Unparalleled Artist: Unlikely Hero
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..."
Memories of Courtship
In a small sitting room, Su Jixin poured two cups of strong wine before passing one to Wu Ling and gesturing for the young man to take a seat. Several moments passed while the older man stared into his cup, his brows furrowed and his thin lips pursed.
Three decades. For three decades, Zou Suyin and Su Yao had been the center of his world. Staring into his cup of wine, he couldn't help but recall when he'd sat in a position similar to Wu Ling, alone in a room with Suyin's father Zou Ruiyan while the stern-looking Warrior stared at him with eyes that tracked every movement.
"It isn't that I doubt your sincerity, Young Su," the veteran hunter said bluntly. "It's that I'm troubled by your occupation. You're an Architect, aren't you? That's a very noble profession in a city as vast as ours, but it does little to reassure me that you'll be able to keep my Yin'er safe. If it were your older brother sitting here, we'd be having a very different conversation."