Of course, this would expose Endowed Fortune, but of course, Zhu Gaoyang's heart mattered more.
"Let me take a look at your heart," Pei Ye said.
"...Oh, you know. What can you tell?" Zhu Gaoyang smiled.
"Don't resist." Without answering, Pei Ye reached out and pulled aside the clothes over his left breast, baring his chest.
His skin looked normal, with no outward signs of contamination. Pei Ye slowly pressed a hand over his heart and felt nothing unusual either: the same warm skin, the same strong, powerful heartbeat.
He continued feeling deeper. Through bone and flesh, gradually approaching that beating-
Suddenly, an intense urge to devour slammed into his mind. Pei Ye gasped sharply and snatched his hand back as though shocked.
When he came to himself, Zhu Gaoyang had already caught his hand. "What's wrong?" he asked, frowning.
Pei Ye shook his head. The heart had appeared clearly in his perception, and Endowed Fortune was stirring, poised to devour it.
But his heart sank.
This heart was completely different from Heart-Slaying Glaze.
Before, he had worried that the extraction might damage the heart, but he could now put that worry aside-because it was the heart itself.
It was not a shadow lurking within the heart. It had swallowed the entire heart and replaced its function—a savage, powerful lump of Dark Blue flesh covered in tiny scales was beating inside this chest.
Unlike a weapon condensed into iron, it was soft and edible before Endowed Fortune. Pei Ye could swallow this sweet spring in a few breaths, then leap several cultivation realms.
But Zhu Gaoyang would die.
Pei Ye withdrew his hand in frustration. He had not expected to be completely unable to help.
Unaware of the thoughts passing through the boy's mind, Zhu Gaoyang smiled. "Well, Doctor Pei?