Chapter 162
Chapter 162
Xiao Che opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by thick vines, as though trapped inside a wooden cage.
Only after seeing that Daddy was unharmed did Jin Bao breathe a sigh of relief. Thank goodness she had saved him.
The Black-Robed Man had witnessed Jin Bao use her Wood-Type Ability with his own eyes. There was no delight in his gaze, only fury.
The stronger Jin Bao’s powers became, the more energy she consumed from the Crystal Core, leaving correspondingly less for him to use.
He hesitated no longer and launched a lightning attack at Jin Bao.
Electricity instantly surrounded her.
Unlike his attacks on the Shadow Guards, the Black-Robed Man seemed to be using all his strength this time.
The current sparked and crackled, condensing into something almost solid. It formed a cage around Jin Bao and rapidly closed in.
A Shadow Guard tried to rush forward and save her, only to be hurled several meters by the current. He struck the ground without a breath of life remaining.
Jin Bao was frightened now too.
Why did everyone want to dig into her brain? Was she destined to die young in both her lives?
Would Heaven truly refuse to let her grow up?
She would settle for living until she was five!
Terrified, Jin Bao closed her eyes. Two trails of tears ran down her fair cheeks.
“Daughter!”
Xiao Che’s horrified shout came from the distance. But the vines held him fast, and he could not break free. Panic nearly drove him mad.
The Black-Robed Man acted decisively, giving no one another chance to intervene. The cage of electricity contracted at once.
Dozens of bolts struck Jin Bao’s little body simultaneously.
The smell of burning filled the air.
Every strand of Jin Bao’s hair stood on end, as though she had been struck by lightning.
Her little face was charred black. When she opened her mouth, a puff of dark smoke emerged.
Her entire body tingled and felt numb, but she did not feel any pain.
After the electricity flowed through her, it vanished into her body as if she had absorbed it.
The Black-Robed Man had been laughing in wild delight, but an instant later, his laughter died.
Despite being trapped in his electrical cage, the tiny figure remained standing.
Her hair and clothes were scorched, but she showed no other reaction. Worse, he could distinctly feel something draining from his own body. At first it was a quiet trickle. Then it became a flood bursting through a broken dam.
Across from him, Jin Bao’s clothes began moving without any wind. Electricity gathered beneath her feet and lifted her directly into the air.
The sight stunned not only the Black-Robed Man, but also the army behind him.
Jin Bao slowly raised her small arms and brought her palms together before her chest.
Then she suddenly pointed toward the heavens.
The bright sky above instantly filled with dark clouds.
Countless bolts of lightning crashed down.
Compared with Heaven’s thunderous wrath, the Black-Robed Man’s electricity was insignificant.
It was the difference between a gentle stream and a flood bursting through a dam.
Dense lightning struck the Black-Robed Man almost instantly. Hundreds of bolts converged into a spinning electrical vortex and poured down from the sky without end.
His clothes disintegrated in the blink of an eye.
Only then did everyone see his true appearance.
“Monster!”
“A demon!”
“Run! There’s a demon!”
At the sight of the Black-Robed Man’s true face, nearly all of Prince Cheng’s soldiers broke ranks and fled.
Some remained, dropping to their knees instead.
“The Star Maiden has descended to destroy demons and evil!”
“We pay our respects to the divine maiden!”
Jin Bao was surprised too. The Black-Robed Man’s true face seemed familiar. She thought she had seen something like it in movies during her previous life. Wasn’t he an alien?
Jin Bao wanted to tie the monster with a rope and walk him around like a pet.
But once Heaven’s wrath had been unleashed, it would not stop immediately.
She could only entertain the thought. Then she watched the Black-Robed Man vanish before her eyes.
“Gone?”
Jin Bao slowly descended to the ground.
The dark clouds scattered with her descent, restoring the clear, bright sky.
She hurried toward the horse.
The lightning had cooked the warhorse where it stood.
But nothing remained on its back or anywhere around it.
Jin Bao scratched her upright, charred hair, her forehead practically covered in question marks.
“Baby definitely electrocuted him. Where is he? Where did he go?”
Even if the lightning had reduced him to dust, some ash should have remained. Yet the ground was perfectly clean.
What Jin Bao did not know was that the Black-Robed Man had used the tremendous primordial force of the lightning to fully recharge the Crystal Ball and return directly to space.
“Never mind. It’s good that he’s gone. Now nobody will try to dig into Baby’s head anymore.”
Jin Bao extended a small hand, and a current of electricity danced across her palm.
What an unexpected delight. She had learned a new ability.
Xiao Che finally struggled free of the vines.
“Daughter! Are you all right?”
He raced over. The expression on his face when he saw Jin Bao’s current appearance was impossible to describe.
“Daddy, Baby’s fine. Baby’s hair is just burned. Is Baby going to be bald?”
Xiao Che reached out to touch her hair, only to have it crumble beneath his fingers.
It appeared she would have to grow it all over again.
“It’s all right. Hair can grow back. Is anything wrong with your body?”
As he comforted her, Xiao Che checked her carefully. Apart from the soot darkening her skin, nothing seemed wrong.
Jin Bao could not wait to display her new ability.
“Daddy, look at Baby’s new skill!”
She extended one hand and suddenly struck a patch of open ground nearby.
A crater instantly appeared.
Had anyone been standing there, the attack would certainly have killed him.
Xiao Che found the sight familiar. Wasn’t this the same power the Black-Robed Man had just used?
But where had the man gone? He had vanished into thin air. Had he truly been some demon who escaped underground?
Without a body, Xiao Che could not rest easy. From now on, Jin Bao would have to remain at his side every moment.
The army that had fled now returned. With their commander gone, they had no idea what to do.
The deputy commander, Yang Tianhua, suddenly remembered burying one of his brothers several days earlier. The man’s body had looked exactly like the Shadow Guards killed today.
At last, Yang Tianhua understood that this monster had murdered his brother. Prince Cheng’s rebellion had never been legitimate, while the Star Maiden carried imperial blood, was a Princess of Great Xia, and had been chosen by Heaven.
Why not surrender today and follow the Star Maiden instead?
With their commander missing, deputy commander Yang Tianhua became the army’s center of authority.
Every soldier looked to him.
Yang Tianhua dismounted and walked before Xiao Che and Jin Bao.
“This general is Yang Tianhua, General of the Valiant Cavalry. From this day forward, I am willing to follow the Star Maiden. The fifty thousand soldiers under my command are willing to surrender as well.”
Xiao Che was overjoyed. He had never expected such an unexpected reward.
Their situation had reversed completely. They had gone from being hunted to eliminating their pursuer and acquiring fifty thousand troops without having to fight for them.
Jin Bao knew nothing about commanding armies. She simply wished that war would disappear from the world. She had seen too many people lose their homes and wander because of war. They were far too pitiful.
She looked up at Xiao Che. “Daddy, you decide. Baby will listen to you.”
Xiao Che helped Yang Tianhua to his feet.
“General Yang, you will not regret the choice you made today.”
Every soldier present had personally witnessed Jin Bao’s powers. Their decision to follow her came entirely from the heart.
Such loyalty was far more reliable than that of ordinary recruits.
But fifty thousand new mouths created an even more severe military supply problem.
Jin Bao saw Daddy shift from delight to worry and could not tell whether he was happy or upset.
“Daddy, what’s wrong? Aren’t you happy?”
Xiao Che shook his head. “Of course I am. But we don’t have enough grain for this many people, and we don’t have enough silver to buy it.”
Jin Bao grinned and patted her little chest. “Don’t worry! Baby is here. We got so many seeds from the Persians. Just watch Baby grow more food than everyone can finish!”