Arriving at the practice field, even before entering, Fang Ze saw that the lights were already turned on.
As he reached the entrance, the door was ajar. Peeking through the gap, Fang Ze saw Qing Ya had already been waiting inside.
Beneath her feet was a small box, while she herself sat on the steps, head bowed, seemingly engrossed in something.
Seeing this, Fang Ze quietly pushed the door open, then thought about sneaking up to scare Qing Ya.
However, before he could get within twenty meters of her, Qing Ya suddenly tensed up and turned her head around alertly!
Fang Ze was still sneaking up, tiptoeing, but suddenly got caught red-handed, and felt extremely embarrassed.
Qing Ya's intelligence was clearly a bit higher than Bai Ling's and Bai Zhi's.
Seeing how Fang Ze behaved, in just a moment, she guessed what he had planned.
So she briefly rolled her eyes at Fang Ze and gently said, "Childish."
Fang Ze stood straight, "hahaha," laughing to ease the awkwardness.
"Actually... it's not so bad. Mentor. For children, it might indeed seem childish. But for our age, it's just perfect."
Qing Ya did not expect Fang Ze to come up with such twisted logic and spontaneously, her eyes curved into crescents with laughter.
Not wanting to keep arguing with Fang Ze, the childish ghost, she straightened her skirt, sat down again, and then patted the spot beside her, "Come, sit here."
Fang Ze obediently sat down.
Then Qing Ya tilted her head and examined him up and down, curiously asking, "Have you completed your Skin Tempering Perfection?"
Fang Ze didn't speak but raised his arms, exerting a little force, and immediately, his arms seemed to swell up, becoming incredibly thick.
Next, he slammed his arms together with force!
Instantly, a sound as if metal clashing with metal rang out!
Qing Ya looked a bit surprised at the scene before her.
If it were a layman, most probably would think this was no different from when Fang Ze had just advanced in Skin Tempering.
But as someone who had immersed herself in Martial Arts for years, she knew the difference was huge.
The range to which muscles and tendons swell differed significantly between the first and seventh levels of Skin Tempering.
The power a human body can generate comes essentially from the stretch of muscles and tendons—the longer they can stretch, the greater the power they can wield!
So, each level of Skin Tempering, although it tempers the skin and increases defensive power, actually also enhances the power a Martial Artist can exert!
Thus, just by seeing the extent of muscle bulge in Fang Ze, Qing Ya knew that he had tempered at least five to six layers of Skin Membrane, enough to sustain such high muscular bulges without breaking.
And that wasn't all. Listen to that sound from the collision of his arms.
Though crisp, it echoed through the air like a valley's echo, carrying a seven-layered vibrato, a phenomenon only present at the pinnacle of Skin Tempering.
After achieving Skin Tempering Perfection, whenever one exerts force or faces an attack, skin membranes layer up to mitigate damage.
Roughly calculated, each layer of skin membrane can reduce one layer of damage, seven layers mean seventy percent reduction.
Each layer would create a sound, seven layers would produce seven sounds.
Thus, Fang Ze had undoubtedly achieved Skin Tempering Perfection.
Having confirmed Fang Ze's realm, even though she had gotten used to Fang Ze creating miracles, Qing Ya could not hide her astonishment.
He actually did it...
It had only been a few days.
Qing Ya always felt like she was witnessing the birth of a monster.
She believed that Fang Ze might really not take long to surpass herself, many of his peers, and even Bai Zhi, to become Xida State's new generation Martial Arts genius.
Thinking of this, Qing Ya's beautiful eyes involuntarily turned to Fang Ze, and she gently said, "Alright. Knowing you've fully mastered your realm eases my mind."
"After all, as one progresses in the Martial Dao Realm, shortcuts become increasingly detrimental. One cannot practice out of sequence or try to accelerate growth artificially."
"It's quite possible that premature practice could sever your path to transcendence and trigger premature Spirit Ascension."
Hearing Qing Ya's words, Fang Ze keenly picked up on a key piece of information: premature Spirit Ascension.
Fang Ze had always been aware of the Awakener's realm classifications: Awakening, Fusion, Spirit Ascension, followed by Yang Transformation...
He had already encountered and understood the first two realms. But for the latter two, he had only heard their names, not even knowing their precise meanings.
Let alone understanding the difference between premature Spirit Ascension and normal Spirit Ascension.
So, hearing Qing Ya mention this, Fang Ze quickly inquired, "Mentor, you just mentioned premature Spirit Ascension, what does that mean?"
Upon hearing Fang Ze's question, Qing Ya looked at him somewhat strangely, "Don't you know how a Fuser advances to the Spirit Ascension stage?"
Fang Ze shook his head.
Qing Ya thought for a moment, then finally said softly to Fang Ze, "Normally, I shouldn't be telling you this information."
"After all, there are federal regulations stating that only Awakeners who have reached the Fusion stage and passed a federal inspection are qualified to know the secrets of the Spirit Ascension stage."
"But your strength is nearly indistinguishable from a Fuser's, and you're also a Commissioner of the Security Bureau, so knowing in advance shouldn't be an issue."
With that, she paused, then began to explain,
"Spirit Ascension. This name actually carries a dual meaning. One is the advancing of the soul, the other is ascending to the Spirit Realm."
"Spirit Realm?" Fang Ze was baffled; he understood advancing the soul, but ascending to the Spirit Realm? That was yet another new term.
Seeing that Fang Ze seemed completely oblivious to these concepts, Qing Ya simply began to explain in detail.