Teacher, I am going to give my all and lay down my life for you!

The next day, October 15th.

Zhang Ze arrived at Woody's dormitory with a myriad of lingering doubts.

To his surprise, Han Yanxin was nowhere to be seen this time.

"What are you looking at?" Woody asked, noticing Zhang Ze glancing around.

Zhang Ze shook his head and said, "I really do have some cultivation questions I'd like to discuss with you today, Teacher."

"Pour me a glass of water." Woody said softly.

...

A moment later.

Woody's expression turned grave. "So you're saying your meridians have undergone another tempering? And it involved some kind of golden substance?"

Zhang Ze nodded with absolute certainty.

Hearing this, Woody could no longer remain seated. She said coldly, "You brat aren't just spouting nonsense with me, are you?"

"How could I?"

Seeing that Zhang Ze was completely serious, Woody began to explain the cultivation system beyond the intermediate ranks in detail.

There was no other choice; this student of hers advanced too rapidly, and during the month or so since he entered the Anqing Martial Arts Administration, he hadn't attended a single regular class.

As it turned out, upon entering the intermediate ranks, although the goal was to complete the tempering of the 208 bones in the body, the most crucial skull tempering was actually not performed until before the seventh rank.

Moreover, neither the initial tempering of the meridians when first entering the realm of martial artists, nor the bone tempering conducted in the middle three ranks, constituted true tempering in the truest sense.

In Woody's words, these two instances of meridian and bone tempering both stopped short at around ninety percent.

The genuine completion of the whole-body meridian and bone tempering only took place after breaking through to the eighth rank.

...

Woody took a sip of water and continued, "When we break through to the eighth rank, our cellular strength reaches a terrifying 19,999S."

"Before that, the meridians and bones have only been tempered once, making them merely semi-finished products."

"The cultivation at the eighth rank has one singular objective: to achieve the Primordial Body, which means tempering the meridians and bones all over again."

Zhang Ze was curious as to why Woody was telling him all this, but he still listened very intently.

...

As it turned out, only this second tempering at the eighth rank could cause the human body to tend toward perfection.

By that time, whether it was the meridians or all 208 bones of the body, a qualitative leap would occur.

Cellular strength would also soar to the terrifying level of 49,999S, and advancing any further meant stepping into the ninth rank!

The absolute limit of the ninth rank was 99,999S!

Woody paused for a moment. "It seems that even after the two temperings of the human meridians and bones—before the seventh rank and during the eighth rank—they still haven't achieved perfection."

"Still not?"

"That's right."

"In fact, the golden substance you mentioned should only appear at the eighth rank. That is the Star Source Force used by eighth-rank powerfighters when they temper their meridians and bones a second time."

"Or it could be called Primordial Energy..."

Zhang Ze furrowed his brow in deep thought.

In truth, upon hearing Woody explain these things, he had already roughly figured it out in his heart.

Before the system's first upgrade, his own meridians could only be tempered to ninety percent. After the system upgraded, he used the system's bone-tempering feature to directly reach ninety-nine percent!

The current tempering of his meridians seemed to precisely corroborate this principle.

As for what Woody referred to as "tending toward perfection," it was likely that final remaining one percent!

Zhang Ze asked in a deep voice, "Teacher, has anyone ever tempered their meridians twice before reaching the eighth rank?"

"I feel that the changes in my meridians last night seemed to be precisely this kind of situation..."

Woody remained silent.

...

"Yes."

The sudden voice startled both Zhang Ze and Woody.

Han Yanxin walked straight into the room. Because of Zhang Ze's presence, Woody did not chase him away this time.

He casually took a seat next to Zhang Ze and added, "As for those who completed the second tempering of their meridians and bones before reaching the eighth rank, there is one person I know of."

In a rare instance of joining the conversation, Woody asked, "Are you talking about that little freak from the Beijing Martial Arts Administration?"

"That's right."

"It's Liang Zhenxuan," Han Yanxin said solemnly.

Zhang Ze had very little interest in such geniuses and proud sons of heaven. He pressed on, "Can you help me check if I'm in this kind of situation?"

Han Yanxin nodded and reached out a hand toward Zhang Ze's head.

Zhang Ze did not know that entering the seventh rank meant surpassing the threshold of one thousand in spiritual power. Now that Han Yanxin was at the eighth rank, one could well imagine the immense strength of his spiritual power.

In terms of raw data, if Zhang Ze could use the system to view Han Yanxin's spiritual power, he would likely be terrified by the nearly five thousand points of spiritual power!

...

A moment after.

"Your situation seems to have shades of that!"

Han Yanxin withdrew his spiritual power and said in a deep voice.

Hearing this, Zhang Ze was quite pleased. After all, it seemed his one hundred thousand wealth points and one hundred million RMB hadn't been thrown down the drain!

However, Han Yanxin added, "But your current state seems very irregular. In other words, only a very small portion of your meridians and bones have undergone this change!"

Zhang Ze had been wondering what else he might say, but upon hearing these words from Han Yanxin, he looked at his own system panel:

Meridians: 10 lines (90%), 2 lines (99%)

Bones: 3 pieces (99%)

Presumably, the reason Han Yanxin said that was precisely because his one hundred thousand wealth points had only transformed two meridians.

Having figured this out, Zhang Ze smiled and said, "Maybe this mutation of mine has just started, and it will slowly transform into a state of secondary tempering in the future, who knows?"

Han Yanxin smiled without a word.

Woody furrowed her brow and warned, "Don't go shouting about this. Back then, that fellow Liang Zhenxuan almost got dissected and studied because of this exact matter!"

"Ah?"

Zhang Ze was utterly shocked.

Woody retorted unhappily, "What is there to be so surprised about?"

"If they had dissected Liang Zhenxuan alone, they might have improved the cultivation system for modern martial artists. By then, the strength of our human martial artists below the seventh rank would have been vastly enhanced. Don't you think it would have been worth it?"

Hearing this, Zhang Ze pulled a long face.

He thought to himself that he wouldn't end up being treated as a lab rat, would he?

Seeing Zhang Ze's timid and cautious demeanor, Woody couldn't help but smile smugly.

When Han Yanxin saw this scene, he couldn't help giving Zhang Ze a couple of extra glances!

From that very moment onward, a firm conviction took root deep within Han Yanxin's heart...

...

"Alright."

"Both of you need to get lost!"

Woody had no desire to keep looking at Zhang Ze's miserable expression and prepared to chase them both out.

As a result, Zhang Ze dropped to his knees and shuffled over to Woody's side.

This sudden move by the brat genuinely stunned both Woody and Han Yanxin.

A man's knees are worth gold!

You dropped to your knees just like that?

Do you have any backbone at all?

Yet, upon second thought, it didn't seem entirely wrong. Woody was Zhang Ze's imparting mentor, and for him to kneel before Woody...

It seemed... barely... justifiable?

...

However, the moment Zhang Ze opened his mouth, it was as if he was saying, "What on earth is backbone?"

"Teacher, you aren't going to let me become a lab rat, are you?"

"I haven't even had the chance to properly show you my filial piety yet!"

"I don't want to be a lab rat!"

Zhang Ze panicked!

There was no helping it.

He knew his own situation all too well—having transmigrated to this world, he still had a damn cheat code on him!

Wasn't this precisely the definition of a prime lab rat?

Woody felt an urge to mock him and smiled, "You strut around so ostentatiously every day, how can a sixth-rank powerhouse like me protect you?"

"I might as well send you off to be a lab rat and make a sacrifice for the advancement of human martial arts!"

Although Woody spoke with a completely straight face, she could not conceal the smile at the corners of her lips.

Watching her, Han Yanxin felt a surge of warmth and delight in his heart!