"Referee, it's time to begin."
Qian Wanyu could not make sense of the strange gesture he had made at her, but she was certain it was no friendly greeting. Qing Mo, on the other hand, watched thoughtfully from her soul sea, finding it utterly unbelievable. He shook his head, trying to dismiss his suspicions. "There's something strange about this man. Be careful."
After officiating so many matches, the referee had seen contestants exchange greetings until the match was over, and others attack without a word. But this was the first time he had felt the evenly matched auras of two opponents so keenly that their pressure pinned him in place. He felt as though he stood at the center of a whirlpool, where one wrong move would tear him to pieces.
"Wait. After I announce the start, count to three before you fight."
"The match begins. One-" The referee ran out as he counted.
The instant the referee left, two starkly different scenes appeared in the arena. Ice spires filled one side, frost spreading across the entire floor. But soon, everyone saw a layer of yellow earth cover the translucent white frost.
With every step Qian Wanyu took, the ice spires beneath the earth creaked and quickly shattered. She flicked the Water-Thunder Whip, flipping all the ice spires from the ground into the air, then swept them straight toward her opponent.
"Earth element."
Meng Yixiao studied the surface of her Water-Thunder Whip again. Lightning openly bared its fangs and claws across it. "Thunder element."
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
At some point, ice had condensed into balls on every side of the arena. They rolled toward Qian Wanyu from different directions, blocking her advance. She felt the temperature plummet, as though she stood in a world of ice and snow. The