"What you fear comes to pass."
"To meet Su Qingtan in just the second round, this battle of yours will be extremely arduous."
Shi Chuangong, having also drawn his lot, approached Qin Xuan with a sigh at every step.
He felt great pity that Qin Xuan was up against Su Qingtan.
In his opinion, Su Qingtan's wind-elemental ability was incredibly tricky.
With Qin Xuan's capabilities, he doubted he could cope well.
As for himself, he was even more unlucky, directly facing Qi Ling.
If this competition were not an internal simulation but a fight to the death, he feared he would have found a tofu block and smashed his head against it.
Otherwise, it would be a disservice to his own "crow's mouth."
"Forget it, the lots have been drawn, and there's no use saying anything now."
"You focus on dealing with your Su Qingtan."
"If you are lucky enough to win, I will expend my essence and qi to wear down this Qi Ling for you."
"Honestly, I truly want to see how far you can go."
"I hope you don't fall at Su Qingtan."
"I'll do my best."
Responding to Shi Chuangong, Qin Xuan fell silent. He closed his eyes and ears, carefully recalling the details of the previous match between the術法大師 (Shùfǎ Dàshī - Master of Spellcasting) and Su Qingtan.
Half an hour later, the rest period officially ended.
As the gong signaling the end of the break sounded, Qin Xuan's tightly closed eyes snapped open.
With a light step, he covered the distance to the center of the arena in just a few leaps, coming to a halt.
"Middle-grade Grandmaster, Winner's Bracket, First Round Match."
"Su Qingtan versus Qin Xuan."
"Both sides, prepare."
As Hu Sanqiang's voice once again echoed through the arena, Su Qingtan, just as in the first round, floated slowly to the center of the arena, about ten centimeters off the ground, carried by a gentle breeze.
"I know you, young man. Ni Chang mentioned you."
Also stopping, Su Qingtan smiled and appraised Qin Xuan.
Qin Xuan blinked, only then realizing that they shared the same surname as Su Ni Chang.
"Are you referring to General Su Ni Chang?"
Bowing slightly, Qin Xuan politely inquired.
Su Qingtan did not play coy. She nodded gently and told him directly.
"I am Ni Chang's maternal grandmother. Every time she visits home, she mentions your name."
"This old woman still has some memory, so I kept it in mind."
"Seeing you today, you are indeed a fine young man."
"May I ask, young man, are you married?"
"And are you willing to marry into the Su family and become our son-in-law?"
"Ahem, the match begins!"
Seeing that the two seemed to know each other, Hu Sanqiang did not rush to start the match.
However, the conversation became increasingly strange to him. Su Qingtan was actually proposing that her disciple marry into the Su family?
How could he agree to this?
Clearing his throat forcefully, Hu Sanqiang immediately announced the start of the match.
Su Qingtan, seeing this, narrowed her eyes and chuckled.
She stopped the topic in time.
"It seems we'll have to discuss these matters further below."
"Now, show me your true abilities."
"If you can last half an hour under this old woman, then I will consider marrying Ni Chang to your Qin family!"
"Hahahaha!"
Unlike her match against the Master of Spellcasting, Su Qingtan was now much more sharp and aggressive.
Not only did she fly into the air with the force of the wind, but the surrounding air also became extremely turbulent due to the passage of the strong gusts.
"Fire Shield, activate!"
Sensing the changes around him, Qin Xuan immediately activated a fire-attribute talisman in his hand.
Now that he possessed the Myriad Transformation Divine Artifact, he could finally use these talismans without reservation.
Several fire talismans were activated simultaneously, and surging flames instantly ignited.
From the outside, it looked like a giant egg, with Qin Xuan completely enclosed within.
"You know spellcasting too?"
"A pity you chose the wrong attribute."
Looking down at Qin Xuan, who had encased himself in a fiery egg, Su Qingtan shook her head gently.
As the saying goes, wind fuels fire, and fire enhances the wind's might.
Wind and fire elements generally do not have a counteracting relationship.
While Qin Xuan's move appeared flashy, it would not effectively block her attacks.
She only needed to use solidified wind blades to penetrate the fire egg...
With her fingers forming a sword, Su Qingtan confidently controlled several wind blades and sent them towards Qin Xuan.
However, it was only when the wind blades came into contact with the giant fireball that she discovered she might have underestimated Qin Xuan's flames.
Upon touching the fireball, her wind blades instantly scattered and disappeared.
They were unable to penetrate the "eggshell" formed by the fireball.
Even more absurdly, after several wind blades struck the fireball, Qin Xuan's two-meter-tall fireball suddenly expanded, growing to over two and a half meters.
It truly lived up to the old saying Su Qingtan had just recalled.
Wind fuels fire.
And this was precisely one of the reasons Qin Xuan chose to use fire-attribute talismans against his opponent.
In the previous match between the Master of Spellcasting and Su Qingtan, the Master of Spellcasting had indeed used fire-attribute talismans.
However, unfortunately, he had used them merely as a conventional means of attack.
A basketball-sized fireball was hurled directly at her face, and it was naturally cut into several pieces by Su Qingtan's wind blades.
Qin Xuan, on the other hand, was using multiple talismans simultaneously, condensing them into a massive fireball.
This caused the temperature around the fireball to reach an astonishing level.
The surrounding air expanded due to the heat, generating outward-flowing currents.
When Su Qingtan actively attacked with wind blades, she would naturally be affected by these currents, causing them to dissipate and further fueling the flames.
As for whether the attack would be strong enough to pierce the fireball and reach the interior, Qin Xuan had considered that.
Su Qingtan, being a wind-elemental ability user, could employ a myriad of attack methods. It was certainly possible that some powerful attacks might pass through the fireball.
But no matter what the attack was, as long as it needed to pass through the fireball, it would inevitably carry the flames within the fireball to the interior.
In this way, no matter how the opponent attacked, he could detect the attack's location at the first instance.
This would completely neutralize the advantage of the wind-elemental ability: its invisibility.
This was the second reason Qin Xuan chose the fireball to fight Su Qingtan.
"Good lad, your mind is truly agile."
Although she did not understand the precise scientific principles like Qin Xuan, Su Qingtan, with her decades of experience in the martial world, was quite seasoned.
Therefore, after the initial few failed wind blade attacks, she ceased her assault.
Rather than wasting her mental energy like this, it was better to observe quietly and see if Qin Xuan would reveal any weaknesses.
After half a minute, the flames disappeared.
Qin Xuan, located at the center of the flames, retreated rapidly, gasping for air.
Although he had left sufficient air vents for himself within the fireball, once the air temperature reached a certain level, he could no longer breathe through those vents.
During the latter half of the fireball's burning, he had basically been holding his breath, relying solely on his lung capacity.
However, this did not detract from the satisfied glint in his eyes.
From this first tentative exchange, his fireball strategy had achieved a significant effect.
He had also ascertained the duration of the fireball.
Next, he would launch his counterattack.