I Can Control Resources

"This is bad! Quick... run!" The four high-rank fighters took one look at the scene and couldn’t care about anything else. They turned tail and ran.

The adventurer teams following them also beat a hasty retreat.

But the churning wave of mud was simply immense. It blotted out the sky as it crashed down, instantly swallowing the four high-rank fighters and a dozen or so members of the adventurer teams.

SWOOSH!

SWOOSH!

...

The four high-rank fighters quickly burst out of the mud.

But the other members of the adventurer teams were trapped deep in the mire.

Worse still, as the wave of mud crashed down, countless withered vines erupted from the ground again, surging frantically toward those who had fallen into the mire.

"All these withered vines are fifth and sixth-rank Dark Creatures!"

"Kill!"

"There are too many! We can’t kill them all!"

"Agh, help me!"

In that instant, the situation turned dire.

Li Tiannan and Sword Elder had to deal with the giant, evolved Dark Ghost Vine, but the mire was also crawling with countless fifth and sixth-rank withered vines.

These withered vines weren’t particularly strong on their own.

But there were just so many of them.

Furthermore, these withered vines grew in the mud. They could move through it with ease and could even drag people underground.

Although everyone present was an elite of the Human Alliance, their strength was greatly diminished once they were trapped in the mire.

There was another crucial point: sixth and seventh-rank fighters couldn’t hold their breath indefinitely. In other words, they still needed to breathe, even if they could hold their breath for much longer than an ordinary person.

But if they were submerged in the mud for too long, they could still die.

The situation descended into chaos.

Relying on his Flying Earth Dragon, Gao Neng could navigate the mire, but most of the others could not.

’What should I do? If I can’t pull these people out of this mire, a lot of them are going to die!’ Gao Neng felt a surge of anxiety.

He was worried about Shen Ning’Er, Fang Tangtang, Lin Ying, and the others. He couldn’t just abandon them and escape on his own. He simply couldn’t bring himself to do it.

But he himself was also in a predicament.

More than a dozen withered vines had surrounded him.

"Get back!" Gao Neng lashed out with his blade, cleaving a withered vine in two. But another one immediately lunged forward to take its place.

They seemed endless.

’This can’t go on.’

Gao Neng knew that both Li Tiannan and Sword Elder were incredibly powerful. A single ninth-rank Dark Ghost Vine was no match for the two of them.

The real problem, however, was the thousands upon thousands of withered vines in the mud.

SWOOSH!

Gao Neng shot out of the mire.

The Flying Earth Dragon spread its wings and carried him into the sky.

Then, he saw a golden Furious Giant Ape leap high into the air, carrying a mud-caked Fang Tangtang on its shoulder.

As for Shen Ning’Er, she was standing atop a massive Iron Dragon.

The advantage of manifesting one’s energy became apparent at this moment.

"Tangtang! Ning’Er! Are you two okay?" Gao Neng shouted.

"Agh... This is horrible! What are these things? There are so many of them! Ugh... I’m fine! Sister Ning’Er, what about you?" Fang Tangtang shouted back, cursing under her breath.

"I’m fine. We have to save the others, quickly!" Shen Ning’Er shook her head and began searching below. But with so many withered vines, she wasn’t making much progress.

All the high-rank fighters had managed to escape the mire.

Only the masked woman was nowhere to be seen.

Shaximo was bathed in golden light, his entire body enveloped in a radiant, Buddha-like silhouette. The mire around him was being forcefully pushed back.

He was like a Buddha Lotus emerging from the muck, unstained.

As for Wei Ya, Zhou Jin, and the others, they were all using their own methods to stay safe.

However, Gao Neng didn’t see Yi Qinglian or Yi Qingge. He didn’t know if they had escaped somewhere else or were trapped.

In addition, Lin Ying, Wang Jun, and their group had also vanished.

"What about Gao Xiaomeng?!" Gao Neng whipped his head toward Fang Tangtang. He remembered that Gao Xiaomeng had been in her arms, but now she was gone.

"Huh?! Gao... Where’s Gao Xiaomeng? Gao Xiaomeng, where are you!" Fang Tangtang seemed to snap to her senses. She had been hit by the wave of mud and almost passed out. Luckily, Shen Ning’Er’s Furious Giant Ape had been by her side and pulled her from the mire in the nick of time.

"Waaah, Gao Xiaomeng, you can’t die!"

"Gao Neng, Sister Ning’Er, help! We have to save Gao Xiaomeng! She’s missing!"

As the realization hit, Fang Tangtang was on the verge of tears. She frantically scanned the area, but the mire was a writhing mass of withered vines. There was no sign of Gao Xiaomeng at all.

BOOM!

RUMBLE!

Just then, the great battle in the sky between Li Tiannan, Sword Elder, and the evolved Dark Ghost Vine fully erupted.

"Vile beast! If you do not retreat now, I will slay you today!" The longsword on Sword Elder’s back was unsheathed, and he himself seemed to transform into a gigantic blade.

Wherever the sword-light passed, the Dark Ghost Vine shrieked in agony.

CRACK!

CRACK!

Giant vines were severed one after another.

But almost immediately, new tendrils sprouted from the severed ends.

"Elder Jian, this Dark Ghost Vine regenerates too quickly! We have to find its ’Tree Heart’! Otherwise, we’ll never be able to kill it!" Li Tiannan’s brow was tightly furrowed. He repeatedly tried to break through the mass of vines, wanting to rescue the Dragon List Geniuses swallowed by the mire below.

But the Dark Ghost Vine was simply too massive.

There were too many lesser vines.

They constantly blocked his descent.

「Time passed.」

The screams from the mire below grew more and more frequent.

Furthermore, the number of people visible above the mire was dwindling. It was easy to imagine that if this continued, at least half of their number would perish.

After all, the majority of the people who had come were only sixth-rank.

There were far too few high-rank fighters.

Although experts like Shaximo could protect themselves, with the sheer number of vines swarming around, rescuing a large number of people was still an incredibly difficult task.

BOOM!

Just then, a figure shot out from the mire.

It was none other than the previously vanished Yi Qingge.

But she looked deathly pale, her body was covered in wounds, and even the weapon in her hand was broken.

"Sister! Sister, where are you?!" Yi Qingge screamed the moment she broke free from the mire.

’Yi Qinglian is missing?!’ Gao Neng felt a strange jolt of surprise. To be honest, he didn’t have much of a favorable impression of her.

’Honestly, aside from being beautiful and... well-endowed...’

’...she was basically useless.’

’But the thought of just watching her die here... he found he couldn’t quite bear it.’

’There were a few reasons. First, no matter how much she hated him, Yi Qinglian knew to keep internal conflicts internal. She had been the first to attack during the earlier fight. Second... he had peeked on her while she was bathing...’

’...though he hadn’t actually seen anything.’

’But he had definitely looked.’

’Besides, even though they were always at each other’s throats, compared to the other Dragon List Geniuses, he and Yi Qinglian were actually relatively close.’

BOOM!

At that moment, Lin Ying also burst out from the mire.

Unlike Yi Qingge’s wretched state, Lin Ying wasn’t just battered—he was berserk.

Yes, Lin Ying was definitely in a berserk state. His eyes were blood-red, and he was clutching a withered vine in each hand.

SMASH!

He smashed the two vines together.

Their shrieks were incessant.

"Lin Ying, have you seen Yi Qinglian?!" Yi Qingge shouted as soon as she saw him.

"What?! Yi Qinglian’s missing? Agh... We have to save her!" Lin Ying rarely looked so stunned, but this time, his expression was utterly grim.

"Qinglian is missing?!" Shaximo sprang into action as well. Wreathed in golden light, he began to furiously carve a path toward Yi Qingge.

"Kill!"

"Die!"

"Block my path and die!"

Shaximo, Wei Ya, and the others all sprang into action.

Their stance shifted from self-preservation to a murderous offensive.

However, their bloodlust only provoked more of the withered vines, which swarmed them in a frantic tide, threatening to overwhelm Shaximo and the others.

"Gao Neng, I can’t find Yi Qinglian or Gao Xiaomeng." A giant Iron Dragon approached Gao Neng in mid-air. It was Shen Ning’Er, and her expression was equally grim.

"I know... but without Gao Xiaomeng, how can I save anyone?" Of course, Gao Neng didn’t mind revealing his true strength, but right now, he couldn’t even if he wanted to.

Without Gao Xiaomeng as a medium, how could he possibly control Elemental Energy on a massive scale?

If he couldn’t control Elemental Energy on a massive scale, how could he overturn this sea-like mire, and how could he save anyone?

’Unless... I can find a new medium.’

’Wait a minute!’

’A new medium?!’

Gao Neng abruptly tilted his head back. He saw a Magnetic Mountain suspended high above, so distant it looked like a star hanging in the sky.

Even with his powerful vision, he couldn’t make it out clearly.

But he knew that within every Magnetic Mountain, there was at least one magnetic core. Yutian and the others had told him so.

"Quick, save them!" At that moment, a furious roar echoed from the distance as several figures sped toward the mire.

It was Yutian and the others.

However, because they had been spread out protecting the other explorers, they hadn’t arrived as quickly as Li Tiannan and Sword Elder.

They were two or three minutes behind.

But those two or three minutes were enough to turn the battlefield into a graveyard.

Gao Neng clenched his jaw.

If he had a choice, he wouldn’t connect to the Magnetic Mountain. It was dangerous—a type of danger completely beyond his control.

But now, it seemed he had no choice.

Yutian and the others had arrived, but they were a little too late.

And even now that they were here, they couldn’t possibly overturn the entire mire.

Among everyone present, only he could do it.

The only condition was...

...connecting his Spiritual Power to the Magnetic Mountain.

’Then let’s do it. A man’s got to do what he’s got to do!’ Gao Neng’s fist tightened, his hesitation gone. He wasn’t some naive saint, but he certainly wasn’t cold-blooded either.

’He couldn’t carry the future of the Human Alliance on his own.’

’These geniuses... they couldn’t all die here.’

VMMMM!

He released his Spiritual Power.

In an instant, Gao Neng felt an immense pull from the Magnetic Mountain above. Like a black hole, it began to devour his Spiritual Power.