Trafford’s Trading Club

His body was wrapped in white clothes, arms bared, shoeless, and the black stamp of a demon conqueror was imprinted between his eyebrows.

On such a windy and chilly prairie, this 30-year-old young clergy with a sallow face was standing at the edge of the pit.

He suddenly knelt down, opening both hands, palms up, before touching the ground and seemed to be praying.

Bajo hurried to get there but he didn’t disturb the clergy until he finished a whole set of actions and stood up. Then Bajo called, “Master Walla.”

Turning about, Walla could be seen with a pair of profound eyes and a pretty handsome face… in Bajo’s view, this 30-year-old young clergy was of western-special neutral beauty.

But except Bajo, few people knew this Master Walla was already 70 years old.

At this time, Master Walla picked up the things in the cloth, unwrapping it. Some metal oddments were shown to Bajo.

Bajo asked, “Master Walla, what’s this?”

“It’s the magical item for religious rites that is always with my junior fellow apprentice, Mu Qianzun.” Walla opened his mouth. “I found it in the soil below. Mu Qianzun is dead.”

Bajo’s look turned cold, “Our members found some wreckage of a bomb in the morning. Is it because of that?”

Master Walla shook his head, “No, the item was destroyed. My fellow Mu Qianzun might have fought with someone else. According to the degree of damage, he probably met some powerful enemy.”

While Bajo was rather indifferent. “With Master Walla, we’ll never be afraid of the enemy, no matter how powerful he is. Sneijder’s people were wiped out here. It must be because they took the enemy lightly. Moreover, they didn’t take the best equipment before starting off.”

Walla glanced at Bajo coolly but didn’t continue to talk about this question. An outsider will never get the point.

However, he surely agreed with the second half of Bajo’s sentence. Modern weapons were powerful. Very few people can stop a powerful RPG head-on in the world.

Bajo muttered now, “If they met the enemy, I’m more afraid that the treasure in the underground palace has been taken away.”

He looked at Master Walla. “The company has invested a lot in this program and now an elite force has been destroyed. If we gain nothing, the head will definitely not be satisfied.”

Walla suddenly said, “I can sense that there is still some pure power remaining underground. The eastern world calls it ‘Geographical Vein’, which is a magical power of the ground. Perhaps because the ground has been triggered, the whole underground palace collapsed. A thousand years ago, someone could actually master the use of such power of the ground. How amazing.”

Bajo frowned, “Master means we can’t exploit the underground palace again?”

Walla said coolly, “If there’s still something hiding in the ground, the immoderate exploitation may have the remaining ground power explode once more. And I’m not sure if the treasure will be kept in good condition. After all, being careful is not wrong.”

Bajo glimpsed the pit skeptically… It was impossible for him to return empty handed!

“OK… Master worked hard.” Bajo nodded, saying quickly, “I have asked people to prepare the milk tea of the steppes. Master, let’s go back to have a rest now!”

As seeing Walla left, the valiant man beside Bajo came to him, “Sir, do we listen to that guy’s suggestion and pause mining?”

Bajo narrowed his eyes, “You take some people and detour from the other side a little while later. Act lightly and avoid being observed, especially by Walla.”

“Sorry?”

“Walla is not on our side.” Bajo frowned, “But the dead Sneijder is my subordinate…Someone might hope we get nothing in this travel… Go there, tell me as soon as possible if you find something. In addition, keep an eye on Walla, tell me when he leaves the tent.”

“Yes, sir.”

…

…

The Taoist ashram of Yang Taizi was hidden among mountains. The curious Luo Qiu watched the surroundings, thinking if the satellite cloud picture could film the environment clearly.

He checked his cellphone, there was no signal at all, so he relinquished this idea.

No words were said on the way. When it came to the midday, under Yang Taizi’s instruction, Luo Qiu saw some buildings faintly under a cliff, surrounded by clouds.

On the hillside, there seemed to be a stronghold in a natural cave.

There was no mountain road but only several iron chains hanging down. Luo Qiu shook these rusty irons corroded by winds and rains, feeling it was interesting.

He asked Yang Taizi, “Taoist priest, haven’t those several houses under the mountain and shabby thatched cottages on the way been found these years?”

Yang Taizi smiled, “If they haven’t, I wouldn’t have climbed up the mountain that year. It was because people under the mountain revered ghosts and gods before and they seldom contacted the outside world. In modern society, who would want to live under such steep mountains? The capable young people all want to go to prosperous places. The several families under the mountain are seniors that have been living here for their whole life. They don’t want to move away. However, some years after, they will pass away too.”

Saying these, Yang Taizi suddenly sighed, “The saying ‘human beings are the soul of the universe’ is true. We Taoists cultivate for dozens of year. During ancient times, we were miraculous experts. However, in modern society, everything could be achieved by science. Such as weapons, I can evade the first shot but can’t escape from the following attack. Although I’m powerful beyond ordinary people but it’s much easier to get weapons than several decades of hard cultivation.”

“Everything’s gone.” Yang Taizi took a long sigh, “They’ve long gone since! Dozens of years of cultivation is only for obtaining longevity but I don’t know if I can get it. On the other hand, I know my fate, and how long my lifespan will be. A day passed, it means one day is deducted from your lifespan. You know this number has been decreasing, the fear will be a kind of torment. Therefore, we live worse off than common people, who only care about how tomorrow will be and all necessities of life, working hard but not afraid.”

Listening to the saying of Yang Taizi, Luo Qiu couldn’t help thinking of those lost traditional skills.

This might be the so-called downfall.