Big Moon Ballad

Chapter 2622 Death Knell
It's Ye Jingshu.

Ji Jiashu gazed at the girl's face peeking out from the carriage window at the street corner and smiled slightly.

He did not linger and disappeared outside the Imperial Preceptor's residence.

Ye Jingshu sat blankly in the carriage, staring in the direction the boy had left, then suddenly lowered her head and covered her face with a handkerchief.

"Miss?" Ye Jingshu's personal maid asked worriedly.

"He didn't even stop."

Ye Jingshu's handkerchief was gradually soaked with tears, but she did not cry out loud as she usually did.

"Young Master may have urgent business to attend to," the maid comforted her. "Young Master is now the Grand Preceptor of the Former Qin Dynasty. He has a bright future and great responsibilities."

Ye Jingshu knew that Ji Jiashu had urgent business to attend to, but she didn't expect that she wasn't even worth him stopping for a moment.

She recalled that when she left, Ji Jiashu's lips moved slightly, and he silently said something to her.

"Take care of yourself."

Ye Jingshu straightened up and wiped the tears from her face with a handkerchief.

"Forget it, let's go back."

"Miss?" The maid was taken aback. "The Imperial Preceptor's wife is waiting for you to go in."

“Auntie is probably grieving right now, so I won’t go in and cause trouble,” Ye Jingshu said, glancing at the tightly closed gates of the Imperial Preceptor’s residence. “I’m going back to the ancestral hall to pray for my brothers.”

With the nation in peril, and since he didn't stay, there was no need for her to persist.

……

……

As we moved at high speed, the wind whistled past our ears.

This was a familiar voice to Ji Jiashu, but this time he could vaguely hear crying.

He left his loved ones' cries behind, feeling an immense weight in his heart.

But he couldn't care less about any of that, and could only grit his teeth and run all the way to the palace of the Southern Chu king.

"Who is coming!"

Before Ji Jiashu even reached the Southern Chu Royal Palace, he sensed the powerful aura of the protective array. Even a Heavenly Rank cultivator would find it difficult to infiltrate silently.

He stopped in front of the palace gate and saw the intruder suddenly appear before him. The guards on the city were terrified.

Dozens of halberds were instantly pointed at Ji Jiashu, but the next moment the terrified city gate guards saw his face and screamed in alarm.

"Chunhua-kun?"

"Is that Chunhua-kun? Chunhua-kun is back?"

"Fool! Now we should call him the Grand Preceptor of the Former Qin Dynasty!"

Having wandered for so long, Ji Jiashu felt a long-lost sense of returning home. But he had no time to catch up with the overjoyed guards. He took out his identification token from his pocket and said, "I have urgent business to attend to at the palace. Please allow me to pass."

Compared to his identity as the Grand Preceptor of the Former Qin Dynasty, his face seemed to be more useful in the Southern Chu.

Ji Jiashu was quickly let through the palace gates and, led by a palace attendant, swiftly arrived at the study where the King of Southern Chu usually met with his ministers in private.

"His Majesty said he would meet you here."

Ji Jiashu thanked the eunuch, and the guards at the door opened the door for him. After he entered, the door behind him immediately closed.

The room was empty, with no one else around, suggesting that this would be a secret conversation.

Ji Jiashu walked into the depths of the study, but there was no one by the imperial desk.

He looked up and saw a figure dressed in crimson everyday clothes standing by the window.

Ji Jiashu's gaze fell on the crown on the other person's head, and his feelings became complicated.

"What, are you not going to pay your respects to me?"

Jiang Yuanyuan turned around and looked at her friend whom she hadn't seen for several months with a playful expression.

Ji Jiashu smiled as well. He bowed, about to give a proper greeting, when Jiang Yuanyuan strode over to him and grabbed his arm. "You know, I was just joking," Jiang Yuanyuan said, dropping her pretense and patting Ji Jiashu's shoulder, her face once again displaying the carefree expression Ji Jiashu was familiar with.

"Life is truly unpredictable. In just a few months, I have become the King of Southern Chu, and you have become the Grand Preceptor of Former Qin."

“Yes,” Ji Jiashu said with a wry smile, “Baoyue became the former King of Qin.”

“She is truly unprecedented and unparalleled,” Jiang Yuanyuan shrugged exaggeratedly. “Plus that kid Guanghua, I guess in the eyes of those old guys, the Six Kingdoms’ courts are just a bunch of children playing house.”

Who could have imagined that within a year, the rulers of the Northern Wei, Southern Chu, and Former Qin kingdoms would all be young men under twenty, one of whom was a woman?

“Oh right, I forgot about Zhao Guang,” Jiang Yuanyuan clapped her hands suddenly, “Including him, even the White Wolf King of Xirong is not yet twenty years old.”

"Do you remember the hot pot we had in your yard?" Jiang Yuanyuan asked, shaking her head incredulously. "Thinking back now, that hot pot was amazing."

It was a dinner party right after the initial ceremony. Jiang Yuanyuan remembered that among the people who participated in that hot pot dinner were Yelü Hua and Meng Shi, Zhao Guang, Li Ji and Ying Baoyue, as well as Ji Jiashu, Ji Qingyuan and Ji Ange, and of course, him and Jinniang.

In retrospect, that hot pot meal seemed to have brought together all the current rulers, queens, and imperial advisors of the Shan Hai Continent, and even a beast god.

Upon hearing this, Ji Jiashu recalled the scene from that time and was filled with emotion.

“I remember, Baoyue made that hot pot.”

“Yes,” Jiang Yuanyuan sighed, “it all started when she came to Nan Chu.”

He can still remember the first time he met Ying Baoyue.

Who could have imagined that the stubborn yet frail woman would walk such a path, and that the young people surrounding her would all become influential figures on the entire continent?

Surrounded by stars.

“Lady Shao Siming is truly legendary no matter the time,” Jiang Yuanyuan said, looking at Ji Jiashu. Then, she changed the subject, “What business does she have with you in Southern Chu?”

Ji Jiashu took out the letter of state from his bosom and handed it to Jiang Yuanyuan. Jiang Yuanyuan quickly unfolded it, read it in a flash, and frowned.

"The Grand Preceptor Ji has already told me about the matter of borrowing troops. I have given Chen Yan half of the Tiger Tally of the Imperial Guard and the Border Garrison Army, so that he can lead the army to war at any time."

"But the Southern Chu is far from the Great Wall, and the Southern Chu army is not suited for long-distance marches."

“The Western Rong people have already entered,” Ji Jiashu said, looking at Jiang Yuanyuan. “Baoyue actually doesn’t want to ever need to borrow troops from Southern Chu.”

The fact that the Southern Chu army is heading north means that the Western Rong people are at least close to the Lancang Sea.

“I also received that battle report. Your father brought it to me an hour ago,” Jiang Yuanyuan took a deep breath. “The border of Northern Wei has actually fallen. It’s unbelievable.”

In the memories of their generation, the Great Wall of Eternal Night was like an impregnable fortress, one that could never be crossed.

The last time the Western Rong people crossed the Great Wall was before the Great Wall was even built; it's almost unimaginable.

"By the way, where did my father go?"

Upon hearing Jiang Yuanyuan mention Ji Mo, Ji Jiashu asked, "I heard from the Vermilion Bird God that he entered the palace early this morning."

“He was here an hour ago. But half an hour ago, he suddenly said he was going to the Jixia Academy and left in a hurry without giving a reason.”

Jixia Academy?

Ji Jiashu was taken aback. Just as he was about to say something, a heavy bell suddenly rang out from outside the window.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"This is……"

Jiang Yuanyuan and Ji Jiashu exchanged a glance, then suddenly realized what was happening, and their eyes widened.

This is the sound of the largest bell atop the Jixia Academy mountain; it is never rung unless something urgent happens.

There are only two situations in which the bell will ring.

One was when foreign enemies invaded, and the academy faced a crisis of destruction.

Another possibility is when the palace master or the head of a courtyard dies.

　Today, the length of Da Yue Yao has exceeded six million words!
　　(End of this chapter)