Location: The Imperial Blockade – General Thorne's Tent
Time: 08:00 AM (Loop Count: 2)
The world flickered. The grey glass wasteland vanished.
Aris blinked, and he was back in the tent. The smell of fresh tea filled the air.
"Aris?" General Thorne smiled, looking up from his blank map. "My son! What are you doing here? I thought you were in the Capital."
Aris didn't answer. He didn't even look at his father.
He grabbed a bread roll from the table, kicked the tent flap open, and sprinted out.
"Aris? Wait!" Thorne called out, confused.
"Nox! On me!" Aris shouted.
The Eclipse Hound, who had been sleeping by the entrance, jolted awake. Because of his Soul-Link to a Void Entity, Nox remembered the fire. He remembered the pain. He saw Aris running and didn't hesitate to follow, terrified of being left behind in the blast zone.
Attempt 1: The Blind Run
Time: 08:05 AM
Aris charged into the Ash-Fall Jungle.
"The reset happens at 12:00 PM," Aris calculated as he jumped over a fallen log. "The volcano is 3,000 meters high. The terrain is hostile. I have to speed-run this."
He ignored stealth. He used Ghost-Step to flash forward, covering ground rapidly.
SWISH.
A spear flew from the brush.
It was a Fire-Cloud Tribe ambush.
Aris dodged right, but the spear grazed his shoulder.
"Enemy position noted," Aris grunted.
He drew his Shadow Sword and engaged. Three tribesmen with obsidian axes jumped him. Aris killed them efficiently, parrying a blow and decapitating the leader.
[XP Gained: +300]
"Too slow," Aris hissed. The skirmish had taken two minutes. "If there are fifty ambushes up the mountain, I'll never make it in time."
He pushed forward.
At 10:30 AM, he reached the Mid-Slope Geyser Field.
The ground here was treacherous. Steam vents erupted randomly. Aris tried to navigate the path, but the ground crumbled beneath his feet.
CRACK.
He fell into a hidden lava tube.
[Damage: 90% HP Lost.]
[Debuff: Third-Degree Burns.]
Aris clawed his way out, screaming in pain. He dragged his burnt body a few more meters.
Then, the sky turned red.
Time: 12:00 PM.
"Not fast enough," Aris whispered as the Solar Purge wave descended from the peak.
The white fire washed over him.
[YOU HAVE DIED.]
Location: The Imperial Blockade
Time: 08:00 AM (Loop Count: 3)
"Aris? My son! What are—"
Aris was already gone.
This time, he didn't run blindly. He ran with a map in his head.
Attempt 2: The Pathfinding
Time: 08:05 AM
The ambush spear flew from the brush.
Aris didn't dodge. He simply tilted his head to the left without breaking stride. The spear sailed past his ear.
He didn't stop to fight the three tribesmen. He threw a Smoke Bomb (Abyssal variant) and ran past them.
"Ignore the trash mobs," Aris commanded Nox. "Focus on the objective."
They reached the Geyser Field at 09:15 AM.
"Pattern recognition," Aris murmured.
He watched the ground. Vent A blows every 3 seconds. Vent B blows every 7.
He moved.
He hopped from stone to stone, timing his jumps perfectly between the eruptions of scalding steam. He looked like a dancer moving through a minefield.
They cleared the field in ten minutes.
But at 10:00 AM, they hit a wall.
Specifically, a Magma Golem.
It stood in the middle of the only bridge leading to the upper crater. It was Level 55. A sub-boss.
"Roar!" The Golem slammed its fists down, shattering the bridge.
Aris tried to fly over with the Wings of the Moderator, but the Golem spat a glob of molten rock that glued his wing to his side. He spiraled down into the ravine.
[YOU HAVE DIED.]
Location: The Imperial Blockade
Time: 08:00 AM (Loop Count: 12)
"Aris? My s—"
"Love you, Dad, bye," Aris yelled over his shoulder, already mounting Nox.
By now, Aris wasn't running. He was flowing.
He knew every root, every stone, every spear trap. He moved through the jungle like a ghost, pre-firing spells into bushes where enemies would be in three seconds.
Attempt 12: The Optimization
Time: 09:55 AM
Aris arrived at the bridge. The Magma Golem began to animate.
"Nox, bank left!" Aris shouted.
Before the Golem could even roar, Aris threw a Pristine Frost Sac (harvested from the North) at its chest.
SMASH.
The ice exploded. The super-heated magma of the Golem's core met absolute zero.
CRACK.
Thermal shock. The Golem shattered into a pile of gravel without throwing a single punch.
"Speedrun strats," Aris smirked, flying over the rubble.
They ascended past the tree line. The air became thin and poisonous with sulfur.
Time: 11:30 AM
They reached the Summit Crater.
"Thirty minutes left," Aris checked his internal clock.
The summit was a massive caldera filled with bubbling white lava. In the center, on an island of black glass, sat a gigantic nest made of burning phoenix feathers.
And inside the nest lay the Vermilion Bird.
[Entity Identified]
[Name: Zhuque (The Vermilion Bird)]
[Rank: Divine Beast (Guardian of the South)]
[Status: Corrupted / Insane.]
The Bird was beautiful and terrifying. It was a massive avian creature made of pure red fire, but its feathers were dripping with a black, tar-like substance.
It wasn't sleeping. It was thrashing.
It pecked at its own wings, tearing out feathers. Every time a drop of its blood hit the lava, the volcano rumbled.
"IT BURNS! IT BURNS!"
The Bird screeched. It wasn't a majestic cry. It was the voice of a tortured child.
"MAKE IT STOP! REBOOT! REBOOT!"
"It's trying to heal itself," Aris realized, landing on the crater rim. "The corruption is eating it, so it triggers a Solar Purge to reset its body. But the corruption persists through the reset."
Aris walked toward the nest. The heat was unbearable. Even with the Void-Walker's Mantle, his skin was blistering.
[Time: 11:50 AM]
"Hey!" Aris shouted, amplifying his voice with Qi.
The Vermilion Bird snapped its head around. Its eyes were chaotic—one was golden, the other was a swirling void of madness.
"INTRUDER! YOU BRING THE ROT! BURN!"
The Bird inhaled. The white fire began to gather in its throat.
"It's triggering the purge early!" Aris cursed.
He had ten minutes on the clock, but the Boss decided to skip the timer.
"Nox! Shadow Bind!"
Nox, terrified but obedient, launched shadow chains from the ground. They wrapped around the Bird's neck. The fire instantly vaporized them, but it bought Aris one second.
Aris charged.
He didn't draw a sword. You don't stab a fire.
He drew the Seal of the North (The Black Tortoise Rune).
"Water beats Fire," Aris yelled. "Xuanwu! Lend me the ocean!"
He slammed the blue rune into the ground.
[Item Activation: The Seal of the North.]
[Summon: Hydro-Cannon.]
A spectral image of the Black Tortoise appeared behind Aris. It opened its massive maw and unleashed a torrent of Heavy Spirit-Mercury directly at the Bird.
HISSSSSS!
The collision of Divine Water and Divine Fire created a steam explosion that shook the mountain.
The Vermilion Bird screamed as the water doused its flames. The white fire in its throat sputtered and died.
"COLD! SO COLD!"
The Bird collapsed into the nest, shivering. The black tar on its wings hardened, immobilizing it.
[Time: 12:01 PM]
The sky did not turn red. The Purge was canceled.
The Diagnosis
Aris walked up to the shivering god. The steam was clearing.
He looked closely at the black tar infecting the bird.
[Analysis: Abyssal Corruption.]
[Source: External Injection.]
[Signature: ...Lady Yun?]
Aris frowned. "No. This isn't Middle Realm Qi. This is... artificially engineered Void Qi."
He saw a shard of metal embedded in the Bird's chest. It looked like a piece of a shackle.
"Someone tried to capture you," Aris realized. "And when they failed, they poisoned you."
He placed his hand on the Bird's forehead.
"I can cure this," Aris said softly. "But it's going to hurt."
The Vermilion Bird looked at him with its one sane eye.
"DEATH? IS IT DEATH?"
"No," Aris smiled beneath his mask. "It's surgery."
He activated Reverse Refinement.
"System. Target the Corruption. Extract."
[Warning: Extracting Volatile Void Energy.]
[Host Capacity: Sufficient.]
Aris pulled.
Black smoke poured out of the Bird and into Aris. It felt like drinking liquid hate. His veins turned black, bulging against his skin.
The Bird screeched, thrashing, but the relief was immediate. The red flames began to return, brighter and cleaner than before.
After ten minutes, the shard of metal fell out. The tar was gone.
Aris stumbled back, falling onto his butt. He belched a puff of black smoke.
[XP Gained: +200,000 (Corruption absorbed)]
[Level Up: 60 -> 61 (Nascent Soul - Peak)]
The Vermilion Bird stood up. It spread its wings, which spanned a hundred meters. The fire was no longer white and destructive; it was a warm, golden orange.
"THE PAIN... IS GONE."
The Bird looked down at Aris.
"YOU EAT POISON AS IF IT WERE WINE. WHAT ARE YOU?"
"I'm the garbage man," Aris quipped, standing up. "I cleaned up your mess. Now, hand over the Key."
The Vermilion Bird laughed. It was a beautiful sound, like a choir of bells.
"YOU SAVED ME FROM THE LOOP. I AM IN YOUR DEBT, VOID-WALKER."
A red feather floated down. It glowed with the essence of life.
[Item Acquired: The Seal of the South (3/4)]
[Effect: Grants authority over Fire and Life.]
[Passive: 'Phoenix Heart' – If killed, resurrect once with 50% HP (Cooldown: 1 month).]
"Three down," Aris caught the feather.
"THE EAST," the Bird warned, looking toward the distant horizon. "THE DRAGON. HE IS NOT SICK. HE IS NOT SLEEPING. HE IS... WAITING."
"I know," Aris said. "He's the final boss."
The Return
Aris descended the mountain.
When he reached the camp, it was 02:00 PM.
The tents were still there. The soldiers were still alive.
General Thorne was standing outside, looking at the volcano. The red clouds were gone. The ash had stopped falling.
"Aris?" Thorne looked at his son, who walked out of the jungle covered in soot and burns. "You look terrible. Did you... stop the eruption?"
Aris looked at his father. For the first time in countless loops, his father remembered him being there past noon.
"Yeah, Dad," Aris smiled tiredly. "I fixed the heater."
He mounted Nox.
"Pack up the camp. The war is over. We're going East."
Chapter 36 Complete.
The Time Loop is broken. The South is secured.
We now have three Seals: Tortoise (Defense), Tiger (Offense), Phoenix (Resurrection).
Only one remains: The Azure Dragon (Authority).
But the Dragon is located beneath the ruins of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the very place Aris destroyed.