Young Prime Minister, a Hermit

Chapter 187

“Very old…” Yi Han suddenly murmured above me. I didn’t hear him at first, but when I looked up, I saw his frustrated and embarrassed expression. He was staring at me blankly, and the hand on my waist was starting to get slightly warm. He lowered his head and murmured in a hoarse voice, “Why do you look so young? But I… am old…”

At first I didn't understand, but when I finally realized, I couldn't help but burst into laughter in his arms. Yihan just held me quietly like that, it was so warm and doting, and I felt so happy.

In his usual cold voice, he spoke indifferently about his own affairs: "My biological father was a more cruel and cold-blooded person than my master. Back then, as the patriarch of the Feng Clan, he founded the Fengyin Dynasty, but passed the throne to Zhuo Ren, a descendant of the Mujia Dynasty. At the very moment when Fengyin was most likely to unify the world, he vanished. Although Zhuo Ren had the status to command heroes, he truly lacked the ability to become an emperor. In addition, my father deliberately stirred up trouble, and all the leaders of the various countries who had already submitted turned against him, and the world returned to chaos. Thus, my father, Feng Yu, became the seventh generation Star Soul of the Tianxing Flowing Sword Sect."

"Master Fu Yu was Feng Yu's youngest disciple, yet his talent was unmatched. He could master any art, from literature and martial arts to astronomy and geography, if he so desired. Feng Yu was a heartless and emotionless man; his only wish was to glorify the Tianxing School, so Master Fu Yu became his most important pawn. Fortunately, Master Fu Yu did not disappoint Feng Yu's hopes. Born cold and ruthless, cunning and treacherous, he stirred up a great uproar as soon as he entered the martial world. The three kingdoms of Yixiu Continent officially began to stand in a tripartite balance at that time."

“However, just as the fifty-year cycle was coming to an end, a woman appeared beside my master. That woman was my master’s wife, Gu Yuanxiang, who was also…” Yi Han closed his eyes, concealing the dark purple light, but his face was as white as snow, “and also my biological mother.”

I was so shocked that my mouth dropped open. What a chaotic relationship this was! My master's wife was my biological mother, my grandmaster was my biological father, and my master and I were supposed to be of the same generation. It wasn't incest, but it was worse than incest. I was completely confused.

“Lin Yu…” Yi Han suddenly tightened his grip, his voice hoarse, “Would you look down on me?”

"No, no!" I quickly said, "Please continue."

Yi Han lowered his head and kissed my eyes, whispering, "Lin Yu, I've given up everything, only you remain. No! I don't care about anything else, I just want you, I just want you..."

"Silly boy!" I hugged him gently and said, word by word, "I've given up everything to come back to you, so you can't leave me. Otherwise... otherwise I'll cry for you."

Yi Han smiled, looking down at me with a shallow, yet beautiful smile. He exhaled softly, hugged me tighter, and continued in an indifferent voice, "Xinghun isn't incapable of marrying, nor is he incapable of falling in love, but he cannot marry a woman who might sway his mind, much less fall in love with his master. Back then, Master fell deeply in love with his wife, so much so that he was willing to fulfill all her wishes. His wife was kind-hearted, and after learning the true purpose of the Tianxingliu Sword Sect, she was determined to save all living beings."

Yi Han paused, then his expression suddenly changed slightly. He said, "Lin Yu, you... don't yet know the true meaning of 'drawing hellfire to burn away all the sins of the world,' do you?"

I was too lazy to look up, so I nestled comfortably in his arms and said lazily, "I know, you can continue."

Yi Han was taken aback, but his tense muscles relaxed. He didn't press me for how I knew, but simply hugged me tightly and continued, "Feng Yu was furious when he learned that Master was actually willing to defy the sect for a woman. But he felt that killing Master's wife would only provoke Master's resistance, which was a terrible idea and he disdained to do. So he came up with an even more vicious method. Master is not a handsome man and doesn't understand romance. Feng Yu didn't believe that Master's wife could truly love Master. So, he decided to seduce Gu Yuanxiang."

"Huh?" I looked up in surprise again, wondering what Feng Yu was thinking. "So, did it ultimately succeed?"

Yi Han smiled bitterly: "No. Not only did I fail, but I also got myself into trouble." Seeing my incredulous expression, Yi Han coughed, his face slightly red, and looked away, saying, "Those who become Star Souls in the Heavenly Star Flowing Sword Sect all have lifespans exceeding two hundred years, so although Feng Yu was already over a hundred years old at that time, he looked only in his early thirties. Therefore..."

My mind raced, and I suddenly hooked my arm around his neck, squinted my eyes, and smiled, "Yihan, are you implying that although you look older than me now, you're actually still very young?"

Chapter 38 Years Later

My mind raced, and I suddenly hooked my arm around his neck, squinted my eyes, and smiled, "Yihan, are you implying that although you look older than me now, you're actually still very young?"

Yi Han's face suddenly flushed red, and he turned his head away in annoyance and anger. After a long while, he was able to continue his story in a somewhat unnatural tone: "Later, Feng Yu, in a drunken stupor, forcibly took Master's wife. And Feng Yu, because of pain and guilt, was willing to die at Master's hands. Master eventually followed Feng Yu's last wish to take over the Tianxing Sect and still married Master's wife."

Yi Han sighed, his voice deep and muffled like thunder: "Perhaps Master would have really listened to his wife and ended the chaos. If I hadn't been born, if... he hadn't later discovered that his wife had actually fallen in love with Feng Yu."

I was somewhat surprised and astonished, staring blankly ahead as I asked, "Your master's wife really fell in love with Feng Yu? How could that be? Didn't you say you failed to seduce her?"

Yi Han shook his head and said, "I don't know the details very well either. I only remember that my master once said that to the world, Feng Yu is a demon, a monster with amazing destructive power. But to women, Feng Yu is like a cold-food herb. If you don't get involved, that's fine, but once you do, you can never get rid of him. My master's wife is no ordinary woman. She resisted Feng Yu's seduction, but in the end, she couldn't resist Feng Yu's one and only infatuation in his life."

Cold Food Grass is a kind of herb that, like poppy, is addictive once ingested. Unexpectedly, Yi Han's father was such an extraordinary person. Thinking about it, Fu Yu was just a pitiful man, hurt by his respected master, betrayed by the woman he loved, his wife right beside him, yet his heart felt like it was at the ends of the earth.

So close yet so far… These four words suddenly flashed through my mind. I was startled and abruptly looked up, saying, “This is what you knew seven years ago? Is your master trying to take revenge on your father through your suffering?”

Yi Han smiled sadly, gently stroking my face, and said in a hoarse voice, "You could say that, but you also can't. Master certainly hated Feng Yu, but he was really good to me. He used medicine to change my hair and eyes, so that I no longer resembled Feng Yu, and he taught me entirely like his own son. Because of Master's wife's change of heart, Master devoted all his energy to glorifying the Tianxingliu Sword Sect. It's as if time has turned back, and this time, I have become his greatest hope."

"Seven years ago, he took me to my master's wife's grave and told me this story. It was also the first time that I learned the true meaning of 'to draw the fires of hell and burn away the sins of the world.' My master gave me three choices: to acknowledge you as his master, to kill you and find another way out, or to kill him and become the ninth generation Star Soul."

“Knowing it was impossible to kill my master, I still tried. However, even if I risked my life, I was no match for him. So, I was left with only two choices. But they weren’t choices at all, they were…” Yi Han frowned, his voice becoming hoarse, “but slaughter.”

"The ultimate result of acknowledging you as my master is that I have to kill you with my own hands. How could I agree to that? But my master said that as long as I stay by your side for fifty years without loving you, and you still don't change your mind, he will allow me to marry you after I become a Star Soul. My master is always like this, cutting off all my paths to survival, and then leaving me with a seemingly beautiful bait. Perhaps he wants me to relive his pain from back then in order to take revenge on Feng Yu, but he forgot that I am not him, and you are not my master's wife."

Yi Han rested his chin on my head and said slowly in a hoarse voice, "Fifty years, what a long time that is. Not to mention the unbearable pain of being so close yet so far, how could I bear to let you wait in vain as I watched the years slip by and youth fade away? But I had no choice. Master said that this is our Feng family's way of apologizing to him, whether it's Feng Yu or Master's wife. Master's wife even had thoughts of suicide, but she lived on for my safe growth, enduring the torment of guilt and pain to stay by Master's side."

"I could disregard all of that. Lin Yu, we were willing to risk our lives back then, so what was there to be afraid of, right? But Master told me that he had used his internal energy to force the 'Diao Fu' poison into your eight extraordinary meridians. Lin Yu, do you remember when you were poisoned by Liu Cenfeng with 'Diao Fu'?"

I nodded, a chill running down my spine, and I couldn't help but snuggle closer to him. He held me tightly.

"Being poisoned by Diao Fu once only results in the loss of some memories. Being poisoned a second time, however, will cause one to slowly begin to forget things after three days, experiencing both pain and joy, until finally forgetting even who one is, and then dying in agony. The recognition ceremony is the only antidote to the 'Diao Fu' poison in your extraordinary meridians."

"At that time, I knelt at my teacher's wife's grave for two days and two nights, repeatedly picturing the scene of killing you with my own hands in my mind. I felt that the pain and torment were worse than dying on the spot. But in the end, I still couldn't do it. I couldn't watch you die in pain after forgetting everything, I couldn't make you wait for me until the end of time, and I couldn't kill you with my own hands. So, I could only... choose to let go."

"Bastard!" I punched him hard in the chest, my voice choked with emotion as I recalled the two years we were so close yet so far, so painful to be together but unable to love each other. "You could have told me! You could have talked to me! But you would rather push me into someone else's arms, rather watch me suffer, watch me helpless, without uttering a sound... I..." I bit my lip and said bitterly, "I would rather you left me!"

Yi Han grabbed my hand, looked at me with a bitter smile, but his eyes were extremely gentle: "Let me tell you, what's the difference between forcing you to live and die with me and killing you with my own hands? If I leave you, who will protect you? All my struggles and forbearance were because I didn't want to lose the ability to protect you, to stay by your side forever, right?"

If love cannot be expressed in words, I am willing to prove it with my life.

These words suddenly floated into my ears, and my tired body felt as if it had been soaked in a hot spring. In an instant, all my resentment and grievances disappeared, leaving only a faint pain and a deep tenderness for the man in front of me.

Yi Han continued, “The various destinies of the world are truly intertwined by inexplicable causes and effects. Master probably never imagined that the drug he used to change my hair color and eyes because he hated Feng Yu would actually... counteract Shen Tu’s ‘Defilement Poison’ at the crucial moment, not only breaking our destiny but also preserving my ability to protect you.”

Yi Han lowered his head and kissed my lips, a gentle kiss devoid of lust, then slowly pulled away, his eyes filled with doting affection: "No matter how cruel Feng Yu is, I should thank him for this alone and call him father."

I saw my reflection in his purple eyes, my cheeks flushed, my eyes filled with affection. I couldn't help but lower my head, not daring to look him in the eye any longer, and said softly, "What I don't understand the most is how you became the Wind Emperor. Didn't you hate fighting for power the most?"

Yi Han pondered, gazing at the flickering candlelight in the hall ahead, his eyes vacant and sorrowful, clearly unwilling to recount the events of the past five years. Yet, he finally spoke slowly: "That day, after you... left, my eyes and hair suddenly turned into what they are now. I stormed into the Golden Glory City Palace alone, catching them off guard, and I actually managed to kill my way to Yang Yi's side."

He glossed over the events of that day with just a few words, yet I could almost see the poignant scene of black hair turning white and blood dripping from the Green Frost Sword. For a moment, I felt an overwhelming sense of debt I owed him, a debt I could never repay with a lifetime of love. All I could do was hold him tightly, letting him know I was alive, right beside him.

Chapter 38 Years Later

Yi Han let out a soft breath, and when he spoke again, his voice had become indifferent: "When the knife was held to Yang Yi's neck, I suddenly didn't want to kill him. I felt that it would be too easy for him. So I returned to Fengyin and took over your power. Because Feng Yu's image as the Wind God with silver hair and purple eyes was still remembered by the people of Fengyin, and with the help of Ling'er and Mu Shuangshuang, I eliminated the Zhuo family's power, won over the court officials, and ascended the throne in just three years."

Yi Han described the process so hastily. Thinking of his domineering presence in front of everyone, the unconscious fear Qin Wu and the others felt towards him, and his claim that he didn't care because Ling'er was there to help him, it would be a lie to say that he didn't care.

I exhaled a long breath, my fingers unconsciously drawing circles on his chest, thinking about my newly made determination to unify the world, yet unsure whether helping Yihan to dominate was right or wrong; thinking that I had been in ancient times for almost a month in the blink of an eye, yet had not found a suitable body, wondering if I would really grow old overnight, my youth gone...

My hand was suddenly grasped, a large, burning palm enveloping my entire hand. I looked up in surprise and saw Yi Han staring intently at me, his purple eyes gleaming with a hint of crimson, his thin lips slightly pursed, like a wild beast poised to devour me at any moment.

At this moment, I once again felt the essential difference between myself and him: that fiery and domineering aura, that broad and strong chest, those well-proportioned and powerful muscles, that hot and stiff protrusion pressing against me...

I let out a soft cry, jumped off him, and stepped aside, my face flushed. "I haven't finished asking my questions yet! Is Yunyan alright? Was that Lin Yu that Fengyin was actually her in disguise? Is Han Jue alright? Is he still running the Yi Cultivation Association... Ah!"