The Sunset Long River

"Is the Jade Fish fully charged?" Bai Lang rubbed his head and got up. "That's not right, it wasn't like this last time." Before he could figure out what was going on, a voice sounded, "Mission: Baiyun Hall Master Cao Yuqing, in order to obtain a Divine Skill Ultimate Art to unify the martial world, has infiltrated the Shaolin Sutra Pavilion to seize a Secret Manual. Killing Cao Yuqing will complete the mission. The time limit is twelve hours. This information must not be revealed, or you will be erased. Failure to complete the mission – erasure. The above statement has the final interpretation."

Bai Lang was completely bewildered. He felt something was wrong. "Do they accept complaints? It seems not." He straightened his upper body. Before, he had been lying on the ground. He looked around and found five other people also lying on the ground, groaning as they got up.

Three men and two women, plus Bai Lang, made it four men and two women. However, as Bai Lang looked at them, he felt that these men and women probably had similar martial arts skills to him. "Martial world beauties? As expected, I was overthinking it. They're just average-looking." Out of a strange sense of mischief, Bai Lang first scrutinized the two women.

Both women appeared to be only eighteen or nineteen, at most twenty. Their appearances were indeed as he had seen, quite ordinary. Then he looked at the other three men. These three were also not very old; the oldest seemed to be only twenty-five or twenty-six. In that case, Bai Lang was probably the youngest among them.

However, judging by their builds and faces, Bai Lang wasn't the youngest, but rather part of the younger group – among these four men and two women, only one person looked to be in his mid-twenties, while the others seemed to be of similar ages. Bai Lang could tell that they were all strangers to each other, and all had looks of confusion.

They were all martial artists and basically had some confidence in themselves – they were all martial world newcomers, and apart from Bai Lang, they probably all had great confidence in themselves. "Did everyone hear that voice?" the oldest man spoke. "I am Ma Rulong, a disciple of the East Sea Wave Watching Pavilion. Please introduce yourselves, everyone. After all, according to that voice, we have to go and kill someone together. I think it's best to do as we're told – where we are now, it's probably not something that powerful individuals can't achieve."

Ma Rulong gestured for everyone to look around them, above and below. Although it was as bright as day, they were actually in a stone-built room. The light came from the ceiling and from white glowing orbs embedded in the walls. "I only felt dizzy for a moment, and then I woke up here. My sect has a secret technique that can sense our sect's treasure, the Condensing Jade Bead. I can't sense it now, and it's at least a thousand miles away from our East Sea Wave Watching Pavilion. To be able to do this, even a Heavenly Extreme Master might not be able to."

Bai Lang's eyes were already blurry from listening. Before this, he only knew about Xiantian Masters and had vaguely heard of the Heaven Earth Human Rankings. He knew there were rankings above Xiantian Masters, but as a mere thug from a small, broken city's real estate agency, he had no way to get more information – he was simply a frog in a well. Now he was hearing about Heavenly Extreme Masters and the East Sea Wave Watching Pavilion.

The others' expressions turned serious. Although they were already serious, it seemed they all realized the situation was extraordinary. Then, a young boy, a bald young boy, spoke, "I am Ci En, a Shaolin novice. Do we really have to go 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 our Shaolin Sutra Pavilion?" Unexpectedly, this young man in a monk's robe was quite talkative. "Little master, you don't have incense burns on your head. Have you not yet become a high monk?" Bai Lang chuckled.

His face was handsome, he could be considered a beautiful man, so the young monk didn't get angry when he heard that. The key was that he was happy that someone was talking to him. "Yes, yes, I haven't had the burns yet. I was also thinking if I should renounce my vows now that I haven't had them yet. By the way, senior brother, who are you?" Bai Lang took the opportunity to introduce himself, "I am Bai Lang, a member of the Changle Gang."

Another young man also spoke, "Changle Gang? Hmm, is it Mr. Gao Yuan of 'Sunset Long River''s Changle Gang? Your gang recently produced a Mo Di who is very formidable." Bai Lang nodded, "It is indeed the Changle Gang of Gang Leader Gao Yuan of Sunset Long River. By the way, judging by your tone, are there several Changle Gangs?"

"Hahaha, I am a disciple of the Flower Washing Sword Washing Sect, Murong Hua. My surname is Mu, the 'Hua' in 'Murong Hua' is the 'Hua' of 'admiring glory,' not the noble surname Murong. That's right, Brother Bai Lang, there are at least six or seven Changle Gangs in the world. Who told them to have such a good name? It's auspicious." This Murong Hua seemed to be a cheerful and outgoing fellow, but Bai Lang felt that this person's face looked familiar somewhere. "This small, sharp nose makes me think of something. Oh, a bull terrier! Is this person really not a transmigration king?"

The two women could only offer wry smiles. It seemed they found their four temporary male companions' ability to joke around in this situation quite unreliable. To be honest, the situation was already like this, and these men were acting this way to lighten the mood. Among these four men, Bai Lang was actually the most handsome and upright. Ma Rulong had a refined appearance with a scholarly air, while the young monk Ci En had an ordinary face but extremely bright eyes. The two women also introduced themselves. "Murong Jiuxiu." This woman glanced at Murong Hua a bit shyly, while Murong Hua was already a bit stunned. The imposter had met the real one, and just before, he had spoken of the noble Murong clan, and now there was a Murong.

In the martial world, anyone with a double-barreled surname, according to tradition, was not to be trifled with and usually had some background – it wasn't that no one impersonated them, but those who did usually met a bad end. Bai Lang knew nothing of this, but Murong Hua and Ma Rulong did – after all, they were disciples of noble sects and knew far more than Bai Lang.

The last woman seemed very shy and said in a voice barely louder than a mosquito's hum, "Medicine Valley Qin Lian'er." Except for Bai Lang, everyone else had a serious expression. "So you're from the Medicine Valley. Then we don't have to worry about getting injured." Apart from Bai Lang, everyone else showed a relaxed expression again.

Since the introductions were finished, they began to discuss the so-called "mission." However, Bai Lang was still clueless. "Why don't these people introduce their skilled martial arts? It seems they are all disciples of noble sects. As soon as they hear the other person's sect, they know what martial arts they are generally skilled in. Only I am an ignorant novice."

Ma Rulong also came over. "Brother Bai Lang, for this 'mission,' we can only improvise. Do you have any ideas?" Bai Lang noticed him glance at the iron mace by his hand. "Ah, I don't have any ideas. Improvising is good. But shouldn't we first find a way to get out?"