Big Moon Ballad

Chapter 2624 Massacre
After receiving the ministers, Ying Baoyue sat alone at the table in the Imperial Prayer Bureau's study, reading memorials.

With a loud boom, thunder suddenly echoed in the sky.

Ying Baoyue, who was sitting at the table, was startled. She got up, opened the window, and looked at the square that had been drenched by the heavy rain.

"So it's raining."

"what happened to you?"

The giant snake lying on the rooftop transformed into human form and came to her side, poking her head. "I don't remember you being so afraid of thunder."

“I wasn’t afraid,” Ying Baoyue said, looking at the woman in black who remained beside her. “I was just worried about the situation in Nan Chu.”

Upon hearing the thunder, she couldn't help but think of the master of the Spring Thunder Sword whom she had sent to Southern Chu.

“That’s the imperial advisor you personally appointed,” Tengshe saw through Ying Baoyue’s thoughts. “Even you don’t trust him, so what can he do?”

“Ke Jiashu is only fifteen, almost sixteen,” Ying Baoyue gripped the window frame tightly, “If something really happened at Jixia Academy, then he…”

“His father started fighting alongside the King of Southern Chu when he was fifteen,” Tengshe pinched Ying Baoyue’s cheek. “Besides, wasn’t it you who appointed a fifteen-year-old brat as the national advisor?”

"Both you and the Xuanwu God value that kid highly. Don't worry, he won't die."

"The Xuanwu God?" Ying Baoyue was taken aback.

"You've forgotten that on the day you became the former King of Qin, the Xuanwu God defied the world and forcibly helped him reach the Heavenly Rank."

Although there is a risk of forcing growth, as a deity, Tengshe God can understand Xuanwu God's choice.

These are chaotic times; there is no time to wait for young people to grow up.

“No matter what happened at Jixia Academy, it won’t be as dangerous as the day you ascended the throne,” Tengshe said. “That kid dared to confront the evil god on the day you ascended the throne. With Ji Mo still in Southern Chu, he will be fine.”

"I hope so," Ying Baoyue said, looking out at the torrential rain, somewhat dazed.

It was raining just as heavily on the day she participated in the Upper Four Palaces selection for the first time in her life.

“The Jixia Academy was founded by my master. Now that I know the Jixia Academy is in trouble, I haven’t gone to protect it,” Ying Baoyue gripped the window frame tightly, her fingertips digging into the heavy wood. “Is this really the right thing to do?”

"You had no choice, did you?"

Tengshe glanced at her and sighed, "Shubai won't blame you, besides..."

The woman in black looked out at the heavy rain. "She built the Jixia Academy in Southern Chu because she entrusted it to that person."

"that person……"

Ying Baoyue stared blankly at Tengshe.

“Although you hate him, and I hate him too, Shu Bai believes in him,” Teng She said calmly.

Whether it was his own biological child or the academy he had personally established as if it were his own child, Lin Shubai left them all in Nan Chu.

The Serpent God could never understand Lin Shubai's trust in that "useless man" in His eyes.

"As for whether that man is worthy of Shu Bai's trust, let us witness it with our own eyes."

Tengshe looked out the window towards the south.

Ying Baoyue recalled the scene she saw in Ji Mo's small world, and her feelings were extremely complicated.

She said that Ji Jiashu was sent to Southern Chu not only to train him, but also because he was the most suitable candidate.

But now, she worries that something might happen that he won't be able to face.

Simply because the opponent was Emperor Ying.

Ji Jiashu and Jiang Yuanyuan are both outstanding figures of their generation, but compared to the heroes of the previous generation who emerged from the chaos of war, they are still far behind.

The scenes she witnessed while serving Emperor Ying were unimaginable to Ji Jiashu and his generation.

"Hopefully, the situation at Jixia Academy won't get too bad."

…… ……

In fact, the scene that appeared before Ji Jiashu was thousands of times more terrifying than Ying Baoyue had imagined.

Ji Jiashu gazed at the corpses of his former classmates lying by the roadside and stepped forward.

Even though he had seen mountains of knives and seas of fire, he had never seen so many disciples of the Jixia Academy die at the same time.

His heart was almost numb; he could only muster all his inner energy to forcefully stabilize his mind and prevent himself from collapsing.

At the same time, Ji Jiashu also had to force himself to carefully examine the manner of death of every corpse on the roadside.

The blood from the corpse kept flowing, staining the entire mountain path steps crimson.

Cultivators wouldn't normally bleed so much when they kill someone, but these disciples of the Jixia Academy were almost all stabbed to death from behind, their chests were ripped apart, which is why so much blood was flowing out.

And the person who stabs the body is often the one who is later killed.

Ji Jiashu stared intently at the swords clutched in the hands of the corpses lying by the roadside. Many of the disciples' swords were still stained with the blood of other disciples' hearts.

It's about killing each other.

Although not all, at least half of the disciples were caught up from behind and stabbed to death by their own people, while the disciples who stabbed others to death were caught up from behind and stabbed to death by other disciples.

"how so……"

The rain washed away many traces, but clues were found on a corpse near the mountainside in Ji Jiashu.

The body was closest to the mountain gate and had died the shortest time. Just as Ji Jiashu bent down to turn the body over, he saw a black, viscous substance flow from the disciple's ear and quickly disappear into the mud.

Black mud!

Having been to Xiling Snow Mountain, Xirong, and Zen Temple, Ji Jiashu was familiar with this thing. He suddenly thrust his sword into the place where the black mud had fled, but the tip of the sword felt nothing at all.

“Zen temple…”

Ji Jiashu gritted his teeth, straightened up, and reached the end of the stone steps. The mountain gate of Jixia Academy was right in front of him.

Naturally, the mountain gate guards who were supposed to be protecting the mountain gate had become cold corpses, lying beside the mountain-suppressing stone beast.

Judging from the sword marks on the corpse, it was also done by a disciple of the Upper Four Palaces.

These guards, who had been protecting the mountain gate for over a decade, probably couldn't understand why the disciples of the Jixia Academy they were protecting would suddenly turn against them.

Ji Jiashu rushed to the mountain gate. Suddenly, a high-pitched bird cry rang out in the sky, and a bright red light shone, directly dispelling the dark clouds on the horizon.

"Suzaku!"

A large red bird appeared on the summit of Zihua Mountain, and Ji Jiashu gasped in shock.

He wasn't surprised that the Vermilion Bird God from the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion had appeared here. He could tell at a glance that the one left at the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion was just an avatar, and the one now on Zihua Mountain was the true body.

He was shocked that his father could actually draw upon the power of the Vermilion Bird God during the battle.

Even during the grand ceremony of ranking up, his father never summoned the Vermilion Bird God.

Just after the Vermilion Bird God appeared in its true form, crimson sword flames lit up the sky above the Jixia Academy, and massive true energy swept across the entire mountain like a volcanic eruption.

This is Ji Mo's sword fire.

"father!"

Ji Jiashu was shocked. What kind of opponent had he encountered that made his father choose to unleash his true energy?
He didn't have time to examine the corpses; he rushed into the mountain gate following the direction of the sword fire.

On the open ground in front of the martial arts hall where the disciples of Jixia Academy used to hold martial arts competitions, Ji Jiashu saw the figure of his father, Ji Mo.

Ji Mo, carrying the Yue King's sword, stood alone in the center of the open space.

Before him stood an opponent that Ji Jiashu had never imagined.

"Mr. Haoran?"