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..."
News from the Sect
It took two days after Wu Ling sent his letters to the sect to hear back from both the sect and Yao Meifeng. When Madame Cixiu explained the orders he'd been given, however, he couldn't help but feel apprehensive.
"Just to be clear," Wu Ling asked the older woman who managed the chapterhouse in Bufa City. "Hall Master Bian isn't recalling me, even though we've accomplished our aim of breaking through? She's content to let us finish the remainder of the expedition?"
"Exactly as you say," the older woman said with a warm smile. "The instructions sent for you were very clear. If you're able to resolve your enmity with the Mountain's Bones Gang without further violence, that's preferred. Likewise, you are forbidden from attempting to assault their fortress. Hall Master Bian will assign the matter of Fantian Wong to someone better suited to such missions."