Loop forty-one began with Du Yanze sitting in his Throne of Will instead of the library. The crystallized chamber of his convictions had changed with his cultivation advancement, growing larger and more complex. But more importantly, he could now see something that hadn't been visible before.

Records. Floating crystalline formations throughout the chamber, each one containing the complete sensory experience of a different loop. Every death, every failure, every small victory preserved in perfect detail.

"Forty attempts," he murmured, reaching toward the nearest crystal. "And I can review every single one."

The crystal blazed to life at his touch, projecting a perfect three-dimensional recreation of the first loop—the one he'd started thinking of as the "prime timeline." The loop where Ke Yin had been present.

Du Yanze watched himself, watched the divine being wearing his face, prepare for battle against Yuan Zhen. He saw techniques he'd forgotten about, heard conversations he'd been too overwhelmed to fully process at the time.

But it was the battle itself that made him stop breathing.

Yuan Zhen's massive avatar. A hundred meters tall, drawing power not just from his personal cultivation but from the spiritual energy of the entire battlefield. Du Yanze had seen it once before, but watching it now with forty loops of combat experience, he understood what he was seeing.

"It's not just a technique," he whispered. "It's a fundamental redefinition of what 'self' means in combat."

The avatar didn't just use Yuan Zhen's Xuan Yi; it treated the entire environment as an extension of his cultivation base. Every blade of grass, every particle of air, every mote of spiritual energy became part of his power reserves.

Du Yanze leaned forward, studying the technique's formation sequence. The mathematical precision was staggering. Yuan Zhen hadn't just manifested spiritual energy; he'd created a localized reality where his will was literally law.

"If I could replicate that," Du Yanze said slowly, "five World-Writ Sovereigns might not be impossible odds."

He reached for another crystal, one showing Ke Yin's response to the avatar technique. The Forest of Endless Growth had countered not through raw power, but by turning the battlefield itself against the construct.

Two approaches. Two ways of thinking about large-scale spiritual manipulation. Du Yanze settled into deep study, determined to understand both.

***

Loops forty-two through sixty were dedicated entirely to replicating Yuan Zhen's avatar technique. Du Yanze stopped worrying about the battles, stopped trying to save anyone, stopped caring about anything except understanding the mathematical principles behind environmental energy consolidation.

He died a lot. Sometimes to the first Tribunal wave when he was too distracted by technique practice to fight effectively. Sometimes to the five World-Writ Sovereigns when his avatar attempts failed catastrophically. Once, memorably, to Little Bloom when his botched technique attempt caused her to grow into a carnivorous tree the size of a building.

"Sorry," he'd said as her massive wooden jaws closed around him. "Still working out the bugs."

But each failure taught him something new.

The avatar wasn't just about gathering energy; it was about redefining the conceptual boundaries of self. Yuan Zhen hadn't created a giant version of himself. He'd temporarily expanded his spiritual existence to encompass everything within a certain radius.

The technique required perfect harmony between ego and environment, absolute conviction in one's right to command natural forces, and mathematical precision that would make scholars weep.

Fortunately, Du Yanze had all the time in the world to practice.

***

Loop seventy-five brought the first partial success. Du Yanze managed to manifest a spiritual avatar nearly thirty meters tall before his control wavered and the construct collapsed, taking half the administrative complex with it.

"Progress," he muttered from beneath the rubble, ignoring the Tribunal members converging on his position. "Definitely progress."

Loop eighty-two saw him achieve stable manifestation at fifty meters. Loop eighty-seven reached seventy meters before catastrophic failure. Loop ninety-three maintained coherence for almost thirty seconds.

But it was loop ninety-eight that brought the crucial insight. As Du Yanze studied his latest failure in his Throne of Will, he realized he'd been approaching the technique wrong. He'd been trying to impose his will on the environment, forcing it to become part of his avatar.

Yuan Zhen hadn't forced anything. He'd convinced the spiritual energy that it wanted to be part of something greater. The avatar wasn't conquest; it was seduction.

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***

Loop one hundred began like all the others, with Du Yanze opening his eyes in the library. But this time, he felt different. Sixty loops of avatar practice had taught him to see Xuan Yi not as fuel to be consumed, but as a partner to be courted.

He walked calmly to the courtyard where his allies waited. Little Bloom bounced excitedly at his approach. The Stone Emperor positioned himself as the perfect meditation seat. The ancient oak spread his branches protectively.

All of them trusting him. All of them believing he would find a way to protect them.

All of them about to die unless he got this right.

"Young Master," Feng Zhaoyang approached with his usual worried expression. "The scouts report—"

"I know," Du Yanze said quietly. "Seven Tribunal members now, five more in four hours. Don't worry about the first group. Focus on getting the civilians to safety."

He took his position at the center of the courtyard, cross-legged on the Stone Emperor's broad surface. Around him, his allies moved with purpose, not understanding the specifics of his plan, but trusting him completely.

That trust was its own form of power.

The first Tribunal wave arrived on schedule. Du Yanze defeated them with almost casual efficiency, his forty loops of pattern memorization allowing him to counter their every move before they'd finished thinking of it. To the observers, it looked like he could see the future.

In a sense, he could.

Then the sky turned gold, and the real threat descended.

Five World-Writ Sovereigns, their spiritual pressure crushing the air itself. The leader, Du Yanze had learned his name was Commander Liu Tiangang, touched down with enough force to crack the courtyard stones.

"Surrender," Commander Liu said simply. "Your resistance has impressed us, but this ends now."

Du Yanze stood slowly, brushing dust from his robes. Around him, his allies tensed for battle. Little Bloom's tiny roots emerged from the soil, ready to trip any threatening feet. The ancient oak's branches swayed ominously. The Stone Emperor's surface began to glow with accumulated earth energy.

"You're right," Du Yanze said calmly. "This does end now."

He placed his palms together and began to write in the air, his brush strokes powered not by desperation or anger, but by absolute certainty. Ninety-nine loops of failure had taught him exactly what he needed to do.

Universal Energy Consolidation Matrix.

The characters blazed with light that made the sun seem dim by comparison.

"What—" Commander Liu began, then stopped as the very air began to shimmer.

The avatar that materialized above the courtyard stood nearly one hundred and twenty meters tall, its form crystallizing from pure concentrated Xuan Yi. But where Yuan Zhen's construct had worn his own face, this avatar bore the features of someone else entirely.

Ke Yin's face, rendered in spiritual energy and divine authority, looked down at the five World-Writ Sovereigns with calm recognition.

"Divine Mister!" Little Bloom's delighted cry echoed across the courtyard. "Divine Mister came back!"

The ancient oak's branches rustled with joy. "The divine being returns to protect us!"

But it was the Tribunal forces' reaction that confirmed Du Yanze's gambit had worked.

"Impossible," Commander Liu breathed, his spiritual pressure wavering for the first time. "The divine being departed. Our scouts confirmed—"

"Retreat," one of the other Sovereigns whispered urgently. "If the foreign divine being has returned—"

"The orders were explicit," another added, fear creeping into his voice. "No engagement if the spiritual manifestation was present."

They knew that face. Their intelligence networks had recorded since the divine being descended, including detailed descriptions of his spiritual appearance before he chose Du Yanze as a host.

The avatar of Ke Yin smiled down at them with infinite patience, as if their existence was interesting but not particularly concerning.

"Run," Commander Liu said quietly.

"Sir?" one of his subordinates asked.

"RUN!" the Commander screamed, his spiritual pressure exploding outward as he launched himself skyward.

But the avatar was faster.

Massive hands, each one larger than a building, closed around the fleeing figures.

"You came to my city," the avatar said in Du Yanze's voice, though it carried harmonics that seemed to echo from multiple dimensions. "You threatened my people. You burned children while their parents watched."

The Sovereigns struggled desperately, their combined techniques flaring against the avatar's grip like candles against a hurricane.

"And you did this all in the name of purification," Du Yanze continued. "In the name of righteousness. In the name of preventing corruption."

He raised the struggling figures higher, letting them see the city they'd come to cleanse. The awakened spirits who'd learned to think for themselves. The humans who'd discovered the courage to question their delusions. The tiny sapling who'd taken her first steps toward consciousness.

"Tell me," the avatar asked, "what exactly needs to be purified here?"

Commander Liu tried to speak, but no words came. How could they argue with a divine being? How could they claim righteousness when faced with power that made their own cultivation seem like a child's game?

The avatar's grip tightened, not enough to cause immediate death, but enough to make breathing difficult.

"I thought so," Du Yanze said softly.

The massive hands closed completely.

When they opened again, five small piles of ash drifted away on the wind.

The avatar stood for a moment longer, its presence radiating protective authority over the entire city. Then, with the same gentleness that had marked its creation, it began to dissolve.

Du Yanze found himself kneeling in the courtyard, spiritually exhausted but triumphant. Around him, his allies stared in amazement at what they'd just witnessed.

"We did it," he whispered, hardly daring to believe it. "We actually did it."

Little Bloom raced over on her tiny legs, wrapping her branches around his arm. "Big Brother Yanze! That was amazing! How did you make Divine Mister's face appear?"

Du Yanze gently patted her leafy crown, too emotionally overwhelmed to speak. For the first time in one hundred loops, no one had died. For the first time since this nightmare began, everyone he cared about was safe.

But even as relief flooded through him, Du Yanze knew this was only the beginning. He'd won a single battle, protected a single city. The corruption that plagued this realm ran far deeper than one Tribunal attack. The otherworldly entity that fed on the spiritual decay was still out there, still growing stronger.

The time loop had given him infinite chances to master this moment, but the real work, curing an entire realm's madness, was only just beginning.

Still, as he sat surrounded by his friends, watching Little Bloom dance with joy while the ancient oak's branches swayed in celebration, Du Yanze allowed himself a moment of pure happiness.

He'd done it. Against impossible odds, through sheer stubborn determination and a hundred deaths' worth of accumulated wisdom, he'd found a way to win.

Now he just had to figure out how to save everyone else.

A/N

Tomo, we return to the Azure Peak Sect.

Comment below how you think the sect will react to Ke Yin having successfully created a time loop