Chapter 436

"The Imperial Jade Seal is currently in Lord Yuan Shao’s hands!"

That’s right, it was Lord Yuan Shao, not Cao Cao.

As for the reason, it was naturally the result of Su Xuan’s own orchestration.

After all, he was not satisfied with just Lord Yuan Shu’s destiny; swallowing Lord Yuan Shao’s destiny as well was what he wanted.

As for Cao Cao, even if he took him down in the future, he could not swallow all of his destiny, otherwise, Cao Cao would surely die suddenly.

"Lord Yuan Shao?"

Sun Ce was stunned.

Clearly, he had not expected that the Imperial Jade Seal would end up in Lord Yuan Shao’s hands after all.

His face darkened.

Clearly, he felt this must have been a secret plot by Lord Yuan Shu and Lord Yuan Shao.

It was because of these two and the Imperial Jade Seal that his father had died.

He did not expect that Lord Yuan Shao would succeed in the end.

It was infuriating!

"That’s right! It is Lord Yuan Shao! It is clear that your hatred for Lord Yuan Shao is not shallow, Bofu!"

"Once you join my ranks, when I attack Lord Yuan Shao, you can serve as the commander of a vanguard army!"

"Of course, that is assuming Lord Yuan Shao can defeat Cao Cao; otherwise, you might not have the chance to settle scores with him!"

Su Xuan said with a smile.

"Uh... Your Majesty is very confident!"

Sun Ce was stunned for a moment, then smiled and cupped his hands: "Then I thank you in advance!"

He knew his little tricks could not be hidden from Su Xuan; Su Xuan clearly knew the purpose of his challenge, which was why he said such things.

"However, Your Majesty actually believes Cao Cao can defeat Lord Yuan Shao? That shouldn't be possible, right?"

"In terms of foundation and strength, Lord Yuan Shao should be stronger and have more advantages, right?"

Although he really didn't want to admit it, Sun Ce did feel Lord Yuan Shao was stronger.

After all, he was from the Lord Yuan family, which had served for four generations as high officials.

Some people are just better at being born; there is nothing one can do about that.

If one must blame someone, blame them for having a good ancestor!

If his family had possessed Lord Yuan Shao’s background, they would surely have done better than Lord Yuan Shao, right?

Therefore, Sun Ce did not admire Lord Yuan Shao at all.

Only someone like Su Xuan, who started from almost nothing, was truly worthy of his admiration.

He was the one who truly relied on himself!

"For the three-battle competition, on my side, Lu Bu will handle the personal duel, Wen Pin will lead a portion of the Xiangyang navy for the naval battle;"

"As for the land battle, I have left it to my third brother and my three thousand personal guards, how about that?"

"Huh?"

Sun Ce was stunned: "Lu Bu? Your personal guards? Do you have to be so ruthless?"

How is this even a fight?

Who in the world doesn't know that Lu Bu is a Heaven-Man Realm divine general?

What is he, a small martial artist at the early stage of Gang Strength, compared to Lu Bu?

If the other side went all out, he probably wouldn't be able to take a single move.

But thinking about it from another perspective, Sun Ce felt a bit excited and eager to try...

That was Lu Bu!

He had long wanted to fight Lu Bu and test the power of a Heaven-Man divine general.

Such opportunities were rare.

Therefore, he could barely accept Lu Bu participating in the personal duel.

But Su Xuan sending his personal guards was a bit bullying.

Even if it were only three thousand men, they were absolutely not something other troops could contend with.

Even if it were thirty thousand or three hundred thousand, Sun Ce would not have the confidence to completely defeat Su Xuan’s three thousand personal guards.

Who didn't know that Su Xuan’s personal guards were all terrifyingly powerful, with the lowest cultivation being at the late stage of Dark Strength?

In fact, most were experts at the Transformation Realm or above.

Are these three thousand soldiers?

They are clearly a team of three thousand martial artists composed of second-rate generals or better!

As for Su Xuan’s third brother, Su Zhan?

Actually, with such troops, it doesn't matter who the commander is.

Of course, Sun Ce would never underestimate Su Zhan.

He was, after all, Su Xuan’s own younger brother, personally trained by Su Xuan; his strength and command ability would definitely not be bad.

He might even be extremely strong.

"Hehe! What? Do you have an objection? It is not impossible to change! I can switch to Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, or others, and the personal guards can be replaced by the Black Armor Army or the Trap Formation."

"Uh... no need! Let’s just go with that!"

Sun Ce shook his head speechlessly.

What difference would that make?

Oh! There is one!

Zhao Yun is probably even stronger than Lu Bu.

As for the Black Armor Army or the Trap Formation?

They might be weaker than Su Xuan’s personal guards, but against his elite troops, they would still be a crushing force!

"It seems no matter how we change it, I’m going to be beaten!"

"Besides, I set up this competition not to win, but just to go through the motions and give myself a graceful exit!"

"Why think so much?"

Sun Ce suddenly understood everything, and his heart felt much lighter.

"Haha! Fine! Let’s do it!"

"Let the competition start tomorrow morning at the fifth watch!"

Su Xuan nodded with a smile, then looked at Zhou Yu, who had been observing him, and said with a light laugh: "You must be Zhou Yu, Zhou Zhou Gongjin, right? The title of 'Beautiful Zhou Lang' is well-deserved!"

"Your strength is also decent! Once you join my ranks, achieving the Heaven-Man Realm within ten years will be no problem at all! I have high hopes for you! I look forward to your joining!"

Zhou Yu’s current strength was at the early stage of Dan Strength; as a commander who was both a scholar and a warrior, this talent was indeed decent.

"Uh... Your Majesty is too kind! Zhou Yu is still far from that!"

Zhou Yu bowed modestly.

At the same time, he was secretly shocked: "Prince Zou Qian actually has the confidence to let me break through to the Heaven-Man Realm within ten years? It seems the rumors that Prince Zou Qian has heaven-defying comprehension, created many divine arts, and created methods for raising exotic beasts and precious herbs may not be groundless!"

Otherwise, how could one explain Su Xuan’s confidence?

The Heaven-Man Realm is not so easy to achieve.

Otherwise, the Heaven-Man Realm would not have become a legend over the past few hundred years.

In the blink of an eye, the next morning arrived.

The competition officially began.

First was the personal duel.

Lu Bu and Sun Ce both entered the field.

They were soon locked in battle.

Of course, Lu Bu had the intention of guiding and testing Sun Ce’s strength from the start; he didn't use his full strength at all, using only ten percent of his power, and he was already fighting Sun Ce to a standstill.

A Heaven-Man expert is truly terrifying.

Meanwhile, in Chaisang City,

A group of Jiangdong aristocrats gathered at Zhu Zhi’s mansion.

It wasn't just these Jiangdong aristocrats; Zhang Zhao and even Sun Sun Quan were among them.

"You all should know by now, right? Sun Ce is preparing to submit to Su Xuan; this so-called three-battle competition is just a farce he set up! It’s just to give himself a graceful exit!"

"He’s fine with it, taking everyone to submit to Su Xuan, but did he ever ask if we were willing?"