Chapter 156: A Small Goal is Gone!

Although he did not get to see his mentor, Zhang Ze managed to gather a wealth of information from Han Yanxin.

...

In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived.
October 14th.

Zhang Ze arrived at the apartment early in the morning, but Ren Xueer was still fast asleep by then.
Wearing a slip nightgown, she opened the door for Zhang Ze, and for a good while, the little girl remained dazed and unresponsive.

Not long after they began chatting casually, Peng Fei and Qianqian also arrived at the apartment.
Taking advantage of the moment Ren Xueer went into her bedroom to change clothes, Qianqian smiled and teased Zhang Ze, "Bro Ze, you're something else."

"Where did you scam this little girl from? Are you really keeping her as your little mistress?"

Speechless, Zhang Ze scolded, "What mistress? I am purely single, damn it!"

"Hehe~"
Peng Fei smiled and asked, "What about Leng Bingbing?"

Zhang Ze was left tongue-tied.

...

Meanwhile.
Far away in Shangshui City, Beihu Province.

Shangshui City was situated in the northernmost part of Beihu Province, bordering Nanhe Province, and was only about an hour's drive away.
Inside an office building in downtown Shangshui City, four powerful figures from the cult gathered at the moment.

"Several shifts occurred in September, and our operational layouts in Anqing Province and Beijiang Province were completely uprooted. Now that the Star Gate in Nanhe Province is about to open, let's hear everyone's thoughts," one of them asked.

The middle-aged man on the right sneered, "What good would our thoughts do? The higher-ups wouldn't adopt them anyway."

"Back then, when the leadership wanted to encroach upon a portion of the medicinal pill market in Beijiang Province, they directly drained our entire foundation. Now that the matter has been exposed for so long, there isn't even an explanation!"

As soon as the middle-aged man spoke, complaints poured out.

The leading man frowned deeply upon hearing this, not knowing how to respond.

Soon, someone on the left chimed in, "As far as I know, the exposure of our plots in Anqing Province and Beijiang Province is all related to the people from the Anqing Martial Arts Administration."

"I believe you all have heard about the underground Star Gate incident at the Anqing Martial Arts Administration a couple of days ago."

Hearing this, the leading middle-aged man asked, "And?"

"Do you think we can do anything to Anqing Province?"
"Or do you assume that old man doesn't exist?"

Faced with these consecutive questions, the middle-aged man on the left did not feel disgraced at all. Instead, he sneered, "We might not be able to deal with that old fogey at the Anqing Martial Arts Administration, but there is a little brat who has been jumping around quite actively!"

"A portion of my funds in Beijiang was swallowed up by this kid before the Beijiang Inquisitorial Bureau could even seal them!"

"Hehe~"
Laughter filled with hidden daggers echoed among the group.

...

That day,
Zhang Ze, Qianqian, and the others spent the entire day accompanying Leng Bingbing, Zhang Qingping, and the other young women on a shopping trip.

That night, upon returning to his dormitory at the Martial Arts Administration, Zhang Ze could not wait to summon his system panel.
Right!
The system upgrade was finally complete!

Wealth Points: 165,000 points
Cellular Strength: 1,599 S
Cellular Spirit: 229
Storage Space: 0 cubic meters (10,000 points per cubic meter)
Skills: Shielding (11%), Detection, Concealment
Meridians: 12 (90%, can be tempered)
Bone Tempering: 1 block (99%, 10,000 points per block)
Lottery: 66 per draw, 648 for ten draws

Scanning the panel, Zhang Ze noticed that the changes brought by this system evolution were mainly concentrated on the storage space and the tempering of the meridians.

He had previously failed to understand why, even after completing meridian tempering and officially stepping onto the path of martial arts, the system still indicated that his meridian tempering progress was only 90%. Now, everything made sense.
It had been waiting for him right here!

Moreover, next to the meridians, it only prompted "can be tempered," without specifying how many wealth points were required.
Given the system's usual temperament, it certainly wouldn't be cheap!

Therefore, Zhang Ze stopped dwelling on that aspect and turned his attention to the newly emerged storage space column.
Although he had wondered before why there were no spatial items or similar features, the fact that the system now provided this function still made him feel exhausted.

After all, that was 10,000 wealth points!
A full 10 million RMB!
Just for 1 cubic meter of space!

...
Even though Zhang Ze had achieved a small milestone after his previous battles, he still felt it was damn expensive!
In other words, his entire fortune of 160,000 wealth points could only buy a meager 4×4×1 cubic meter of space?

Feeling exhausted, Zhang Ze chose to temper another bone instead.
Last time, tempering just a tiny pinky bone had boosted his cellular strength by as much as 200 S, which Zhang Ze considered quite cost-effective!

"System, temper two bones!"
As Zhang Ze's voice fell, several streams of pure energy materialized out of thin air inside his body, converging toward the middle finger of his right hand.

The entire process took only about ten minutes, and the three small bones in the middle finger of Zhang Ze's right hand were completely tempered.

Wealth Points: 145,000 points
Bone Tempering: 3 blocks (99%)

The data for the wealth points and bone tempering columns changed accordingly.
Within minutes of completing the bone tempering, Zhang Ze's cellular strength steadily increased, ultimately rising from 1,599 S to 1,999 S.

This was something Zhang Ze hadn't expected!
Logically speaking, the human body has 208 bones, and tempering them during the middle three ranks of cultivation should require at least twenty or thirty bones to be tempered by the fourth-rank realm, right?

Yet now, having tempered only three small pinky bones, he had already reached a cellular strength of 1,999 S in the third rank. Did this mean he was ready to step into the fourth rank?
Or did it mean that from now on, until he finished tempering twenty or thirty more bones, his cellular strength wouldn't increase at all?

Zhang Ze was thoroughly perplexed by this, but ultimately concluded he would have to ask Woody when he visited tomorrow.

...
Putting the question of cellular strength aside, Zhang Ze turned his attention back to the system's storage space.
Eventually, after consuming 40,000 wealth points, he acquired a 2×2×1 storage space.
He simply tossed his Grade-B alloy iron staff lying beside him right into it.

Then came the meridian tempering.
It seemed this should be able to temper the meridians to 100% completion~
Zhang Ze guessed.

Curious about what effects an improvement in meridian tempering would bring, and flush with 100,000 wealth points, Zhang Ze hesitated no longer.
"System, temper the meridians~"

As the words left his mouth, golden substances continuously emerged from all around his body.
Specks of golden light merged into Zhang Ze, first gathering at his dantian and acupoints, and then slowly beginning to circulate along his twelve meridians.

One cycle, two cycles...
As the number of circulating cycles increased, the brilliance of these golden substances grew dimmer and dimmer.

When they had circulated through Zhang Ze's body a full 97 times, all the golden light vanished.
Zhang Ze could no longer sense any residual substances lingering inside his body, but the enhancement of his meridians was something Zhang Ze hadn't anticipated!

...
"What the fuck~"
"You've got to be kidding me~"

Just as he wanted to check the specific benefits brought by the meridian tempering through the system panel, Zhang Ze noticed the change in his wealth points!
Gone!
To be precise—his previous wealth points of 105,000 had directly plummeted to a mere 5,000!

What concept was this?
One of Zhang Ze's small milestones was gone!
Words could not express his desire to cry without tears!!!