Cloud River

As they spoke, the two arrived at the airship station outside the Political and Business Bureau.

"Since we're both free today, my vitality has shot up, and you've become a Mind Reader too. Let's go have some fun at the virtual experience center?"

"Sure."

Chen Lie agreed to Wang Hui's suggestion, treating it as a way to reminisce about the past.

"Get on the airship! Off to the experience center!"

With that, Wang Hui boarded the airship with Chen Lie and headed for the nearest virtual experience center.

The airship was incredibly fast. In just a few minutes, it arrived outside a virtual experience center.

Chen Lie and Wang Hui got off and entered the center. Wang Hui went to the front desk and topped up two thousand star credits at once.

"Come on, come on, let's start! I'm going first, Chen Lie."

After paying, Wang Hui immediately picked one of the virtual experience center's most popular attractions.

Virtual experience centers were one of the most widespread forms of entertainment among Blue Star's youth. They could connect to the nerves, allowing people to vividly experience things like space travel, deep-sea exploration, and battles against exotic beasts. They were also highly addictive.

Parents on Blue Star often feared their children would neglect their studies and ambitions for entertainment, so most strictly limited how often they visited virtual experience centers.

In his previous life, Chen Lie had not gone so far as to lose sight of his goals, but some of the experience center's exciting attractions had indeed affected the time he spent training.

But now, even after accompanying Wang Hui through one of its attractions, he did not feel the slightest novelty.

Watching his friend Wang Hui's excited expression, Chen Lie knew that he had completely immersed himself in the virtual attraction.

If his understanding had remained at the level of this point in his previous life, he would definitely have spent the entire day having a blast at the virtual experience center.

After all, he had entered the elite class, his vitality had broken into double digits, and he had awakened Mind Sense, becoming a Mind Reader. His future seemed limitless.

But he knew just how insignificant he was in this martial world's barren star region. Perhaps he was not even as significant as a speck of dust.

After spending half the day at the experience center, Wang Hui reluctantly left with Chen Lie.

Sitting on the airship, Wang Hui said, "Chen Lie, tomorrow morning, my cousin and I will go straight to your house. Then we'll head for Cloud River Province."

"Your cousin agreed?"

"He got promoted at Sunflare Group because of you. How could he refuse such a small favor?"

"Fine. Just wait outside my house tomorrow. Don't come in."

"Got it."

After arriving at Chen Lie's home, Wang Hui brought the airship down and let Chen Lie disembark before flying away again.

Chen Lie returned home and saw his mother, Feng Yuelan, cooking in the kitchen, so he walked over as well.

"Mom, I'm going out tomorrow."

Feng Yuelan turned to look at Chen Lie. "Going out? Where are you going?"

"I'm making a trip to Cloud River."

"What are you going to Cloud River for?"

"I have something to take care of. But don't worry, I won't be going alone. I'll be with my classmate Wang Hui and his cousin. Wang Hui's cousin, Meng Jing, is already an adult. His kid is nearly as old as Yaoyao."

Feng Yuelan thought about it and said, "All right, then. How long will you be gone?"

"I'm not sure yet. I might return the same day, or it could take two or three days."

"Then go ahead. Do you need me to give you some money?"

Since her son's vitality had recently improved so much and he had earned his way into the elite class, Feng Yuelan had given Chen Lie a great deal of freedom.

As long as he did not go too far, she approved of everything.

"No need. I still have money."

"Your father works in Cloud River too. I remember you went there once a few years ago.

"He works at Spirit Wind Group in Cloud River Province. If you run into any trouble over there, go find your dad. Or you can contact him and have him come find you," Feng Yuelan said.

"Okay, I understand."

During dinner, Chen Xingyao sat at the table and asked Chen Lie, "Big Brother, I heard you telling Mom that you're going to Cloud River Province. Are you going to see Dad?"

Chen Lie shook his head. "No, I have something to do in Cloud River."

"Then could you stop by Dad's place and bring something back for me?"

"What is it?"

"Dad bought me a crystal card for the D-rank martial art Skyshattering Fist over there. He was planning to give it to me when he came back next time, so I wasn't in a rush.

"But lately, I've realized that I've basically mastered the fundamentals of Skyshattering Fist. I'm at the point where I can use the Skyshattering Fist crystal card."

Chen Lie nodded. "All right. I'll bring it back for you."

After dinner, Chen Lie returned to his room.

He cultivated the Lingguang Divine Refinement Chapter for another night.

At dawn the next day, the first star among the Four Stars of Gui Mansion, the second mansion of the Seven Mansions within Chen Lie's consciousness sea, finally bloomed with brilliant light.

This represented another new stage in his Lingguang Divine Refinement Chapter.

Just then, the communicator beside Chen Lie rang.

Chen Lie reached out, picked it up, and placed it directly by his ear to answer.

Wang Hui's voice came through the communicator.

"Chen Lie, we're here! We're outside your house. Hurry up!"

"I'll be right there."

After saying that, Chen Lie put away the communicator, went to the bathroom to wash his face, and then walked out of the house.

The moment he stepped outside, he saw an airship not far away.

Upon seeing Chen Lie, the two people aboard immediately got off.

The man in front stepped ahead of Wang Hui and said to Chen Lie, "Mr. Chen, I truly can't thank you enough.

"You not only helped me keep my job at Sunflare Group, but because of you, I was even promoted to deputy supervisor."

This man was Meng Jing, Wang Hui's cousin, who was twenty years older than him.

Faced with Wang Hui's cousin's gratitude, Chen Lie merely waved his hand. "It was nothing. No need to thank me.

"Besides, you only got into trouble because I wanted to buy exotic beast meat."

"That's different." Meng Jing shook his head, then added, "Let's get on the airship first.

"After all, the Mind Reader Association in Cloud River Province is nearly a thousand kilometers from where we are."

"Okay."

Thus, Chen Lie, Wang Hui, and Meng Jing boarded the airship.

Meng Jing piloted the airship from the front, while Chen Lie and Wang Hui sat in the back.

"Mr. Chen became a Mind Reader at such a young age. Your future will surely be boundless," Meng Jing praised from the front.

Chen Lie said, "Cousin Meng, you've worked at Sunflare Group for so long, so you must have met people from all walks of life. How much do you know about Mind Readers? About how many are there in East River Province?"

Meng Jing repeatedly shook his head. "I really don't know. That isn't a level I can reach.

"Don't be fooled by my age. I've never even met a living Mind Reader.

"If it weren't for this matter, I wouldn't have known that Director Zhao from the group was a Mind Reader.

"But I heard people in the group say that Director Zhao thinks extremely highly of you. I imagine that among Mind Readers, you must be one of the very best."

Chen Lie nodded. "Cousin Meng, you can just call me Chen Lie."

"Is... is that appropriate?"

More than a decade of struggling at Sunflare Group had given Meng Jing a deep understanding of society's rigid hierarchy.

Being humble and respectful before important people had become instinctive to him. Chen Lie was on equal terms with Zhao Jinglan and was a Mind Reader himself. Even if he was not an important figure now, he would certainly become one in the future.

"What's inappropriate about it?"

Wang Hui added, "Exactly, Cousin. Don't be so restrained. Chen Lie was just lucky enough to meet a master who taught him Mind Reader cultivation. Other than that, he's no different from me.

"Just treat him the way you treat me."

In Meng Jing's eyes, the composure Chen Lie displayed in both speech and manner was not something an ordinary teenager could possess. Saying that he was no different from the reckless Wang Hui was complete nonsense.

"...All right."

After the airship took off, it began flying at high speed.

An airship's top speed was one thousand kilometers per hour, but few people dared to fly that fast. Most kept their airships at four to five hundred kilometers per hour, and Meng Jing was naturally no exception.

"Cousin, I heard Cloud River is much more prosperous than East River. You spent some time in Cloud River when you were younger. What are the virtual experience centers there like?"

After the airship had flown for nearly an hour, Wang Hui, bored by Chen Lie and Meng Jing's silence, asked the question.

"Cloud River's prosperity refers to martial arts. Virtual experience centers are pretty much the same everywhere in the world," Meng Jing said.

"How prosperous can Cloud River's martial arts really be? How much stronger can they be than East River?" Wang Hui asked.

"Cloud River is the greatest of the three central river provinces. Haven't you heard that saying?

"Among the three central river provinces—Cloud River, East River, and West River—East River and West River aren't particularly impressive in martial arts. You could say we're fellow sufferers.

"But Cloud River Province is far ahead of both East River and West River in martial arts.

"Let me put it this way. In East River Province and West River Province, the standard for entering an elite class at a martial arts high school is 3 cards. But in Cloud River, elite students are assessed at 5 cards.

"Just from that alone, you should understand the gap between the three central river provinces, right?"

Meng Jing explained as he piloted the airship.

"So martial arts students in Cloud River are that unlucky? They have to wait until their vitality reaches 5 before they can enter the elite class.

"If I were from Cloud River, I'd definitely transfer to East River for school," Wang Hui said.

"You brat, if your dad heard you say that, he'd definitely slap you across the face.

"Cloud River Province's martial arts high schools have powerful teaching staffs, and their martial arts students' average results are far higher than those in East River. Only someone out of his mind would want to transfer to East River Province," Meng Jing said, shaking his head.

At that moment, the airship's intelligent computer suddenly sounded a notification.

"Entering Cloud River Province."

"Foremost among the Three Rivers, splendid Cloud River."

"Cloud River Province welcomes you!"

Hearing the airship's supercomputer announcement, Meng Jing said, "We've crossed into Cloud River Province. The Cloud River Mind Reader Association isn't far now."

"No, since when did Cloud River become foremost among the Three Rivers?

"Can their local major corporation, Spirit Wind Group, compare to our East River's Sunflare Group?" Wang Hui could not help asking.

"The competition among the three central river provinces is about martial arts, not the economy.

"Besides, Cloud River's Spirit Wind Group may not necessarily be inferior to East River's Sunflare Group. They're both corporate giants across the eight provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi, each with its own strengths," Meng Jing said.