Chapter 497: A Bit of Skill

Li An remained calm; he quickly formed hand seals, and a spiritual energy shield instantly appeared before him. The flames struck the shield, emitting a dazzling light, yet they could not break through its defense.

"Hmph, you have some skill!" A flicker of excitement flashed in Natsu's eyes. He launched another attack, this time with flames even more ferocious, as if they intended to swallow the entire arena.

A glint of cold light flashed in Li An's eyes. He suddenly shifted his figure, vanishing from the spot. When he reappeared, he was already behind Natsu. He condensed a spiritual energy blade in his hand and thrust it toward Natsu.

Natsu reacted extremely quickly; he turned swiftly, using flames to block Li An's attack. The two exchanged blows, the battle exceptionally fierce. The surrounding audience watched with boiling blood, cheers and shouts rising and falling.

"I didn't expect you to be so powerful!" Natsu shouted excitedly while fighting. A smile of excitement beamed on his face; he showed no fatigue despite the battle's intensity.

"You're not bad either!" Li An replied with a smile. He secretly admired Natsu's strength and passion in his heart, while simultaneously thinking about how to find clues regarding the guild's crisis from this fight.

Just as the two were fighting intensely, Li An suddenly discovered that Natsu seemed to be disturbed by some kind of power while using magic. His flames were sometimes unstable, sometimes weakened in power.

"What is going on?" Li An was startled in his heart. He began to carefully observe Natsu's magical fluctuations. He found that within Natsu's body, a mysterious power was surging; this power seemed to be hindering his magic's performance.

"Could this be related to the guild's crisis?" Li An guessed silently in his heart. He decided to temporarily stop the fight to figure out the source of this mysterious power.

"Natsu, stop for a moment!" Li An shouted.

Hearing this, Natsu also stopped his attack. He looked at Li An in confusion and asked, "What's wrong? Are we not fighting anymore?"

Li An frowned and said, "I discovered that you seem to be disturbed by some kind of power while using magic. Do you feel it?"

Natsu was stunned for a moment. He carefully sensed the magical power within his body, then said, "It does seem a bit so. Recently, I've always felt my magic is somewhat unstable. Could it be because of this?"

Li An nodded. He knew he might have found an important clue. "Let's go investigate first and see what is actually going on."

Just then, Lucy rushed over hurriedly. A trace of anxiety was on her face as she said, "Natsu, Li An, it's bad! The supplies in the guild warehouse have mysteriously decreased by a lot!"

Li An and Natsu exchanged a glance; they both realized this matter was likely closely related to the guild's crisis. "Let's go take a look!" Li An said, then walked toward the guild warehouse together with Natsu and Lucy.

Inside the guild warehouse, the supplies that were originally piled like mountains now remained only in meager numbers. Broken crates were scattered on the ground, looking as if someone had rummaged through them in a hurry.