Chapter Summaries

Xia Yu survived the Time Variance Authority headquarters’ self-destruct and returned to the Avengers Compound, where Natasha and Tony had already arrived from their time-travel mission. The chapter ended with Xia Yu reappearing on the Quantum Tunnel.

• The Main Universe Time Variance Authority director activated the self-destruct and blamed his clones for the crisis involving Xia Yu.
• Xia Yu sensed the headquarters was about to be destroyed and stored a mysterious transparent tube in his bracelet before escaping the annihilating light.
• Natasha and Tony returned to the Avengers Compound, where Captain and Dr. Pym asked about Xia Yu and the time-travel mission.
• Tony joked with Ant-Man and the others before confirming that he and Natasha had traveled to the past.
• After half an hour, Xia Yu appeared on the Quantum Tunnel and returned to full size.

Xia Yu and Stan Lee examined a mysterious structure taken from the Time Variance Authority and discovered it projected the universe’s destiny. The vision showed Xia Yu’s influence had changed the past, though the structure was only a projection rather than destiny itself.

• Xia Yu returned to the base and hugged Natasha and Tony, then punched Tony through a glass wall after Tony joked about his marriage.
• Xia Yu met Stan Lee in a bar the old man had created and showed him the enormous tube taken from the Time Variance Authority.
• Stan Lee identified the tube as the Pillar of Destiny, with each golden thread representing a person and thicker threads marking greater influence.
• Xia Yu sensed that the large golden dot intertwined with many threads represented himself, then found that the Avengers’ destinies matched the original movies before his arrival and ended at the present.
• Xia Yu examined Ancient One’s thread and saw that her past had broken where she had died in the original timeline, while her new destiny began from his dot.
• Stan Lee told Xia Yu that the structure was only a projection of destiny and that his changes had mattered.

Xia Yu learned Stan Lee's theory that the River of Destiny might be a counterfeit made after the original was destroyed, while Natasha and Tony told the Avengers what their futures held. The Avengers were left to react to their fates, with Thor focused on whether he had really become fat.

• Xia Yu asked Stan Lee whether the River of Destiny was merely a terminal, and Stan explained that it embodied the movie world's predetermined story.
• Stan Lee speculated that the original River of Destiny for their timeline had been destroyed and that the Cosmic Will had rebuilt a counterfeit from projections of other timelines.
• Xia Yu considered that the world might have been destroyed before, put away the object Stan Lee gave him, and left the club.
• Natasha and Tony recounted to Captain America, Hawkeye, Banner, and Thor the tragic futures they had seen, while withholding Natasha and Banner's relationship.
• Tony asked the Avengers what they thought, and Thor seriously asked whether he had really become fat.

The Avengers agreed to oppose the fate shown by the man in black, while Natasha prepared to talk with Xia Yu about what they knew. Xia Yu confessed that he was a transmigrator and told Natasha about his past and the system, and she answered by embracing and kissing him.

• Thor, Tony, Hawkeye, Banner, and Captain joined Natasha in rejecting the fate that threatened their world.
• Banner urged the Avengers to tell Xia Yu what they knew, and Natasha agreed to think about how to approach him.
• Natasha welcomed Xia Yu home and prepared to speak with him, but Xia Yu first confessed that he was a transmigrator.
• Xia Yu told Natasha about his origins, the system, the World Tree's Source, and what he had learned in the Quantum Realm.
• Natasha responded to Xia Yu's confession by kissing him and pulling him close.

Xia Yu and the Avengers planned to recover the Infinity Stones and rescue the lives lost in the Snap before confronting the Time Variance Authority. Their preparations were interrupted when Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian arrived in New York, where Xia Yu led the Avengers in an attack.

• Xia Yu and Natasha shared their secrets and reaffirmed their love, while Natasha told him how the Avengers had supported him.
• The Avengers planned to search the Quantum Realm for the Time Variance Authority and travel to 2018 to take the Soul Stone from a weakened Thanos.
• The Black-Clad Man ordered the Time Variance Authority to recreate events as a warm-up and activated a controller to reclaim the independent personalities of its branches.
• Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian landed near the New York Sanctum to take Doctor Strange’s Time Stone.
• Xia Yu appeared with Scarlet Witch, Iron Man, Captain, Hawkeye, Vision, Thor, and other heroes, then ordered them to attack Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian.

The Avengers captured and searched Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian, then sent their ship into space with nano-trackers, but it was destroyed and the signal vanished. While Xia Yu pondered the mysteries behind the incident, Captain Marvel arrived and confronted him about a metal fragment that had hit her head.

• Doctor Strange declined to join the Avengers’ beating, while Wong eagerly joined in and attacked Cull Obsidian with Xia Yu’s folding stool.
• Xia Yu told Doctor Strange that the aliens had come for the Time Stone and asked him to bring Ancient One to the Avengers Compound to discuss the multiverse.
• The Avengers found nothing useful on Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, or their ship, so they implanted nano-trackers and sent the aliens back into space.
• The ship was destroyed less than two minutes later, leaving Xia Yu to wonder about the person behind the system and resolve to retrieve the Soul Stone.
• Captain Marvel encountered Xia Yu in space and accused him of sending a metal fragment that had struck her head.

Xia Yu joined Captain Marvel in investigating the strange energy emitted by planets spared from the Snap. Deep beneath a planet’s core, they found the energy’s source: the River of Destiny.

• Xia Yu explained to Captain Marvel that he had thrown two of Thanos’s men into space, where their ship had exploded, and asked why she was so far from Earth.
• Captain Marvel showed Xia Yu a planet whose inhabitants emitted an unfamiliar energy that seeped underground, a phenomenon she had found on ninety-two planets spared from the Snap.
• Xia Yu and Captain Marvel descended through the planet’s crust, tracking the energy with her detector while Xia Yu protected them from the extreme heat and pressure.
• They discovered a hidden chamber near the core, where Captain Marvel’s instrument detected the energy again.
• Xia Yu saw a mass of golden threads floating in the chamber and identified it as the River of Destiny.

Xia Yu brought Ancient One, Doctor Strange, and Tony to Earth's newly formed River of Destiny to investigate the Time Variance Authority and the nature of fate. Tony proposed that the universe, parallel universes, and planets worked like a hierarchy of servers, but the chapter ended before the group could test his theory.

• Xia Yu returned to the base, where Ancient One and Doctor Strange joined him and discussed the Time Variance Authority as a tool created by the Cosmic Will.
• Xia Yu took Ancient One, Doctor Strange, and Tony to Earth's core, where they found a River of Destiny that he called Earth's Fate Temple.
• Ancient One wondered whether planetary Rivers of Destiny had formed because Xia Yu took the universe's River of Destiny, and Xia Yu checked a fate thread and confirmed it appeared after their time travel.
• Doctor Strange compared Earth's separate River of Destiny to having its own server, prompting Tony to explain his server system and compare its hierarchy to the universe, parallel universes, and planets.

Tony explained how the River of Destiny and the Time Variance Authority related to the universe’s command system, leading Xia Yu to plan to replace the Main Universe’s commands. Xia Yu launched a universe-wide effort to disrupt planets’ destinies, while the Time Variance Authority sent Thanos’s entire army to attack Wakanda.

• Tony compared the River of Destiny to server logs and explained that the Time Variance Authority was trying to repair the universe’s commands.
• Xia Yu concluded that changing individual destinies would not end the Cosmic Will’s control and decided to replace the Main Universe’s commands outright.
• Xia Yu tested his plan by exchanging influential people between two planets, and each planet formed its own River of Destiny within a day.
• Xia Yu gave Ancient One and Kamar-Taj’s important figures Godhoods in exchange for portals, then strengthened Captain Marvel’s S.W.O.R.D. and enlisted the Skrulls to influence inhabited planets.
• The Time Variance Authority sent Thanos’s entire army to Wakanda.

Xia Yu prepared for the coming battle by marking the Temples of Destiny and protecting those close to him, then effortlessly destroyed Thanos’s invading force in Wakanda. While the Avengers remained busy changing events across the universe, Loki secretly met with a black-clad man connected to the Time Variance Authority.

• Xia Yu traveled between planets, searching for Rivers of Destiny and leaving his spiritual imprint in each planet’s Temple of Destiny.
• Xia Yu arrived in Wakanda as Black Panther and the Wakandan warriors charged at the alien army led by Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive.
• Xia Yu wiped out the alien legion and its spaceships with a giant energy sword, shattering Wakanda’s shield and leaving Black Panther frustrated that he had not fought.
• Tony Stark created a protective shield using Uru Metal and the Space Stone, while Xia Yu ensured the safety of his companions and the Avengers traveled between planets to change their fates.
• Loki, left under house arrest at the Avengers’ base and overlooked by Xia Yu, secretly met a black-clad man several times in AC City as the Time Variance Authority delayed its response.

Three years after Asgard’s destruction, Xia Yu’s team used a cosmic detector and Heimdall’s sight to seed destiny-changing events across the universe. Tony theorized that the Time Variance Authority was altering other universes to prevent Xia Yu from obtaining the Soul Stone’s complete Source, leaving Xia Yu wondering where he could find another Soul Stone.

• Xia Yu established a hall over the Endless Sea, where a detector tracked newly appearing Rivers of Destiny and Kamar-Taj sorcerers placed locators beside them.
• Heimdall and three sorcerers sought out primitive worlds and changed their destinies by posing as gods, while the Avengers’ work spread across the universe.
• The Time Variance Authority stopped harassing Xia Yu after Wakanda, and his searches of the Quantum Realm found no other TVA base.
• The Avengers traveled through multiple points in time after the 2018 Snap but could not find Thanos, whose disappearance suggested that other universes’ destinies had changed too.
• Tony argued that the TVA was using altered destinies as a safeguard against Xia Yu gaining the Soul Stone’s complete Source, and Xia Yu wondered where he could find another Soul Stone.

Xia Yu prepared for a party celebrating Peter and Harry’s college graduation as friends and family gathered at the Avengers Compound. Tony ended the chapter by asking Ned to secretly put an aphrodisiac in Peter and Michelle’s drinks, promising him Godhood if he obeyed.

• Xia Yu learned from Rocket that the Guardians of the Galaxy would arrive in time for the party.
• Xia Yu reflected on Tate’s growth as Tate arrived and hugged him and Yondu.
• Thor teased Ned about his weight, and Xia Yu promised him Godhood if he lost weight and gained abs.
• Ned told Xia Yu that Harry was visiting his mother and Peter and Michelle were shopping.
• Tony gave Ned a bottle of aphrodisiac and told him to put it in Peter and Michelle’s drinks if he wanted Godhood.

Xia Yu reunited with the Avengers at a party, where Tony scolded Peter for not taking initiative in his relationship with Michelle. Sif arrived and revealed that she had found a fragment of the Soul Stone, leaving Xia Yu shocked.

• Peter arrived at the party holding Michelle Jones's hand, and Xia Yu welcomed him and promised Godhoods for Peter, Michelle, and Aunt May.
• Tony pulled Peter aside and criticized him for graduating college while still being a virgin, prompting Rhodey to tease Tony about his own college dating life.
• The Avengers and their allies gathered for the party, including Doctor Strange, Wong, Ancient One, and Captain Marvel.
• Sif arrived with Valkyrie, reassured Xia Yu that she was not seeking to compete with Natasha, and explained that she had returned after finding something on a planet.
• Sif revealed a small orange gemstone fragment, and Xia Yu recognized it as the Soul Stone.

A fragment of the Soul Stone awakened Hulk, whose struggle with Banner threatened to erase one of them. Xia Yu separated Hulk’s soul, gave him a new body and an Asgardian Godhood, and Hulk’s return ended with the shockwave from their clash destroying Wong’s Sky Temple.

• Xia Yu realized Sif had found a missing fragment of the Soul Stone, and its presence awakened Hulk when Banner approached it.
• Banner and Hulk fought for control, so Xia Yu asked Ancient One to separate Hulk’s soul from Banner’s body.
• Ancient One struck Hulk’s soul out of Banner, and Xia Yu used soul energy to strengthen it.
• Xia Yu formed a new body from gathered energy, placed Hulk’s soul inside it, and gave him an Asgardian Godhood.
• Hulk awoke and punched Xia Yu, while Tony shielded the compound from the shockwave and Wong watched the Sky Temple collapse.

Inside the Soul Stone, Xia Yu met a mysterious man who called the place the Soul Temple and began recounting his own transmigration into the Marvel Universe. The man described how an encounter with the Tesseract and Loki’s Scepter transformed him, but had not yet explained who he was.

• Hulk collapsed after trading a punch with Xia Yu, and the group ended their party after settling him in.
• The next day, Xia Yu entered the Soul Stone’s space while holding its remaining fragment.
• A mysterious Huaxia man appeared, identified the place as the Soul Temple, and invited Xia Yu to hear his story.
• The man said he had transmigrated into the Marvel Universe, lost his girlfriend during the Battle of New York, and helped close the portal with Loki’s Scepter and the Tesseract.
• The man said the energy from the two Infinity Stones caused him to mutate, making the Avengers seem weak by comparison.

Yuwen Feishuang told Xia Yu a fabricated story about their shared past to distract him, then tried to take over his soul and return to life. The Ancient One’s defense awakened Xia Yu, who rejected Yuwen Feishuang and began destroying him.

• Yuwen Feishuang claimed he had absorbed the Infinity Stones’ Source, helped cause the universe’s destruction, and created the system and Xia Yu as his continuation.
• Yuwen Feishuang revealed that Xia Yu’s memories were real but that his original name had been Yuwen Feishuang, then used the Mind Stone’s power to weaken Xia Yu’s awareness.
• Yuwen Feishuang entered Xia Yu’s soul and revealed his true plan to seize Xia Yu’s body, but the Ancient One’s defense appeared at the soul’s core.
• The Ancient One’s energy awakened Xia Yu, who recognized Yuwen Feishuang’s betrayal and began crushing his true spirit.

Xia Yu crushed Yuwen Feishuang, but Yuwen Feishuang self-destructed and badly damaged Xia Yu’s soul, leaving his body unconscious and drifting through space. The Guardians found and rescued him, but he still had not awakened.

• Xia Yu refused Yuwen Feishuang’s offer to surrender the Soul Stone’s Source and kept compressing the space around him.
• Yuwen Feishuang self-destructed, damaging Xia Yu’s soul and cracking the Soul Stone fragment; Xia Yu’s body spat blood and drifted away on a meteor.
• Rocket detected the energy fluctuation, and the Guardians searched the area, initially finding nothing.
• Drax spotted a frozen body on a passing meteor, and Mantis recognized it as Xia Yu.
• The Guardians retrieved Xia Yu and warmed him on a makeshift bed, but he remained unconscious with vital signs; Drax suggested roasting him over a bonfire.

Xia Yu remained unconscious despite being physically healthy, and Ancient One discovered that damage to his soul was causing it to dissipate. She, Doctor Strange, and Wong sealed the wound, waking Xia Yu, who immediately shouted about the old thief Yuwen.

• Tony brought Xia Yu back, but examinations and Hulk’s roar failed to wake him, leaving Natasha worried at his bedside.
• Dr. Pym suggested checking Xia Yu’s soul, and Natasha called Ancient One for help.
• Ancient One found that Xia Yu’s soul was badly damaged and dissipating after he absorbed the Soul Stone Fragment.
• Doctor Strange and Wong joined Ancient One in weaving a magical patch over the wound and sealing Xia Yu’s soul.
• Ancient One returned Xia Yu’s soul to his body, and he woke up shouting, “You old thief Yuwen!!!”

After the Soul Stone damaged Xia Yu’s soul, Ancient One warned him that his power was limited and that he needed another Soul Stone. Stan Lee revealed that he had recovered memories of the universe’s previous reincarnation, and Xia Yu ended the night resolved to establish the River of Destiny.

• Ancient One told Xia Yu that his soul had a hole and that his Source energy was leaking, so he needed to avoid using power.
• Xia Yu tested his abilities and found that he could still open portals but could only output about as much energy as Thor before his soul began to tear.
• Stan Lee appeared and told Xia Yu that the universe had undergone a previous reincarnation and that he had recovered memories of it.
• Stan Lee said Xia Yu needed another Soul Stone, but Xia Yu explained that the Avengers would not sacrifice someone’s loved one to obtain one.
• After drinking with Stan Lee, Xia Yu decided to rely on the River of Destiny and hurry to establish it.

Xia Yu forced Heimdall to scan the universe for planets where they could spread the River of Destiny, then went to Tony's lab to help with a new detector. When Xia Yu placed the River of Destiny on the ground, energy seemed to converge on it and Tony's alarm began blaring.

• Xia Yu made Heimdall scan galaxies around the clock while a robot armed with Gungnir watched him whenever Xia Yu was away.
• Xia Yu left to see Natasha, who told him Tony needed to examine the River of Destiny for a new detector.
• Xia Yu brought the River of Destiny to Tony's laboratory and placed it on the ground.
• Energy seemed to converge on the River of Destiny, and an alarm on Tony's desk sounded frantically.