The cabin door was violently torn open by Wang Mingyuan.
A thick metallic scent of blood assaulted their senses.
What greeted their eyes was an Aberrant wearing a co-pilot's uniform.
The uniform had been stretched to the point of bursting.
Its exposed skin was covered in dark purple vein-like patterns.
The neck had grotesquely elongated to twice its normal length, with the mouth split open to the ears, revealing rows of jagged white teeth.
Both eyes had completely turned a murky yellow, with pupils narrowed into thin slits.
"Haa... haa..."
The co-pilot emitted inhuman gasping sounds.
Seeing the intruders, the co-pilot contorted its face into a horrifying grin.
"Look out!"
Su Zhan's pupils constricted sharply: "It's going to—"
Before he could finish.
The Aberrant's mutated arm smashed violently into the control panel.
Sparks flew.
The plane immediately nosedived.
Everyone was thrown violently against the ceiling.
"Seeking death!"
Wang Mingyuan's eyes flashed coldly as he moved with lightning speed.
Appearing before the co-pilot.
His right fist, wreathed in flowing white spiritual energy, punched straight through the creature's chest.
"Thud!"
Blood splattered across the shattered instrument panel.
Yet the dying Aberrant wore an expression of fanaticism, using its last breath to shriek:
"The Mist descends! Only then... can we transcend!!!"
The next instant.
Its body began inflating like a balloon.
"It's self-destructing!"
Xie Xi swung her scythe in a wide arc, shielding the group behind her.
"Boom!"
Chunks of flesh and purple liquid sprayed everywhere.
The entire cockpit was riddled with corrosive holes.
The main console had completely failed.
The plane plunged downward at a near-vertical angle.
The cabin instantly became a spinning death trap.
"Ahhh—!"
"Help!"
"Mommy!!!"
Passengers' screams filled the air.
Unsecured luggage flew like cannonballs through the cabin.
"We're crashing! We're all going to die!"
In first class, the businessman who had earlier challenged Su Zhan was sobbing hysterically, his designer suit stained with vomit.
"Bodhisattva protect us... Bodhisattva protect us..."
An elderly woman clutching prayer beads kept chanting, blood streaming from a gash on her forehead.
"Hold on! Grab anything fixed!"
Xu Hao shouted, his fingers locked around the metal frame beneath a seat, his body nearly horizontal from centrifugal force.
"Cough! Ugh..."
Liu Ziming was slammed against the ceiling before crashing down, vomiting up his in-flight meal.
His face pressed against the window, watching helplessly as the ground rushed toward them.
Wang Mingyuan's feet were planted deep in the floor, his hands flying over the dead controls in a desperate attempt to reboot the system.
All in vain.
The console was damaged beyond repair, impossible to fix in time.
Xie Xi had embedded her Scythe of Destruction deep into the cabin wall, hanging from its shaft as her hair whipped wildly in the turbulence.
A violent jolt sent her crashing into the ceiling with a grunt.
Su Zhan and Feng Jue fared no better, both being tossed about like ragdolls.
The plane continued its death plunge, the wings shrieking with tearing metal.
Through the broken windows, the mountain peaks below grew terrifyingly clear.
"Su Zhan!"
Liu Ziming screamed, his face ghostly pale: "Use your Time Abyss Eyes! Slow our fall!"
"Can't!"
Veins bulged on Su Zhan's forehead: "I'm only at the Dew Realm. The plane's mass is too great—my Life Soul can't affect it."
"He's right."
Wang Mingyuan's hands never stopped moving over the controls: "Even time-based Life Souls require corresponding cultivation levels."
"Then what do we do!?"
Liu Ziming yelled: "I refuse to die in a fucking plane crash! How humiliating!"
Wang Mingyuan didn't answer.
Gritting his teeth, he took a deep breath as astonishing spiritual energy erupted from his body.
Forming hand seals, a brilliant white beam shot from his palms, piercing through the cabin roof.
"What's that?"
Xie Xi stared in shock at the light.
The beam exploded high above, fracturing into countless glowing particles.
Where these particles touched the plane's exterior, a translucent white membrane enveloped the entire aircraft.
"HOLD ON!"
Wang Mingyuan roared, sweat beading on his forehead.
"BOOM!!!"
The plane smashed into the ground.
The white membrane deformed violently on impact.
Like a giant shock absorber, it dissipated the force through layered dispersion.
The fuselage bounced and tumbled wildly across the terrain...
"AAAAAH!!!"
Passenger screams rose with each impact.
The membrane kept shattering and reforming.
Every collision left Wang Mingyuan paler than before.
After seven brutal bounces, the plane finally skidded to rest at the forest's edge.
Wings snapped, fuselage twisted.
Yet miraculously, it didn't explode.
The cabin was a disaster zone filled with moaning injured.
But everyone knew.
Without that final white barrier, they'd all be paste right now.
Wang Mingyuan staggered to his knees, vomiting blood onto the controls: "Evacuate... now... might still... explode."
Su Zhan quickly supported him.
Mentally reassessing Wang Mingyuan's strength.
Even with retirement-level injuries, the man still possessed terrifying power.
Killing is easy, saving is hard.
To protect an entire crashing plane at this level...
Truly formidable.
Xie Xi kicked the warped door open: "Anyone who can move—OUT! NOW!"
The team began organizing passenger evacuation.
"Everyone follow my orders!"
Xie Xi stood at the twisted doorway, her scythe planted firmly: "Those who can walk, assist the injured! Orderly evacuation!"
"The business class emergency exit is jammed!"
Liu Ziming supported a bloodied old woman, shouting back: "Someone move that metal brace!"
"On it!"
Xu Hao produced two black daggers from his waist, slicing through the deformed frame: "Feng Jue! Kid trapped under seats on your right!"
Feng Jue nodded silently, flashing to the spot.
His Startling Swan Sword precisely severed seatbelts, freeing a speechless little boy.
"Mommy! I want Mommy!"
The boy finally burst into tears.
"Where's your mother?"
Feng Jue asked stiffly, clearly uncomfortable with children.
"Sh-she's up front!"
"Su Zhan!"
Xu Hao turned shouting: "Unconscious woman in first class!"
Su Zhan, supporting Wang Mingyuan, responded immediately: "Liu Ziming, you handle it!"
Wang Mingyuan—already injured—had risked worsening his condition by expending all his spiritual energy.
He was in bad shape.
No one knew if more Aberrants lurked aboard.
Leaving Wang Mingyuan alone was unthinkable.
To Su Zhan, everyone outside their team were strangers.
Saving them was kindness; not saving was normal.
Abandoning Wang Mingyuan to rescue others?
He couldn't do it.
"Su Zhan, go help them..."
Wang Mingyuan whispered weakly.
Su Zhan said nothing, only shaking his head firmly.
Wang Mingyuan seemed momentarily surprised, but ultimately didn't insist.