A week later.
The sky had yet to brighten. The morning mist still carried a hint of chill as it curled through the streets of Jiang City.
A sleek, understated hovercar, jet-black from end to end, glided silently up to the entrance of Zhenwei Martial Arts Hall like a ghost blending into the night.
The car door opened upward without a sound, revealing a spacious, discreetly luxurious interior.
Chen Yan had recently been targeted in an assassination attempt, so naturally, the more low-key this trip to the Imperial Capital was, the better.
The Yu family, along with Chen Yan and Du Qionghua and her son, boarded the Martial Arts Association's official car with brisk efficiency, surrounded by several black-clad guards.
The door closed without a single unnecessary sound, as if sealing off one world from another.
Inside the car, the four men assigned to escort them were all top-notch Professional-rank fighters.
At that moment, they looked at one another, their expressions tinged with an indescribable awkwardness.
One of them, a square-faced man with the codename Old Cannon, lowered his voice and grumbled at a pitch only his fellow guards could hear.
"Chief, let me make sure I've got this straight. Our mission is to escort those two... four-year-old Professional-rank fighters?"
The man they called Chief had a lean face and a sharp, seasoned air. He rubbed his temples.
"That's exactly what the orders say. Not a word different."
Another man, lean as a monkey, couldn't help baring his teeth in a grimace.
"No, this doesn't make sense. If an enemy can threaten those two little prodigies, would the four of us even be enough to fill the gap between their teeth? We wouldn't, right? So we're just cannon fodder?"
"But if nothing can threaten them, what do they need us