Deep in the mountain forest, the wind moaned.
Two figures raced along, one behind the other. They moved incredibly fast, yet strangely made little noise, sweeping through the dense woods like phantoms.
Lin Sheng, in front, had returned to normal human size. His hideous scales and every trace of Purgatory Flame had receded.
Only his tattered clothes and the not-yet-healed scorch marks on his skin testified to the ferocity of the battle. His face was calm, without the slightest ripple.
It was as though what had just died at his hands had not been a Fighting Association commissioner, an expert in the Martial Corrosion Realm, but a stray dog found anywhere by the roadside.
Close behind him, Nora still carried herself with a languid elegance, but her face was slightly pale and her breathing somewhat hurried. Holding off Su Mingquan and Bai Hong while they fought at full strength had taken a considerable toll on her, too.
Yet her alluring eyes remained fixed on Lin Sheng's back, their flickering gaze mingling unconcealed shock, curiosity, and a trace of burning excitement.
During that brief clash, although she had been contending with Su Mingquan and Bai Hong within the mist, she had kept a sliver of her attention on the battle outside.
She had "seen" the entire process clearly: Lin Sheng's transformation, his eruption of power, and his crushing slaughter of Carly, like smashing rotten wood. She had expected a bitter fight, never imagining it would end so much faster than she had anticipated.
Carly, a commissioner of the Fighting Association, had been injured and put at a disadvantage at their very first exchange. After that, she had fallen completely on the defensive and been killed outright by thunderous force.
What Lin Sheng had displayed was not an overwhelming superiority in technique,