Chapter 28: The Eighth Prince

  "Old Xia, the main gate of Wai Ba Men's lineage has been passed down to you, right?"

  As expected, Qin Feng did not disappoint Old Man Xia. The other party spoke so bluntly, how could he not understand the reason? However, Qin Feng immediately furrowed his brow and said: "I have nothing to do with the Outer Eight Gates, why are you always staring at me?"

  Although he knew the old man's background, Qin Feng still had no good feelings towards him. If it wasn't for him stopping himself that day, Qin Feng would have long been swimming in the vast ocean and flying freely in the sky!

  "It doesn't matter? The relationship is gone!" The old man sneered and said: "Qin Feng, do you know what kind of people you killed?"

  "What kind of person? A scumbag!"

  Upon hearing Old Man Xia's words, Qin Feng suddenly became enraged. After being caught and taken to the detention center, he also found out about their background - they were a group of people from the south who specialized in abducting children to beg.

  So although he was young and had five lives on his back, Qin Feng did not regret it at all. If he were given another chance to choose, he would still kill those five people.

  "He's quite a scumbag."

  Old Xia looked at Qin Feng with a seemingly smiling yet not quite smiling expression and said, "However, they are also people from the Outer Eight Gates, namely the Beggar's Gate I mentioned earlier. Tell me... do you have any relation to them?"

  "Damn it, losers! You bunch of losers from the Outer Eight Sects, I, the young master, will never join you!"

  Thinking of his sister who was still missing, the old man's words were like adding fuel to the fire, if Qin Feng didn't know he couldn't beat the old man in front of him, he would have already made a move.

  "Right, I admit it, they are indeed a bunch of losers, and it's all because of me, an old useless man!"

  This time, Lao Xia didn't refute Qin Feng's words as usual, but instead looked dejected and picked up his tea bowl, not bringing it to his mouth for half a day.

  "These eight schools are all rubbish, it's best if they disappear, why do you still want to carry on the tradition?"

  Even if the old man didn't say it, Qin Feng could guess that he was indeed the so-called successor of the main gate, and through what happened before, it wasn't hard to guess that the old man wanted to take him as his apprentice.

  "Disappear, is it possible?"

  After hearing Qin Feng's words, the old man came to his senses and sneered, saying: "Since the time of Yao and Shun, there may have been the existence of outsiders from various industries. As long as humanity continues to exist, it is impossible for these people to disappear."

  "Do you know, when the first generation of the main gate master made his move, he actually wanted to integrate the eight outer gates together and make the Jianghu more orderly. It's just that the later generations were incompetent and couldn't restrain these people after all!"

  The old man looked at Qin Feng, sighed and continued: "When I took over the position of the main gate master, I once made a grand vow to unite the eight outer gates..."

  "It seemed like we were about to succeed, but unexpectedly the country underwent a great change, with years of warlord infighting and continuous civil wars. Later, it was even more devastating with the Japanese invasion, leaving countless lives lost. Finally, liberation came, but I, an old man, was caught and brought here, accused of spreading feudal superstition..."

  The main gate of the outer eight gates, except for the disciples who guard the door, the true inheritance can only be one person. This is also one of the reasons why the Qing court entered the pass and the main gate was sparse after that.

  The old man had accepted an apprentice in his early years, but that apprentice couldn't bear the loneliness and after learning some skills, he went out into the world to make a name for himself. Gradually, he was blinded by worldly desires and not only failed to restrain the external eight gates, but also acted erratically.

  After liberation, his disciple sent a letter to Xia Lao telling him that he was going abroad to settle down and invited his master to meet up.

  However, Old Man Xia never thought that the traitor would set a trap to deal with him and rob the main gate inheritance. Fortunately, Old Man Xia was in his prime at that time and managed to kill his way out after suffering some injuries.

  After recovering from his injuries, although Xia Lao Tou had the heart to avenge himself, that rebellious disciple's luck had already changed for the better. Moreover, he was also abroad, so Xia Lao Tou could do nothing about it. Later on, he even fell into prison and became isolated from the world.

  The old man had long abandoned his ambition, but he was thinking of passing on the legacy of his ancestors. He has been looking for a successor all these years, but it's hard to find a worthy one. Until Qin Feng appeared, there was finally a turning point.

  "Hey, wait a minute, Old Xia, you're just a prisoner, but Hu is an official, how can he listen to your words?"

  After listening to Old Man Xia's words, Qin Feng couldn't help but interrupt him. This was also something that had been puzzling him for a long time - a soldier and a bandit, yet it was the soldier who listened to the bandit's words.

  "What kind of official is this fart? His father was wearing split pants back then, and every year he had to kowtow to me. What does this little bastard Hu Baoguo think he is? Dare not listen to my words?"

  The old man snorted and said: "If it weren't for me teaching him a few tricks back in the day, I'm afraid he would have died on the battlefield long ago..."

  "Blow it, blow hard."

  Qin Feng's face showed disbelief, and he shook his head saying: "I know your kung fu is good, but you're not his elder, why should his old man kowtow to you?"

  "Hmph... Old Xia, a seasoned veteran in the Jianghu world, couldn't help but reveal a strange smile on his face upon hearing Qin Feng's words: "Youngster, you think you can probe my depths? You're still too green."

  "Whether you want to say it or not, I don't even want to listen."

  Qin Feng's face was nonchalant, but he was actually quite curious. The old man had been talking about trivial matters and the Jianghu for half a day, yet hadn't revealed anything about his own origins.

  "Alright, I'll tell you then. In this world, there aren't many people who know my true identity!" The old man thought for a moment before speaking: "My surname isn't Xia, my real name is Xin Jue Luo Zai Yi..."

  After saying his own name, the old man stopped and looked at Qin Feng, with a hint of complacency in his eyes. He wanted to see Qin Feng's surprised look.

  However, what disappointed Lao Tou was that Qin Feng didn't have the slightest reaction to this name, and instead muttered: "Aixinjueluo Zaiyi? Is this also a person's name? Why is it so strange?"

  "My god, he's really ignorant."

  Qin Feng's reaction made the old man so angry that he was speechless, for the first time in decades he showed off, but was despised by Qin Feng, and couldn't help but shout: "Aixinjueluo is the royal surname of the Qing Dynasty, do you know? The last emperor was even my nephew..."

  Aixinjueluo Zaiyi was born in 1902, he is a collateral descendant of the fourteenth son of Kangxi Emperor, Yinzi. The beautiful thing of inheriting the title of Wangye and Junwang did not fall to his family, after Zaiyi was born, the title had been reduced to Beile.

  In 1902, the situation of the Manchu people was already very difficult. The Qing court was also on the verge of collapse. Zaixun, this Beile master, had not been called for a few years, and that last emperor was imprisoned in the Forbidden City.

  However, the camel that starved to death was bigger than a horse. The family's situation was still quite good. When the emperor lived in the Forbidden City, the days of these old men and women were still passable.

  He was even smaller than Qin Feng now, and at the age of twelve, he had already followed his elders in the clan to stroll through the eight big hutongs, spending all day playing with birds and hawks, and was considered a typical young master.

  It wasn't until 1917, when he was fifteen years old, that his good days came to an end. That year, Zhang Xun led 5,000 of the Queued Army into Beijing to mediate the "Constitutional Crisis" between Li Yuanhong and Premier Duan Qirui.

  But what nobody had expected was that Zhang Xun's first move after entering Beijing was to dissolve the parliament.

  On the night of June 30, 1917, Zhang Xun, Kang Youwei, Wang Shizhen, Jiang Zong and more than 300 others secretly entered the imperial palace.

  The young emperor, supported by Zhang Xun and Kang Youwei among others, ascended the throne once more in the Taihe Hall, declaring the restoration of the Xuantong era. This event would later be known as the "Manchu Restoration" or "Zhang Xun's coup".

  However, this farce was opposed and condemned by Sun Dapao and others, and it only lasted for 12 days before failing. At that time, some people who supported the Little Emperor's position were also purged.

  Unfortunately, the elder of Zai's clan was among those more than 300 people. Because of this matter, the family was dispersed and banished from the capital. Zai Beile was sent alone to a gathering place for Manchu people in northern Hebei.

  It was here that Zai Ye met his own master and set foot on the path of Jianghu.

  As for Hu Baoguo, his ancestors were from the Plain Yellow Banner Han Army, while the illustrious but ill-fated "General Wang" ancestor of Zaiyi was precisely the General-in-Chief of the Plain Yellow Banner Han Army. Although the Qing dynasty had fallen, the Hu family continued to hold Zaiyi in high esteem.

  It's not wrong to say that Zai Yi watched Hu Bao Guo grow up, because in the years after liberation, Zai Yi always lived with the Hu family. Hu Bao Guo's martial arts skills were indeed taught by him personally.

  What a coincidence, decades later, Hu Baoguo became the warden of this prison, and unexpectedly met Zai Yi, who he thought had long been dead. Of course, the former Beile Ye had become today's Old Xia.

  "If the Qing dynasty doesn't perish, you are still a member of the imperial clan?"

  After listening to Zai's story, Qin Feng felt as if he had just woken up from a dream. Even if it was a made-up story, there wouldn't be such twists and turns, right? The person in front of him used to be the emperor's uncle.

  "That's not right, I said old......not......"

  Qin Feng swallowed the two words "Lao Xia" back into his stomach, and then said: "Prince Beile, you say you were born in 1902, isn't that ninety-two years old now?"

  Although there were dense ravines on that old face, Qin Feng couldn't believe that this old guy who could move like a gecko on the wall was actually so old.

  "Your virtual age is already ninety-three!" Zai Yi cracked a smile, and surprisingly, all his teeth were still intact. He looked like he was in his sixties, and many people would probably believe it.

  "Kid, I've said all I need to say, what's going through your mind?"

  Upon hearing the wake-up whistle outside, the old man's face suddenly showed a few points of impatience. He was once deceived by his master and kowtowed to become an apprentice, how could he be as troublesome as Qin Feng?