If I truly died on Shouyang Mountain, wouldn't that be a great regret for the Three Realms?

General Turtle felt as though his heart had been clenched tight. He did not even dare breathe too heavily, afraid that even that faint shred of hope would scatter with it.

"Step aside. If we delay any longer, this child truly cannot be saved."

Xuanyuan spoke calmly, yet his words were like a cold blade leaving its sheath.

"Y-you... mean to save Old Snake?"

General Turtle froze. That single sentence cleaved a bright opening through his habitually sluggish thoughts, and at last, he understood.

Xuanyuan shook his head lightly and sighed.

"Otherwise? Were all those things I said earlier merely words cast to the wind?"

Had he not seen that these two youngsters possessed upright foundations and untainted hearts, with genuine potential to be shaped, he would have long since flicked his sleeve and left, letting them live or die on their own—that would have been the most trouble-free course.

"No words can repay such great kindness! I... I truly do not know how to repay you!"

General Turtle's voice trembled, his eyes burning. He was so agitated that he did not know what to do with himself, nearly unable to form a coherent sentence.

It truly was a case of willow trees dark, flowers bright!

He had never dreamed that the desperate situation could turn around so abruptly!

Old Snake could really be saved!

At that thought, the heart in his chest nearly smashed through his ribs.

As they spoke, Xuanyuan had already stepped before General Snake. His gaze was like a ruler as he carefully examined the other's brow.

In that brief instant, the black mark on General Snake's forehead darkened another layer, like ink dropped into clear water, rapidly spreading outward.

The heart demon's gnawing was intensifying at a rate visible to the naked eye!

Once the