Although Jiang Xiang knew some of what the future held,
he knew that in a few years, New York would become the battlefield for an alien invasion. Further into the future, it would even become a focal point of a battle spanning the universe.
He also knew that a single snap from Thanos would turn countless people to dust.
But those problems were not why Jiang Xiang worked so hard at playing his roles.
For one thing, he might not be chosen by the Snap.
For another, even if he turned to dust, a snap from Hulk would bring him back.
Failing that, for some unknown reason, this entire universe might not follow the movies at all.
As for the battle in New York?
If he was worried, couldn't he just move away?
There was no need to stick around.
Having been reborn and given a system, Jiang Xiang naturally had ambitions of his own.
[Sea God Divinity] [Rank: S] [Description: Once you gather the ocean's faith, you can use this to become the Sea God! Are you afraid of this thing? I'm certainly not!]
This Godhead, priced at one hundred million emotion points in the system shop, was Jiang Xiang's goal.
Of course, that did not mean he wanted to become the Sea God.
He wanted his true self to
become a god!
Ascend to immortality!
For someone from an ancient Eastern nation, that was an incredibly tempting prospect.
Even if he did not use the Godhead itself, using it to comprehend the mysteries of becoming an immortal or a god would be pretty good too.
At the thought of immortals and gods, an expression of rapt longing spread across Jiang Xiang's face.
Who could resist the temptation of becoming a god?
"All right! Time to train. I'll keep working hard and be ready to break through at any moment."
In the clinic's workout room, Jiang Xiang settled into a horse stance and practiced Ah Xing's Great Strength Vajra Leg.
Jiang Xiang had some plans for the future.
He himself was very fragile.
Avatar cards allowed him to transform into an avatar and use that avatar's superpowers, but they did little to strengthen his true body.
At most, they left behind some muscle memory that let him train faster.
As an avid reader in his previous life, Jiang Xiang naturally cared more about his own progress. Everything else was unreliable. If cards could attach themselves to him, they could also leave.
Besides, who knew what requirements becoming a god or an immortal might entail?
Always scrambling at the last minute was a recipe for unexpected trouble.
So-
keep training, become an immortal, and found a legacy!
As Jiang Xiang kept training and attuning himself to his avatar cards, he discovered a problem.
Although the cards listed many skills, there was actually only one he could use proficiently straight away.
For now, that did not seem like much of a problem.
The cards' limited strength and overlapping abilities helped mask the issue.
For example, with Ah Xing's avatar card, Jiang Xiang could actually only use Great Strength Vajra Leg.
But judging by Ah Xing's performance in the movie, he knew far more than just Great Strength Vajra Leg.
After transforming, Jiang Xiang could indeed sense other powers, but he either lacked the proficiency to use them or could not use them at all.
As he trained, however, Jiang Xiang felt as though he could tap into a little of those other abilities.
That strengthened Jiang Xiang's resolve to keep training.
Kunlun City
A thin man smiled as he watched Danny Rand leave K'un-Lun.
"Master, are we really just letting him inherit Shou-Lao's power and leave?"
Once Danny was far away, Lei Gong let the smile fade from his face.
He turned to his eldest disciple, Fan Cheng.
He could see the resentment in Fan Cheng's heart. Someone they regarded as a barbarian had stolen Kunlun City's power. How could he possibly accept that?
"You're still not composed enough. Have you read the books in the secret archive?"
"Don't you know how powerful the predecessors who became Iron Fist were?"
"Now look at the last few generations of Iron Fist."
Fan Cheng quickly caught on and nodded thoughtfully.
"Then why did you..."
Lei Gong knitted his brows and gave a rare sigh. "Shou-Lao foresaw a great calamity befalling our Kunlun City, perhaps even its destruction. Unfortunately, in an age like this, we cannot reveal ourselves..."
Lei Gong returned to Kunlun City in dejection, with Fan Cheng following closely behind. Then Kunlun City slowly vanished.
The next day
Jiang Xiang wandered through the streets of New York in Ah Xing's form.
"Ugh, I'd better find some way to get an item or ability card with a clone skill."
Whenever Jiang Xiang wanted to stir things up now, he had to go out himself, which was hardly safe.
It was too much trouble.
Ah Xing took in the scenery along the street, clumsily pulling out a camera to take souvenir photos. From time to time, he walked up to touch a building he had never seen before. His behavior was a little strange, but hardly uncommon in a city like New York.
Inside a shopping mall,
Ah Xing bought a pair of sunglasses, perched them on his head, then entered a coffee shop. He ordered a coffee and sipped it at his leisure.
It had been so long since he had felt this relaxed.
After all, he had left everything to his old man.
Peaceful, happy days were short-lived. Once again, it was time to say goodbye.
"Hello, is this seat taken?"
An alluring voice drifted over.
Ah Xing looked up to find a woman approaching him.
She had long, wine-red hair falling over her shoulders and wore formal office attire, with black stockings over her long legs that showed off her curvaceous figure... All right, they did not really show it off.
Ah Xing thought, Well, well. S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't playing hard to get, huh? They sent Black Widow-Natasha Romanoff-straight over.
As for how Ah Xing had recognized her,
although Natasha hid it very well, it was hard to conceal her martial training from a martial arts master. Combined with her hair color, identifying her was easy.
Ah Xing let his imposing presence rise and fixed narrowed eyes on Natasha.
Natasha instantly felt an oppressive pressure, as though she were treading on thin ice.
"Hello, sir."
"Sorry, I can't speak English."
Natasha froze on the spot. Never in her life had anyone responded like that when she approached them.
You spoke perfectly fluent English yesterday.
"Sorry, may I sit here?"
Natasha smoothly switched languages.
"Of course."
Like a gentleman, Ah Xing stood and pulled out a chair for Natasha.
"Thank you."
The moment Natasha sat down, Ah Xing picked up his coffee from the table and headed for the door.
He pushed it open. Bye-bye!
Natasha was completely dumbfounded!
Nick Fury, standing behind the monitor, was dumbfounded too.
Seriously?
An oblivious guy could be this terrifying?
An attractive woman like me strikes up a conversation with you, and you just leave?
Natasha felt as though a few crows were flying through her mind.
Caw... Caw... Caw...
Agents were mentally resilient, and as one of the best among them, Natasha naturally would not let this get her down.
"Sir, contact failed."
Natasha ordered a few coffees and desserts as though nothing had happened, then contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. just as casually.
At the other end of the communicator, Coulson hurried into Nick Fury's office.
"Director, we've located the places where the suspected Wraiths appeared."
Sweating profusely, Coulson handed Nick Fury a file.
"This many?"
Nick was somewhat surprised as well.
The file listed dozens of people suspected of returning from the dead over the past three years.
"Nobody noticed before?"
Coulson replied gravely, "No. We've questioned the neighbors of several of them so far. The neighbors said they became very strange for a while and never left their homes, but everyone assumed they couldn't recover from the grief of losing a loved one. Later, these people disappeared, and the neighbors didn't pay much attention. After all, wanting to escape a place full of painful memories is perfectly normal. They simply assumed they'd moved away."
Besides, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s reach was not extensive enough to monitor a major city like New York in its entirety.
Coulson pointed to a document. "According to the psychologists' analysis, this behavior occurring across a group most likely indicates hypnotic control or psychological interference."
Nick quietly took a sip of coffee and looked out the window, seemingly considering how to deal with these Wraiths.
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