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

Huang Renli looked helpless: "Brother Lin, don't keep bringing up the issue of withdrawing from the alliance. Talking about it too much can easily damage the relationship."

What's the point of superficial harmony?

Seeing Lin Ran's attitude, Huang Renli finally stopped insisting.

"In that case, we will not disturb Brother Lin any longer and will take our leave now."

The three of them stood up together and bowed slightly to Lin Ran.

Lin Ran got up and saw the three of them to the door. After watching them leave, he turned around and went back to the living room.

"Xiao Ran, are you really not planning to cooperate with them?" Song Yishu asked with a worried look. "The ten great families have been rooted in China for many years and have deep roots. They may not be easy to deal with."

"Don't worry, the Nine Great Families will be here soon." Lin Ran said casually, "The Zhou family has always been outwardly strong but inwardly weak. Now that they are being targeted by the Nine Great Families, they will inevitably struggle to survive."

Lin Hongbo slowly began, "These old foxes from powerful families only ever do superficial things to add to the existing prosperity. If any of them falls from grace, they will only kick them when they're down, and will never offer any help."

Having spent many years in the business world, he naturally understood the nature of the major families better than Song Yishu.

Not to mention that the Zhou family had already offended the other nine families, even if there were no prior grudges, they might still stab each other in the back.

The alliance of powerful families is merely a facade of harmony.

"That makes sense." Lin Ran agreed. "Let's wait and see. If they really are unwilling to take action, I'll visit the Zhou family when I have time."

Just then, soft footsteps came from the stairs.

Lin Zhiyao slowly walked down the stairs, a hint of weariness in her eyes.

Sitting still for more than ten hours is bound to be too tedious for someone like her.

"Giving up like this?" Lin Ran asked with a playful smile.

Lin Zhiyao, who had been looking tired, immediately showed a smug look on her face when she heard Lin Ran's question.

"Who told you I gave up?" She raised her chin high. "I succeeded!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Ran was slightly surprised: "You actually have this brain?"

He originally thought that Lin Zhixia and Lin Zhiwan should be the ones to learn how to turn beans into soldiers, but he didn't expect that Lin Zhiwan has not yet appeared, while Lin Zhiyao has learned it first.

Could it be that comprehension and intelligence are not the same thing?

Otherwise, given Lin Zhiyao's past performance, how could she possibly have mastered this technique?

"Who are you calling brainless?" Lin Zhiyao immediately retorted, her face contorted with indignation. "I'm perfectly smart, okay!"

She walked into the kitchen, grabbed a handful of soybeans, made a hand gesture, and threw them on the ground.

A flash of inspiration struck, and the soybeans rapidly swelled, sprouted, and formed scales.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of soybeans turned into dozens of miniature golden-armored warriors.

These golden-armored warriors were about a foot tall, with rounded bodies, resembling yellow capsules that had grown hands and feet, which was quite comical.

Seeing this, Lin Ran couldn't help but chuckle: "How come this magic has such miraculous effects in your hands?"

The golden-armored warriors that Lin Zhixia summoned using the "Scattering Beans to Create Soldiers" technique were merely for show and could not exist independently after being separated from the supply of spiritual energy.

But in any case, from the outside, it still looks like a golden-armored warrior.

Lin Zhiyao's move was truly unexpected.

"So what? Who says that turning beans into soldiers has to summon golden-armored heavenly soldiers?" Lin Zhiyao retorted, "I think small ones are cute too."

Lin Ran couldn't help but give her a thumbs up: "Yes, yes, you're absolutely right!"

"What do you mean now? Do you still think I'm not good enough?" Lin Zhiyao became even more smug.

Lin Ran was indeed somewhat surprised that she was able to comprehend this supernatural power.

Logically speaking, given her impetuous personality, even if she had a higher IQ, she should still have difficulty understanding it.

"Where is the problem?" Lin Ran asked, slightly puzzled.

Lin Zhiyao waved her hand in front of him: "What are you thinking about?"

"It's nothing, it seems I underestimated you." Lin Ran shook his head slightly.

"Hmph, you know that much." Lin Zhiyao turned to look at Song Yishu, putting on a pitiful expression: "Mom, I'm so hungry."

Song Yishu looked at her with doting eyes: "Alright, alright, dinner will be served right away. I'll go see if Sister Zhang has finished cooking."

After lunch, Lin Zhiwan on the second floor remained completely still.

Song Yishu glanced at the stairwell and sighed softly, "Zhiwan's talent is still a bit lacking."

"The main reason isn't necessarily the level of talent," Lin Ran said. "It might be related to the type of talent."

Lin Zhixia possesses a wood-type talent, which naturally aligns with the supernatural ability of turning beans into soldiers.

In addition, her own comprehension ability is sufficient, so the time she takes to complete the task is naturally relatively short.

Lin Zhiyao has a water-type talent, which seems unrelated to the wood-type, but according to the principle of mutual generation of the five elements, the water-type origin is just right for the growth of the wood-type.

So, although she was a bit slow-witted, she learned this supernatural ability because of her indomitable spirit.

Lin Zhiwan, who was relatively more intelligent, was unable to master the art of turning beans into soldiers because of her innate fire element talent.

After all, in the Five Elements, fire overcomes wood, so it's understandable that Lin Zhiwan would have difficulty learning wood-based magic.

Of course, these are just his guesses, and the specifics will only be confirmed after Lin Zhiwan wakes up.

Just then, Lin Ran's bracelet screen suddenly lit up, displaying a new message.

Zhuo Yihang: "We have followed the instructions and spread the news that the senior members of the Secret Realm Protection Organization have decided to send people to the waters of the Sakura Kingdom tomorrow to recruit Chen Changsheng."

Lin Ran lightly tapped the screen with his fingertip, a triumphant smile flashing across his eyes.

The game has begun, and all sides have entered the fray.

Next, we just need to wait until tomorrow to close the net and eliminate all hidden dangers.

Before that, perhaps we should prepare some spiritual seeds and refine them properly.

If you encounter an opponent at the level of a martial saint, you can use the "scattering beans to create soldiers" technique to delay them for a while.

When he first entered the Cangxuan Realm, he dug up a lot of spiritual plants, many of which had already matured and borne fruit.

Some of them were people Lord Xuan Chen knew, while many others were people he didn't even know.

However, for Lin Ran, regardless of what the original purpose of these plants was, he only needed the seeds now.

After a busy night, Lin Ran refined hundreds of spirit seeds.

With a single throw, he could summon hundreds of golden-armored warriors, each possessing more than half of his combat strength.

However, these golden-armored warriors only retain their fighting instincts; they do not think or use magic.

When encountering an opponent, they rely entirely on physical strength to fight.

His actual combat strength is only equivalent to a martial artist in the early stage of the Profound Realm without any talent, and he is probably not even as good as a sixth-tier merman warrior.

However, the resources required to train one mermaid warrior are probably enough for Lin Ran to summon tens of thousands of golden-armored warriors.

Moreover, training merfolk warriors requires a long process.

This golden-armored warrior only needs a little refinement to take shape and be ready to be deployed on the battlefield immediately.

The differences are obvious.

The next day, the sky was bright and clear, and the morning light shone through the window, filling the entire bedroom.

Lin Ran got up, quickly washed up, changed into some casual clothes, and went downstairs.

In the living room, Lin Zhiwan was already sitting on the sofa, her eyebrows and eyes drooping, and a faint sense of depression lingered around her.

Logically speaking, after spending a night in seclusion studying magic, one should either be overjoyed by the advancement in cultivation or feel regret for gaining nothing.

But Lin Zhiwan's appearance was completely out of place between the two normal states.

Lin Ran casually asked, "What happened? Didn't it work?"

"I don't know if it's a success or not." Lin Zhiwan looked up, her expression blank.

Lin Ran raised an eyebrow and stopped in his tracks: "What do you mean?"

"The effect of my 'Scattering Beans to Create Soldiers' is different from the effect of yours," Lin Zhiwan said slowly, her tone tinged with helplessness.

A hint of curiosity flickered in Lin Ran's eyes: "What's the difference?"

"After using the spell, the thrown soybeans will turn into golden-armored warriors, but these golden-armored warriors will explode after three seconds."

Upon hearing this, a glint flashed in Lin Ran's eyes, and his tone carried a hint of surprise: "There are even suicide bombing units?"

Lin Zhiwan shrugged slightly, her face a mixture of amusement and exasperation.