Chapter 540

'Forget it, let them sort it out themselves.'

Zhang Jie thought for a moment, finding the relationships involved far too complicated,

giving him a headache, better to leave it to the parties concerned,

he, as an outsider, had no business getting involved—just be a bystander.

'Tsk... Brother Jie is truly an old riddler.'

While Zhang Jie was deep in thought, Zhang Chulan, left in the dark, silently grumbled to himself.

You're not secretly criticizing me, are you?

Zhang Jie, having mastered micro-expression management to its peak, asked suspiciously.

'No, of course not!

I was just thinking that Brother Jie must have his reasons for saying that!'

Zhang Chulan, of course, could never admit to a thought that might earn him a few more skull-raps—he immediately denied it.

'Good that you think so.'

Zhang Jie didn’t dwell on the matter further.

'Alright, Chulan, see you at the office.'

The tiny figure made of Qi dissolved into a gentle breeze and darted out through the open car window.

'Brother Jie, Qi—my Qi!'

Watching Zhang Jie’s figure vanish into the night, Zhang Chulan stood speechless.

That golden figure, though guided by Zhang Jie’s will, was composed of Qi he himself had provided!

Now Zhang Jie had absconded with it, leaving his already meager Qi reserves even worse off.

Shhh!

Perhaps his lament reached Zhang Jie’s ears—a formless mass of Qi returned and struck him on the head.

'Again with the head-bashing? If you keep this up, I’m going to grow horns...'

Zhang Chulan, having taken multiple head strikes from Zhang Jie, stared blankly at the sky.

Brother Jie was perfect in every way—except for this annoying habit of hitting his head.

If he were still a child, he’d be certain to end up short—given Zhang Jie’s hitting trend.

Do you know how terrifying it is for a boy to be short?

Nowadays, girls set their boyfriend height bar at 1.8 meters,

and there’s even a rumor that anyone under 1.7 meters is a Class Three disabled person—

which is terribly unfair to boys of average height...

'This Qi...'

Before Zhang Chulan could finish his complaint, he felt a small but astonishingly refined Qi surge into his body.

The quality of Qi surged into his body beyond his imagination.

Zhang Chulan sucked in a sharp breath, contributing his share to global warming.

The Qi returned by Zhang Jie was still his own, but its quality had undergone a radical transformation.

If his previous Qi was raw iron, then Zhang Jie’s returned Qi was refined steel, forged through countless hammerings.

With such Qi, his spellcasting power could easily multiply several times over!

Zhang Chulan suddenly felt a profound insight—if his own Qi had even half the quality of this,

no, even just one-third, Liu Yanyan could never have used that vein-sealing parasite

to lock his Qi—just one sweep of true Qi, and every parasite would die!

'Brother Jie, my eternal god!'

Zhang Chulan’s reverence for Zhang Jie soared to unprecedented heights.

Zhang Chulan’s admiration for Zhang Jie rose to an incomparable level.

'Has Ah Jie left?'

At the very moment Zhang Jie departed, Xu San in the car ahead adjusted his glasses, a flash of sharp light fleeting in his eyes.

Though others hadn’t noticed Zhang Jie’s departure, as a natural telekinetic, his perception was acute.

'It’s time to start gathering data on Ah Jie.'

Xu San quietly set up a workflow in his mind.

As Zhang Jie’s superior and friend, he believed he understood him well enough,

and didn’t think he’d do anything harmful to the company or society,

but as Assistant Director of the North China Region of Niudongtong, his duty and professionalism told him

he must establish a dossier on Zhang Jie,

collecting all information related to him, for future contingencies.

This had nothing to do with personality or relationship—it was simply because Zhang Jie now possessed power capable of disrupting the balance.

For powerful cultivators in the occult world, whether sect leaders or heads of the Four Great Families,

the company maintains secret dossiers, analyzing their power levels, ability strength,

potential for destruction, conducting personality profiles, and assessing threat levels.

Analyze their power levels, ability strengths, and potential destruction,

Conduct personality profiling and assess their threat level.

The Qi figure, now reduced to a few inches tall like a doll, flew under Zhang Jie’s mental control toward his residence.

Though this fragment of will was only a tiny portion of his spirit, even if it vanished outright,

it wouldn’t cause irreversible damage—merely require a few extra days of seclusion—

but thrifty Zhang Jie still diligently guided it back.

He paid no attention to Xu San’s vigilance—even if he had noticed, he wouldn’t have cared.

As an organization committed to stability, the company naturally distrusts any force that might disrupt balance,

and mobilizes all resources to contain, or even eliminate, such instability.

Beneath Longhu Mountain, the company maintains a permanent special operations unit,

ostensibly to maintain order among occultists in the region and ensure their activities don’t affect ordinary people,

but its true purpose? That’s a matter of perspective.

When Zhang Jie revealed even a fraction of his power, he anticipated this day.

True powerhouses almost single-handedly sustain entire departments.

After all, occultists are merely humans with a touch of supernatural ability—

even the highest masters, like the Old Heavenly Master, who stand but a step from Dao ascension,

share no reproductive isolation or language barrier with ordinary people; otherwise,

Zhang Jie suspected the company might have biologists classifying such occultists under Hominidae, separating them from the rest of the taxonomic hierarchy...

Hmm, Hominidae includes only four genera: gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and humans—the hairless naked apes.

Zhang Jie suspected that someone in the company might classify such anomalies into the biological taxonomy of Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, Hominidae…

Zhang Jie’s residence.

Floating three feet in the air, seated in meditation, a beam of light gathered at his third eye, Zhang Jie opened his eyes:

'Back.'

'Just a minor matter—could it possibly take up much of my time?'

The Qi figure floated in, arms crossed, smirking proudly.

But the gesture, performed by a being only a few inches tall, was oddly comical.

The Qi-body dwarf floated in, crossed his arms, and smirked proudly.

Zhang Jie’s true body also considered it a trivial matter.

Just a few Quanxing demons—otherwise,

he wouldn’t have sent only a fragment of his will as a Qi figure; he’d have gone himself.

'Yawn... I need rest.'

The Qi figure yawned, then dissolved into a streak of light and merged into Zhang Jie’s third eye, blending with the glowing thread.

Under the moonlight, Zhang Jie, his third eye shimmering silver, looked like a celestial immortal descended from the heavens...

The Qi-body dwarf yawned, then dissolved into a streak of light that landed on Zhang Jie’s third eye, merging with that strand of radiance.

Suddenly, a cat’s cry shattered the serene, sacred atmosphere.

A gray-furred mackerel tabby, with ringed markings on its neck, limbs, and tail, round head, and broad cheeks,

stared wide-eyed at Zhang Jie with green eyes, curious,

wondering how this human could float like a bird in midair,

and why his third eye glowed like the big round disc in the sky.

He seemed somewhat confused—how could this person fly through the air like a bird?

'Ah, Xiao Hui.'

Zhang Jie, interrupted in his cultivation, wasn’t annoyed—he floated down, waved his hand, and the cat landed gently in his palm.

“It’s Xiao Hui.”

Zhang Jie, undisturbed by the interrupted cultivation, descended from the air and waved his hand; the cat landed in his grasp.

“Meow!”

The marmalade cat bared its teeth, gripped by an unknown force.

Zhang Jie extended his right hand and rubbed the cat’s head angrily.

Feeling the familiar energy and warmth, the cat relaxed, closing its eyes and purring softly, “Gurgle, gurgle.”