I Can Control Resources

"Break one leg? Wouldn’t that be letting this little punk off too easy? If I don’t break all three of his legs today, then my last name isn’t Li!" Li Tiannan roared at the top of his lungs.

One of the female Strongests sitting among them heard this and cursed in disdain, "Shameless old man!"

"What? Did you just call Elder Jian shameless? Elder Jian, she’s insulting you! If I were you, I wouldn’t be able to stand for that!" Li Tiannan immediately shifted his gaze.

"I can stand it!" Sword Elder, of course, didn’t fall for the bait.

Li Tiannan was obviously putting on a show. To be blunt, there was no way he would actually break Gao Neng’s legs. If nothing else, Sword Elder knew one thing about Li Tiannan better than anyone: he was famous for being fiercely protective of his own.

The sneaky, scheming kind of protective, at that...

He was the ultimate scheming old fox among all the fiercely protective types!

「In the chamber above.」

The few of them bickered back and forth.

Meanwhile, in the exhibition hall on the first floor, Gao Neng was like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. In just a few short minutes, he had already blazed through four Alchemy Districts.

Now, he was tackling the fifth.

Manning the fifth alchemy challenge station was a woman.

The thing was, Gao Neng actually knew this woman. She was the young married woman he’d seen on his first day in the Underground City. ’What was her name again?’

"Luna," the young woman said, her face breaking into a radiant smile.

"Hello, Sister Na!" Gao Neng said. Seeing her incredibly happy smile, he inexplicably felt a chill run down his spine.

"My, you’re quite the smooth-talker. You know to call me ’sister’ instead of ’ma’am,’ eh? But you can’t call me sister. That would mess up the generational lines. You should call me ’auntie’." Luna shook with laughter.

"Hello, Auntie." Gao Neng didn’t push it, simply playing along.

"Mhm, so obedient... My daughter felt nice to the touch, didn’t she?"

"???" Gao Neng was floored.

"Oh, please, I don’t meddle in things like that. Come on, let’s have our match. By the way, what kind of elixir formula are you interested in learning?" Luna continued.

"A thunder-attribute one?" Gao Neng had actually wanted to let his "auntie" set the topic, but on second thought, since he was already calling her that, he might as well get something out of it.

’Might as well pick the topic!’

’If I can get a decent Pill Formula out of this, it’ll be great for the future!’

"Oh my, what a coincidence! I happen to specialize in thunder-attribute elixirs. And it’s for a proprietary High-tier Elixir, too!" Luna seemed delightfully surprised, then leaned closer to Gao Neng. "Wanna take a look at the Pill Formula?"

"Uh, I probably shouldn’t... Huh?" Gao Neng was about to refuse when he saw Luna unfold a Pill Formula right in front of him and start waving it before his eyes.

She was waving it around, but the contents were still clear at a glance.

Gao Neng had an excellent memory, so after just a couple of glances, he had memorized all the ingredients and their proportions.

"What else would you like to learn?" Luna leaned in a little closer.

"Auntie, you’re such a good person... Do you have a fire-attribute one?" Gao Neng was genuinely impressed. ’This Luna may look like a villain, but she’s actually got a heart of gold.’

’Giving away a Pill Formula right off the bat? Who does that?’

"Oh my, it’s such a coincidence you’d ask. I happen to have a fire-attribute Secret Technique formula on me as well. It’s also high-tier, you know. Want to learn?" Luna produced another Pill Formula, but this time she didn’t open it, merely waving the folded paper in front of Gao Neng a couple of times.

"It seems Auntie has some conditions this time?" The corner of Gao Neng’s mouth lifted. ’As expected, all kindness has its limits. You can’t expect someone to give to you endlessly.’

’You have to give something back.’

"Conditions? What conditions? It just doesn’t sit right with me, taking advantage of you with that twenty-fold profit margin. As for this fire-attribute Pill Formula, I’ll give it to you after I win." Luna tucked the formula away, her gaze gradually sharpening.

"And what if Auntie loses?" Gao Neng asked, looking at Luna.

"Lose? Oh... well, in that case, I’d have no choice but to give you another High-tier Pill Formula, this one for the gold attribute! Your little girlfriend happens to need one, doesn’t she?" Luna said with a theatrical sigh.

"Heh, well, thank you in advance, Auntie."

"Don’t thank me yet. Beat me first!" With that, Luna immediately began the Alchemy process, her movements looking absolutely masterful.

With just one glance, Gao Neng could tell that Luna’s skill in Alchemy was far superior to that of Meng the Second, Lin Baibai, and the others. And not just by a little.

Wait a minute.

’What did Luna just say?’

’My daughter felt nice to the touch?’

’Don’t tell me... this Luna is Fang Yuan’s secret mistress?!’

Gao Neng vaguely recalled that he’d only hugged Fang Tangtang earlier. Other than that, he didn’t think he’d touched anyone else... ’Ugh? Wait, I think I did touch one other person!’

All at once, Gao Neng thought of someone.

It made him subconsciously glance into the distance, where a pair of eyes was also watching him, looking extremely nervous.

’Holy shit, this Luna is Yi Qinglian’s mom!’ Gao Neng finally understood what Luna had meant the first time they met.

That whole "My daughter hasn’t killed him yet, so I can’t let him die for now" thing.

’She’s clearly here for revenge!’

’Sure enough, like mother, like daughter...’

Yi Qinglian was direct, and Luna was just as bold—in fact, she was even more over-the-top.

Most importantly, Luna, like Yutian, was one of the Underground City’s managers—the type whose authority as a superior could crush you flat.

However, Gao Neng wasn’t too worried.

After all, Yi Qinglian was his assistant now, which meant he had her right in the palm of his hand. He figured Luna couldn’t do anything to him for the time being.

’Whatever!’

’Enough nonsense!’

’I don’t care whose mom she is. If she’s here to challenge me, I’m going to take her down!’

BEEP BEEP BEEP... Just then, an analysis of the elixir Luna was refining streamed into Gao Neng’s ears.

Another High-tier Elixir!

The West Alliance Yi Family...

’They’re really something else!’

Gao Neng didn’t dwell on it. He started preparing the ingredients according to the analytical data, then tossed them all into the Tripod Cauldron.

"Going to blast it with high heat again?" Luna looked up, her gaze falling on the Tripod Cauldron’s temperature dial, which Gao Neng was about to turn.

"Why shouldn’t I?" Gao Neng retorted.

"I just feel that time flies. If you didn’t use it, we could spend a little more time together, don’t you think?" Luna winked at Gao Neng.

"In that case, I’d better use it..." Gao Neng twisted the dial and decisively moved on to the next station. ’I really can’t take this.’

’What is with these people?’

’Are all the women from the West Alliance Yi Family such predators?’

"Hee hee, still pretty green, I see!" Luna watched Gao Neng leave with a smile, then shot an "OK" sign to Yi Qinglian in the distance.

"..." Yi Qinglian was speechless.

’Damn it!’

...

「Time flew by.」

Blasting his way through the competition with his high-heat method, Gao Neng had taken on fifteen challengers simultaneously in the span of a single hour.

And that was despite being held up by Luna for a while.

You could say that the time Gao Neng spent on each challenger—from starting the furnace, to preparing the ingredients, to lighting the fire and moving on—never exceeded five minutes.

The exhibition hall was in an uproar.

This couldn’t be called taking on a challenge anymore; he was practically just giving away free ingredients.

Who in the world did Alchemy like that?

Wu Qingjing and Yutian were also completely speechless. They knew Gao Neng probably didn’t have any advanced Alchemy Technique, but he had been so full of confidence when he’d challenged the Alchemists.

So, couldn’t he at least pretend to know what he was doing?

With an Alchemy Technique that hadn’t even mastered the basics, where did he get this confidence?

「Celestial King Group.」

Fang Yuan and the three directors were in a state of utter despair.

They wanted to believe Gao Neng could defeat the crowd of Alchemists, but they weren’t idiots. With this level of skill, what the hell was he challenging?

He was going to lose his shirt, absolutely!

"Chairman, that’s two hundred billion..." the three directors said, heartbroken.

"..." Fang Yuan was silent.

What could he say?

He didn’t want to say a single thing!

The chatter in the exhibition hall grew louder as Gao Neng began walking toward the sixteenth challenger.

"Does he... does he plan to take on all eighty Alchemists at once?"

"One man against eighty?"

"Without even watching the fire? Just keep blasting them with high heat?"

"That’s some Immortal-level multitasking!"

"Forget it, let’s just watch the other Alchemists. There’s nothing to see over here with Gao Neng. If he can actually produce an elixir like this, I’ll eat his damned Tripod Cauldron!"

After a round of discussion, the crowd started to disperse.

But Gao Neng, with a placid expression, continued to accept challenges.

He knew that even using the highest temperature, it would still take some time for the elixirs to finish refining—at least four or five hours.

’So, based on the timing...’

’By the time I’ve accepted the eightieth challenger, it should be about time to open the first furnace.’

「Time continued to pass.」

Four or five hours wasn’t a short time, but it wasn’t an eternity, either.

In the end, Gao Neng didn’t quite manage to challenge all eighty Alchemists in one go. By the time he reached the seventieth challenger, his first Alchemy Furnace was already beeping. BEEP BEEP BEEP.

’The kettle’s boiling!’

’Oh, wait, no. The elixir’s ready!’

"..." The seventieth Alchemist in line stared at Gao Neng.

"..." Gao Neng stared back at the seventieth Alchemist. After a two-second pause, he offered an apologetic smile. "Excuse me, I have to go open a furnace!"

"Captain Gao, be my guest!" the Alchemist said with a wry smile.

’Open a furnace, my ass.’

’You haven’t looked at it once from start to finish. What’s the point of opening the furnace? Are you planning to retrieve an elixir, or a lump of charcoal?’

Of course, he couldn’t say that out loud. He could only keep it to himself.

After all, Gao Neng was being incredibly generous.

They were already taking such huge advantage of him; it would be going too far to then laugh at him for pulling out a lump of charcoal.

"Seniors of the Alchemy Realm, make way, please! I’m coming to open the furnace and retrieve my elixir!" After getting the Alchemist’s reply, Gao Neng trotted over to the location of the first Pill Furnace.