The four major academies had always held a special position in the Great Zhou.
Although they did not directly participate in the politics of the imperial court, the academy presidents could restrict the Emperor in the name of righteousness.
Back when the former Emperor was still on the throne, it was because of his arbitrary actions that the Great Zhou was plagued with internal and external troubles. The atmosphere was foul, and the faith of the people fell to the lowest point in the past century. At that time, the four major academies worked together. Four Seventh Realm powerhouses suppressed the imperial court in an unparalleled manner and completely took away the former Emperor's authority.
Now, the Empress's special favor for Li Mu had repeatedly caused unrest in the imperial court. The four major academies had enough reasons to restrict the Empress and stabilize the imperial court.
If Li Mu had obediently been her favored official, it would have been fine.
The Old Party would not take the risk of offending the Empress and attack him just because she doted on him.
However, his existence had already greatly damaged their vitality and strength. If this continued, even if the Old Party did not perish at the hands of the Zhou Clan, they would perish at the hands of Li Mu.
Li Mu must be eliminated.
For this, they did not hesitate to force the Emperor to abdicate.
Hundred Rivers Academy.
A middle-aged man in luxurious clothes looked at Vice Academy President Chen and said, "I want to see the Academy President."
Vice Academy President Chen asked, "The Academy President is currently in seclusion. What is the matter, Your Highness King Ping?"
King Ping said solemnly, "This is a matter of great importance. The Academy President must come out of seclusion."
Vice Academy President Chen said, "What exactly is the matter? Can you tell me first?"
King Ping said in a deep voice, "The favored official Li Mu has bewitched the Emperor and caused chaos in the imperial court. His Majesty has been bewitched by him and indulged him in every possible way, allowing him to wreak havoc in the imperial court. If this continues, the consequences will be unimaginable. I would like to ask the Academy presidents to persuade His Majesty to punish the demonic official Li Mu and return peace to the imperial court!"
Vice Academy President Chen glanced at him and shook his head. "However, what the academy sees is not so. Li Mu is called Qingtian by the people of Fairy's Capital and is extremely loved by the people. Outside, he single-handedly dealt a heavy blow to the ten demonic sects. Internally, he overturned the case of the favored official who was wrongly killed more than ten years ago and punished the lawless officials in the imperial court. Because of what he has done, the people's faith in the Great Zhou has reached its peak in fifty years, far surpassing the time of the Emperor. It is inevitable that His Majesty's favor. Although he is a favored official, Your Highness."
King Ping opened his mouth and said, "This …"
"There is one thing that I hope Your Highness can understand." Vice Academy President Chen looked at King Ping and said slowly, "The academy is the academy of the Great Zhou, not the academy of the Xiao clan. If the Emperor is muddleheaded, the academy should work together to support him. This is our duty. If the Emperor is wise, the academy should do its best to assist him. This is also our duty. Whether His Majesty is wise or muddleheaded, it is not up to you to decide. It is up to the people to decide …"
King Ping said, "But the imperial court …"
Vice Academy President Chen said, "Without destruction, there can be no construction. A piece of good wood will not go bad just because a few worms have crawled on it. However, if they are allowed to gnaw on it, the good wood will eventually turn rotten one day. This is all I have to say. Take care of yourselves …"
With that, he put his hands behind his back and slowly left.
King Ping stood where he was and his expression changed for a while. Finally, he revealed a helpless expression.
After a while, he left the Hundred Rivers Academy and returned to King Ping's residence. Several people who were waiting in the residence immediately came up to him and spoke.
"How was it?"
"What did the dean say?"
"Brother Wang, say something … …"
King Ping looked at everyone and sighed. "Let's drop this matter. Don't mention it again."
"Why?"
"Could it be that the academy doesn't agree?"
While everyone was asking, another figure walked in from outside. The Duke of Jiangyin had just walked into the courtyard when he shook his head and said, "I didn't see the dean. I don't think we can count on the Thousand Scrolls Academy …"
Among the four great academies, the White Deer Academy belonged to the Ministry of War and could never be counted on.
As for the other three great academies, the Hundred Rivers Academy and the Thousand Scrolls Academy supported the Xiao clan. The Azure Cloud Academy stood on the side of the Zhou clan.
If even the Hundred Rivers Academy and the Thousand Scrolls Academy could not be won over, then there was no need to mention the Azure Cloud Academy.
At least three deans were needed to 'persuade' the Empress. Even if they managed to win over the Azure Cloud Academy, it would be useless.
One of them looked at the Duke of Jiangyin and asked, "What did the Thousand Scrolls Academy say?"
The Duke of Jiangyin shook his head and said, "They said that the academy is not a tool for us to fight for power. They only want to ensure the continuation of the Xiao clan's royal family. If the Empress wants to pass the throne to a disciple of the Zhou clan, they will do their best to stop it. Apart from that, the academy will not participate in any court battles …"
After saying that, he looked at King Ping and asked, "What did the Hundred Rivers Academy say?"
King Ping said, "They told us to take care of ourselves."
"…"
No one spoke again. The courtyard fell into a long silence.
The meaning of 'take care of ourselves' was that the Hundred Rivers Academy would not help them this time.
All along, they had thought that the Zhou clan only had one advantage over the Xiao clan, and that was that the Empress's surname was Zhou.
Regardless of whether it was the control of the imperial court, the local area, or the number of academies behind them, they were stronger than the Zhou clan's new faction.
In fact, if it was not for the former emperor's incompetence that caused the wrath of the people and made the Azure Cloud Academy's dean extremely disappointed in the Xiao clan, there might be three or even four academies behind the Xiao clan.
It was only now that they realized that although the two academies behind them were inclined to let the Xiao clan return to the orthodox lineage in the future, that was a matter for the future. At present, they still acknowledged the Empress.
In fact, it was not just the academies. Even everyone present was convinced by the current Empress.
She had shown great talent in cultivation since she was young. Otherwise, she would not have been valued by the former emperor and become the Crown Princess and Empress.
The fact that she could be acknowledged by the Emperor's Qi and successfully advance to the seventh realm proved this point. At that time, no one in the Xiao clan could withstand the Emperor's Qi and forcefully break through. The royal clan would not have an additional seventh realm powerhouse, but a useless person whose foundation was destroyed.
One had to know that she was only twenty-five years old back then. Since ancient times, no one in the Xiao clan had been able to inherit the Emperor's Qi and advance to the seventh realm at the age of twenty-five.
Obviously, the academies would not stand against the Empress for this matter.
The Duke of Jiangyin asked, "What do we do now?"
After a long silence, King Ping shook his head and said tiredly, "Let's leave it at that …"
Although he did not say much, everyone could hear the intention to retreat from his words.
The Xiao royal clan did not retreat when facing the new faction that was at the peak of their power. Now that they were facing a lone official, they had the intention to retreat.
After failing to defeat Li Mu after using countless methods openly and secretly, they chose to avoid him.
The Li Residence.
Li Mu had just learned from Zhang Chun that the Duke of Nanyang's Residence was covered by a powerful formation and the officials of the Ancestral Temple could not enter. As the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, he mobilized the Consecrated Department to help, but was rejected by the Consecrated Department.
The Consecrated Department was a special department in the imperial court. It was not an official office. The consecrators in it were powerhouses recruited from all over the country at great cost by the imperial court. Their relationship with the imperial court was a cooperative relationship, not a subordinate one.
The Consecrated Department existed in the previous dynasty and had always been under the control of the old faction.
Ever since someone tried to assassinate Zhou Zhong in the Consecrated Department, Li Mu decided to find an opportunity to reorganize the department. However, he had been busy with other things these days and delayed this matter.
Now, he was almost done with the matters at hand and could start to clean up the Consecrated Department.
Before that, he had to help Zhang Chun solve the current problem.
There were not many powerhouses in the Ancestral Temple. They could not be compared to the Consecrated Department and could not break the formation of the Duke of Nanyang's Residence.
Li Mu walked out of the residence and said, "Let's go. I'll go with you to take a look …"
The Duke of Nanyang's Residence.
The Duke of Nanyang observed the situation outside the door through a mirror.
Several officials of the Ancestral Temple stood there, but Zhang Chun had disappeared.
This time, Li Mu suddenly went crazy and let Zhang Chun capture so many officials of the old faction. This really surprised the Duke of Nanyang.
After the surprise, he was delighted.
The reason why the higher-ups tolerated Li Mu was that although Li Mu had damaged the interests of the old faction, it was not to the extent that they would completely fall out with the Empress and get rid of Li Mu at all costs.
Now it was time.
Because Li Mu's actions had shaken the foundation of the old faction in the imperial court. The entire old faction did not hesitate to ask the Academy for help and restrain the Empress in order to get rid of Li Mu, a thorn in their flesh.
In the end, Li Mu was killed by his arrogance.
What the Duke of Nanyang had to do was wait.
He was waiting for the higher-ups to make a move. When Li Mu died, Zhang Chun and the others would be like chickens and pottery dogs, unable to withstand a single blow.
While the Duke of Nanyang was waiting, he saw the figures of Zhang Chun and Li Mu appear in the mirror.
When he saw Li Mu, a trace of impatience appeared on his face. He gritted his teeth and said, "Why haven't you made a move yet?"
Then, he saw Li Mu and Zhang Chun outside, trying all kinds of methods to break the array of the Duke of Nanyang's residence.
The Duke of Nanyang sneered. This array was set up by the array masters of the Spirit Array Sect. Even a Sixth Realm expert would have to spend some effort to break it.
Li Mu and Zhang Chun were overestimating themselves.
Outside the Duke of Nanyang's residence, Li Mu also discovered the extraordinariness of this array.
This array could absorb attacks from the outside world and even turn the attacks or the Spirit Qi in the Fu-lu into one's own. It was not an ordinary defensive array. It might have been set up by an array master.
Although Li Mu had the memories of the Thousand Illusions Venerable Master, he knew that most of those arrays were evil arrays. He did not have a deep understanding of the orthodox arrays.
This almost eliminated the possibility of him using ingenuity to break this array.
Since he could not use ingenuity, he could only use brute force.
Li Mu whistled, and the Dao Bell flew out of his ear. In the blink of an eye, it grew to the height of a human.
Li Mu pointed at the array outside the Duke of Nanyang's residence and said, "Crash into it."
Buzz …
The Dao Bell responded with a buzz. Then, it flew high into the air and swooped down, crashing heavily into the defensive array.
A burst of light flowed on the array. It resisted stubbornly for a few breaths before the light on it quickly dimmed.
Zhang Chun strode forward and slammed the door a few times. He shouted, "Xiao Yun, Duke of Nanyang, the Imperial Clan Temple is handling a case. Hurry up and open the door. Don't hide inside. I know you're at home. Hurry up and open the door …"
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