Nearly three hundred thousand Heavenly Fate Value! Jiang Chen stared at Qin Ran’s information panel in shock. This is insane. That number is way too high!

And this guy is only at the Original Movement realm? Yet his combat power already reached the Early-stage Dao Comprehension realm?

How many major realms is that? Seven? He’s directly skipping seven major realms in combat power alone!

Jiang Chen’s eyes narrowed as he continued reading through the panel.

And this guy’s...

For a moment, even he did not know what to say.

This Qin Ran was on a completely different level when it came to protagonist status.

Despite having no aptitude and no innate talent, his combat power still far surpassed his actual cultivation realm to a ridiculous degree.

Even the cultivation methods and equipment listed on his panel were strangely abnormal.

Especially the cultivation methods.

Jiang Chen glanced through the massive list and quickly realized there were thousands of them.

Other than the core cultivation method, all the rest were mainly focused on body refinement. Most of them were even at the Physical Body rank.

Qin Ran... Jiang Chen fell into thought. This guy probably can’t cultivate normally, so he can only keep strengthening his physical body and rely purely on physical strength to fight across realms.

But just relying on hundreds of Physical Body-level cultivation methods shouldn’t be enough to reach this level. He must have used a huge amount of natural treasures that strengthen the body as well.

And the highest-grade equipment he owns is already at the top-grade Nirvana Cleansing rank. Items like that aren’t easy to find even in the Profound Jade Immortal Domain. So where exactly did he get them from?

Those body refinement cultivation methods aren’t easy to obtain either. In fact, they’re extremely rare on the market, since most body refinement methods still require Origin Power to cultivate.

As for those high-level body refinement methods that can be cultivated starting from the Physical Body realm, Qin Ran definitely got them through his system.

Jiang Chen’s eyes flickered slightly as his thoughts became clearer.

That’s it. His system must have some kind of exchange function, and the currency is probably earned through teaching disciples.

This Disciple Recruitment Divine System was likely designed to turn him into some peerless master figure, with famous powerhouses across the world eventually becoming his disciples.

Just from the details shown on Qin Ran’s information panel, Jiang Chen had already managed to piece together an accurate guess about the system’s functions.

...

Meanwhile, inside the courtyard residence provided by the Pan Clan, Qin Ran suddenly sat up from his lounge chair, uncertainty flashing across his face.

What’s going on?

He felt as if someone was secretly observing him with divine sense. More importantly, whoever it was clearly carried strong malice and posed a huge threat.

Qin Ran quietly scanned the surroundings, but found nothing unusual.

Right now, he was only at the Original Movement realm and had not yet developed divine sense. Because of that, he could only rely on the warnings brought by his massive Heavenly Fate Value.

Damn it, I can’t find them. Qin Ran narrowed his eyes and thought carefully. Could the Gong Clan actually have some powerful backing? Maybe someone above the Dao Comprehension realm, a Dao Palace realm expert?

After thinking for a while, he slowly relaxed again.

Forget it. Same as always, I’ll deal with it when the time comes.

He leaned back into the lounge chair once more, silently waiting for the hidden enemy to eventually reveal themselves.

Before falling into his long slumber, Qin Ran had already lived for more than a hundred years. During that time, he had gone through many similar crises and managed to overcome every single one of them.

Most of those situations involved helping his disciples escape danger, which in turn earned him immense respect from all of them.

...

Jiang Chen clearly noticed the unusual look on Qin Ran’s face.

So he already sensed me observing him, Jiang Chen thought as he withdrew his attention from Qin Ran.

Nearly three hundred thousand Heavenly Fate Value really is absurd. Even without divine sense, he can still sense danger from this far away.

And once his cultivation realm rises, his ability to detect others will probably become even more terrifying.

Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.

At this rate, tricking him won’t be easy. Gaining his trust will be even harder.

He could not help but think back to Lu Yi.

Lu Yi was a special case. That guy had been isolated by the entire world, so he was naturally more willing to believe my lies. Qin Ran is completely different.

At that moment, Jiang Chen was already mentally prepared for the possibility of confronting Qin Ran directly at any time.

At the same time, he also began thinking about how to weaken Qin Ran’s Heavenly Fate Value and eventually kill him.

Qin Ran can only grow stronger through his system, Jiang Chen analyzed inwardly. And judging from the name, Disciple Recruitment Divine System, the benefits clearly come from being a master.

Those benefits should roughly fall into two categories. One is material rewards gained by exchanging treasures through the system. The other is direct cultivation-related benefits connected to his disciples.

The second point is already somewhat obvious. Qin Ran’s cultivation realm is exactly the same as Pan Li’s, both at the Early-stage Original Movement realm.

Logically speaking, Qin Ran shouldn’t have been able to step into the Original Movement realm at all. Yet not only did he succeed, he even possesses Origin Power. That’s extremely abnormal.

And these cultivation benefits most likely came from a newly unlocked system function after his fake death and awakening. Otherwise, his cultivation realm should have been much higher by now, considering he had stronger disciples in the past. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

One thought after another surfaced in Jiang Chen’s mind. Some quickly disappeared, while others collided together and gave birth to entirely new ideas.

In the end, Jiang Chen decided to keep closely observing Qin Ran and Pan Li to confirm whether his guess about their linked cultivation realms was correct.

Direct observation definitely won’t work right now, Jiang Chen thought while stroking his chin. He can clearly sense me watching him.

I’ll have to use other "eyes" to observe Qin Ran and Pan Li indirectly.

And to reduce Qin Ran’s alertness as much as possible, those eyes must have almost no connection to me.

After thinking it through, Jiang Chen quickly decided to let Shangguan Ning handle the matter.

However, he had no intention of letting her monitor Qin Ran personally. In the eyes of Heavenly Fate, Shangguan Ning was basically considered one of his villainous companions. If she observed Qin Ran directly, the effect would likely be almost the same as Jiang Chen doing it himself, only slightly weaker.

"Ning’er, take control of someone native to Sky Harmony Immortal Star. Have them find somebody to infiltrate the Pan Mansion, or bribe someone inside to secretly observe Qin Ran." Jiang Chen paused briefly before adding, "And make sure it goes through several middlemen."

"Understood."

Shangguan Ning immediately used a secret art and quietly took control of a random Transcendence realm cultivator inside the Interstellar Teleportation Hall. The man seemed to hold a decent position, though not an especially important one.

The cultivator himself had no idea he had already fallen under her control.

Soon after, he stepped onto a local teleportation array and disappeared.

This person was a mid-level member of a Nirvana Peering-level faction on Sky Harmony Immortal Star. He had some influence and ability, but overall remained fairly unnoticed.

After returning to his faction, the Transcendence realm cultivator immediately began sending his subordinates to find people who could carry out the task. Those people then contacted others in turn, causing the order to spread layer by layer.

In a very short time, Jiang Chen’s instructions had already passed through a long chain of completely unrelated individuals, starting from the controlled Transcendence realm cultivator.

Even with such careful arrangements, the cultivator who ultimately received the order to monitor the Pan Mansion still decided to take advantage of the situation for personal profit. On his own initiative, he hired another cultivator who had connections within the Pan Clan estate.

This extra step unintentionally made the entire operation even more hidden from Jiang Chen himself.

By the end, dozens of layers separated Jiang Chen from the actual observer, forming an extremely tangled network of intermediaries that completely obscured the original source of the order.

As expected, when the cultivator inside the Pan Mansion secretly used divine sense to observe Qin Ran, Qin Ran immediately noticed it.

However, this time he did not connect the surveillance to the mysterious person who had previously made him feel intense danger.

More importantly, the divine sense only stayed for a brief moment. It was as if the observer did not dare investigate too deeply and quickly pulled back after sensing possible danger.

Qin Ran merely frowned for a second before returning to normal.

That small reaction was exactly what the observer had been waiting for.

He quickly passed the information to his superior, and from there, the report traveled back layer by layer through the complicated chain of intermediaries until it finally reached Jiang Chen.

There wasn’t much alertness or tension when Qin Ran was observed by the Pan Mansion spy pretending to casually look around. At most, he only showed a brief moment of displeasure, Jiang Chen thought after reading the intelligence report.

Looks like the plan is working. Using observers separated from me by dozens of layers really does lower his guard significantly.

Still, Jiang Chen quickly saw the flaws in this method as well.

The biggest problem is the delay in information.

And the safety of the people involved can’t be guaranteed either. If something unexpected happens at any point, the entire chain of information could easily break apart.

In the end, it all came back to one issue.

Qin Ran’s Heavenly Fate Value is simply too high.

Jiang Chen shook his head helplessly as he flew out of the Interstellar Teleportation Hall. At the same time, he instructed Shangguan Ning to establish even more intelligence networks.

Soon, Shangguan Ning repeated the same strategy as before. She secretly manipulated several unrelated individuals and used them to create dozens of independent intelligence chains.

Through these complicated networks, Qin Ran was continuously monitored from different angles and perspectives, all while keeping the connection to Jiang Chen as hidden as possible.

Right, I should also check whether there are other supporting characters on this planet. I’ve been focusing too much on Qin Ran alone, Jiang Chen thought.

He immediately spread his divine sense across the entirety of Sky Harmony Immortal Star and carefully searched every corner of the planet.

Before long, he really did discover another supporting character.

It was one of Qin Ran’s disciples, Teng Yangshuo, a Peak-stage Nirvana Peering realm cultivator.

At that moment, Teng Yangshuo was cultivating in seclusion beneath a massive mountain peak.

After observing him for a while, Jiang Chen noticed that the man appeared to be suffering from a serious old injury. It had clearly remained unresolved for many years, causing his actual combat strength to be somewhat lower than what his realm should normally allow.

An injury? Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow slightly.

Looks like he suffered it hundreds of years ago.

Who exactly fought him badly enough to leave behind injuries that still haven’t healed after all this time? At the very least, the opponent should have also been at the Peak-stage Nirvana Peering realm.

Jiang Chen nodded thoughtfully before continuing to scan Sky Harmony Immortal Star for other Nirvana Peering realm cultivators.