The counter was already luxurious according to Su Yuchen, but the guest room could only be beaten by the Main Hall in terms of how rich it looked.

There were two people were sitting in the guest room sipping tea. The smell from the teapot gave a refreshing feeling to Su Yuchen. He thought about it, the tea should have been made by using some rare Astral Treasure tea leaves.

The two disciples turned towards them. They were a pair of female and male disciples. The female disciple was beautiful lady with bright and sharp eyes. The male disciple had an handsome face with perfectly chiselled jawline. He had an air of authority around him while his piercing eyes gazed at the two people as if to look into their minds.

They stood up and greeted Senior Brother Li, “Greetings Senior Brother Li.”

Seeing them standing up, Senior Brother Li showed a gentle smile and greeted them, “It’s good to see Junior Sister Bai Yuhua, and Junior Brother Jin Tianlong after a long time. Junior Sister, it is surprising to see you here. Did the Third Elder relieve you from your punishment?”

Bai Yuhua gave a slight awkward smile and said, “There is an important event in the cultivation world. How can my master keep me in seclusion? He let me go.”

She wanted to change the topic, so she quickly turned towards Su Yuchen, who was standing beside Senior Brother Li. She asked, “Who is this junior brother?”

Su Yuchen immediately greeted both of them, “Greetings Senior Sister and Senior Brother. My name is Su Yuchen. I am a new inner sect disciple who was recruited this year.”

Senior Brother Li also introduced him, “This is Su Yuchen, he is the most talented disciple recruited this year. He has a great future ahead of him.” His tone had a little pride in it.

Bai Yuhua stopped as if she was thinking about something, she quickly spoke loudly, “Huh! I remember you. You were recruited by Elder Shu. I have seen a portrait of you this morning, but you look a lot different from the portrait.” She proceeded to examine Su Yuchen up and down.

"Pardon me. Do you really have a portrait of me? I don’t know anything about any portrait depicting me.” Su Yuchen was confused about what Bai Yuhua said.

Jin Tianlong answered Su Yuchen, “Junior Brother, every disciple as his portrait drawn and stored in the sect. You don’t have to worry about it.” He wanted to clear any misunderstanding Su Yuchen had thought about in his mind.

“Yes, what Junior Brother Tianlong said is true.” Senior Brother Li said to Su Yuchen.

“Okay! Thank you for saying about this.” Su Yuchen said to Jin Tianlong.

“But the portrait I had seen was not like a disciple portrait from the sect.” Bai Yuhua interfered at this time. She looked at Su Yuchen awkwardly and continued to speak, “Sorry to say this, Junior Brother, but you were depicted like a beggar in the portrait.”

All three of them were shocked by the words of Bai Yuhua.

Bai Yuhua immediately took out a book, opened a page and showed it to everyone. “This was given to me by my maid this morning. She gathered about everything that happened in the sect during the time I was in seclusion and recorded them in this book. You can look at the portrait yourself.”

A page containing a portrait was displayed openly in front of everyone’s eyes. The portrait depicted an ordinary man in tattered clothes with colourful patches sewn all over the tears. Su Yuchen’s face was also exaggerated with mud and dirt all over it to make him look like a beggar in the portrait, while also retaining enough features of his face to recognise him.

Senior Brother Li’s face turned black while looking at the portrait. Jin tianlong felt a little sympathy for Su Yuchen.

Su Yuchen was dismayed by looking at the portrait. He remembered that attire, it was what he wore on the day Elder Shu came to his village for recruitment. Those were the clothes he wore regularly in the village and also what he wore when he was brought to the recruitment without any notice by his friends.

He didn’t feel wronged when he had to wear them in the mountain village, but when he realised that this portrait was circulated in the inner sect and then having it reach the core area made him feel deeply discomforted.

“I didn’t arrive to the sect in this attire. I wore better clothes when I came here. Why was this attire used? Who drew this portrait?” Su Yuchen tried to steady his mood and asked them. He inadvertently thought about the disciples following Elder Shu.

“It can be any person. Those who have seen you in that attire could have just described you in them to the person who drew it.” Senior Brother Li said this as he guessed the thoughts Su Yuchen was having at the moment. He didn’t want Su Yuchen to have any negative impression of the Third Elder faction without any unexplained reasons. That would be harming his future.

Stolen story; please report.

“So who could have done this?” Su Yuchen asked in a low, dull voice. He understood why Senior Brother Li said what he said, it means there were possibilities of his fellow villagers and acquaintances being a part in drawing the portrait. He figured out that he shouldn’t view the Third Elder’s faction in a negative light just because the faction conflicts indirectly led to his humiliation being spread among the inner sect and the core area.

He also understood that his humiliation wasn’t a big issue in the eyes of everyone except him. Everyone was just watching the conflict between the different factions and he became one of the pieces that brought fun to all.

A small joke of tripping the most talented recruit and then a portrait depicting him as a beggar. It’s just a small gag.

A small pawn was involved in the internal conflicts of the sect to bring some relief to everyone without offending any faction. This small pawn will remain a small pawn.

“Maybe, we can find who drew this portrait.” Bai Yuhua said as she looked at Su Yuchen. “There are people who can find the person that has drawn a portrait by examining the portrait. Do you want me to help you?”

Senior Brother Li instantly replied, “Thank you for your concern, Junior Sister Bai, but you don’t need to help in this matter. Junior Brother Su is helping me with my work in the mount stable, but as his Senior Brother I was negligent and failed to find out about this matter. I will personally look into this matter and help Junior Brother Su. You don’t have to worry anymore. How about it?” He didn’t want to involve the Third Elder’s direct disciples in this matter and unnecessarily make it even bigger.

Seeing Bai Yuhua still thinking about it, Jin Tianlong answered on her behalf, “It’s okay, Senior Brother Li. We won’t interfere when you decide to personally take charge of this matter. If you need any help you can inform us, we are glad to assist you.”

“Yes. Don’t be embarrassed to ask us, Senior Brother Li.” Bai Yuhua followed up.

“Thank you for your enthusiasm. It seems like a long time as passed since you have arrived here. Now tell me, what brought our two esteemed guests to this mount stable?” Senior Brother Li changed the topic to make Su Yuchen more comfortable.

Bai Yuhua answered him as she remembered about the reason she came to the mount stable, “We came to buy a mount for my Junior Brother. Can you suggest a good beast for him?”

Senior Brother Li looked at Jin Tianlong and said, “Of course, I will find the best mount for Junior Brother Tianlong.” He then continued to ask, “However, why are you picking a mount beast at this time, Junior Brother? Are you also going into the Star Blaring secret realm?”

“I am, Senior Brother Li.” Jin Tianlong nodded.

“You haven’t reached the Astral Foundation Realm, Junior Brother. Won’t this be risky? How did you convince the Third Elder to give you permission to enter the secret realm?” asked Senior Brother Li curiously.

“I convinced my master by letting him make Senior Sister Bai only follow me within the first level of the Star Blaring secret realm. She was not allowed to leave me during the entire time we are in the secret realm. Senior Bai also agreed to this request gracefully.” Jin Tianlong said with a conniving smile.

“Junior Brother, you are embarrassing me.” Bai Yuhua said angrily as she gritted her teeth.

“Ha-ha-ha!” Senior Brother Li laughed hearing Jin Tianlong’s answer.

“You don’t have to worry about missing any big opportunities, Junior Sister Bai. The Elders only managed to confirm that there are four levels in the secret realm, there was no other major information. This is the first time, cultivators are entering into the Star Blaring secret realm. There won’t be many treasures that will be lost. Next time you can search it freely with additional information. This time you can protect your Junior Brother and help him progress in cultivation.” Senior Brother consoled Bai Yuhua after stopping his laughter.

“But I heard that there’s a giant bell in the Star Blaring secret realm with a chance of giving birth to a spirit. That is a legendary spirit artefact. According to legends they will choose their own masters. How can I miss such an opportunity? What if someone manages to get chosen by that giant bell?” Bai Yuhua cried at Senior Brother Li.

“Those are just legends. We don’t have any confirmed information.” Senior Brother Li answered her. “If you want a spirit artefact just reach the same status as your master.”

Su Yuchen was contemplating on the reason behind the portrait while also paying attention to their conversation. When he heard their discussion about spirit artefacts, his eyes involuntarily widened from the information.

He processed their conversation and thought, ‘So, the artefacts of this world does have their own spirit.’