Accepting Pepper Potts's Soul

Lu Xi closed his eyes. A powerful surge of will burst forth, instantly covering the entire Middle East.

In mere moments, he used that terrifying will to locate Tony.

At that moment, Tony was hidden inside a secret cave somewhere in the Middle East.

Under the pretense of building missiles, he was secretly constructing an Iron Man suit, hoping to use it to escape.

The Ten Rings members guarding him had yet to see any missiles and were beating Tony in furious frustration.

Lu Xi immediately transformed the scene into a lifelike projection with Divine Power and displayed it before everyone.

The image was crystal clear. Tony had been beaten black and blue, and could only weakly raise his arms to shield his head.

Seeing Tony's miserable state, tears immediately welled up in Pepper's eyes.

"No! Tony!"

She instinctively reached out, wanting to touch Tony in the projection, but her hand met only empty air.

Lu Xi looked at Pepper and added,

"Looks like he's badly injured too. I'm afraid he won't last much longer."

Pepper gritted her teeth. Determination flashed through her eyes as she said without further hesitation,

"Fine! I agree to the contract."

Happy looked hesitant, instinctively wanting to persuade her otherwise.

But upon seeing his boss in such a miserable state, he could no longer bring himself to stop her.

Lu Xi immediately used Divine Power to conjure a scroll glowing with mysterious light, its contract terms appearing on their own.

This was a complementary ability he had automatically comprehended after his earlier realization.

Pepper took the scroll and carefully read through the contract. Once she confirmed there were no issues, she looked up and asked,

"How do I sign it?"

Lu Xi answered calmly,

"Just press your palm on it."

Pepper took a deep breath and slowly pressed her palm onto the scroll.

In an instant, the scroll shone brilliantly. A mysterious rune seeped from Pepper's palm, and the contract officially took effect.

Lu Xi could clearly feel that as the contract took effect,

the Divine Power within him seemed to have been injected with a potent catalyst, becoming noticeably stronger.

At the same time, his perception of the world's laws became clearer, as though a thin veil covering his eyes had been gently lifted away.

He immediately understood. He had finally found a way to grow stronger.

As long as he contracted enough similar souls, his power could quickly rise to another level!

However, based on what he sensed, such contracts required the other party's voluntary consent. Otherwise, they were invalid.

Seeing Lu Xi standing there without moving for so long, Pepper's eyes filled with anxiety, and she could not help urging him,

"Sir..."

Only then did Lu Xi snap out of it. He put away the scroll and said,

"Don't worry. I'll go save him now."

With that, the six wings behind his back unfurled in an instant. As they beat, visible waves of air rippled through the entire courtyard.

The wind howled, whipping the surrounding flowers, grass, and trees into violent swaying.

His figure flashed, streaking across the sky like a meteor before vanishing without a trace.

Using his lock on Tony's location, Lu Xi flew through space at a speed beyond ordinary imagination.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared above the hidden cave in the Middle East.

The moment he hovered in the air, terrifying thunder erupted alongside fierce winds, as if the sky itself had been torn apart by that power.

Lu Xi could not be bothered to conceal his presence, and the Ten Rings members naturally noticed the unusual disturbance.

One of them pointed to the sky and shouted in a trembling voice,

"Look, there's something in the sky! What is that?"

Another narrowed his eyes at the blurry figure in the sky and guessed,

"It looks like some kind of drone. Damn it, we've been discovered! Go report to the leader!"

Someone else unwillingly raised his gun and fired continuously, yelling,

"Who cares what it is? Shoot it down first!"

However, Lu Xi merely flashed forward and landed on the ground like a ghost.

Immediately afterward, his immense telekinesis surged forth, instantly filling the entire Ten Rings cave base.

Crack!

In that instant, everyone in the base seemed to have their throats seized by an invisible hand.

At the same moment, their necks were snapped by an unseen force, and their bodies collapsed to the ground like limp mud.

Within moments, the entire base had fallen silent. Only Tony and Doctor Yinsen beside him remained alive.

The first time he personally killed so many people, Lu Xi did not feel even the slightest ripple in his heart—Blackheart did not count, since he had been a demon, not a human.

In any case, the Ten Rings members were unlikely to include any good people, so Lu Xi felt no psychological burden in killing them.

Lu Xi raised a foot and headed into the cave, but after taking only two steps, he suddenly stopped.

"Hm? What's this?"

From his unique perspective, faint, illusory souls slowly drifted out from the bodies of those who had just died inside the base.

These souls were semi-transparent and emitted a faint glow.

They seemed to be pulled by some mysterious force, drifting toward an unknown dimension.

Lu Xi focused his senses and detected endless deathly aura permeating that dimension. It was cold and dark, and appeared to be the legendary underworld.

Just then, Doctor Yinsen carefully supported Tony Stark as they emerged from the depths of the cave.

It turned out that they had seen the guards at the entrance and the sentries in the corridors all collapse to the ground for no apparent reason.

The two of them sensed an opportunity to escape and had gathered their courage to run out.

Doctor Yinsen watched Lu Xi warily and asked,

"Who are you? Did you save us?"

Tony, meanwhile, with his bruised face and blackened eyes, immediately recognized him when he saw those conspicuous three pairs of wings.

He had seen Lu Xi in satellite photographs before. He had been deeply curious about this mysterious being and had wanted to find him, but never expected Lu Xi to find him first.

Tony hurriedly asked, "Did you come to save us?"

Lu Xi nodded slightly and looked calmly at Tony.

"Pepper asked me to come."

As he spoke, he examined the future Iron Man.

In Lu Xi's eyes, Tony's soul was clearly far more dazzling.

He could clearly sense that if he could contract for ownership of Tony's soul, the increase in his strength would likely far surpass what Pepper's soul had provided.

Unfortunately, he had no opportunity for that at the moment. He could only think of a way later.

Then, Lu Xi said nothing more. He directly used telekinesis to gently seize the two men and lift them into the air, preparing to fly.

"Wait!" Tony suddenly shouted.

Lu Xi halted and looked at Tony in confusion.

Tony said anxiously, "Put me down. I still have something to do."

Lu Xi did as he asked and set Tony down. Tony turned and ran back into the cave.

A moment later, after setting the suit's self-destruct program, he returned to Lu Xi's side and said,

"Alright, we can go now."

After all, the suit was already nearly ninety percent complete.

If someone else got hold of it, they might reverse-engineer some incredible technology from it. Tony did not want to take that risk.

Lu Xi took the two men and swiftly flew back to the villa.

The moment they landed, Tony and Pepper tightly embraced each other and wept, softly sharing the joy of being reunited after surviving disaster.

Soon afterward, Tony gradually came to his senses. There was no such thing as a free lunch.

He released Pepper, looked at Lu Xi, then turned to ask Pepper,

"Pepper, how did you persuade this Angel to help?"

Happy hesitated at the side, wanting to tell the truth, but the moment he opened his mouth, Pepper stopped him with a look.

Pepper hurriedly made an excuse. "I just... owed him a favor."

Though Tony was usually sharp-tongued, this time he sincerely thanked Lu Xi.

"Thank you for saving me. No matter what, I'll remember this favor."

"I still have a lot to do right now. Once I'm finished, I'll come thank you properly, sir."

After saying that, the group prepared to leave.