The chances of dying in the swamp shouldn’t be high. After all, Li Qi just said that the people from Half-Mountain Residence wouldn’t let him die inside.

Death isn’t likely, but trying to escape seems even more improbable.

If his Spiritual Energy spills out, it will be completely absorbed by the surrounding mud, making any Cultivation Technique impossible to perform.

Without Spiritual Energy, his strength is even more useless. Any movement will only cause him to sink deeper, dying quicker.

At this moment, it seems like there’s only one outcome waiting for him, as Li Qi stated, to be kicked out.

"No! I can’t be kicked out. If I miss this chance, who knows how long it will be before I can save Sophia!" Ye Haochuan shouted in his heart with unwillingness.

"That’s right, fire!"

A thought suddenly flashed through Ye Haochuan’s mind, making him feel enlightened.

The swamp is a mixture of water and mud, and water is always at odds with fire. As long as the water in the mire is eliminated, the swamp can no longer be called a swamp.

Without delay, Ye Haochuan quickly summoned the Purple Lotus Spirit Flame, wrapping himself completely.

The high temperature of the Purple Lotus Spirit Flame quickly evaporated the water in the surrounding mud, turning it back into solid soil.

However, merely solidifying the mud around his body is clearly ineffective; this solid mud separates from the rest, like floating ice in the ocean, sharing the same origin but becoming two different entities.

At this moment, Ye Haochuan was like he was frozen in floating ice. No matter how large the ice, unless it covers the surface of the ocean, it cannot control the current.

After discovering this issue, Ye Haochuan immediately changed strategy to use Heavenly Eye Incineration to evaporate the surface water of the surrounding swamp, forming a solid layer of soil.

This solid soil layer isn’t thick, depending on the heat conduction efficiency of the soil to evaporate the moisture below, it’s practically impossible.

Still, it’s enough, although this thin solid soil can’t support a person’s weight, it allowed Ye Haochuan to leverage an escape from the sinking trend.

Ye Haochuan couldn’t utilize this solid soil to extract himself, but he successfully achieved lateral movement.

After a full hour, he had moved fifty meters. This place far exceeded where Li Qi had stood after being thrown out.

However, since the swamp also moves, Ye Haochuan still hadn’t escaped the swamp’s grasp.

But he wasn’t discouraged because he had found a way to save himself. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

He crawled all this way not just to race against the swamp but because this was no longer muddy ground but exposed rocks.

Ye Haochuan still hadn’t figured out what kind of demon this swamp truly was, being able to move at will and turn the surrounding earth into a swamp.

Yet, even with such outstanding abilities, turning rocks into a swamp doesn’t seem easy.

Ye Haochuan’s guess was obviously correct. When his hand climbed onto the rock, he knew he had left the swamp’s range.

He spent his last bit of strength to climb onto the rock, then completely collapsed on it, panting heavily.

"Li Qi, right? When I see you again, you will pay for this!" A fierce expression flashed in Ye Haochuan’s eyes.

After resting for a few minutes and eating something, Ye Haochuan’s strength finally recovered by seventy to eighty percent.

He sprinted along the direction of the rocks for a while, making sure he left the moving swamp demon behind before carefully entering the ground again to keep sprinting.

Ye Haochuan clearly theorized correctly; although the swamp was demon-like, its movement wasn’t fast, otherwise Li Qi would never have escaped.

Perhaps his efforts moved the Good Heavens, as he encountered no obstacles during his race out of the swamp.

Before him lay the mountain. He looked up at the summit with a beating heart.

He didn’t fear the mountain’s heights or dangers, but he hesitated for having delayed so long, unsure if Li Qi and Ju Yuqu had already climbed the peak.

"Why think so much? Get up there and find out!"

Ye Haochuan left those words behind, then charged with all his might.

The mountain was very high, very dangerous, and as he climbed to three hundred meters, a steep cliff lay above. Not even a path to be seen.

Moreover, the rocks here were clearly not ordinary; Ye Haochuan tried his Divine Concealment Sword and found even with its sharpness, it could only insert half an inch deep, cutting steps being wishful thinking.

Yet, Ye Haochuan wasn’t worried about this, but rather that there were indeed places to climb up the cliff.

On the rock face, there were many sword holes, as long as he used two short swords to insert them for support, he could climb.

These sword holes were clearly made recently, as the stone surfaces were noticeably fresh.

"Seems I’m falling behind?" Ye Haochuan sighed within, regretting the time spent on cultivation.

If he hadn’t delayed those thirty minutes, maybe he could have been ahead.

Nevertheless, knowing someone was ahead, Ye Haochuan still felt dissatisfied.

"Never mind, as long as no one announces the end of the competition, it means no one has obtained the Seven-Colored Mysterious Stone. Until it’s over, there’s still a chance."

Ye Haochuan cheered himself on, reigniting his fighting spirit, quickly climbing with the help of two short swords.

With the path left by others, this climbing process was extraordinarily smooth. About two hours later, Ye Haochuan succeeded in reaching the top of the cliff.

This was also the summit of the peak.

However, Ye Haochuan felt somewhat disappointed; even upon reaching the summit, he hadn’t caught up with those ahead.

"Huh?"

When his body climbed to the top, Ye Haochuan suddenly froze.

Because he clearly saw the Seven-Colored Mysterious Stone glowing, only ten meters away, seemingly within reach.

But then he was disappointed because there were two figures before the Seven-Colored Mysterious Stone.

"So, are you two waiting for me?" Ye Haochuan flipped up, sneering.

"Impossible... haven’t you already..." Li Qi saw Ye Haochuan suddenly appear, disbelief all over his face.

"Already out, right?" Ye Haochuan looked at Li Qi, eyes blazing with killing intent.