Chapter 111

Du Fuwei defeated and killed in Xuancheng! Once this news broke, the north and south were shaken.

"Du Fuwei is really dead?"

"No way, he was a hegemon of our south, the number one expert of Jianghuai; how did he die?"

"Who killed him?"

The martial arts world was shaken, for everyone knew that the Jianghuai Army leader Du Fuwei was a super first-class expert who had even fought against Grandmaster-level opponents, and though he lost, it was an honorable defeat.

Yet such an expert had supposedly been severely wounded and killed by a general in a single move.

This news was, of course, just hearsay, and few believed it.

But whoever could kill Du Fuwei must definitely be of Grandmaster level.

A Grandmaster-level fierce general—when had such a figure appeared in the Great Sui?

"Du Fuwei was killed by the Prefect of Wu Jun."

When this news emerged, the aristocratic clans and the great sects of the martial arts world were deeply shaken; the Prefect of Wu Jun was that same young man who had killed Fa Nan a few years ago, the son of Yuwen Huaji.

"How is that possible?"

"This person is only in his early twenties, and he has the strength of a Grandmaster?"

"Are you kidding me!"

"If he is truly a Grandmaster, doesn't that mean the Yuwen Clan has two Grandmasters, one old and one young?"

"Hiss! The Yuwen Clan is too strong, and they have four great experts."

"No, a few days ago, Yuwen Chengdu in Danyang Commandery was also an invincible fierce general, chasing down more than a dozen of Li Zitong's deputy generals single-handedly."

"Li Zitong's Wu Army was beaten back repeatedly by Yuwen Chengdu in just a few days, losing tens of thousands of troops and six cities."

"The Yuwen Clan already occupied many places in Yangzhou; now that Yuwen Chengji of Wu Jun has taken many commanderies and counties in Huainan, if Yuwen Chengdu can defeat Li Zitong, then the Yuwen Clan will have taken the majority of ancient Yangzhou."

"The Yuwen Clan has ambition; in the south, only the Song Clan can contend with them, but the Song Clan only has the Heavenly Blade, while the Yuwen Clan has two Grandmasters."

The martial arts world was buzzing with discussion, while some ambitious men sat back and watched the clouds.

As for the scholars from humble backgrounds and those who were frustrated in their ambitions, their eyes turned toward the Yuwen Clan; Wu Jun had long been recruiting scholars from humble backgrounds.

If you had a specialized skill, you could find a way out there; some scholars from humble backgrounds had even made a name for themselves in Wu Jun, and some flexible and capable ones had even reached the position of County Magistrate.

Therefore, in the coming period, a batch of talent flowed into the Yuwen Clan; perhaps most had only ordinary abilities, but that was still enough.

Once territory is conquered, talent is needed to govern it.

Ordinary people were just watching the excitement.

But the various forces were under great pressure, especially among the several great clans, where the competition was the most intense.

The Dugu Clan was a bit better off; they were like the Yang family at the end of the Han Dynasty, choosing not to contend for hegemony but rather to attach themselves to those warlords.

The current Dugu Clan was the same; after Yang Guang announced his abdication, almost all the members of the Dugu Clan withdrew from Jiangdu and headed to Luoyang.

Forces such as the Li Clan, the Song Clan, and the various rebel armies participating in the struggle for the world were the least willing to see the Yuwen Clan's strength grow so quickly.

Especially with the appearance of two Grandmaster-level experts in the Yuwen Clan, this was even more ominous for the Li Clan, which lacked such experts.

The Li Clan's military strength had originally been about the same as the Yuwen Clan's.

But in Yangzhou, Yang Guang had suddenly pulled such a move, and half of the elite Xiaoguo Army of the Great Sui had been seized by the Yuwen Clan.

Could the pressure on the Li Clan be anything but immense?

The Li Clan did not have the advantage in experts, nor did they have the advantage in troop numbers; after all, the Yuwen Clan had taken the Jianghuai region, and although it was not the land of fish and rice, the annual harvest was not low.

The Li Clan only occupied Taiyuan and other places, and the warlords in the north were more numerous and more formidable.

Whether it was Wang Shichong in Luoyang, Wagang in Liyang, Dou Jiande in Hebei, or Liang Shidou in Shuofang, none were easy to deal with.

More importantly, the northern grasslands were even more terrifying.

Behind them stood the Grandmaster Bi Xuan.

Su Fan did not know that his move had shocked the world.

The south was terrified, and the north was shaken.

The Yuwen Clan had displayed its terrifying strength for the first time, which also drove the major warlords to expand their own strength even more frantically.

In an era of warlord chaos, if one's strength does not advance, it retreats.

At the same time, the various sects of the martial arts world also began to actively participate in this game of contending for the world.

And the Cihang Jingzhai, the leader of the righteous path in the martial arts world, had now sent out a new generation of Saintess to walk the world and find a common ruler for the world.

Once this news broke, the world was immediately in an uproar.

It was too arrogant; they clearly did not put the Yang family in their eyes. One must know that the Great Sui had not yet been destroyed; Yang Guang had abdicated, and his son had ascended the throne.

Although the various warlords no longer put the Great Sui in their eyes, each declaring themselves kings, they were only a step away from declaring themselves emperors.

But for Cihang Jingzhai to hold the Imperial Jade Seal and select a common ruler for the world—did this not mean they looked down on the various warlords entirely?

If it were not for the fact that the Buddhist Sect stood behind Cihang Jingzhai, some people would probably have been unable to resist taking action against that new Saintess.

In fact, someone had already taken action: Wanwan, the Saintess of the Demonic Sect's Yinkui Sect.

It was said that the two had fought a great battle, evenly matched—no, it should be that Wanwan was slightly more powerful.

It was just that the Saintess was said to have experts protecting her, which made Wanwan wary, and only then did she leave.

Of course, no one knew if this news was true or false.

But the news that the Imperial Jade Seal was at the Jingnian Zen Temple outside Luoyang had spread across the land.

"The Imperial Jade Seal and the Yang Gong Treasury—obtain one and you can obtain the world." Although this martial arts rumor was a joke in the eyes of ambitious men.

After all, the world is conquered by fighting, not by relying on a title. If you have the Imperial Jade Seal, can you command the world?

As for the Yang Gong Treasury, it contained the money, grain, and armor left behind by Yang Su, which indeed increased the foundation of a force, but to contend for the world, one needed much more.

But regardless, these two things were indeed extremely precious.

The Imperial Jade Seal represented the orthodoxy of the world; having it meant you had a sense of righteousness, and in some respects, you indeed occupied a certain advantage.

Suddenly, the entire world was in turmoil.

It was even more shocking than the Yuwen Clan's defeat of Du Fuwei.

"The Imperial Jade Seal! It has finally appeared."

Far away in Xuancheng, Su Fan also received the news, and a smile finally appeared on his face.

The Imperial Jade Seal contained mysterious power; once he could mobilize the power within it, Su Fan believed his physical body would reach a higher level.

In this world, the only item worth his attention was likely this Imperial Jade Seal; he did not care much about others, such as the Evil Emperor Reliquary.

Su Fan even speculated that this Imperial Jade Seal was likely an artifact, a town-guarding artifact.

It was refined by experts of the Pre-Qin era; of course, it might also exist naturally.

But regardless, it was absolutely extremely precious.

In any case, he had to obtain it, and for this, he would not hesitate even to go to war with the Buddhist Sect.