The backdrop can also be propped up.

Lin Yuqing said, "Wait, that little girl moved... oh, she just stretched."

Xing'er and his disciples watched Caihua until Fang Yuancheng came to Caihua's side.

Fang Yuancheng felt something was off about today: he felt like something was missing when he was refining pills and cooking.

It wasn't until she finished preparing dinner for the disciples who hadn't fasted that Fang Yuancheng suddenly realized that none of her senior brothers, sisters, or master had nagged her to take on disciples.

After Fang Yuancheng finished distributing meals to the disciples who hadn't fasted, he went to find people—not only his senior brothers and sisters and his master, but also the new disciples who didn't know the meal times.

It turns out that it's easier to find new disciples than to find masters, senior brothers, and senior sisters.

Fang Yuancheng thought about the number of new disciples and realized he was one short. He sent the most reliable disciple to the cafeteria while he went to find the one who was hiding somewhere.

Fang Yuancheng first went to the places where the disciples often played, but no one was there.

I went to the library to look, but there was no one there.

At the sect's main gate, only Chongxiang's disciples Xinping, Xinhe, Xingqing, and Yumei were there to greet the new disciples.

Then the music room, the armory... still no one.

Not only could they not find the new disciple, but they also could not find Fang Yuancheng's own master, senior brothers, and senior sisters.

As Fang Yuancheng walked with his arms crossed, he muttered to himself, "Where are they? It's my first day as a new disciple, and I'm unfamiliar with the place, so it's understandable that I can't find anyone. But where are Master and the others? Are they dismantling my alchemy furnace in my pharmacy? ...Right, I haven't looked for the pharmacy yet!"

Fang Yuancheng flew to the pharmacy and saw a little girl not far away. He flew down to see who it was, and found that she was the new disciple who was not with the other children.

Upon seeing Fang Yuancheng arrive, Caihua stood up and said, "Greetings, Immortal."

"Okay, okay—why are you here all alone?" Fang Yuancheng said, glancing at the pharmacy not far from Caihua.

“Replying to the immortal, the view here is excellent; you can watch the sunset,” Caihua replied.

Fang Yuancheng picked up Caihua, feeling very happy—one of the reasons she chose this place to build the pharmacy was because she could see the sunset from here. This little girl had the same taste as her.

"You used to be a maid in the Prince's mansion? You don't need to add 'returning to immortality' before answering our questions anymore. From now on, you will also embark on the path of cultivation. You will have the same status as us." Fang Yuancheng said to Caihua as he flew through the sky with her in his arms.

Seeing Fang Yuancheng fly away with Caihua in his arms, Xing'er and his disciples finally released the breath-concealing spell.

Xing'er laughed and said, "I told you this girl was right for Ju Chi, didn't I? Look, Ju Chi has taken her with him."

"Right now, Junior Sister doesn't know that the girl wants to be an alchemist. If Junior Sister knew what this child was thinking, she really wouldn't be so swayed by the thought of Mei Chong..." Hong Lanying cut off the rest of his sentence.

Although she didn't say it, the others knew what Hong Lanying wanted to say—because it represented the worst possible outcome for several people.

"But as long as Junior Sister doesn't know what this child is thinking, that's fine." Nan Moqu stroked his beard. "Then we'll quickly take on disciples, and once we've done that, the child will naturally belong to Junior Sister—after all, her initial idea was for us to choose the remaining disciples for her."

“That’s true. Then we’d better be quick so that our junior sister doesn’t notice,” Chongxiang said.

Fang Yuancheng flew to the canteen with Caihua, put her down, served her food, and then sat down at the kitchen door to enjoy the breeze while waiting for his senior brothers and sisters to come over. He had sensed them and their master using a concealment spell as they stood not far away from the pharmacy.

"Are they choosing apprentices for me again? If I don't say anything, they'll pretend I didn't notice them. Do they still think I'm a little kid?" Fang Yuancheng thought to himself, and then used his spiritual power to flick a small pebble away.

Tomorrow is the apprenticeship ceremony, but for some reason, I have a bit of a headache. Fang Yuancheng rubbed his head, thinking to himself.

Hopefully nothing bad will happen tomorrow. Fang Yuancheng sighed.

In the Spirit Realm, on Qilou Peak, in the Qingping Sect, inside the Fifth Elder's room.

Ma Wuyi sat cross-legged on the bed, facing a chessboard, playing with black and white pieces.

Before the bed, Mei Chong was kneeling, waiting for Ma Wuyi to let him speak about the apprenticeship ceremony that Huaiyu Sect would be holding the next day.

Ma Wuyi placed a black piece, signaling Mei Chong to speak.

"The sect leader invites you to the Huaiyu Sect's apprenticeship ceremony tomorrow." Although Mei Chong's physical abilities had improved after cultivating immortality, his knees were still a little sore after kneeling for several hours.

Upon hearing this, Ma Wuyi snorted coldly and said, "That old bastard is one who likes to stir up trouble. He's taking us there because he's really afraid that Huaiyu Sect doesn't have any troubles to deal with."

"Master, shall we go?" Mei Chong just wanted to hear Ma Wuyi's answer as soon as possible so he could report back to the Qingping Sect leader.

Ma Wuyi laughed loudly: "Go, why wouldn't I go? I want everyone to know that my choice was right! Huaiyu Sect is already at its last gasp and will never rise again! Those fools who stubbornly remain in Huaiyu Sect are the ones who should be laughed at by the world!"

Mei Chong listened to Ma Wuyi's chilling laughter and managed a forced smile.

After Ma Wuyi finished laughing, Mei Chong took his leave and returned to his room after reporting back to the sect leader.

As soon as Mei Chonggang opened the door, he heard the voice of his junior sister Fei Junxing, who had come to Qingping Sect with Ma Wuyi, coming from behind him.

"Senior brother," Fei Junxing walked up to Mei Chong and asked, "What did the sect leader ask you to convey to Master today? I saw you stayed with Master for a long time."

"The sect leader said that tomorrow is the Huaiyu Sect's apprenticeship ceremony, and he will be taking Master with him. Master will take us with him," Mei Chong said expressionlessly, delivering this news that was not good for them.

Sure enough, Fei Junxing's expression changed upon hearing this, and he hurriedly asked, "Can I not go? I'll just say that I obtained the Heart Sutra today and need to go into seclusion to cultivate..."

"Do you think it will be useful?" Mei Chong interrupted Fei Junxing. "Do you think you can fool the sect leader or your master?"

Fei Junxing was speechless.

"Let's go back and prepare." Mei Chong turned and went into the room. "We can't let them know that we're not having a good time here and make them laugh."

Mei Chong closed the door, and Fei Junxing stood silently at the door for a while before leaving as well.

Fei Junxing returned to her room, looked at the simple furnishings, and sighed. Her master had said that the Huaiyu Sect was no longer as powerful as before, and it was best to leave as soon as possible. Afterwards, her master led her and the other senior and junior brothers and sisters away from the Huaiyu Sect to the Qingping Sect.

As a result, only Master got the position of Fourth Elder. Fei Junxing thought dejectedly, "The other disciples have been extremely wary of us."

Because we are traitors to the Huaiyu Sect, and could betray the Qingping Sect at any time, we deserve not to receive all the good things from the Qingping Sect. Fei Junxing thought, his body gradually sliding down the door until his buttocks hit the ground.

Fei Junxing buried her face in her knees, laughed self-deprecatingly, then stood up, rummaged through her trunk to find her old clothes, and pulled out her jewelry that she hadn't worn in a long time.

There was no turning back. I couldn't let the Huaiyu Sect—especially Bai Nishan—laugh at me. Fei Junxing suddenly ignited—though he didn't know what it was about.

After the sun sets and the moon has listened to the sounds of the world for several hours, it relinquishes the sky to the sun again.

The sunlight illuminated Xiyin City, and also put a pause on the city's nighttime criminal activities.

Ma Meiyun had been awake for a while—because she had dealt with two thieves who wanted to kill her and rob her last night—she sat by the window, watching the sun rise, then checked her bag, shouldered her pack, and left the inn.

Ma Meiyun walked out of Xiyin City and arrived at Yiyi City, which is closer to the Spirit Realm. She checked her mask, then withdrew her demonic energy. She nervously walked to the gate of Yiyi City. The spiritual cultivator who was checking her lifted his eyelids and glanced at her before waving her in.

After entering Yiyi City, Ma Meiyun still felt a sense of unreality—she couldn't believe she had actually entered—and only after tripping over a stone did she break free from this feeling of unreality.

"Now... I should find a sect to join. Without someone to guide me in cultivating with spiritual power, I'll be recognized sooner or later because of my demonic energy." Ma Meiyun thought to herself, glancing at a plaque not far away—it read "Cow Guardian."

On Yuling Mountain of Huaiyu Sect, Caihua and the other disciples knelt in front of the main hall of Huaiyu Sect, waiting for the start of the apprenticeship ceremony.

The little white snake, now in its snake form, was fast asleep, wrapped around Caihua's arm.

Within Ayaka's consciousness space, Lu Renkui was listening to the system WQBYRZM speak.

"This is the Huaiyu Sect's apprenticeship ceremony. In the original story, the Qingping Sect leader poached disciples from the Huaiyu Sect on the spot and mocked them, which angered the Huaiyu Sect. At this moment, the original protagonist, Jing'an, stormed in from outside the hall and successfully defeated Ma Wuyi, who had previously stayed in the Huaiyu Sect, and crippled Ma Wuyi's disciple, Mei Chong, by one leg." System WQBYRZM reported these events expressionlessly. "I guess if we want this progress bar to rise in a while, we have to prevent the Qingping Sect leader from poaching disciples from the Huaiyu Sect in public and mocking them."

"I understand," Lu Renkui said.

"What do you understand? We're inside Ayaka's body right now. What right do we have to fight back? What ability do we have to fight back? We're lucky we haven't been crushed to our knees by her intimidation." System WQBYRZM punched Lu Renkui in exasperation.

"It depends. Maybe we'll have a say in it?" Lu Renkui said weakly, rubbing his head.

Caihua didn't notice Lu Renkui's conversation with the system WQBYRZM. She was observing the behavior of the people around her: many people were secretly moving around, such as Wang Li, who had never knelt for so long and whose legs were already a little numb; there were also people like Wen Meiying who couldn't hold on but were still gritting their teeth and persevering; and a few were stealing food, like Nolan, who took out a piece of beef jerky from his sleeve and generously shared it with the children around him.

Caihua looked up at the main hall, which was already full of people, including the sect leader and elders of Huaiyu Sect, as well as the sect leaders and elders of other sects.

Caihua glanced around the main hall again. Disciples of the Huaiyu Sect were perched on the walls, and several other disciples from invited sects jumped up and also clung to the walls to watch them become disciples.

"The time has come, the apprenticeship ceremony begins!" Xue Qiwei, the eldest disciple of Nanmo District, began to read the opening remarks that he had prepared in advance.

After reciting the opening remarks, Xue Qiwei asked the new disciples to stand up. After giving them time to settle down, Xinping, Chongxiang's eldest disciple, gave each of the disciples a cup of tea and asked them to serve it to the master they wanted to become disciples of.

"After entering the hall, the one sitting directly opposite the entrance is the master you will be apprenticing to. From left to right, they are the First Elder who cultivates swordsmanship, the Second Elder who cultivates formations, the Third Elder who cultivates body martial arts, the Fourth Elder who cultivates music, the Fifth Elder who is a weapon refiner, and the Sixth Elder who is a pharmacist and also cultivates culinary arts," Xue Qiwei said. "Now, stand in the row you wish to be apprenticed to, from left to right. Once you are in position, I will lead you into the hall."

As soon as Xue Qiwei finished speaking, the children lined up noisily.

Caihua stood quietly in the sixth row—she wanted to be an alchemist, and the senior brother had just mentioned that the Sixth Elder, who had been cooking for them these past few days, was an alchemist.

Xue Qiwei looked around and saw that there was only Caihua in the sixth column, so he counted again—if Caihua counted as one column, then there were a total of six columns.

"Will my junior aunt take on disciples?" With this thought in mind, Xue Qiwei led his new disciple into the main hall and then found a spot with a view of the surrounding city.

Caihua entered the hall, walked up to Fang Yuancheng, and knelt down like the other children, facing Fang Yuancheng's astonished face. She raised her teacup above her head, bowed her head, and said, "Please have some tea, Master."

Looking at the extremely serious little girl in front of him, Fang Yuancheng couldn't help but sigh to the heavens—she had even sat in the corner for the sake of appearance, and had already prepared herself for no one to come and ask her to be her master, so why did this little girl still come over?

Fang Yuancheng told Caihua to look up, then pointed to Qin Ping, who was drinking tea to the side, and said, "Look, he's a weapon refiner, and he earns much more money than me."

"Ayaka wants to be an alchemist."

"Are you stupid? You became a weapon refiner, you made a ton of money, why would you worry about not being able to buy a few pills?"

“Ke Caihua wants to be an alchemist.”

"Why did you become an alchemist? You've made a ton of money, you can still buy pills, can't you?"

“Ke Caihua wants to be an alchemist.”

"Let me make this clear first: if you come with me, you'll be responsible for cooking for the entire sect."

“Ayaka can cook.”

Fang Yuancheng was speechless—she simply couldn't understand how there could be such a stubborn child in the world.

Fang Yuancheng was still arguing with Caihua, urging her to find another master, but Caihua insisted on becoming an alchemist.

On the other side, Nanmoqu and the others had almost finished their tea, especially Lin Yuqing, who never imagined that she, a music cultivator, would be so popular.

Maybe it's not that I've become popular, but rather that the rest of the guys think they've had enough and are pushing all their stuff onto me. Lin Yuqing thought resentfully, then turned around and went to play music in front of their window.

As Lin Yuqing pondered what time would be both reasonable and wouldn't disturb his other senior and junior brothers, he suddenly heard a sneer from inside the hall.

"It seems that Huaiyu Sect has truly declined, with so many disciples choosing to become music cultivators." The speaker was none other than the sect master of Qingping Sect.