Somewhere deep in the mountains of Southeast Asia.
Clusters of traditional Chinese buildings lay hidden in a secluded valley.
In a magnificent main hall at the innermost end, at the highest point near the foot of the mountain, sat a refined middle-aged man.
The man wore a white martial arts outfit and had refined features. Though middle-aged, his brows and eyes still bore traces of his youthful good looks.
Most striking of all were the five bronze rings around each of his forearms, ancient in design and covered in mysterious patterns. Faint wisps of deep blue light flickered along those patterns.
"My lord, we have found the young master. He is currently in San Francisco, in the United States of America. Should we bring him back?"
Below the seat of honor, a subordinate dressed in a ninja outfit and wearing a Peking opera mask delivered his report respectfully.
Yet the man in the seat of honor looked bewildered, staring blankly ahead without responding.
"My lord?"
When the refined middle-aged man failed to respond, the masked man raised his head slightly and called again, more emphatically.
"Uh... yes."
The man abruptly came back to his senses. A trace of complicated emotion flashed through his eyes as he waved a hand. "Since he wants to get away from me so badly, let him stay in San Francisco."
After a pause, he added, "Also, there's no need to tell Xialing."
"Well... understood, my lord!"
The masked man seemed to want to say something more, but ultimately accepted the order respectfully, turned, and withdrew from the hall.
The entire hall instantly fell silent, leaving Wenwu alone.
Even now, he remained in a daze.
Not long ago, he had just gotten his driver's license and taken out a loan to buy a new car. Who would have thought that on his very first drive, a Dayun heavy truck would send him flying!
When he opened his eyes again, he had somehow merged with the soul of an old monster who had lived for over a thousand years and completely taken over his body!
He was a twenty-year-old wage worker who had only just entered the working world. Compared with that thousand-year-old monster's memories, his own were a candle beside the brilliant moon.
If he had not somehow become the dominant one, he probably would not have amounted to a fart by now-at most, he would have been a brief life experience that had suddenly appeared in the other man's memories.
Fortunately, he had seized control. Perhaps this was a transmigrator's exclusive perk!
What surprised and delighted him even more was that he had transmigrated into Xu Wenwu, the renowned leader of the Ten Rings in the Marvel Universe, wielder of the ten divine rings!
Just who was Xu Wenwu? An old monster who had lived for over a thousand years!
A thousand years ago, he had obtained the ten rings from an ancient tomb. Relying on their power and their ability to slow aging, he had waged war for a millennium and founded the Ten Rings.
Dynasties had risen and fallen over that millennium, yet he had survived to the present, manipulating world affairs from the shadows.
For a thousand years, the Ten Rings had been like a colossal beast lurking in the shadows.
Under its command were several thousand elite warriors ready to die, along with tens of thousands of local armed troops.
Mercenary contracts, arms smuggling, underground businesses, and treasures amassed over a thousand years sustained its vast operations.
Unfortunately, the original Xu Wenwu had lacked vision. He had never established an empire of his own, merely supporting the upper echelons of a few small countries from the shadows.
More than a decade ago, he had even abandoned the Ten Rings for a woman, causing the organization to splinter and greatly weakening it.
Although he had now returned and reunified the Ten Rings, its strength was nowhere near what it had been, and it had yet to regain its former peak.
"Xu Wenwu, Wenwu... I never imagined that our names being similar would lead to me transmigrating into you by such a coincidence!"
Wenwu sighed inwardly. His original name was Wenwu. Though his name contained both "civil" and "martial," he had gone straight to work after graduating from high school. He was accomplished in neither, nothing but a corporate slave.
Who could have imagined that, in the blink of an eye, he would transmigrate into the Marvel Universe and become Shang-Chi's ready-made father, the thousand-year-old monster Xu Wenwu!
Although he had no golden finger after transmigrating into Marvel, getting a starting template like this was already pretty good.
How strong was Xu Wenwu? Although he did not seem to have unleashed the full power of the ten rings, his combat strength should at least put him in the same tier as early Thor!
With that kind of strength, protecting himself in the early stages would be no problem at all.
In this Marvel Universe, where Earth or the universe itself faced destruction at the drop of a hat, he could just about scrape by and stay alive.
Of course, that only applied to the early stages. Once Thanos, the "director of family planning," arrived later and randomly wiped out half of all life in the universe with the Snap, he could only blame his luck if he was included.
Of course, according to the original movie's plot, Xu Wenwu and Shang-Chi's story took place after Thanos performed the Snap, and he still had the ten rings. That meant he had been lucky enough not to be erased.
But that was only the original plot, after all. The Marvel Universe he was in now was full of variables!
From Xu Wenwu's memories, he learned that this world had not only Mutants, but also vampires, demons from hell...
These were all things Xu Wenwu had personally encountered and seen!
In other words, this was not the pure Avengers Marvel Cinematic Universe he had imagined at all!
According to Xu Wenwu's memories, a Mutant uprising had broken out on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco two years ago.
Dark Phoenix Jean Grey had turned evil and slaughtered large numbers of Mutants and humans before finally being killed by Wolverine.
That meant this was still the Mutants' old timeline. In another decade or so, the Sentinels might bring about an apocalypse that would all but wipe out human civilization and the Mutants.
Still, since the timeline had not been reversed, there had been no future timeline reset either, and there might not even be an apocalypse!
After all, the Avengers existed in this world too!
"Ah, this little bit of strength is still nowhere near enough!"
Wenwu lowered his head to look at the ten rings on his arms and sighed.
It was laughable, really.
In the original movie, Xu Wenwu had spent a thousand years waging war with the ten rings, only to inexplicably lose to his son, who had just learned the Power of the Dragon.
The entire movie's plot could be summed up with the word "inexplicable."
Xu Wenwu had inexplicably been drawn to Ying Li from Ta Lo village, inexplicably fought her, then inexplicably danced with her all tenderly, and finally inexplicably abandoned both the Ten Rings and the ten rings.
Ying Li had inexplicably been killed, and his son had inexplicably run away from home to seek revenge.
Later, he had inexplicably been bewitched by the Dweller-in-Darkness sealed within the secret realm of Ta Lo.
To save his dead wife, he had inexplicably set off on a journey, only for his son to inexplicably gain a cheat and become able to control the ten rings.
In the end, he had even inexplicably given up on using the ten rings to resist the Dweller-in-Darkness. Instead, he had tossed them to his son and then been swallowed whole by the Dweller-in-Darkness!
In short, one word: inexplicable!
Just thinking about it left Wenwu speechless. The entire movie had no logic whatsoever!
A formidable overlord of a thousand years had been reduced to a lovesick fool!
Recalling Xu Wenwu's memories, Wenwu shook his head and sighed helplessly.
Then he thought of his ready-made son, who would actually comprehend the Power of the Dragon in his bloodline by cultivating tai chi internal force, unleashing unprecedented power from the ten rings.
Wenwu's brows knitted tightly. The ten rings had accompanied Xu Wenwu for a thousand years, almost as though they had long since become one with him. Who would have imagined that someone else would one day control them perfectly!
Ying Li had indeed taught Xu Wenwu tai chi internal force. But because he lacked the divine dragon bloodline, he had failed to cultivate the Power of the Dragon and had only developed ordinary Chinese martial arts internal force.
That little bit of internal force fell far short of the power of the ten rings, so back then, practicing tai chi had purely been a way for him to flirt with Ying Li!
"Could the Power of the Dragon be the key to fully unlocking the power of the ten rings?"
Wenwu frowned deeply and sank into thought.
In this extremely dangerous Marvel Universe, his current strength was nowhere near enough to guarantee his long-term survival!
Without the ten rings, he was nothing. He had to find a way to improve his own raw strength.
Searching through Xu Wenwu's thousand years of memories, he found no other cultivation methods besides Chinese martial arts such as tai chi internal force, which could strengthen the body.
Wenwu clenched his fists hard. Nourished by the energy of the ten rings for a millennium and tempered through external martial arts training, his physique was indeed far beyond an ordinary person's, but it was only comparable to Captain America in his normal state.
Of course, that only meant Captain America in his normal state. The cheating bastard who could fight anyone to a "fifty-fifty" standstill was not a fair comparison!
Just as Wenwu was silently considering his options, the hall doors were pushed open, and a girl in a martial arts outfit hurried inside.
"Dad, have you heard anything about my brother?"
The girl was around sixteen or seventeen and reasonably pretty. She was his ready-made daughter, Xialing.
Before transmigrating, he had only been in his early twenties, barely a few years older than this girl. Who would have thought that, in the blink of an eye, he would inexplicably have a daughter this old?
Yet Xialing's gaze was utterly cold as she looked at him, and she did not even bother concealing her disgust.
Wenwu truly could not understand it. Xu Wenwu had never mistreated the siblings over the years. Even while training them into assassins, he had still shown them a measure of fatherly love. He had merely been somewhat strict.
No matter how strict he was, surely that was no reason for both children to treat him as an enemy?
One had run away from home at fourteen to work, refusing to come back even when he was nearly starving to death. The other loathed him more and more, wishing she could flee this home at any moment too!