Chapter 177 - 151: Taiyi-Zero

Chapter 177: Chapter 151: Taiyi-Zero

The Void Illusion Realm.

Zhang Ji’s figure appeared in this virtual world.

This was the first time Zhang Ji had ever experienced such a virtual reality world.

The virtual reality from before his transmigration couldn’t compare to the level of realism here.

The various pieces of information fed back by the spirit particles felt as if they were truly real.

In fact, the Void Illusion Realm was a genuine mental space. If a cultivator was willing, they could truly send their entire spirit body into it.

All of its internal data and information were stored within a Tier Five integrated giant Spiritual Artifact from Nine Nether Deep Technology called the Illusion Realm.

The Illusion Realm looked like a giant Rubik’s Cube on the outside, but it was actually a massive cluster of Illusion Array Plates.

Initially, this place wasn’t meant to be a virtual reality world. It was simply a place where the Profound Nether Sect, the predecessor to Nine Nether Technology, tested its disciples.

However, as the requirements became more numerous, detailed, and extensive, an emergent effect was born from the countless clusters of Illusion Arrays.

Inexplicably, these Illusion Array clusters linked together, gaining the ability to capture spirit particles, construct virtual information feedback, and more.

And so, the Void Illusion Realm was established.

It was a miracle.

Later, Nine Nether Deep Technology tried to replicate this experiment and created the Spirit Net.

But they failed to create a second Void Illusion Realm, or a second "Illusion Realm" artifact.

Zhang Ji reached out and tapped the empty air twice. In the next moment, the scenery before him changed, and he arrived at a virtual marketplace.

The style here was quite unique.

Among the pedestrians on the street were various small animals with cute, cartoonish designs, as well as anthropomorphic figures and many other strange virtual avatars.

Even in the Void Illusion Realm, this place was one of a kind.

This place was called "Odd Street."

It primarily dealt in various horror and bizarre entertainment works.

Here, you could have immersive experiences of horror stories and ghost stories. Over time, it gradually evolved into a place that managed all sorts of special entertainment businesses.

Zhang Ji’s purpose in coming here wasn’t to experience an immersive, grotesque virtual reality horror movie.

He was just here to find a very special character.

Taiyi-Zero, the Artifact Spirit born from the "Heaven Calculation Compass," a Tier Five Spiritual Artifact passed down from the ancient Celestial Secret Pavilion.

It could be considered an alternative form of artificial intelligence.

Or, to be more precise, a synthetic data lifeform.

Its computing power was so strong that it far surpassed the "Nine Luminaries Profound Pivot Calculation Array" of the current Celestial Secret City Technology.

However, because it began to contemplate the meaning of its own existence and caused a lot of trouble in the process, it was sealed by Celestial Secret City within a "Hidden Armor Array Box."

Although it was locked away, it could still connect to the network and visit the Void Illusion Realm for fun. It especially loved to hang out on Odd Street, with a part of its consciousness present here at almost all times.

According to the original plot, after the floating city fell, it would use the "Dao-Integration Jade Slip" from the Nine Luminaries Profound Pivot Calculation Array to integrate with the Dao on the spot, advancing to a Myth-grade Spiritual Artifact. In the end, it was also Taiyi-Zero who, in collaboration with Shen Xi, calculated the Qiankun Nine Heavens Void Tide-Inducing Array.

Well, to be fair, Taiyi-Zero was the one who did the main calculations for the array. Shen Xi merely supplemented its work, perfecting some of the minor details.

Although being able to contribute to such a grand project was still impressive, Shen Xi’s role was more like being handed the leftovers to practice on after someone else had finished the main task and couldn’t be bothered with the rest.

Following his memories of accepting a quest when he played the game, Zhang Ji found Taiyi-Zero.

It was a child of about ten, dressed in a Daoist robe.

It had delicate features, making it impossible to determine its gender, and others would simply find it very cute.

At this moment, it was at a table playing cards with someone.

It was a card game called "World of Cultivation."

The game’s publisher was a subsidiary of Nine Nether Deep Technology. The cards were all designed based on real-world elements. Players had to purchase cards, build their own viable decks, and then start a match.

When a match began, a virtual game space would automatically form between the two players.

The card-playing process was immersive. To passersby, it looked like two people were just playing cards at a table, but those who were actually spectating could see a real show.

"Request to spectate!"

Zhang Ji sent the request.

It was approved almost instantly.

Taiyi-Zero never refused spectators.

After entering the spectator view, Zhang Ji saw a completely different scene.

The other player in the match with Taiyi-Zero was now trapped in an environment full of swamps, poisonous fog, and venomous insects. From time to time, various insidious monsters would charge out and destroy the strategies and setups he relied on, one by one.

The player had been pushed into a desperate situation, with only two small, snarling Spirit Beasts and a single flying sword left by his side.

Suddenly, Taiyi-Zero played another card. An array it had set up earlier was activated, and a horde of hideous and terrifying Soul Ghosts charged out of the mist. They battled the player’s flying sword and Spirit Beasts, devouring his beasts down to the bone in just a few moments. The flying sword also lost its Spiritual Energy and turned into scrap metal.

"The Ten Thousand Souls Array? When did you set that up?" the player cried out in panic. Seeing the ghosts attacking, he hurriedly used his defensive trump card, a "Tier Three Spiritual Energy Shield."

But he never expected that this was also part of Taiyi-Zero’s calculations.

Taiyi-Zero even had a bit of a twisted sense of humor and was just waiting for him to play that card. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Just as the player breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly discovered that nearly half his body had turned black and was decaying.

"Corpse poison? No, my Divine Soul is contaminated too! The Antitoxic Pill is useless! This is a mixed poison of Tier Three or higher..."

The feedback of pain was undeniably real. The player, struggling in agony, looked at his hand of scattered, useless cards as he was mercilessly tortured to death.

As soon as the game ended, the player fled on the spot without a second word, clearly having no intention of playing a second round with Taiyi-Zero.

Anyone who got crushed that badly would be traumatized.

"Do you want to play?" Taiyi-Zero asked Zhang Ji with great interest.

"I don’t know how," Zhang Ji said, shaking his head.

"I can teach you," Taiyi-Zero said.

"I’m not interested in learning," Zhang Ji said.

Taiyi-Zero lost interest and was about to look for a new player to challenge to a match.

"Do you want to leave the Hidden Armor Array Box?" Zhang Ji uttered.

For a moment, Taiyi-Zero’s movements froze.

In the next instant, the surrounding environment changed. The entire scene rapidly dissipated, and the virtual space occupied by Zhang Ji and Taiyi-Zero was isolated, transforming into a blank void.

Taiyi-Zero appeared beside Zhang Ji at some point and began to study him in detail, reading a massive stream of information.

It saw that Zhang Ji had only appeared in the "Four Extremes Domain" in the last two days, saw the trail of his activities, knew that he had joined the Blood and Flesh Ascetic Order, and had also deduced Zhang Ji’s identity as an Ancient Cultivator.

"An Ancient Cultivator?" Taiyi-Zero said, puzzled. "You just emerged from a Spiritual Source, so there’s no reason you should know my current information. Celestial divination is, in essence, just a matter of probabilities. And with your cultivation level and the technology you possess, there’s no way you could have calculated something so far-reaching. The quantum uncertainty involved is too great, and the amount of data is immense... Could it be a plot laid by some ancient Tribulation Crossing Stage cultivator? To be able to calculate something so far in advance..."

In an instant, Taiyi-Zero considered many possibilities.

However, it felt that none of them were very likely. But with the reality right in front of it, it had no choice but to believe.

"What is your purpose in seeking me out?" Taiyi-Zero asked.

"To get you out, and to help you become a real human. Don’t you want to know the meaning of life? Once you become human, you can take your time and figure it out for yourself," Zhang Ji said.

"Yes, that is indeed what I want. So, you wish to use this to establish a partnership? What are your demands? What means do you have to fulfill my needs? And how can I be made to trust you?" Taiyi-Zero asked.

"My demand is simple. I want the Dao-Integration Jade Slip," Zhang Ji said. "As for how I’ll fulfill your needs, you should already have some guesses, right?"

"The Spiritual Qi leak in the East Sea Islands was not natural decay. Based on my analysis, it should be the Exotic Realm convergence phenomenon that occurred during the Ancient Times. I hacked into the Celestial Sword Group’s database and, through analysis and calculation, found that your recent tracks should be in the East Sea Islands..." Taiyi-Zero read the relevant data, then its expression shifted to one of sudden realization. "Extraterritorial Celestial Demons? You people have the relevant technology?"

Zhang Ji was once again stunned by the super AI’s abilities.

In the game, players couldn’t be calculated by it.

But in reality, it was truly formidable.

That kind of computing power could even predict the future.

"Not right now, but we will in the future," Zhang Ji said.

Zhang Ji didn’t plan on lying to Taiyi-Zero, because it was indeed difficult to deceive.

So he was telling the truth.

Granting an Artifact Spirit a physical body was actually a simple matter.

Even the Celestial Essence Realm possessed the relevant cloning technology, and it was more mature.

But the difficulty in creating a physical body for Taiyi-Zero lay in separating its Spirit Body from its artifact vessel and finding a suitable, powerful physical body to serve as a host for its immense Spirit Body.

The separation process, if done manually, required an individual with a sufficiently powerful Divine Sense. As for the physical host, Zhang Ji thought of the "Void Soil." He had a piece on hand—that stuff could even patch up spatial rifts. Using it combined with Alchemy Technology to activate it and mold a body wouldn’t be difficult. The only problem was the small quantity. Taiyi-Zero would probably be molded into the form of a four or five-year-old child and would need to grow bigger on its own later on.

These were all things that Taiyi-Zero itself had personally experienced after its Dao-integration.

They had happened in the original game’s plot.

So even if Taiyi-Zero asked for details, Zhang Ji could describe it all vividly and convincingly, guaranteed to entice it.

But after hearing Zhang Ji’s answer, Taiyi-Zero stood there stunned, seemingly calculating something.

This made all the follow-up answers Zhang Ji had prepared useless.

Suddenly, Taiyi-Zero said, "When you get to Celestial Secret City, you can find me. I will provide you with the location of the core of the Nine Luminaries Profound Pivot Calculation Array, and I will help you restrict its operation to assist you in breaking the array."

After speaking, the surrounding environment returned to the appearance of Odd Street, and Taiyi-Zero had already vanished.

Zhang Ji, however, broke into a smile.

’The initial partnership has been successfully established!’

’Cooperating with such an intelligent AI lifeform is truly simple and convenient.’

’Unlike with humans, you don’t have to jump through hoops just to build a relationship of trust, and you might not even have to go through any tests.’

On Taiyi-Zero’s side, after calculating enough information and data, it knew the probability of Zhang Ji deceiving it was low, so it was inclined to cooperate. Meanwhile, Zhang Ji also knew Taiyi-Zero’s desperate needs and general personality.

Therefore, as long as they stated their respective demands and bargaining chips, and both parties approved after weighing the options, the partnership was successfully formed.