Over the next few days, while nursing his own wounds, Jared spent long hours in quiet chambers with Alice, probing every corner of the Demonic Cultivation had once embraced.

What uncovered was ruthlessly efficient. The technique devoured ambient celestial energy, and even its user’s life force, converting both into a brutal power surge. The grotesque swelling of body was nothing more than cells and meridians warping under that assault.

Jared, drawing on his own knowledge and insights gleaned from ancient texts, began to devote himself wholeheartedly to studying a way to break the technique.

From his cross-referenced notes, Jared identified two malignant cores of the technique. The principles of “devour” and “frenzy”.

If could introduce a gentler force to calm the frenzy, then reverse the current, there was a chance the damaged flesh could begin to heal, slowly, piece by piece.

He drafted an extensive list of herbs and treasures, many so rare they existed now only in footnotes, each chosen for its soothing, balancing virtue. Without a word of complaint, Alice unleashed every contact possessed, scouring markets and hidden vaults.

Kishor never left side, in that shared purpose, the walls between them began to crumble. Several days later, the last petal and shard were delivered. The impossible inventory was complete.