Gao Wu: Oh no! Young Master Zhen is a cultivator!

Lin Ran shrugged, looking nonchalant: "Probably because the opponent was too weak."

Most students who participated in the martial arts exam in previous years were at the Body Tempering Realm or the Qi Opening Realm, and it was rare for a few to be at the Inner Breath Realm.

While he publicly stated that his cultivation level was the Innate Realm, he actually possessed the combat strength of the Profound Realm.

Faced with such a disparity in strength, even though he was determined to obtain the Nine Heavens Pendant, he couldn't muster any sense of urgency.

"How can someone be so annoying?" Lin Zhiyao couldn't help but mutter under her breath.

Lin Ran raised an eyebrow slightly: "Would you like to test my Innate Realm cultivation?"

"You're just bullying people." Lin Zhiyao shrank her neck and turned her gaze to the side.

"Not necessarily. I'll bully mutated beasts when I'm in a good mood."

"I'm so angry! How can someone like you exist in this world?"

You should feel honored to know me.

Late at night, in Lin Haozhe's room.

The call connected, and Liu Xiulan's voice was clearly impatient: "Why haven't you made your move yet?"

"He didn't give me a chance at all." Lin Haozhe leaned back in his chair, feigning helplessness.

"The master is very angry about this!"

"Could I see the master?"

Liu Xiulan's tone turned cold: "Why did you suddenly have such thoughts? Just focus on your own business and don't get into any inappropriate ideas."

"I just want to know who I'm working for," Lin Haozhe said calmly, but his fingers unconsciously tightened their grip on the armrest of the chair.

Based on Lin Ran's speculation, the person behind the scenes is very likely his biological father. Even without any feelings for him, he has developed a strong curiosity about this person.

If he hadn't experienced the pain of his soul being torn apart, he would have even wanted to confront Liu Xiulan directly.

He wanted to ask the person behind the scenes how they could bear to send their own son to someone else's family to be adopted.

Unfortunately, he didn't dare.

Lin Ran's methods of manipulating souls left him with no thought of resistance.

Even now, when he thinks about what happened that morning, he can't help but tremble slightly.

He never wanted to experience that feeling again in his life.

Liu Xiulan was silent for a moment: "When it's your turn to know, you will naturally know."

Clearly, Liu Xiulan would never reveal the identity of the person behind the scenes to Lin Haozhe before he obtained the inheritance rights of the Lin family.

"Lin Ran got third place this time, and he will likely join the Special Affairs Bureau or go to Kyoto Academy in the future."

He feigned difficulty, saying, "In that case, I'll have even less chance to harm him in the future."

"No need!" Liu Xiulan said dismissively, "He will die in three days."

Lin Haozhe's body tensed slightly, and his tone unconsciously rose a few decibels: "You mean, sir, you want to intercept and kill him on his way to the capital?"

"Once you leave the city, who can say for sure how someone dies?" Liu Xiulan said casually.

"However, it is said that the city lord will be going along."

"The master has his own plans."

After hanging up the call, Lin Haozhe's brows furrowed even more deeply.

He sat in the chair for a while, then stood up, pushed open the door, and walked out of the room.

The new surveillance camera in the corridor was flashing red lights regularly. He walked to Lin Ran's room door and knocked twice.

dong dong!

There was no response from inside the room.

He stood at the door for a moment, just about to turn around and go back, when he heard footsteps coming from the stairwell.

A short while later, Lin Ran emerged from the stairwell, carrying a backpack.

Seeing Lin Haozhe standing at his door, Lin Ran didn't stop walking and casually asked, "What's up? Is something the matter?"

Lin Haozhe glanced around and solemnly said, "The person behind this is planning to ambush you on your way to the capital."

"Oh?" Lin Ran opened the door, threw his backpack on the bed, and turned around. "I understand."

"Why don't you talk to the city lord first?" Lin Haozhe suggested.

Now that his life was in Lin Ran's hands, he dared not have any other thoughts.

"There's no need," Lin Ran said casually.

"The other side is very likely to send a martial artist at the Transcendent Realm."

Lin Ran's lips curled into a sneer: "Just a Transcendent Realm cultivator."

Upon hearing this, Lin Haozhe's pupils contracted slightly: "Are you confident you can handle a Transcendent Realm martial artist?"

"What? You've already forgotten what happened this morning?" Lin Ran gave a meaningful smile.

Lin Haozhe was stunned for a moment, his expression becoming extremely complicated, his tone filled with disbelief: "Your method of manipulating souls is also effective against martial artists in the Profound Realm?"

"You can understand it that way," Lin Ran said, feigning profundity.

With his current level of cultivation, he indeed has no way to control a Transcendent Realm martial artist using Soul Control Technique.

But the illusion of the Lord of Xuan Chen is possible.

With the spiritual power of the Foundation Establishment stage, the blessing of the Xuanhuang Cauldron, and the illusionary skills of the Mirage Dragon's remnant soul, trapping a Transcendent Realm martial artist is not a difficult task.

By then, it's still uncertain who the prey will be.

Lin Haozhe left absentmindedly, and Lin Ran closed the door and set up the spirit-gathering array as usual.

One hundred and eighty third-order crystal cores were spread out along the base of the array, and the array patterns lit up with a pale golden light in the dim room.

He sat cross-legged, activated his cultivation technique, and spiritual energy surged into his meridians from all directions.

The barrier at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment is becoming increasingly thin under the erosion of spiritual energy.

Two hours later, a deep hum came from the depths of his dantian, the vortex suddenly expanded, and the flow of spiritual energy in his meridians suddenly accelerated.

The nine-grade golden lotus swayed gently in Lin Ran's dantian, as if celebrating his breakthrough to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

He opened his eyes, clenched his fist, and felt the surging spiritual energy within his body.

His strength has increased by at least twice since the early stage of Foundation Establishment. Now, he no longer needs to charge up his power to activate the Palm Thunder.

The following day at noon, a van with the license plate of the City Lord's Mansion stopped in front of the Lin family villa.

The escort was a steward from the city lord's mansion, followed by seven or eight porters.

They unloaded more than a dozen tightly nailed wooden crates and placed them next to the truck.

Hearing the noise, Song Yishu came out of the living room, looked at the wooden box by the door, and asked in confusion, "What's this?"

"This is a reward that the city lord gave to Lin Ran personally to recognize his outstanding performance in the martial arts exam." The steward handed over a list.

Lin Ran stepped over, took the letter, and casually stuffed it into his pocket: "Move it to the storage room."

The movers lifted the dozen or so wooden crates again and carried them through the corridor into the storage room.

The wooden crates made a series of dull thuds when they hit the ground, indicating that they were quite heavy.

Ten thousand third-order crystal cores, the hush money that Zhang Qichuan had promised him.

It seems that I won't have to worry about crystal cores for the next month.

Lin Zhiyao peeked out from the living room doorway, her gaze sweeping over the dozen or so wooden crates: "What reward did the city lord send you this time? Open them and see."

"No way," Lin Ran replied casually.

It's not that I'm worried the Lin family will covet these crystal cores, after all, the Lin family isn't short of a few billion.

The key issue is that if the Lin family knew that Zhang Qichuan had given him so many crystal cores, they would ask all sorts of questions, and he was too lazy to explain.

Lin Zhiyao persisted, "What's wrong with just taking a look?"

Not even a single glance.

Lin Zhiyao pouted, turned around and walked back to the living room, plopped down on the sofa: "Fine, I don't care if I don't want to watch it."

"It's not yours, so whether you like it or not is irrelevant." Lin Ran came out of the storage room and closed the door behind him.

"Hmph!" Lin Zhiyao snorted coldly, thinking to herself, "You won't let me see, but I'll insist on seeing! I don't believe you can keep staring at me like that."

Late that night.

Lin Zhiyao slipped out of her room in her pajamas, her bare feet light and nimble on the carpet in the hallway.

She groped her way down the stairs in the dark, crossed the living room, and gently pushed open the door to the storage room.

A dozen or so wooden crates were neatly stacked in the corner, just as they had been that morning.

She reached out to lift the lid of the box, but as soon as her fingertips touched the wooden board, a layer of pale golden light appeared out of thin air, repelling her fingers.

"What's going on?"