Chapter 203
Chapter 203: Jiang Tea Tea’s Little Tricks—The Big Golden Dragon Sees Them All
The staff cut through the air.
Five colors of fire flared into a single blade of flame that swept toward them.
Chong Ming and Zhong Li He both twisted aside at the same time.
The flame blade missed—and slammed into the dirt between them.
The ground split.
Soil blasted up, black earth turning to scorched earth in an instant. The air filled with the sharp stink of burning.
“Whoa.” Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes gleamed. “Not bad!”
She stared at her staff with open adoration—no, her flame staff—and looked thoroughly pleased with herself.
A weapon forged by her own hands. Of course it was extraordinary.
Even Chong Ming and Zhong Li He couldn’t meet it head-on.
If she took this back to the Demon Clan… wouldn’t she be able to sweep everything? Pick any mountain she liked, drive off whatever great demon lived there, and claim it as her home.
Chong Ming actually nodded. “Yes. Its power is extremely strong.”
Zhong Li He puffed up like he’d been praised personally. “My Phoenix Clan’s ancestral flame orb. How could it be anything less?”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded thoughtfully. “Makes sense. Let’s try again.”
She swung again.
This time, the fire didn’t just form a blade—it splintered into smaller flame orbs, scattering outward.
Zhong Li He cursed under his breath and dodged, gathering his own ability power and forming flame orbs to collide with hers.
Chong Ming called down lightning, striking the incoming orbs.
The flames weren’t just five colors anymore—those five colors mixed together, blooming into a dozen shades.
With every swing, more sparks became more flame orbs, multiplying like a storm of blazing petals.
The firefighting teams and Kong Que’s people watched from afar behind shields. Even the occasional stray orb that slipped past burned holes straight through their defenses.
Zhong Li He tried more than once to counterattack—but he couldn’t break through the rain of flame. He was forced into pure defense.
Chong Ming could have pushed through, but one thought held him back: Jiang Tea Tea was carrying his cub. So he held to defense as well.
After tens of minutes, Jiang Tea Tea stopped.
The scattered points of fire on the ground snapped back like trained hounds at a whistle, racing back to her staff. The five flames braided together again, winding tight.
The simple black staff, wrapped in five living fires, was now truly a flame staff.
Jiang Tea Tea lowered her weapon.
Chong Ming looked… better off. His combat uniform had only a few burned holes.
Zhong Li He’s was riddled with them. He immediately looked inferior, and any outsider would assume he’d been crushed.
Zhong Li He glanced down at himself, decided he still had enough dignity left to save face, then darted straight up to Jiang Tea Tea. His sapphire eyes locked on the staff.
“Jiang Tea Tea. This is incredible. Make me one too.”
“If you need Phoenix Clan flame orbs, I can supply them. As many as you want.” He leaned closer, practically drooling. “The more I look at it, the more I love it. It’s even better than rapid-fire weapons.”
If he had a staff like that, he could go back to Phoenix Clan and swing it at anyone he disliked. One flick, and they’d taste five-colored flames.
Jiang Tea Tea was still admiring her weapon when she heard him. She stroked the staff once, layered it with magic power to hide the flowing fire, and then shoved it into her storage button.
“There’s only one. I can’t make a second one. If you like it, that’s unfortunate.”
Zhong Li He pointed at the crater behind her. “How can you say you can’t? Go back down there and stay another ten days. Won’t you get a second staff?”
Nice try.
A weapon had to be unique.
If she made another, how could it be unique?
“Can’t be done,” Jiang Tea Tea said flatly.
Zhong Li He refused to give up. “I’ll pay. I can pay in rare ore. Huge gems.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s brows rose. “Huge gems?”
Zhong Li He’s eyes lit up. “Yes! Huge gems—two hundred grams, three hundred grams. A pound. Several pounds. I’ll get them made into necklaces, earrings, bracelets…”
Jiang Tea Tea reached into her storage button and pulled out two enormous baskets—the kind she used for nutrient fruit. She set them down in front of him.
“You mean these?”
Zhong Li He looked down—and nearly went blind from the fire-bright gleam of gemstones in the sun.
He didn’t even need to touch them to know they were real.
Staring at two baskets filled to the brim, Zhong Li He—Chief Executive of Da Xi Nation, a man who’d seen countless treasures—still couldn’t hide his shock.
“Where did you get all this?”
Jiang Tea Tea answered casually, like she was talking about picking up groceries. “A while back, Chong Ming sent me on a mission. I picked them up on the side.”
“I was going to bring them back for Chong Ming, but I got busy and forgot. If you hadn’t mentioned gems, I wouldn’t have remembered either.”
Chong Ming walked over, bent down, and picked up a necklace at random. The main stone was green; the secondary stones were red.
Green and red together—tacky. But the stones were so huge and the sparkle so fierce that it came out looking luxurious and absurdly expensive.
Chong Ming lifted the necklace toward Jiang Tea Tea. “Do you know how many star credits this is worth?”
Jiang Tea Tea answered honestly. “No.”
“One necklace like this is at least a hundred million,” Chong Ming said. “With the matching bracelet, ring, and earrings, you’re looking at one hundred fifty to two hundred million.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s expression didn’t change. “So these two baskets are worth tens of billions? Maybe over a hundred?”
Chong Ming didn’t take his eyes off her face. “Yes.”
His voice went quieter. “So you stole them… for me?”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded. “Yeah. For you. I don’t like this stuff. And honestly, these aren’t even as pretty as the gems you have embedded in your bedroom walls and bed.”
She liked his bed.
She liked the gems in his bed.
Excellent.
Chong Ming tossed the necklace back into the basket. “If it’s for me… I’m taking it.”
Zhong Li He’s face twisted. He wanted to scream.
Show-off.
As if he hadn’t noticed that upward curve of Chong Ming’s mouth, that smug shine in his eyes.
Jiang Tea Tea waved him off. “Take it. Take all of it.”
Without a flicker of desire, without so much as a lingering glance, she made it clear she genuinely didn’t care.
Chong Ming gave Zhong Li He a cool look, then stored both baskets into his storage button. He turned back to Jiang Tea Tea.
“You’re hungry. Eat something?”
As a tree demon, Jiang Tea Tea had spent ten days with her roots sunk into the earth, drawing nutrients. She wasn’t truly hungry.
But the moment she thought about biting Chong Ming’s neck and drinking his blood, “not hungry” became “hungry,” and “not eating” became “eating.”
Her black eyes brightened. “Sure. Let’s eat on your warship. And maybe… drink a little?”
Chong Ming knew exactly what she meant. “Fine. Wait here. I’ll bring the warship down.”
While she waited, Jiang Tea Tea filled the crater in—not completely, but enough that it wasn’t as terrifyingly deep.
When she finished, she looked out over the land.
As far as she could see, everything was scorched and bare.
A steppe this vast had been damaged because of her forging. That was on her.
She stepped aside, used her magic power as a conduit, and summoned wind, thunder, lightning, and rain.
The sky boomed.
A heavy, muffled thunderclap rolled across a clear day. Wind rose, dragging dark clouds in, blotting out the sun. Lightning split the cloudbank.
Minutes later, drizzle began to fall.
Jiang Tea Tea had only just recovered to forty percent magic power.
After summoning a storm, she dropped to thirty-five.
Calling wind, thunder, lightning, and rain didn’t just drain magic power—it drained life force.
Still, half a tenth could be cultivated back. Before her cubs were born, she’d work to recover to fifty percent.
With fifty percent, she’d have stronger self-defense. She could cast illusion spells.
If she could return to seventy or eighty percent, no one would be able to break her illusions at all.
On Chong Ming’s warship, Zhong Li He stood at the reception hall’s huge glass window, staring out at the downpour. “This rain came fast. Before we boarded, it was barely a drizzle. The moment we came up—boom.”
Chong Ming answered evenly, “It isn’t random. Jiang Tea Tea brought it.”
Zhong Li He whipped around like he’d heard a fairy tale. “What did you just say?”
“Jiang Tea Tea can call rain? What about the wind? The thunder? The lightning?”
Chong Ming’s golden eyes met his sapphire ones. “Wind, thunder, and lightning were her prelude. She called those too.”
Zhong Li He felt like his insides had been flipped over.
And with his friendship with Chong Ming, he didn’t doubt it. Not even a little.
If Chong Ming was telling him this, it was because he trusted him.
They were friends.
Zhong Li He pressed a hand to his chest and forced himself to breathe. His eyes filled with admiration for Jiang Tea Tea—and, under it, something like regret.
“Even you can’t bring down wind, thunder, lightning, and rain.”
“That’s an ability that breaks natural law. An ability that makes weather weapons useless.”
“Chong Ming… where did you find a treasure like this? She’s better than you. Better than me.”
He shook his head, voice rising with strange urgency. “How could you let her carry your cub?”
“With her abilities, you should be cultivating her. She should stand in the commander-in-chief’s seat.”
“No.” He corrected himself. “Your Zhen Lin Empire can’t contain her. She should stand at the very top of the M31 Star System.”
Wind, fire, thunder, lightning, rain—blink shift—she had all of it.
And she could heal.
She was eighteen.
Her future was a blazing road.
Pregnancy wasn’t her destiny. Childbirth wasn’t her purpose.
With her talent, unifying the M31 Star System wouldn’t even be an exaggeration.
Chong Ming’s voice lowered. “You’re right. She’s beyond you and me.”
He paused, gaze distant. “Her carrying my cub… wasn’t something I ever anticipated.”
“But now that she’s here…” His eyes sharpened. “Even if I nurture her toward the commander-in-chief’s seat, I want to know how far she can go. How high she can stand, with my brief support.”
“I don’t want people to mention her one day and say, ‘She was Chong Ming’s madam. His princess consort.’”
He looked toward the rain. “I want them to say, ‘Chong Ming was lucky—to be her mate.’”