Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1042: Chapter 86: Where in the World Is the Path to Immortality? (48) – That Place

Tai Yinzi didn’t know what Gaia meant by the Eternal Kingdom—the club might very well originate from this place.

If that’s the case, it almost explains why, as a Black Soul envoy, he is granted the authority to command Gaia.

This place is referred to as a treasury… but it is very likely just a warehouse of the club—after all, the club’s internal space is far more spacious than it appears from the outside.

Then, it’s quite normal for the club to have a warehouse for storing things outside, right?

However, Gaia said she does not know You Ye, nor does she know the current boss—thinking this way, there seems to be only one possibility.

This warehouse is a legacy of the former owner of the club, and Gaia appeared earlier than You Ye—perhaps for some unknown reason, the previous owner did not hand over the items in this treasury to the current boss, and Gaia has remained here, never updating the information from the outside world.

Who knows how long Gaia has been here… perhaps something happened during that time, causing Gaia to appear somewhat irregular.

For instance, when I asked her about her owner, it obviously threw Gaia into a state of confusion.

Additionally, although I was summoning the boss, Gaia responded instead… could it be because my summoning can’t leave this place, or is this place isolating the boss’s investigation?

The club is omnipotent… but the boss is not. If this place belongs to the former owner, who existed longer and knew more secrets, possessing greater abilities, it’s possible the former owner kept some things unknown to the next owner.

The simplest method is—to purchase relevant services from the club.

Tai Yinzi didn’t know the specific content. But if one were to speculate, it would most likely involve isolating the information about this place from the current boss, the new boss—from perception—it might require significant costs, but for the predecessor, it should be doable.

Now, the only question is why the previous owner deliberately hid this treasury.

Tai Yinzi felt his brainstorming becoming clearer, thanks to the myriad of movies, novels, and comics on the internet.

“Hmm… according to the usual script, this very likely is a test left by the previous owner for the current boss. If we liken the club to a portable flow, when the boss levels up enough, they will trigger the instance of this treasury. As for why Gaia appears as a loli, it can almost be explained, just because it’s a beloved plot for readers… hum, Grandpa Taoist has already seen through everything!”

Gaia… Gaia just kept her head down, staying on standby, ignoring Tai Yinzi’s muttering.

“Wait a minute, if that’s the case…”

Tai Yinzi suddenly had a flash of insight in his mind, like a lightning bolt in the black night, slicing through his thoughts, “If this is the test left by the predecessor, then naturally, after passing the test, one would obtain something important, that’s the basic law—could it be… Grandpa Taoist has preemptively entered this place?”

Tai Yinzi had a feeling that his idea was quite dangerous… but couldn’t help but think further, and the more he thought, the harder it was to stop!

He thought about what exactly the test was.

He thought about what he might obtain if he passed the test.

What if it was authority?

Right! Currently, he only had secondary permissions, and there should be several levels of authority ahead… maybe, he could blaze his way through to obtain the highest authority?

“Gaia! If it’s the highest authority, can it fully control you?” Tai Yinzi’s eyes burned fervently as he stared at the small girl.

Gaia slowly raised her head, her tone mechanical. “The highest authority has the power to control everything within the treasury.”

“In-including you?” Tai Yinzi swallowed nervously.

“Affirmative!”

Once he obtained this treasury! Then found a way to isolate the boss’s perception of him! In the game world, although he could, as the Main God, dominate the players’ lives, it was still just the game world, needing a constant draw from the real world to entice players in—besides, the game world was ultimately virtual, only meeting his spiritual needs!

Everything in this treasury, however, was real!

Even if he didn’t know what treasures were inside this treasury, just one thing—just being able to completely control Gaia, would be a remarkable feat!

That Wang Hu, capable of Divine Beast Transformation and a member of the Celestial Quadrangle Clan, probably had an astonishing identity outside, merely playing dumb in front of him… Such Wang Hu, subdued by Gaia in a few moves without any resistance!

The Heteromorphic Origin… seems to be something used to elevate authority!

“Gaia, is there any Heteromorphic Origin in the treasury?” Tai Yinzi took a deep breath, “Can I use the Heteromorphic Origin to elevate my authority?”

“Affirmative. The Heteromorphic Origin percentage is used for upgrading the Eternal Kingdom citizen level,” Gaia nodded, “Redeeming the Heteromorphic Origin requires contribution value, and currently the contribution value of a secondary authority holder is negative five hundred fifty.”

“Oh, I have five hundred fifty… what? Negative??” Tai Yinzi was stunned, feeling that the negative five hundred fifty was subtly odd, as if something flashed in his mind, but he couldn’t quite grasp it at the moment.

Just as Tai Yinzi planned to extract more intel from Gaia, Gaia suddenly moved!

“Detected multiple unit subscribers above threshold, tracking… tracking complete… transaction system activated… division.”

As Tai Yinzi was confused, Gaia’s body split into two, then four, then eight… until there were over a hundred Gaias.

Exactly how many there were, Tai Yinzi didn’t bother counting.

Because in an instant, these hundreds of Gaias soared into the sky, galloping across the heavens, extremely magnificent—Tai Yinzi watched until they disappeared from sight.

“Hmm, not bad, so it even has a clone skill.” Tai Yinzi nodded, then his face changed, “Oops! Grandpa Taoist forgot to ask how to upgrade!”

He quickly summoned Gaia in his heart again with urgency—having done it once, this time he directly summoned Gaia instead of the boss.

But now, no matter how he summoned, there was no response… does he have to wait until Gaia finishes dealing with the so-called ‘subscribers’?

Tai Yinzi frowned at this thought.

Does Gaia prioritize handling ‘subscribers’, or is it that she simply ignores him because he is a secondary authority holder?

Or… is Gaia actually a defective product, unable to tell priority?

While thinking, Tai Yinzi suddenly turned his gaze to Wang Hu, who was subdued by Gaia—from the very start, Wang Hu hadn’t closed his eyes, though unable to speak, there was no doubt he had been intently following Tai Yinzi’s actions.

Tai Yinzi sneered, walking directly over to Wang Hu, who was now incapacitated.

“Tyrant Fist?” Tai Yinzi snorted coldly, his hands moving like flying, two fingers stretched straight out, “See Grandpa Taoist’s Tyrant Scissors!! Ah-da!!!”

His scissor hands plunged fiercely into Wang Hu’s eyes.

Wang Hu… Wang Hu’s facial muscles were twitching madly at this moment, with green veins bulging, but he was unable to move.

However, Tai Yinzi seemed unsatisfied with just the Tyrant Scissors move. He kept shouting the names of techniques, and his hands moved like phantoms, crazily slapping Wang Hu’s body.

“Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms! Six Meridians Divine Sword! Millennium Kill! Hand of God!! Ah da da da!”

“Dugu Nine Swords! Starburst Streamer Cut!! Monkey Steals the Peach!! Ah cha cha cha!!!”

“Heaven and Earth Disjunction, Creation of the Star… Eat my big curry stick!! ORA ORA ORA ORA…”

No one knew how much time had passed before Tai Yinzi finally stopped. He raised his hands parallel, slowly pressing down while letting out a long breath, “Done and dusted… Feels good!”

…

…

The “Classic of Mountains and Seas: The Eastern Classic of the Seas” records: “Qingqiu Country, with its fox having four legs and nine tails.”

At first, foxes were seen as auspicious beasts, and there was an old saying: they appear in times of peace as omens.

But at some point, the image of the fox was distorted and demonized, and stories of foxes eating people began to spread.

…

The white-clothed woman… Yu Sanniang from Ming Tus Mountain had already walked far away.

Yet people were recalling every word and action of this woman in white, every detail from the moment she appeared.

“Impossible! This woman doesn’t have a trace of monster’s aura!” An elderly monster frowned and said, “She’s fundamentally a human! How could she be a descendant of the Nine-tailed Fox!”

Ming Tus Mountain shook his head, “This matter involves a secret… But it’s not really a hidden thing. More or less, everyone present has heard of such a rumor, right? That place.”

“That place? Which place?” The young Taoists were a bit baffled, but only the elder Taoists and the aged monsters seemed thoughtful upon hearing it.

“Yes, that place.” Ming Tus Mountain nodded, “We don’t know its background, nor its origin; we can only describe it as ‘that place.’ We merely know that it’s a shop… and a shop that sells everything. It’s said that five hundred years ago, Yu Sanniang went to that place and bought herself the chance to become human.”

Bought the chance to become human.

To use the Taoist term, it means shedding the demon form and being reborn as a human. But this seems almost impossible; perhaps a legendary Grand Supreme Immortal could achieve it, or the Six Paths of Reincarnation from the netherworld could do it too.

“How is that possible! How can a monster become human?” someone couldn’t help but exclaim.

“But it is indeed true.” The one who spoke was Daoist Bai Jie; he slowly stated, “Yu Sanniang, as a descendant of the Nine-tailed Fox, held a high position among the demons. You all should know that a thousand years ago, the demons were not in decline. At that time, Yu Sanniang could stand shoulder to shoulder with the leaders of the Sky Spirit Clan and Tanlang of the Greedy Wolf Clan as a supreme monster. This was almost common knowledge in the Taoism-cultivated field back then.”

But after all, that was a thousand years ago… Over the millennium, even the Shenzhou Dao Realm has gradually declined, and there are few who have survived from that era.

Daoist Bai Jie counts as one, Ming Tus Mountain of the Black Tortoise Clan counts as one… Even the City Lord of Fengdu Ghost City, Xiao Shengmo, only became the Ghost King in the later era, not reaching that period in history.

“About five or six hundred years ago, Yu Sanniang suddenly disappeared. Not long after, she reappeared and joined the True Way Sect as a human, becoming a closed-door disciple of the sect leader at that time.” Daoist Bai Jie reminisced, “Not many people know about this… Everyone kept silent about it — because the impact of this matter on both the Dao and Demon Realms was too significant.”

Monsters and humans were originally two different species… If monsters could directly become part of the Human Race, wouldn’t the world be thrown into chaos? Would the demon race in this world one day become extinct?

Although such a thought seemed overly advanced and like worrying over nothing at the time, the fact that a monster becoming human had already happened indeed forced those leaders in the demon world to ponder its heavy possibilities.

…

The younger generation now listened to Ming Tus Mountain and Bai Jie recounting ancient legends, having a solid lesson in the history of the Dao and Demon Realms… No one doubted the words of these two elders.

Because Daoist Bai Jie and Ming Tus Mountain could rightly be considered the types who have “seen it all with age.”

Yet no matter how high Yu Sanniang’s status once was, for those present, they only remembered one thing: that place!

That place had the means to turn monsters, and what’s more, a high-level Nine-tailed Fox into a human!

“Wait! If this woman in white is truly the ‘White Moon Fairy’ as mentioned by the seniors, and she said that the things here are not easily obtainable… Could it be that this place is ‘that place’?”

“Uh… Isn’t the legendary ‘that place’ supposed to be in the form of a shop? But this looks like a massive island.”

“Think carefully, with so many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures here, most with different stocking conditions and living habits, yet somehow they all grow in this forest. And… the gold and silver jewels on the beach, they certainly weren’t naturally formed, must’ve been collected by someone…”

“Indeed, it must be the master of this place! Just possessing such incomprehensible methods, what on earth is the origin of the owner of this place?”

Everyone started observing and discussing word by word, seemingly having completely forgotten their initial plan to plunder the items.

Only Ming Tus Mountain and Daoist Bai Jie silently sighed — this wasn’t something noticed just now nor something that should only start being considered now.

This place, with its numerous treasures, surely must have a ‘master’, yet those realizing it initially hadn’t mentioned it.

Everyone pretended not to know this… Everyone thought, if it wasn’t spoken of, these things would become ‘masterless’.

“Daoist Bai Jie, even for you, at first, you did not point it out either?” Ming Tus Mountain gently remarked.

Daoist Bai Jie merely said calmly, “So I haven’t become immortal yet, am just in the Inquiry Phase, still a mortal.”

Ming Tus Mountain shook his head… Wasn’t he the same?

Right at that moment, it seemed like something from above the forest was rapidly flying towards them… More than one, it was a whole swarm!!

They were actually over a hundred identical small girls with long purple hair, wearing purple long hair!

Just as the Taoists and monsters were staring in bewilderment, these over a hundred identical little girls at this moment landed swiftly beside each Taoist and monster.

[Gaia, Prototype Treasure Repository Administrator, at your service, dear subscribers]

The same tone, the same words, simultaneously spoken from the mouths of these over a hundred small girls… in front of each person.

At this moment, the place in the forest where Taoists and monsters had gathered became eerily quiet, as eerie as can be…