A month had passed since the installation of the Stasis Cage.
The Ashen Vein Sect entered a golden age. With Qiu Moren "recovered" (artificially) and Yan Kesh controlling the administration, they conquered three smaller sects. Their territory doubled in size.
However, inside the Balance Hall, Yan Kesh discovered a new problem.
He was seated, reading reports, when the teacup on his desk suddenly cracked.
It did not fall.
The cup remained perfectly still. Then old fractures appeared across its surface, the glaze faded, and finally it crumbled into ancient ceramic dust.
As if the cup had just passed through a thousand years in a single second.
"He Qiu!" Yan Kesh called.
He Qiu entered. "Yes, Sir?"
"This cup… when did you buy it?"
"Just yesterday, Sir. From the city market."
Yan Kesh stared at the ceramic dust.
Then he looked at his own hands. The skin on the back of his hand appeared slightly more wrinkled than usual—then returned to normal when he shook it.
[AUDIT WARNING]
[Chronal Leakage Detected]
[Source: Mountain Peak (Qiu Moren)]
[Effect: Accelerated Entropy within 1 KM Radius]
Yan Kesh cursed inwardly.
Damn Teshrael. He never mentioned this part.
Qiu Moren's "stopped" illness had not truly disappeared. The time that should have decayed Qiu Moren's body was now overflowing outward—rotting the surrounding environment instead.
Flowers in the sect's gardens withered and died overnight.
Walls began to decay at unnatural speed.
Worst of all, disciples stationed near the mountain peak began aging faster than normal.
Yan Kesh looked at He Qiu's hair.
There was a single white strand.
He Qiu was only twenty years old.
"He Qiu," Yan Kesh said seriously. "Starting today, move your headquarters and the core troops to the mountain base. Stay away from the peak."
"Why, Sir? The peak has the densest Qi energy."
"The peak is a radiation zone," Yan Kesh stood and picked up the ceramic dust. "Sect Master Qiu is emitting Aging Time. Anyone who stays too close will die of old age before their time."
"Then… what about Sect Master Qiu himself?"
"He doesn't feel it. He's in the eye of the storm. But everyone around him pays the price."
Yan Kesh walked to the window and looked toward Ash Hall at the mountain peak.
The place looked grim now.
The clouds above it moved far too quickly, as if time itself had broken there.
Yan Kesh realized he had created a new monster.
Qiu Moren had become a leaking nuclear reactor.
He was powerful. He was immortal. But simply by existing, he slowly killed everyone loyal to him.
"This cannot continue for long," Yan Kesh analyzed. "The Sky Book Pavilion will detect this temporal anomaly eventually. Liang Ze will return."
Yan Kesh needed another scapegoat.
Or another solution.
Suddenly, The Audit produced a strange notification.
[NEW TRANSACTION OPPORTUNITY]
[Compatible Asset Detected]
[Location: Yan Clan Treasury (Distant)]
[Item: Moon-Reversal Mirror]
Yan Kesh smiled crookedly.
The Yan Clan.
His old enemies.
They possessed a relic capable of manipulating reflections.
"If I can't stop this time leak…" Yan Kesh thought, "…then perhaps I can reflect it somewhere else."
"He Qiu."
"Yes?"
"Prepare a special unit. We will pay a return visit to the Yan Clan."
"We're attacking a Great Clan, Sir?" He Qiu turned pale.
"Not attacking. We will conduct… a Forced Audit."
"They owe me lives for trying to kill me before. Now it's time to seize their assets."
Yan Kesh was no longer merely trying to survive.
He was beginning to enjoy the game.
He would use Qiu Moren's "Time Waste" as a biological weapon against his enemies.
"Pack everything. We're going to dump our trash into the neighbor's yard."