Outside the cabin, lightning flashed and thunder roared. The plane struggled in the sticky, swamp-like black clouds, tossed about by the raging wind.
“I have to get out.”
Looking at the terrifying scene outside the window, I realized— if it really was that guy, today was probably going to be a grim day!
I had to find his true form and drive him away; otherwise, this plane would never land safely.
“Ah—”
The screams inside the cabin grew louder as the entire plane began to tilt. The intense feeling of weightlessness left everyone weak and trembling.
“The plane is stalling!” Xinyue’s face turned pale. “If it can’t maintain enough speed, the lift won’t hold. Our altitude will keep dropping, and we’ll crash to the ground in less than a minute.”
“But there’s still one engine left, right? How can it stall?”
“Because the lightning damaged part of the electrical system. The flaps can’t deploy, so lift can’t increase.”
Whatever I didn’t know, Class Leader seemed to understand everything and quickly explained.
“But the other engine has already started increasing its speed. Hoo— it’s stabilized. If the other engine isn’t destroyed, we still have a chance.”
The premise was that the other engine wouldn’t be struck by lightning.
I couldn’t let that guy run wild any longer.
“I’m going to find the culprit. Leave the rest to you.”
“Xiao Luo Xian? How are you going to—”
Before she could finish asking how I planned to deal with the culprit, my and the Qilin’s figures vanished from the cabin.
Heaven and man as one— I teleported outside the plane.
My divine sense stretched out as far as possible, piercing through the obstructing clouds.
Found him!
Sure enough, someone was causing trouble— the guy was even cautiously dressed in black clothes to hide his face.
I teleported again, this time directly behind the man. Lightning Sword struck decisively and unexpectedly!
“?!”
The man didn’t expect to be found, much less that someone would leap in midair to attack him.
“Pfft—!”
The Qilin’s Lightning Sword blended into the lightning he had summoned, making it inconspicuous. By the time he noticed, he only had time to dodge vital areas.
His abdomen was ruthlessly pierced!
A heavy blow!
Using spatial laws, the most unexpected attack method— even someone like Yazhe, the Rock Dojo Master, could be assassinated and overturned by this move.
“You—” The man stared at me in horror.
I gritted my teeth against the discomfort of long-distance teleportation and the thin air’s cold at high altitude, letting my body free fall into the clouds.
Then I teleported again!
“Pfft—!”
Another Lightning Sword strike.
No matter how fast the man reacted, he couldn’t outrun teleportation. In a fleeting moment, my sword left another savage wound!
This time between his ribs!
On the battlefield of life and death, there were no pointless words. As I fell freely once more, my gaze locked with the man’s icy, merciless eyes.
“So it really is you.”
Those eyes, that look— I’d never forget them even if I turned to ash.
To conceal his identity, the man didn’t utter a sound, not even a cry of pain.
He simply transformed the pain into murderous intent.
I could see what he meant— “Keep teleporting then.”
Teleportation as an attack method was undoubtedly powerful, but it consumed too much energy for both a Master of Spirit Summoning and a Xiushi.
Even the strongest Master in his knowledge could only teleport three times per battle at most.
And I had already used three.
Damn it!
The cost was too high. Two full-force strikes hadn’t finished him off, and my body felt drained as I plummeted beneath the sea of clouds.
The cold numbed my hands and feet. My clothes fluttered loudly in the falling wind, and the lack of oxygen made my vision swim.
The man in black condensed a crimson Qiang in his hand. The spear pierced the sound barrier with a faint dragon’s roar!
Wrapped in surrounding Immortal Spirit power, he moved far faster than my descent, aiming a point strike at my forehead!
But the corner of my mouth curled.
My dear brother, you’ve always been so arrogant.
Teleport!
Before the man’s disbelieving eyes, I vanished again.
The fourth teleport!
This had already surpassed the current limit for Masters of Spirit Summoning and exceeded the man’s expectations of a girl’s fighting power.
Having been trapped twice before, this time the man swung his spear in a wide arc, a reverse stabbing attack aimed at my back.
However…
This time he got no attack in.
Above the high altitude barely visible to him, the tiny figure of the girl seemed to fly her hands rapidly.
Falling while clasping her hands together, she quickly formed seals, executing the Wuyue Three Incantation.
Vast Lingqi and the Heavenly Emperor’s Might condensed behind me, coalescing into a sky-darkening illusion!
“—Fa—”
The illusion solidified gradually.
The man in black widened his eyes in terror.
Because he seemed very familiar with that illusion, so familiar they spent day and night together. But also strange, strange because its level far surpassed the Jiao Dragon he was so used to.
The sun seemed to become its core, concentrating into dazzling golden light in his eyes.
Its body was so immense that even a fragment of its scales was enough to shatter the entire cloud layer.
“—Tian—”
Its form truly solidified. The huge cloud sea summoned by the Jiao Dragon was sliced apart into pieces by the sharp gaps between its fingers.
The crimson lightning that to humans looked like apocalyptic destruction struck it like tiny insects tickling it, instead absorbed by its scales, making their edges glow even brighter.
Then, its elegant streamlined body lay in an S-shape, only the massive forehead lowered, as if resolutely standing behind the girl.
“—Xiang—”
The girl’s pores oozed blood, and the giant beast’s gaze grew fierce.
Even just the downward stare’s overwhelming killing intent pressed down like a volcano, suffocating the man, leaving him gasping.
This was absolute rank suppression.
The man looked up at the giant beast in the sky with jealousy and despair.
It was so big—too big for him to see more than the tip of its iceberg, only a single whisker, and a few scales on its chin.
But instinctively, he knew what it was because his Jiao Dragon bloodline was trembling and wailing in fear, like a toddler facing a hundred-kilogram steel-muscle great-grandfather’s punch capable of punching through a sandbag.
It was the True Dragon, the ultimate stage of the dragon evolution route that only appeared in legends.
“—Di!—”
A mighty dragon roar shattered the earth, splitting the black clouds into a ring centered around the True Dragon.
Far in the west, the Chongming Bird suddenly fell from a clouded tree, staring in disbelief at the source of the sound.
In the Taishan Territory, among ruins devastated by Bi Fang, an ancient being whose eyes flickered like a wavering candle turned its head.
It blinked, and the sky instantly shifted from night to day, then back again.
On the shores of Tianhai City, a colossal island shook violently. Ignoring the tsunamis it stirred, wings seemed to stretch from its back, ready to take flight from the sea toward the sound.
The man in black, facing the dragon roar head-on, felt as if a ten-thousand-ton weight had smashed his face.
Even the pressure of the True Dragon’s might and the impact of the roar caused him to uncontrollably plummet toward the ground.
Then— thud! He crashed flat onto the earth.
Even with snake-scale armor, the impact was too great. He felt half his life slip away.
Why?
How could this be?
It was supposed to be a simple, hand-to-hand task…
But even death wasn’t the worst part. What terrified him was a seed planted deep in his heart.
A seed of fear and despair— a sense of “I will never reach that level.” That feeling was more painful than death itself.
As a man once hailed as a genius who constantly stole his younger brother’s achievements, he had never known such helplessness.
And that little brat…
Apparently, was just that worthless girl.
The man stared blankly at the sky.
The girl and the True Dragon were gone, and there seemed to be no fiercer attacks to come.
But that was worse than being killed.
Better to give him a clean death.
Otherwise, even if he survived today, the seed of that vast gap had taken root in his heart, tormenting him endlessly, nibbling away at his confidence and dignity bit by bit.
For a proud prodigy, this was the cruelest punishment.
“Cluru, what are you doing?”
“Cluru! Stop!”
Cluru slammed her head against the plane’s emergency cabin door.
The black clouds parted, and everyone saw the True Dragon— it was simply too massive.
But while all eyes fixed on the dragon’s body, only Cluru’s gaze never left the edge of the cloud sea beneath the dragon’s body, where a tiny, nearly shattered figure lay.
In her perception, the mark on the other’s lower abdomen was sending a warning.
—Her aura was faint, and she seemed unconscious, soon to be smashed into minced meat.
Anxious, Cluru charged the cabin door again. The emergency escape door was difficult to open at high altitude due to air pressure and required great force.
“Xiao Luo Xian is in danger?” Xinyue understood immediately.
Cluru nodded, her eyes glistening with urgency.
“I’ll help you. Step aside.”
Xinyue summoned the Firebird.
A scorching beam sliced through the lock of the emergency escape door.
With a thunderous crash, the door was torn off by the fierce wind. The violent pressure difference sucked everything movable inside the cabin out instantly.
Luckily, passengers were strapped in, so no casualties occurred.
“Signal jamming is lifted. Rescue teams will arrive soon. Before then, I’ll hold the plane here. You go save Xiao Luo Xian.”
Xinyue quickly organized the plan.
During the fight, the plane’s other engine was also concentrated on and completely destroyed. The power system was totally wrecked and required external force to save.
She spread her wings and flew beneath the plane’s belly, biting back the pain as she desperately supported it, trying to slow its descent.
Meanwhile, Cluru grabbed the door frame with her tentacles, using their elasticity to propel herself toward the falling target.
—
I think I’m going to die.
Spreading my arms, I seemed to embrace the approaching ground.
Looking down at the crisscrossing mountain ridges below, the scenery was beautiful here— at least far better than the barren Cultivation World.
Feeling not a drop of Lingqi left in my body, I smiled bitterly— didn’t expect the fearsome Yun Xianzun to end up falling to his death.
But it probably wouldn’t hurt.
My consciousness was starting to blur. I’d faint before hitting the ground.
“Using the Heavenly Phenomena and Earth Method at Qi Refinement stage was still too much…”
I barely summoned the Azure Dragon of the Four Symbols to show up. Fortunately, the Azure Dragon’s pressure outshone the Longyao, or else I couldn’t be sure if this move could scare off that guy.
Squinting, I flipped over and lay on my back, staring up at the sky.
Darkness was steadily taking over my vision.
As the dream barrier fell, the lingering Industry of Destiny I hadn’t used for mischief quietly emerged.
It began eroding my Dream Barrier.
But it didn’t matter anymore.
After all, I was going to die.
Hehe~ as long as I’m dead, I won’t have to worry about meeting Tentacle Monsters in my dreams anymore~ Yay!
Thinking this, I happily drifted into my dreams.