Chapter 100
Chapter 100
The soldiers pursuing Jin Bao had barely stepped into the valley when she reached the opposite end.
She imitated the howls of wolves and roars of tigers, bellowing from the far side.
Cries from one beast after another instantly rang through Echo Valley.
The sounds overlapped and intensified within the valley, echoing endlessly in everyone’s ears.
The Snow Mastiffs that had been showing off their might moments ago flattened themselves in the snow, too frightened to move a single step.
The soldiers climbed down from their sleds, bows in hand, ready to shoot the wolf pack the moment it charged out.
But even after waiting for a long time, they did not see a single wolf.
Only then did they realize they had been tricked, and they summoned the courage to continue deeper.
They followed Jin Bao’s footprints across the snow.
At that moment, a deafening rumble suddenly erupted overhead.
They looked up in terror and saw an overwhelming mass of white snow crashing down upon them.
Hundreds of men were instantly buried beneath the deep snow.
Before they could struggle free, countless rocks rained down from above.
Just like that, hundreds of men were wiped out without another sound.
Jin Bao waved her little hand toward the slopes above Echo Valley, then quickly disappeared through the valley entrance.
The second group of several hundred soldiers arrived in time to witness the brutal slaughter inside the valley. None dared take another step forward.
They immediately retreated and scattered throughout Rime Forest.
But the moment they entered Rime Forest, countless icicles fell from overhead, and screams rang through the trees.
Before they could understand what was happening, companions beside them were struck by arrows and collapsed.
When they looked in the direction the arrows had come from, no one was there.
Xiao Che and the Shadow Guards were lying in ambush inside snow hollows, their bodies blending completely into the snow. Without looking carefully, no one could tell that people were hiding there.
After firing a single arrow, they immediately moved elsewhere.
The soldiers inside the forest only knew that they had fallen into another ambush. They had no idea how many enemies were attacking, only that their companions were collapsing one after another.
“Everyone, get out of this forest! There’s an ambush!”
Someone shouted, and the others immediately tried to flee.
But it was already too late.
Great saber in hand, Xiao Che joined the Shadow Guards in blocking three directions, leaving only one route open.
The panicked soldiers ran around like headless chickens, allowing Xiao Che and his men to kill them one by one as they emerged.
Only then did the soldiers realize they had fallen into an encirclement.
Everyone instinctively fled in the remaining direction.
They never imagined that Old Han, fifty men, and Jin Bao were already waiting at the exit.
Whenever a group emerged, Jin Bao kicked down a tree, killing or wounding several men beneath it.
Old Han then led his people in finishing off the wounded enemies.
Everyone coordinated seamlessly. They did not linger in battle. If they could not win, they fled. After Jin Bao dealt with another wave, they returned to finish the survivors.
They repeated the process while Xiao Che and the Shadow Guards gradually tightened the encirclement. In the end, every one of the several hundred soldiers was annihilated.
When the remaining soldiers realized the forest was filled with ambushes, they broke ranks and fled.
Lu Dachang took a final head count and discovered that fewer than five hundred men remained. He was also badly wounded, and his shoulder could no longer be lifted. If he did not return for treatment soon, he might permanently lose the use of that arm.
How could a cripple continue serving as the Deputy Commander in the army?
Lu Dachang was deeply unwilling to retreat, but his future mattered more. He could only lead his remaining troops away in defeat.
The instant they began moving, Jin Bao noticed.
“Daddy, the big bad man is running away! Should we chase him?”
As soon as Jin Bao finished speaking, her head began to spin. She toppled face-first into the snow.
Everyone was terrified.
“My good daughter!”
Xiao Che scooped Jin Bao from the snow and held her in his arms, then shouted to the crowd, “Back to the cave! Never pursue a cornered enemy.”
Even if Jin Bao had remained conscious, it would have been nearly impossible to lure Lu Dachang to another location, let alone now, without her awake to serve as their living map.
He had already noticed that something was strange inside the forest. There was no chance he would foolishly continue chasing them.
After losing more than a thousand men in a single encounter, Lu Dachang probably would not set foot in the forest again all winter.
At last, everyone would have the winter to rest and rebuild.
Xiao Che carried Jin Bao back to the cave, while Old Han led the others in collecting equipment from the battlefield.
The soldiers’ sabers and crossbows had been made by the finest craftsmen from the finest materials. The group currently lacked decent weapons, so merely gathering what lay scattered around would supply them for a long time.
The moment Xiao Che returned to the cave, he shouted, “Physician Lu, hurry and examine Jin Bao!”
Lu Shuangshuang immediately came out to meet them.
“Don’t panic. Let me take a look.”
Lu Shuangshuang took Jin Bao into her arms, and Pei Wanqing followed.
“Physician Lu, there’s bedding over there. Lay Jin Bao down on it.”
Pei Wanqing’s face was bloodless, but she could not add to the chaos now. They did not yet know what was wrong with Jin Bao.
She remembered that after Jin Bao’s last high fever, the girl had gained a new ability. She did not know what this incident might mean.
Lu Shuangshuang laid Jin Bao flat on the bedding before checking her pulse.
After a long while, confusion appeared on Lu Shuangshuang’s face. Then she released Jin Bao’s wrist.
“Physician Lu, what’s wrong with Jin Bao? I checked her. She isn’t injured.”
Xiao Che explained anxiously.
The corners of Lu Shuangshuang’s lips lifted slightly. “She’s fine. The Young Miss was simply too sleepy and exhausted from using so much strength. She fell asleep on the spot.”
The answer left everyone torn between distress and amusement.
But once they heard that Jin Bao was fine, everyone could finally breathe easy.
“However, the Young Miss will need plenty of meat after she wakes. Her constitution is different from an ordinary person’s, so her diet cannot be compared to that of an ordinary child. Try to feed her more meat from now on. It will help her grow.”
Lu Shuangshuang had reached this conclusion based on her observations over the past several days and the pulse she had just taken.
Xiao Che and Pei Wanqing nodded repeatedly. “If meat is what Jin Bao needs, she can have all she wants. Meat runs everywhere in this forest.”
Fresh greens were hard to find at this time of year, but meat was incredibly easy.
Jin Bao slept until the following afternoon.
After this battle, everyone had accumulated valuable combat experience and collected a great deal of equipment and clothing.
They no longer had to fear freezing to death while traveling through the forest.
Over the past few days, they had processed all the wild boar meat from the previous hunt into jerky, though they kept some ribs frozen.
With Ye Qi and more than a dozen Shadow Guards joining them, the group’s combat strength rose considerably.
After resting for another day, the group set out once more.
This time, their destination was clear: the Hot Spring Valley Jin Bao had described.
The Hot Spring Valley was two hundred li away. It took them nearly ten more days of traveling through the forest to reach it.