Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1053: Chapter 97: No Path to Becoming an Immortal (59) — Moderately Damaged

Once, Jiang Zuo thought the strongest people in the world were either the heavyweight boxing champions appearing on live television or those elite bodyguards protecting the nation’s most important figures.

Later, Jiang Zuo met his mentor, and only then did he realize there were people far stronger than those so-called heavyweight boxing champions—Taoists.

The appearance of his mentor completely overturned the education Jiang Zuo had received for twenty years, so he joined the Army of Failures of Taoists without hesitation—why was it called the Army of Failures? Because his mentor half-jokingly said that cultivating Taoism was a dead-end.

Enchanted by the various incredible abilities of Taoists, Jiang Zuo did not melancholically discuss this dead-end problem with his mentor, but rather burned with passion, eager to uncover all his mentor’s secrets.

Flying and Escaping, removing a mountain and overturning the sea—such epic power as described in novels.

But Jiang Zuo had never witnessed it firsthand—according to his mentor, he was only mid-ranking in the Taoism-cultivated field, neither high nor low.

What is the pinnacle?

Jiang Zuo didn’t know.

But perhaps the man before him, wielding a Three-foot Green Peak, was that so-called pinnacle—each ray of sword light was like the power of a tactical missile, each movement causing a great roar in the air!

When he struck down with his palm, the earth sank a few inches, his roar brought fierce winds, and his gaze was as sharp as a knife, making one feel as if their soul would be cut apart.

There are Taoists this powerful in the world!

One by one, figures fell from the sky… the ground was littered with the ‘corpses’ of ‘Gaia’.

Jiang Zuo did not know the cause of this battle, but watching the white-robed, long-sworded Taoist, Jiang Zuo couldn’t help but feel his blood boil.

Always, thousands of troops, and I alone am enough!

What kind of boldness is this, and what an extraordinary cultivation… His mentor had mentioned that in the past, China was the most brilliant in the Taoism-cultivated field, where Taoists could swallow clouds and fog, grasp the stars, explore the heavens above and the Yellow Springs below; this white-robed, long-sworded Taoist belonged to that era…

Don’t lose!! You cannot lose!!

The image of the white-robed Taoist in Jiang Zuo’s mind seemed to transform into a colossal statue—at this moment, Jiang Zuo did not want this statue to fall!

He did not want the sword in the hands of this white-robed Taoist to break, nor his Mana to be exhausted… he did not want him to be defeated here!

What Jiang Zuo did not know was that his palm was already sweating, and his clothes unknowingly soaked—and just then, the image before his eyes abruptly changed!

The earth suddenly cracked open, and a huge metal frame emerged—this was the door he encountered when entering this place!

One by one, figures rushed out from the door, heading for the skies… each ‘Gaia’ with cold expressions!

Dozens, hundreds? Or even thousands?

When these ‘Gaia’ filled the skies, no matter how much he didn’t want this white-robed Taoist to lose, Jiang Zuo still felt an overwhelming despair!

Each ‘Gaia’ lined up in the sky at that moment, forming three giant, layered circles, their actions uniformly synchronized!

Finally, a massive vortex appeared in the sky… a beam of light, a colossal beam of light, suddenly crashed down from the vortex onto the earth!

Jiang Zuo heard a crazed laughter.

On the earth, a giant green lotus suddenly bloomed, and from the center of that green lotus, a figure wielded a sword towards the sky… cutting towards that massive beam of light!

The brilliant light engulfed the entire scene, and Jiang Zuo, feeling as if he were personally experiencing it, painfully closed his eyes—after a long while, Jiang Zuo finally managed to open his eyes.

Everything had vanished… the earth was as smooth as a mirror, and a vast crater was the only thing left from this battle.

Now, countless ‘Gaia’ fell from the sky, completely losing their ability to move… yet Jiang Zuo could no longer see the figure of that white-robed Taoist.

Afterwards, they seemed to be picked up one by one, and taken into that huge metal frame… finally, each ‘Gaia’ was thrown into a multicolored pool… the Pool of Ten Thousand Elements!

When all the ‘Gaia’ outside were thrown into the Pool of Ten Thousand Elements, the image gradually darkened… as if slowly closing its eyes.

Before all the images disappeared, Jiang Zuo heard a fragmented sound… the voice of Gaia.

[Detecting body’s wear level… sixteen point seven percent]

[Level Five Intelligence Program severely damaged, program downgrade… Level Four Intelligence Program severely damaged, program downgrade… requesting program restoration from mainframe… again requesting program restoration from mainframe… no response… program downgrade… Level Three Intelligence Program severely damaged, requesting program restoration from mainframe]

[Level Two Intelligence Program severely damaged… no response… program downgrade… Basic Intelligence Program lightly to moderately damaged… operational]

[Initiating body repair program]

[Prototype Omnipotent Treasury Manager Gaia entering sleep mode countdown… 3… 2… 1]

Darkness.

“You… brought them back?”

Jiang Zuo’s hand abruptly left the cylinder, and his consciousness was thus ejected from that complex interface space—his gaze fell upon the Gaia standing beside him at this moment.

“That battle… you’re the only one left?” Jiang Zuo swallowed hard and asked.

Gaia’s purple pupils flickered for a moment and finally nodded slowly.

“That person… is he dead?” Jiang Zuo asked again, his voice now with a hint of tremor.

[The target’s life signs are not within the search range, presumed dead or departed]

“You… didn’t pursue?”

[Beyond operational range, unable to pursue]

Life or death unknown… Jiang Zuo steadied himself, hoping in his heart that the white-robed Taoist had retreated safely—after all, his enemies were too numerous.

The Gaia printed by the Myriad Elements Pool was limitless like mass-produced weapons. But human strength has its limits—Jiang Zuo did not believe that white-robed Taoist would lose!

The dignity of humanity… no, the dignity of Taoists!

However, it seems this pool could not only allow the Myriad Elements to reorganize but also decompose the reorganized Myriad Elements back into their original forms, otherwise, with so many ‘Gaia’ thrown in, the pool would have overflowed.

Truly an amazingly wondrous material.

“Why did he… fight with you guys?” Jiang Zuo still asked the question he wanted to know.

[Memory database missing, unable to answer]

No wonder this image only had the middle part, with the beginning missing entirely, making it seem quite abrupt… Jiang Zuo was taken aback, realizing that the final content of the image seemed to be some sort of Gaia’s assessment report.

But the Gaia before him appeared undamaged; it should have been fully restored though…

“You… you’re still just a Basic Intelligence Program?” Jiang Zuo asked somewhat nervously.

[Confirmed]

“That’s more like it!!” Jiang Zuo suddenly clapped his hands!

The Myriad Elements Pool, Gaia, this terrifying technology that transcended innumerable human layers—how could it all be controlled by a simple artificial intelligence!

This is such an awkward thing—if the Gaia in front of him is just the most basic level of intelligence, and the higher levels of intelligence cannot be activated due to irreparable damage, that would do justice to all these mysterious elements!

But Jiang Zuo’s excitement quickly turned to fear… if a Gaia possessed such power, it’s fine if it’s simply a rigid artificial intelligence, but if it was an advanced intelligence… or even capable of independent thinking and evolution…

Jiang Zuo couldn’t imagine the things that would happen afterward, he didn’t even dare to imagine them—the time recording screen beside him was now adjusted to nearly three thousand.

Damn it!

So much time was wasted!

Suddenly, Jiang Zuo was shocked… these 4800 seconds of visiting time were all of his purchasing power, including the maximum value of 20 points of life. He feared for his life from now on!

At this moment, Jiang Zuo couldn’t care less about his initial purpose, and hurriedly said, “Stop… stop the visiting time!!”

3000!

However, when the number jumped to 3000, it stopped moving… he managed to save his little life, and Jiang Zuo subconsciously sighed in relief.

He reluctantly looked at the two Gaia being printed in the Myriad Elements Pool, fearing he wouldn’t have a chance to see this kind of technology again in the future.

“So what should I do now to leave…”

Jiang Zuo subconsciously looked at Gaia, intending to ask if he could leave like this, but his voice abruptly stopped—Gaia had stopped!

This exquisite, nearly perfect-looking Gaia, was now slightly lowering her head, stood motionless in place… actually paused!

“What exactly…”

Jiang Zuo instinctively walked to the front of Gaia and waved his hand in front of her eyes… Gaia then slowly raised her head.

[Inquiry: Does the subscriber wish to select products]

“Products, wasn’t I just…” Jiang Zuo’s voice suddenly halted, there seemed to be some problem with this Gaia!

[Inquiry: Does the subscriber wish to select products]

“I… I haven’t decided yet, can I… consider it?” Jiang Zuo tentatively asked.

[Confirmed, please awaken Gaia after product selection is complete to perform trading activities]

Gaia’s purple pupils flickered, then slowly lowered her head again… as if all functions had stopped.

“There’s this kind of operation too…” At this moment, Jiang Zuo looked in disbelief at Gaia in front of him.

He then looked around.

He then looked at the time recording screen next to him… the numbers, surprisingly, hadn’t started moving!!

— Damaged to a medium degree in Level Two Intelligence Program… still usable…

Even now, is this program still in a state of damage?

“My God, doesn’t this mean…”

Jiang Zuo slowly, once again, approached the edge of the Myriad Elements Pool, trembling with his hand, reaching for the white column… no time limits!

…

…

“Captain, it seems like this is the end of the forest.”

At this moment, a member of the Management Bureau hurriedly turned back to report to the four captains.

Ling Feng nodded, but his face did not show joy; instead, it became increasingly serious—because after being transferred to this place, they hadn’t encountered any living creatures.

Not to mention people, they couldn’t even see things like insects—to know that they were in a small forest—this was really too abnormal.

Moreover, within this forest, people of the Management Bureau had also discovered a lot of treasures.

Regardless of team members sent to the demons or the Taoist teams, or members sent from various major demon tribes and the Taoist, they all had learned about treasures knowledge.

They could recognize some extremely rare materials, as for many others, there was no way to identify them, but it didn’t prevent the Management Bureau from affirming the value of this forest.

Originally, everyone planned to mine—because the treasures were too tempting.

But this action was stopped by Ling Feng even before it started—not because Ling Feng was not interested in the treasures in the forest, but because this place was too mysterious.

“These things are placed here without anyone moving them, we can clean them up when we return. Moreover, this place is quite odd, taking these things is inconvenient for our actions—the most important thing is, we must figure out what the background of this place is! If possible… if the country can take over this place, it can be developed!!”

Evidently, rather than gaining some slight advantages here, it was more attractive to occupy this vast resource treasury for development—besides, they didn’t know what dangers lay ahead, and bringing these things, what if they fall ahead, wouldn’t they become cute delivery fools that deliver heads over a thousand miles?

I’m not that foolish!

Fortunately, the management style of the Management Bureau is still quite strict, and most follow the rules faithfully… some intended to quietly stash something away, and also due to pressure, could only choose to give up.

“Captain, a figure is discovered ahead, moving at high speed!”

At this moment, a team member hurriedly reported back.

Ling Feng looked at the other three captains beside him, each nodded, and everyone started observing with binoculars.

Outside the forest was a small grassland area, and at this moment, two figures were indeed running quickly within that grassland area.

“That’s… the clan leader of the Azure Dragon Clan, Cang Jinshui, and Qu Xinghe of the Vermilion Bird Clan?”

Through the telescope, several people clearly saw the two high-ranking members of the Yao Association, and their outfits could be described as miserable—Cang Jinshui even had a visible wound on his arm.

As for Qu Xinghe, her originally fiery red fur coat had long disappeared, leaving only a multi-damaged black tight outfit, undoubtedly revealing her graceful figure.

“Look! It seems they are being chased by something!”

The telescope view probed backward, and saw two figures close to the ground, flying at high speed on the prairie… with delicate facial features, but wearing scarlet metal giant claws!

“Captain, what should we do?” A team member hurriedly asked at this moment.

Ling Feng took a glance, this team member, if he remembered correctly, was originally sent for service from the Azure Dragon Clan anime… Even if he said to stand by, this team member probably wouldn’t obey orders, right?

“Everyone!”

Ling Feng suddenly stood up, and shouted loudly, “All team members, immediate support!”

“Hey!”

At this moment, the only female captain among the four captains stepped on the dirt slope, holding an M16A, rested it on her long leg, squinting her eyes through the sight.

“Wait! Don’t use Meteor God… damn!! Hong Ling! Your sister!!”

Only to hear a boom, a bullet costing tens of millions shot out of the chamber!

$$$$$$$$$$

ps1: Forgot how many there are altogether, let’s assume 30, there should be not too few, Emmmm

PS2: (1/30)

PS3: See if it can be completed in a month…