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

"Even if a Transcendent being manages to exchange a few blows with a Profound being, it's enough to be proud of oneself."

Ye Wufeng shook his head slightly, his tone filled with reminiscence: "Back when I was in the Transcendent Realm, I could only run away from sixth-tier mutated beasts. You're much stronger than me!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Ran waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, no, how can my meager skills compare to yours, senior?"

"Humility is a good quality, but young people shouldn't be too humble." Ye Wufeng's smile remained unchanged.

Little did they know, Lin Ran was just being modest.

As the two were talking, the vehicle came to a stop in front of the Kyoto Special Affairs Bureau headquarters.

A six-story gray building, with two uniformed guards standing at the entrance, guns at their waists and miniature communicators hanging from their shoulders.

Lin Ran got out of the car, turned around and cupped his hands to Ye Wufeng: "Thank you for seeing me off, senior."

"Go ahead." Ye Wufeng nodded slightly and joked, "Don't keep them waiting too long, or they'll think you really ran away."

"Yes, senior!" Lin Ran said solemnly, "Then we'll meet again!"

"We'll meet again someday," Ye Wufeng said casually, waving his hand.

Lin Ran closed the car door, and the sedan slowly drove away, its taillights disappearing into the twilight after turning a corner at the street corner.

The guard checked Lin Ran's identification, nodded to his colleagues in the guard post, and the electric fence slowly slid open.

As soon as Lin Ran stepped onto the steps at the headquarters entrance, Chen Yicheng came out to greet him.

"Lin, this way please."

He led Lin Ran through the corridor and pushed open a door marked "Third Brigade Captain's Office".

The office was small, with a dark wooden table, two chairs, and a map of Kyoto city hanging on the wall, with different locations marked on it with thumbtacks.

On the table was a holographic projector, and next to it were several paper files, the top one of which had the words "Huang Jinsong Case" printed on its cover.

Chen Yicheng sat down behind his desk and gestured for Lin Ran to sit opposite him.

"I have a general understanding of what happened yesterday, but there are still a few questions that I need Lin to confirm."

Lin Ran nodded: "Captain Chen, please ask whatever you want, I will answer to the best of my knowledge."

"You fought a martial artist at the Transcendent Realm yesterday," Chen Yicheng said, looking at Lin Ran. "If this person appeared before you again, would you recognize him?"

Lin Ran pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "Probably."

"Probably?" Chen Yicheng raised an eyebrow.

"He was wearing a hood at the time, so you could only barely make out his figure."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yicheng pulled a photo from the file folder and pushed it across the table.

Lin Ran picked up the photo and looked at it carefully for a few moments.

The photo has low resolution; only a blurry black outline can be seen. It is likely a screenshot taken from surveillance footage.

The person in the surveillance video covered most of their face with a hood, revealing only their chin and hands.

The photo has a timestamp in the lower right corner, indicating it was taken shortly after the auction ended last night.

Lin Ran feigned hesitation: "The body shape matches. But since I can't see the face, I can't be sure."

Having acted frequently, his acting skills have become increasingly refined.

Chen Yicheng could not detect anything unusual on his face, and then pulled out another photo and pushed it in front of Lin Ran.

The photo shows a charred corpse, with large areas of its body carbonized, and its facial features completely unrecognizable.

The background is a bridge arch, with water stains and several pools of dried blood remaining on the ground.

"Can you recognize this one?"

Lin Ran frowned, brought the photo closer to examine it carefully, and shook his head after a moment: "It's so burnt, there's no way to recognize it."

He looked up abruptly, a hint of surprise in his voice: "Wait, that Transcendent Realm martial artist is dead?"

Chen Yicheng's gaze lingered on Lin Ran's face for a long time, his fingers tapping lightly on the table.

As it turned out, Lin Ran had no flaws.

A perfectly timed expression of surprise and confusion, as if genuinely completely unaware.

"Based on the other party's movements, we tracked them down and found the body under a bridge," Chen Yicheng said calmly.

"Judging from the remaining spiritual energy imprints and traces of true qi, this person is the same Transcendent Realm martial artist you fought last night."

At this point, he emphasized slightly: "He is also the prime suspect in this case."

Lin Ran nodded, then deliberately pressed further, "So, after committing the murder, the killer was also killed?"

"That's most likely the case. The specifics still need further investigation." Chen Yicheng put the charred corpse photo back into the file folder.

"There were no signs of a struggle around the body, and the cause of death cannot be determined at the moment. The technical department is conducting in-depth testing."

Lin Ran pushed the photo back: "It's a pity the body is burned like this, there's really no way to identify it, and I can't help you with that."

"It's alright. Investigating cases is the Special Affairs Bureau's job, and it has nothing to do with Lin."

Chen Yicheng closed the file folder, stood up, and extended his hand: "Thank you for your cooperation. If there are any further developments in the case that require further questioning, I will contact you again."

"Captain Chen, you're too kind." Lin Ran stood up and shook hands with him. "Cooperating with the Special Affairs Bureau's investigation is also a citizen's duty."

As I stepped out of the Secret Service building, it was already completely dark.

The streetlights cast long shadows in the night, and Lin Ran's shadow was projected onto the stone pavement, overlapping with the shadows of the trees, flickering in and out of focus.

He hailed a taxi, leaned back in the seat, and stroked the pale blue Nine Heavens Pendant at his waist.

The moment your fingertips touch the pendant, you can feel a very subtle fluctuation of spiritual energy that travels from your fingertips all the way to your wrist.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, the Xuanhuang Cauldron trembled once more, urging him on.

Lin Ran immersed his consciousness into the Xuan Chen Pearl and asked the Lord of Xuan Chen, "Can you enter the Nine Heavens Pendant?"

"Why are you specifically targeting my Xuan Chen Pearl?" The Xuan Chen Lord's tone carried a hint of reluctance.

"After obtaining the Nine Heavens Pendant, the Xuanhuang Cauldron kept causing trouble in my sea of ​​consciousness. However, the Nine Heavens Pendant has the ability to store things, which is of great use to me. If I directly put it into the Xuanhuang Cauldron, the storage function will be useless."

Lin Ran leaned back in the taxi's back seat, his fingers stroking the jade pendant at his waist.

"The Xuanhuang Cauldron will not accept treasures containing divine souls, just as it did not accept the Xuanchen Pearl in the past. If you enter the Nine Heavens Pendant, you can naturally solve this problem."

"Have you ever considered that if I put the Xuan Chen Pearl into the Xuan Huang Cauldron, I will no longer be able to control the illusion through the Xuan Chen Pearl?"

Lord Xuan Chen feigned helplessness: "If you encounter trouble outside in the future, you'll be the one who suffers."

Upon hearing this, Lin Ran pondered for a moment and said, "What you're saying seems to make some sense."

He was saved from his previous encounter with a giant octopus in the sea only thanks to Lord Xuan Chen activating an illusion.

Furthermore, the illusionary realm played a significant role in dealing with Lin Haozhe and handling unexpected situations on the aircraft.

If storing the Xuan Chen Pearl in the Xuan Huang Cauldron prevents the Xuan Chen Lord from using the Illusion Realm, it would indeed be a losing proposition.

After returning to Xinhai, we will still have to deal with the Sun family's affairs. With the Xuan Chen Lord assisting us, things will be much easier.

In this light, it would be better to wait until I am ready to advance to the Golden Core Realm before letting the Lord of Xuan Chen leave the Xuan Chen Pearl.

It's estimated that there are still two or three months left, which allows the Lord of Xuan Chen to provide more cover for him.

"Then let's wait a bit longer. I'll let you move it when I'm about to break through to the Golden Core Realm. It's just that this Xuanhuang Cauldron is always restless, which is a bit of a headache."

He had to expend a lot of energy to suppress the Xuanhuang Cauldron.

He couldn't concentrate on his cultivation because the Xuanhuang Cauldron kept causing trouble.

Lord Xuan Chen changed the subject: "There's no need to force yourself."

"Do you have any other ideas?" Lin Ran asked, slightly puzzled.

The Lord of Xuan Chen said calmly, "I can enter the Nine Heavens Pendant, but you should not put the Xuan Chen Pearl into the Xuanhuang Cauldron for the time being."

"What do you mean?" Lin Ran raised an eyebrow.

"After I enter the Nine Heavens Pendant, I will put the Xuan Chen Pearl into the Nine Heavens Pendant. This will not affect my control of the Xuan Chen Pearl, but will also isolate the Xuanhuang Cauldron from the Xuan Chen Pearl."