Big Moon Ballad

Chapter 2625 Civil strife
Ji Jiashu believed that he had come to help his father and protect the Jixia Academy.

Before coming here, he had considered many possibilities, but he never thought that his opponent would be the chief priest of the Jixia Academy.

Mr. Haoran is the head of the Fire Academy, one of the four upper academies of Jixia Academy, and the third generation of academy master after Mr. Mengyang.

When Ji Jiashu heard the bells in the palace, he initially thought that Mr. Haoran had suddenly passed away.

But at this moment, Mr. Haoran, who was standing in front of the martial arts hall, appeared to be alive and well. He was wearing the sacrificial robes of the Jixia Academy's chief priest, standing in the rain with his head down and sword in hand. The robes were riddled with holes from the sword, and strips of cloth fluttered in the wind.

"Father, what exactly happened?"

Ji Jiashu rushed to Ji Mo's side with his sword in hand, and then he noticed another anomaly.

"Father, where is the celestial official from the Imperial Prayer Bureau that you brought with you?"

Ji Mo took twelve Earth-rank cultivators from the Southern Chu Imperial Prayer Province, so why is he now all alone?
"over there."

Ji Mo seemed unsurprised by his son's appearance and pointed behind Mr. Haoran.

Ji Jiashu then noticed that there were more than a dozen cultivators carrying swords standing behind Mr. Haoran.

Many of them were wearing the official robes of the Ministry of Imperial Prayer.

"Could those people be...?"

“They are the people I brought,” Ji Mo said succinctly. “They were normal when they arrived, but for some reason, after exchanging a few blows with those guys, they became their people.”

"Those guys are..."

Ji Jiashu looked in the direction his father pointed, and when he saw those people clearly, he almost lost his footing.

Besides the celestial officials from the Imperial Prayer Department, many familiar figures to Ji Jiashu stood beside Mr. Haoran. Famous academy heads, elders, and disciples were all present, including eight heads of the twelve Heavenly Palaces, as well as the heads of the Thunder and Wind Academies from the Upper Four Palaces.

"Master...?"

Ji Jiashu stared blankly at the heads of the Thunder and Wind academies, speechless.

As the son of the Imperial Preceptor, he did not formally become the disciple of the Thunder Academy Headmaster. Strictly speaking, the Thunder Academy Headmaster could not be considered his master, but he had spent nearly ten years in the Thunder Academy, and the bond between master and disciple remained strong.

The headmaster of Feng Academy was Chen Zichu's mentor, and Ji Jiashu had also had many dealings with this kind-looking old man.

"Master, what exactly is going on?"

Ji Jiashu called out to the head of Lei Academy, but the other party was like a puppet, simply standing behind Mr. Haoran with his sword in hand, ignoring him.

“It’s no use,” Ji Mo said indifferently. “Except for that old man Haoran, everyone else seems to be deaf to what people are saying.”

“So it’s Chunhua who’s back.” At this moment, Mr. Haoran, who had been keeping his head down, raised his head. His face hadn’t changed much, and he even had the smile that Ji Jiashu was familiar with.

However, the smile that was originally quite amiable seemed extremely strange in this situation.

"I heard that you became the Grand Preceptor of the Former Qin Dynasty at the young age of fifteen. You are even more capable than your father," Mr. Haoran nodded approvingly and stretched out his hand to Ji Jiashu. "Come and let this old man see how much you have grown."

Just as he reached out his hand, Ji Jiashu saw a dark shadow flash past behind his eyes and quickly seep into his eye socket.

Ji Jiashu felt a chill run down his spine and abruptly grabbed his father's hand, taking a step back.

"What is that?" Ji Mo frowned. "Is it the same thing that Chunyu Ye was covered in back then?"

When he defeated the parasite on Chunyu Ye's body at the top of Xiling Snow Mountain, he had seen something similar, but he was not as familiar with it as Ji Jiashu.

"It's not exactly the same, but it's one of the most skilled evil arts of the Zen Temple." "That black mud must never be touched. Once you're tainted, you'll be infected, and your mind will be controlled."

“It’s not just the black mud,” Ji Jiashu said, looking at the other deans standing behind Mr. Haoran. “The deans must all be infected with the Heart-Eating Gu.”

The same method Yun Zhongjun used to control the palace servants in the Epang Palace was used back then. Unexpectedly, he used the same method to spread the Heart-Eating Gu to the Jixia Academy.

"The Heart-Eating Gu?" Ji Mo frowned. "Where is the Gu Mother?"

Ji Jiashu realized from his father's tone that he was not unfamiliar with this kind of Gu poison. Before he could react, Ji Mo had already discovered the Gu mother.

"Really? It was on him."

Ji Mo's gaze fixed on Mr. Haoran, "As a Heavenly Rank cultivator, how can you be so spineless?"

Emperor Ying was proficient in poisons and formations. He had always been on high alert regarding these things, but he never expected that the head of the Jixia Academy would be the first to be involved in an accident.

Logically speaking, as long as a Heavenly Realm cultivator can stabilize their mind and not give others the opportunity to take advantage of them, it is very difficult for external evils to invade them.

But now the cruel reality is before us: the academy's chief priest has become the Gu master, so it would be an easy thing for him to use Gu on the other academy heads and disciples. Who could defend against that?
"Is there any way to get rid of this black mud?"

Ji Jiashu was stunned for a moment before realizing that his father was asking him for help.

"Didn't your lord give you any instructions before sending you here?"

Ji Mo glanced at his son. "We can't kill them all, can we?"

It's not that he can't kill those Heavenly Realm cultivators who are of lower rank than himself; the problem is that if he kills them all, the Jixia Academy will have no reason to exist.

Although extremely unwilling, Ji Mo knew in his heart that Ying Baoyue was skilled at dealing with these array formations and poisons.

"To cure the Heart-Eating Gu, we must first kill the Gu Mother..."

In the original Battle of Epang Palace, the evil fetus was eliminated first, and only then did the others who were controlled by the Gu poison gradually return to normal.

“Nonsense, I know that too,” Ji Mo glared at his son. “The problem is how to avoid being corroded by that black mud in battle!”

Ji Mo knew that such evil magic, which could even be manipulated by those at the Heavenly Rank, should not be underestimated.

When he first noticed that something was wrong with Mr. Haoran, he wanted other celestial officials from the Imperial Prayer Province to test the waters first, and he did not personally take action. All the battles just now were just battles fought from a distance.

However, to completely eliminate a Heavenly Rank cultivator, even he himself would have to engage in close combat.

"If I were to be controlled by that black mud, the consequences would be unimaginable," Ji Mo said expressionlessly. "What's there to be afraid of?"

Judging from Ji Jiashu's expression, this kid doesn't seem to be dealing with this thing for the first time.

"Afraid……"

Ji Jiashu glanced at Ji Mo, "This thing is afraid of Baoyue's blood."

"What did you say?" Ji Mo frowned, wondering if there was something wrong with his ears.

Ji Jiashu took out a small bamboo tube from his pocket, cleaved it in two with a single sword strike, and all the bright red blood gathered on the blade of the Spring Thunder Sword.

“These are the three that Baoyue gave me before I left,” Ji Jiashu said, taking another one out of his pocket and handing it to Ji Mo. “With this, it seems that these black muds won’t dare to come near.”

Ji Mo's expression instantly turned extremely ugly.