The Ancient One's Reluctant Compromise
The Ancient One felt she was about to be driven mad by Xia Yu's shameless behavior. Compared to the current situation, where Xia Yu was watching the show inside while smoking a cigar, the Ancient One would much rather Xia Yu simply crush her and defeat her.
That way, I'll have a reason to give up, since the task of protecting the Earth will eventually be handed over to someone else anyway.
In fact, over the years, the division of labor in protecting Earth has been quite clear. The lineage of the Ancient One has always been dedicated to resisting invasions from other dimensional worlds, such as dimensional lords like Dormammu.
Asgard suppressed other aliens in the universe who had designs on the Nine Realms, such as the Kree Empire. Minor conflicts were acceptable, such as the one involving Captain Marvel.
If anyone dares to act as if they want to Earth-Destroyer, let alone Odin, the Bifrost alone could wipe them out.
Although Doctor Strange is still a Surgeon, the Ancient One has already chosen him as her successor. As for Odin, the rise of the Avengers was already within Odin and the Ancient One's expectations.
However, Xia Yu's arrival completely shattered their expectations for the future.
The future is becoming increasingly uncertain, even though many times it seems to be heading in a better direction.
Therefore, Odin's attitude was to fully cooperate, and he threw Thor to Xia Yu's side early on.
However, perhaps due to her personality, the Ancient One was always uneasy about Xia Yu's appearance, especially after he obtained so many Infinity Stones.
The Ancient One was someone who liked to control everything, as evidenced by her absorbing dark power to sustain her lifespan until Doctor Strange appeared before finally passing away.
So in order to see the future, she did not hesitate to forcibly use the Eye of Agamotto, but not only did she fail, she also suffered considerable injuries.
She even went to Asgard to talk to Odin about this.
I had already decided to let him go.
However, Xia Yu's appearance today prompted Ancient One to once again test the waters.
In fact, the Ancient One's idea was very simple: to give Xia Yu a good lesson and, as an elder, to warn him that the Infinity Stones were not things that could be controlled or kept at will.
As a result, the palm strike that Astral Projection was ineffective. They tried to pull him into the Mirror Dimension to beat him up, but they couldn't even break through the Reality Stone's defenses.
The fact that Xia Yu acted so shamelessly in the face of her attack only made Ancient One even more furious.
The intense, concentrated attack didn't last long, as the Ancient One was still injured.
The Ancient One stopped attacking; unless she used the Time Stone, she was truly helpless against Xia Yu.
However, the Time Stone cannot be used lightly, and it might not even be effective against Xia Yu.
Xia Yu casually tossed the cigar into his ring space, stood up, and shook his hands and feet.
"Auntie, you must be tired. It's my turn now."
Xia Yu threw a simple punch at Ancient One, without any special techniques, just a punch with enough power, fierce and fast.
The Ancient One had countless ways to dodge that punch, but firstly, she was injured, and secondly, she had already expended too much energy.
We have no choice but to take it.
However, the Ancient One truly lived up to her title as the Sorcerer Supreme.
Unlike other sorcerers who use magic to create a single ring for defense, the Ancient One conjured dozens of densely packed magical rings in front of her.
Dozens of magical rings stood before the Ancient One. Although they had left Ancient One body and could only exist for a short time, they were more than enough to defend against Xia Yu's punch.
"Boom!~!"
When Xia Yu's fist clashed with the magical energy, it produced a thunderous sound.
Dozens of layers of magical energy were shattered by Xia Yu with overwhelming force.
Energy that leaves the mage's body is like water without a source; it doesn't provide the same defensive power as when it's in one's hand.
Fortunately, there were enough of them; the magical energy from dozens of layers dissipated more than 90% of Xia Yu's power.
The last bit of force landed on the last magical ring in the Ancient One's hand.
Even if Xia Yu's power was less than 10% remaining, it was still something that ordinary people could not resist. Ancient One's energy was almost completely exhausted at this moment, so although she managed to block this attack.
However, the impact of the punch still sent her flying more than ten meters, and a trace of blood appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Xia Yu didn't use his full strength in that punch, and Ancient One's injury was unexpected.
Xia Yu quickly ran over, this time Xia Yu was very serious.
"I didn't expect you to not dodge that punch. It seems your injuries are indeed quite serious."
Xia Yu didn't waste any words, but directly used his Internal Energy to enter Ancient One's body and begin to help her heal.
With one hand helping Ancient One heal her wounds, he casually waved the other hand, and the two returned to the real world.
The Ancient One's expression became even stranger.
Xia Yu's strength was not beyond her imagination. Although the protective shield created by the Reality Stone was indeed very strong, the Ancient One was capable of resisting someone like Dormammu. Even Odin could not say that he was absolutely confident in defeating the Ancient One.
However, Xia Yu's various abilities completely countered the Ancient One. Spatial abilities were ineffective against Xia Yu, as was Astral Projection. Even magical energy attacks could not break through the defense of the Aether.
As for using absolute power to shake Xia Yu within the Aether, that's a joke.
It's like Black Panther; even though he's wearing Armor and others can't break through his defenses, Hulk can still send him flying with a single punch.
However, even sorcerers like those at Kamar-Taj couldn't directly knock Xia Yu away, and even the Ancient One couldn't do it.
The abilities of their lineage of mages are now perfectly countered by Xia Yu.
As mentioned earlier, the Ancient One wanted to teach Xia Yu a lesson, but if Xia Yu were to be overwhelmingly powerful and simply crush her, the Ancient One would accept it, as it would prove that Xia Yu possessed the strength to protect the Earth with the Infinity Stones.
At least the strength of herself or Odin.
But who could have predicted this outcome? Xia Yu was like a monster; while not exceptionally strong, he possessed numerous abilities and knew how to control himself, which greatly troubled Ancient One. Could she possibly persuade Xia Yu by force?
No way! I admit that Xia Yu can protect Earth, or rather, the Infinity Stones.
It seems their strength isn't enough either.
The Ancient One must be feeling terrible.
Xia Yu seemed to know what Ancient One was thinking.
He spoke calmly while tending to his wounds.
"Stop overthinking, Auntie. Everything has its own way of operating; existence is its own justification. You've protected the Earth for so many years; it's time to learn to let go gradually. At least so far, we've done a pretty good job, haven't we?"
Xia Yu said calmly.
In this respect, the Ancient One is far inferior to Odin. Odin came to Earth, used his last strength to suppress Hela, and at the same time, he did not forget to spend his final moments as an ordinary old man, quietly reminiscing about the past.
Sometimes, people just need to learn to let go.
It seems that some successful entrepreneurs hold onto power tightly, refusing to relinquish it to the next generation, always assuming that the other party will not do a good job. Little do they know that they must let go and allow the next generation to try things out for themselves, even if they stumble a few times.
While protecting the world doesn't allow for mistakes, the principle remains the same: since you can't exist forever, and you're destined to hand over responsibility to others, it's better to let go decisively.
She couldn't win a fight, nor could she win an argument; what else could Ancient One say?
Hearing Xia Yu's words, Ancient One could only sigh silently in his heart.
He asked Xia Yu, "Now you can tell me what you came to see me for, right? And what are you going to do with those Infinity Stones? At least tell me."