JustJae

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..."

Unparalleled Artist: Unlikely Hero

When the group returned to camp, Wu Ling treated everyone to a hearty broken rice soup with broth made from the bones of yesterday's grouse combined with finely diced mushrooms and wild greens picked by Yu Jinqi.

"Brother Wu," Zhang Buyan said after several spoonfuls of the hearty soup. "Where did you learn to cook like this? It's… not like any soup I've had before. That isn't to say it's bad, but it's very different."

"It's better with an egg or two scrambled in," Wu Ling said, ladling more into Zhang Buyan's empty bowl. "My mother's hands were crippled years ago to prevent her from holding a sword again. She enjoys family meals more if it's a rich soup that she can drink instead of something that she needs to have fed to her."

"Brother Wu!" Jin Wuya exclaimed, horrified that someone would go so far to prevent another person from holding a sword again while leaving them alive to suffer. "Who would do such a thing?"

A Simple Misunderstanding