Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1051: Chapter 95: There Is No Path to Becoming Immortal in This World (57)

The enormous impact sent Jiang Zuo crashing to the ground in a rather undignified manner.

His body scraped up a layer of dirt from the ground.

Fortunately, with the protection of the Daoist Bai Jie’s copper mirror, Jiang Zuo did not suffer any injuries.

Jiang Zuo quickly got up and observed the surroundings, feeling tense.

Although he wasn’t clear on what happened after he fell unconscious, based on the previous scene, Jiang Zuo guessed a few things.

The leader was in such a hurry to send him away, indicating that the purple-haired little girl was quite terrifying… Jiang Zuo wanted to go back to see Daoist Bai Jie’s situation, but he knew in his heart that if he went back, he might only be a burden.

The only thing he could do was to ensure his own safety… at least not let the Centennial Tribulation Leader’s efforts go to waste.

But what Jiang Zuo did not expect was that after cautiously advancing a certain distance, he unexpectedly encountered the Vermilion Bird Clan monster: Yan Liu, who had previously planned to dismember his master’s body!

This unexpected encounter instantly left Jiang Zuo terrified.

What horrified him even more was that he witnessed this Vermilion Bird Clan madman beginning to devour the bodies of his kin… and those of other demons, and even the bodies of Taoists!

Yan Liu’s whole body exuded a terrifying and violent aura, as if he were a ticking time bomb.

Jiang Zuo cautiously hid himself, afraid of being discovered by this deranged guy—yet at this moment, he saw the purple-haired little girl!

This… little girl should be with the Centennial Tribulation Leader…

Could it be that the leader has already met with misfortune?

Jiang Zuo felt an immense sense of horror as he carefully curled up, afraid of making any noise that might attract the little girl’s attention.

Just at this moment, the little girl seemed to say something to Yan Liu, after which Yan Liu suddenly fell to the ground in pain—shortly after, the little girl effortlessly lifted Yan Liu, then flew away from the area.

The little girl took Yan Liu away.

However, upon leaving, Jiang Zuo clearly saw the little girl’s gaze sweep towards his hiding spot—but she didn’t stop, nor did she do anything to him, completely ignoring him as if he were invisible.

And so the little girl vanished into the forest canopy… Jiang Zuo subconsciously let out a breath of relief.

But just then.

[Query: Has the subscriber chosen their desired item?]

A cold, icy voice sounded behind Jiang Zuo, as he turned his stiffening neck, feeling his heart facing a tremendous challenge.

She… hasn’t she already left with Vermilion Bird’s Yan Liu, so how could she…

Terror rendered Jiang Zuo speechless; as a Taoist, he possessed powers ordinary people did not, meant to calmly laugh at the world—but at this moment, facing something incomprehensible, he realized he was nothing more than a grain of sand in the Ganges River.

Yet… the other party seemed not to have any malice, at least not at the moment.

“Items… what items?” Jiang Zuo tentatively followed the voice’s query while constantly scanning his surroundings… observing the terrain around him.

[Query: Is the subscriber not satisfied with the items in District Seven?]

District Seven… is this forest?

District Seven… does it mean there are many different areas, and those areas, like this ancient forest, also have many treasures?

The vastness of this forest was beyond imagination, and the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures it held were numerous… yet this was just one ‘District Seven’… exactly how grand could this place be?

“How… how many districts are there?” Jiang Zuo followed Gaia’s query and asked—a modicum of what he could achieve at this moment.

He knew he needed to gather more intelligence—before the other party revealed anything.

[There are a total of twelve areas,] Gaia blinked, [Please state the type of desired item to facilitate retrieval and guidance.]

Jiang Zuo’s heart skipped a beat, why did the little girl seem like some kind of AI?

Jiang Zuo hadn’t been in the Taoist path for long, perhaps less than twenty years, his talents were why his wandering master took interest in him—before entering the Taoist path, he was a computer science graduate student specializing in Python at a major university.

Back then, AI development was still in its very rudimentary stages.

Yet, entering the Taoist path completely overturned his scientific worldview—beyond science, there was transcendent power. But unlike ordinary Taoists who idolized this supernatural power, Jiang Zuo always tried to explain these transcendental powers with scientific concepts.

However, his knowledge was limited; most things he knew how but not why, and as his time as a Taoist grew, he increasingly realized his inadequacies.

But… but if this little girl was indeed some sort of AI…

Immense power equipped with AI… what kind of technological marvel was she?

If humankind could grasp this technology… instantly, several wild ideas sprouted in Jiang Zuo’s mind. These thoughts, though paradoxically absurd, filled him with an unstoppable impulse.

Attaining Taoist Immortality… simply put, was for immortality, even eternal life.

But the Taoist path was a path of no return, in China there had not been a truly Taoist Immortal for a long time. Currently, in the Taoism-cultivated field, only a handful have reached the Inquiry Phase.

But if it were this technology… if consciousness could be copied, mounted onto a body similar to this little girl, could it be another form of immortality?

[Please state the type of desired item to facilitate retrieval and guidance.]

Gaia unflinchingly repeated this question again.

This left Jiang Zuo momentarily stunned—though an AI, he always felt the little girl’s AI seemed quite primitive. If it were only at this level, it seemed current human technology could already achieve it.

The only difference was humans couldn’t create such a powerful body yet… Jiang Zuo couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed.

“I…” Jiang Zuo parted his lips, but suddenly found the surroundings had fallen quiet at some point.

Jiang Zuo immediately blamed his carelessness… the Centennial Tribulation Leader’s fate was still uncertain, while he had already been distracted.

“You… what have you done to the Centennial Tribulation Leader?” Jiang Zuo asked with a slight tremble.

[The Illegal destroyed seven clones before fleeing again,] Gaia commented slowly, [The danger level of the Illegal has been raised; ten clones have been dispatched to pursue the target. Clone armament has been upgraded, unlocking maximum power, please be assured.]

What assurance…!

However, this suggests the leader is currently safe… the Centennial Tribulation Leader was indeed a constant presence in the Taoist realm, with depth unimagined by others, but against the little girl’s so-called ‘unlock maximum power’, who knows if the leader could withstand it…

He definitely can!

After all, the Centennial Tribulation Leader was a legend in the Taoist realm.

Now, knowing the Centennial Tribulation Leader was temporarily safe, Jiang Zuo secretly let out a sigh of relief… his mind churned rapidly, and suddenly a bold idea popped into his mind.

Could he understand this little girl more, learn more about this place, and thus find a way to escape?

Directly ask how to leave?

But Jiang Zuo quickly dismissed this thought… Things may not be that simple. If he directly asks to leave, would it violate some judgment mechanism of this little girl’s intelligent program?

“You mentioned purchasing…” Jiang Zuo cautiously asked at this moment, “But you have to let me know what I can buy, right? The basis of buying and selling is exchange, at least of equal value… I mean, what do I use to buy? It can’t be money, can it?”

Gaia remained silent, her eyes flickering.

After waiting for a while, Jiang Zuo scratched his head and said, “How about this, you have to tell me what I can buy?”

[Scan]

Gaia suddenly uttered these words, and then Jiang Zuo felt as if he was being thoroughly and completely scrutinized inside and out.

[Matching completed, initiate matching… Matching finished]

As Gaia’s voice fell, numerous light screens about ten centimeters long and wide appeared in front of Jiang Zuo—it was like virtual screens projected out!

These screens appeared one by one, surrounding Jiang Zuo on all sides—front, back, above. His surroundings were dazzling—a yellow screen was in front of him, while the others were blue.

Gaia didn’t speak.

Jiang Zuo looked at the things appearing on these screens with confusion—strangely, the text on them was completely understandable—it was modern written language.

The yellow screen seemed to display his purchasing power condition.

Soul conversion points purchase power: 107 (+20)~??

Health conversion points purchase power: 1~3

Memory conversion points purchase power: 3~19

Life conversion points purchase power: 1~20

Luck…

Achievements…

Emotions…

Each clearly listed…

In the end, what Jiang Zuo saw was his total purchasing power of just 107 points.

He calculated that the soul alone was worth 107 points, while adding the maximum values of other items also only totaled just 107 points… In other words, health, memory, luck, achievements… etc., all together make up a complete soul?

But after the soul is converted into purchasing power, there’s an unknown upper limit… What is this ghost?

Currently, his purchasing power, if the soul is taken as the maximum value, is only the minimum standard for purchases?

What exactly is the basis of this calculation standard?

Jiang Zuo secretly glanced at Gaia, noticing she was still motionless… He patiently began to study those many blue screens again—these displayed what he could buy.

Undoubtedly, none of the items exceeded the value of 107 points.

“This… Why doesn’t the purchasing power after the soul have a final limit?” Jiang Zuo couldn’t help but ask.

[Soul quality has room for improvement, current purchasing power is the conversion value of current soul quality.]

Jiang Zuo hesitated, subconsciously saying, “Then if I use all 107 points to buy something now, will you take my soul?”

[107 points is the total value, can choose to subtract 20 points of life, and upon the purchase’s death, then retrieve the soul]

There’s such an operation?

Retrieve after death… Can let someone linger until death?

This doesn’t seem like much loss… Jiang Zuo was stunned, “So if I don’t want to die now, I just have 87 points of total purchasing power, right?”

[Confirm]

Jiang Zuo was puzzled again, curiously asking, “Suppose I buy something now that’s just 87 points, and you mentioned my soul quality still has room for improvement… I mean, if my life ends and my soul quality surpasses the 87-point purchasing power, how is the surplus calculated?”

[After death, receive the soul according to the transaction agreement]

This purchase isn’t fair!

Suddenly, Jiang Zuo realized the catch within—when someone’s purchasing power can only buy lower-level items in the current stage, they can only buy low-level items—yet when their purchasing power increases later, they still need to pay according to the initial transaction—if they initially chose to use their soul as the trade item!

It’s like an investment from the other side… eventually gaining more substantial profit.

But vaguely, there seems to be some loopholes in this detail… just the current information is too explosive, making Jiang Zuo unable to grasp it for a moment.

He rubbed his eyebrows.

“Let me see…” Jiang Zuo reached out, and a blue screen automatically floated to him, “Extreme Star Grass 70 stalks… ‘Nine-Turn Golden Body Decision’ first three chapters… Female Body Transformation??? Pass…”

“Level Three Gene Completion Reagent… EMMMMMMM? Seems good?”

“Eternal Kingdom one-minute tour time, uh… one minute?? What kind of pit is Eternal Kingdom? Pass!”

Jiang Zuo looked at each screen, some contents completely went over his head, while others seemed very appealing, but he wondered if there were better ones later—under this consumer mentality, Jiang Zuo continuously swiped past screen after screen.

At the same time, Jiang Zuo had to confirm one point—that knowing his soul quality could improve, increasing purchasing power, purchasing now is unwise, but some items appearing before him hold a deadly temptation…

That feeling is just like ‘this thing, maybe you can easily get later, but now you can’t, if you want, you can buy it, we’re not forcing you. Consider it yourself whether you want to or not…’

Indeed, exploiting people’s weaknesses thoroughly… Jiang Zuo couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

“Eh… what’s this?” Jiang Zuo didn’t remember how many blue screens he swiped past, and at this moment, one item’s content directly caught his eyes.

“This… can I buy this too?” Jiang Zuo swallowed nervously, pointing to the ‘item’ on the blue screen, nervously asking Gaia.

[Confirm]

“Then I…”

Jiang Zuo swallowed, heart racing, fingers trembling as he slowly pressed the purchase option on this screen.

Purchase item: Prototype Treasury Administrator Gaia Body Production Line Inspection Time (1~4800 seconds)

Production line…

Could he get some of this little girl’s creation process data?