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..."
Painted Gray (Part One)
In a small carriage that bore the crest of the Amber Lily Academy, Huang Yeyan watched carefully as Wu Ling adjusted his makeup before putting on a spare pair of her own spectacles.
"So, how do I look?" Wu Ling asked in a voice pitched even higher than his usual feminine tones.
"Two years younger than usual," the alchemist said with a touch of awe in her voice. "I'd take you for a young girl of fifteen or sixteen summers. Your voice too, it's very youthful," she praised. "You did that with just a bit of tea?"
"I need to keep sipping on it if I want to maintain its effects," Wu Ling said, tapping the small water flask beside him. "I had to bribe Mother Cang with one of my custom blends before she gave up the secret of making tea with dried suan berries. As long as I'm not trying to make my voice sound a specific way, the tea will help me sound different enough from my normal voice that I won't be recognized by voice."