Time flew by, and before long, a week had passed.
The snow and wind in the Imperial Capital were beginning to die down, and the skies had finally cleared. The farther south one went, the warmer it became.
Jiang City, Zhenwei Martial Arts Hall.
Du Shenyuan leaned against the cold wall of the training hall, arms folded across his chest. He silently let out a long breath of stale air.
Dozens of students were training inside. Some were sweating as they struck wooden dummies; others sparred in pairs, the sounds of fists and feet colliding ringing nonstop.
Yet amid the scene that seemed so lively, Du Shenyuan sensed a lingering air of decline.
Ever since his brother-in-law, Chen Kefa, had left the Special Investigation Team in Jiang City and transferred to Black Wind Valley, life at Zhenwei Martial Arts Hall had gone from bad to worse.
The other martial arts halls, which had once treated Chen Kefa with the utmost respect—some had even been downright obsequious—seemed to have changed their tune overnight.
A coordinated campaign to squeeze them out had quietly begun.
At first, it was just a dirty price war. Several rival halls joined forces to offer ultra-cheap trial packages, and the results were surprisingly effective.
After all, his father, Du Chun, was an old-school martial arts fanatic with extremely high standards for accepting students, and he never discounted tuition. He insisted on teaching just one major class a week himself. What had once been regarded as a grandmaster's bearing was now twisted by their rivals into claims that he was "acting like a big shot" and "irresponsible."
What was more, Wang Jian, once the hall's most impressive draw thanks to his special physique, had gone off to a martial arts university after finishing the college entrance exams. The