More than an hour slowly trickled past amid the deathly silence and searing heat of the secret chamber.
The gentle Lotus Flame burned steadily throughout, never once flaring or weakening in the slightest.
Under the twin restraints of the layered talisman formations and the jade seal's lingering might, the ferocious aberrant corpse had ceased all movement.
Its long, blood-red hair scorched and crumbled to ash inch by inch. The inverse-path tainted energy entwined around its body was stripped away by the roots, slowly sinking along the patterns in the chamber's foundation stones.
The stagnant, suffocating air gradually cleared, and the invisible weight pressing down on their souls vanished without a trace.
When the last wisp of blood-red mist dissolved, the suspended body turned into a handful of fine white ash and drifted gently to the floor, leaving not the slightest trace of evil.
Only a faint, gently warming breath of flame remained in the chamber, replacing the bone-piercing chill from before.
Qin Zhenggang's taut shoulders and back suddenly relaxed. As though all his strength had been drained in an instant, he let out a long breath of pent-up, foul air.
He raised his hand and loosely curled his fingers. The crimson jade seal suspended in midair slowly descended, settling securely into his palm.
The once lustrous, translucent jade was now covered by two deep, intersecting cracks.
The cracks cut across it vertically and horizontally, nearly dividing the entire seal into four pieces. The faint blood-red glow within rapidly dispersed, and wisps of its origin aura leaked outward, no longer held in place.
"What a pity."
Qin Zhenggang rubbed the rough cracks, his fingertips brushing over tiny jade fragments, and sighed softly.
"This Replica Rebirth Seal helped me suppress many vicious demon corpses. Today, suppressing this aberrant corpse ruined it completely.