Chapter 255
Chapter 255: The poisoned people saw that Jiang Tea Tea was a tree spirit
Chong Ming pressed Jiang Tea Tea’s lips to the artery in his neck. She froze for a moment, then said: “I don’t have to drink blood.”
He held the back of her neck down, his voice low and hoarse: “I know you’re strong whether you drink blood or not, but I want you to drink. Come on, drink.”
The forty percent of spiritual power she had left was now only fifteen percent. When Jin Lin faced his ascension tribulation, lightning crashed all around. She drew a protective barrier for him that covered a hundred kilometers in every direction.
If it had been an ordinary protective barrier, she would not have needed to use so much spiritual power. But this was lightning tribulation, and the bolts kept crackling down. Besides striking Jin Lin, the leftover lightning slammed into the barrier. To keep the barrier stable, she had to keep pouring spiritual power into it, so she burned through another twenty-five percent.
Other than the essence of heaven and earth, her own cultivation, and the boost from karmic merit, the best thing to make up her spiritual power was Chong Ming’s dragon blood.
Jiang Tea Tea was silent for a moment. For the sake of her own spiritual power, and for the babies in her belly, she opened her mouth and bit down on his neck.
She did not know if it was because her spiritual power was too depleted or because she was in a bad mood, but with that one bite she tore right through the skin on Chong Ming’s neck and drank his dragon blood.
Chong Ming wrapped one arm around her waist and put his other hand on the back of her head. He controlled the hoverboard under his feet and landed with her on the ground in the mountains.
All around them, the trees on the mountain were withered. Scorched earth left by lightning was everywhere, and the fires that had been put out by the heavy rain still sent up thin wisps of smoke.
The black-gold halo in the sky grew larger and wider. The sky turned fully bright, and birdsong echoed through the mountains.
Dragon blood kept flowing through Jiang Tea Tea’s mouth and throat into her body, nourishing her and feeding the little ones in her belly.
The little brats seemed to all wake up at once and started moving around in her belly. Chong Ming held her so tightly their bodies were almost stuck together.
The little cubs pushed against Jiang Tea Tea’s belly. Even through her skin and clothes, Chong Ming felt it and his whole body shivered. His golden eyes suddenly turned dark.
After more than ten minutes, Jiang Tea Tea finally let go. She tried to push herself away from Chong Ming but found that his hand was still locked firmly around her waist.
She reached down to pry his hand off and said: “Let go.”
He let his hand follow her motion and loosened his grip: “Your face looks a bit better. Your lips have some color now.”
Jiang Tea Tea took two steps back and wiped at her lips, where there was no dragon blood at all: “Thanks.”
The little ones in her belly were way too excited, as if they were cheering to welcome Chong Ming to her side.
Chong Ming lowered his eyes and looked at her: “You don’t need to thank me. This is what I should do.”
Jiang Tea Tea pointed at the wound on his neck: “This time my bite is pretty deep. Do you want to spray some healing spray on it?”
Chong Ming touched the spot. His fingers came away bloody as he said: “It’s nothing. This little wound is nothing compared to the injuries I took on the battlefield.”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded: “Okay. Well, I’m going to stay in these mountains a little longer. If you have things to do, you can go first.”
Chong Ming answered: “Early this morning the wind was huge, the rain was heavy, the thunder and lightning were fierce. My warship was parked about a hundred kilometers from here.”
He went on: “The weather was so bad that many of the monitoring systems on the warship failed. I didn’t dare push forward, so I stayed on the warship and handled a lot of matters there.”
“The things that needed to be passed down have already been passed down. There is nothing urgent to do right now. I’ll stay here with you. Do you want breakfast?”
Jiang Tea Tea frowned a little: “Breakfast?”
Chong Ming reached back into his space knob storage device and pulled out a table and two stools, setting them in front of her: “Yes, breakfast. I brought breakfast.”
As he finished speaking, he took a food box out of the space knob storage device and placed the delicate breakfast dishes on the table one by one. He even set out some sliced nutrient fruit.
Jiang Tea Tea sat on a stool. Chopsticks and a bowl were placed in front of her. Chong Ming urged her: “Eat. What are you waiting for?”
Jiang Tea Tea glanced at the space knob storage device on his wrist: “How big is your space knob storage device? How come it has everything in it?”
Chong Ming let out a quiet laugh: “I’m not telling you. Next time you need something, just come to me. I’ll definitely find it for you.”
Jiang Tea Tea curled her lips, picked up her chopsticks, lifted the bowl, and started eating breakfast in silence.
She ate neither fast nor slow. There was no hunger for the food in her eyes, only a mind full of worries. She was just eating like a machine.
Chong Ming sat next to her, watching her the whole time. He moved the dishes and drinks closer for her, and when she looked his way, he would eat a few bites along with her.
In about twenty minutes the meal was over. Jiang Tea Tea finished eating and drinking, rubbed her belly, and yawned.
Seeing her yawn, Chong Ming quietly cleared away the leftovers on the table and put the table away: “Get up.”
Jiang Tea Tea had wanted to sit on the stool a bit longer. Even though she did not understand why he told her to get up, she still did as he said.
Once she stood up, Chong Ming put the stools away, released the hoverboard, and took Jiang Tea Tea to a flat spot on a nearby high ground.
On that high ground he set up a temporary tent. The tent was transparent on all sides, with a thick pad, a pillow, and a blanket. It became an independent bedroom with a constant temperature control system.
If you sat or slept inside, you could see all the scenery around you. If you opened the cover on the far side, you could even get natural cross-breezes.
After he set everything up, Chong Ming patted the pillow and looked at Jiang Tea Tea: “Come over and sleep for a while.”
Jiang Tea Tea gave herself one second of mental preparation, took off her shoes, and climbed inside. The space inside was about ten square meters and almost three meters high.
She took off her coat and lay down, resting her head on the pillow that Chong Ming had patted. She pulled the thin blanket over herself, turned her back to Chong Ming, and went to sleep.
Chong Ming sat beside her and watched her for a moment. Then he moved a bit and also turned his back to her, sitting very close. If she moved even a little, her back would touch his.
Jiang Tea Tea did not open her eyes, but she asked: “Chong Ming, don’t you have anything you want to ask me?”
He had the light-brain wrist terminal board resting on his legs, throwing a holo projection screen up in front of him. At his side were urgent government affairs he had just taken out to deal with.
When Jiang Tea Tea asked him, he answered in a low voice: “Do you have anything you want to tell me?”
Jiang Tea Tea said: “No.”
Chong Ming replied: “Then I don’t have anything I want to ask you.”
Jiang Tea Tea slid the hand resting across her waist down to her belly. Inside this ten-square-meter tent, he released his supernatural abilities to soothe her.
The space was not very big, so even releasing a little of that soothing power made it feel very strong. Her whole demon body felt like it was soaked in it.
Early this morning his warship had been parked about a hundred kilometers away from here. That meant he could have seen Jin Lin being struck by lightning in the sky, and he also saw Jin Lin disappear after his ascension.
He had nothing he wanted to ask, which meant he was choosing to act like he had not seen anything unless she took the initiative to tell him.
Jiang Tea Tea opened her eyes and did not speak again. Instead she tapped open her light-brain wrist terminal. In the small group chat with Sui Xuan Chu and the other seven people, countless messages were flooding in.
Someone in the group typed: “Sister Tea, Sister Tea, come look, come look. Last night in the wild wind and rain, lightning struck a dragon. I don’t know if that dragon died or not.”
Another message popped up: “Sister Tea, the lightning yesterday was like the end of the world. If not for the conditions, I would have wanted to run over and see it in person.”
Someone else wrote: “Me too, me too. I kept pushing the photography fans online to hurry up and take pictures of the scene, but they only got a few shocking shots. After that they couldn’t shoot anything. Nothing.”
Another friend posted: “Lightning that dense, and then suddenly it’s gone, and no one can take photos anymore. It’s unbelievable. I suspect the Beast God rode the lightning here and came down to our Zhenlin Empire to bless our prosperity so we can become the number one strong power in the M31 Star System.”
One more message came: “You might not believe it, but I’m waiting for the Central Public Security Bureau and the Meteorological Bureau to catch that dragon that used lightning supernatural abilities in such terrible weather.”
And another: “I really want to know what kind of Dragon Clan dragon it is, to be so crazy and not afraid of death.”
Jiang Tea Tea enlarged the pictures and videos. She saw several somewhat blurry, blood-soaked shots of Jin Lin the flood dragon turning into a true dragon.
After looking through the pictures, she kept scrolling online. StarNet users had seen all this and were posting all kinds of different comments.
In the Zhenlin Empire, only the Meteorological Bureau had posted a report about bad weather. None of the other Imperial authorities had released anything about the end-of-the-world lightning scene here.
After she finished reading, Jiang Tea Tea understood. Besides her protective barrier working at the end, the reason nothing else was exposed was because of Chong Ming. If he did not allow this matter to spread, public opinion had no way to blow up.
In other words, if she did not speak up, no one in the Zhenlin Empire or even in the whole M31 Star System would know that Jin Lin disappeared after his ascension.
Jiang Tea Tea shut off her light-brain wrist terminal and let out a long sigh. She pulled the thin blanket up over her head and closed her eyes again.
Even without looking straight at her, Chong Ming knew her every move. When she covered her head, he glanced sideways at her, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly, and then he went back to handling his official work.
With food in her belly and the support of dragon blood, Jiang Tea Tea slept straight through until two in the afternoon. She woke up clear-headed and full of energy.
Jin Lin’s ascension had taken him away from this place. The sadness she felt as a lone demon here was thrown far away by her.
She stretched lazily and kicked at Chong Ming’s lower back: “Your Highness Chong Ming, don’t slack off here with me. Hurry up and get lost.”
Chong Ming reached back as if he had eyes on his back and grabbed her ankle. He turned his face to look at her: “Schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea, there are too many aberrant beasts in the mountains. I’m not slacking off here. I’m protecting you, so you don’t get carried off by an aberrant beast while you sleep.”
Jiang Tea Tea pulled her foot back and gave a short laugh: “This is my mountain estate. It has my name written on it. As if I could get carried off by an aberrant beast. The aberrant beasts on this mountain estate are under my control.”
She added: “Oh right, later tell Deputy Officer Ai to find a construction team for me. I want to build a house on this mountain, all made of wood.”
Her contract with the fake young miss had not yet been completed. The fake young miss’s leftover consciousness still remained on her.
She did not know when it would finish. She had the mountain estate where she could root herself into the ground, but she also had schoolmates and friends. She could not transform into a tree in front of them, so she still needed to have a proper house.
Chong Ming answered: “Sure. Later I’ll have Deputy Officer Ai find people to do it for you.”
There were also all-wood houses in the Imperial Palace. She liked all-wood houses, so he could have one of the wooden houses in the Imperial Palace cleaned up and use it as his bedroom, moving his bed in. When he brought her back to live in the Imperial Palace, they could stay there.
Jiang Tea Tea stood up: “Thanks. I’m going to dig a hole and bury the ashes, then go back to the Imperial Military Headquarters and keep boiling medicine.”
Chong Ming nodded and stepped out of the tent before her. He set her shoes in place, and when she had put them on, he handed her coat to her.
Jiang Tea Tea put on her coat, found a spot under a tree, and used the Flame Staff to dig a hole. She buried the ashes of Chong Xing Qi and Chong Qi there.
When she finished burying the ashes and Chong Ming had put the tent away, a gigantic warship that seemed to stretch out of sight appeared above them.
Jiang Tea Tea looked up at the ship. That meant that while she had been sleeping here all morning, that warship had been hovering invisibly above her, watching.
She sighed and refused to share a hoverboard with Chong Ming. She stepped on the Flame Staff and flew into the warship.
Chong Ming followed right behind her. The two of them stood at the entrance of the warship. Neither went inside. They just stood in the doorway, looking out.
The warship flew at full speed and in the blink of an eye reached the sky above the Imperial Military Headquarters. As soon as the door opened, the two of them jumped down from the warship at the same time.
On the open training field of the Imperial Military Headquarters, Sui Xuan Chu had been standing with his head tilted back, looking up at the sky. He nudged Cheng Lin Yue next to him with his elbow: “Cheng Lin Yue, tell me, your Sister Tea, my roommate, how is she so amazing?”
Cheng Lin Yue shivered when the crown prince poked her: “People with innate talent are on a whole different level from fools like us. Oh, no, no, I’m not calling you a fool. I’m saying I’m the fool.”
Sui Xuan Chu nodded in agreement: “You’re right. People with innate talent really can’t be compared to fools like us.”
He added: “But next time, if you get the chance, you still need to remind your Sister Tea, my roommate, not to do too many high-difficulty moves. She should be careful with her body.”
He had to be careful with the dragon cub in her belly. That was the hope of their Golden Dragon Clan and the one who would let him put on the air of an older brother in the future. Nothing could be allowed to happen to it.
Cheng Lin Yue answered: “Okay, okay. If I get the chance, I’ll definitely remind her.”
Cheng Xiao Ting, Huang Da Zhuang, and the others listened in confusion. Sister Tea was that strong. Never mind jumping from a few hundred meters up; she would jump from a few thousand meters without blinking.
She was so dazzlingly amazing. What was there to be careful about? There was no need. She should just keep showing off in everyone else’s face.
Jiang Tea Tea jumped down from the warship but did not land in front of Sui Xuan Chu and the others. She landed at the spot where she had been boiling medicine yesterday.
The blood from last night and the traces of burning had been washed clean. Not a single mark was left behind.
If no one mentioned it, no one would know that a dragon and a rational zombie had died here.
Jiang Tea Tea set up the big clay pot again and poured in water. The Flame Staff burned underneath it as she took out medicinal herbs and put them in.
She sat beside the big pot and kept watch over it for a full day and night. When the herbs were finally done boiling and she lifted the lid, the fragrance of the poisonous herbs spread out at once.
Sui Xuan Chu and the other seven people who had kept watch over the pot with her all took a deep breath. One of them said: “Sister Tea, I never thought thirteen kinds of poison cooked together would smell this good. It smells so good my stomach is growling.”
Another person said: “Yeah, Sister Tea, my stomach is hungry too…”
Someone suddenly blurted out: “Wait, no, Sister Tea, I’m not hungry. I’m dizzy.”
Another voice followed: “I’m dizzy too, Sister Tea. I’m dizzy too.”
Someone stared at her and cried out: “What is going on, Sister Tea? How did you turn into a tree, a bright green tree?”
Another shout rang out: “Ahhh, Sister Tea, you are a tree spirit?”