Chapter 32: Chapter Thirty-Three

"Yu Yu is fully charged?" Bai Lang rubbed his head and sat up, "No, that's not how it was last time." Just as he hadn't figured out the situation, a voice sounded: "Mission: Baiyun Hall Master Cao Yuqing, to obtain the peerless divine technique and unify the martial world, sneaked into the Shaolin Temple Sutra Pavilion to steal the manual; killing Cao Yuqing completes the mission. Time limit is twelve double hours. Do not leak this information; violators will be erased. Failure to complete the mission—erasure. The above statement has final interpretation."

Bai Lang felt dazed, he always felt something was off, "Accepting complaints? Seems not." He sat up his upper body; previously he had been lying on the ground, he looked left and right and discovered five others also lying on the ground, and they were also groaning as they got up.

Three men and two women, plus Bai Lang makes four men and two women, but Bai Lang thought, when he looked at them, that their martial arts were probably about the same as his. "Martial arts beauties? I was overthinking; they're actually just average looking." Out of some morbid curiosity, Bai Lang first sized up the two women.

These two women looked to be around eighteen or nineteen, at most twenty, their appearance indeed ordinary as he saw. Then he looked at the other three men; these three weren't very old either, the oldest seemed about twenty-five or twenty-six, so Bai Lang might actually be the youngest here.

However, judging by build and appearance, Bai Lang wasn't the smallest individual, but among the smallest group—among these four men and two women, only one looked about twenty-five or twenty-six, while the others appeared roughly the same age. Bai Lang could tell they were all strangers to each other, yet all wore a look of bewilderment.

They were all martial practitioners, basically confident in themselves—all newcomers to the martial world, aside from Bai Lang, they probably had considerable self-confidence. "Did everyone hear that voice?" the eldest man spoke up, "I am Ma Rulong, disciple of the East Sea Observing Waves Pavilion; please introduce yourselves, after all hearing that voice we must go kill someone together. I think we should just follow through—our current location is probably not something those mighty beings could just......"

Ma Rulong gestured for everyone to look front, back, left, right, and above; although the light was as bright as daytime, they were actually in a stone-built room, the light coming from white luminous beads embedded in the ceiling and walls. "I merely fainted a moment, then woke up here. Our sect's martial arts have a secret method to sense the sect's treasure, the Condensed Azure Pearl; now I can't sense it, which means at least we're a thousand li away from the East Sea Observing Waves Pavilion...... Only someone at the level of a Heaven's Ultimate Expert could possibly achieve this."

Bai Lang's eyes were glazed over; before this he only knew of the so-called Innate Expert, had vaguely heard of the Heaven-Earth-Man Rankings, knew that above Innate Expert there were further gradations, but as a mere lackey from a back-alley tooth shop in a tiny town, he had no way to get more information—nothing more, just a frog in a well. Now he had heard of something called a Heaven's Ultimate Expert, and the East Sea Observing Waves Pavilion......

The others all had solemn faces; although they were already serious, it seemed they knew the situation was extraordinary. Then a boy, moreover a bald-headed boy, said, "I am Ci En, a novice monk of Shaolin; are we really going to the Shaolin Temple to kill Cao Yuqing, who stole our Shaolin martial arts secret manual? By the way, what is Baiyun Hall? Can this person enter the Shaolin Temple Sutra Pavilion?" Unexpectedly, the monk-robed boy was also a chatterbox. "Little Monk, you don't have a scar on your head—have you not yet been ordained as a high monk?" Bai Lang laughed.

He was handsome enough to be considered a good-looking man, so the little monk wasn't annoyed hearing that; the key was that anyone talking to him made him happy. "Yeah, yeah, the little monk hasn't gotten that scar yet, the little monk was also thinking whether to return to secular life now before getting the scar. Right, senior brother, which sect are you from?" Bai Lang then introduced himself, "I am Bai Lang, a member of the Everjoy Gang."

Another young man also spoke, "Everjoy Gang? Hmm... is it the Everjoy Gang of Mr. Gao Yuangao, known as 'Sunset Long River'? Your gang recently produced a Mo Di, who is really formidable." Bai Lang nodded, "Indeed, it's the Everjoy Gang under the gang leader Gao Yuangao of Sunset Long River; hearing your tone, could the Everjoy Gang actually have several branches?"

Hahaha, I am Mu Ronghua, disciple of the Washing Flower Sword-Washing Gate; my surname is Mu, the "Ronghua" in Mu Ronghua comes from "coveting Ronghua", not the double surname Murong of the martial world's prestigious families. "That's right, Brother Bai Lang, the Everjoy Gang at least has six or seven branches across the world—who let this name be so good? It's auspicious." This Mu Ronghua also seemed an outgoing, cheerful guy, though Bai Lang felt his face was somewhat familiar, "This little nose, little eyes make me think of what? Oh, a bull terrier! Could this guy really not be the Face King of time travelers?"

The two women merely gave a wry smile; it seemed they found it hardly believable that they could joke and laugh with these four temporary male companions in this situation—frankly, the situation already was like this, and those men acted this way only to lighten the mood. Among these four men, Bai Lang was indeed the most handsome and upright, Ma Rulong's features were refined and bore an elegant, scholarly air, while the little monk Ci En had an ordinary appearance but his eyes were extraordinarily lively. The two women also gave their names. "Murong JiuXiu." This woman glanced a little embarrassedly at Mu Ronghua, while Mu Ronghua seemed a bit dazed—this Li Gui meeting Li Kui, and just moments ago he had said something about the prestigious Murong clan, and now there actually is someone named Murong...

In the martial world, anyone with a double surname, according to tradition, is not to be provoked lightly; they always have some background—it's not that no one impersonates them, but those who do usually meet retribution. Bai Lang had no idea of this, but Mu Ronghua and Ma Rulong did—after all, they are actually disciples of a prestigious major sect, knowing far more than Bai Lang.

The last woman looked extremely shy, speaking in a voice barely louder than a mosquito's buzz: "Qin Lian'er of Medicine Valley." Aside from Bai Lang, everyone else wore a stern expression, "Turns out she's from Medicine Valley; this time she's not afraid of injury." Apart from Bai Lang, everyone else once again showed a relaxed expression.

Now that introductions are done, let's start discussing this so-called "mission," but Bai Lang still couldn't make heads or tails of it, "Aren't you going to tell us what martial arts you specialize in? It seems they're all disciples of prestigious sects—just hearing the other's sect gives a rough idea of their martial arts... only I am Xiao Bai."

Ma Rulong also came over, "Brother Bai Lang, for this 'mission' we can only improvise; do you have any ideas?" Bai Lang could notice him glancing at his iron cudgel in hand, "Ah, no ideas, improvising is fine. But shouldn't we first find a way out?"