Chapter 1508: Disaster on The air

"It seems you have some... dissatisfaction, Mr Zhao?" he quipped dryly, trying to mask the twist in his chest.

"He was taken against his will and tied to a chair like some lunatic. What do you think?" Lory shot back, her tone sharp, her protectiveness unmistakable.

Zhao Li Xin’s eyes flicked toward Lory, then the faintest spark of warmth melted the cold edge in his expression.

"I’m quite upset," he muttered in agreement.

Lory raised her brows, her expression saying ’see’

Sean’s brow twitched. Their tacit understanding irritated him quite a bit perhaps more than he wanted to admit. "Don’t worry," he said with a tight smile. "It won’t be for long."

"You’re taking us to Dolza?" Lory guessed, her voice calm but laced with suspicion.

Sean leaned back, the corner of his lips curling. "No, not yet. I’m taking you somewhere that’ll make you both want to change sides."

"Oh?" Lory arched a brow. "And where might that be?"

Before Sean could answer, Lucia’s voice cut through the air like perfume, sweet, cloying, and suffocating. "Somewhere that’ll wipe that smug look off your face."

She sauntered in, every movement deliberate, and perched herself on the armrest of Zhao Li Xin’s chair as though she owned it. Her arm draped lazily along the back, her perfume heavy and intoxicating.

Zhao Li Xin’s frown deepened, a muscle ticking in his jaw. "Can you sit somewhere else?"

"What’s wrong?" Lucia smiled, tilting her head, her voice dripping with false innocence. "Are you shy, honey?" Her hand rested on the headrest, showing off her bountiful ’assets’ on Zhao Li Xin’s face.

But Zhao Li Xin just turned his face away, then said in a very disgusted tone, "I have a sensitive sense of smell, and your perfume stinks."

The words hit like a slap. Lucia’s expression cracked, a flicker of fury beneath the surface. Lory, watching the pathetic display, rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please," she drawled, resting her chin on her palm. "Don’t bother seducing my husband. There’ve been women far more beautiful, elegant, and powerful than you, but none of them could move him. So please don’t embarrass yourself."

Lucia’s lips tightened. She refused to believe it. No man is immune, she told herself. Every man had a weakness; she just hadn’t found his yet.

"Oh, baby," she purred, her manicured fingers lifting Zhao Li Xin’s chin roughly. "Once you see what we’ll show you, you’ll be begging to join us." Her gaze devoured him, tracing the sharp lines of his jaw, the calm indifference that only made her burn hotter.

"I think you don’t want to keep your hands, do you?" Zhao Li Xin remained indifferent to Lucia’s provocation. Not a shred of embarrassment or anger flickered in his eyes, but his ominous tone carried an eerie calm that made the air feel colder.

Lucia froze for a heartbeat. The predatory gleam in her eyes wavered, faltering into something uncertain, something that felt like a bad omen. There was something about this man, something fundamentally wrong. A quiet, instinctive voice deep within her whispered a single warning: stay away.

Without realizing it, Lucia’s hand recoiled, retreating from Zhao Li Xin’s face as though his very presence burned.

Zhao Li Xin moved with unhurried grace, a faint shift of his shoulder, a roll of motion that spoke of effortless disdain. He brushed his cheek against his sleeve, as if wiping away a stain, something beneath him, something filthy.

"Disgusting," he murmured.

Zhao Li Xin’s simple word made Lucia forget the fear that had seized her moments before. Pride took hold instead, sharp and consuming. Her face flushed crimson from the raw sting of anger and humiliation. A dry, brittle chuckle slipped past her lips, the sound hollow and edged with disbelief.

Sean, watching from across the room, blinked once, twice. Even he hadn’t expected that. There was no performance in Zhao Li Xin’s revulsion; it was too visceral, too instinctive. His cheek was rubbed raw where her hand had been, as though the mere touch had contaminated him.

If he weren’t bound, Sean thought, the man would have scrubbed his skin clean.

At the other seat, Timothy stared openly, mouth slightly ajar. Around him, the paladins exchanged baffled looks. Lucia’s charms had reduced kings to puppets, soldiers to fools, yet this man, tied to a chair, met her allure with pure contempt.

The other Paladin was so shocked, they were all even suspicious that Zhao Li Xin might be a gay

Lory let out a long, knowing sigh ’Here comes another victim’ she said inwardly.

Lucia’s breath trembled between her teeth. Rejection burned through her veins, hotter than shame, sharper than fire. Zhao Li Xin’s disgust shattered what little confidence she had left, breaking her from the inside out.

"You think you’re so great, huh?" she spat, her voice cracking beneath the weight of fury. Her hand shot out, fisting in Zhao Li Xin’s hair, yanking his head back with cruel force. "I tried to be nice to you, but you don’t appreciate it! You should be grateful I even have a little interest in you!"

"Lucia!" Sean’s voice cut through the tension, sharp and warning.

But she didn’t hear him. Rage had drowned everything else. Her eyes gleamed red under the dim light, her smile warping into something unhinged.

"Once you step into Zenon," she hissed, "no one will be able to save you anymore."

"Zenon?" Lory pretends to be shocked.

Lucia’s grin deepened, twisted, and triumphant. "Yeah," she said, her voice almost purring with madness. "We’re taking you to Blackridge."

The tension inside the private jet coiled like a drawn bowstring, sharp and humming with danger.

After getting the information she wanted, the sun’s eyes lit up. She didn’t need to wait any longer. Besides, if she waited until they reached Zenon, escaping would become nearly impossible once they were deep in enemy territory.

Across from her, Lucia basked in her imagined victory. The woman’s smirk was venomous, her voice sweetened with malice as she leaned closer to Zhao Li Xin.

"You better beg me if you want to survive, I might save you..." Lucia purred. Her long, lacquered nails traced along his jaw, leaving faint red lines on his pale skin.

She tilted her head, her lips hovering dangerously close to his, as though savoring the moment before claiming her triumph.

The gesture, intimate, mocking, snapped the last of Lory’s composure.

Her breath came out slow, almost too calm, but her eyes burned with cold fury. The air around her seemed to shift, the temperature dipping just enough for everyone nearby to sense the danger brewing.

[Li Xin...] Lory’s voice was low and edged, and each syllable like the warning growl before a storm.

Zhao Li Xin’s head turned slightly, his gaze meeting hers. Beneath that composed exterior was a silent question, a dangerous readiness, waiting for her word.

Lory scowled. [Go get her]

And that was all he needed.

A flicker of exhilaration crossed his face, brief, dark, and utterly dangerous. Then the air inside the cabin shifted, humming with an unseen force. In the next heartbeat, the temperature spiked. The world seemed to hold its breath, then ignite.

Flames erupted from his body, but not the ordinary red and orange flame, but deep, unnatural dark violet, threaded with streaks of black. They poured out in violent waves, cascading through the cabin like liquid night. The light was beautiful and terrible, swallowing the walls, the seats, even the air itself, until everything was bathed in a storm of purple fire and shadow.

The dark flame licked Lucia’s hands before she could even scream. Pain exploded through her nerves. The skin of her palms blistered, seared, and she stumbled back with a strangled cry.

The shockwave hurled papers into the air and shattered glass from the bar counter. Lucia shrieked, summoning torrents of water to douse her burning flesh, but the flames refused to yield; they devoured the water itself.

The paladins rushed to her aid, spraying fire extinguishers, wrapping her in blankets, but the dark fire only hissed and crawled higher, alive and malevolent.

Sean had leapt from his chair, shielding his face from the searing violet light. But Lory sat perfectly still. Her gaze reflected the dancing purple glow as the flames coiled around her hands and body, gentle as silk, as it burned through the leather straps that bound her one by one.

Zhao Li Xin rose slowly, his expression unreadable. The inferno seemed to bend around him, the violet fire parting like a tide in reverence.

When his fingers brushed the steel cuffs on Lory’s wrists, they disintegrated into molten fragments that fell soundlessly to the floor.

He helped her up with quiet care. Amid the chaos, he smoothed the wrinkles from her dress, his touch a strange calm in the storm of fire and smoke.

[Does it hurt?] he asked softly, his thumb brushing her bruised cheek.

Lory shook her head. [It’s fine,] she whispered, voice steady despite the flickering glow around them.

Sean stared at them, his face pale with disbelief. "How... how is this possible? We implanted MADD into your system! You’re supposed to be unable to use your Gift!"

Zhao Li Xin’s brow furrowed. Since he was a cultivator, it didn’t affect him, but Lory is different. A bad feeling crept into his heart. Zhao Li Xin turned to Lory, worriedly, [You can’t use yours?]

Lory touched the side of her neck where the needle mark still stung faintly. [Yeah...] she said with a resigned smile. She knew it from the moment they injected that thing into her.

Zhao Li Xin’s eyes softened, the violet flames still swirling lazily around him like tamed serpents of light and shadow. [Then don’t stray too far from me,] he reminded Lory gently, then taking her hand firmly in his.

Violet flames burst through the cabin like a living creature unleashed, crawling up the walls, devouring leather seats and metal fixtures with ravenous hunger. The air warped, the oxygen burned away, and screams filled the space where silence used to be.

"AAHHHH! Help me — Someone, Pleasee!" Lucia’s voice tore through the roar of the fire. Her once-elegant hands had turned into blackened husks, fingers curled and crumbling like charcoal. The flames clung to her skin as though alive, refusing to die no matter how she thrashed or begged.

Zhao Li Xin stood amidst the inferno, untouched, his eyes cold and merciless. "A hand that dared to harm my wife..." Zhao Li Xin’s voice fell softly, almost lazily, yet every word carried the weight of judgment. "What makes you think I would let you keep it?"

There was no mercy in his tone, no flicker of pity in his eyes—only a cold finality that froze the blood of everyone present. He watched Lucia’s agony with a calm detachment, as though her suffering were nothing more than an inevitable consequence.

Even Timothy, a young man who had long lost the tether of sanity, could feel something crawl up his spine. For the first time in years, the madman felt small. "You’re a madman," he whispered, half in fear, half in something dangerously close to awe. His lips twisted into a crooked grin. "Just like me."

Lory watched Lucia’s blackened hands crumble, gently tugging Zhao Li Xin’s sleeve. [Li Xin, could you...her hands will become useless after this]. She knew Lucia deserved it, based on the information she got about Lucia, she knew that woman was responsible for the death and many people, not to mention she ruined a lot of good families in the process, but still...she thinks this punishment is enough.

She didn’t need to finish. Zhao Li Xin let out a faint sigh, the kind that carried no anger, only weary indulgence. His gaze flicked toward Lucia, who writhed on the floor, her screams turning hoarse and broken.

[Fine, just for you...] He waved his hand slowly.

The violet flames vanished instantly, leaving behind nothing but the acrid scent of scorched flesh and silence. But the mercy came too late; Lucia’s hands were nothing but ruin. Her body trembled once before collapsing, unconscious from the pain.

For a heartbeat, no one moved. Every face in the cabin turned toward Zhao Li Xin, eyes wide, skin pale, as if they were staring at something not quite human.

"What... what are you?" Sean’s voice cracked, trembling between disbelief and horror. He looked at Zhao Li Xin as though the man standing before him was not flesh and blood, but an abyss given form. ⅇℯ𝚕.

Then came the sound, sharp and jarring. The sirens erupted, filling the cabin with their shrill, merciless wail. Red lights flashed through the haze of smoke, cutting through the chaos like bleeding stars. Oxygen masks dropped from above, only to melt before they could even fall.

The intercom hissed to life, the captain’s voice laced with panic. "Hey! What’s going on back there?! We’re losing pressure, what the hell are you doing?!"

Everyone’s attention snapped back to the more pressing horror at hand. The fire had already swallowed half the cabin, its violet light flickering wildly across the shattered glass and twisted metal.

The air shimmered from the heat, the walls groaning under the pressure. If not for the protective charms they wore, every soul on board would have already suffocated or burned alive.

Amid the chaos, the screaming alarms, the blinding smoke, and the panic clawing through every heartbeat, two figures alone stood untouched.

Lory, her expression calm, her trust in him unshaken, while Zhao Li Xin, who stood at the center of the inferno like a god wreathed in violet flame, serene, untouchable, his presence both awe-inspiring and terrifying.

At the same time, the fire consumed everything else. The two of them stood unmoving, as if even the storm itself dared not touch them.

"Raven! Tell your man to stop this, or we’re all gonna die!" Sean shouted, his voice raw with panic, the roar of the flames nearly swallowing his words.

Zhao Li Xin turned his head slightly, a slow smirk spread across his face. "No..Just you"

Before Sean could comprehend what Zhao Li Xin said, he swept Lory effortlessly into his arms. Then, with a single blow, he shattered the side of the plane.

The force sent shards of steel spiraling into the night. A rush of freezing air and violet light filled the cabin. Without hesitation, Zhao Li Xin leapt into the open sky, the flames curling around him like a cloak.

At that moment, it wasn’t anxiety or fear that came to Lory, but real realization: I should really stop taking air transportation from now on.