Chapter 37: Could It Be That the Senior Sisters Aren

On the training ground!

When Lin Chen unleashed the Clear Wind Palm, many trainees on the scene looked utterly confused.

Isn’t this the Water Cloud Palm?

Some senior trainees who had previously fought against disciples of the Clear Wind Martial Arts Pavilion recognized the Clear Wind Palm.

But new trainees like Fu Jingya had never fought against Clear Wind Martial Arts Pavilion disciples and could not identify Lin Chen’s technique.

Zhai Xiaolu, watching Lin Chen perform a palm technique entirely unfamiliar to her, was also momentarily stunned.

Yet she had trained in the pavilion for a year and possessed practical combat experience; though surprised, she did not panic and immediately countered with a palm strike.

Lin Chen’s palm technique was ethereal, while Zhai Xiaolu’s flowed smoothly like clouds and water; the two exchanged blows evenly.

Ten moves, twenty moves…

At the thirtieth move, Lin Chen flipped his palm and appeared with an extremely cunning angle directly before Zhai Xiaolu’s forehead—another inch forward and it would have struck her brow.

“Lin Shi-di, you’re formidable—I’m no match for you.”

Zhai Xiaolu accepted defeat with admirable frankness; her strength was already the lowest in the pavilion, and she had come to the training ground merely to watch, so losing didn’t embarrass her.

“Thank you, Zhai Shi-jie,” Lin Chen smiled slightly.

Kong Yinglei studied Lin Chen closely; from her perspective, Lin Chen’s Clear Wind Palm had also reached the proficient stage. As for Zhai Xiaolu, though her Water Cloud Palm had also reached proficiency, her practical combat experience was minimal—she likely spent most of her year in the pavilion focusing on realm breakthroughs.

After twenty moves, Zhai Xiaolu’s palm technique had already begun to falter; at that point, Lin Chen could have defeated her—but he deliberately delayed for another ten moves.

She’s not bad—she knows how to spare her senior sister’s face.

“All of you, step back.”

Kong Yinglei ordered the senior trainees, who promptly departed; they knew the next scene would be the vice-pavilion-master scolding the new junior sisters.

As the senior trainees left, Kong Yinglei’s smile vanished instantly. She sneered: “Are you resentful? Do you think these senior sisters have been in the pavilion for a year, so if you’re given a year, you’ll surely defeat them?”

Fu Jingya and the other girls’ faces subtly changed—they had been read perfectly.

“On the path of martial cultivation, there is no ‘before’ or ‘after.’ Inside the pavilion, you are the new cohort—but outside, you are all merely disciples of the Jingshui Martial Arts Pavilion!”

“This year, you will face competition from new disciples of the other seven martial pavilions. Next year is the county examination year—you will compete alongside last year’s cohort!”

“Do you really think the county examination will give you preferential treatment because you started a year late?”

Kong Yinglei’s words instantly darkened Fu Jingya and the other girls’ faces; next year’s county examination would see them with only two full years in the pavilion, while last year’s cohort had three—gaining an entire extra year of cultivation.

How could they compete?

“You can quit—spend three years here, then leave the pavilion, marry someone, and raise children.”

“Mistress Kong, I will not quit,” Fu Jingya suddenly spoke up.

“Won’t quit?” Kong Yinglei sneered. “You say you won’t quit, but your actions prove you already have. Frankly, apart from Jiang Qing and Lin Chen, I am utterly disappointed in all eight of you.”

“Some of you took Kaiqiao Pills three months ago and began practicing Water Cloud Palm—but even now, you haven’t reached proficiency… It’s a disgrace!”

“Mistress Vice-Pavilion, in past cohorts, disciples always took over three months to reach proficiency with Water Cloud Palm,” Fu Jingya retorted, unconvinced—she felt her progress wasn’t slow; give her a few more days and she’d reach proficiency too.

“Pathetic fools who only know how to sink to the lowest level!”

Kong Yinglei sneered: “Jiang Qing only began Water Cloud Palm at year’s end, and Lin Chen only began Clear Wind Palm at year’s end—why could they both reach proficiency?”

“Arrogant fools!”

Hiss!

Hearing Kong Yinglei’s merciless words, Lin Chen instinctively glanced at Fu Jingya and the others.

Fu Jingya and the rest looked like withered eggplants—everyone was dazed, their faces pale.

Mistress Kong really knows how to deliver a brutal scolding!

She doesn’t even show a bit of mercy… oh, wait—Mistress Kong is female too, so never mind.

“You’re all using Kaiqiao Pills as resources—you don’t even deserve them. If not for good luck being born into privileged families, you’d be nothing.”

Kong Yinglei didn’t stop there—her words kept coming. Lin Chen saw several senior sisters’ eyes welling with tears.

“Lin Chen, seeing how these fools behave, do you think heaven is especially unfair? Why do such fools have such privileged backgrounds?”

Lin Chen: …

He hadn’t expected Mistress Kong to turn her fire on him.

He hadn’t thought that at all.

Meeting Kong Yinglei’s piercing gaze, Lin Chen gritted his teeth: “My situation differs from that of the senior sisters—I cannot be judged by the same standard.”

Kong Yinglei was dissatisfied with Lin Chen’s answer: “Really?”

“My family background cannot compare to that of the senior sisters, but I do not envy them. Precisely because I come from poverty, I understand the gap between myself and my senior brothers and sisters—I know that to avoid being left behind on the martial path, I must train diligently. This habit has become my most precious asset on my cultivation journey.”

Lin Chen’s reply was tactful, but his words were met with resistance.

“Diligence is the essence of the martial path—who doesn’t know that? I train five hours daily without fail,” Fu Jingya lifted her head, defiant.

Lin Chen spread his hands helplessly: “I train eight and a half hours a day.”

Hiss!

Lin Chen’s words shifted Fu Jingya and the others’ expressions from dejection to shock.

Eight and a half hours a day? That meant he trained nonstop except when sleeping.

Even sleep was limited to no more than three hours—time had to be spent eating, drinking, and relieving oneself.

Jiang Qing, standing farthest left, also turned her gaze toward Lin Chen, a thoughtful glint in her eyes.

Fu Jingya was convinced.

She truly trained less diligently than Lin Shi-di.

The others felt the same—in their view, five hours a day was already sufficiently diligent.

Seeing Fu Jingya and the others’ expressions of submission, Kong Yinglei stopped her harsh words; Lin Chen’s personal example proved far more effective than any lecture she had prepared.

“Lin Chen, stay. The rest of you, disperse. Go home and reflect deeply: what was your purpose in joining the pavilion?”

Soon, only Lin Chen remained on the training ground.

Lin Chen was puzzled—he didn’t understand why Mistress Kong had asked him to stay.

If it was because he was a positive example, Jiang Shi-jie was one too—why leave only him?

“Lin Chen, though you are not a formal disciple of the Jingshui Martial Arts Pavilion, the pavilion will still grant you Class-A disciple benefits. Go to the Wudao Pavilion and collect your Class-A disciple token. If Sister Li asks, say it was my decision.”

Kong Yinglei smiled warmly. Seeing Lin Chen stunned, she wasn’t in a hurry—she held great admiration for him.

The story of him cultivating essence with twenty taels of silver was likely true, but that alone hadn’t moved her. Hearing now that he trained over eight hours daily, she truly felt a desire to nurture such talent.

On the martial path, money matters—but a steadfast heart for cultivation matters more.

Training eight hours a day isn’t just about diligence—it proves Lin Chen possesses an exceptionally resolute martial heart; otherwise, he could never have sustained it.

This isn’t about holding out for a day or two—it’s about an entire long martial career: a month, a year, even ten years…

“Thank you, Mistress Kong!”

Lin Chen was delighted—he didn’t know what Class-A disciple benefits entailed, but they were surely advantageous.

(End of Chapter)