Following his father's murder, Wu Ling's mother returned to the life of a courtesan, disguising her young son as a girl to take refuge in the Bamboo Silk House, a women's only sect dedicated to the arts. Now, as his powers awaken, he'll find himself torn between protecting his family and the goals of powerful cultivators who see him as a means to an end. "Wu Ling, I've accepted a marriage proposal on your behalf," the bewitching Hall Master of the Bamboo Silk House declared. "When you enter the Inner Sect, you'll enter under the name 'Hua Qianhu', fiancee of a young lord of the Liang family." "Hall Master, that's impossible!" Wu Ling protested. "Even if you ignore my relationship with Meifeng, I might have dressed well enough to hide as a mortal woman but I could never..." "So you truly didn't realize what you were doing," the Hall Master said, a dark smile on her lips. "Little Ling, you're a natural-born Shapeshifter. I'll teach you what you need to know," she said, her features shifting until she looked like a mirror image of the stunned Wu Ling. "As long as you follow my arrangements and learn my techniques, it isn't impossible for you to reunite with Meifeng..." "But you should consider Young Lord Liang carefully," the Hall Master added. "His affection for you is genuine. Perhaps, one day, you'll even feel the same for him..."
"Alchemist Huang is here?" Wu Ling said, frowning at the way Jieyan had phrased things when he heard a sharp intake of breath from Yao Meifeng. "Why would she come?" Wu Ling wondered aloud, hoping that Meifeng understood he didn't have that kind of relationship with the esteemed Alchemist. While he and Yao Meifeng hadn't made any formal declarations about courtship, he found himself missing her presence several times while they were in the mountains. In fact, her afternoon visits were one of the things he most looked forward to while he was recovering from his injuries.
"Please, show her in," he told Jieyan while he put away his calligraphy and straightened up his robes.