Chapter 21 : System Mall
It seemed that because she had received the beloved peach blossoms, rather than the unchanging daily peaches, Yun Qingyue no longer confined the little white tiger in the days that followed. Instead, wherever she went, she brought her along.
This was certainly a good thing, but it wasn't the most urgent matter at hand.
"Host, Host, why are you spacing out again?" The system light orb flickered, occasionally making motions as if bumping into Jiang Mo's nose, trying to attract her attention.
The golden tiger eyes blinked, and Jiang Mo came back to her senses, swatting her paw as if shooing away a fly: "What is it?"
The system light orb flashed away from her paw, like a fly that couldn't be driven away. Seeing that she had finally regained focus, it hastily reminded her: "Host, have you forgotten? You've reached 100 points and can now activate the system mall."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo finally remembered the important matter. She shook herself to attention, temporarily blocking out the lingering images in her mind, and casually opened the character panel she hadn't accessed in many days—
[Host: Jiang Mo
Race: White Tiger
Profession: Divine Beast
Level: 18
Combat Power: 655361
Experience: 5648/655360
Points: 100
Potential: ∞
Skills: Blood Inheritance (Not Activated)]
After completing today's daily quest, Jiang Mo had indeed accumulated 100 points. In contrast, her level, despite now being supported by Xuanqing Sect and having access to Qinglan's superior-grade Spirit Nurturing Pills worth 5000 experience points each, wasn't advancing as quickly as before. This was partly because the required experience increased exponentially, and partly because Spirit Nurturing Pills weren't the same as Nurturing Essence Pills, and Yun Qingyue didn't dare let her consume them like regular food.
Jiang Mo didn't mind this. Being naturally a salted fish, she wasn't particularly anxious about leveling up. After all, the Spirit Nurturing Pills weren't going anywhere, and she had three thousand years to freeload. What was there to rush for?
The system floated near Jiang Mo's head, also perfunctorily scanning the panel, and then reminded her: "Host, just click on the mall section to activate it."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo didn't hesitate and raised her paw to tap on the virtual panel with a "pat."
The next moment, a pop-up window appeared on the panel—
[System Mall activation requires 100 points. Confirm? (Yes/No)]
Jiang Mo naturally chose yes, and then the text in the pop-up changed—
[System Mall activating, please wait...]
This wait was rather long, taking about three to five minutes before the pop-up finally disappeared from the panel. In its place appeared a brand new interface, with product images displayed on the panel, each labeled with a price. Clicking on them would show product details. At first glance, it resembled the shopping apps Jiang Mo had used in the past, except here shopping didn't require money, only points.
Jiang Mo casually glanced at the recommended products on the homepage, and her expression immediately became subtle—perhaps knowing that new users wouldn't have many points, the recommended products were all quite ordinary and cheap. For instance, an apple required 10 points, a pound of rice also 10 points, or a package of instant noodles still 10 points. It seemed 10 points was the minimum purchase in the mall, while her daily quest base salary was also 10 points...
Huh, what kind of system mall was this? It clearly wasn't made for poor people like her. Did she really care about one apple or one pound of rice? She was a tiger being supported by a cultivation sect!
Jiang Mo gave the system a meaningful look, her silence more powerful than words.
The system light orb flickered, as if startled, and quickly said: "Host, the mall is very comprehensive. Scroll down, go to the bottom, there are all kinds of good things back there." Whether she could afford them was another matter entirely.
Jiang Mo was certainly disappointed with this long-awaited system mall, but she wasn't unreasonable. The mall provided products; it wasn't the mall's fault if she couldn't afford them. She could only blame herself for being poor. So she didn't complain about the mall's expensive items, and lightly moved her gaze away, then indeed followed the system's advice and began to scroll down.
There were thousands upon thousands of products in the mall, with countless items priced at just 10 points. However, Jiang Mo had no interest in these daily necessities, so she simply set the price to descending order and started looking from the most expensive.
Good things are always more expensive, aren't they?
Sure enough, the items that now appeared on the mall interface were much more attractive. For example, certain divine weapons and immortal artifacts, or certain inherited cultivation techniques, or certain divine beasts and immortal beasts... Honestly, the feeling a little white tiger gets when browsing the system mall and discovering it sells white tiger divine beasts is probably similar to encountering human traffickers—peculiar and wary, while also being slightly curious about one's own worth.
Jiang Mo looked at the majestic white tiger on the product interface, then secretly peeked at the price below: 998, in units of hundred million.
Well, she instantly felt her value multiplied, becoming quite precious all of a sudden!
The little white tiger inexplicably puffed out her chest, and the system, seemingly guessing her thoughts, quietly remarked: "Host, wake up, that's a fully mature top-level white tiger, equivalent to the value of Divine Lord Zhiming that you know." Not the value of a salted fish like you!
"Smack!" The tactless system was once again swatted away, and Jiang Mo gave it a side-eye: "What, are you suggesting I sell myself? Or that I lure Divine Lord Zhiming here to sell him?"
The system fell silent, floating back wobbly like a pitiful creature.
Jiang Mo had no spare sympathy and ignored it, moving past the great white tiger to continue looking. In fact, the system hadn't lied to her before—the system mall connected countless dimensions, and the items inside truly exceeded imagination. Besides the resources from the cultivation world, things like starships, mechs, medical pods, or magic wands, potions, and alchemy products—anything imaginable could be found here.
The only issue was the price. The items from the cultivation world were already quite expensive, but cross-dimensional ones were even pricier. The system said it was due to interdimensional shipping costs, with prices basically ten to a hundred times higher.
In short, it was best to just look; not a single good item was affordable.
Even Jiang Mo, a salted fish, felt her heart race looking at these items, but after calculating, she realized that even if she checked in for three thousand years, she still couldn't afford what she wanted. So after pondering for a moment, she retrieved the system and asked: "Does the system mall do buybacks?"
The system righteously refused: "Mall products are premium goods. There are no second-hand items, and we don't do buybacks."
Jiang Mo wasn't surprised and could only ask further: "Then can I list items to sell in the mall? I'll pay a handling fee."
But the system still refused: "Sorry, Host's level is too low, you don't qualify to open a shop."
Jiang Mo's eyes brightened, and she quickly asked: "Then what level do I need to open a shop?"
The system strangely fell silent for a moment before answering: "Level 100."
Unsurprisingly, the system was swatted away with a palm the next moment. It flew back, aggrieved and dissatisfied: "Requiring level 100 to open a shop is the mall's regulation, the system can't change it. Host is misdirecting your anger!"
Jiang Mo ignored its complaints and scrolled back to the front of the product interface. Looking at those 10-point products and then at her 0-point balance, she let out a long sigh.
The system also seemed to feel this scene was too bleak. It rummaged through its own small treasury, sadly discovering it was as penniless as its host—no, it was even in debt, and had encountered a salted fish host who didn't like doing tasks, which couldn't be worse—but in the end, it still hardened its heart and reluctantly took out the 10 points it had just saved up to buy two White Rabbit milk candies.
When handing the candy to the host, the system earnestly reminded her: "Host, these are my last 10 points. We're too poor. Now that you've eaten my candy, you need to earn money properly in the future."
Jiang Mo looked at the two familiar-packaged candies in her paw, her mood equally complex, and finally nodded in agreement—truly, they were too poor. Even as a salted fish, one couldn't be this poor. Without shopping, where was the quality of life?!
The system was immediately gratified, feeling that its 10 points hadn't been wasted.
Then the next moment, it saw its host tucking those two candies away and scampering to Yun Qingyue's feet, extending her paw to tug on the hem of Yun Qingyue's robe.
Yun Qingyue naturally noticed and bent down to make eye contact: "What is it?"
The little white tiger then extended her paw towards her, holding a milk candy that had just been unwrapped, white and covered in rice paper.
Yun Qingyue didn't recognize it, and just as she was about to inquire, the fluffy little tiger paw was already pushing her hand, bringing the candy to her lips. She caught a faint scent of milk and vaguely guessed what it might be. Not believing the little white tiger would harm her, she hesitated slightly but still placed the candy in her mouth.
The milk candy quickly melted, filling her mouth with fragrance. It was sweet.