Chapter 1127: Ancient Academy Records, Lots of Fun, Again and Again 14

After muttering, Xie Yuancheng curiously asked, "Are your Divine Pavilion disciples often impersonated?"

Jin Chen neither confirmed nor denied, shaking his fan, "Yeah, not just the Divine Pavilion, no major sect in the jianghu can escape it."

"After all, wandering the jianghu, Tianxuan Kingdom is so vast that there will always be ill‑intentioned people who commit wrongdoing and don't want to be found out; they can just name any sect and no one will suspect."

"I see."

Xie Yuancheng still had a question, but he didn't know if asking would offend Jin Chen; he pursed his lips, hesitated, then tugged at Jin Chen's sleeve and asked softly.

"Besides… Master Ling said your Divine Pavilion disciples are all people who crawled out of hell—what does that mean?"

"Literally," Jin Chen's expression unchanged, he tapped his folded fan against his palm, his voice clear and ringing.

"Divine Pavilion inner‑door disciples must have extraordinary talent; from childhood they train five years in the pavilion's underground palace without seeing sunlight, and many don't survive—their corpses remain in the underground palace coffins, voluntarily becoming the Divine Pavilion's corpse mechanisms."

"Perhaps that's why the underground palace is called hell by jianghu folk."

Every word he spoke was, for Xie Yuancheng, who had grown up safely in the palace, no less than hearing heavenly scripture.

"Are these children willing to go?" Xie Yuancheng wondered.

Jin Chen turned to look at a patch of sky outside the courtyard, his eyes slightly cold, "Every inner‑door disciple who volunteers for training carries a blood feud they must avenge."

"For example… killing one's father and mother, having one's inherited martial art stolen, one's sect destroyed, and one's family left with no survivors."

Xie Yuancheng visibly stiffened, "Why would such things happen? Don't the local authorities and imperial inspectors care?"

Jin Chen turned back to look at him, his smile full of indulgence.

"Little Prince, do you know that in the various regions of Tianxuan Kingdom far from the imperial capital, officials protect each other while the people struggle to survive?"

Xie Yuancheng did not know.

He rarely left the imperial capital; the few times he did were with his father emperor to the summer palace for relief from heat, and the people living where that palace stood also lived well.

He instinctively assumed that every place in Tianxuan Kingdom was like that.

While he was spacing out, he suddenly felt a light pressure on the top of his head, looked up, and met Jin Chen's smiling eyes: "Don't be unhappy."

"These days His Majesty is vigorously suppressing bandits and colluding officials; the whole realm praises him as a wise ruler, and the situation I described has improved considerably."

Xie Yuancheng pressed his lips, shook his head, "I'm not unhappy."

He merely felt more resolute—how important this match was, not just to the city's populace but to the entire Tianxuan Kingdom, which would pay special attention.

They must strive harder, to win back the people's lives.

Again seeing Jin Chen's eyes that seemed to always hold a smile, Xie Yuancheng couldn't help but think: this person is only half a year older than him, and surely has suffered much in the jianghu to be able to say those words just now.

Jin Chen watched him space out, poked his cheek, "Don't you like hearing these?"

"No."

Xie Yuancheng suddenly stepped forward half a pace and actually gave Jin Chen a hug.

Jin Chen lowered his brows in puzzlement, then belatedly realized what was happening and chuckled as he returned the hug.

"This actually leaves me feeling both honored and startled."

Jin Chen lightly patted him for a while, feeling the atmosphere shouldn't be so gloomy, and joked, "Yuancheng, this embrace of yours will probably make me think of you day and night… sigh."

His back was twisted, Jin Chen flicked his finger at his forehead, "Your strike is pretty strong."

"Hmph."

Xie Yuancheng, still caught up in his emotions, only now realized the hug was rather bewildering, but at least Jin Chen didn't ask about anything else.

He rose to his feet openly, yet his flushed ears betrayed a hint of shyness.

"The meal is finished; if we stay longer we'll surely be caught by the instructor—let's go."

Xie Yuancheng walked ahead a few steps, not forgetting to urge Jin Chen.

【Villain Heartthrob Value detected 5, total 15!】

Jin Chen watched Xie Yuancheng's back, stepped forward to follow, smiling and murmuring.

When the two returned to the front plaza training ground, eight people were actually fighting again.

Oh… wait, it's seven people.

Jin Chen counted and realized Si Ning wasn't there, guessing he had gone back to take medicine.

"Be careful." He pulled Xie Yuancheng close, fearing they'd be accidentally hurt if they got nearer, and shouted from a safe distance.

"What are they fighting over now!"

Tingyang turned his head mid‑break to reply, "This bunch of flashy‑fist practitioners aren't even eager for the match—I'm beating them awake, ah ah ah ah!"

In the time it took to say that sentence, Tingyang was struck several times in a row by Lan Wuyang, and they started grappling again.

"Saying it so righteously, you're just trying to say we're not strong enough!"

Lan Wuyang spared no mercy with mouth or hands, "And you still call us flashy‑fist!"

Xie Beiyao was equally angry, fighting Wanzhou with extra ferocity, "We may not be as strong as you now, but that's all—why must you speak so hurtfully?"

After all, how could a bunch of imperial clan members raised in pampered luxury in the imperial capital tolerate repeated mockery?

"Screw your grandpa!"

Wanzhou moved with extreme speed, throwing a punch at Xie Beiyao's face, "You lot of princes and princesses, do you really think it's just a strength gap? In your hearts you don't regard the match as more important than anything else!"

Ye Susu gave Jiang Yao a cold look, her tone laced with mockery.

"Do you still harbor the wishful thought that even if you don't win the match, the people won't suffer any hardship? At most it's just a change of city ownership?"

Jiang Yao frowned, "There's meaning in your few words! What exactly are you trying to say!"

Jin Chen watched them sway back and forth until his eyes blurred, and he barked, "All of you, get over here!"

Those words carried enough deterrent force for Tingyang and his two companions that they'd rather take another punch than keep fighting, and they hurried over.

Xie Beiyao and his four companions followed closely behind, their faces grim.

"Explain properly, what are you fighting over?" Jin Chen shook his head, "These kids are really hard to manage."

0731 wanted to speak but held back, not daring to say you're only nineteen, not even allowing loud noises while you sleep.

Ye Susu folded her arms, her voice icy cold as she looked at the imperial offspring, "You said there was no difference, right? I'll tell you what the biggest difference is."

"We've all killed people, we've killed North Wind Kingdom folk, we know how ferocious they are."

Lan Wuyang, who had been shouting just moments ago, fell silent at once, exchanging bewildered looks with her close friend.

Xie Yuancheng spoke up weakly, "Does being granted death count?"

Jin Chen chuckled lightly, ruffling his head, "What are you meddling in?"

He believed that after those words just spoken in the courtyard, the Young Crown Prince already knew what weighed more heavily.