Sighing heavily, Austin carried both bodies of the men he killed into the woods to conceal them, hardly making any sound at all. Once he accomplished this task, he again disappeared.
For a while, the dense forest was silent and peaceful. Occasionally, a few beasts jumped through the woods, startling birds resting on branches as they made their way across.
But the serenity didn't last very long. The silence was interrupted by a disciple, who was running away, a look of desperation on his sweaty face. His motions and heavy panting startled the birds and drove them away.
Ignoring the damage he was leaving in his trail, he kept on running. From time to time, he would glance back at the dark forest behind him, a look of horror on his face as if wild and ferocious animals were right behind him.
He was one of the many outer disciples following Billy.
Along with two others, he had gone ahead in search of Austin.
As they wandered in the forest, Austin launched sneak attacks on them. They quickly realized Austin must have killed their teammates earlier. Two more from the team suffered the same fate. Only he managed to escape.
Out of breath after running several kilometers, the outer disciple suddenly had a look of eagerness once he saw the place far ahead.
He needed to run a few hundred meters more to reach the temporary stronghold of Marvin, Billy and other members of his group.
Once there, he would be able to seek the help of his companions, and there would be no need to fear Austin, who was probably still chasing him to end his life.
Pushing forward using his remaining strength, he jumped slightly and the soles of his feet stepped hard on a tree trunk. The momentum helped increased his running speed.
It was exhilarating to gain speed again, even after running fast for a long time. The outer disciple realized that all the effort he put in practicing his martial arts skill regularly had paid off.
Seeing that he was close to reaching the shelter, he became more hopeful that he would survive, and this thought made him so ecstatic that he ran even faster.
However, his hopes came quickly crashing. The disciple was horrified to see a figure standing about ten meters in front of him, blocking his way towards the stronghold.
His eyes flashed with terror. Before he could shout for help, a black light appeared on his chest, followed by a black blade with power so strong that it could cut through wind and air and pierced his chest.
A "whoosh" sound was followed by a black light that came out of his back before it disappeared.
Something heavy fell on the ground and made a muffled "bang" sound.
It was the outer disciple who fell on the grass, his eyes wide open, seemingly unwilling to die.
He stared closely at the figure before him, and his pupils gradually turned white. A few seconds later, his breathing stopped.
As he watched the latest outer disciple slowly die, Austin whispered coldly," The sixth one... Since you were going to take my life, you must be prepared to die by my hand.
Do not blame me for being wicked and merciless!" he said dispassionately.
Tallying his encounters, Austin counted six outer disciples altogether.
There might have been over a dozen disciples who came with Billy, every one of them weaker than Billy and Marvin, so Austin took their lives first.
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