As the dagger flew towards Sol’s face, his eyes twinkled with amusement. He opened his mouth and caught the dagger between his teeth.

However, the bitter and numbing sensation that appeared briefly on the tip of his tongue told him this dagger was coated with strong poison.

The bitter taste in Sol’s mouth caused him to spit out the dagger in disgust.

Seeing that was Sol’s only reaction, Bai Yin was slightly stunned.

However, if Sol could resist Abyssal Poison that could kill someone like Elder Hyun-Joo who was in the Sky Expanse Realm, this weaker poison was nothing to him.

Having her plan foiled, Bai Yin seemed unwilling to give up. Her face radiated ruthlessly as she bent her legs while twisting her body to send a sweeping kick towards Sol’s firmly planted feet that hadn’t moved an inch up untill now.

However, she was being too reckless. With how much force she was putting behind this kick, if it ever landed then she wouldn’t just break her leg against Sol, but it might even damage her meridians.

Damaged meridians could be healed, but the process of recovery was extremely long and that time away from cultivation would significantly affect one’s cultivation progress. Maybe if she had Sol’s Innate Dharma that could heal a myriad of injuries, she would be fine, but she didn’t.

This one kick from Bai Yin was equivalent to her throwing half of her future achievements away.

Sol didn’t want that and was about to raise his foot to dodge Bai Yin’s kick. However, his eyes suddenly flickered with a suspicious light.

Sol chose to keep his foot planted firmly on the ground while looking at Bai Yin with an expression that said ‘go ahead if you dare.’

Before Bai Yin’s kick could land on Sol’s left foot, the staunched determination on her face immediately vanished before she quickly retrieved her foot.

Sol’s expression immediately became weird upon seeing this as his guessed had been correct.

Bai Yin retreated with quick steps while a slightly embarrassed look appeared on her face when she saw the strange look Sol was giving her.

At first, this Bai Yin was like everyone else who thought Sol was just a scion from a notable Clan or Sect that wanted to arrogantly show off. So, her first attack was meant to exploit that.

However, her assumption that Sol was arrogant was wrong, and her attack failed. So, in that split second, she switched tactics and instead tried to use Sol’s desire to not hurt them against him.

As for how Bai Yin knew Sol wouldn’t just ignore her kick from the get-go, she could tell that although Sol’s actions looked like that of an arrogant scion, o which she had misunderstood, he also seemed genuine.

From the moment he appeared he had been polite and respectful, even to that Arwin person when nobody else was.

Though, what truly made her sure of Sol’s kind nature was something else.

No one else might not be able to sense it, but Bai Yin had faced someone who wanted to kill her before, so she knew what Killing Intent felt like, and that brief moment when Sol’s gaze first lingered on Arwin, Killing Intent had flashed in his eyes.

But even so, Sol had buried it and treated Arwin kindly. But it wasn’t merely a pretense to keep up appearances, he had really been… genuine.

‘It seemed like he has a deep sense of hatred for the outsiders but wants to direct that hatred to someone specifically.’

Bai Yin thought to herself as she retreated a few more steps. Her embarrassed expression was brief, and she quickly returned to her cold demeanor.

She never took her eyes off of Sol the entire time she retreated.

Sol meanwhile closely observed her.

‘She’s really cautious and decisive. She also knows how to exploit her opponents’ weaknesses. I would say she’s the type of person that one should be careful of when she grows stronger.’

Meeting Bai Yin’s gaze, Sol smiled. However, this smile felt different from before, it almost seemed… spiteful.

“Junior Sister Yin, I don’t like my kindness being used against me.”

When Bai Yin saw Sol’s smile and heard his words, a cold chill went down her spine and her heart started to beat erratically.

This was because she could detect a faint Killing Intent in Sol’s smile and voice.

However, Bai Yin forcefully kept her indifferent expression as she nodded. However, what Sol said next caused her pupils to shrink.

“I also don’t like people prying into my private matters.”

These words sounded weird to people like En-Ho and Arwin watching on, but to Bai Yin, it made her utterly terrified.

It was as if Sol had heard the deductions she made about him inside her head before. That, to her, was even more frightening than the blatant Killing Intent Sol was showing toward her.

Bai Yin’s indifferent face fell, and she quickly cupped her fist and bowed as she said apologetically.

“Senior Brother, I sincerely apologize. Yin’er will be more mindful in the future.”

Sol ‘hummed’ in acknowledgment before he flicked his wrist.

Without Bai Yin being able to react, the sword in Sol’s hand shot through the air and entered the scabbard on her back as she was bowing.

The sound the sword made as it entered the scabbard caused Bai Yin to gulp nervously. The force had even caused her to stumble back slightly.

If Sol had wanted to kill her just now, she would have died without even being able to put up a fight.

‘Hm, she should be too scared to try and figure out why I have Killing Intent toward someone specifically from the Church.’

Sol thought, but soon sighed internally.

‘I was careless. I need to keep my emotions in check or else I’ll raise suspicion if my Killing Intent stirs whenever I see someone from the Ga-On Church.’

Sol looked away from Bai Yin and turned to En-Ho and Arwin.

“Looks like you two are injured. Do you still want to continue?”

En-Ho, who was clutching his mangled arm, smiled bitterly and shook his head. Arwin hesitated. His injuries weren’t that severe, but his sword had been obliterated. Ultimately he decided to shake his head as well.

Both youths then turned and left the stage.

Sol’s gaze fell back onto Bain Yin who seemed a bit nervous as she said.

“Senior Brother, I admit defeat.”

After saying this, she turned and hurried off the stage to get as far away from Sol as possible.

Sol scratched his cheek and smiled sheepishly when he saw this.

‘Ah, maybe I scared her a bit too much?’

Placing this at the back of his mind, he analyzed the fight just now.

Bai Yin was arguably the most outstanding of the three as she had a high level of mastery over her Sword Arts. She also had an extraordinary talent for Martial Arts and a natural sense for battle.

Sol was sure he would hear her name being mentioned in the future.

As for En-Ho, he was from the Barbarian Race but had chosen to cultivate like the Arkadians by awakening an Innate Dharma, which was a Tier 7 Golden Ape. This made his physical strength extremely high, especially when adding the fact that he was also cultivating a Runic Body.

Sol thought En-Ho was similar to him. Not many people were talented enough to go down both paths and reach the level En-Ho had.

‘Those two were excellent and will definitely be talked about more in the future. As for that Arwin fellow, he was quite disappointing.’

Sol wasn’t saying Arwin was disappointing because of his battle-strength, rather, it was because his attack wasn’t a Sword Skill, instead, it was a simple attack boosted by condensing his Holy Energy onto his sword.

But given that was the case, that type of control of his Energy was nothing short of an astounding feat, and that placed him on par with En-Ho and Bao Yin in terms of innate talent.

However, he would probably fall short in a real battle since it didn’t look like he had any special Sword Skills. On the flip side, if he did, he might have been more outstanding than both Bai Yin and En-Ho.

Sol sighed upon reaching here in his thoughts.

He had been looking forward to seeing some new Martial Arts Techniques and Skills. Especially from Arwin since he also cultivated Holy Energy.

Though with that said, Sol cultivated his ‘Holy Energy’ differently, and he could sense that his Holy Energy wasn’t the same as that of Arwin’s. Still, he wanted to see if he could use the Church’s Techniques and Skills to better utilize his Holy Energy.

As for how his Holy Energy was different from Arwin’s, it felt to Sol that his own was of a higher quality or purity.

Sol sighed once more.

‘This first battle was a bust, but maybe the next ones would be-‘

Sol didn’t get to finish his thoughts as the crowd’s ruckus interrupted him.

After Bai Yin, En-Ho, and Arwin had left the stage, the crowd below erupted into thunderous noise, with shocked exclamations being a few of those noises.

The cacophony of noises from these disciples swept over to the other stages, causing people to look over. Some even ignored the fierce battles they were watching to go over to see what was happening.

On the stage, Sol looked out at the disciples and coughed in his fist.

“Ehem… Does anyone else want to accept my challenge? The reward remains the same.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep