Chapter 178
"If you can bring my wife back to life, then you shall be the new leader of the Ten Rings, and I will forever be loyal to you!"
Upon hearing this, Xu Wenwu dropped to his knees and bowed his head, performing the ancient gesture of a general swearing allegiance to his king.
In the past, he had given up the power of the Ten Rings, his immortality, and the empire he had built over a thousand years—all for the sake of his wife. From an ambitious conqueror, he had become a simple man living in seclusion.
Now, for the sake of resurrecting his wife and ensuring the safety of his children, he was willing to do the same.
"Let's begin then. However, my method isn't exactly pleasant, so after your wife is resurrected, it's best not to let her know the truth."
Ying Li, unlike Xu Wenwu, who was a ruthless, ancient figure, had a kind and pure heart. If she found out that her resurrection came at the cost of another person's life, she would certainly refuse. That would only cause more trouble.
"I understand."
Xu Wenwu, having lived for a millennium, knew well that anything involving the resurrection of the dead was not a good thing. But he didn't care about that; as long as he could bring his wife back, he would slaughter the entire world if necessary.
Half an hour later, in a room within the base, Xu Wenwu brought his wife's ashes and a woman to serve as a sacrifice, following Leo's instructions.
The woman was one of the Ten Rings' assassins, clearly brainwashed by Xu Wenwu into being a loyal member. She was fully aware of sacrificing herself to resurrect Xu Wenwu's wife and seemed very willing to do so. She even appeared somewhat expectant, much like those who were willing to offer their bodies to Orochimaru in exchange for power.
This shows that Xu Wenwu, besides the power of the Ten Rings, also had significant personal charisma and organizational ability.
"Stand there and don't move."
Leo instructed the sacrificial woman to stand in the center of the room. He then pulled out a scroll he had prepared in advance, filled with sealing techniques, and spread it out on the ground. Taking a handful of ashes from Ying Li's urn, he placed them within the array drawn on the scroll and began forming hand seals:
"Tiger - Snake - Dog - Dragon, Impure World Reincarnation!"
With his hands clasped together, the ninjutsu activated, and the ashes on the scroll vanished instantly. A large array spread from the scroll, enveloping the sacrificial woman.
"Ah!!!"
The woman let out a scream of agony as white dust enveloped her from the bottom up. When the dust completely covered her, a beautiful woman in a green silk gown replaced her. However, unlike a normal person, this woman's eyes were entirely black, including the sclera.
"Ying Li!"
Seeing his wife once again, Xu Wenwu, who had been standing at the door, afraid to disturb Leo's resurrection ritual, could no longer hold back. He rushed forward and hugged Ying Li tightly.
Ying Li, however, looked utterly confused. "Wenwu, wasn't I already dead?"
The last thing she remembered was being stabbed in the abdomen and bleeding to death in the courtyard.
Recalling Leo's warning, Xu Wenwu suppressed his excitement for the moment and lied, "I found a great sorcerer who used magic to save you. It's this gentleman right here."
He gestured toward Leo, who put away the Impure World Reincarnation scroll and gave a cooperative smile.
...
"Xu Wenwu, you only need to understand one thing: if I choose, I can end the resurrection at any time, and your wife's soul will return to the underworld."
On the platform at the top of the base, after getting on the helicopter, Leo reminded Xu Wenwu below.
Xu Wenwu looked at his children surrounding their mother, then turned back with a firm tone, "Don't worry, Leader. As long as you don't harm them, I will do anything you ask!"
"Very good. The Ten Rings will remain as they are for now, and you will continue to be the leader in the public eye. When I need you to handle something, I will contact you."
Satisfied, Leo nodded, then took the helicopter back to New York.
For the next while, he didn't take on any new tasks. Instead, he focused on spending time at home with Wanda and training various jutsus and forbidden techniques using shadow clones in the space he created within his wardrobe.
If a side mission with a high reward-to-effort ratio came up—one that took just a few minutes to earn a day or two of extra time in a small world—he would occasionally take it on.
Until ten days before the main mission was set to begin, he suddenly received a call from Nick Fury.
"Mr. Chen, there's something I need your help with. I wonder if you have some time..."
"Sorry, I'm busy these days. No time. Goodbye."
As soon as Leo heard Fury ask for his help, he immediately hung up without thinking.
He already knew what Fury wanted. It was either dealing with Hydra or handling Gamora and Nebula. They wanted to use him as a free mercenary—there was no way he was going to agree to that.
He had no interest in dealing with Hydra. Let them keep clashing with S.H.I.E.L.D.; it kept them too busy to bother him.
As for Gamora and Nebula, he was currently avoiding any interference because this related to his main mission and a recent experiment he was conducting regarding task verification.
Leo had always been puzzled by one question: Are the tasks that appear on the panel destined to happen?
Take the current main mission, for example: a month from now, the Chitauri army is set to invade Earth, and he is supposed to rely on his own abilities to kill the Chitauri soldiers.
But if he were to take possession of the Mind Stone and the Tesseract in advance and prevent Gamora and Nebula from opening the portal for the Chitauri army, would the main mission change?
Would the mission simply disappear? Would the time frame extend? Or, no matter what he does, would the Chitauri army find some way to invade Earth on schedule, as if everything he did was already factored into some grand calculation?
To investigate this, he conducted some related tests—not with the main mission, of course. Losing the opportunity to enter the cultivation world would be too painful.
Instead, he tested using side missions.
For instance, a few days ago, he received a side mission about a fire rescue, telling him to arrive at a location in three hours to put out a fire, with a reward of a few hours of extra time in a small world.
Instead of arriving just in time as usual, he went there as soon as he got the mission and waited. As soon as he saw any signs that could potentially cause a fire, he preemptively intervened.
As a result, no fire occurred three hours later, and that side mission disappeared.
So he speculated that both main and side missions would only occur if he didn't intervene. If he took action, it might just cause the mission to vanish.
...