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..."
Bamboo Silk House Lays Claim (Part 2)
"Explain. You know I have little trust for the Hall Master's schemes when the scales aren't balanced between us," Wu Ningli said, still scowling darkly at the idea her delicate son would be forced into a Dark Mission. "Right now, she has too much strength and I have too little to offer her, that never makes for a good bargain."
"And here I thought that you and Hall Master Bian were friends," the other woman said. "You certainly killed enough people for her."
"We are friends," Wu Ningli acknowledged. "But she's still a Hall Master and I'm still just an Elder. She's always been clear that our friendship is limited by the roles we occupy and the responsibilities we both have. That's why I can't ever trust her the way I trust you. If it comes down to me or the sect, she'll choose the sect. Again," she said bitterly. "But tell me about this Dark Mission and why you think it's good that I allow her to assign it to my little man."