expectations."
It is a dark, sinister voice. The kind of voice i'd imagine when I hear tales of demons whispering into the ears of mortals to lead them down a dark path. A voice of cruelty and deception.
I brandish my saber. "Who goes there?" But as I am turning all around, I see no one else in the room with me.
Was it pure imagination, borne of my grief?
Su Wang...I...
"Don't lie to yourself, evildoer!" The voice returns, more clear than before. "Su Wang meant just a bit of frollicking fun in the forest to you, and nothing more!"
"That's not true!" I argue with the unseeable presence.
Was I well and truly insane?
"Pale Orchid is not only a cultivation method, but a way of being." The voice says, sounding more calm, like a schoolteacher giving a quiet lecture. "As a bandit, you destroyed others in order to sustain yourself. Pale Orchid works in a like fashion, so it should only be natural to you." It laughed. "Except, it will be even more fun! Just think of all the women you'll get to enjoy, to your heart's content."
As I am listening to the words of this yet to be revealed manifestation, it dawns on me that drawing my saber in defense would be useless--not unless I am willing to turn it on myself.
"You're inside of me." I say calmly, albeit with bitter acceptance.
"That's right." It replies in a mocking sort of voice, as one would speak downward unto a child. "I dwell dormant within you, as I did with Han Some before. I am the Pale Orchid demon that haunts this cursed bloodline, here to guide you in your journey to enlightenment."
I scoff, plopping down on the bed with my face up, staring at the blank ceiling. "A demon guide?" It sounded like a bad joke, with the punchline no doubt being "he takes the idiot mortal's soul in exchange, by the end."
Perhaps it can read my mind, because it responds directly to my hesitation:
"Heh, but surely you have questions, Fook Yu; questions which only I am capable of answering."
Questions...that I do. Plenty.
Starting with this tattoo on my neck, which, I'm discovering now as I brush it again, feels especially warm to the touch, while at the same time the sharp pain I had experienced a moment ago has died down, remaining only as a barely lingering slight pressure. Ever since I'd noticed the thing, it seemed to be constantly doing something different from one minute to the next.
"What's the tattoo for?" I finally give in and ask, my soul be damned for the sake of curiosity.
"Think of it as a living brand." The demon states in reply. "It designates you as a student of the Pale Orchid school of cultivation, and will continue to grow in accordance with your progress. Its function is to channel the spiritual energy required to manifest your increasing powers, as well as allowing us to communicate like we are able to now."
"So, every girl's heart I break will expand the tattoo, which grants me more power?"
"Precisely." It said, with a wicked laugh. "See? Doesn't it feel good to have this knowledge available to you? Wouldn't you like to know as much as possible?"
It sounded like it was obviously luring me into a trap, yet still I took the bait:
"What powers have I gained?"
"Increased strength. Speed. Stamina."
"But I was already strong, and quick, and energetic! When do I get to shoot lightning from my hands? Or fly around on a sword?"
"Patience, patience. In due time."
"But wait," I say, sitting up sharply, as I am struck by a sudden realization, "I felt the tattoo emerge only hours after I ran from Su Wang. So it proves…"
I could imagine Su Wang was knelt somewhere, broken up and crying over my betrayal, after she'd probably searched and frantically questioned people for hours trying to find me: thinking I must have just got lost in the crowd, or wandered off somewhere, until…
The truth had finally set it in: that I had taken my enjoyment of her, and faded into the mist.
I breathe out a sigh, leaning my forehead into my palm in misery at the thought of Su Wang's pain, as I'm fighting away a fledgling desire in my heart to turn back: to return to Su Wang's side, and perform whatever acts it takes to claim her heart again, to make right and to mend; to say, to Hell with my revenge! To Hell with gaining immortality! At least, so long as it came at such an unjustifiable weight…
Heh, but who am I kidding?
Ogres like me have no use for remorse…
It only makes the job we're forced to do that much harder.
Surely, I can overcome this sympathy that plagues me now. Maybe not for the next girl, the one after, or even after that, but with enough trials...surely…
Yes, but I must steel myself until then.
I must become a new type of ogre, even more wretched than the last.
"Demon, I have another question."
"Yes, Fook Yu?" It replies near-instantly, a servant hanging on my every word as I rise from bed, with a heavy brow; a beast hungering for its next kill.
"How many broken hearts will it take to reach immortality?"
…
The city Fook Yu has travelled to is based in the low foothills of a rocky mountain, where much of its lower caste citizens toil day-in and day-out at the mines: emerging only to sleep in their bunkhouses or to drink, at the only restaurant in town that caters to the grimy, unwashed locals.
It is this restaurant Fook Yu happens upon, while out walking along the mud-puddled streets just as soon as the weather had cleared; though an overcast of grey clouds remains, threatening to burst again.
A greeter at the door stops him, grinning with wide buck teeth.
"Stranger, this place is dangerous."
Fook shifts his arm, that had been lingering at his side, to display his sheathed sword.
"I can handle danger." He simply says.
"I'm warning you because you look like a bad fellow, and there's a crazy bounty hunter who's been in town--spending most of his time at the bar. So, if you've ever had your face on a single wanted poster, you'd best be moving along."
Fook Yu nods, stroking his chin in consideration of the man's warning.
'Well, I'm in Han Some's body now.'
'If it weren't for that I'd be scared, because unless this bounty hunter is the brother of one of the girls whose heart Han Some broke, I think I'll be safe.'
Grinning, Fook Yu gives the greeter a coin.
"I'm not as scary as I look," he says, tilting his hat before walking past him.
The restaurant is disorderly and loud, disrepaired and unmaintained, with holes in the wall and rainwater dripping down from the ceiling in places. It is the kind of lowbrow venue one would only settle for if they have no other option.
Or, if they are searching for someone.
Among the masses of unsavory city natives dressed in rags, with limbs caked in mud and faces painted by dirt, a single person stood out.
It was a man who was sat hunched over the bar, head bowed, with a cup in hand. From behind, Fook Yu he could see they were wearing a nice brown robe, with his long hair twisted into a braid reaching down to the bottom of his torso.
Fook Yu is naturally drawn to this man, assuming it was the bounty hunter from out of town the greeter had mentioned, but perhaps as good a drinking buddy as any.
It is then he winced, as his tattoo suddenly begins to sear with pain again.
'Orchid demon, is that you? What is it?'
"Fook Yu, beware..." he hears it whisper ominously.
"The man, seated there before you--"
"Is a CULTIVATOR!"