Chapter Summaries

Su Ming offered to heal the winner of a drinking contest, prompting Tony, Rhodey, and Thor to compete for cures to their injuries. Thor outlasted the others, but Su Ming healed all three before the chapter ended with Tony restored and Rhodey standing again.

• Su Ming promised to heal the arm, eye, or legs of whoever among Tony, Rhodey, and Thor won the drinking contest.
• Tony and Rhodey eagerly accepted the challenge, Thor joined for the chance to restore his eye, and Rocket took bets from the spectators.
• Thor drank fastest, Tony carefully analyzed the liquor, and Rhodey persevered through his weakness until he passed out first.
• Tony also passed out, leaving Thor standing as the apparent winner.
• Su Ming released golden healing light that repaired Rhodey's spine and legs, allowing him to rise from his wheelchair.
• The light restored Tony's injured left hand, leaving it stronger and more agile than before.

Su Ming healed Tony Stark, Rhodey, Thor, and everyone at the base, restoring their injuries and leaving them celebrating. Doctor Strange arrived with urgent news about Thanos and the Infinity Stones, but froze when he realized Su Ming was the person the Ancient One had told him to seek out.

• Su Ming's golden power restored Thor's sight and healed the injuries and fatigue of everyone in the base.
• Doctor Strange opened a portal into the base, intending to warn Tony Stark about an urgent discovery.
• Strange recognized Su Ming as the powerful figure the Ancient One had told him to find and was overcome with shock.
• Strange introduced himself to Su Ming and asked why everyone was celebrating.
• Rocket, Tony, Rhodey, and Thor explained that Su Ming had healed them as the prize in a drinking bet, leaving Strange stunned by the casual display of healing.

Strange arrived at the base to warn everyone that Thanos was coming for the Infinity Stones, but the warning was interrupted when he recognized Banner as the one who had smashed his house. Su Ming asked where Vision was, and a startled voice called out from the doorway.

• Strange saw Tony, Rhodey, and Thor healed and questioned why his own hands remained damaged despite becoming Sorcerer Supreme.
• Strange warned Tony and the others that Thanos was coming to collect the Infinity Stones, including at least two on Earth.
• Thor and Loki reacted with fear, while the Galaxy Guard Corps and the others trusted Su Ming to handle Thanos.
• Banner emerged from the lounge, and Strange accused him of smashing the roof of his New York Sanctum.
• Banner apologized and offered to pay for the repairs, while Su Ming dismissed the issue and asked where Vision was.
• A young voice shouted from the doorway that every hair on its body had stood straight up.

Thanos's advance force arrived in New York, and Tony, Strange, Banner, and Peter fought Black Dwarf and Ebony Maw. Peter ended up trapped in space, prompting Tony to send him a nanotech suit, while Su Ming watched and Pietro asked for a new suit too.

• Su Ming showed the group Black Dwarf and Ebony Maw arriving in New York, but he declined to intervene as Tony and Strange went to fight them.
• Banner tried to summon Hulk without success, and Peter joined the battle to help Tony and Strange.
• Ebony Maw distracted Strange with rubble, captured him, and dragged him aboard the spacecraft; Peter followed them inside as it launched into space.
• Peter began suffocating without oxygen, so Tony activated Protocol '17-A' and sent a nanotech storage pod to deliver a suit to him.
• Su Ming explained that Peter needed to go out so he could get a new suit, and Pietro asked Su Ming for one too.

Su Ming encountered Earth's Will, who offered him the Earth Human Faith Core in exchange for becoming Earth's guardian. He accepted the contract and returned to the base newly connected to Earth's Planetary Force, ready to confront the Obsidian Warriors.

• Su Ming's consciousness was drawn into a strange dimension, where he met Earth's Will.
• Earth's Will offered Su Ming the Earth Human Faith Core and explained the guardian's duties and access to Planetary Force.
• Su Ming tested the Faith Core's power and felt it greatly strengthen his understanding and control of Faith Energy.
• Su Ming agreed to become Earth's guardian, and the Earth Human Faith Core merged with his consciousness as a contract mark formed.
• Su Ming returned to the base and faced the holographic image of the Obsidian Warriors with new confidence.

After becoming Earth's Guardian, Su Ming sensed threats around the planet and used his new powers to intervene from afar. Wanda overwhelmed Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight, while Su Ming flung Black Dwarf into space and punished a group worshipping outside a restroom with torrential rain and hail.

• Su Ming sensed Vision being attacked by Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight and sent Wanda to help him.
• Wanda opened a rift with her Chaos Magic, defeated Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight, and astonished Vision and the arriving Black Widow and Captain America.
• Su Ming flicked his hand and sent Black Dwarf flying through the atmosphere into space, allowing Tony to pursue Ebony Maw's spacecraft.
• Su Ming found fanatical believers worshipping outside a public restroom and summoned a downpour over them.
• When the worshippers welcomed the rain, Su Ming turned it into hail that battered them and damaged the restroom.
• Loki watched Su Ming's displays of power and decided to behave himself on Earth.

Tony boarded an alien spaceship bound for Titan while Peter struggled to cling to it, and Banner and Wong responded to the missing Time Stone. At Su Ming’s base, Thor discussed Thanos as Quill grew jealous of Thor’s attention toward Gamora and began imitating him.

• Tony sent Peter back with the new suit’s parachute, then boarded the spaceship after postponing his dinner with Pepper.
• Peter climbed back onto the ship as Ebony Maw accelerated it toward Titan, while Banner found Tony’s phone and Wong went to investigate the unguarded Sanctum Sanctorum.
• Gamora explained Thanos’s plan to kill half of all life, and Thor confronted her before Quill clarified that Thanos was her adoptive father.
• Thor searched Su Ming’s base for a weapon, and Quill refused to let him take a fleet spaceship.
• Quill imitated Thor’s voice, prompting Rocket and Mantis to call him out before Thor confronted him.

Thor deduced that Thanos would target Knowhere, then insisted on traveling to Nidavellir to forge a weapon. Su Ming revealed that he already possessed the battleaxe blank Thor needed, leaving Thor stunned.

• Gamora urged the group to stop Thanos, and Thor reasoned that Thanos would go to Knowhere for the Reality Stone.
• Thor said they needed to visit Nidavellir, and Rocket agreed to join him after Thor flattered him.
• Valkyrie rebuked Rocket for agreeing to go without consulting Su Ming.
• Su Ming remembered taking a battleaxe blank from the Grandmaster's treasury on Sakaar.
• Su Ming summoned the axe-shaped metal, and Thor recognized it as the weapon he needed.

Su Ming negotiated with Thor for Nidavellir’s coordinates and forge access in exchange for the Thunderfire Battleaxe Core, then convinced Earth’s Will to approve the trip as a business mission. Earth’s Will gave him a ton of Vibranium, and the group prepared to leave for Nidavellir.

• Thor recognized the Thunderfire Battleaxe Core as a weapon suited to him, but Su Ming refused to give it away and asked what Thor could trade for it.
• Loki accused Su Ming of stripping Asgard of its wealth, so Su Ming offered the core in exchange for Nidavellir’s star-map coordinates and permission to use its forge.
• Drax asked to have his chipped twin blades upgraded, while Loki pointed out that Su Ming had just demanded payment from Thor.
• Earth’s Will scolded Su Ming for leaving without permission, but he convinced her the trip was a business mission to improve his ability to protect Earth.
• Earth’s Will approved the trip and gave Su Ming a ton of Vibranium, and Su Ming led the group toward Nidavellir.

The Avengers split into two teams, with Rocket leading Su Ming and others to Nidavellir while Quill, Gamora, and Drax headed to Knowhere for the Reality Stone. Back at the base, Alisha snapped after two days of nonstop calls, and the returning Avengers reunited with Rhodey and Banner.

• Gamora warned that Thanos might target the Reality Stone on Knowhere, and Rocket proposed splitting the group to retrieve it while the others traveled to Nidavellir.
• Su Ming approved Rocket’s plan, and the two ships departed for Nidavellir and Knowhere.
• Wanda brought Captain America back to the deserted base, where they found Alisha smashing communications devices after days of overwhelming calls.
• Rhodey reunited with Captain America after refusing orders to arrest the Avengers.
• Natasha saw Banner, and Falcon remarked on the awkwardness between them.

Tony and Parker rescued Strange from Ebony Maw aboard Thanos's ship, then agreed to pursue Thanos rather than try to return the ship. Tony welcomed Parker to the Avengers, but Parker said he did not want to join.

• Ebony Maw tortured Strange with crystal spikes and demanded the Time Stone.
• Parker arrived on the ship, explained that his suit's connection had brought him there, and convinced Tony that he could help.
• Parker proposed a plan inspired by the movie Alien, and Tony blasted a hole in the ship's hull, sending Ebony Maw into space.
• Parker used his webbing and new mechanical spider legs to keep Strange from being sucked out, while Tony sealed the breach with freezing mist.
• Strange agreed to pursue Thanos, and Tony called Parker an Avenger, but Parker said he did not want to join.

As Su Ming's crew traveled toward Nidavellir, Rocket and Thor sensed Loki's supposed death as if following a familiar fate, prompting Su Ming to investigate. He upgraded his Eye of Insight into Superdimensional Vision, perceived the crew's pasts and possible futures, and discovered that Thanos had just obtained the Power Stone.

• Groot asked Rocket how long remained until they reached Nidavellir, while Thor explained that the forge had made Mjolnir.
• Rocket and Thor spoke as though Loki had died, but Loki protested from nearby and Thor awkwardly tried to console him.
• Su Ming suspected that the original plot was intruding and bought the Superdimensional Vision upgrade from the System Shop.
• Su Ming's new vision revealed details about the crew's pasts and futures, and he warned Rocket that the ship's energy core needed repairs.
• Su Ming announced that Thanos had just obtained the Power Stone, leaving the crew stunned.

Su Ming led the team to Nidavellir, where they found the forge destroyed and the dwarves slaughtered by Thanos. After rescuing Eitri, Su Ming began repairing the forge while absorbing the neutron star’s energy, seeking to break his limits and change the fate he believed had been scripted.

• Su Ming told the team that Thanos had destroyed Nidavellir after forging the Infinity Gauntlet, and the spacecraft arrived to find the forge in ruins.
• Thor despaired at the destruction, while Loki wondered how much Su Ming had seen and Su Ming declared that he would try to change the script.
• The team found and rescued Eitri, who explained that Thanos had destroyed the forge’s core and severed its energy conduits.
• Thor demanded that Eitri restart the forge and offered to withstand the neutron star’s energy, but Su Ming stopped him with a Spacetime Barrier.
• Su Ming reconstructed the forge and its conduits with his Higher-Dimensional Sight while drawing neutron-star energy into himself.
• Su Ming focused on condensing a Golden Core so he could surpass his limits and gain the power to change fate.

Su Ming absorbed neutron-star energy, formed his Golden Core, and forged Thor a powerful Thunderfire Battleaxe. The axe lacked a living handle, and teenage Groot began binding himself to it despite the danger.

• A fifth Starcore Fragment flew into Su Ming and joined the other fragments, drawing the attention of an ancient being that took control of a Galactus-shaped body and set off toward him.
• The fragments stabilized Su Ming's neutron-star energy, allowing him to complete his Golden Core as his soul fluctuation swept across Nidavellir's ruins.
• An unseen voice mocked Su Ming's unconventional Golden Core, and he could not trace its source.
• Su Ming used the remaining stellar energy to forge Thor a Thunderfire Battleaxe stronger than the Stormbreaker he had been destined to wield.
• Eitri explained that the battleaxe needed a living handle, and teenage Groot wrapped vines around it, exposing himself to its lightning and fire.

Groot sacrificed his arm to awaken Thor’s battle axe as Su Ming sensed an approaching threat. At Knowhere, Thanos used the Reality Stone to fake his death, overpower Gamora and Drax, and force Quill to choose between killing Gamora and revealing the Soul Stone’s secret, but Quill’s gun produced only bubbles.

• Groot severed his arm to free Thor’s battle axe, awakening the divine artifact, while Su Ming sensed a terrifying presence approaching through space.
• At the ruined Knowhere, Gamora appeared to kill Thanos, but he revealed that he had used the Reality Stone to fake his death and reshape reality.
• Thanos seized Gamora and turned Drax into cubes with the Reality Stone as Quill confronted him to rescue her.
• Thanos learned that Gamora and Quill knew the Soul Stone’s secret and forced Quill to aim his Element Gun at her.
• Gamora and Quill confessed their love before Quill pulled the trigger, but the gun fired bubbles.

Su Ming faced Galactus after sending his allies through a portal to Wakanda, but the ancient demon god controlling Galactus overwhelmed him. The Starcore Fragments protected Su Ming, and Purple Jewel intervened with the powers of Infinity and Eternity, forcing the demon god to retreat from its attack.

• Thanos left Knowhere with Gamora after Quill’s Element Gun produced bubbles instead of firing, while Drax recovered and Quill picked up Godslayer.
• Su Ming sensed Galactus approaching the resonating Starcore Fragment and sent Thor, Loki, Rocket, Groot, Quicksilver, Yondu, Mantis, and Eitri through a portal to Wakanda.
• Galactus demanded the Source Fragment and attacked Su Ming with a force that threatened to strip away his energy and matter.
• Su Ming summoned his Dharma Avatar and struck Galactus, but his attacks could not damage its essence, and the ancient demon god behind Galactus badly wounded him.
• The five Starcore Fragments shielded Su Ming’s soul, and Purple Jewel confronted the demon god with the powers of timelines and stillness.
• Purple Jewel’s counterattack wounded the demon god’s will, and it withdrew rather than risk drawing the attention of a true incarnation of the laws.

After Purple Jewel saved Su Ming from Galactus, he stabilized his Golden Core and used his spatial ability to rescue Gamora from her fall on Vormir. He beat Thanos and turned his anger on Red Skull, while Thanos escaped and left the Soul Stone unclaimed.

• Purple Jewel drove Galactus away, and Su Ming focused on repairing his Golden Core.
• Su Ming saw Thanos throw Gamora from the cliff on Vormir and teleported to catch her before she hit the bottom.
• Su Ming returned Gamora to safety and battered Thanos before he could effectively use the three Infinity Stones.
• Thanos pretended to flee with the Space Stone, but Su Ming recognized his attempt to reach the Soul Stone and let him go, knowing he lacked the required sacrifice.
• Su Ming grabbed Red Skull and slapped him repeatedly while mocking his explanation of the Soul Stone's sacrifice.

Su Ming found the hidden entrance to the Soul Stone’s dimension and entered with Purple Jewel, who revealed that the Soul Sea was an old storage space created by her Elder Sister. After Death’s avatar attacked him, Purple Jewel recognized her, and Death let Su Ming take the Soul Stone.

• Su Ming discovered a concealed dimensional entrance beneath the cliff, but could not breach its soul barrier.
• Purple Jewel recognized the dimension as her Elder Sister’s storage room and opened it for Su Ming without a key.
• Su Ming entered the shallow Soul Sea and picked up the Soul Stone.
• Death’s avatar formed from the soul water and attacked Su Ming, pinning him with overwhelming power.
• Purple Jewel called Death “Elder Sister,” stopping the attack and prompting Death to recognize her.
• Death allowed Su Ming to keep the Soul Stone and offered him more.

Su Ming absorbed energy from the Soul Stone and, after the Death Goddess dismissed him, found a Golden Core Fragment containing the Soul Resonance Art. He began cultivating the art in the Soul Sea while Thanos waited outside.

• Su Ming absorbed some Soul Stone energy, discarded the stone, and asked the Death Goddess if she had anything else valuable.
• The Death Goddess told Su Ming to leave, but Purple Jewel spotted a special object buried in the Soul Sea.
• Su Ming retrieved a cracked crystal that the old man identified as a Golden Core Fragment from an ancient soul-type cultivator.
• Su Ming's divine sense triggered visions of the fragment's origin and branded the incomplete Soul Resonance Art into his soul.
• Su Ming began cultivating the art in the Soul Sea while Thanos waited outside and asked Red Skull when Su Ming would emerge.

Thanos waited for Su Ming to emerge from the Soul Dimension while Doctor Strange foresaw a single victory among 14,000,605 outcomes and feared Su Ming was an even greater threat than Thanos. Su Ming left Vormir after mastering the Soul Resonance Art, and Thanos believed his feigned failure and headed for Titan to find another sacrifice, setting up the approaching confrontation.

• Thanos waited on Vormir with Red Skull, growing uneasy because Su Ming had not emerged from the Soul Dimension.
• On Titan, Doctor Strange revealed that he had seen 14,000,605 possible outcomes and only one victory, while privately recognizing Su Ming as a major unpredictable threat.
• Su Ming emerged from the Soul Dimension after advancing the Soul Resonance Art to its third layer and gaining the Myriad Souls Overlord talent.
• Su Ming pretended that he could not obtain the Soul Stone without a sacrifice, then took Gamora through a portal and left Vormir.
• Thanos believed Su Ming had failed to break the Soul Stone's rules, decided to find another sacrifice among his children, and used the Space Stone to travel to Titan.