Chapter 161
Chapter 161
For the first time, Jin Bao sensed that this man posed a threat to her. Panic fluttered inside her.
She clutched Xiao Che’s clothes with a small, nervous hand. Her usually soft, sweet voice trembled.
“Daddy, run! A bad man is coming to catch Baby!”
Xiao Che’s heart tightened. He had never seen Jin Bao this frightened before. Their pursuer could not be ordinary.
With no time to ask questions, Xiao Che secured Jin Bao in front of him and lashed the horse several times.
The warhorse galloped onward, throwing up a cloud of dust.
Jin Bao’s face had turned pale. She curled tightly against Xiao Che’s chest, as if that alone could give her some small sense of safety.
The terror of being chased everywhere by people who wanted to dig into her brain in her previous life returned with even greater clarity.
Had that man come to dig into her brain?
Jin Bao pressed both little hands firmly over her head. She could not let anyone dig out her brain.
At that moment, the earth seemed to tremble.
Ye Qi’s expression changed.
“Valley Master, this is bad. It sounds like an army is catching up behind us.”
Ye Yi spotted the pursuers as well.
“Valley Master, these are the men who were outside the valley. The Black-Robed Man in particular is extremely strange. He must be the extraordinary expert invited by Prince Cheng. What should we do?”
Xiao Che now understood the gravity of the situation. More importantly, how had the enemy learned which way they were going?
They had circled around from the rear mountain and should have been traveling in a completely different direction. How had the pursuers discovered their route?
Questions crowded Xiao Che’s mind as he tried to devise a plan.
“How far is Baishui Town from here?”
“Three days, even without stopping.”
Ye Yi had scouted the road in advance and knew the route, so he answered immediately.
Three days! Traveling without rest was impossible. Even if the people could endure it, the horses could not.
They had to abandon the journey to Baishui Town. But they could not turn back toward Jintang Valley either, or they might expose its entrance.
Xiao Che was unfamiliar with the surrounding terrain.
“Daddy, go that way!”
Jin Bao suddenly poked her little head out and pointed southeast.
Xiao Che’s horse was still galloping. With no time to ask why, he instinctively followed her finger and turned southeast.
He did not know why Jin Bao had chosen that direction. From where they rode, he could only see rolling mountains covered in dense forest to the southeast.
“Valley Master, the Black-Robed Man is catching up! Take the Young Miss and go. We’ll hold them back.”
After speaking, Ye Yi wheeled his horse and charged toward the Black-Robed Man.
Jin Bao remained nestled against Xiao Che, her eyes closed. In her mind, she could see the Shadow Guards battling the Black-Robed Man.
She watched the foremost guard get burned to charcoal by a single bolt of electricity.
He had not even touched the edge of the Black-Robed Man’s clothes.
Jin Bao’s eyes flew open in terror.
“Daddy, that bad man can shoot lightning! The Shadow Guard uncles can’t beat him.”
Jin Bao had planned to reach the mountains and use her powers to stop the Black-Robed Man.
But he could control electricity. Jin Bao seemed to remember seeing on television that trees conducted electricity because they held water.
Her Wood-Type Ability might be useless now.
Growing anxious, she patted her forehead and chanted silently, Baby won’t panic. Baby won’t panic.
After a moment, she remembered that stone did not conduct electricity.
She would crush the Black-Robed Man with rocks.
Jin Bao closed her eyes again and discovered that more than half the Shadow Guards had already fallen.
These uncles were good people who had protected her family all the way to the Northern Frontier. Uncle Ye Qi in particular had played with her and carried her as they flew high through the air. She could not let him die.
“Daddy, Baby has to save them! Uncle Ye Qi can’t die. Baby doesn’t want Uncle Ye Qi to die!”
Xiao Che pressed her head against his chest.
“Be good, Daughter. We can’t go back. Ye Qi and the others were raised to protect their masters. Sacrificing their lives to keep you safe is their duty. You are the hope of everyone beneath heaven. Nothing can happen to you.”
Jin Bao refused.
“Daddy, Baby can’t let Uncle Ye Qi die. If Baby can’t even protect the people who protect Baby, how can Baby be everyone’s hope?”
Ignoring everything else, Jin Bao tore free of Xiao Che’s hold and leaped from the horse.
Before Xiao Che could react, she had landed and was racing in the opposite direction.
He hauled hard on the reins, forcing the galloping horse to stop, then wheeled around and chased her.
“Daughter, don’t do anything reckless!”
Jin Bao ran at tremendous speed.
In the blink of an eye, she had covered several hundred meters.
The Shadow Guards surrounded the Black-Robed Man, but he showed no reaction. He held the Crystal Ball in one hand and raised the other high. The black glove covering it had been torn apart by the electricity, revealing five fingers like bare bones.
His fingers were dark brown and resembled withered tree roots, making them exceptionally horrifying.
Arcs of electricity crackled between them.
He extended one finger toward the closest Shadow Guard.
The guard convulsed and fell from his horse, foam pouring from his mouth. In moments, his body had burned black.
Without pausing, the Black-Robed Man turned toward Ye Qi.
At the critical instant, Jin Bao rammed Ye Qi’s horse out of the way. The Black-Robed Man’s attack missed and struck the ground.
A huge crater appeared instantly.
Jin Bao glared furiously at the Black-Robed Man. Her two little pigtails seemed to bristle with rage. Her fists clenched tight, and fire filled her enormous eyes.
“Bad man! You’re not allowed to hurt Uncle Ye Qi. Baby will fight you!”
Jin Bao had forgotten her fear. Only one conviction remained in her heart: she had to destroy the Black-Robed Man so everyone would be safe, perhaps even the entire Earth.
The sight of Jin Bao finally appearing drew a low chuckle from the Black-Robed Man.
“Little one, you finally showed yourself. I thought you meant to keep hiding. Come now. Hand over the Crystal Core in your brain, and I will spare them.”
Jin Bao immediately covered her head in terror. He really had come to dig into her brain.
But she refused to show weakness. She lowered her hands and stepped forward.
Tiny as she was, she looked utterly insignificant before the towering warhorse.
Yet she stared unwaveringly at the Black-Robed Man in the saddle and refused to yield a single step.
“Come take it if you can! Baby isn’t afraid of you!”
Her little feet had already stamped two deep pits into the earth.
The Black-Robed Man sneered. “Very brave, and utterly ignorant of your own weakness. Don’t blame me for showing no mercy. The people of Planet Hasake will remember your contribution to our world. We will preserve your name in our hearts.
“Little one, I will be quick. You won’t feel any pain.”
The Black-Robed Man raised his hand and slowly extended it toward Jin Bao.
Whoosh!
At that moment, an arrow shot toward him from the distance.
Before it could reach him, a surge of electricity seized it and stopped it in midair. Then it reversed direction and flew back along its original path at tremendous speed.
Jin Bao turned her head. Her eyes nearly popped out.
“Daddy, look out!”
Xiao Che had never imagined that his own arrow would return, moving several times faster than before.
It crossed the dozens of meters between them in the blink of an eye. There was no time to dodge. He had to take the hit, but he could choose whether the wound would be light or severe.
Xiao Che twisted urgently, exposing his shoulder to the arrow.
But the expected pain never came.
Countless vines suddenly burst from the earth and caught the arrow only inches from his nose.