Chapter Forty-Seven: The Dormammu Battery

Yang Xin handed Baron Mordo over to Natasha, who unceremoniously grabbed him and tossed him onto S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Quinjet, heading straight for S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

With his body suppressed to that of a six-year-old and his magic sealed, Baron Mordo was no match for Natasha. In fact, even a slightly burly elementary schooler could have easily taken him down at this point.

“I believe this experience will be unforgettable for Senior Brother Mordo,” Yang Xin remarked calmly.

“Will it really work?” The Sorcerer Supreme knew her disciple’s temperament well.

“You underestimate the power of nine years of compulsory education in the East. Among its courses, there’s one you might call ‘Moral Character’ or ‘Politics.’ There, Baron Mordo will receive a thorough education. I believe it won’t be long before a virtuous and well-mannered Baron Mordo will come to appreciate his master’s painstaking efforts.”

“Sigh… We’re really doing this for his own good! Senior Brother Mordo, when you understand the meaning of sacrificing oneself for righteousness, you’ll realize the kind intentions of your master…” Yang Xin shouted after the departing Quinjet until it vanished from sight.

“With Senior Brother Mordo taken care of, Master, there’s something I don’t quite understand. May I ask for clarification?” Yang Xin inquired.

“Speak your mind.”

“You possess the Time Stone, Master, so you can travel the timeline. Given you know what Baron Mordo will do in the future, why didn’t you nip the crisis in the bud?”

This was what Yang Xin never understood: the Sorcerer Supreme, Gu Yi, was so formidable—why not eliminate the threat early on?

“I’ve said before, I am not an all-knowing, all-powerful god. Though I can glimpse the future with the Eye of Agamotto, it’s only a fragment, not the whole picture.” As Gu Yi spoke, she gestured, and a beam of light appeared.

“This is the river of time. Even with the Eye of Agamotto, I am but a fish that occasionally leaps out of the stream. Eventually, the fish must return to the river. Even if I catch glimpses of the future, if I recklessly alter it, who can say where the river will flow? Collapse, destruction, or perhaps to a better place—I cannot guarantee any outcome.”

“When you play with time, time plays with you.”

“Will everything I’ve done affect the river of time?” Yang Xin suddenly felt nervous. He had, after all, been tampering with the river of time with abandon.

“The moment you appeared, I took notice. Because of your existence, the river of time now flows toward the unknown. Anyone who interacts with you is now beyond the Eye of Agamotto’s sight. Fortunately, the changes you’ve brought have been for the better, so I have not intervened…” Gu Yi replied mildly.

Yet that calm tone sent a cold sweat down Yang Xin’s back. Perhaps at first, he only made Gu Yi curious, but everything he did after helped Earth develop in a positive direction. That was likely why Gu Yi took him as a disciple—to keep him close, both to teach and to monitor him.

“Let’s go!” Gu Yi suddenly said.

“Where are we going, Master?” Yang Xin asked instinctively, dreading that she might utter the words “India.”

“To meet my old adversary. The time has come to settle things.” The Sorcerer Supreme spoke serenely and, with a sweep of her hand, conjured a golden portal crackling with sparks.

“Old adversary? No way! Dormammu? Master, with my small arms and legs, I’m no match for Dormammu—I don’t even qualify as his opponent!” Yang Xin exclaimed in shock.

“With me here, all will be well. You are the key to defeating Dormammu.” As soon as Gu Yi finished, darkness enveloped Yang Xin’s vision.

“Is this the Dark Dimension?” No sooner had Yang Xin spoken than he felt the divine tree seed inside him, bestowed by Gu Yi herself, begin voraciously absorbing the dark energy around and converting it perfectly into chakra.

As the divine tree seed within him absorbed the darkness and transformed it into chakra, it also grew rapidly. The Dark Dimension was vast, spanning countless star systems, and its dark energy was nearly infinite—boundless, inexhaustible. Such immense power caused the divine tree seed in Yang Xin’s body to grow with astonishing speed.

“Sharingan!” Yang Xin began forming hand seals.

Single tomoe, double tomoe, triple tomoe, Mangekyo, Eternal Mangekyo, Rinnegan, Byakugan, Tenseigan…all manner of bloodline limits manifested upon Yang Xin.

He finally understood Gu Yi’s words: she was using the divine tree seed within him to absorb the power of the Dark Dimension, which was Dormammu’s very source of strength.

It’s not the thief you fear, but the thief who keeps you in mind. Now Dormammu had both Gu Yi and Yang Xin to contend with, and his dark power was being siphoned away. Yang Xin couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for Dormammu.

Gu Yi was ruthless and cunning, dragging Yang Xin through the Dark Dimension and establishing countless energy conduits, their endpoints all leading to the divine tree seed in Yang Xin’s body. She was clearly using the Dark Dimension’s power as her own battery.

“So this is the legendary ‘getting stronger just by lying down’?” When they returned to Kamar-Taj in Nepal, Yang Xin sprawled out in the classic pose of indolence. “With every breath I grow stronger, enemies crumble at a snap of my fingers… It’s terrifying, almost unfathomable!”

Yang Xin wore a smug expression.

“You had better fulfill your duty as a Shinobi now. The power of the Dark Dimension is too great, and the divine tree’s ability to process it is limited. If you don’t quickly disperse this energy, you might just…” Gu Yi mimed an explosion with her hands.

“Damn!” Yang Xin was alarmed.

Indeed, the force of the Dark Dimension was overwhelming. Even though Gu Yi had imposed restrictions on the energy conduits, the power was still far too vast. If he only used it to strengthen himself, Yang Xin might very well, as Gu Yi described, burst apart with a “bang!”

“I’ll return to S.H.I.E.L.D. right away, and use their resources to plant divine trees around the world, dispersing the energy. But Master, before I go, can you teach me the spell for opening portals?” Yang Xin said as he raised his left hand, palm forward, drawing circles in the air with his right.

“You’re right—you shouldn’t leave empty-handed.” Gu Yi began instructing Yang Xin in the art of portal creation.

With Gu Yi’s magical aptitude, Yang Xin mastered the portal spell easily. At the same time, he sensed the sapling of the divine tree within him beginning to swell. Without further delay, he bid Gu Yi farewell, opened a portal, and headed straight for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick Fury was at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, hard at work, when a golden, spark-laden portal suddenly appeared before him. Instinctively, he removed his eyepatch, revealing the Mangekyo Sharingan beneath.

When Yang Xin stepped through, Fury’s Mangekyo Sharingan paused for a moment. He seemed to ponder something, then calmly replaced the eyepatch.

“Next time, knock before you enter,” Fury said gruffly.

“There was no time for knocking,” Yang Xin replied nonchalantly.

“What now?” Fury’s heart skipped a beat.

“Nothing major. Have you noticed, with economic development, natural resources the world over are being ravaged? The environment is deteriorating, Antarctica is warming, glaciers are melting, deserts are expanding…”

Yang Xin began to spout nonsense with utmost seriousness.

Fury, matching Yang Xin’s tone, stared back with equal seriousness. “So…”

“So, I want to plant trees!”