Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 246 - One Hundred and Ninety-One: Coercion

Chapter 246: Chapter One Hundred and Ninety-One: Coercion

Half a month later,

the Imperial Capital, Nine Dragons Mountain.

The mountains were picturesque and the water was clear, with pavilions by the water and vermillion palace walls.

The forest was dense with greenery, and the paths meandered through.

A man wearing a grey python robe, with a belt of purple and jade beads around his waist, walked in front, guiding the middle-aged man in a black dragon robe behind him, speaking in a very fine, modulated tone,

"Prime Minister Xu, His Highness the Emperor was quite angry last night, even smashing his favorite brocaded jade."

"....."

The middle-aged man did not respond to his words.

The man in the python robe glanced back at the person behind him and ceased to speak, quickening his pace.

After walking dozens of steps, a hidden paradise emerged within the grove, with streams trickling and a vast lake where the waves rippled. An elderly man clad in an imperial dragon robe was sitting quietly by the lake on a cushion, fishing, with an empty cushion beside him.

From afar, the scene was tranquil and leisurely.

The man in the python robe led the middle-aged man to the elderly figure, stepped forward quickly, and without concern for the cleanliness of his robe, knelt on the damp soil by the lake and performed a salute,

"Your Highness, Prime Minister Xu has arrived."

The elderly man did not pay attention to the man in the python robe and continued to sit with his eyes closed, fishing.

Seeing this, the man in the python robe discreetly retreated a few steps, glanced at the middle-aged man, then turned and left the royal lake.

Bird calls resonated crisply in the woods as the middle-aged man walked slowly to the elderly man’s side, standing next to the cushion without sitting down, looking at the lake without saying a word.

At this moment,

the calm surface of the lake suddenly stirred with ripples as a strange roar emerged from the depths, not from a dragon nor a tiger, startling several birds at play in the treetops into flight.

However, the lake’s edge quickly returned to calm.

The elderly man with white-haired temples sat quietly on the cushion while the middle-aged man stood quietly beside him, looking at the lake; neither of them spoke.

Silence.

Silence can convey many things, especially between the two of them.

After an unknown amount of time,

the elderly man, as if catching a chill, lightly coughed a few times, letting out a breath without turning his head, his voice carrying an unclear smile,

"Prime Minister Xu, if you do not sit, do you wish for me to raise my head to look at you?"

Xu Yinhè still did not move, standing in his place and looking at the lake, he calmly said,

"With the affairs of state being so busy, if I were to sit down, there wouldn’t be enough time."

As the words fell.

Silence.

After a moment,

the elderly man clad in imperial robe slowly leaned on his knees and stood up from the cushion, patting off the non-existent dust from his legs,

"Then I should stand up. After all, there’s nothing to catch."

This lake held no fish, only a strange beast.

As he stood, the elderly man turned around.

And Xu Yinhè saw his face, frowning slightly.

The elderly man’s face was aged, yet there was a robustness to him, and one could vaguely see the handsome and spirited features from his younger years. However, several purple and black veins had spread from his neck across his entire face, with the white of his left eye now half blackened.

After a moment’s eye contact,

"Do you think I’ve aged with that look in your eyes?"

The elderly man chuckled as he bent down to pack up the fishing gear:

"Indeed I have aged. It has been three years since we last met; come, accompany me to the island in the heart of the lake for a sit, as if we were catching up on old times."

Xu Yinhè followed, but did not offer to help carry the fishing gear, and the elderly man clad in an imperial robe knew this as he carried it himself.

The two walked across the water, heading straight for the island at the lake’s heart.

After a few silent steps, Xu Yinhè suddenly spoke up, his voice low,

"Has your injury reached such a state?"

The elderly man’s voice was light and at ease with a touch of laughter,

"Aren’t you quite aware of my injury? It’s good enough that I’m still alive. But then, don’t you wish for my death?"

Xu Yinhè neither denied nor agreed but said contemplatively after a pause,

"Not many are left from those days."

The elderly man shook his head,

"Indeed, not many are left."

He paused, then glanced at Xu Yinhè with a low chuckle,

"It seems you have encountered some good fortune recently; your mood appears to be very good?"

Having met during the Year of the Dancing Elephant and known each other for decades, many things could be understood with just one sentence or one look.

Li Yaoxuan knew this old friend was not one to dwell on the past and sorrow over the present.

And Xu Yinhè did not reply.

The elderly man clad in an imperial robe understood, hauling the fishing gear and said leisurely,

"A happy event for you is a great disaster for me...."

As he spoke,

the elderly man took out a report from the Sumeru Ring and casually handed it to Xu Yinhè,

"Take a look."

Xu Yinhè received it but did not look at it.

The elderly man asked,

"Aren’t you going to look?"

Xu Yinhè glanced at the report in his hand,

"It’s nothing beyond the matter of the Myriad Manifestation Sect."

The elderly man smiled meaningfully,

"Exactly, to mobilize private troops to attack the towns and Sects conferred by the Imperial Court, such a crime could be enough to exterminate nine generations."

Xu Yinhè turned to look back,

"What private troops, what attack? Hasn’t the Myriad Manifestation Sect already declared that this incident was merely a drill for soldiers that they asked the Prime Minister’s Mansion to help with?"

The elderly man laughed softly, lowering his eyes before saying,

"The Imperial Court will need to allocate a not insignificant amount for the disaster relief in Shengshan County, yet the state treasury is empty..."

At this point, he decided to leave it at that.

Xu Yinhè showed no intention of evading:

"Upon hearing this, the President of the Tian’an Commerce Assembly felt pity for the common people and volunteered to donate thirty million taels of silver and grain."

As the words fell,

the elder in the imperial robe waved his hand, and the memorial Xu Yinhè held in his hand spontaneously combusted, eventually turning to ashes that sank into the deep pool.

In a matter of a few sentences, the old man and Xu Yinhè had covered a kilometer and arrived at the central island of the lake.

A pavilion had been built there, with vermillion walls and turquoise tiles, the epitome of luxury.

Upon entering the pavilion, the eunuchs and palace maids standing on either side immediately knelt to pay their respects.

The two made their way to the top of the pavilion and took their seats.

The python-robed man who had disappeared earlier reappeared to brew tea and pour water for the two of them.

A gentle breeze stirred the Imperial Dragon Robe behind him, and the old man looked over the glistening surface of the lake:

"I hear that my third son has gone to the Myriad Manifestation Sect."

Xu Yinhè’s tea-drinking motion paused slightly:

"Dead?"

It seemed he was inquiring about something utterly mundane.

At this, the old man’s face seemed to grimace with laughter, the fierce veins appearing to smile:

"That boy has always been good at running away."

Xu Yinhè continued to drink his tea and commented:

"The Third Prince is quite excellent."

The old man laughed out loud, his tone mocking:

"Indeed, the third son is excellent, much better than your own. However, it’s a pity he’s never had his mind on my position. Of course, it might also be that I haven’t noticed."

With an expression neither happy nor angry, Xu Yinhè said:

"Perhaps, his deep bond with Brother Yucheng means not vying for power might lead to a good end."

Li Yucheng, the current Crown Prince.

Upon hearing this, the old man looked at Xu Yinhè’s number of breaths with his dark purple pupils before suddenly asking with a smile:

"Yin He, who do you think I should pass the throne to, the Crown Prince?"

On the topic of succession to the throne, Xu Yinhè’s voice remained low and calm:

"Why bother asking me about this?"

"Since you wield great power over My Imperial Court, it’s naturally necessary to ask for your opinion," said the old man with a chuckle in his voice.

"..."

Xu Yinhè set down his teacup with a ’thud’, not loudly, but the sound echoed in the silent pavilion:

"If your longevity is not yet exhausted, why the hurry?"

The old man coughed twice, pointing to the blood at the corner of his mouth and his complexion:

"Do you think I look like someone whose life is not yet at an end?"

At this, Xu Yinhè’s lips curved slightly, smiling for the first time.

His gaze like that of an eagle or falcon slowly swept over the hidden Formation in the sky, the python-robed man at his side, the vast expanse of the lake, and finally settled again on the face of the elder in the imperial robe.

His voice was measured:

"If you, Li Yaoxuan, were truly on the verge of death, I would not have come here."

The old man squinted his eyes and eventually shook his head in resignation, sighing:

"Before you, I, the Emperor, truly have no dignity."

Xu Yinhè shook his head:

"Everything today started with our ideals back then."

The old man spoke idly:

"This goal cannot be achieved in one generation."

Xu Yinhè asked:

"So, a compromise?"

"Bang!"

The tea table in front of them shattered instantly, the powerful wave of Origin Qi from their robes lashing like the wind.

At the summit of the pavilion, all was silent.

With no table left, the old man’s hand hung in mid-air. The two old friends, unchanging in demeanor, faced each other, and the python-robed man still stood to the side, head bowed.

Soon, the silence was shattered by a spate of urgent coughing.

The old man coughed up a large pool of dark blood, and the python-robed man at his side moved to help him, but the old man stopped him with a gesture:

"Xu Yinhè, if you make your move now, the world will only become more chaotic. At the very least, we must first eradicate the nearby Barbarian Tribes."

Xu Yinhè’s tone was neither hurried nor slow:

"The Sects will not give us this opportunity, don’t tell me you have not received the news from the north."

The old man wiped the blood from his mouth with a white cloth, the atmosphere as tense as if it could freeze.

Xu Yinhè slowly rose to his feet, stepping on the splinters on the ground as he walked to the window, his back to the old man:

"The northern war effort is doomed to fail."

His voice was even, but carried an ambiguous emotion.

The old man was at a loss for words for a moment.

Xu Yinhè turned back, looking at his old friend:

"Li Yaoxuan, the Sects will not sit by as we eliminate the surrounding Barbarian Tribes. Wu Yuan intends to slay the Barbarian Strange King, but she is now surrounded at Dali Mountain, isolated and without support."

"....."

The old man casually tossed the blood-stained cloth onto the ground:

"What are you trying to say?"

Xu Yinhè gently touched the smooth rosewood windowsill:

"Zong Qingsheng is near Dingman River."

Dingman River, only three hundred li from Dali Mountain.

Upon hearing this, the old man laughed softly, staring at his friend before him as his gaze grew colder:

"Xu Yinhè, are you trying to force my hand?"

Xu Yinhè adjusted his robe and bowed deeply to the Emperor of Dayan:

"If Your Majesty chooses to see it that way, then so it shall be."