Let me show you a new way Chapter 218

Time had resumed its flow, and the world had returned to normal.

The heavy rain poured down from the sky, drenching Tony once more.

Tony Stark knelt on the ground, one hand touching the earth, seemingly sensing, listening, and feeling everything from the past through the ground.

“I’m so sorry…”

Tony murmured. Then he extended his hand, and faint magic surged from his fingertips. The sand on the ground was drawn up by the magic, slowly coalescing at his fingertips, and finally transformed by the spell into a white glass lily.

Tony held the flower in his hand, and rain streamed down his nose. He wasn’t crying, perhaps because his tears had already run dry.

He placed the flower in a corner by the roadside, the very spot where his parents had lost their lives.

Footsteps sounded behind Tony. Lin Dong slowly approached, the falling rain parted by an invisible force, like an unseen umbrella.

“Why did you help me?” Tony suddenly turned his head and asked, looking at Lin Dong’s face.

“You didn’t have to risk tampering with history to help me. You know me well; you should know that I don’t care about those warnings. I would definitely try to change history, to save them.”

“If you hadn’t come to help, with my own magic, it would have been impossible to go back that far in time, let alone use the Time Stone to help me meet my parents…” Tony looked at his mentor, who had taught him magic and was his guide on the path of magic.

But at the same time, he was the Sorcerer Supreme; he should maintain the normal operation of the timeline, not try to break it. And the Eye of Agamotto should be an artifact kept for long-term use, not a toy to be pulled out anytime, anywhere.

“Why? Why risk the collapse of the timeline to reverse history?” Tony asked in a low voice. “You are the Sorcerer Supreme; you should maintain the timeline, shouldn’t you?”

“I am maintaining the timeline,” Lin Dong said.

Lin Dong knew one thing very clearly: he couldn’t stay in this world for too long. The impact of promoting the Emotional Spectrum was too immense, and its effect on the world was too drastic. The world’s vigilance was constantly rising, and Lin Dong had to leave this world before the vigilance reached a certain level, allowing the impact he had caused to stabilize.

But Lin Dong was unwilling to just leave like that. Since he had promised the Ancient One to temporarily assume the position of Sorcerer Supreme until a successor was found, he had to keep his promise. This was Lin Dong’s respect for the Ancient One.

In other words, before Lin Dong could pack up and leave, he had to find someone to take over the position of Sorcerer Supreme.

Undoubtedly, Lin Dong chose Tony Stark.

As the wealthiest magician in the entire world, he was undoubtedly worthy of being the Sorcerer Supreme. Although Tony’s current strength was far inferior to the Ancient One before her death or Lin Dong in his prime, this was mainly because a large part of Tony’s strength was concentrated in his armor.

The various armors he developed were incredibly diverse and could handle all kinds of enemies, with minimal magical consumption. He could single-handedly defeat all other sorcerers in the world without a problem.

In fact, being able to single-handedly defeat all other sorcerers was a basic requirement for becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, and Tony met this point.

After meeting this basic requirement, the Sorcerer Supreme had another responsibility: guarding the Time Stone.

The problem was, once you became the Sorcerer Supreme, the Time Stone was essentially yours. You could use it freely to investigate timelines, and even reverse time to change the past, and so on.

This necessitated ensuring that the newly appointed Sorcerer Supreme wouldn’t mess things up, as the Time Stone was the easiest artifact to cause major incidents with.

But simply forbidding its use was useless, because before becoming Sorcerer Supreme, the predecessor could order the successor not to use it, but once the predecessor stepped down, no one could command him. Then, due to a sorcerer’s curiosity, he would eventually pick up the gem.

In other words, there had to be a balance. The Sorcerer Supreme wouldn’t strictly adhere to prohibitions; when the gem needed to be used, it should be used decisively. But they couldn’t rely on the gem, using the S/L (Save/Load) method for every minor issue. The balance in between was that the user must have a reverence for the timeline.

This was also the reason Lin Dong came to help Tony reverse the future and resolve his inner turmoil.

Lin Dong could imagine that if he hadn’t helped today, Tony’s regret over his words and actions during his parents’ departure would have tormented him endlessly. If Lin Dong handed him the position of Sorcerer Supreme, he could create a Flashpoint Paradox within a few hours.

Even if Tony kept his promise and didn’t touch the Time Stone, Lin Dong suspected that within a few years, he could create a time machine that didn’t rely on the Time Stone and then cause a Flashpoint Paradox.

As one of the high-IQ heroes in the comics, Iron Man’s ability to cause trouble was certainly no less than that of Mister Fantastic, Reed Richards.

With Lin Dong’s help, Tony finally came to terms with his past actions, and his parents’ brave sacrifice instilled a glimmer of reverence for the timeline in him. This way, Lin Dong wouldn’t have to worry about returning here next time only to find that the world had been plunged into an apocalypse or something similar.

Lin Dong suspected that in the original world, the reason Doctor Strange could so easily access the Eye of Agamotto was essentially the Ancient One’s arrangement, because only by coming into contact with it would one recognize its power and then strive to protect it.

“I am maintaining the timeline, Tony,” Lin Dong said to Tony. “I know what you’re thinking. If you had been there, maybe you could have stopped her, maybe you could have saved them…” ①

“If you were stronger!”

He squatted down and pointed to his own eyes.

“Remember what I told you a long time ago? My eyes can see parallel universes. I’ve seen too many universes, Tony, more than you can possibly imagine.”

“I’ve seen too many worlds where you went down the wrong path, Tony. Once you become intoxicated with power, viewing it as the only solution to problems, you will become an absolute tyrant.”

“This is what I have been trying to change.”

“The reason I helped you is to help you resolve your inner turmoil, so that you can stop clinging to the past and instead look to the future, to become a true hero.”

“A hero your parents would be proud of.”

Lin Dong gently patted Tony’s shoulder and said to him seriously,

“Learn to accept what cannot be changed.” ②

“Because no matter how powerful you are, you cannot save everyone;”

“Those you truly care about…” ③