Chapter 274: Family Foundation

"Speak! If your information satisfies me, you might still be able to live."

Su Fan looked at the assassin kneeling on the ground and said calmly, but his unquestionable tone put immense pressure on the assassin.

To live—of course he wanted to live. Few people could face death without fear.

He had lived for decades, and with his cultivation, living another hundred years would be easy, so he did not want to die.

After a long silence, he gritted his teeth and said, "I hope the General Pacifying the East will keep his word."

Staring fixedly at Su Fan's expressionless face, the assassin finally slowly revealed what he knew, especially regarding the power in Yuan Shao's hands.

He wanted to live, so he had to show his value. From the eyes of the man before him, he sensed a cold, ruthless determination; if he dared to say a single word of refusal, the other party would behead him without hesitation.

He didn't care at all about his martial strength at the seventh level of Gang Refining.

With his strength, if he defected to any other warlord, he would definitely be valued, especially his assassination methods, which would make many people willing to pay a great price.

But this man before him seemed not to see it at all.

Or rather, he simply didn't care—didn't care about his strength, didn't care about his assassination ability.

He didn't know why this warlord didn't care, but he knew the other party wasn't playing hard to get; he could perceive this clearly.

The assassin was quite confident in his own perception, as this perception had saved him several times.

Having said everything he knew, the assassin suddenly collapsed weakly to the ground, his mind feeling much more relaxed.

Betrayal was never a simple matter, especially for someone like him who had been cultivated by the Yuan clan since childhood, and whose relatives were also on Yuan Shao's side.

Once the news of his betrayal spread, one could imagine the fate of his family.

"Is that all?"

Su Fan asked coldly.

"General Pacifying the East, this is everything I know. Although I am considered a trump card of the Yuan family, it doesn't mean I am at the core. Being able to know this much is just from what I heard inadvertently in daily life."

The assassin hurriedly said; since he had already betrayed them, he continued to hide nothing.

Moreover, it seemed now that the Yuan family was no longer a reliable backer; after all, in this year alone, Ji Province had lost three commanderies, and the other party's troops had already reached the outskirts of Ye City.

If Yuan Benchu hadn't been at his wit's end, he likely wouldn't have taken this final step. Yuan Shao was arrogant and, under normal circumstances, would not have chosen this path.

And this had already touched the bottom line. Of course, some people might not care—the end justifies the means, and "a man without poison is not a man," right?

If he could assassinate the other party, this might be the best method.

Just like Yuan Gonglu back then, Yuan Benchu was also at a dead end; the Imperial Court's troops were unable to threaten Xuzhou.

Relying on himself alone to face the offensive of Xuzhou's troops, he was retreating repeatedly. If there were no changes, Yuan Benchu would end up just like Yuan Gonglu.

So since the Yuan family was finished, he was just a "wise bird choosing a tree to nest in," so there was no problem.

Comforting himself this way, he gradually calmed down.

Su Fan naturally sensed the change in this person, but he didn't care. Whether the other party lived or died, to him, it didn't matter.

Although the other party was a martial artist at the seventh level of Gang Refining, to be honest, on the battlefield, he couldn't even compare to a general at the fourth level of Gang Refining.

On the battlefield, his combat power would be greatly diminished.

As for his assassination ability, Su Fan cared even less. Now that his power was great, he simply didn't need to assassinate enemies, and he disdained doing so.

Perhaps some people felt that assassination was a good method, but once one became addicted to such conspiracies and tricks, one would eventually be trapped by them.

Conspiracies and tricks were ultimately minor paths. In this era of contending for the world, wanting to rely on them to obtain the world was nonsense.

The more one was a monarch, the more one needed a broad mind; acting with magnanimity was the righteous path.

Su Fan rarely used tricks; only when he was weak might he use some schemes, but most of the time, he was upright and honest.

Even in these years, calculating against Yuan Shu and Sun Jian, he was upright and honest.

Because what he used were all open schemes.

Conspiracies might be hard to guard against, but they were not impossible to solve. Open schemes, however, were the most difficult; you clearly knew about them, yet you found it hard to deal with them—that was the most terrifying thing.

Su Fan's ability to develop rapidly over these years relied on open schemes, making Sun Jian and Yuan Shu unable to do anything even when they saw them.

Previously, when Sun Jian received Su Fan's support, did he not know? Did the strategists under his command not see Su Fan's "sinister intentions"—that he wanted to use Sun Jian to consume Yuan Shu's strength?

However, seeing it, what could they do? Could they stop at that point? Even if he were willing, Yuan Shu would absolutely not be.

Both sides had already become mortal enemies and could not easily settle things, especially since Yuan Shu already held the upper hand at the time and would never stop to let Sun Jian recover.

This was the terrifying aspect of open schemes.

By now, Su Fan had unified the world and had no obstacles; Yuan Shao had been beaten to a pulp by him.

Don't look at the fact that he still possessed Youzhou; Youzhou's resources were not rich and could not provide him with much power.

The remaining Imperial Court, while still possessing strength, was no match for Su Fan.

As for the likes of Liu Biao and Liu Zhang, they were just waiting to die.

Thus, Su Fan disdained other methods even more, so this person before him was truly of no use to him.

Instead, some of the information in his mouth was somewhat useful to Su Fan.

Learning from this person about the remaining power of Yuan Shao and the Yuan clan, Su Fan still felt some emotion: "Worthy of being a ten-thousand-year aristocratic family; the foundation is indeed terrifying."

Even though the Yuan clan had been severely struck by Su Fan in Runan and had lost a batch of experts, Yuan Shao still had quite a few cultivators at the Soul Refining stage, especially those clan elders above the seventh level of Soul Refining, of whom there were still seven or eight.

In particular, there were two old immortals at the ninth level of Soul Refining.

These people could still play a certain role on the battlefield.

Back when they attacked Runan City, those old immortals, at the cost of reducing their lifespan, drove their arts to change the heavens and earth, divert the river, and bring about a flood.

That sudden attack caused Su Fan to lose fifty thousand troops, which could be said to be his greatest loss since he began dispatching troops.

It was also thanks to the fact that Su Fan's army had always been trained very strongly and had a strong ability to deal with various accidents, so they kept the losses to a minimum.

Otherwise, that water attack might have caused him losses of over two hundred thousand. ===== CHAPTER 275 =====