Obtaining the Time Stone

"So it was hidden in this place!"

Xiao Hen wore a smile, looking at the rain forest below and the cabin beside the lakes. Inside the cabin, there were two familiar auras, and they were none other than Ancient One and Strange.

"Time Stone, Strange!" Xiao Hen took a single step, and when his figure appeared again, he was already outside the cabin.

"Not good!" Inside the cabin, Strange’s expression shifted. He sensed a life aura suddenly appear outside the cabin, and besides Xiao Hen, who else could possibly appear in such a manner?

"Sigh! Still unavoidable!" Ancient One opened her eyes and sighed.

"Teacher, let’s hurry and go!" Strange stood up, grabbed Ancient One’s hand, and prepared to trigger the power of the Time Stone to travel through the timeline.

"It’s useless. In this instant, I saw many things. The time of your death is right today! There’s no way to escape!" Ancient One sighed.

"How, how can this be…" Strange muttered.

"It seems you have already prepared yourselves to face death!" Xiao Hen’s voice drifted in from outside the house.

Boom!

The small wooden cabin burst apart with a deafening roar, revealing the two figures inside. Xiao Hen stood suspended in mid-air, looking indifferently at them both: "You managed to escape last time, but it won’t be so easy today!"

Xiao Hen pointed with his right hand, and a beam of divine power light originating from the Main God Avatar crashed down, transforming into a imprisonment array that enveloped a diameter of one hundred thousand meters around them, firmly sealing this space-time. Under such confinement, even with the Time Stone, attempting to cross the timeline would be exceptionally difficult and arduous.

"You, are you really going to exterminate us completely?" Strange’s expression was unsightly.

"Me? Exterminate?" Xiao Hen said: "It seems this is only our second meeting, where did this extermination come from?"

"Oh, it should be that you went to other timelines to oppose me and were hunted down by past versions of me many times! That has nothing to do with me!" Xiao Hen shook his head with a smile, and then said: "Hand over the Time Stone!"

"Impossible!" Strange said coldly: "Even in death, I will not hand the stone over to you. Before I die, I will banish the stone into the time rifts so you will never find it!"

"Can you even manage that in front of me?" Xiao Hen shook his head with a smile: "If you truly can do it, then it serves me right for not getting the Time Stone!"

Strange’s expression turned gloomy, and he softly said to Ancient One: "Teacher, let’s run in opposite directions!"

"There’s no running away!" Ancient One looked at Xiao Hen with a calm expression: "If we hand the Time Stone over to you, are you willing to spare our lives?"

"If it were before, I could!" Xiao Hen said: "But now, the surrounding space-time has been sealed by me, and the two of you are like meat on a chopping block, at my mercy. Naturally, the Time Stone is also mine. Since that’s the case, why should I let you leave? If you oppose me, you must be prepared to die at any moment!"

Ancient One stopped speaking, and a brief silence followed.

"It’s getting late, it’s time to send you on your way!" Xiao Hen stepped forward, extended a fair palm, and pressed down toward the two of them from mid-air.

"Strange! Hurry and go!" Ancient One suddenly raised her head, thrusting out one hand to open a spatial portal, pushing Strange right into it.

"No, Teacher!" Strange shouted loudly.

"How remarkable." Seeing this, Xiao Hen was not the least bit anxious: "To actually be able to open a spatial portal under space-time confinement—only, this is merely a spatial portal. Since I set up such a space-time confinement, could I possibly lack a backup plan even if you opened a spatial portal at the cost of your own life!?"

At that moment, Strange had already been pushed into the spatial portal by Ancient One. On the other side of the portal was a desert.

The moment Strange tumbled out into the desert, his expression turned unsightly. He could practically foresee the consequences after Ancient One opened this spatial portal at the cost of her life.

"Hurry and go, Strange. Don’t think about revenge. Since we cannot stop him, just find a place to hide. Go to the universe, go to the depths of the universe, and hide—hide as deep as you can!" Ancient One’s final voice echoed over, sounding somewhat low and heavy.

"Teacher…" Strange’s expression flickered uncertainly for a moment, and then he hardened his resolve. He gripped the Eye of Agamotto on his chest, within which the Time Stone was concealed. He prepared to trigger the power of the Time Stone to travel through the timeline, escape Xiao Hen’s gaze, and then follow Ancient One’s words to head toward the depths of the universe, seeking a place beyond Xiao Hen’s reach to hide.

"What a pity!"

A voice of regret came from behind Strange, instantly causing his body to stiffen.

"You, how did you…"

"How did I know the spatial portal linked to this place?" Xiao Hen said with a smile: "Because the entire Earth is within my control!"

"Did you think the space-time I sealed was only one hundred thousand meters in diameter? That was merely the surface. In truth, the space-time of the entire Earth has been sealed. The opening range of a spatial portal can only remain within the sealed boundary! No matter how you travel, you can only stay within the sealed area. It is completely useless."

Strange immediately fell silent. After a good while, he asked: "How is Teacher Ancient One?"

"You mean her?" Xiao Hen waved a hand, and an intact corpse dropped down from the sky, crashing onto the yellow sand and rolling over a few times.

"Teacher…" Strange looked at Ancient One’s corpse. The future Ancient One had died right before his eyes, and now, the past Ancient One was also dying before him—one died at the hands of the rebellious disciple Kassillius, and the other died at the hands of Xiao Hen.

After a moment, Strange took a deep breath, his complicated gaze instantly clearing up. He abruptly raised his head to look at Xiao Hen: "It seems I am bound to die today?"

"Yes!" Xiao Hen nodded. He truly had no intention of sparing Strange.

"Teacher Ancient One died at your hands, and I too am about to die by your hand, yet you still want the Time Stone?" Strange’s expression suddenly turned exceptionally ferocious. He violently yanked off the Eye of Agamotto on his chest, let out an upward roar to the heavens, and surged his entire body’s magical power. A bizarre fluctuation emanated, and space-time was forcibly struck until a fissure appeared. This was a true crack; Strange had actually relied on his own magical power, stacked with the power of the Time Stone, to forcibly tear open a gap in the space-time confinement condensed by the Main God Avatar.

Inside this space-time fissure, everything was in a state of chaos, surging with a turbid aura. No living beings existed there, only the primordial state of chaos and the very beginning of all things.

Strange threw the Eye of Agamotto right inside, laughing maniacally: "Even in death, I will not let you obtain the Time Stone!"

Looking at the crazed-looking Strange, Xiao Hen’s expression remained calm and composed, as though everything was well within expectations.

"I said, you will die, and the Time Stone will not be lost!"

"A space-time fissure? I am quite familiar with that place!" Xiao Hen’s figure flickered, and he had already appeared within the space-time fissure. With a casual scoop of his hand, he already held the Eye of Agamotto, and with another flicker of his figure, he was standing right in front of Strange.

"Everything is over!"