“Difficult Sutra”

Imagining the crowd’s stunned expressions after he instantly returned to peak condition, Li Congxin couldn’t help feeling a secret thrill. He silently began counting: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…

Nothing happened.

15, 16…

He still showed no sign of healing…

…29, 30?

What was going on!?

Just as Li Congxin was utterly shocked, the system’s familiar notification suddenly rang out in his mind.

"Congratulations, host, on completing the hidden achievement ‘Snap Your Fingers’ (Snap Your Fingers: Use the power of the six Infinity Stones to snap your fingers, proving to everyone in the Marvel Universe that you have been here). You have received one system reward: a ‘Random BGM Draw Card.’"

There were actually system achievement rewards?

Li Congxin felt that ever since he had encountered Scott Lang after the man traveled back through time, the system’s style seemed to have undergone some inexplicable changes.

However, he had no mood to check what BGM he had obtained for now. Compared with that temporarily unusable BGM, what concerned him more was…

How had his perfectly good immortality vanished just like that?

Suddenly, Li Congxin’s eyes lit up. He had figured out the key!

His immortality had come entirely from Lady Death’s curse. It was part of the rules of the universe, so even the power of the Infinity Stones couldn’t forcibly kill him.

But he had now traveled to a different time branch, and on this branch, he didn’t exist. Even more importantly, he had never encountered Death here.

If the Lady Death he had faced back then had been the true incarnation of one of the five Cosmic Creator Gods, a supreme existence second only to the Living Tribunal…

Then there was nothing to say. She would have been a top-tier Multiversal Level powerhouse, transcending the concepts of time and space. Naturally, she could influence every Parallel Universe and timeline.

But it was far more likely that the Lady Death he had encountered before was merely a clone that true Death had sent into the universe where he lived. Restricted by that universe’s level, she could possess, at most, peak Singular Universe strength. Naturally, she couldn’t be said to transcend concepts such as time and space.

Before traveling through time, he had even heard that in a certain Parallel Universe, Lady Death had been killed by a villain, causing all life in that universe to become incapable of dying.

That obviously couldn’t have been the top-level powerhouse!

Judging from Li Congxin’s current situation, this seemed to be the only explanation that made sense.

With his immortality disabled, the cosmic energy from the Infinity Stones that had surged through his body couldn’t even be expelled. As a result, he couldn’t use Cosmic Energy to heal his injuries even if he wanted to.

Besides, if that method had worked, Thanos wouldn’t have been crippled by the Infinity Stones.

Li Congxin tried moving his fingers and felt the numb sensation. He had no choice but to admit that fully recovering would probably be a long, drawn-out process. Or perhaps… he would instantly revive at full strength once he returned to his own timeline?

The only good news was that after absorbing the Elders of the Universe genes from Grandmaster, his body’s resistance was far above Thanos’s. Even after suffering severe injuries, the damage inflicted by the Stones was lighter than what Thanos had endured, and he could still display part of his strength.

His overall combat power was probably about the same as before he went to Saka Planet?

"Clark!" Seeing Li Congxin badly injured, Tony immediately came over and tried to support him, but Li Congxin waved him off.

After signaling that he was fine, Li Congxin casually took out the box containing Senzu Beans, removed one, and swallowed it. He immediately felt his condition improve somewhat.

But it had only improved somewhat.

To recover further on this timeline, he would have to slowly expel the cosmic energy remaining inside his body.

With a casual gesture, the mechanical gauntlet bearing the Stones fell into his palm again. Then, with a thought, he stored it in the mage’s personal space.

Seeing this, Tony asked in confusion, "Clark, shouldn’t we return the Infinity Stones to their respective places now? The longer these things stay with us, the more variables we introduce."

Hearing this, Li Congxin could only smile bitterly. "In my current condition, I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to return the Soul Stone without anything going wrong. I need a few days to recover."

Captain America stepped forward. "How about I go…"

Li Congxin glanced at Captain America and gently shook his head. "The condition for obtaining the Soul Stone is sacrificing the life of someone you love as an offering—exchanging soul for soul. Five years ago, Thanos only obtained the Soul Stone after sacrificing the life of his beloved daughter, Gamora."

With a faint smile, Li Congxin asked Captain America, "Take a guess. How do you think I got my Infinity Stone?"

The instant he said this, the entire scene was thrown into shock!

Captain America asked, somewhat astonished, "You stole it from Thanos?"

Li Congxin smiled calmly, which amounted to an admission.

Received 99,999 Impression Points from Tony Stark!

Received 99,999 Impression Points from Steve Rogers!

Received Impression Points from Thor…

At that moment, the future Avengers looked at Li Congxin with expressions that were difficult to describe in words.

Earlier, they had watched him retrieve the Stone with such ease and without saying a word. They had assumed that obtaining the Soul Stone had been as effortless as Nebula and the others searching the abandoned Morag for the Power Stone.

Only now were they being told that he had actually stolen the Stone from Thanos!

He had stolen a Stone from Thanos and remained that calm?

As expected, the most lethal kind of showing off was the kind done without even trying!

After learning that the Soul Stone had come from Thanos, the group was no longer in a hurry to return it. It wasn’t that they wanted to stop him from snapping his fingers on another timeline or anything like that. Rather, everyone present knew that no one could guarantee they would return alive and in one piece after meeting Thanos!

Dying on the spot would have been one thing. But if Thanos captured them and somehow learned about this world’s situation from them, who knew what unpredictable chain reactions might follow?

Compared with that, it was safer to leave those Infinity Stones in Li Congxin’s hands for a while longer.

Li Congxin kept the gauntlet embedded with the Infinity Stones beside him partly to guard against a sudden attack from Thanos on another timeline.

Given Li Congxin’s current condition, as long as he had the gauntlet in hand, he was still absolutely confident he could snap his fingers once more without dying.

If Thanos came now, that would be perfect. One snap would settle everything once and for all.

Returning to the meditation chamber alone, Li Congxin finally found time to bring up the system interface. He selected the "Random BGM Draw Card" he had received from activating the "Snap Your Fingers" achievement and chose to use it.

Since it was an unexpected bonus, Li Congxin hadn’t held out much hope for this BGM that merely added icing to the cake. However, when the result appeared, his eyes lit up.

"Difficult Sutra"

Level: 1 (Already at the highest level; cannot be upgraded)

Effect: Divine Might and Invincibility. During battle, it can increase the host’s combat power according to the strength of the host’s fighting spirit. The stronger the fighting spirit, the greater the increase!

The description was exceedingly simple, while the effect was practically a BUG!

More importantly, compared with other similarly BUG-level BGMs such as "Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss," this BGM had no restrictions at all. It also didn’t require a hefty expenditure of Impression Points every time it was used.

He could use it however he wanted!

Unfortunately, it couldn’t be used on this timeline.

Otherwise, why would he still worry about Thanos?

If he dared to come, he would kill him outright!

Speaking of which, Thanos should be appearing soon, right?

Li Congxin had prepared himself to fight at any moment. However, contrary to his expectations, the surprise attack that old Captain America had mentioned never came. A month passed, and everything remained as calm as ever.

The only change was that all the superheroes had revived and gathered together once more.

As for the injuries on Li Congxin’s body, after this period of effort, roughly seventy percent had healed. As for the remaining thirty percent, the cosmic energy that had eroded the deepest parts of his body was exceptionally stubborn. Completely neutralizing it would require at least several years of painstaking work.

Just as Tony had said before, every additional day the Infinity Stones from another timeline remained here represented a tremendous hidden threat. Li Congxin also couldn’t stay here permanently. Thus, once he felt that his injuries had stabilized, he discussed it with everyone and returned the borrowed Infinity Stones one by one.

The superhero side now had enough combat power that they no longer needed to snap their fingers to oppose Thanos. Without the support of immortality, a life-threatening snap was naturally best avoided whenever possible.

Only Thor’s Mjolnir was temporarily left behind, in case of emergencies.

Yet even after all the Stones had been returned, the promised Thanos still hadn’t come!

This left Li Congxin utterly puzzled. To get to the bottom of it, he found this world’s three leaders of the Avengers—Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, and several other important characters and top combatants from the Avengers—and decided to formally confront Nebula.

In the Avengers’ confidential meeting room, under everyone’s baffled gazes, Li Congxin looked at the somewhat guilty-looking Nebula and asked leisurely, "If I’m not mistaken, you aren’t the Nebula everyone thinks you are. You’re the Nebula from 2014, from another timeline. Am I right?"

Nebula was startled, but still forced herself to remain calm as she countered, "How did you know?"

"It wasn’t difficult to guess," Li Congxin said. "Although you’ve behaved yourself during this time, your eyes betrayed you. If one paid close attention, it wouldn’t be hard to see that you were hiding something."

Nebula fell silent again. Only after a moment did she sigh and ask, "What are you planning to do with me?"

The Avengers were all incomparably shocked. Nebula’s words amounted to a tacit admission that Li Congxin’s guess was entirely correct.

There’s a traitor among us!