"It's me, it's all me! If I had given Dilia a drop of Sovereign's Might earlier, she wouldn't have died!"
"Why didn't I give it to Dilia? Why? Why!!!"
Endless regret flooded Lin Lei's chest. The crushing weight of remorse battered his mind, and his thoughts had completely unraveled, plunging him into a state of extreme self-recrimination.
Bei Bei, Pusiro, and Tevila exchanged glances, their faces filled with worry.
"Wah~~wah~~~" Little Wendi kept wailing, the sound piercing through the deathly silence of the mountain forest with an unbearable sharpness. Yet to Lin Lei, every cry felt like a blade stabbing into his heart.
"Don't cry, Wendi, don't cry." Bei Bei cradled Wendi, growing frantic.
"Boss!" Bei Bei called out urgently.
"Lin Lei!" Pusiro shouted as well.
But Lin Lei seemed not to hear either of them, lost entirely in his own bottomless well of regret. His expression, his complexion—everything about him was deeply unsettling.
"That's right!" Lin Lei suddenly growled through clenched teeth. "It's my selfishness! I was only worried about my own safety and never once thought about Dilia. The Sovereign's Might stayed with me the whole time. I'm selfish—I'm far too selfish!!!"
Self-blame! Regret!
Trapped in a spiral of distorted thinking, the moment the word "selfishness" entered his mind, Lin Lei placed all the blame squarely on himself.
The truth was that Dilia's strength was far too low. Even with Sovereign's Might, she couldn't have stood against a Seven-Star Demon. Lin Lei using the Sovereign's Might to protect Dilia was the natural, obvious choice.
If Lin Lei had truly been selfish...
When facing the combined strike of the seven elders, he would not have pushed "Dilia" away at the most critical moment, squandering that precious instant. After all, he could have dodged on his own.
Seven attacks struck home, every single one.
Lin Lei had nearly died. Even though he survived, the Sovereign's Might's defense had been shattered, and his body was ruined.
But now Lin Lei's thinking had fallen into a rut, and no one could talk him out of it.
"I'm selfish, it's all me. If I had given the Sovereign's Might to Dilia, she wouldn't have died." Lin Lei's mind was in chaos, and this single sentence echoed over and over in his head.
"Lin Lei!" Pusiro suddenly roared. "Stop wasting time and save Dilia! Every second you waste is another second you're killing her!!!"
Those words jolted Lin Lei awake.
Looking down at Dilia on the ground, Lin Lei shuddered and regained his clarity: "With every moment that passes, Dilia's soul is being devoured and transformed bit by bit. I can't waste time—not a single second!"
Lin Lei's right arm had only regrown to the elbow. The stronger the body, the slower the regeneration.
"Pusiro." Lin Lei turned to look at him. "My mind is a mess right now. Tell me—what should I do? How can I best save Dilia?"
In his current state, Lin Lei was truly unfit to make decisions.
Pusiro secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The fact that Lin Lei could say something like this meant he was at least still somewhat lucid. Pusiro said solemnly: "Lin Lei, when it comes to knowledge of the Azure Manor's experts, neither you nor I can compare to your family's patriarch, 'Gaisleysen.' As the leader of the Four Divine Beast Families, he knows far more than we do. If anyone can save Dilia, your patriarch would know best. Perhaps within the Four Divine Beast Families themselves, there's someone who can heal her."
Lin Lei's eyes suddenly lit up.
"That's right. The Four Divine Beast Families have existed for so many years—there really might be a supremely powerful expert who can treat Dilia." A sliver of hope flickered to life in Lin Lei's heart.
"Right now, we need to get back to the Heavenly Sacrifice Mountain Range as fast as possible. Normally, riding a metal lifeform takes nearly two months, but if we travel day and night, we should arrive in ten to fifteen days. Once we reach the Heavenly Sacrifice Mountain Range, there will be more people, and more methods to try." Pusiro spoke rapidly.
Lin Lei made his decision.
"Then that's what we'll do." Lin Lei's body underwent "dragon transformation" once more. In terms of flight speed, the dragon-transformed state was indeed far faster.
Lin Lei lowered his head to look at Dilia lying on the ground. She looked as though she were merely asleep. Lin Lei whispered softly: "Dilia, hold on." Then he extended his left hand and gathered her into his arms.
"Pusiro, could you carry Wendi?" Lin Lei said. "We're leaving right now."
"Of course." Pusiro took "Wendi" from Bei Bei's arms.
"Boss, don't be too sad. Dilia will definitely be fine," Bei Bei said comfortingly. Lin Lei forced out a faint smile and gave a slight nod: "Mm. Bei Bei, go with the others. Pusiro and I will head back first."
Bei Bei nodded, then watched as Lin Lei and Pusiro streaked across the sky in an instant, vanishing beyond the horizon.
Tears shimmered in Bei Bei's eyes as he gazed up at the sky: "Supreme Gods... the boss's father is already dead, Grandpa Derinkoort is dead too. Please, please don't let Dilia die as well. If she dies, then the boss..."
Bei Bei had walked alongside Lin Lei for so many years and knew him intimately.
No matter how dire the situation, how perilous the danger, Lin Lei never wavered, never showed the slightest fear. But... when someone dear to him was lost, the blow it dealt him would be devastating.
"Alright, everyone, get into the metal lifeform quickly! We're picking up speed!" Tevila called out in a clear voice. "Stop your mourning and move the unconscious clan members inside. We need to get back as fast as possible."
It wasn't just Dilia who lay unconscious—numerous clan members were scattered across the ground. Many others stood nearby, grief-stricken. But learning that none of them were dead had given them a sliver of hope.
The Azure Dragon clansmen all entered the lifeform, and then the metal lifeform roared across the sky, hurtling toward the Heavenly Sacrifice Mountain Range at tremendous speed.
Once the Azure Dragon clan departed, only the group from the other metal lifeform remained.
"Terrifying, especially that Azure Dragon expert—fought five powerhouses alone and slaughtered every single one of them!" These people had no reason to grieve for Dilia; they could only be stunned by the battle they had witnessed.
"That gray-robed one who died was formidable too. Those green points of light were truly horrifying."
"Did anyone catch the name the Azure Dragon powerhouse called out? I think I heard that big man with the fiery red hair shout something like 'Lin Lei.'"