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

Lin Ran made a rough estimate and replied seriously, "There are still more than twenty days until the martial arts exam. Conservatively speaking, I will need at least 1.2 billion."

A third-order crystal core is worth two to three hundred thousand, while a fourth-order crystal core is worth one to two million.

Based on hunting nearly two hundred third-order crystal cores and a dozen or so fourth-order crystal cores every day, the daily earnings would be around fifty to sixty million.

Twenty-odd days, based on 1.2 billion, is definitely a very conservative estimate.

When this number reached Lin Hongbo's ears, even this richest man in Xinhai was taken aback: "What do you need so much money for?"

Even if the Lin family isn't short of money, he wouldn't let Lin Ran squander it like this.

Twelve billion in just over twenty days—even the largest fortune will be squandered sooner or later.

Lin Ran did not intend to offer any further explanation.

He couldn't reveal his identity as a cultivator, not even for the sake of his vast fortune.

"So, to save money, I have no choice but to go out and exercise every day." He feigned helplessness and shrugged.

"Did you awaken some kind of system that allows you to buy cultivation points with money?" Lin Zhiyao's eyes widened in surprise.

Lin Ran's lips twitched slightly, thinking to himself, "You have quite the imagination."

"I want one too, but unfortunately it's not available. If only it were that easy," Lin Ran sighed.

If he obtained a system that allowed him to buy cultivation points with money, coupled with the wealth of the Lin family, the richest family in Xinhai, would he still need to cultivate?

However, on the other hand, although he did not obtain a system that allowed him to buy cultivation levels with money, he could buy crystal cores to absorb, but the key issue was that the Lin family could not afford it.

The demand for Foundation Establishment stage cultivators is calculated in billions, not to mention the demand for Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Deity Transformation stages.

Even if all of the Lin family's trillions of assets were in his possession, it would probably be difficult for him to reach the Nascent Soul stage.

Moreover, there are still the Void Refining, Body Integration, Tribulation Transcending, and Mahayana realms that exceed the limits of Blue Star.

The demand for cultivation resources increases exponentially with each realm.

In this situation, no one can help him.

Ultimately, if you want to cultivate immortality, you still have to rely on yourself.

Song Yishu reached out and pinched Lin Zhiyao's ear: "I told you to read less novels, you're making yourself stupid."

"Novels make me happy, novels make me joyful, I love novels!" Lin Zhiyao tilted her head and covered her ears with her hands.

"How dare you talk back!" Song Yishu reached out again.

Lin Zhiyao shrank her neck, clasped her hands together above her head, and begged for forgiveness repeatedly: "Oh dear, Mom, I was wrong, I won't do it again!"

Seeing this, Lin Hongbo smiled and shook his head, then looked at Lin Ran: "Is it necessary to go out and train?"

"We have to go!" Lin Ran nodded solemnly, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.

Not to mention that Lin Hongbo would never give all his assets to Lin Ran to spend, even if he were willing, he couldn't stop Lin Ran from hunting mutated creatures.

"Then I'll arrange for a few Transcendent Realm martial artists to protect you closely," Lin Hongbo asked tentatively.

Although the Lin family is wealthy, they can only afford to hire martial artists at the Transcendent Realm. Those at the Profound Realm are simply beyond the reach of money.

Of course, inviting more extraordinary beings would be the same.

Lin Ran shook his head: "No way, how can I train if someone's protecting me?"

"What kind of logic is this?" Lin Hongbo frowned again.

Lin Ran couldn't explain the specific reason, so he could only say vaguely, "No need to go to that trouble, I'll be careful myself."

He stood up and stretched his shoulders: "Besides, the other party just failed in their assassination attempt, so they probably won't make another move anytime soon."

Upon hearing this, Lin Hongbo seemed to be deep in thought.

Lin Haozhe, who had been silent to the side, immediately had another idea after hearing these words.

Since Lin Ran believes that the person behind the scenes will not make a move in the short term, he will definitely relax his vigilance.

What if someone else makes a move at this point?

"Hehehe... Didn't expect that, did you? This time I'm going to make sure you don't escape!"

Just then, he heard Song Yishu's voice: "Haozhe? What are you thinking about? Dinner's ready."

Lin Haozhe snapped back to reality, his face regaining its standard gentle smile: "Oh, okay, Mom, coming right away."

After the meal, Lin Ran changed into a black tracksuit as usual, picked up his backpack, and walked towards the door.

Knowing she couldn't dissuade him, Song Yishu didn't say anything more, but simply watched Lin Ran's figure disappear into the night.

Seeing this, Lin Haozhe returned to his room, locked the door, and dialed the number.

His voice was low and trembling barely suppressed: "Lin Ran still goes out alone every night, without any precautions!"

There was a moment of silence on the other end: "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Lin Haozhe said with certainty, "He thought that since the previous assassination attempt had failed, the person behind it would stay quiet for a while, so he didn't take any precautions at all."

"The dark web lost four Transcendent Realm assassins, and the price has tripled. Another assassination will cost 3 billion Chinese yuan, which is no small sum."

The other person paused, then continued, "If your information is wrong, do you know the consequences?"

"No, there's no mistake this time." Lin Haozhe assured him repeatedly, "He admitted himself that a martial artist at the Tongxuan Realm was passing by and saved him."

"How could such a coincidence happen?" The voice on the other end of the line carried a hint of suspicion.

Lin Haozhe couldn't explain this coincidence either, and could only add, "His luck won't always be this good."

Silence fell over the room. After a long while, the other person spoke again: "I'll trust you one more time. If there's another problem this time, you'll be in for the adults' wrath!"

After leaving the Lin family villa, Lin Ran felt as if a pair of eyes were watching him from behind, but when he turned around to check, he didn't find anything unusual.

Logically speaking, no one should be able to escape his eyes unless the other party's level of understanding is far superior to his.

It's impossible for someone at the Profound Realm to be tracking him, right?

Putting aside his distracting thoughts, Lin Ran turned a corner, used earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic that allows one to escape to the seaside).

Unbeknownst to him, a figure appeared, cautiously approaching the corner to investigate, but Lin Ran was nowhere to be seen.

After advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage, Lin Ran's absorption rate of crystal cores was three times faster than that of the late-stage Qi Refining stage.

However, the spiritual energy required from the early to mid-stages of Foundation Establishment is ten times that required for the entire Qi Refining stage.

There's never a enough supply of crystal nuclei.

After entering the sea, he swept along the edge of the reef area.

Various third- and fourth-order mutants, one hit each.

He stuffed the crystal cores into his backpack one by one until he had collected two hundred third-tier crystal cores and a dozen or so fourth-tier crystal cores before emerging from the sea.

The backpack is only so big; it can't hold any more.

The giant octopus still didn't appear today, and he didn't go looking for it specifically. After all, cultivation is the most important thing, and one shouldn't neglect the essential for the trivial.

Back at the Lin family home, he set up a spirit-gathering array and began to fully circulate his cultivation technique.

He can now consume more than two hundred Tier 3 crystal cores every night, so he always has a surplus after each hunt.

Three hunts will allow you to accumulate one more day's worth of cultivation resources.

In addition, he can hunt during the day and cultivate at night on weekends. Twenty days should be enough for him to reach the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

Although you're unlikely to encounter many top-tier opponents in the martial arts exam, improving your skills even slightly increases your chances of success.

After all, the Nine Heavens Pendant is very likely to meet the refining requirements of the "Myriad Treasures Forging Spirit Technique", and it cannot be lost.

The next day, Sun Jinghuan finally came to class as usual.

He lay in the medical room for three whole days, and his injuries finally recovered to about 70-80%.

When he entered the classroom, his face was still a little pale, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.

He listened attentively to the lesson all morning without turning around to look at Lin Ran even once.

Lin Ran was quite indignant about this: "How dare you ignore me! You're courting death!"

In practical training, in order to prepare for the ranking competition after the martial arts exam, the class has to hold a challenge match every day.

As before, everyone lined up to draw lots. Lin Ran used the same trick again, having the Lord of Xuan Chen manipulate the results of the draw.

When Sun Jinghuan learned that he was paired with Lin Ran again, he immediately exploded.

"Instructor, did you take a bribe from Lin Ran?!"

At this moment, he was already speaking without thinking.