Divine Sense Master

Before long, the rear warehouse manager came hurrying over.

At the sight of Zhao Jinglan, he immediately approached her and bowed slightly. "Young Miss!"

Zhao Jinglan regarded him coldly. "Tell me, did you know that the group's new medicinal solution is at a critical stage of development?"

The rear warehouse manager could tell she had come looking for trouble. He hurriedly replied, "Y-yes... I knew."

"Did your department receive the notice I issued yesterday, stating that, to prevent the formula for the new medicinal solution from leaking, the group would not accept any outside visitors for the next two weeks?"

"Y-yes... we did..." The rear warehouse manager wiped away his sweat.

"Then explain to me," Zhao Jinglan said coldly, "why two people used visitor passes issued by your department to enter the group's building and sit openly in the reception room."

"Th-this... I really don't know anything about this. Please give me five minutes, Young Miss. I'll investigate immediately."

Seeing that Zhao Jinglan did not object, the rear warehouse manager hurried off as soon as he finished speaking.

A short while later, he returned to the first-floor lobby, bringing Wang Hui's cousin, Meng Jing, with him.

Meng Jing's face was filled with panic.

He had been off work yesterday and had not come to the group, so naturally, he knew nothing about the notice from senior management banning outside visitors. Otherwise, he would never have dared obtain a visitor pass for Wang Hui.

Now that the Sunlight Group's highest leadership was holding him accountable, he had a feeling he would have a hard time keeping his job.

"Young Miss, I've investigated the whole matter.

It was handled by a supervisor in the rear warehouse department named Meng Jing. His younger cousin wanted to buy supplements for the first stage of blood vitality training at the group's internal discount, so Meng Jing used his middle-management privileges to purchase the group's supplements at rock-bottom prices through the expired purchase entitlements of former employees. He also gave his cousin a rear warehouse visitor pass and told him to wait in the reception room.

I've also confirmed that Meng Jing resold twenty jin of raw exotic beast meat to his cousin's friend.

The supplements and raw exotic beast meat Meng Jing obtained through his privileges are all here."

As he spoke, the rear warehouse manager placed the illicit goods before Zhao Jinglan.

Zhao Jinglan glanced at them and sneered. "Great rats, great rats, do not eat my grain. To think the rats within our group have already grown so rampant.

Meng Jing, rear warehouse supervisor, abused his authority for personal gain and resold group assets. Notify human resources: dismiss him and refer his case to the judicial authorities. From now on, no direct relative of his within three generations is to be hired.

Xie Cheng, rear warehouse manager, failed in his supervisory duties. Issue him one internal warning and dock six months of his pay."

Zhao Jinglan's words thundered in Meng Jing's ears.

The job his father had spent millions of Star Dollars and called in countless favors to secure was gone, just like that?

Meng Jing could not help remembering his wife's smug expression whenever their relatives and friends spoke enviously of his job at the Sunlight Group. He also thought of his child, who would soon apply to the Martial Arts Department.

Nearly forty, he had already become his family's mainstay. Now that he had lost his job and fallen, could he still afford to support his child's martial arts training?

How was he supposed to explain this to his parents and wife?

Within the Sunlight Group, executive president Zhao Jinglan's word was law. She had just said, "Dismiss him and refer his case to the judicial authorities." Did that mean he would face prison as well?

Despair washed over Meng Jing.

The rear warehouse manager was also trembling with fear.

Losing six months of pay was nothing to him, but an internal warning would bar him from promotion for the next ten years. Of course, he had little hope of promotion anyway, but receiving two internal warnings within a year would mean demotion.

"Security, get those two out of the reception room already!"

A senior executive in a suit spoke up.

"Yes, sir."

The two guards answered and rushed into the reception room to seize Chen Lie and Wang Hui.

Chen Lie stood, walked to the side door at the back of the reception room, pushed it open, and quickly approached Zhao Jinglan.

Once he reached her, Chen Lie said, "Water that's too clear holds no fish. A large group with hundreds of thousands of employees can't possibly be free of every shady dealing.

As a manager, you have to tolerate a few imperfections. Sometimes, turning a blind eye does more to maintain a company's internal balance than enforcing the rules without exception.

So, Miss Zhao, why not show some leniency this once?"

Zhao Jinglan looked Chen Lie up and down but found nothing remarkable about him. Her red lips parted. "Security."

At her command, seven or eight guards nearby moved toward Chen Lie.

The closest guard quickly reached him, grabbed him, and began dragging him toward the main entrance.

Wang Hui, meanwhile, had already been seized by two guards. Looking utterly dejected, he was carried to the entrance like a chick clutched in their hands.

Chen Lie did not resist when the guard grabbed him and followed him to the lobby entrance.

Just as the guard was about to throw him out, he turned his head and said to Zhao Jinglan without a change in expression, "You've taken a wrong turn in your mental power cultivation. Let me guess: for nearly a year now, every time you circulate your mental power, you've suffered splitting headaches and unbearable pain, haven't you?"

Zhao Jinglan, who had already turned to leave, stopped in her tracks.

She spun around. "Wait!"

"Bring him over!"

The guard released Chen Lie, his face full of bewilderment.

Chen Lie straightened his collar and returned to Zhao Jinglan.

The moment he first saw Zhao Jinglan from the reception room, Chen Lie had recognized her as a Divine Sense Master.

Divine Sense Master, formally known as a mental power adept, was a cultivation path that could reach the soul itself.

Even in the Central Galactic Empire, Divine Sense Masters held an exceptionally prestigious position, let alone on Blue Star, where martial arts were so underdeveloped. Calling them one in ten thousand was no exaggeration.

Zhao Jinglan sized Chen Lie up again. "You know about it?"

"Of course I do."

"Then... can you help me solve it?"

A flicker of hope appeared in Zhao Jinglan's eyes.

"If I couldn't solve it, I wouldn't have brought it up."

Zhao Jinglan snorted coldly. "Why should I believe you?"

"You don't have to," Chen Lie said. "There may be someone on Blue Star who can solve your problem, but you certainly won't find them in East River Province.

And even if someone has the ability, you might not be able to persuade them to help."

Zhao Jinglan hesitated for a moment, then addressed the group of suited executives behind her. "Suspend the disciplinary action against Meng Jing, the rear warehouse supervisor. Keep him in his position under observation instead."

"Yes, Young Miss!"

Zhao Jinglan looked back at Chen Lie. "Come to my office."

Chen Lie nodded and entered the elevator with her.

Meng Jing and Wang Hui stared at each other.

After a while, Meng Jing finally asked, "Hui, what's your friend's background?"

Wang Hui slapped his forehead. "His background? He's a student—a martial arts student! At a provincial key high school, too!"

Meng Jing had worked at the Sunlight Group for over ten years, while Zhao Jinglan had served as its executive president for only three. Yet throughout those three years, she had always followed through on her words and never shown favoritism. Reversing his punishment so abruptly would surely astonish everyone in the group.

It seemed he really did have a chance of keeping his job.

Meanwhile, Chen Lie followed Zhao Jinglan to the president's office on the twenty-eighth floor.

Once inside, Zhao Jinglan closed the door, showed Chen Lie to a seat, and sat opposite him.

"Go on. How do you plan to solve my problem?"

"Before you ask how I'll solve it," Chen Lie said, "at least let me learn more about it."

Zhao Jinglan nodded. "What do you want to know?"

"Tell me, when did you first awaken your divine sense?"

Zhao Jinglan thought for a moment. "Ten years ago, when I was seventeen."

"Oh," Chen Lie said, then asked, "And when did you become a First-Rank Divine Sense Master?"

"Seven years ago, when I was twenty."

"I have a general understanding of your situation now. There are two reasons you suffer splitting headaches whenever you circulate your mental power.

First, your aptitude for divine sense cultivation is inadequate. You awakened your divine sense at seventeen, but only became a First-Rank Divine Sense Master at twenty. That took almost three years, which shows you're simply unsuited to the path of a Divine Sense Master."

"My aptitude is inadequate?"

Looking at Chen Lie's entirely serious expression, Zhao Jinglan found it laughable. "Do you have any idea what you're saying?"

"What, did you think your aptitude was good?" Chen Lie asked, somewhat puzzled.

In his previous life, he had never seen a living Divine Sense Master on Blue Star, so naturally, he did not know how people there judged aptitude for divine sense cultivation.

But in the Central Galactic Empire's Taia Star Province, taking three years to advance from awakening divine sense to becoming a First-Rank Divine Sense Master was considered extremely poor aptitude.

"Enough!" Zhao Jinglan said coldly. "If you're going to blame everything on my inadequate aptitude, then there's no point continuing this conversation."

Unperturbed, Chen Lie continued, "Putting aptitude aside, the main reason for your condition is that you neglected the fundamentals while cultivating your mental power.

If I'm not mistaken, when you look inward at your sea of consciousness now, you'll find two clusters of mental power.

That's because, in your eagerness to strengthen your mental power quickly, you deliberately gathered it in a second sea of consciousness. Doing so doubled your cultivation speed. I'm sure you noticed that at the time.

In principle, there would be nothing wrong with that, provided your aptitude allowed you to merge the two clusters of mental power into one. But clearly, your aptitude doesn't allow it.

Now, the mental power in your second sea of consciousness has grown strong enough to repel the mental power in your primary sea of consciousness, causing disorder within it. That's why you suffer splitting headaches whenever you circulate your mental power."

Zhao Jinglan was momentarily stunned by Chen Lie's analysis. When she looked inward at her sea of consciousness, it was exactly as he had described.

"Then how do I solve this problem?"

"There are two methods," Chen Lie said. "The first will produce immediate results: I intervene and help you untangle and guide your disordered mental power.

For the second, I'll teach you a divine sense circulation method. You'll have to endure the headaches while circulating your mental power at first, but within two months at most, the pain will lessen or even disappear."

"You have the ability to help me?" Zhao Jinglan asked skeptically.

"Of course. But if you want me to intervene, you'll have to pay a price."

"What price?"

"Two jin of spirit nourishing flowers," Chen Lie said.

Zhao Jinglan narrowed her eyes slightly. "Do you know what two jin of spirit nourishing flowers means?"

"Of course. Spirit nourishing flowers can't grow naturally on Blue Star.

They must all be purchased from the Outer Stars at high prices. Although the Outer Stars have no shortage of spirit nourishing flowers, countless remote, impoverished planets like Blue Star need them. Once supplies are allocated among them all, Blue Star probably gets a purchase quota of no more than a few tens of millions of jin a year.

Even with your social standing, you probably can't obtain very many spirit nourishing flowers over the course of a year, can you?"