Young Prime Minister, a Hermit

Chapter 185

"Lin Yu?!" His face suddenly erupted with the manic expression he had been suppressing for so long. He hugged me frantically, as if to make sure that I was real, that I wouldn't be crushed by his force and would cry out in pain.

With a clang, the renowned Azure Frost Sword fell to the ground, finally freeing one of his hands to caress me. From my hair to my forehead, from my eyebrows to my eyes, from my nose to my lips, his rough, scarred hand caressed my face with barely restraint. He felt me frantically, like a parched man seeing water, or a drowning man grasping at a straw, calling my name again and again in a voice that broke my heart: "Lin Yu! You can't lie to me... You can't leave me after I wake up... You can't hurt me like this again and again... Do you think I really don't feel pain? Do you think I can endure it again? Lin Yu... Tell me, is it true? Is it true?"

My bones were cracking and popping. Though I felt pity and wanted to tell him it was all true, I couldn't help but groan in pain. He panicked, his face showing a bewildered expression, and finally let go. I struggled to the ground.

I no longer cared what Qin Wu and the others standing around me thought. I carefully, almost with a critical eye, examined his entire body. I couldn't know how many wounds were under his blood-soaked clothes, but just by looking at the scratches on his arms and his haggard appearance, I knew what kind of ten days he had spent here and what kind of dangerous situation he had put himself in.

He was still waiting for my answer with fragile hope, a sudden surge of rage in his eyes as if he wanted to snatch it away, or else tear the world apart. However, I stepped forward, grabbed his collar, and said coldly, "Feng Yihan, tell me honestly, how many stupid things have you done since I left?"

Lin Jialan was nearly thirty centimeters shorter than Yi Han. Standing side by side, Lin Jialan looked so petite that he seemed like he could be killed with a single punch. At least Lin Yu had never realized that Yi Han's body was strong and muscular, completely different from his own.

Raising her hand and grabbing his collar, she spoke coldly, her words of rebuke sounding less like an interrogation and more like a child whining. However, I couldn't care less about that now. I felt that only by shouting out the anger and fear churning within me could I stop the agonizing pain: "What on earth are you thinking? Even if attacking the Jin Yao Army was unavoidable, and escaping into Ziyun Mountain was a last resort, why did you stay in the mountains to contend with Yang Qian? Don't you know the disparity in troop strength between you and him? How long do you think you can hold out with just a single formation?!"

After yelling, Yihan stared at me blankly, as if in a daze. I felt a heat on my face, and tears rolled down my cheeks. Everyone was looking at me, and I felt ashamed. I turned my head away and wiped my cheeks haphazardly with the back of my hand, saying bitterly, "You're always like this... silently forcing me by hurting yourself... I... if I hadn't come, you would have felt better even if you died, right? But you always forget what I said!"

I yanked his collar hard, then let go, my voice hoarse and shrill, like the cry of a crow: "Feng Yihan, if you die, I will chase you to hell!"

Chapter 37 Flowing Green Waters (Part 2)

With a deafening roar, a large amount of gunpowder exploded within the tree mound—the signal Soku and I had agreed upon. A jolt of fear shot through me; I then noticed faint, mournful screams emanating from the distant tree mound, and the commotion in the air grew closer, indicating that Soku and his men were close behind. The real battle was about to erupt.

Yang Qian originally intended to trap Yi Han and his men in the Boundless Valley with minimal casualties, which is why he had remained inactive, refusing reinforcements from the outside and trapping Feng Di from within. The gunpowder detonated in the Tree Tomb made him believe that someone had attacked from the northwest. Yang Qian was inherently arrogant and suspicious, and he would not let someone else have the great credit of capturing Feng Di alive. Therefore, he would allocate most of his forces to the Tree Tomb, and once these uncommanded soldiers entered the depths of the Tree Tomb, which was a maze of swamps, they would never come out alive.

The fact that tens of thousands of lives were taken in just a few minutes sends chills down my spine whenever I think about my own cruelty. But the battlefield is merciless, and since I have chosen to stand here, there is no turning back.

Once Yang Qian has confirmed the fate of those tens of thousands of people, he will undoubtedly launch an attack on Wuyin Valley at all costs, because he has made a bet that he will kill the Wind Emperor no matter how many lives are lost.

"Yihan..." I called out, about to speak, when I realized I hadn't noticed that he was holding me tightly in his arms, his arms wrapped around me as if I were embedded in his body. He was so gentle and careful, afraid of hurting me, that I hadn't noticed it in my moment of distraction.

Feeling that familiar breath, I felt a tender sweetness mixed with the subtle pain of time passing in my heart. I reached out and hugged him tightly before saying, "Yihan, Yang Qian was determined to capture you but suffered heavy casualties. He must be preparing a fierce counterattack now. You must gather and reassemble this formation as soon as possible." I pointed to the sky, "Sokku will be leading reinforcements down soon. When we cooperate from the inside and outside, we can not only escape successfully but also wipe out those hundreds of thousands of pursuers in one fell swoop."

Yi Han released me, glanced at the sky, and without the slightest hesitation, ordered, "Qin Wu, send the order to assemble the formation!"

Qin Wu was staring blankly at me when he heard this. Startled, he noticed Yi Han's gaze was fixed on him, and his face paled instantly. He hurriedly replied, "Yes! Your Majesty!" (d2ed45a52b Copyright protected! Respect the author! Oppose piracy!)

I was startled, by the fear Qin Wu had momentarily revealed, and even more so by his clear, resonant "Your Majesty" that he seemed to have grown accustomed to. In an instant, countless confused and panicked fears surged up. An inexplicable, ominous premonition, sharp and accurate like a woman's utterly mundane intuition, made me realize for the first time that five years was actually a long time, long enough to change too many things that I could not bear.

In a daze, I suddenly felt a huge shadow fall from the sky, landing with great speed a few meters in front of me with a "thud," raising a cloud of dust.

I stared in astonishment at the familiar, crudely shaped parachute wings. It was clearly the makeshift paraglider I had made. I couldn't believe someone was so stupid as to land in such a pathetic manner, even though I had explained the landing method so clearly.

Before the dust had even settled, I heard a familiar shout, mixed with coughing, coming towards me: "Lin Lan, cough cough... are you alright? cough cough..."

"Soku?" I stared wide-eyed at the disheveled man standing before me, his brocade robes stained with dust, his face covered in dirt, and couldn't help but burst out laughing. "I'm fine. As for you, how does it feel to have your first failed air trip?"

Soku glared at me fiercely, but even the fiercest expression couldn't hold up against my disheveled appearance, so I continued to laugh. Though his face remained cold, he still looked me up and down, feigning ferocity as he said, "Hmph, evil deeds live long lives, indeed..." His voice suddenly trailed off; he lunged forward, grabbed my hand, and roared, "You call this nothing?!"

It was only then that I noticed my right hand was covered in bruises, with streaks of blood seeping out. Some of the blood had even congealed into a dark red color on my palm, clearly from the injuries I sustained when I grabbed the rope during landing. The joy and sorrow of our reunion had momentarily made me forget all about it, but now, lifting Soku and moving my wrist caused a sharp, piercing pain.

I grimaced and gasped for breath, but quickly forced a smile at him: "It's nothing, just a little tightness from the rope... Ah!" My eyes widened in shock, and before I could react, I saw Soku being thrown out and landing awkwardly on the ground. I exclaimed, "Yihan, what are you doing?!"

Without even glancing at Soku, Yihan carefully took my hand, a look of heartache and guilt flashing across her face, and softly asked, "Does it hurt?"

That clear, cold voice momentarily bewitched me, and I could only stammer, "It's...it's alright..."

He suddenly lifted my hand and bent down to lick my palm. I felt as if I had been struck by lightning, and my hair stood on end. His hot tongue moved gently, slowly, yet powerfully across my palm, licking away the scabbed blood little by little.

I felt like I was on fire, my face flushed crimson. Those kisses made every nerve in my body unconsciously stir, so sensitive that I would tremble at the slightest breath. I didn't dare look at the people around me, and when I tried to pull my hand away, he held it firmly.

What on earth is going on? I stared intently at the tips of my shoes until my eyes ached, and vaguely wondered: Is this person really Yi Han? Yi Han is so shy and aloof, even more pure than me, how could this person be the one in front of me?

"You've been lying to me from beginning to end, haven't you?" Soku's cold and angry voice jolted me awake. I looked up, but Yihan, who had already straightened up, blocked my view. I could only hear Soku's voice, growing colder yet trembling slightly, "What about Lin Yu's junior sister? What about wanting to see what kind of person the Wind Emperor really is? It was all a lie!!"

"Sokku, listen to me!" I panicked and quickly stepped forward, saying urgently, "I didn't mean to lie to you, it's just..."

"You didn't mean to, but you still lied, didn't you?!" Soku glared at me with red eyes, looking like he wanted to tear me apart. "All this way, I've been played like a monkey by you!"

My heart ached as I recalled his care and concern for me along the way. That man, outwardly cold and irritable but inwardly open and sincere, was so pure that I couldn't bear to look him in the eye for my deception.

"What's your relationship with him?!" Soku suddenly pointed behind me, his fingertips trembling as he questioned.

I glanced back at Yi Han. The bright sunlight shone on his snow-white hair and his black clothes stained with blood, but it couldn't penetrate his radiant purple eyes.

Five years. In this world, it has been five years since I left him. He has become unlike Yihan. He has become unfathomable. He is aloof and distant, yet he is still Yihan, the unique Yihan of both heaven and earth.

I turned around, my voice trembling slightly but firm, and said, "He is my husband." After saying this, I felt a sense of relief, and all my unease and fear seemed as distant and unreal as clouds in the sky.

I smiled and repeated, word by word, "He is my husband."

The sound of cloth fluttering in the air grew louder and louder, and the remaining reinforcements from Izumo landed, but stood there blankly because of the extremely eerie and imminent atmosphere in the center of the boundless valley.

Soku stared blankly at me, then suddenly threw his head back and laughed wildly, as if he were insane. The sharp, mournful laughter made his voice hoarse and grating when he spoke again: "I actually believed you were Lin Yu's junior sister, I actually helped you two conspire against Lin Yu, I actually believed you, a woman with a heart of stone... I actually..."

In such a chaotic world, in a world where people oppress and exploit each other, I am well aware of how precious Soku's stubbornness and earnestness are. It's just that fate is cruel; this childlike innocence was destined from birth to be the king of Izumo, destined to stand at the pinnacle of power. Therefore, one day he will be truly and cruelly tested, deceived, exploited, and hurt, before shedding his naive stubbornness and growing into a king.

If there is destined to be such a day, such a person, I think I would rather it be today, and it be myself.

I took a deep breath and said calmly, "Yes, Soku, I admit I lied to you. I am not Qin Luo's junior sister, and my approach to you was only to return to Yi Han's side. But you can't deny that I provided you with a good plan for your mission to rescue the Wind Emperor, minimizing your casualties, didn't I?"

"So, in that sense, we're even, right?" I said with a smile, but deep down I was asking myself: Are we really even? We can have equal benefits, but how can we repay the deception in our hearts? Whether it was me in Lin Yu or me in Jia Lan, I had lied to Soku, who genuinely considered me a friend, time and time again.

The bitterness in my heart almost rendered me speechless. I took a deep breath, looked directly into his furious, tea-gold eyes, and said without flinching, "Sokku, if you truly want to help Lin Yu, if you truly want revenge on me and Yi Han, then please, become stronger, so strong that no one can hurt you anymore..."

Before I could even see Soku's expression clearly, the words had barely left my mouth when everything went black, and I collapsed to the ground.

Chapter 38 Years Have Passed (Part 1)

I was half asleep, unable to pinpoint any pain or discomfort, only feeling as if my body and mind didn't belong to me. I was awake, yet unable to open my eyes, and couldn't remember what day it was or where I was.