Ash Hall was usually filled with Qiu Moren's groans of pain or his furious outbursts. But tonight, the silence was so heavy that even the sound of a heartbeat felt like war drums.
Qiu Moren sat upon his throne of bones, bare-chested. Veins of fire pulsed wildly across his body—the sign that his Ash Heart was rampaging, demanding sacrifices.
"Where… is the medicine…" Qiu Moren hissed, his glowing red eyes fixed on Yan Kesh. "I see no sacrificial disciples. Are you trying to kill me, Vice Sect Master?"
Yan Kesh stood calmly before the throne. In his hand, the glass box containing the Stasis butterfly glowed with a faint blue light.
"There will be no sacrifices tonight, Sect Master," Yan Kesh replied. "Sacrifices are a primitive solution. They run out, they break down, and they make too much noise."
Yan Kesh raised the glass box.
"Tonight, I bring you Eternity."
Qiu Moren narrowed his eyes.
"Eternity? Do not toy with that word."
"Your technique devours your body because time continues to move forward. The damage accumulates second by second," Yan Kesh explained, his voice almost hypnotic. "But what if we stopped time specifically for your illness?"
"What if the damage… were frozen?"
Yan Kesh stepped forward.
"Allow me to install this Second Heart."
Qiu Moren hesitated briefly, but the agony in his chest was so unbearable that reason gave way. He nodded.
Yan Kesh placed the glass box directly over the left side of Qiu Moren's chest—above the damaged heart.
"Activate," Yan Kesh whispered.
[ARTIFACT: STASIS CAGE]
[Target: Ash Heart Pathology]
[Mode: PROGRESSIVE HALT]
Tick.
The sound echoed inside both their minds—like a clock suddenly stopping.
In an instant, the wild fire-veins across Qiu Moren's body stopped moving. Their blazing red faded into a calm gray. The burning heat inside his organs vanished—not because it had healed, but because it had ceased to exist.
The pain had been paused.
Qiu Moren's eyes widened. He touched his chest.
Cold. Calm. Stable.
He circulated his Qi. His power remained intact—more stable than before, now that the constant leakage of pain was gone.
"This…" Qiu Moren stared at his hands, then burst into laughter—laughter filled with disbelief. "No pain? No pain at all?!"
He felt as though he had returned to his youth, before he had learned the cursed technique.
"It's miraculous! Yan Kesh! You're a genius!"
Qiu Moren rose to his feet and spread his arms wide. His Core Formation aura erupted without restraint, cracking the walls of the hall.
But Yan Kesh did not laugh.
He stared at the glass box now embedded into Qiu Moren's chest, as though it had been planted there. The surface fused seamlessly with his skin.
The butterfly inside…
Its wings trembled slightly.
Very slightly.
"There are conditions, Sect Master," Yan Kesh said coldly.
Qiu Moren stopped laughing.
"What? Speak! I'll give you anything!"
"That box is now part of your heart. The butterfly inside carries the 'time' of your illness," Yan Kesh said, pointing at Qiu Moren's chest.
"As long as the butterfly remains still, you are healthy. But if the box breaks—or if the butterfly awakens…"
Yan Kesh let the sentence hang unfinished.
"…then all the pain you have postponed for months, for years… will strike you in a single second."
"And that means instant death."
Qiu Moren's face paled slightly, but the euphoria of relief drowned out his fear.
"Then make sure it never wakes! You are responsible for maintaining it!"
Yan Kesh bowed.
"Of course. The key to the box… is in my hands."
That was the true trap.
Qiu Moren could no longer kill Yan Kesh.
If Yan Kesh died, the maintenance would cease. The butterfly would awaken. Qiu Moren would die.
Yan Kesh had just installed a self-destruct button inside his master's chest—and he alone held the remote control.
"From this day forward," Qiu Moren ordered, eyes shining, "no one is to touch Vice Sect Master Yan! His commands are my commands!"
Yan Kesh smiled faintly.
"Thank you, Sect Master."
As Yan Kesh turned to leave, he checked The Audit within his mind.
[TIME DEBT MONITOR]
[Target: Qiu Moren]
[Status: DEFERRED]
[Interest Accumulation: 1 Second per Second]
The numbers began to tick upward.
1… 2… 3…
Every second Qiu Moren felt "healthy," he was actually accumulating a catastrophic bill for the future.
This was not healing.
It was a time bomb with its ticking hidden away.
And Yan Kesh knew that one day, the bomb would have to explode.
He only needed to make sure he wasn't standing nearby when it did.
"Sleep well, Sect Master," Yan Kesh murmured as he walked out of the hall. "Enjoy your pleasant dreams… before the bill comes due."