Lü Qingjian watched the two men playing off each other, and finally understood what was going on.
They sounded so righteous, but all they wanted was to make him the scapegoat!
Furious, he roared, "You two have gone too far! I even made a special trip to the Sage Scholar Academy just now to sound them out."
"That old hag Fang Wanqing at the Sage Scholar Academy has no intention of backing down. There's no way to salvage this."
"And you're still sitting here dreaming! You think handing me over will make everything go away?"
"All the students and teachers who were going to flee have already left. Our Taihua Academy is an empty shell now."
"When the time comes, we'll all be held responsible! No one will get away! Instead of condemning me here, why not think about how we're going to face the Wei State Duke Mansion's retaliation?"
After hearing Lü Qingjian, Yun Congnan and Qiu Ziqin looked grim.
They had only just emerged from their cultivation, and the only information they had was what the academy's teachers had reluctantly managed to tell them.
They had never expected things to develop so quickly. Nor had they imagined that the Wei State Duke Mansion Faction, which they had suppressed for years, could still wield such influence.
At that moment, all three fell silent. The helplessness in their hearts made it hard to breathe.
Meanwhile, Mo Yunxuan had just returned to the Wei State Duke Mansion. As soon as he entered the main hall, he saw Meng Qianxue and Meng Zhirou seated on opposite sides.
What was strange was that Meng Qianxue looked unwilling, while Meng Zhirou seemed almost smug.
The two, who had always been close, seemed to have developed a rift.
Mo Yunxuan didn't pick up on it. He only sensed that the atmosphere between them was a little odd.
But he had something to ask Meng Qianxue, so he didn't dwell on it.
"Qianxue, you've met Chen Yuanshan, who's taking over for you, and the twenty-four Spirit Transformation Realm Early Stage guards, right? How long do you think it'll take to bring the You Wei Guard together?"
Hearing Mo Yunxuan's question, Meng Qianxue knew he had business to discuss. She composed herself and made a quick estimate.
"If you only need an initial integration, we can finish by nightfall today at the earliest."
Mo Yunxuan was fairly satisfied with how quickly they could get it done.
Still, he had some concerns about her description of it as an "initial integration."
"Will that affect the You Wei Guard's combat strength?"
Hearing his concern, Meng Qianxue smiled faintly. "It won't. Unless they're fighting someone in the Void Refinement Realm, the Commander doesn't need to lead the Military Formation."
"A standard Military Formation led by someone in the Nascent Soul Realm is more than enough to deal with Spirit Transformation Realm enemies."
"And I hear Commander Chen Yuanshan has already reached the Body Integration Realm Early Stage. Even if he can't use the Military Formation, it won't affect his combat strength."
"Good!" Mo Yunxuan clenched his right fist and gave it a slight squeeze. Then he walked to the seat of honor and suddenly called out:
"I hereby give my orders!"
Everyone present rose to their feet and looked at Mo Yunxuan with solemn expressions. Even Meng Zhirou was no exception.
They answered in unison, "Please give your orders, Duke of Wei."
Mo Yunxuan nodded and continued, "Gao Lan, Qiao Heng."
The two men stepped forward when they heard their names and emerged from the crowd.
"At your command!"
"Go to the Left and Right Wei Guards and deliver my orders. At sunrise tomorrow, the two armies will join forces and completely seal off Taihua Academy. Wait for my command."
"Your orders will be carried out!"
The two men stepped back and returned to their places. Mo Yunxuan turned his gaze to Li Jin.
"Li Jin, go to the Left and Right Xiao Guards and tell Chen Wei and Zhang Tong to keep a close watch on the city gates tomorrow. Don't let anyone from Taihua Academy escape."
"Yes, Duke."
Then Mo Yunxuan looked toward Wang Yuan, a faint smile on his lips.
"Uncle Wang, make an official announcement to the public. The Wei State Duke Mansion has completely broken with Taihua Academy. From now on, it's a fight to the death."
"Anyone who doesn't want to get involved in the conflict between the Wei State Duke Mansion and Taihua Academy should leave before sunrise tomorrow."
A bloodthirsty glint flickered in Mo Yunxuan's eyes, and then he changed tack.
"But I'm hoping Taihua Academy has a few people with backbone. It'll give our Wei State Duke Mansion a chance to make an example of them."
"All right, you're dismissed."
When Mo Yunxuan dismissed them, everyone quietly filed out of the hall, leaving only Meng Qianxue and Meng Zhirou behind.
Meng Zhirou settled into Mo Yunxuan's lap with practiced ease, deliberately casting a glance at Meng Qianxue along the way.
The undisguised smugness in her eyes made Meng Qianxue's veins bulge with anger.
That damned fox, that thieving little cat! I should never have told her. I even treated her like a dear little sister, and this is how she repays me?
What is wrong with that bastard? Why doesn't he know how to refuse? She throws herself at him, and he just holds her! Does he have no self-awareness at all?
Unwilling to back down, Meng Qianxue strode over, grabbed Meng Zhirou by the collar, and flung her gently toward the other side of the room.
But Meng Zhirou was no helpless woman. As the fiancée the Wei State Duke Mansion's Martial Merit Noble Family had specially prepared for Mo Yunxuan,
she might prefer composing poetry, but she hadn't neglected her cultivation. Though she was far behind Meng Qianxue's early Spirit Transformation cultivation, she had still reached the Late Golden Core stage.
The instant she was flung away, she used her spiritual energy to steady herself and landed firmly on the ground.
When she looked back toward Mo Yunxuan, Meng Qianxue had already started feeding him jelly, the soft, bouncy kind.
It wasn't just her—even Mo Yunxuan felt as though he'd become someone else.
While the three of them were horsing around, the outside world had already erupted into chaos.
At Taihua Academy,
the teachers and students who had yet to leave hurriedly packed their belongings and fled in droves, without submitting any resignation or withdrawal forms.
Although Vice Dean Lü Qingjian claimed that the Wei State Duke Mansion's announcement was just an attempt to save face, and that they wouldn't actually mobilize the Imperial City Imperial Guard to attack the academy,
with their lives at stake, no one was so careless as to truly believe him.
Nor did anyone dare risk their life betting on whether the Wei State Duke Mansion would act.
Leaving the academy might mean an uncertain future, but staying meant certain death. Everyone knew what they had to do.
As a result, the academy, once full of people coming and going, became a vast, deserted ghost town. There was hardly a person in sight.
Most of those who remained were administrators appointed by the imperial family or members of Lü Qingjian's faction.
They didn't believe Mo Yunxuan would dare mobilize the Imperial City Imperial Guard against them. His declaration of a fight to the death was nothing more than an attempt to save the Wei State Duke Mansion's face.
It wasn't a serious problem. The only issue now was that the Wei State Duke Mansion's announcement had emptied Taihua Academy in one fell swoop.
They were bound to face the Empress's questioning and investigation, especially the faction led by Vice Dean Lü Qingjian.
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