My surname is Yun

Yun Jingheng walked very fast, but not because he was flustered.

At the corner of the corridor, he almost bumped into someone.

"Why--"

The other person nimbly dodged to the side, the thing they were holding wobbled, and a drop of coffee splashed onto their sleeve.

It's Ye Xinglan.

She glanced down at the small brown dot on her cuff, then looked up at Yun Jingheng expressionlessly.

"My clothes don't like coffee."

"...Excuse me." Yun Jingheng stepped aside.

Ye Xinglan did not leave immediately.

She stood there, holding her coffee cup, her gaze lingering on Yun Jingheng's face for a moment.

Did you sleep well last night?

This is the same question again.

Yun Jingheng took a deep breath and answered in an almost mechanical tone, "The ship was rocking a lot, so I slept so-so. Gu Yue slept on the bed, and I slept on the sofa. Nothing happened between us. Any other questions?"

Ye Xinglan paused slightly, then lowered her eyes, a barely perceptible smile curving her lips.

"What's it to me?" she said, taking her coffee and leaving.

After taking a couple of steps, she stopped and added without turning her head, "Xu Xiaoyan's eyes are a little swollen this morning."

He left after saying that, his steps decisive, giving him no chance to ask any further questions.

Yun Jingheng stood in the corridor and closed his eyes briefly.

He felt like a book that everyone would open and read, and whoever passed by would read a couple of pages and write annotations in the margins.

On the deck, the sea breeze was a little weaker than last night, and the sunlight shone on the sparkling sea, shattering into millions of pieces of gold leaf.

The Star Luo was not fast; its hull cut through the sea, leaving a long white trail, like a silver thread embroidered on a dark blue silk cloth.

Tang Wulin was standing on the ship's railing, talking to a person wearing a dark blue uniform.

The man had his back to Yun Jingheng. He wasn't tall, but he stood very straight, clearly someone who had received rigorous training.

Just as Yun Jingheng walked over, the person turned around.

He was a young man, in his early twenties, with regular features.

His uniform had an academy logo embroidered on the chest.

"Jing Heng!"

Tang Wulin waved to him when he arrived, his smile natural and bright. "Come, let me introduce you. This is a senior student from the Star Luo Royal Academy, his name is—"

"Shen Mu."

The young man introduced himself, nodded slightly, and quickly scanned Yun Jingheng from head to toe, like a sophisticated scanner.

His gaze lingered on Yun Jingheng's hands for a moment longer before he looked away, a perfectly timed smile appearing on his face. "It's an honor to meet you."

Yun Jingheng returned a perfectly timed smile, "Hello."

I've heard so much about you.

This word is interesting.

When two complete strangers say "I've heard so much about you," it's either out of politeness or because they've genuinely heard of each other.

When Shen Mu said those two words, there was no politeness in his tone. His gaze was so direct that it could almost be described as "scrutiny."

"Yun Jingheng," Shen Mu said bluntly, "I've heard that you're... a rather special one in the Shrek Academy's graduating class."

"Special?"

Yun Jingheng smiled. "What's so special about it?"

Shen Mu smiled too, his smile deeper than Yun Jingheng's, carrying a probing tone. "In many ways. For example, you're the undisputed number one in your grade, there are even rumors that many upperclassmen aren't as good as you. And for example, your fifth Soul Ring 100,000 years old, and... you have a lot of admirers? That's what Tang Wulin told me."

Tang Wulin blinked innocently beside him.

Yun Jingheng glanced at Tang Wulin and silently made a mental note of it.

"It seems Senior Shen is quite interested in Shrek."

Yun Jingheng's tone was neither warm nor cold.

Shen Mu wasn't taken aback by that remark; instead, he continued, "I am indeed interested. To be honest, everyone at the Star Luo Royal Academy is very excited to be on the same ship as the Shrek Academy members this time."

"Especially since we heard that Yun Jingheng is also on the ship, many people have long admired you and want to meet you."

Yun Jingheng's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Long-time admirer?

He had never interacted with anyone from the Star Luo Empire, so where did this "fame" come from?

It's simply because my surname is Yun Ming.

"So," Shen Mu took half a step forward, lowering his voice, but his eyes remained unblinking.

"I wonder if it would be convenient for Yun Jingheng to have a friendly spar with a few of our classmates? We can just have a simple exchange on the deck, nothing more."

"Exchange" or "testing strength" is more like it; it sounds too grandiose.

Yun Jingheng knew exactly what was going on.

This isn't some "long-standing admiration," this is a probe.

The Star Luo Royal Academy couldn't possibly be without resentment because Shrek had rejected their request for exchange.

Now that they were traveling together, they naturally wanted to see just how good this group of students, whom Shrek was so acclaimed for, really were.

Tang Wulin frowned, took half a step forward, and was about to say something when Yun Jingheng raised his hand to stop him.

"Let's have a friendly competition."

Yun Jingheng drawled out the last syllable, the smile on his lips remaining unchanged, "Senior Shen, I don't mind. However, if we fight on someone else's ship and accidentally break something, I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain to Secretary-General Pan, won't it?"

Shen Mu immediately replied, "Don't worry about that. We've chosen an open area, and we'll only be exchanging techniques, nothing serious."

"Not getting serious?"

Yun Jingheng looked into his eyes. "That's so boring."

Shen Mu's smile froze for a moment.

Without waiting for his reaction, Yun Jingheng turned to Tang Wulin and said, "Wulin, you called me over just now for this?"

Tang Wulin's expression was somewhat subtle, a mixture of apology and helplessness. "They contacted me first, saying they wanted to get to know you. I didn't expect it to be..."

"Fine."

Yun Jingheng patted him on the shoulder, then turned to Shen Mu, "Senior Shen, how about this? A sparring match is fine, but I have one condition."

"What are the conditions?"

"If we're going to fight, let's not do any of that 'skillful sparring' stuff. You guys bring a few people over, we'll have one-on-one, and whoever loses treats the whole ship to dinner."

Shen Mu was taken aback for a moment, then laughed, this time with a much more genuine smile, "Yun Jingheng, are you serious?"

Yun Jingheng tilted his head, his smile as harmless as a cat basking in the sun, "My surname is Yun."

There was a brief moment of silence on the deck.

The sea breeze passed between the two, carrying the smell of salt and the cries of seagulls in the distance.

Shen Mu stared at Yun Jingheng for a few seconds, then slowly nodded.

"Good."

He said the light in his eyes had changed; it was no longer probing, but a sharp glint of a competitive spirit. "I'll go tell the others. The time is set for 2 p. m., at the back of the deck. Is that alright?"

"No problem."

Shen Mu turned and left, his steps quickening as he had come, carrying an eagerness that made him impatient.

Once he was out of sight, Tang Wulin leaned closer and asked in a low voice, "Why did you agree?"

Why won't you agree?

Yun Jingheng put his hands in his pockets, watching Shen Mu's departing figure, and said casually, "They want to see our strength, then let them see it."

"But what if—"

"What if we lose?" Yun Jingheng turned to look at Tang Wulin. "Do you think I'll lose?"

"No, we're going to the Star Luo Empire for exchanges. If your strength is revealed prematurely, they'll have a chance to target you."

"They can target my Soul Power and Soul Skill, but can they also target my combat abilities? Give them a chance, until they can never hold their heads up again."

Don't worry.

Yun Jingheng patted Tang Wulin on the shoulder, his tone as casual as if they were discussing what to have for dinner, "I'm not going to fight a life-or-death duel. It's just a friendly spar, I know what I'm doing."

Tang Wulin looked into his eyes, which were filled with unease, but he finally nodded.

"Alright then. Be careful this afternoon."

"The same to you."

"I?"

"You just exposed so many of my secrets, I haven't settled that score with you yet."

Yun Jingheng looked at him with a half-smile, and Tang Wulin immediately took a half step back and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"I really didn't say anything about the peach blossoms!"

Tang Wulin retorted, "At most, I mentioned that you were quite popular at the academy; they just made that up!"

Yun Jingheng snorted, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.