Wuxia: Start with max-level Nine Yang Divine Skill

Chapter 253 Past Royal Secrets (Two Chapters Combined)

The Prince of Nankang paused for a moment, then said.

"Although I was young at the time, I was still the son of the emperor and was told about this matter."

It turns out there's still something we can do, instead of just waiting to be eliminated one by one.

Upon hearing this, Wu Bo's face showed a look of nostalgia and sadness. He said, "King Wei, Song Zhao, was indeed calm and wise at that time, and had the demeanor of a wise ruler."

Unfortunately, Emperor Taizu failed to establish a crown prince early on, thus failing to establish a legal and legitimate heir, which led to disastrous consequences after his death and left endless calamities.

Li Fu nodded slightly.

Establishing a crown prince early is indeed of paramount importance to the foundation of the nation.

Throughout history, countless emperors have suffered tragedies, even leading to major upheavals and the downfall of their dynasties, because they delayed in establishing a crown prince.

Ba Dao coughed up blood and said.

"I have heard that the Great Zhao Emperor's martial arts are astonishing. He is invincible throughout the land with his Kuangtian Staff, and his skill is comparable to the creation of the universe."

Given his age at the time, he had at least another fifty or sixty years to live.

Therefore, they are probably not in a hurry to establish a crown prince.

Although he was a member of the martial arts world, he had heard of the legendary martial arts prowess of the Great Zhao Emperor in his past, and when he spoke of it now, there was a hint of admiration in his tone.

Li Fudao.

"It is not a good thing to establish a crown prince late, nor is it necessarily a good thing to establish a crown prince early."

Imperial power has never been to be shared by another person.

Historical records frequently show instances where a crown prince, dissatisfied with waiting too long, or whose subordinates, harboring ambitions to rebel, caused chaos in the court.

There's a classic saying: "How can a prince reign for sixty years?"

Given Song Yuanlang's martial arts skills, he could potentially outlive an eighty-year-old crown prince.

If it leads to a falling out between father and son, and they end up fighting each other, it would be a great loss.

Losing one's son in old age is already a tragedy, but having to kill the heir one has nurtured is undoubtedly an even greater tragedy.

"The founding emperor of this dynasty must have had his own considerations."

Unfortunately, he died suddenly, leaving the position of Crown Prince vacant and giving others an opportunity to seize power, which could endanger his bloodline and descendants.

As for why Emperor Taizu of Zhao suddenly died, there have always been rumors in the palace and among the people that it was his good younger brother, the current emperor, who was responsible.

But that's another matter.

Wu Bo sighed and continued, "The princes joined forces to protect a bloodline descendant, and things went very smoothly in the end."

The child was successfully saved.

On the night of her delivery, she was immediately sent out of the Prince of Wei's residence and secretly protected, thus escaping the executioner's blade.

A few words came to Li Fu's mind: "The prince was replaced by a cat."

They are quite similar in their approach.

However, this time the child replacement was to save someone, and the replacement was not a tanuki, but another child.

"It sounds like this matter is over."

Li Fudao.

"So what roles did you and I play in all of this?"

He noticed a hint of guilt in Wu Bo's gaze.

"I don't think I'm one of those royal children who survived by sheer luck, am I?"

This can be seen from various signs.

Li Fu spoke calmly, showing no disappointment that he was not a member of the royal family who had been separated from his family.

Nobility and high rank are not inherited.

The Song family ancestors were probably just peasants toiling in the fields a hundred years ago, how could they have been born into nobility?

With his current martial arts skills, he doesn't need any royal bloodline to enhance his status.

In fact, there are more than a hundred members of the imperial family in the world, but how many of them have martial arts skills like Li Fu?

Wu Bodao.

"Although the child was successfully replaced, the matter is not over."

The kings discussed the matter and concluded that nothing stays hidden forever.

What if this gets leaked?

Then we need to create another layer of mystery.

He paused for a moment, "At that time, I was serving as the commander of the guards in the Prince of Wei's residence, and because of my loyalty, I was highly valued by the Prince of Wei."

In my early years, my father worked at a post station for the imperial court. He was beaten to death for offending a general.

At that time, the dynasty had just been established, and many generals were arrogant and domineering because of their military achievements.

The King of Wei avenged me, and I mastered martial arts and swore to repay him with my life, remaining utterly loyal.

This story has been widely circulated.

When Uncle Wu recalled the past, there was still deep gratitude in his eyes.

"In his early years, the prince collected my father's body, sought justice for him, gave me food to eat, and had someone teach me martial arts."

My life originally belonged to the King of Wei.

If the imperial court had indeed discovered that the Prince of Wei had a posthumous child who had managed to escape—

"Wouldn't it be perfectly reasonable for the most loyal and devoted guard, who was willing to die for his master, to take the master's posthumous child who had just escaped a calamity, to change his appearance and wander the world, raising the child in secret, hoping to continue the family line or seek revenge in the future? No one would doubt that."

Li Fu sighed and replied.

"As agreed by the kings, they did the opposite and did not hand over the son of the King of Wei to you, Lord Wu."

Instead, they handed you another child to replace him, and told you to take him and run away.

Hearing this, he understood everything and knew his own identity.

"In this way, if the imperial court discovers this matter one day, whether actively or passively, they will seize this clue and find you."

You repaid the court with your life, resisting their arrest and dying with your child. The court should no longer have any doubts and can rest assured.

Only then can the last true descendants of the founding emperor be preserved.

Li Fudao.

Uncle Wu nodded guiltily: "No—that's right."

"Like father, like son; among the descendants of our dynasty's founding emperor, there are indeed some intelligent people."

Li Fu took a deep breath.

"Uncle Wu, I remember Jiutianhe Zhanxiao saying that you betrayed your master and ran away. What happened?"

He knew there must be more to the story.

Just now, Uncle Wu also mentioned that he had let down the lineage of the founding emperor.

The Prince of Nankang also turned his gaze to Wu Bo.

He did not know the details of why Wu Bo betrayed his master and ran away back then.

All that is known is that this person and the child disappeared from the sight of the old servants of the Prince of Wei's mansion.

"According to the plan, this was supposed to be done—"

Uncle Wu bit his lip. "After I left Kyoto with the child, I was supposed to raise that child as planned."

And intentionally or unintentionally, they instilled in the child things about so-called "elders in the family" that had nothing to do with him.

In this way, when he is caught, the court officials can indirectly verify his identity through the child's words, and will have even less reason to doubt him.

I originally didn't care about my own life, but out of gratitude for the King of Wei's kindness, I'm willing to die for him.

He paused, his voice lowering slightly: "But, after I, a grown man, ran away and cared for a baby in swaddling clothes for several years—"

Clumsily feeding him rice cereal and thin porridge, stumbling and struggling to raise the child, watching him grow up little by little —

I suddenly felt that there might be some injustice involved.

Why should one innocent, cheerful, clever, and sensible child die for another child?

Is this a matter of course?

My conscience is really bothered me.

"I can die, but do I have to drag an innocent child down with me and make him die with me?"

A deep struggle flashed in Uncle Wu's eyes: "I hesitated and struggled, tossing and turning every night, unable to sleep."

A few years later, during a routine contact, I noticed that one of the former acquaintances from the Prince's Mansion who had been in contact with me looked grim and worried.

The man's brow was furrowed with worry, suggesting the situation was extremely dire.

I suddenly felt that day was probably approaching, and I suspected that someone in the court might have noticed something amiss about what happened in the past and was investigating it.

After much deliberation, I still felt that this was unfair, so I took the child and ran away, severing all ties with the old family of the Prince's mansion.

To prevent them from betraying me and the child's location in order to protect the real heir of the Wei prince.

He looked up at Li Fu.

"Although doing so would be tantamount to betraying the King of Wei, whom I swore to serve to the death, I still feel guilty about it."

However, I was also trying to convince myself that I hadn't actually betrayed my former master. The former guard of the royal palace was alone with his child, fleeing for his life. This made the story more real and less suspicious.

If the imperial court can still find me, then it means it is the will of Heaven.

If I cannot be found, then I will raise that child and then find an opportunity to assassinate the current emperor to repay the kindness of the Prince of Wei.

After listening, Li Fu had all his past doubts resolved at once.

Why did Uncle Wu never let him stay in one place for long, from childhood to adulthood?

Before he was a few years old, it was probably a performance to deceive others; after he was a few years old, it was probably to avoid the search by the old family of the Prince's Mansion, and incidentally to avoid possible pursuit by the imperial court.

The reason why Wu Bo ventured deep into the desert to search for martial arts manuals was probably to enhance his own martial arts skills so that he could one day assassinate the current emperor.

"Fu'er—you are that child."

At this point, Uncle Wu finally managed to speak with difficulty, "I—I'm sorry, I initially wanted to take you—"

"No, Uncle Wu."

Li Fu shook his head and said seriously.

"Although at first I seemed to exist as a child who was to die in someone else's place, that was not something you could control, Uncle Wu."

You were just following orders, and later you saved my life.

Others may have wronged me, but Uncle Wu has never wronged me.

"I am able to live to this day and grow into an adult entirely thanks to your kindness, Uncle Wu."

Since ancient times, the kindness of nurturing is greater than the kindness of giving birth; this kindness is as heavy as a mountain.

"child----"

Old Wu was overcome with tears, his lips trembled a few times, but he couldn't utter a word.

Li Fu paused for a moment, then inquired about his background.

"Uncle Wu, I want to know, where did I and the child used to replace Prince Wei come from?"

Wu Bodao.

"It is said that he was an orphan adopted from a sales home."

Is that so?

In the end, he was still an orphan without parents.

Li Fu nodded wistfully; even though he had been reborn twice, he was still moved.

One can imagine that if the parents were still alive, which parent would have the heart to hand over their child to die in place of someone else's child?

The doctor in "The Orphan of Zhao" is only a fictional character.

Ba Dao, who had been listening to the whole thing and was severely injured by Li Fu, had a strange expression on his face.

"Are you saying that the princes of yesteryear intended to use this child to replace the royal bloodline that had managed to escape, and to cut off any possible investigation by the court?"

Is this the celestial being Li Fu who descended from heaven today?

He couldn't believe it; he felt an overwhelming sense of absurdity, as if he had witnessed the most ridiculous thing in the world.

"How ridiculous—"

Ba Dao laughed, coughing up blood as he spoke.

"Although I have great respect for Song Yuanlang, the founding emperor of the Great Zhao Dynasty, who was unparalleled in martial arts."

That is precisely why I was willing to become the tutor of the Prince's heir.

But if I may be so bold, among his sons, while some were certainly capable, none could match him in martial arts, spirit, or methods.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been arbitrarily imprisoned by the current official and slaughtered like lambs to the slaughter, without any power to fight back.

If his own children were like this, one can only imagine how his descendants were.

While the child was of royal blood, he was also of royal blood who had lost his power.

There are at least several hundred members of the royal family in the world.

Among them were quite a few spoiled brats and hopeless scoundrels.

He turned his gaze to Li Fu, "And the person in front of you, who is around twenty years old, has defeated me."

I doubt whether Emperor Taizu of Zhao, Song Yuanlang, possessed such martial arts skills at his age.

In his hands, sword energy materializes and reappears, making him almost a future martial arts legend, comparable to Bodhidharma and Zhang Tianshi, destined to be remembered for eternity.

You actually almost sent this person to die in place of a prince of unknown caliber?

Ba Dao found it utterly absurd and laughable, and kept shaking his head.

It's like someone seeing a piece of jade that's afraid someone will break, so they just pick up a random stone to replace it, but no one knows that it's actually a peerless jade comparable to the He Shi Bi.

This precious flower would have been smashed to pieces if someone hadn't taken a moment's pity.

Although Ba Dao was severely injured and defeated by Li Fu, Li Fu defeated him fair and square. As a member of the martial arts world, he accepted defeat without hesitation and was willing to accept it.

"It's truly laughable, absolutely laughable!"

The Prince of Nankang also had a strange expression on his face, unsure of what to say.

Why was Zhan Xiao so stunned and incredulous when he first learned of Li Fu's identity?

Because he also never imagined that the orphan he randomly took in to die would become the world-renowned celestial being Li Fu.

As Uncle Wu recounted the royal secrets of yesteryear, almost everything has now come to light.

Li Fu looked at the Prince of Nankang.

"So, what is it for you?"

Is it to seek revenge on Uncle Wu and me?

The Prince of Nankang quickly shook his head, his face filled with self-deprecation and bitterness.

"No, no—Xiao Wang isn't that kind of loyal and righteous; he's just trying to protect himself."

"In the past, when the princes were discussing matters, my brothers, who were also of the same bloodline as the Emperor, told me about this matter and told me not to worry. They said that if we died, there would be successors, and our bloodline would continue."

However, I was still young, and I was only told about it without actually participating in it.

Later, my brothers were persecuted to death one by one.

We thought it would be our turn sooner or later, but to our surprise, the three least capable brothers among us survived.

My uncle, an official, deliberately spared us to demonstrate his so-called kinship, in order to clear himself of suspicion of harming his elder brother and usurping the throne, and to silence public opinion.

We were just a few lambs who survived the tiger's momentary mercy, but at least we survived.

"Over the years, even though I have married and had children and hold the rank of a prince, I have always lived in fear and anxiety."

I often think of the child my eldest brother was sent away in my early years.

If this matter is exposed, if one day my uncle, the Emperor, learns that we, the sons of our father, secretly conspired to send a child away, in preparation for the future—”