Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1064: How Could There Be a Path to Immortality in This World? (72) — Maybe This Is What a Noob Is Like

Although he was curious about how exactly that "0.5" was measured—most likely just something Miss Maid intentionally added—Luo Qiu didn’t ask.

Still, being able to quantify the extraordinary in numbers offered at least a tangible frame of reference.

Even if these values couldn’t truly represent an extraordinary individual's actual strength… they could still serve as a fun toy.

These guys didn’t seem tense at all.

Wang Hu frowned slightly but didn’t say much. He had returned to this place simply to find some information about what had happened after he lost consciousness in battle. But the area had already begun self-repairing and was now abandoned. It seemed like there wasn't much information left behind.

Wang Hu made a mental note to plan his next steps—whether to part ways with these three or to act alone.

On the way, Luo Qiu casually chatted with Wang Hu. After learning about some of the rules and customs of the Daoist and Demon worlds of Divine Land, he felt quite satisfied. It was about time to think about the transaction.

They had brought Da Zhe to this place. Next would be to find the client—and collect payment for the deal.

The club—or rather, the altar—was generous when it came to Luo Qiu collecting the payment. There was no need to go through the process of purchasing intel on the client. Mysteriously, Luo Qiu just had a sense of which direction to go in to meet the client.

Following that feeling, Luo Qiu looked in a certain direction.But then Da Zhe suddenly said, “Boss, there’s someone over there!”

Everyone looked over—it was a hillside near the edge of the stone forest. From the slope, a figure slowly emerged. The person looked injured and, upon reaching the edge, tumbled all the way down the slope.

It wasn’t too far. With just eyesight, they could more or less make out the person’s appearance… it looked like an old man.

Wang Hu’s expression shifted slightly. Without a word, he rushed over. With a few leaps, he arrived at the bottom of the slope and caught the falling elder.

After gently placing the old man on the ground, Wang Hu looked at him and frowned deeply.

Luo Qiu led the maid and Da Zhe over, curiously asking, “Mr. Wang Hu, do you know this elder?”

Wang Hu nodded seriously. “This is the person I told you about—the president of the Daoist Arts Association of the Divine Land’s Daoist World, the head of Kunlun, Daoist Baijie. But… what could he have encountered to end up this badly injured?”

Luo Qiu looked at the elder—Daoist Baijie. His upper clothes were gone, and his bare torso was covered in wounds left by sharp blades.

Wang Hu furrowed his brows and pulled out a Vermilion Fruit from his robe—one he had saved for emergencies. He peeled it and squeezed the juice directly into Daoist Baijie’s mouth.

Then, Wang Hu flipped his palm and pressed it firmly against Daoist Baijie’s chest. After a while, Baijie’s brows furrowed slightly as he slowly opened his eyes.

Daoist Baijie looked dazed as he scanned the surroundings. When his gaze landed on Wang Hu, there was a slight flicker of recognition. He opened his mouth, as if trying to speak.

But Wang Hu quickly said, “Daoist Baijie, do you recognize me? I’m Wang Hu, the guard who served beside the White Tiger young master Huang Baifu!”

Baijie coughed a couple of times, seemingly trying to sit up. Wang Hu quickly helped him up. As he did, Baijie noticed Wang Hu’s missing right arm—and a hint of shock flashed in his eyes.

He sat up mainly to buy time to think. This wasn’t Wang Hu at all—it was clearly the White Tiger young master Huang Baifu himself.

But as the saying goes, "Old men are shrewd." Daoist Baijie, a long-standing pillar of the Daoist World, quickly caught on—Huang Baifu didn’t want to reveal his identity. Clearly, it had something to do with the young people around him.

Daoist Baijie lifted his head and scanned the two men and one woman standing beside Huang Baifu.

Luo Qiu and Da Zhe looked like typical East Asians. But when he saw Miss Maid, Daoist Baijie visibly reacted. He hadn't left the Divine Land in a long time, but he had once met foreigners from the Western regions—Persian traders and the like.

It was rare to see people from outside the Western regions in the Central Plains… so how had she arrived here?

“Wang Hu… now I remember. The little fellow who used to be at the young master’s side,” Daoist Baijie nodded. “You’ve grown quite a bit.”

Wang Hu’s brow twitched, cursing the old man silently for taking advantage. “President Baijie, this isn’t the time for reminiscing! Tell us what happened after you were teleported—what did you encounter?”

Daoist Baijie hesitated and glanced at Luo Qiu’s group before slowly asking, “Who are they?”

“This is Boss Luo. The other two are his employees. Boss Luo helped me once. We entered this place together. He’s not familiar with the affairs of the Daoist and Demon worlds,” Wang Hu casually replied.

The simple explanation was more than enough for Daoist Baijie to understand what Huang Baifu was trying to convey.

These three were under Huang Baifu’s protection. They were newcomers who had somehow stumbled into the extraordinary realm of Divine Land. Daoist Baijie also knew that sometimes, lucky individuals could gain cultivation methods from the streets.

Daoist Baijie nodded and sighed, “It’s a long story…”

He began recounting the events after he entered this place—clashing with the Demon Association's Cang Jin, Shuiming, Tushan, and others… then encountering the terrifying Gaia. Their forces were nearly wiped out, and only a few escaped by luck. In the end, Daoist Baijie stayed behind to face the enemy alone.

“…After killing those six, this old body of mine just couldn’t hold on any longer,” Daoist Baijie said with emotion. “If they hadn’t suddenly stopped moving, I would’ve died too.”

“Didn’t expect you to encounter that thing as well,” Wang Hu sighed—his heart filled with dread.

There was more than one of them?

Even worse—while he’d been separated, the Divine Land’s Daoist and Demon Associations had suffered a catastrophic blow, with only a handful surviving!

“Daoist Baijie risked everything to stay behind and bury our kin…” Wang Hu took a deep breath. “I owe you for that. This place may be dangerous, but rest assured—even if I must sacrifice myself, I will keep you safe.”

“You’re being too serious,” Daoist Baijie shook his head.

Although Huang Baifu was hailed as the most talented descendant of the White Tiger clan in centuries, in truth, they were only about equal… and even he had nearly died.

“Daoist, can you describe your enemy in more detail?” Luo Qiu suddenly asked.

Daoist Baijie froze for a moment but didn’t refuse. He said, “They call themselves Gaia. It’s like they were all made from the same mold. Their bodies can morph, their hands can fire terrifyingly powerful energy like cannons, and they also have strong close-combat capabilities.”

“Gaia?” This time, it was Miss Maid from the club who spoke.

Daoist Baijie quickly asked, “Miss, do you know something about them?”

Miss Maid calmly replied, “Just a bit curious about the name. In Greek mythology, Gaia is the goddess of the earth, the mother of all gods—the first primordial deity born from chaos. What you described sounds more like a battle weapon, so using the name Gaia is… intriguing.”

Daoist Baijie nodded, “What you said makes sense. I’ve thought about that too. But the Western pantheon differs from our Divine Land system. There are ancient legends that the Divine Land gods once made secret pacts with other world pantheons to stay within their own domains and avoid interference. If these Gaia beings truly come from an external system, then the implications are troubling.”

You Ye smiled faintly, “It might just be coincidence. After all, as the earth mother, Gaia is very different from what you encountered. Also, the name Gaia doesn’t only refer to the earth goddess in Western academia.”

“Wait, the name has more meanings?” Da Zhe asked, looking confused.

“It does,” Luo Qiu said with a slight smile. “There was a British scientist who proposed the Gaia Hypothesis—that all living and nonliving components of Earth form an interactive complex system. It’s also known as Gaia consciousness—a unified awareness formed by all life.”

“Oh… I see…” Da Zhe’s brain twisted itself into a knot. Then he simply said, “By the way, Boss, do you still want that Vermilion Fruit?”

“You can keep it,” Luo Qiu chuckled.

Da Zhe shrugged—he didn’t get any of this, not one bit. Helplessly, he figured maybe it was time to go back to reading books.

“Gaia consciousness…” Daoist Baijie suddenly spoke. “Now that you mention it, they did claim to be Gaia, and their actions were eerily synchronized—like they shared sensory input. It really felt like they were sharing a single consciousness.”

You Ye calmly replied, “That interpretation is a bit simplistic. Gaia consciousness isn’t that cheap. What you encountered were likely just combat weapons controlled by some kind of intelligent system. But we won’t know for sure until we obtain samples and study them.”

Wang Hu, who had seen this blonde woman’s strength firsthand, shook his head privately. She really doesn’t show anyone any respect—talks back to everyone, even top Daoist Association elders... Maybe this really is what a newbie looks like—young and fearless.

Daoist Baijie, however, didn’t mind. He smiled and said, “Every era brings forth new talent. If the young lady can figure something out, that would be a blessing for the Divine Land. And if she can find a way to counter those battle weapons, she’d be making a great contribution.”

This old guy’s not bad, Da Zhe thought. He casually tossed a Vermilion Fruit over to Daoist Baijie—seemed like the stuff was good for the body.

Wang Hu had eaten a few enhanced ones already, but nothing had happened… yet.

“This Vermilion Fruit seems freshly picked… could it be…?” Daoist Baijie suddenly frowned. The Daoist and Demon factions had suffered so greatly because they tried to harvest precious resources in this place—and that’s what attracted the Gaias.

“It was picked just now. Is there a problem, Daoist?” Wang Hu asked in confusion.

Daoist Baijie urgently asked, “How long ago did you harvest it?”

“An hour or so ago?” Da Zhe replied casually.

Daoist Baijie frowned deeply. “That doesn’t make sense. We encountered the Gaia almost immediately after gathering materials here. Why haven’t you been attacked?”

“Daoist, when the Gaia appeared—did they say anything?” Luo Qiu asked, suddenly alert.

Daoist Baijie recalled, “They said something like: ‘Prototype form, Treasury Administrator Gaia, at your service, honored subscriber.’ That’s how I remember it. Before that, we suspected this place might be connected to that place…”

“That place?” Wang Hu blinked. Then he seemed to realize what was meant and exclaimed, “You mean that mysterious place said to sell anything?”

Daoist Baijie nodded, and then described how the figure called Fish Three Years once appeared to warn them. He also recounted the old legend about a great demon—a celestial fox with eight tails—who once took human form in the Demon World. Though young, Wang Hu had heard of that tale.

(Note: I can't remember this Fish Three Years. I may have used the pinyin previously.)

Daoist Baijie sighed, “This place is strange… full of legendary treasures you’d never see in a thousand years outside. If that place truly can sell anything, it wouldn’t look much different from this.”

Wang Hu’s face turned grim.

But Luo Qiu’s expression grew strange. Huh… this misunderstanding is kind of big. Should I clear it up? Still… from what Daoist Baijie described when the Gaia appeared, the phrasing did sound awfully familiar to Luo Qiu.

“What are your plans now, President Baijie?” Wang Hu asked, frowning.

Daoist Baijie replied, “I encountered a young man named Jiang Zuo. He narrowly survived the disaster. But then we ran into another group of Gaias, and I had to send him away. I plan to go look for him—I can’t let him fall into danger.”

Wang Hu hesitated… If it were a member of his own White Tiger clan, he’d go without question. But Jiang Zuo was from the Daoist Association side.

Sensing Wang Hu’s inner struggle, Daoist Baijie sighed and slowly stood up. “I remember roughly where Ming Tushan dove underground. This place is dangerous. Wang Hu, you should take these people to search for Ming Tushan—you might find a way out.”

Wang Hu frowned, clearly undecided.

But then—

“Hey, is that what you meant by Gaia?” Da Zhe suddenly pointed at the sky.

Wang Hu and Daoist Baijie both looked up—and their expressions changed drastically.

Above them, the sky was pitch black with movement. A horde of Gaias, countless like bats pouring from a cave, were descending—far too many to fight.

Luo Qiu, curious, tapped the edge of his black-rimmed glasses.

Rows of numbers rapidly flashed across the lenses.

All showing the same value: 8,000,000.

(End of Chapter)