CHAPTER 214: CHAPTER 211- GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE

Pitua!

Hyun-Joo’s sword pierced the air. Sol was barely able to shift his head to the side to avoid having her sword embedded between his brows. However, he wasn’t fast enough. The sword cut a small portion of his mask and created a wound on his cheek.

Sol stomped on the ground, kicking up dust and rubble to use as a cover to retreat.

After reaching some distance away, he used his baggy sleeves to wipe his cheek and thought.

’Okay, let’s do it properly this time.’

Sol dropped his hand. In his sleeves, the bracelets expanded and left his wrist to contract on his middle fingers. Immediately, his eyes turned golden along with his hair that was tied in a ponytail.

Sol then raised his hand and lowered his hood, making his golden hair flutter in the wind.

On a mountain some distance away from the battlefield, Yoon-Jae was holding Little Zeel as usual while the others stood around him. They were all watching the battle unfolding between Sol and Hyun-Joo with dumbfounded expressions.

Suddenly, Little Abdu appeared next to them.

They were further shocked upon seeing him.

"Damn cat! What’s happening? Why is Sol battling Elder Hyun-Joo?!"

Little Abdu clicked his tongue.

"Don’t ask me, ask that stubborn brat. He says this was too good an opportunity for it to pass up."

"That idiot, does he want to die so badly?"

Yoon-Jae was angry at Sol, but more so at himself for not having anticipated he would do something like this. It was typical Sol behavior.

"At the very least, he’s already poisoned her with two drops of the Abyssal Poison. If he can survive her attacks for a few minutes, then she’ll be dead by then."

"That’s not comforting."

"Yeah, a Spiritual Realm cultivator can kill a Mortal Realm Cultivator many times over in that amount of time."

Mar-Dule shared Yoon-Jae’s sentiments; they all do. However, Byeong-Ho folded his arms and said.

"Let’s trust in Sol, do you think he’s dumb enough to go into this situation just to be killed?"

With that, the group could only watch from where they were, but it wasn’t like they could interfere in this match if they wanted.

On the battlefield, Sol rolled his shoulders to loosen them up. The dust he kicked up cleared to reveal Hyun-Joo leaning on her sword.

From the increasing black veins appearing on her face, it was obvious she wasn’t in good condition.

Indeed, Sol wasn’t dumb enough to think he could battle a Spiritual Realm cultivator as he was currently. He had to knock Hyun-Joo down to a level where she couldn’t one-shot him. With his warm-up finished, he motioned for Hyun-Joo to come after him.

Seeing this, Hyun-Joo was enraged, but she glanced at Sol’s now golden hair, and her eyes turned cold.

"Bastard, how dare someone from the Western Continent think to do something like this?! Don’t think you will be leaving this city alive after this!!"

’Huh?’

Sol was confused by her assumption, but he didn’t have time to ponder it as Hyun-Joo suddenly disappeared.

She reappeared in front of Sol, slashing down with her sword.

With his bracelets off his wrist, Sol let his crescent moon empower his physical body, tripling his speed. However, he realized that dodging Hyun-Joo’s sword wasn’t any easier.

Sol slanted his body, and Hyun-Joo’s sword slashed past, taking pieces of his robes. But just as he retreated, Hyun-Joo’s sword was already at his neck.

’Damn it, how is she even faster than before?’

Sol could barely see Hyun-Joo’s sword. Worse of all, her attacks weren’t something he could predict; they were irregular without a pattern.

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

Sol narrowly dodged Hyun-Joo’s follow-up sword slashes.

BANG!

BANG!

Each time he did, her sword would leave large crevices in the ground. If he were hit by just one of her swords, he might be sent to the afterlife.

Swoosh!

’Damn it, so that’s it.’

As Sol awkwardly tilted his head back, a beam of powerful Sword Intent flew past his face. He finally realized what was going on. He glanced down at Hyun-Joo’s feet and saw that she was using a Movement Skill.

’So that’s why her speed increased all of a sudden. Is it even fair for Spiritual Realm cultivators to further increase their strength and speed by using multiple Martial Skills at once? They’re already so powerful as it is!’

Swoosh!

Bang!

Sol dodged another one of Hyun-Joo’s attacks, but this time his robes were ripped apart, and blood spurted from his shoulder.

Sol grabbed his shoulder and retreated. He used his Innate Dharma and discreetly healed the wound.

’I can’t keep dodging forever. Also, there’s no way to match her speed. Even if I could use my Heavenly Steps in this situation, it might not be enough.’

"I knew it. I might not be able to sense your cultivation base, but you’re nothing but an ant. Before this poison spreads, I’ll hold you down and tear the antidote out of you."

Sol was still using his Innate Dharma to mask his presence. Since he wasn’t using his Immortal Cultivation in fear of being discovered, it was easy to do this while fighting.

Bang!

Hyun-Joo’s feet cracked the ground as she shot toward Sol; her speed increased even more.

As she appeared in front of him, Sol released a breath to calm down. A ghostly black glow appeared in his pupils. Like an X-ray, he was able to see into Hyun-Joo’s body to observe her muscles and tendons.

Hyun-Joo twisted her arm, and her sword came at Sol from a strange angle. It could be seen that she was using a Sword Martial Art to achieve this. However, a split second before she made her move, Sol’s body shifted.

A second later, Hyun-Joo’s sword stabbed where Sol was.

The scene was so bizarre that it caused Hyun-Joo to be taken aback. But it was merely for a fraction of a second. Without delay, her sword blurred out of focus and moved to attack Sol again.

However, her sword slashed empty space as Sol easily dodged her attack once again.

This happened a few more times until Hyun-Joo started to frown.

For anyone observing, it seemed as if she was missing Sol on purpose.

’How is he predicting my attacks like this?’

Hyun-Joo ignored the poison that was eating away at her Aether Energy, and the speed of her sword attacks increased.

But it was still the same.

Pitua!

Swoosh!

Sol side-stepped Hyun-Joo’s jab and twisted his body to avoid her follow-up horizontal swing.

Sol was currently tracking Hyun-Joo’s movements. Like his father had taught him, he analyzed her muscles to predict her next attack.

But this was a step above what his father taught him.

Sol was seeing directly into Hyun-Joo’s body, watching every fiber of her muscles as they moved.

At first, this felt foreign to him, but he quickly adapted to it. It was as if everything his father taught him about reading his opponent’s movements was leading up to this day, to this moment.

However, not only was he observing Hyun-Joo’s muscles to predict her attacks, but he was also observing the movement of her Aether Energy through her meridians and acupoints.

Sol settled into this state, and Hyun-Joo’s powerful attacks no longer seemed threatening. Rather, they seemed like wild and desperate attacks in his eyes.

’I think it’s time to go on the offensive.’