Chapter Twenty-Six: Hijacking

Three innate-level martial artists, in the mundane world, are equivalent to a fully armed company of a hundred soldiers. Clearly, the origins of this group are far from simple.

However, all this was beyond Feng Yisheng's understanding.

Feng Yisheng initially intended to act immediately and rescue the hostages, but seeing the assailants armed with guns, he thought it better to observe for now so as not to accidentally harm any civilians.

…

After about five minutes, the door connecting to the economy class opened, and ten masked men entered, placing a wristband on each passenger, just as they had in first class.

Some passengers who were awake tried to resist, only to be knocked unconscious by a single punch from the masked men. The rest, intimidated, dared not put up any further resistance and obediently allowed the wristbands to be fastened. Feng Yisheng, too, made no rash moves and let them put a wristband on him.

The man who placed the wristband on Feng Yisheng had a scorpion tattooed on his hand. As soon as the band was secured around his arm, Feng Yisheng felt a fine needle pierce his skin, penetrating into his bloodstream. Immediately, something was injected into his veins, leaving him weak and sluggish. It was evidently some kind of anesthetic.

Sure enough, before long, many of the passengers slipped into a deep sleep.

Of course, Feng Yisheng only pretended to succumb, feigning sleep so as not to arouse suspicion, while he quietly observed what the group would do next.

Though his eyes were closed, Feng Yisheng monitored every movement of the ten men through his spiritual sense.

Once he was certain that everyone in economy class was asleep, one of the ten produced a small box and set it in the center aisle. Feng Yisheng, probing with his spiritual sense, discovered it was much like the Eight Trigrams Spirit-Gathering Array he had seen in the Taishan cave, a formation designed to absorb the spiritual energy between heaven and earth—though this one was a much weaker, minor spirit-trapping array.

Puzzled, Feng Yisheng continued to watch.

…

Not even five minutes later, as a thin line issued from the spirit-trapping array, Feng Yisheng felt a suction from the wristband—his spiritual energy was being drawn out of his body.

Could this device truly have such power?

Feng Yisheng realized that, though he was only at the first level of Qi Refinement, even he was having his spiritual energy extracted. For ordinary people, such an extraction would surely be fatal.

A person’s vital essence is of utmost importance. Among cultivators, essence, energy, and spirit are all manifestations of the body’s spiritual power. This formation was siphoning off a person's very life force—it was no wonder Feng Yisheng felt a surge of anger.

…

Glancing around, Feng Yisheng saw that eighteen people in first class were tied up, and over one hundred and fifty in economy. Including the crew, there were more than two hundred souls on board. Did these people truly regard human life as nothing?

Rage welled up within Feng Yisheng. He had never considered himself a righteous man, but now that fate had placed this in his path, there was no reason not to act.

As the American comic hero Spider-Man once said, "The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility."

That very phrase surfaced in Feng Yisheng’s mind, unbidden.

Seizing the moment when the ten assailants were off their guard, Feng Yisheng struck—unleashing ten bolts of spiritual energy in an instant, knocking all ten unconscious.

Since he was only at the initial stage of Qi Refinement, his control over spiritual energy was not yet masterful, so he had used nearly his full strength. But he hadn’t expected the ten to be so weak; they had no time to react, nor did they send any signals. In a flash, Feng Yisheng subdued them all.

He had already swept the entire plane with his spiritual sense and knew there was nylon rope in the storage compartment. He retrieved it and bound the ten tightly. The rest of the passengers remained asleep, oblivious to what had transpired.

…

Feng Yisheng then made his way silently to the cockpit, where he swiftly subdued the two men inside. Next, he infused a wisp of spiritual energy into the sleeping pilot and co-pilot, rousing them.

Their initial reaction upon seeing Feng Yisheng was to assume he was in league with their captors. But when Feng Yisheng gestured toward the bound assailants, they immediately understood he was their rescuer. With a nod from him, they took their seats and resumed their duties.

Fortunately, the plane’s autopilot had been engaged for a short while; after a brief shudder, the pilot and co-pilot swiftly stabilized the aircraft.

…

Feng Yisheng returned to the storage room, fetched an armful of nylon rope, and further secured the captured men, locking them away.

Knowing these were martial artists, Feng Yisheng bound them with extra rope, as ordinary nylon alone would not hold them. What he didn’t realize was that the spiritual energy bolts he had released earlier had already crippled them; even the thinnest string would have sufficed to restrain them now.

…

He also placed the spirit-trapping box from economy class into the small storeroom and, to prevent any unforeseen incident, sealed the box with spiritual energy.

Back in the cockpit, he explained the group’s intentions in detail to the pilot and co-pilot, who both broke out in a cold sweat as they listened.

Feng Yisheng instructed them to call the police as soon as the plane landed. Though he wished to avoid exposing himself, he knew he would have to give a statement to the authorities.

With everything in order, Feng Yisheng returned to his seat and feigned sleep. Testing the anesthetic with his spiritual energy, he calculated that its effects would last about forty minutes.

Roughly half an hour later, the first-class flight attendant awoke, and the passengers began to stir, each wearing an expression of panic and confusion.

The economy-class passengers also came to, remembering the masked men, but after being drugged, they had no recollection of what happened next. Now that the danger had passed, many wore the look of those who had escaped death.

Feng Yisheng appeared entirely at ease in his seat. Beside him, Li Ran also awoke, casting him a meaningful glance, to which he replied with a smile.

Feng Yisheng doubted she could have resisted the anesthetic as he had. About three hours later, the plane landed safely at Changnan City Airport.

Once all passengers had disembarked, the situation was relayed to the authorities on the ground, and the twelve perpetrators were taken away by airport police. All passengers were required to give statements.

The process took some time. Reluctant to wait, Feng Yisheng made a helpless call to Jiang Ming.