204: Chapter 204 Power, Strength?

Chen Ran was stunned for a moment, but then he thought about how the man before him was not only the head of the Zhenyu Division but also the Lin Sheng of the Lin family.

Surely his brother-in-law wouldn't set him up, right?

Thinking this, Chen Ran did not refuse and followed Lin Sheng around the spectator stand.

The two walked one after the other, passing through a long corridor.

"Brother Lin, I feel like this person is a bit different."

A voice drifted from afar, and suddenly a figure appeared before them. Chen Ran looked at the white-haired man in the distance and recognized him as the member of the Demon-Slaying Squad who had left a deep impression on him before.

Captain Xia An also stared at the handsome young man in front. He had never seen Chen Ran before, yet for some reason, when he used his Innate pupil technique, he sensed an unusual aura from him.

Although the aura was hidden very deeply, he still faintly detected something amiss.

That person wore black robes, was not very old, and had his long black hair tied up on top of his head.

Just as Captain Xia An was about to step forward to inquire, he suddenly felt as if he had bumped into an iron pillar, and a shadow had appeared above him at some unknown moment.

"What is it, Captain Xia An?"

Lin Sheng blocked the middle with half his body, his tone calm but carrying a hint of warning.

In an instant, Captain Xia An had already made a judgment in his heart; this person must have an inseparable connection with the Lin family.

"It's nothing, I just find this person a bit unfamiliar."

"This is the newly promoted Prison Officer of the Celestial Prison, Chen Ran."

Before Chen Ran could speak, Lin Sheng made the introduction first: "This is the Captain of the Demon-Slaying Squad, Captain Xia An."

"Lord Xia An."

Chen Ran clasped his fists and bowed politely.

This attitude could not be considered deliberately fawning, but given his status, he was addressing an official equivalent to a third-rank imperial official.

Normally, an ordinary Prison Officer would likely tremble upon seeing him.

Yet this young man's attitude was extremely calm, which was incredibly rare among Jailers.

Captain Xia An turned to look at the tall man beside him and asked: "You know him?"

"I suppose so."

Lin Sheng's attitude wasn't exactly polite, but it subtly conveyed a lot of meaning.

Captain Xia An was stunned for a moment, then raised his eyebrows. The questions he originally wanted to pursue were forcibly held back in his heart.

In the capital, a place where every inch of land is worth gold, influence is incredibly intricate, and no one knows what kind of background the people they face every day might have.

Even if you grabbed a random commoner in the inner city, if you dug deep enough into their network of relationships, you might be able to connect them to a powerful noble family.

To get by in the capital, three parts depend on strength, and seven parts depend on influence.

Even though he was the disciple of the Demon-Slaying Squad's commander and the youngest Demon Hunting Captain, his status was extremely high.

But if one were to examine the hierarchy within the Demon Suppression Division closely, he did not possess the highest background.

Although the Demon Suppression Division was an important department of the imperial court, the ultimate leadership was not the royal family, but the true aristocratic clans.

Upon realizing that this person was connected to the Lin family, Captain Xia An felt a headache: "If you had said earlier that you two knew each other, I wouldn't have bothered getting involved in this mess."

"Forget it, I'll let the Lin family investigate it themselves..."

Captain Xia An grumbled inwardly, finally waving his hand helplessly and replying: "Your cultivation is not bad, keep it up."

"Thank you for your guidance, My Lord."

Just as Chen Ran was about to clasp his fists and bow, he looked up to find that the white-haired man had already vanished without a trace.

"Don't worry about him, keep walking."

Chen Ran had no choice but to follow Lin Sheng, wanting to see what he was really up to.

The night was deep, and one could faintly hear the sound of the wind howling from outside.

The two walked up through the Zhenyu Division. After climbing a few floors and entering a corridor between two buildings, Lin Sheng slowly turned around. His expression was uncertain in the darkness, making it impossible to read his face.

"What are you hiding?"

Lin Sheng's voice was mixed with the night wind as he scrutinized the man in black robes before him, his gaze sharp.

He was not a fool; Captain Xia An must have sensed something, and furthermore, he himself had also perceived an unusual aura from Chen Ran.

Chen Ran stopped, remained silent for a long while, and finally managed to squeeze out a few words.

"I have indeed hidden secrets. To advance my martial arts, I colluded with prisoners and took the opportunity to plunder Cultivation Techniques from them..."

As his words fell, Chen Ran no longer concealed his aura: a surge of True Qi flowed along his Meridians and finally slowly condensed on the surface of his body. The True Qi merged with the wind, causing his black robes to flutter violently.

"This is... Peak Inner Breath Realm?"

Upon sensing that aura, Lin Sheng's expression finally changed.

There was no mistake; the aura on Chen Ran was exactly the same as the Inner Breath Realm.

It turned out that Chen Ran had been hiding his strength all along, having long since stepped past the three Body Tempering Realms and entered the Inner Breath Realm.

A nineteen-year-old at the Peak Inner Breath Realm, just one step away from entering the fifth-rank Meridian Opening Realm!

This level of talent, even among the younger generation in the capital, could definitely be considered top-tier.

Lin Sheng moved like a flash, appearing instantly beside Chen Ran in the blink of an eye.

Fortunately, Chen Ran had been prepared. He could now manipulate the True Qi in his body as he pleased, having contracted all his True Qi from the very beginning, leaving only the amount expected of the Inner Breath Realm.

Soon, Lin Sheng pressed a single palm onto his shoulder armor. An invisible force swept through his entire body, and after measuring his radius and ulna bones, he finally stopped.

"His bone age is indeed nineteen, but why is his aptitude so poor?"

Lin Sheng whispered to himself, but his doubts increased rather than decreased.

He was devoted to martial arts and had compared himself with many geniuses of his age. Descendants of prestigious families never lacked resources for Cultivation; they could soak in medicinal baths from a young age to polish their three Qi and blood barriers in advance, allowing them to enter the path quickly.

However, aptitude was an Innate foundation that could not be altered Acquired; even if one relied on the accumulation of resources to speed up Cultivation in the early stages, one would be helpless when eventually encountering a cultivation Bottleneck.

In the capital, nobles basically all practiced the martial Dao, but very few could break through to the sixth rank.

Since Chen Ran had no background and no Medicinal Pill, how was he able to break through to the sixth-rank Inner Breath Realm in just a few short years?

Lin Sheng came back to his senses and hurriedly asked: "How do you Cultivate?"

"I just occasionally ask the prisoners for some martial arts... and after learning for a while, I just got it..."

A few minutes later, Lin Sheng had heard all of Chen Ran's explanations.

He fell into deep thought; although Chen Ran's explanation was outrageous, it could be considered normal.

It was extremely normal for prisoners and Jailers to collude within the Celestial Prison for mutual benefit. Most prisoners locked in the Celestial Prison carried martial arts with them, and the grades were generally not low.

And for these Jailers, if they could obtain some Cultivation Techniques from the mouths of these prisoners, it was not impossible.

However, Lin Sheng still had some disbelief in his heart. His tone softened slightly, but that sense of targeting did not diminish in the slightest.

"Your aptitude is so poor, don't tell me you Cultivate based on what those prisoners tell you verbally?"

"Brother Lin... uh, never mind, brother-in-law, you will know in a moment."

Chen Ran smiled faintly and stepped out with one foot, his figure arched like a bow. True Qi followed his movements, surging upwards along his spine like a great Dragon.

The concept of Comprehension Ability is mysterious, but for him, who possessed the heavenly book of prison suppression, it was nothing.

After recording so many prisoners, the Cultivation Techniques he had obtained numbered at least hundreds, if not thousands. Although most were ordinary martial arts, they were enough for a performance.

Boom!

A gust of wind cut through the air, causing the surrounding air to ripple.

Roar!

Amidst the turbulence of True Qi, it seemed as if a phantom of a fierce tiger leaped across the mountains, yet it also carried a touch of agility and lightness, as if a goshawk were soaring...

From his initial frowning observation, Lin Sheng moved to a long, fixed stare.