Simultaneous travel: Starting from returning to the main god space.

Chapter 437 Neos: A Life of Wandering, Never Meeting a Wise Ruler (Seeking monthly votes! Seeking further subscriptions!)

Amidst the gunshot, a blue-white beam of light, as sharp as lightning, instantly pierced through Proxima Centauri, which was moving at high speed, causing a hole the size of a bowl to explode in its chest. A dark green, viscous liquid gushed out from it and fell through the air.

Like Ebony Maw, Supergiant is not good at direct combat, but is a mind controller similar to Professor X. In the comics, he has controlled many powerful superheroes and caused a civil war with the Earth.

With such abilities, coupled with the Mind Scepter she held, her threat level instantly increased several levels. No wonder that even with the average mental strength attribute of over 1000 points among the members of the Central Continent Team, they were almost controlled by her.

"Wait! Her body... is illusory; she is a pure spiritual being!"

Zhu Wen, who had activated her Byakugan, carefully observed the superstar, trying to find her weakness. Then she was shocked to discover that the other party did not have a physical body. The image in front of her was just a spiritual entity manifested by powerful mental strength.

No wonder no one noticed her before, because in a sense, the superstar doesn't have a physical form. If she hadn't attacked the Central Continent team just now, even Zhan Lan would have ignored her due to the mental shielding mechanism.

Upon hearing Zhu Wen's words, the Superstar "looked" at her, then the blue gem on his scepter flashed, and an immense spiritual force crashed down, attempting to repeat his old trick and control several members of the Central Continent Team once again.

But the next second, a loud phoenix cry suddenly rang out, shattering that powerful mental force.

Clearly, it was Zhan Lan who made the move.

As a mental controller who has unlocked the fourth-order gene lock, mental combat is her forte, surpassing even the Supergiant. With the added power of the Phoenix Force, even if her opponent can use some of the power of the Mind Stone, they will not be able to contend with her.

However, she is currently fighting Thanos, a zombie who possesses two Infinity Stones. The two are currently evenly matched, but if she is distracted, she will inevitably fall into a disadvantageous position.

As expected, upon noticing Zhan Lan's distraction, the zombie Thanos grinned maliciously, suddenly raised his left hand and clenched it tightly, creating several miniature black holes around Zhan Lan's body to restrain her movements.

Immediately afterwards, the Infinity Gauntlet shone with an even more ferocious purple light, which then shot out with the swing of the fist, blasting towards Zhan Lan, who had no way to dodge.

Seeing this, Zhan Lan immediately cast a mental shield on herself, but at this moment, she had dispersed some of her mental energy and was being pulled by spatial forces, so she could no longer stop the violent power of the Power Gem.

Therefore, the shield lasted for less than two seconds before being shattered by the purple energy wave.

Zhan Lan raised her arms to block, and invisible phoenix flames burst forth, but caught off guard, they were still crushed by the violent force until her feet plowed a trench hundreds of meters long in the ground before finally stopping.

This attack was quite powerful; the vibranium armor on Zhan Lan's arms was torn apart, leaving burn marks with purple patterns. At this moment, it was being digested and devoured by the mutant genes that absorbed energy and healed at supersonic speed.

However, the speed was unusually slow, clearly indicating that the power had exceeded her absorption and self-healing limits.

The Power Stone's boundless destructive energy is so powerful that even the Celestials themselves would struggle to erase or heal it, let alone the mutant genes it created.

Thanos was about to press his advantage when he suddenly heard a whooshing sound. Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw a huge green shadow burning with flames hurtling towards him from a distance, knocking him away like a cannonball.

A deafening roar echoed over New York City as several skyscrapers, already severely damaged during the previous battle between the Chitauri army and the Avengers, finally succumbed to the impact and collapsed under the continuous onslaught.

With a bang, Zheng Zha, his body wreathed in glazed flames, landed in front of Zhan Lan, kneeling on one knee, breathing heavily. The madness in his eyes slowly faded, but he had temporarily exited the fourth-stage gene lock state.

He turned his head to look at Zhan Lan, noticed her horribly mangled arms, his expression darkened slightly, and then he said:

"You take a break and I'll hold them off."

"No need, it's just a minor injury, it won't kill you."

Zhan Lan shook her head, and crimson flames gradually ignited on her arms. This time, she quickly suppressed the purple energy, erasing it from its source. Her self-healing genes also quickly repaired her arms, and the burned skin became delicate and fair again.

However, this action caused Zhan Lan's face to turn slightly pale.

The Phoenix Force is indeed useful, but what Zhan Lan possesses is only a fragment. Excessive consumption would place a huge burden on the user and risk causing her to overcome her inner demons prematurely. Therefore, it is crucial to maintain a proper balance, otherwise, she could very well end up like the Dark Phoenix of the X-Men, turning to the dark side and destroying everything indiscriminately.

Looking up at the two beams of light locked in a fierce battle in the sky, it was no surprise that Zhao Yingkong was locked in combat with the zombie Captain Marvel. Judging from the current situation, it seemed that the battle would not be decided anytime soon.

Zhan Lan sighed slightly. In several battles, she had not gained a real advantage. The key was that Chu Xuan, who controlled the quantum shuttle, had disappeared without a trace, and she couldn't even run away. She was truly feeling overwhelmed.

Just then, Zhan Lan suddenly sensed a distortion in the surrounding space. Scanning with her mental energy, she saw golden sparks appearing one after another within New York City, from which countless figures in red robes emerged. Some wielded various weapons, while others spread their hands, manifesting orange-yellow circular magic circles. Who else could they be but the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj?

[The powerful figures of Central Continent, may we speak?]

A strange message arrived in her mind. Without much hesitation, Zhan Lan accepted it and couldn't help but raise her eyebrows.

Who are you? A reincarnated member of the Celestial Team?

No, I'm from the Southern Flame Continent team. Our team only has two people left now, plus the captain of the Northern Ice Continent team.

Neos took a deep breath, looked at the gods fighting in the sky above, and said bitterly:
[Although it might sound presumptuous to say this, I still hope to cooperate with Team Zhongzhou. We no longer expect any rewards in this team battle; we only want to avenge our fallen teammates and make Team Tianshen, who caused all this, pay the price. For this, we are willing to accept whatever Team Zhongzhou decides to do with Nanyan and Beibing in the end.]

If translated into classical Chinese, it roughly means something like, "I have wandered for half my life without meeting a wise ruler. If you do not abandon me, I am willing to become your godfather," which is quite realistic.

[Did you bring these Kamar-Taj sorcerers?]

After a few seconds of silence, Zhan Lan asked a question instead of answering.

[That's right, or rather, this was the Ancient One's arrangement. It was she who rescued us, which is why we've held on until now... By the way, the Ancient One has disappeared, and I don't know where she is now.]

Neos answered honestly, without any intention of hiding anything, but his heart began to pound with anxiety.

[Alright, I can agree to cooperate with you, but on the condition that you help my teammates retrieve the Mind Stone.]

Without waiting for Neos's response, Zhan Lan severed the telepathic communication. This was because two imposing figures appeared in the blue light ahead, none other than the zombie Thanos and the zombie Hulk who had just been blasted away.

“Ho ho ho—!!”

The zombie Hulk roared first, and its terrifying figure, which had swelled to nearly five meters in size, charged forward, disappearing into the distance with Zheng Zha in the sonic boom.

"call……"

Zhan Lan let out a soft breath, and her body slowly floated in mid-air.

Gradually, a pair of fiery red wings unfurled behind it, more realistic than before, and filled with an indescribable mystical atmosphere. Compared to the phoenix power that carried a trace of chaotic and violent aura, it was gentler and more vast and boundless.

Clearly, this is not the Marvel Phoenix Force, but the True Phoenix Treasure Technique from the Perfect World. Through Wu Xian's instruction and the assistance of dual cultivation, Zhan Lan has mastered its essence. Especially after reaching the fourth stage of gene lock, she can now unleash four or five tenths of the power of this peerless treasure technique, which is not much weaker than the normal Phoenix Force.

A phoenix cry, softly uttered from the depths of the soul, rang out, and Zhan Lan's aura suddenly surged. Her fiery wings, over a hundred feet long, slowly unfurled, their feathers crystal clear, with golden patterns extending from her back to her tail, trailing a dazzling five-colored radiance into the distance, exuding extreme magnificence and richness.

"Well then... it's time to begin the second round."

Zhan Lan and Phoenix opened their eyes simultaneously, and chaotic light shot out from them, directly towards the solemn-faced zombie Thanos.

……

Meanwhile, on a high-rise building in New York City, a figure in yellow quietly watched the battle below. Half of his face, hidden under his hood, remained calm and composed, as if he were watching a farce that had been played out a thousand times before.

pat!

Footsteps sounded from behind. The man in yellow turned around, looked at the uninvited guest, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"Long time no see, old friend."

"This should be our first meeting, Ancient One."

Chu Xuan pushed up his glasses and said in a calm tone.

(End of this chapter)