Chapter Summaries

Xu Xiao stole the Fire Qilin from Lingyun Cave, but Nüwa caught him and brought him back to his courtyard. After questioning him, she said she would let the theft go and offered him a stroke of fortune, leaving Xu Xiao unsure how to respond.

• Xu Xiao found the sleeping Fire Qilin in Lingyun Cave, suppressed it with Telekinesis, and sent it to his Divine Kingdom of Desire.
• As Xu Xiao escaped through a spatial rift, an unseen being disrupted his coordinates and pulled him back to his courtyard.
• Nüwa revealed herself and stopped Xu Xiao from using the World-Crossing Gate to flee.
• Nüwa questioned Xu Xiao about manipulating karma and destiny, and he admitted he enjoyed the experience but had not grasped their principles.
• Nüwa praised Xu Xiao’s honesty and character, then said she would overlook his theft and offer him a stroke of fortune.

Lady Nüwa forced Xu Xiao to accept her insights into uniting timelines and breaking through to Daluo, binding him to repay her with help in the future. She warned him to cultivate quietly and offered him divine beasts, while Xu Xiao asked for Phoenixes and Black Tortoises as well.

• Xu Xiao refused Nüwa’s offer of a fortune because he feared the karmic debt, but she sent golden light into his Sea of Consciousness anyway.
• Xu Xiao received Nüwa’s insights into bringing timelines together and advancing to Daluo, then thanked her and accepted that he owed her a debt.
• Nüwa told Xu Xiao to cultivate diligently, keep a low profile, and remember that she might need his help several epochs later.
• Nüwa offered to give Xu Xiao divine beasts, and he admitted he wanted to raise them for meat.
• Nüwa offered him long worms and Qilins but refused to give him Phoenixes and Black Tortoises, so Xu Xiao asked for two of each anyway.

Xu Xiao arrived in Gotham and planned to connect the DC and Marvel Universes by turning Gotham villains into anchors. Unable to find Bane and unwilling to attract attention at Arkham, he chose the Court of Owls as his next target.

• Xu Xiao surveyed Gotham, sensed its unusual powers, and reflected on the influential figures who shaped the DC Universe.
• Xu Xiao decided to open a passage between the Marvel and DC Universes wide enough to encourage both sides to fight and let him profit.
• Xu Xiao searched for Bane as his first anchor but found that Bane had not yet come to Gotham.
• Xu Xiao considered the villains imprisoned in Arkham but avoided them because powerful beings were watching, especially Joker.
• Xu Xiao turned his attention to the Court of Owls and planned to exploit its members' desires by offering them another god to worship.

Jones Howard awoke after dreaming of the Heavenly Venerable of Ten Thousand Desires and received a mysterious potion from a voice claiming to be a God. He tested the potion on the young woman beside him, and she began to transform as the blue liquid spread through her body.

• Jones Howard woke in a sweat after dreaming of the Heavenly Venerable of Ten Thousand Desires, though he doubted Gods existed.
• A voice spoke in Jones's mind and promised to grant his wish if he drank the potion beneath his pillow.
• Jones found a pale blue injector instead of his pistol, then discovered the gun on the bedside table and searched the room for an intruder.
• The voice insisted that it sought Jones alone and told him to test its blessing on the young woman beside him.
• Jones threatened the woman with his gun and ordered her to inject herself with the potion.
• The woman injected less than a third of the potion, and her veins turned blue as her skin grew radiant and her body filled with vitality.

Jones gained renewed youth and strength after injecting the drug and pledged to spread the Heavenly Venerable of Ten Thousand Desires’ teachings. Days later, Bane arrived in Gotham with his mercenaries and learned that local power brokers wanted to meet him.

• The girl praised the drug’s effects, and Jones injected himself, experiencing a dramatic physical rejuvenation before the transformation stopped.
• Jones prayed to the Heavenly Venerable of Ten Thousand Desires, who instructed him to spread his glory and gave him two more syringes.
• Xu Xiao reflected on winning over wavering Court of Owls members with rewards and planned to use them to distract Batman while Bane built strength.
• Bane arrived in Gotham with his mercenaries and accepted his henchman’s sewer hideout map and report.
• Bane’s henchman told him that local big shots wanted to work with him, and Bane dismissed them as Gotham’s usual underworld power brokers.

Bane met Gotham official Jones Howard, who revealed that his god had chosen Bane for a blessing. When Bane rejected the offer and threatened Jones, Jones overpowered him with strength granted by a Symbiote serum.

• Bane agreed to meet the Gotham locals who had helped him find the sewers.
• Two days later, Bane arrived at Jones Howard’s estate after placing his men in sniper positions.
• Jones welcomed Bane and led him into a room arranged as an altar to the Heavenly Venerable of Ten Thousand Desires.
• Jones told Bane that his god had chosen him and intended to bless him with power.
• Bane threatened Jones, but Jones restrained him with strength from his Symbiote serum.
• Jones asked Bane to show his god respect as he held him down.

Jones forced Bane to show respect to Xu Xiao, then offered him an Aberrant Serum as a divine gift. Bane left with the serum to test it, while Jones expected him to soon join Xu Xiao’s followers.

• Jones overpowered Bane and made him apologize for insulting Xu Xiao, then restored his dislocated arms.
• Bane asked whether Jones’s strength came from his god and what price the power required.
• Jones showed Bane an Aberrant Serum and explained that it needed a special item to reach its full potential.
• Bane took the serum and left, saying he might worship Xu Xiao if it worked.
• Jones prayed before Xu Xiao’s statue and reported that he had given Bane the serum.

Bane analyzed the pale purple drug Jones had given him but could not understand its composition, leaving him torn over whether to use it. Before he could decide, his men reported that a giant rat had appeared in the laboratory and killed Paul.

• Bane returned to his sewer laboratory and spent hours testing the pale purple drug Jones had given him.
• Bane found that the drug had some virus-like properties but could identify little else, and he wondered whether it really came from an evil god.
• Bane debated using the drug to gain power, but hesitated through the night over the possible consequences.
• Bane's men reported gunfire in the laboratory and said a huge rat had killed Paul.
• Bane took a weapon, opened his door, and demanded that his men take him to the rat.

Bane discovered that the lab rat he had dismembered had revived as a bullet-resistant mutant and attacked his men. After injecting himself with the pale-purple serum, he grew to nearly three meters tall and killed the rat with one punch.

• Bane's men told him the mutant rat had killed Paul and Kejin and was attacking them from the laboratory.
• Bane realized the monster was the test rat he had dismembered after injecting it with serum.
• The mutant rat pushed out of the laboratory, but Bane's men drove it back with heavy machine guns.
• Bane injected himself with the pale-purple serum, drawing the rat out as the serum's scent drove it into a frenzy.
• Bane grew into a giant and punched the mutant rat into shredded flesh.

After the Aberrant Serum transformed Bane and gave him extraordinary powers, he returned to Jones to demand the rest of the power. Jones brought him before his god, Xu Xiao, leaving Bane face-to-face with the being he believed had granted him his abilities.

• Bane crushed the mutated rat with one punch and discovered that the Aberrant Serum had made him immensely strong.
• Bane’s body grew larger, healed its old wounds, and revealed powers including flight, regeneration, and laser eyes.
• Bane returned to Jones and asked what he would have to pay for the other half of the power.
• Jones led Bane into the manor and brought him before the statue of his god.
• Bane was transported to a strange, colorful space, where Xu Xiao invited him to sit across from him.

Xu Xiao gave Bane the Virus Core and instructed him to wait for permission before carrying out his plan to kill Batman. After showing Bane his original defeat, Xu Xiao sent him back with the Core and warned that unusual people would arrive to help him conquer and rule a world.

• Xu Xiao offered Bane the Virus Core, which he said would greatly increase Bane’s strength when combined with Compound Number Eight.
• Bane asked what price the power would demand, and Xu Xiao told him to wait for permission before causing trouble and killing Batman.
• Xu Xiao showed Bane scenes of his original future, in which he seized Gotham, defeated Batman once, then lost and returned to prison.
• Bane vowed not to underestimate Batman again, and Xu Xiao told him to follow his original plan when the time came.
• Xu Xiao sent Bane back to his room with the Virus Core and warned him that unusual people would appear as his helpers.
• Bane woke beneath the statue, still holding the pulsing Core, and accepted that he could not refuse the coming events.

Xu Xiao traveled to the timeline where Kal-El arrived on Earth, intending to interfere with Superman’s destiny and create another anchor. The Kents adopted the baby from the crashed Kryptonian spaceship, while Xu Xiao watched from nearby.

• Xu Xiao arrived in early America and sensed the force of destiny surrounding Kal-El’s arrival.
• Jonathan and Martha Kent saw a spaceship crash onto their farm and discovered a sleeping baby inside.
• Martha urged Jonathan to adopt the child, and he agreed to keep the discovery secret.
• Martha carried the baby away with Jonathan, and a figure appeared beside the crater after they left.

Xu Xiao traced the Kryptonian capsule’s causal link to Krypton, where he arrived during General Zod’s failed coup and the council’s sentencing of him to exile. Xu Xiao revealed his overwhelming power aboard the exile ship and offered Zod an opportunity, leaving Zod to hear his proposal.

• Xu Xiao followed the capsule’s causal thread across the universe to Krypton, where Zod’s coup against the council was failing.
• Zod was captured, sentenced to the Phantom Zone, and taken aboard an exile ship with his followers.
• Xu Xiao appeared aboard the ship and subdued Zod and the Kryptonian warriors with his presence.
• Xu Xiao told Zod he had come specifically to offer him an opportunity, and Zod asked to hear the proposal while warning that he could not do the impossible.

Xu Xiao offered Zod a habitable planet for Kryptonians in exchange for waiting for his signal before attacking its inhabitants, then freed Zod’s group from the Phantom Universe. He left to steal Kryptonian genetic technology, taking the Genesis Chamber and its unhatched embryos for Orochimaru to study.

• Xu Xiao showed Zod a living planet near Krypton and required him to wait for a signal before destroying its native intelligent inhabitants.
• Zod accepted the condition, allowed Xu Xiao to place a Seed of Desire inside him, and thanked him for helping Krypton survive.
• Xu Xiao tore open the Phantom Universe and freed Zod’s group, whose ships cloaked themselves in the real universe.
• Zod’s followers questioned whether Xu Xiao’s offer was a scheme, but Zod declared that they would accept any risk for Krypton.
• Xu Xiao entered Krypton unseen, took the Genesis Chamber and its Codex of Life embryos, and planned to have Orochimaru study them.

Xu Xiao arrived in the DC Universe to claim the Emotional Spectrum and merge it with his Dao of Desire as part of his path toward Daluo. He sensed Abin Sur’s spacecraft approaching Earth and headed for its crash site to study Green Lantern power.

• Xu Xiao used his Divine Sense and Golden Pupil of Myriad Phenomena to confirm he had reached the DC spacetime he wanted.
• Xu Xiao planned to take control of the Emotional Spectrum and combine it with his Dao of Desire to establish a fundamental law in the DC Universe.
• Xu Xiao reflected on Nüwa’s guidance to strengthen and develop his powers across more universes rather than rely on the Transmigrators' Alliance.
• Xu Xiao sensed Parallax’s power spiral out of control and realized that Hal Jordan’s rise as a Green Lantern was near.
• Xu Xiao sensed Abin Sur’s spacecraft arriving on Earth, concealed himself, and headed toward its crash site to study Green Lantern power.

Xu Xiao intercepted Abin Sur’s Green Lantern Ring, examined how it converted willpower into power, and refused to become its master. After releasing the ring to find Hal Jordan, Xu Xiao decided to visit Planet OA.

• Abin Sur sent the Green Lantern Ring to find a successor who could warn the Guardians that Parallax had returned.
• Xu Xiao caught the ring, overwhelmed its resistance, and declined its attempt to choose him as its master.
• Xu Xiao examined the ring and determined that it converted willpower into Reality Interference, drawing on energy stored through its connection to Planet Oa.
• Xu Xiao severed the ring’s attempt to form a connection with him and released it to seek Hal Jordan.
• Xu Xiao saw a thread of cause and effect and decided to go to Planet OA.

Xu Xiao infiltrated Planet Oa and used Seeds of Desire to strengthen the Ion Shark and Parallax. As they fought and the Green Lantern Corps rushed to contain them, Xu Xiao escaped to target the other Lantern Corps before the first wave of attacks began.

• Xu Xiao secretly entered Planet Oa and reached the power batteries guarded by the Ion Shark.
• Xu Xiao fed the Ion Shark a Seed of Desire, then slipped past it into Parallax’s prison.
• Xu Xiao planted another Seed of Desire in the dormant Parallax, boosting its power and waking it.
• Parallax attacked the prison, and the Ion Shark fought it as the Guardians and Green Lantern Corps mobilized to contain them.
• Xu Xiao left Planet Oa and headed for another galaxy to target the other Lantern Corps.

Bane released Polluters into Gotham and sent his followers to spread the virus across America while Xu Xiao directed a summoning ritual to connect the DC and Marvel worlds. The passage opened before the DC beings could respond, allowing special beings to descend.

• Bane released a Polluter in his laboratory and ordered it to hunt in Gotham.
• Bane sent his modified followers to release animal Polluters and distribute Polluter Serum across America.
• Bane activated a summoning array prepared with help from Xu Xiao and the Marvel side.
• Xu Xiao used the Seed of Desire in Bane’s mind to guide the ritual as power linked the two worlds.
• The passage formed, and special beings descended before the DC beings discovered what had happened.

Xu Xiao oversaw Marvel’s first invasion forces as Hela and the Symbiotes set out to attack the other world, while Bane flew to Gotham to kill Batman. In the Superman Universe, Thanos arrived empowered by the Heart of the Universe, and his presence drew a powerful being toward him.

• Hela, the Symbiotes, Frost Giants, wolves, and starships appeared through the summoning formation as Xu Xiao explained they were only the first wave.
• Xu Xiao told Bane to find and kill the child of destiny, and Bane flew toward Gotham to target Batman.
• Hela led the invading forces into the world while the Symbiotes refused to serve her and went to seek hosts.
• Xu Xiao encountered Thanos and learned he had brought the Heart of the Universe to the Superman Universe.
• Thanos discussed his ambitions with Xu Xiao, and a being powerful enough to match him began to descend.

Xu Xiao intervened when Darkseid attacked Zod's departing ship, then killed Darkseid's dimensional projection with a single World Power-empowered punch. Xu Xiao's consciousness began to dissipate after using the power, leaving Thanos and the others stunned.

• Xu Xiao sent Zod and his men toward Earth while he stayed behind to face the power emerging from an alternate space.
• Darkseid arrived with his children and Parademon army, confronted Thanos, and targeted the Kryptonians' ship with his Omega Beams.
• Xu Xiao appeared before the beams could hit and caught them with his golden divine power.
• Xu Xiao struck Darkseid with a World Power-empowered Destruction Fist, erasing his body.
• Thanos and the others stared in shock as Xu Xiao's consciousness began to fade from the strain of using World Power.