Nine Refinements, Nine Restorations

"Mm..." Sif lowered her head, not daring to look him in the eye.

But the place she was looking seemed even less appropriate, so she hurriedly raised her head again—only to see Apocalypse's wicked smile.

She could not help snapping, "Let go of me..."

Then she clutched her clothes and hurriedly ran away, turning her back to him.

Apocalypse laughed heartily. There would be plenty of time in the future; there was no need to rush.

"Your Majesty, I'm ready to continue tempering my body."

"Prince Tang's potion really is miraculous. But each round of body tempering is more violent than the last, and I may need more and more potions."

Apocalypse nodded. "I know what I'm doing!"

Back in the western town, he had stopped the Destroyer and saved more than half the townspeople, earning quite a few Recovery Potions. He had already accumulated several thousand bottles.

The first refinement just now had consumed more than three hundred bottles. He still had plenty left, though he did not know whether he would need increasingly more later on.

The second refinement, begin!

This time, the flames were clearly larger than during the first refinement. Otherwise, they would not have been able to melt his flesh and blood. The Recovery Potions' effects had also noticeably weakened.

Clearly, higher-grade flesh and blood required more Recovery Potions.

By that logic, once he grew strong enough, the Recovery Potions would no longer have any effect.

But Apocalypse had no time to worry about such minor details right now.

Once the second refinement and second restoration were complete, a faint luster shone through Apocalypse's flesh.

Third refinement, third restoration...

Fourth refinement, fourth restoration...

Fifth refinement, fifth restoration...

Odin and Thor had gone numb. They were shocked every time he advanced another refinement, until they were stunned senseless.

What the hell was this monster? Hadn't they said Earthlings might not even make it past the first refinement?

And he had already reached the ninth refinement!

The further it went, the more Eternal Flame it required.

The flames of the ninth refinement swept through more than half the treasury, burning who knew how many treasures into nothingness.

In the end, they even burned through the treasury, flames shooting hundreds of meters up to the surface.

Fortunately, the blaze had risen gradually from one refinement and restoration to the next. Sif had long since moved away, while Thor and Odin had taken precautions in advance. Otherwise, who knew how many people passing aboveground would have suffered.

Suddenly, the flames withdrew. The ninth refinement was complete!

The Eternal Flame had visibly shrunk by a full circle.

Pure white light began radiating uncontrollably from Apocalypse's entire body, as if an angel had descended.

It was the outward manifestation of his physical vitality reaching an extreme level. His skin could no longer contain it, and it escaped as radiance.

Apocalypse slowly adjusted his breathing and drew back the overflowing light. In the end, only a thin layer of light remained on his surface, and he stopped only when he could no longer suppress it.

"Sif... where are my clothes?" Apocalypse called.

Sif answered and entered. At first, she was still bashful and did not dare look directly at him, but once she saw the light around Apocalypse, she could no longer look away.

That radiance possessed a natural attraction. Its pure, abundant vitality made all living beings yearn for it.

They walked out of the treasury.

The instant Apocalypse appeared, the surrounding atmosphere abruptly changed. It was as if the center of heaven and earth were tilting toward him, as if the stars were giving way.

Apocalypse merely stood casually in the plaza, yet it seemed as though this were the center of Asgard, the center of the universe.

The faint radiance emanating from him made people unable to look away.

It was the instinctive worship all living beings held toward the source of life, regardless of race. Looking at that light, they seemed to see the source of their own lives.

As Apocalypse slowly walked forward, many citizens were affected by the radiance around him and fell to the ground in prostration.

As he passed, he left behind a corridor of kneeling people.

Apocalypse asked softly, "Sif, Asgard doesn't have some foot-kissing custom, does it? I'm not wearing shoes right now."

That one sentence pulled Sif out of her worshipful state. She huffed, "Pah! Who would have such a disgusting custom!"

Over at Odin and Frigga's side, they looked at the half-burned treasury with complicated expressions, unable to decide whether to be sad or happy.

Asgard ruled the Nine Realms, and the treasures in its treasury were incomparably precious. Any one of them would have been a heaven-defying treasure to other races.

Yet Apocalypse had burned seven or eight tenths of them away with a few body-tempering fires. It was impossible not to feel heartache.

Even the Infinity Gauntlet on the right had been charred black. Still, as a treasure capable of bearing the power of the Infinity Stones, it had ultimately withstood the Eternal Flame's burning.

But seeing their Asgardian prince achieve something so heaven-defying—Nine Refinements, Nine Restorations, unheard of before—they no longer needed to worry about Asgard's future fate.

Instead, they were now somewhat worried that their current methods of winning him over did not seem sufficient.

But for the moment, they could not think of anything better.

Only when they saw Thor and Apocalypse getting into a fight did they relax slightly.

Mm... they really were fighting.

Apocalypse had just completed his body tempering, so naturally he wanted to test the results. The only person he could freely beat up, and who could take the beating, was Thor.

Thor did not back down either. He swung his hammer and began fighting.

The effects of body tempering quickly became apparent. Just from fighting Thor for a short while, Apocalypse had already gained strength equal to twice that of the Hulk. He could now strike with five times the Hulk's strength.

Even Apocalypse himself looked forward to seeing just how far his strength would grow if he continued cultivating diligently in the future!

"Hold on. Sif, come wipe my sweat."

"Okay!" Sif ran over obediently, without a trace of her former image as a warrior goddess, diligently searching Apocalypse's body for sweat and dust.

After she finished wiping him down, they had only exchanged a few moves before Apocalypse called another stop. "Sif, come massage my shoulders. I think I pulled something just now."

Thor was instantly furious. The hell you pulled something! With a physique as absurd as yours, you pulled something after those few perfunctory moves?

After this happened a few times, Thor finally understood. Karma had come for him.

Some time ago, when he had fought Apocalypse in the bar, Jane had treated his wounds. He had kept flaunting their affection, silently mocking Apocalypse for being single.

Now Jane was not by his side, and it was Apocalypse's turn to show off.

And Sif, who had once been his subordinate, had no dignity as a warrior goddess at all. He told her to wipe sweat—where could a man with his physique possibly have sweat?

And so, Apocalypse practiced martial arts, teased Thor—mm... that was the right target—and admired the mountains and waters with Sif. Day after day passed like that.

Asgard had no spring or autumn, and no one knew how much time had passed.

Then one day, Heimdall suddenly came to see Odin and reported a very troublesome matter.

Loki had appeared on Earth!

Odin was startled. He might not care about the lives of Earthlings, but his son's girlfriend and Prince Tang's wife were both on Earth.

With Loki's vicious temperament, there was a very high chance he would target them.

They already felt their efforts to win Apocalypse over were insufficient. They could not let Loki make Prince Tang turn against them in hatred.

But the Rainbow Bridge had not yet been repaired, and traveling by spaceship would take far too long. By the time they arrived, Earth would be finished.

Odin summoned Thor and Apocalypse and explained the matter in detail.

Thor immediately grew anxious and shouted that he wanted to go to Earth.

Apocalypse knew that Loki had still found Thanos, obtained command of an army, and come to Earth to cause trouble.

The plot of Avengers I had begun!

Odin sighed. "At this point, we can only use Dark Energy to send you to Earth. But sending two people requires an enormous amount of Dark Energy. I'll need several days to prepare it with the Council of Elders."

Apocalypse did not know much about Dark Energy.

In the original plot, Thor had seen Loki causing trouble on Earth and, in his desperation, used Dark Energy to teleport over.

Even Loki had said, "Father really spared no expense. How much Dark Energy did it take to send you here?"

That showed that Dark Energy was either exceedingly rare or extraordinarily expensive.

Earth.

An abandoned factory somewhere.

Black Widow had tied several arms dealers to chairs and viciously lashed them with a whip. Their mouths were taped shut, and they could only make muffled "Mmph, mmph" sounds.

In the original plot, Black Widow had deliberately pretended to be captured and tied to a chair, using a woman's apparent weakness to make them talk.

But Apocalypse's arrival had forbidden her from using her seduction skills, so her style of carrying out missions over the past two years had completely changed.

She used to disguise herself as a harmless little rabbit. Now she did not bother pretending at all, going straight for brutal fights and killings. Her style terrified her colleagues!

On top of that, Apocalypse had been gone for two years, and she was deeply worried.

After all, he had gone to Asgard, a legendary realm, to fight legendary gods.

Apocalypse was strong, but no one could say he would definitely win.

Everyone had seen the two Destroyers in the town back then. One could fight Apocalypse to a draw, while two had nearly killed him.

Now there had been no news for two years. No one knew whether he was alive or dead.

Iron Man, Black Widow, and the others all hoped to hear news of him, yet feared hearing news of him.

Now Black Widow vented her anger on these unlucky arms dealers.

The arms dealers had ten thousand stampeding grass-mud horses running through their hearts.

Big sister, beautiful lady, please, if you want information, just ask!

You tied us up, taped our mouths shut, and just keep whipping us. Are you some perverted agent who enjoys torturing people?

At that moment, a call came in.

Black Widow picked it up and immediately asked, "Has Apocalypse returned?"

On the other end, Nick Fury sounded helpless. "Natasha, I told you, if Tang returns, I'll notify you immediately. Besides, you're his wife. If he comes back, he'll definitely look for you first."

"Mm. Since it's not news about him, don't call me unless it's important."

Nick Fury cursed inwardly. I'm your director. Am I not allowed to call you?

But he knew this was not the time to provoke her, so he could only say, "I have a new mission for you."

"My current mission isn't finished yet."

The arms dealers beside her were desperate, crying out "Mmph, mmph." When she said it was not finished, did she mean she had not whipped them enough yet?

Nick Fury sighed. "Barton has betrayed us."

Black Widow immediately realized how serious the matter was!

Hawkeye Barton could die, but for him to betray them? The odds were infinitely close to zero.

But since Director Nick Fury had said so, something earth-shattering must have happened.

So she put away her temper and asked, "Do you want me to hunt him down?"

"No! I want you to bring in someone."

A photograph came through. Black Widow opened it and saw a name written on it:

Doctor Bruce Banner!