The backdrop can also be propped up.

The hall was quiet for a moment, then whispers began to emanate from various places.

Caihua knew what was happening—sometimes, some clueless and arrogant guests would come to the mansion and do things that left the host and other guests speechless. Granny Li had said that such people were easy targets, and advised Caihua to assess the situation before speaking.

However, it is clear that this sect leader of the Qingping Sect does not understand the atmosphere.

Within Ayaka's consciousness space, Lu Renkui was contemplating how to verbally spar with the Qingping Sect Master in a way that would render him speechless—although the Qingping Sect Master might not give Ayaka much of a chance to speak.

Fang Yuancheng sneered upon hearing the words of the Qingping Sect Master—that old bastard Qingping Sect Master has really gotten too cocky, completely unaware that they invited the Xianyin Sect, which is mainly composed of music cultivators.

Although it's common knowledge in the cultivation world that music cultivators are particularly weak, when a group of music cultivators surround you, playing instruments, singing, and performing, you'll experience what it means to be worse than dead.

Among them, the Immortal Sound Sect is the most capable of tormenting people. Their specialty is to weave an illusion by two or more people: one group weaves a beautiful dream, making you float to the extreme in the illusion, while another group weaves a nightmare, making you experience the feeling of falling from the peak to the bottom and being smashed to pieces.

This tactic forces the Immortal Sound Sect to fight as a group, but the advantage is that they are not only extremely united, but they can also easily defeat cultivators who are one level higher than them.

"Immortal, have some tea," Caihua called softly to Fang Yuancheng.

Fang Yuancheng realized that there was a child named Caihua in front of him.

Fang Yuancheng told Caihua to sit cross-legged and said, "It'll be a while, you can sit for a bit. After these guys leave, you can find someone else to become your apprentice."

"But I want to be an alchemist..."

"Stop, stop, stop, stop! Whatever you want to do, wait until this is over first, listen to me." Fang Yuancheng felt that compared to her master arguing with the Qingping Sect Master, she found this child in front of her more troublesome—with her master, senior brothers, and senior sisters arguing in front of her, it didn't concern her, and if she went in, the scene would probably become even more chaotic.

Fang Yuancheng listened, afraid that he might get too worked up and pull the Qingping Sect Master off his seat, then smash the Yaoshan Pot against him. If that happened, the apprenticeship ceremony would be completely ruined.

Caihua sat cross-legged, watching the sect leader of Xing'er Sect and the sect leader of Qingping Sect exchange barbs in the hall for a while before leaving and entering her own consciousness space.

Within Ayaka's consciousness space, Lu Renkui was talking to herself.

Ayaka greeted everyone and then sat down next to Lu Renkui, listening to Lu Renkui talk to himself.

“From what the Qingping Sect Master just said, we can conclude that his main point is that most people in the Huaiyu Sect choose to become music cultivators, and music cultivators are weak, so the strength of the Huaiyu Sect has declined.” Lu Renkui said, gesturing in the air with his hand. “This logic is obviously not valid. Music cultivators are weak individually, but they can exert their greatest influence as a group.”

"Among the newly recruited disciples of Huaiyu Sect, many chose to become music cultivators. It's possible that only this year has seen a large number of such choices. The sect leader of Qingping Sect only looks at the current data and hasn't considered the data from the past few years before making a hasty conclusion. This shows his short-sightedness, and it's a point that can be attacked."

Seeing Lu Renkui talking to himself so enthusiastically, the system WQBYRZM also joined in the discussion: "If possible, we could also try to expand on this—the Qingping Sect Master's words could be interpreted as him looking down on music cultivators, considering them all weak, and directly dragging them into the discussion. We could try to get the music cultivators to join us in condemning him. At the same time, we could say that the Qingping Sect Master's words were full of arrogance towards the weak, and spread this message to gain empathy from some smaller sects."

“There’s also the kind that’s just unethical.” Lu Renkui had just seen someone sitting next to the Qingping Sect Master through Caihua’s eyes. After comparing it with the original plot, he found that it was Ma Wuyi, the former Fourth Elder of Huaiyu Sect who had led a group of disciples to betray Qingping Sect. “This guy came here with the intention of stirring up trouble and deliberately causing chaos.”

"And then there's his rudeness. In front of everyone from Huaiyu Sect and other sects, he first brought Ma Wuyi to provoke everyone into remembering Ma Wuyi's betrayal of Huaiyu Sect and the fact that he took away a group of Huaiyu Sect disciples and many treasures and magical artifacts. This isn't just about disrupting the apprenticeship ceremony; this guy is here to cause trouble," said System WQBYRZM.

As Ayaka listened to the conversation between the one person and the system, she opened her eyes and looked at the people from the Qingping Sect.

Caihua silently placed the Qingping Sect Master in a circle she could not approach in her heart, and then continued to listen to Lu Renkui and the system WQBYRZM's discussion and rebuttal about the Qingping Sect in her consciousness space.

"What does Huaiyu Sect have left to train new disciples? Isn't it a waste to let you train so many children with top-grade spiritual roots? Little ones, I'm giving you a chance—enter Qingping Sect now, and what we can offer will definitely be better and more than what Huaiyu Sect can offer!" The Qingping Sect Master looked at Nolan, Wang Li, and Wen Meiying, and the fervor in his eyes was obvious to everyone.

The people inside the hall, who had been whispering because of the two sect leaders' argument, stopped talking and waited for the three children's response—after all, at worst they would only be accidentally hurt by each other's words, so they could just quietly watch the show.

Fang Yuancheng expressionlessly took out a flask of wine from her storage space, masking the smell with a scent-blocking spell and minimizing her presence—she couldn't take it anymore. This old scoundrel still had the nerve to poach talent right in front of them. Why didn't Huaiyu Sect have any treasures to cultivate geniuses? Wasn't it because this old scoundrel had Ma Wuyi knock out the disciple guarding the treasures and ran off with them?

I drank, I got drunk, so what did I do while I was drunk? What does it have to do with me when I'm sober? Fang Yuancheng thought to himself, and pointed the spout of the teapot at his lips.

The hall fell silent for a moment, everyone waiting for the three children's answer.

I didn't hear the three children's answers, but I did hear a little girl say, "Shameless."

Although the sound was soft, in the quiet hall where you could hear a pin drop, it was like a thunderclap out of nowhere.

The sect leader of Qingping Sect felt offended. He angrily looked around and asked, "Who was speaking just now?!"

Caihua lowered her head silently—just now, in the consciousness space, she heard Lu Renkui and the system WQBYRZM cursing the Qingping Sect Master as shameless, and she unconsciously added the word "shameless" herself, who knew that she would actually say it out loud.

The Qingping Sect Master sneered, "What? Nobody dares to step forward? Daring to speak but not daring to admit it? Huaiyu Sect has recruited this kind of person? Is this really someone from our three major sects..."

Before the words were finished, everyone was surprised to see a little girl in a corner stand up.

Before the Qingping Sect Master could speak, Lu Renkui patted Caihua's shoulder in Caihua's consciousness space: "Caihua, lend me your body for a bit, I'll return it to you soon, I'll help you resolve this matter."

The one who stood up at this moment was Lu Renkui, who was inside Caihua's body. She stood up, gave a simple bow to everyone, and then stood there expressionlessly, waiting for the Qingping Sect Master's words.

The Qingping Sect Master looked at the frail little girl before him with disdain—this little girl, so small, dared to call him shameless in this situation. Did this little girl even deserve his scolding?

So the sect leader of Qingping Sect gave Ma Wuyi a wink, signaling Ma Wuyi to go and lecture this ignorant and arrogant little girl.

"Did you say those words just now?" Ma Wuyi looked the thin girl up and down with his eyes—he couldn't see any extraordinary talent in Caihua, nor did he see that she had a single spiritual root, but rather a mixed spiritual root.

"I wonder how Huaiyu Sect managed to choose her. They've really fallen from grace," Ma Wuyi thought disdainfully.

“Yes,” Lu Renkui replied.

"That was a pretty quick reply." Ma Wuyi thought to herself, then frowned, looked at "Caihua," and said, "Do you know what you meant by what you just said?"

"I know," Lu Renkui replied calmly.

"Then hurry up and apologize." Ma Wuyi raised her voice slightly and pretended to be very angry—a little scare is usually enough to deal with disobedient children.

Unfortunately, Ma Wuyi is now facing Lu Renkui—an argumentative warrior who has never lost a fight.

"Why should Caihua apologize?" Lu Renkui asked knowingly.

Ma Wuyi choked for a moment—he hadn't expected this child to dare to contradict him—so he continued speaking at the same volume: "Don't you know what you just said? For a junior to speak like that to an elder shows a complete lack of manners and upbringing. Apologize immediately! It is good to admit your mistakes and correct them."

“Okay, Ayaka apologizes,” Lu Renkui said, pretending that he was both frightened and persuaded by Ma Wuyi.

Hearing what "Caihua" inside the door said, Lu Xiaoxiang, a disciple of the Xianyin Sect outside the hall, clicked her tongue in regret: "I thought this little girl would dare to confront that old man from the Qingping Sect, but I didn't expect her to apologize so quickly."

“It’s enough for a young girl to have this courage; there’s no need to ask her to do anything more,” Bai Nishan said, gently patting Lü Xiaoxiang on the back.

Then Bai Nishan saw Lü Xiaoxiang's dejected aura suddenly lift: "Hey, wait, there's a twist."

Inside the hall, Lu Renkui said, "Caihua can apologize to the sect leader of Qingping Sect, but we also hope that the sect leader of Qingping Sect can apologize to everyone you have offended in front of Caihua."

These words silenced the hall, while a commotion broke out outside.

Ma Wuyi suddenly slammed his fist on the armrest—startling the unsuspecting Lu Renkui—and his voice rose sharply, his expression becoming even more ferocious: "Don't you have any sense of seniority or hierarchy?! You actually demand an apology from an elder?!"

“Caihua doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with what Caihua said.” Lu Renkui cursed Ma Wuyi in his heart before continuing the debate. “First of all, it was the Qingping Sect Master who said in front of everyone that Huaiyu Sect’s music cultivators were taking in the most, and that they were getting worse every day. He also arbitrarily concluded that all music cultivators were weak. He offended not only Huaiyu Sect, but also all music cultivators in the entire Spirit Realm.”

"Secondly, the sect leader and the Qingping Sect Master argued. The sect leader calmly discussed the issue with the Qingping Sect Master, but the Qingping Sect Master was arrogant and openly and secretly mocked the sect leader's disciples for being less powerful than his disciples."

"Huaiyu Sect is one of the three major sects in the Spirit Realm, yet the sect leader of Qingping Sect is so arrogant and rude. Does the sect leader of Qingping Sect speak to other sects that are not as strong as Qingping Sect in private with the same tone and demeanor? Or is he even more arrogant and regards them as ants?" Lu Renkui took the opportunity to ask, giving himself some time to think about what to say next: Should he directly curse? Or should he be more roundabout and use the words of a sage to curse?

Inside the hall, the invited sect leaders and elders of the smaller sects became even quieter, while the disciples of those smaller sects began to discuss among themselves outside.

"How could you presume to understand the sect leader with such thoughts..." Ma Wuyi never expected to be rendered speechless by a young girl's insults.

"So the Qingping Sect is specifically targeting the Huaiyu Sect? The Huaiyu Sect's rule is 'Treat people with courtesy and win them over with virtue.' None of the sect's disciples have ever violated this rule, which is evident to all. I wonder what the Qingping Sect's leader's intentions are in targeting the Huaiyu Sect." Lu Renkui answered without hesitation.

Ma Wuyi was at a loss for words. Before she could even open her mouth and change the subject, she was met with a barrage of questions from the young girl.

"As the ancients said: Cultivating the Tao begins with cultivating virtue, cultivating immortality begins with cultivating propriety, and advancing in cultivation requires cultivating the mind. The Qingping Sect Master first spoke recklessly in front of everyone, saying that the Huaiyu Sect had declined, which was impolite; then he argued with our sect leader and elders in public, and even poached members from our sect in front of everyone, which was immoral. Impolite and immoral, does the Qingping Sect Master really not want to apologize? Does he not set an example?" Lu Renkui felt that the air pressure around him was physically so high that it was hard to breathe.

However, with a faint layer of green spiritual energy surrounding him, he didn't feel so uncomfortable anymore. He didn't know which elder had intervened, but Lu Renkui felt he could still speak.

"If the Qingping Sect Master doesn't apologize, then it means he believes he's not wrong, and I, as a junior, don't need to apologize to him either."

As soon as Lu Renkui finished speaking, he felt as if an invisible hand was pressing down on him, trying to force him to his knees. Luckily, Lu Renkui first fell sideways onto the table, otherwise his knees would definitely have been injured.

"Such a young age, yet so glib! You truly have no manners. Today, I will teach you a lesson on behalf of the Huaiyu Sect." The Qingping Sect Master released the pressure of his Nascent Soul realm, and those of lower ranks around him involuntarily lowered their heads.

Lu Renkui gritted his teeth, trying to avoid being forced to kneel by the pressure, but he still couldn't withstand the pressure of the Nascent Soul realm—after all, Caihua hadn't even reached the Foundation Establishment stage yet.

The person who had just used their spiritual energy to envelop the colorful flower probably hadn't expected the Qingping Sect Master to actually use such force against a child. Lu Renkui noticed that the green spiritual energy in front of him seemed to have intensified.

Then Lu Renkui felt a chill on her neck, and then something popped out.

Then Lu Renkui saw a ball of white light turn into a white cat, whose claws slashed fiercely at the face of the Qingping Sect Master, leaving three deep bloody marks on his face.

Then the white cat ran back to Lu Renkui inside Ayaka's body, then suddenly stopped, looked up at Lu Renkui inside Ayaka's body, and seemed to have a hint of threat in its eyes.

Lu Renkui thought for a while, then returned control of the body to Caihua.

After Ayaka regained control of her body, she felt a fluffy little thing in her hand. Looking down, she saw that Shiro had turned into a little white cat and was snuggling in her arms.

The Qingping Sect Master was furious when Xiaobai scratched his face.

Seeing the Pingzong Sect Master's face gradually darken, Ma Wuyi immediately stood up, pointed at Caihua, and was about to speak when a stone wine pot almost hit her on the head.

Enraged, Ma Wuyi turned around and went to find out who the person who had smashed his things was.

Then everyone saw Fang Yuancheng stand up from a secluded corner, a smile on her face that would frighten anyone who knew her.