I think there is a strong argument to be made that in all of Torah, the third and fourth aliyot of Korach may actually be the most intense. There is a final warning, a rebellious ignoring of the warning, an immediate opening and swallowing up of the earth, followed by a fire consuming the 250 that offered the incense, then a commandment to convert the pans used to make the offerings to an altar covering, then a massive plague, and the "staying" of the plague by Aharon who literally runs out into the assembly with holy incense, stopping it. And in between, no less than two rebellions (by my count) by the people who still complain and still have not learned that, no, all that has befallen them is not Moshe's doing - it is that of H'. Phew!
There is something so deeply mysterious about the commandment which follows the fire consuming the 250. Specifically, and obviously after the metal pans themselves survive the consumption of their holders, there is a commandment to take the "fire-pans of these sinners against their souls" and "make them hammered out sheets as a covering for the Altar, for they offered them before H; and become holy; they shall be a sign for the Children of Israel." Bemidbar 16:2-3.
Yes, the Torah indeed goes onto explain later that the pans shall be a sign to remind them not to be "like Korach and like his assembly." But before that, there is a much more mysterious lesson.
Indeed, the 250 took the incense (a holy blend, by the way), placed it on a pan, and that very act became a holy offering to H', to the point where those objects had become permanently and eternally holy. There was no commandment to melt them down, or grind them up and make them drink it (as with the egel ha'zahav), or just toss them up. No, they had been offered and became so holy that, in fact, they became permanently affixed to one of the holiest objects in all off Torah - the mizbeach.
There is something very deep here, I think, about the intent of the 250. In some respects, we must recognize that their intentions were at least somewhat pure - sure, they may have desired power and authority, but it seems to have been only to conduct holy rituals - to do what the kohanim did. And because the intent was pure, the tools they utilized to carry out the act, became the purest as well. (See, in contrast, the earlier warning from Moshe about the Israelites not "touching" anything associated with Korach and his "assembly" because they would be contaminated by merely touching them.)
Obviously, this wades into seriously questionable territory, but if the intention is pure - sure, those committing the evil will pay the (physical?) price - but there is some lasting holiness to an act which is at least intended to be purely holy. Why else would the pans have become so holy, an eternal sign? Perhaps it is a lesson that the intention and the act must be pure and holy, or else the soul and the body will not both survive. But if the intention is pure, there is some indication that the soul - or some semblance of it - will become forever elevated as a result.
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