Blackmailing Mephisto

"Does it have to be a human soul? Couldn't it be some cats and dogs or something? After all, in this day and age, there are plenty of people willing to sacrifice themselves for their cats and dogs."

"I hope the animal rights people don't hear you, or you're done for..." Natasha turned her head and joked.

No one took Hawkeye seriously. After all, they had already said it was the person they loved most, so the prerequisite definitely had to be a human.

Yet he gave Lin Xu some inspiration!

The soul of the person one loved most—who said it had to be from a living person? Wouldn't a pure soul work?

As for where to get the soul... that would require a negotiation.

Lin Xu looked up at the group: "I'll figure something out next. You guys do whatever you need to do, but wait for me to get back!"

"What are you going to do?"

"Find a god and ask for a pair of loving souls!"

"We're a team, we should work together!" Captain America looked at Lin Xu and said with a serious expression on his face.

"This is called division of labor and cooperation!"

After speaking, Lin Xu gave everyone a smile and opened a Mystic Portal leading to the Kamar-Taj Library.

Kamar-Taj was in the middle of the night at this moment. Master Hamir, the temporary administrator who had retired and been rehired, merely glanced up at Lin Xu, then went back to dozing off. His son had greeted him beforehand, so there was nothing much to guard against.

This time, the book Lin Xu wanted to find was a forbidden book he had never flipped through before: the advanced version of the "Mystic Portal", the "Dimension Portal"—a mystic art that allowed one to walk directly through other dimensions!

At the very top of the bookshelf, Lin Xu found the "Dimension Portal", which was bound by iron chains.

"This book is dangerous!" Hamir came up to Lin Xu, his gaze not leaving the forbidden book.

"Weren't you sleeping?"

"The things inside this book easily break the boundaries of reality and illusion. It's dangerous!" Hamir continued, only this time, he shifted his gaze to Lin Xu, or rather, to the Eye of Agamotto hanging in front of Lin Xu's chest.

"In short, use it with caution!"

"Relax, I'll just use it once." Lin Xu patted his chest, with a deadpan, serious look on his face.

"I hope so..."

This time, Lin Xu did not practice in the training ground, but came to the secret chamber. In the past, the secret chamber was used to preserve the holy relics the Eye of Agamotto and the Time Stone, and it had been empty since five years ago.

Five hours later~

Lin Xu closed the forbidden book and rubbed his somewhat swollen brow. Since he began practicing mystic arts, this was the hardest mystic art he had encountered.

Opening a Dimension Portal required extremely tedious methods, and even necessitated the combined use of multiple mystic arts.

First, simulate the power of that dimension and connect to it. For example, this time, if he wanted to connect to the Hell Dimension, he needed to use mystic arts such as "Hellfire".

Then inject the power into the "Mystic Portal" to open the connecting passage.

Next, use the "Shield of the Seraphim" to prop up the "Dimension Portal" to prevent it from collapsing.

Finally, use the "Mirror Dimension" to seal the area around the "Dimension Portal" and prevent the dimensional power from leaking out!

Therefore, to open a Dimension Portal, he also needed to master "Hellfire", "Shield of the Seraphim", and "Mirror Dimension"!

However, it did not matter. The time was still early, and the Avengers should still need some time to craft the quantum suits and build the Quantum Tunnel.

Moreover, these things could still be used after learning them. Things learned in one's belly were always better than consumables.

Let's do this!

Ten days of time flashed by, and during these ten days, aside from three hours of divine power conversion every day, Lin Xu spent all his remaining time on mystic art cultivation.

After all, this was opening a Dimension Portal, and he had to achieve complete proficiency.

And his own physical strength was infinitely approaching that of Failure-Man. He estimated that in another month, he would be able to start bearing divine power with his physical body.

If the mystic arts didn't require energy, he would have planned to fuse all his divine power into his flesh and achieve Dao through physical force or something. Unfortunately, this was the Marvel Universe; how could a brute be as handsome as a magic user?

Pulling back his thoughts, Lin Xu took a deep breath and began to open the Dimension Portal according to the steps!

As the incantations and various mystic arts were cast out, a portal completely different from a Mystic Portal quickly opened on the wall of the secret chamber!

Dark red smoke carrying a thick smell of sulfur poured out from the portal.

"Mephisto, I've come to negotiate terms with you~"

"Interesting!"

Tack~ tack~ tack~

Accompanied by a clicking of the tongue in wonder, a figure walked out of the portal. The newcomer was completely different from the legendary image—no ram horns, no skeletons.

He wore a well-fitted dark-red suit, his hair combed to a brilliant shine, and leaned on a walking stick in his hand, a spitting image of an English Gentleman grandfather.

What is this? Do you big shots all like this kind of outfit?

"Respected Lord of Hell, Mr. Mephisto, hello!" Since he was asking people for things, politeness was still necessary.

Seeing this, perhaps feeling playful or genuinely acting the gentleman, Mephisto reversed his right hand to grip the cane in front of him, placed his left hand behind his back, and bowed slightly.

"Oh, hello, nameless mage~"

"Mr. Mephisto, I'm contacting you this time mainly because I want something~"

"This is the first time someone has proactively asked me for something. It's a bit interesting. Why don't you tell me about it?"

Seeing that Lin Xu was neither servile nor overbearing, Mephisto grew interested. He took two steps forward, and the intense smell of sulfur rushed straight into Lin Xu's nose.

He silently took half a step back to maintain his gentlemanly demeanor: "Ahem, it's just a pair of souls in true love. I'd imagine Mr. Mephisto has a grand household and wouldn't be stingy, right?"

"...What did you just say? I didn't catch that." Hearing this, Mephisto leaned back abruptly and incidentally made a gesture of picking his ear.

"I said, I want a pair of souls in true love!"

"Hahahaha, too funny, hahahahahha, the first time, the first time someone has come to me asking for souls!"

Mephisto first laughed heartily, then abruptly wiped away his smile, closed the distance to right in front of Lin Xu in the blink of an eye, his tone incomparably gloomy!

"Kid, the Eye of Agamotto, the bones of that old fellow Hoggoth, Odin's Gungnir—you do have quite a few trump cards, but do you think having these things means you can talk to me like this?"

Though he spoke thus, Mephisto did not make a move directly. He believed that someone capable of possessing all these things at the same time could definitely not be a fool, and he wanted to hear the rest. After all, right at the start, this person had said he was here to negotiate terms!

Seeing this, Lin Xu finally smiled. The old bastard hadn't struck immediately, which proved there was room for talk!

"Mr. Mephisto, I think these past five years must have been very hard for you!"

"What do you mean?"

"Five years ago, someone with a broken brain from the Titans race gathered the Six Infinity Stones and said something about the balance of the universe. With a single snap, half of the universe lost its people, and that half didn't even have their souls left behind. In these five years, the entry of souls into hell has presumably been only half of what it used to be!"

Lin Xu endured the pungent stench of sulfur and watched, smiling, as Mephisto's complexion grew increasingly ugly~

"Even though the population will grow back after hundreds or thousands of years, hell will have to face this low soul income for quite a long time to come. Are you really willing to accept this?"

To be honest, this scene was truly a bit of the world turning upside down. There had only ever been Mephisto tricking others, and now someone was actually tricking him. However, he did not care about these minor details right now.

Because these past few years had indeed been wretched for him. As the Lord of Hell, hell was his foundation. As long as hell did not perish, he would not die. But hell needed nourishment, and the more abundant the nourishment, the more powerful his strength became.

And the nourishment of hell was souls!!!

"Humph, of course I'm not willing. Could it be that you can make those vanished people come back?"

"Bingo!" Lin Xu snapped his fingers, making Mephisto's heart skip a beat, and then continued, "I can indeed make those people return. At that time, the soul income of your hell will become just like it used to be!"

"So a pair of souls in true love is the price you're offering?"

"Of course... not..."

The corner of Lin Xu's mouth hooked up.

"This pair of souls is just one link in it. As I said earlier, I'm here to negotiate terms! So..."

Hehe, official business handled, now it was time to skim some profits. The former was just by the way, while the latter was Lin Xu's true purpose. Otherwise, would he face the Lord of Hell directly just because of a not-so-close Natasha?

As a dimension lord who kept company with souls year-round, Mephisto could be said to be an expert at playing with human hearts. He saw through Lin Xu's purpose at a glance—the dog was looking for benefits.

He didn't want to give them, but he had to give them!

However, things belonging to him, Mephisto, were not so easily taken!

"I have a Flame of Vengeance here. I wonder if you can make use of it."

Mephisto: Kid, I'm going to lock down your soul.

"I can use it, I can use it, I can make plenty of use of it!"

Lin Xu: Hiding a soul contract, are you? I'll use the Book of the Vishanti directly and purify it into usable energy!

"Pleasure doing business, kid~"

"Pleasure doing business, respected Mr. Mephisto!"