Journey to Star Luo City

"What did my grandfather talk to you about?"

Xiao Hongchen leaned against a tree, looking at Lin Yun as he asked.

Lin Yun walked up to Xiao Hongchen, locked eyes with him for a moment, then reached out to pluck a leaf from his head and tossed it aside, saying in a flat tone, "Nothing major. It's just that because you're joining the reserve team, your grandfather is a bit worried about you. He appointed me as the captain of this reserve team to make sure you behave and listen to me."

Xiao Hongchen's breathing hitched, and he pushed Lin Yun away, saying, "Stop spouting nonsense. I don't believe for a second that my grandfather would say that."

Lin Yun crossed his arms, looking completely nonchalant as he replied, "If you don't believe me, you can go ask him yourself. Or are you too scared to step into your grandfather's office?"

Xiao Hongchen glared at Lin Yun, then said, "You'd better not be lying to me, or I'll make you regret your actions!"

Lin Yun chuckled, deciding to take the teasing to the end, "Do you know that you look exactly like a frantic, white-haired loser right now?"

Xiao Hongchen's face turned visibly red—a deep, heated crimson born of extreme fury—and he rasped out, "Don't force me to fight you to the death!"

Lin Yun waved his hand dismissively.

"We're both so young, there's no need for all this killing talk. Unless someone is an enemy, life is still quite precious."

Xiao Hongchen shot Lin Yun a glare, and after a long moment, said, "Just you wait, I'm going to ask my grandfather right now!"

Watching Xiao Hongchen's retreating back, Lin Yun couldn't help but laugh. He left a note saying Wait for me here and turned to head toward the dorms.

That afternoon, there was a knock on Lin Yun's dorm door. As soon as he opened it, he saw Xiao Hongchen looking at him with a broken expression, still sporting a leaf stuck in his hair.

"I have to say, you're really something. Are you intentionally wearing that leaf to seduce me into picking it off for you?"

Lin Yun teased, plucking the leaf from Xiao Hongchen's head and tossing it into the trash bin.

"Where did you go?!"

"Do you have any idea how long I waited for you? A whole afternoon, a whole damn afternoon!"

Xiao Hongchen looked at Lin Yun, his composure completely shattered.

"You actually believed such a low-effort lie? That's called winning with wit, understand?"

Thinking about Xiao Hongchen standing there like a fool for the entire afternoon, Lin Yun couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth from twitching.

"You... why would my grandfather choose someone like you to be the reserve team captain? This is a massive strategic error."

Lin Yun looked at Xiao Hongchen and said, "Is there a possibility that a proper reserve team captain is supposed to be like me—someone with a brain—instead of someone like you: scrawny, unreliable, and lacking any sense?"

Xiao Hongchen turned red again, though this heat subsided the moment Lin Yun placed a hand on his shoulder for a minute.

The quality of their soul power was on completely different levels; the moment Lin Yun made contact, Xiao Hongchen knew he was no match.

"Fine, you win, but I really do have muscle! I am not scrawny!"

Lin Yun realized that this was the point Xiao Hongchen was fixated on, so he stopped teasing him. After all, it was fun to mess with someone who thought they were a genius, but it wasn't quite as fun to mess with someone so genuinely naive.

"Alright, my mistake. But whether someone is 'scrawny' depends on the reference point. When you see people from other countries, you'll realize whether you're scrawny or not. Let's leave it at that."

"The time to head to the Star Luo Empire is almost here, so go back and prepare. According to your grandfather's wishes, our reserve team will have opportunities to compete this year; we aren't just here as tourists."

The next morning, Lin Yun's status as the reserve team captain was announced alongside the main team.

Once the rosters for the reserve and main teams were released, the two squads held a joint meeting.

The captain of the main team remained Ma Rulong, the one who wielded the Judgment Sword and reversed Ma Xiaotao's attributes, turning her into an Evil Soul Master.

After this Captain Ma Rulong shook hands with Lin Yun once, the disdain in his eyes vanished.

The people of the Sun Moon Empire had a genetic disadvantage compared to those of the Douluo Continent; their innate ability to cultivate soul power was simply inferior.

This was a matter of setting: with the same innate soul power, a person from the Douluo Continent could reach the Soul Douluo level, while for those from the Sun Moon Continent, even reaching Soul Saint was a hurdle.

Lin Yun couldn't explain this strange setting with science, but one thing was certain: among the people of the Douluo Continent, Lin Yun—whose cultivation quality was exceptionally high—was like a crane among chickens when placed among these Sun Moon Empire natives.

A more intuitive example would be like having a prime-era Tyson drop three weight classes to compete in a match.

Once both sides were seated, Ma Rulong spoke first, immediately distributing the previous year's match charts.

Following that, they analyzed the intelligence gathered for this upcoming tournament.

Lin Yun didn't speak much during the meeting, simply listening quietly to the intelligence gathered by the Sun Moon Empire. This calm, composed demeanor caught Meng Hongchen's attention.

Initially, influenced by her brother, she had assumed Lin Yun wasn't a good person, but seeing him today, she actually felt that he was quite decent.

Shortly after the tactical consultation ended, the teacher responsible for leading the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy team was selected.

After this teacher met with everyone, they organized the group to board a large-scale soul-guided aircraft.

They headed toward the Star Luo Empire ahead of schedule.

The Snow Empress stood at the edge of the flying Soul Tool, looking down through the wind-resistant glass shield, and could not help but exclaim, "I never expected Soul Tool technology to have developed to this extent today."

"Although the books cover the relevant knowledge, experiencing it in reality is completely different from what is written on the page."

Lin Yun stood beside the Snow Empress, silently using his Soul Power to isolate their voices to prevent her from letting something slip and causing trouble.

Using Soul Power to block sound was eye-catching, but it was an acceptable occurrence; if he let the Snow Empress speak freely, and one day she blurted out something like "I never expected humans to be such and such," it would lead to a massive commotion.

Fortunately, the Snow Empress understood the stakes involved, so after her exclamation, she returned to her seat, crossed her legs, and began to cultivate her Soul Power.

Lin Yun leaned against the glass shield, his gaze drifting toward the ground from time to time.

He had a particular fondness for memorizing maps, so he clearly noticed that this Soul Tool flight had taken several obvious and unnecessary detours.

The purpose was self-evident; they were naturally taking advantage of this opportunity to fly openly through another nation's airspace to thoroughly map out the terrain of the three great empires.