The more Thanos spoke, the more certain he became, so he continued, "There will even be ambitious individuals who covet your power, using overt schemes to force you into choosing one of several futures to profit from. And there will definitely be those who want to snatch the Stones, to steal the power, because this power comes from the Stones, it's an external force, not inherent to you!"
Thanos looked up, staring intently at Qingshui, seemingly wanting to persuade him.
"What you're saying, I've had similar thoughts before, and I even experimented with natives from several isolated planets for this very reason.
The final result, in the end, wasn't satisfying to me.
So the best method is to skip the intermediate steps and achieve the goal directly. That's the truly foolproof way! This... is the only path to fulfilling destiny!"
Director Thanos of Family Planning's tone was incredibly passionate.
Unfortunately, Qingshui still had no intention of buying into it.
But he put on a thoughtful expression, stopped what he was doing, and nodded.
"What you're saying makes quite a bit of sense. How about this then, you give me your two Infinity Stones, and I'll bear all the responsibility for this! I'll take on this infamy!"
Thanos's expression stiffened, then he gave Qingshui a deep look.
"You're lying."
"I'm not!"
"Your soul tells me you're lying."
"Well, if you're not going to give them to me, then let's keep fighting."
Qingshui looked at Thanos and said.
"But I can't beat you."
"Then give me the Stones."
"No."
Qingshui inexplicably felt like he was watching elementary school kids argue.
Thanos looked at Qingshui, reached out, and pried the Power Stone from the Infinity Gauntlet. He channeled energy into it and pressed it against the Soul Stone.
He was going to directly destroy these two Infinity Stones.
Better to be shattered jade than intact tile!
An explosive force spread out from Thanos's body, instantly destroying everything around him.
With a thought, Qingshui activated the Space Stone, teleporting himself out of that space.
In the vast cosmos, Qingshui's figure, clad in the Destroyer armor, emerged from a spatial vortex. He watched as the distant planet, located between a Binary star system, tidally locked by two stars and perpetually in scorching daylight, was utterly obliterated by the massive shockwave.
And following that, the entire star system, including those two stars, was destroyed.
Qingshui raised his hand, using the energy of the three Infinity Stones to construct layers of defenses in front of himself. He remained silently in space, observing the magnificent scene for a while. Realizing that the phenomena here wouldn't stop anytime soon, he raised his hand again, using the Time Stone to accelerate the process of stellar destruction and supernova explosion.
Nearly an hour later.
Qingshui, exhausted, gasped for breath inside the Destroyer. He warped into the endless stellar remnants and found the previous location of Muspelheim.
"The spatial coordinates I pinpointed earlier should be right here."
Within a blue and red gaseous nebula, Qingshui pinpointed the location and re-locked the space in that area.
The Eye of Agamotto on his chest flashed, summoning a counter-clockwise magic circle.
Time within the restricted area rapidly reversed, and Thanos's body and the two Infinity Stones reappeared before Qingshui.
However, before Qingshui could make his next move, upon seeing the scene before him, Thanos unhesitatingly pressed the Power Stone back into place.
An explosion occurred once more, churning the nebula.
Beneath the Destroyer's visor, Qingshui frowned slightly, having thought of something. Instead of reversing time again, he sat down cross-legged on the spot, forming hand seals, and began to scry the future timeline.
His Uru Metal-encased head twitched and spun uncontrollably, leaving countless afterimages. Before long, Qingshui opened his eyes, returning to normal.
It seemed he couldn't acquire those two Infinity Stones from Thanos. He would have to find other methods, such as waiting for the two Stones to surface in other unknown nooks and crannies of the universe before he could seize them.
This seemed to be the backlash caused by his manipulation of time.
Even though he was trying to mitigate the backlash from affecting time, it was still unavoidable, just varying in severity.
This was already a very minor backlash; it hadn't caused any harm to him personally, all his objectives were achieved, and those truly close to him shouldn't have suffered significant harm. It just meant he couldn't plan for the Soul Stone and Power Stone in the short term.
To say it was small would be inaccurate, but to say it was large, it wasn't so large that he couldn't bear it.
Furthermore, even though he couldn't get his hands on these two Stones right now, there was still a Reality Stone waiting for him in Asgard.
Thanos was dead; it was time to go back and clean up the mess.
The ethereal blue light of the Space Stone flashed, and when Qingshui reappeared, he was above Asgard.
Asgard's protective barrier had been broken, and the Dark Elves' fleet had been completely destroyed.
The battle between the two sides had now entered its most intense white-hot phase, the moment when the tide of the war gradually began to turn.
The instant Qingshui arrived, he clearly saw Thor, at the risk of losing an eye, sever the Kurse's head with Stormbreaker.
Meanwhile, Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves, was manipulating the Aether, coalescing it into a blood-black torrent. It pierced through Loki's frost and illusions, striking towards Thor's back.
Thor was about to throw Mjolnir backward to block the attack when he turned around and saw a familiar tall, silver-white Destroyer appear out of thin air behind him.
"Winds of Waltum!"
A seemingly chaotic but actually orderly golden hurricane swirled up, blowing away the blood-black mist formed by the Aether, and sweeping it back towards Malekith.
By now, with Qingshui's mastery of wind-elemental arts, this spell was no longer just a spell. It incorporated many related techniques from wind-elemental Ninjutsu and Qimen Dunjia Arts, making its power astonishing.
Dense black mist surged from Malekith, trying to entwine and merge with the golden hurricane, to rewrite its existence. But the moment they touched, both dissolved like ice and snow.
"Mind and reality, they are mutually generative and restrictive. Reality is defined as true or false by the mind, and the mind is also carried by reality. Little black fellow, you're very skilled at using the Reality Stone, but you're going about it the wrong way. How can you rewrite all existing reality into darkness with just one Reality Stone?
And how do you Dark Elves understand darkness?"
Qingshui scoffed, speaking as his figure appeared above Malekith. He raised his hand, gathering the power of three Infinity Stones, and unleashed it upon Malekith.
Thanos's stats were much higher than Malekith's, and he had two Infinity Stones in hand, so Qingshui had to scheme against him, worried he might escape.
Malekith, however, was much weaker. Not only did he only have one Infinity Stone, but despite theoretically being more skilled in its use, his limited vision, knowledge, and ability meant his development and utilization of the Stone were far inferior to Thanos's.
Against Qingshui, he was utterly outmatched.
"You don't understand. You, who have never truly fallen into darkness, are not qualified to ask us how we understand darkness."
After just a few moves, Malekith was already being steadily beaten back by Qingshui.
"I've faced darkness itself, and even fought it. When it comes to understanding darkness, I know far more than you do."
Qingshui reached out, hammering Malekith high into the air, then instantly appeared opposite him, speaking.
"You've lost."
The Destroyer's silver-white arm pierced Malekith's chest. Space, Mind, Time—a triple force forcibly severed Malekith's connection to the Aether, extracting the Reality Stone.
A gem shimmering with a deep red appeared in Qingshui's palm.
To make the Reality Stone easier to use and lower the threshold for its application, the Dark Elves had used some technology to transform it into the Aether.
This was essentially the same principle as the Infinity Gauntlet or the Eye of Agamotto—artifacts designed to house and unleash the power of the Stones.
However, these Dark Elves aimed to transform reality into darkness, and their use of it was confined to darkness-related domains. While it seemed powerful, allowing the Dark Elves to unleash their dark magic with great effect, it also severely limited the true potential of the Stone.
One couldn't call it squandering a treasure, but it certainly was a significant waste, much like the Mind Scepter when it fell into Loki's hands. It was merely used as a hypnotic tool that automatically deactivated after he was knocked out, utterly failing to unleash the Stone's true power.
Qingshui used his right index finger and thumb to pinch the Reality Stone, pressing it onto the Destroyer's left arm gauntlet.
Four-colored streams of light flowed and shimmered across the silver-white Destroyer armor, accompanied by immense energy and a feeling that everything around him was under his control.
Time and Space, Mind and Reality.
Over half of the universe's power and rules were now under his dominion. It was as if he was about to become the master of this world, as if he was… destiny itself!
"With the Destroyer armor sharing the burden, the pressure from four Stones is still manageable for my body, strengthened by the enhanced Extremis Virus. Five would be tricky, and six would definitely be unbearable.
It seems that not getting those two Infinity Stones won't have much impact in the short term, or even for quite a long time."
Qingshui assessed his physical state, thinking this to himself, and immediately felt somewhat better.
Hmm, still a bit unsatisfied.
Looking down, the battle on Asgard's side was already largely settled.
Both Malekith, who controlled the Aether, and the Kurse, created from the Dark Stone forged by the Aether, were dead.
The Dark Elves had already been on the back foot under the assault led by Heimdall and the Warriors Three of the Asgardian Palace Guards. With Thor and Loki, two super-powerful combatants, joining in, it was nothing short of a crushing defeat.
Whether it was lightning or cold blasts, their speed in clearing enemies was top-notch.
Time to go back to Earth.
With a flash of the Space Stone's light, Qingshui's figure vanished again.
Casually using his Magic Tool to shatter the ice sculpture beside him, Loki and Thor exchanged a look as if they shared the same thought.
"We'll follow him to Earth now."
Loki said to Thor.
"To find Hela?"
"Yes, I haven't met this sister yet. I want to find her and tell her she's the lamest of the three of us."
"Then let's go, Heimdall! We'll leave this to you! Loki, let's go!"
Thor enthusiastically raised Stormbreaker.
As a divine weapon, just like the Gungnir, Stormbreaker also possessed the ability to summon the Rainbow Bridge.
Unlike the Thor brothers, Qingshui didn't go to find Hela, but instead arrived in Greenwich.
Carol's strength was enough to suppress Hela, so nothing serious would happen there for a while. It was the other ongoing battle against Thanos's Dark Order army that was causing constant casualties.
Those with special abilities were still relatively fine, but most were ordinary human soldiers.
Although over the past month, these soldiers had been equipped with extreme environment combat suits produced by Stark Industries, received a large number of Rune Magic Tools, undergone specialized training from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and had simple but effective kinetic weapons, along with weapons forged by the dwarves brought by Qingshui—their combat effectiveness was not bad.
However, when facing an interstellar army, these resources could only offer a slight resistance, preventing an immediate collapse. In a real fight, they simply couldn't win.
If it weren't for the large number of Kamar-Taj sorcerers, the Iron Legion painstakingly built by Tony Stark, and the experts from S.P.E.A.R., S.H.I.E.L.D., and Wakanda acting as crucial forces to turn the tide, their defenses might have already been breached, and Greenwich invaded.
For now, the Dark Army is temporarily held back in Svartalfheim, Jotunheim, and Alfheim.
Svartalfheim is the Dark Elves' stronghold, Jotunheim is the Frost Giants' territory, and Alfheim is home to the Light Elves.
The Dark Elves all died in Asgard, so there's no need to mention them further. The Frost Giants and Light Elves, however, were both drawn into this war.
Both the Frost Giants and the Light Elves are aware of the celestial convergence.
However, the former have lost the Casket of Ancient Winters, and their leader, Laufey, was tricked and killed by Loki, who fancies himself an Asgardian prince. Their power is greatly diminished, and they are barely clinging to existence, content to simply guard their territory, hence their passive defense.
The latter, on the other hand, had communicated with Asgard. But because they are peace-loving and have always been protected by Asgard, they excel in artistic fields such as music, dance, painting, cultivation, poetry, and sculpture. Their true military strength isn't very high, but they do possess some nature and light-based magic, specializing in healing and buffing. They are excellent support, greatly reducing casualties on the battlefield.
Still, Earth's side is at a disadvantage. Although they have the Avengers, the Wakandan army, the Kamar-Taj mages, and S.P.E.A.R.'s Eight Immortals and Qigong martial artists, which boosted their overall strength, Thanos's army is a legitimate interstellar force. Led by the Black Order, they still managed to suppress their enemies.
That was until Qingshui arrived.
Under the enhancement of the Mind Stone, Qingshui's perception range expanded to an incredible extent, covering the entirety of Svartalfheim.
-----------
Machine Translation by: https:// beta.randomtranslator.com/
Read 1111+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский at: https:// beta.randomtranslator.com/
Join our Discord: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------