Fan Li had a blank face. What Cao Cao said was completely within his expectations. If fate is with me, I would be King Wen of Zhou?
Yes, Cao Cao's true colors! But the problem is, the current Great Han isn't Cao Cao controlling the emperor to rule the officials!
Dong Zhuo overpowers the Han court, where would Cao Cao get the courage and qualifications to say such things?
Chu and Han had just allied through marriage. Cao Cao's words were equivalent to telling Fan Li - I, Cao Cao, am very ambitious!
Sure enough, surprise appeared on the faces of Fan Ming, Fan Chun and Fan Yuehua. But they were all outstanding figures that quickly regained their calm composure, not speaking recklessly.
In this kind of situation, Fan Li was undoubtedly the absolute backbone of the Fan clan!. Everything was decided by Fan Li!
Fan Li's gaze lingered on Cao Cao for a long time before slowly shifting to Liu Bei and Sun Quan.
As he expected, these two clearly knew of Cao Cao's ambition long ago and they seemed to reach a certain mutual understanding.
'These three rascals have kept it a secret from the Han Emperor and Dong Zhuo.'
Fan Li said, "Currently, Chu and Han share prosperity. Prime Minister Cao saying this has put me in an awkward position?"
A flash of light shone in Cao Cao's eyes. "Why should Duke Jin find this awkward? Just like I said earlier, whether the future ruler of Great Chu is surnamed Xiang or Fan, we will still be Great Chu's most steadfast ally. Similarly, it doesn't really matter if Great Han must be surnamed Liu. The three of us will be Great Chu's allies forever."
After Cao Cao finished speaking, Liu Bei suddenly interjected, "As long as I'm here, the Han court will never perish!"
Sun Quan also said, "Even if I can't rule the entire world, what's wrong with dominating the southeast?"
Fan Li finally understood. Today, the three heroes of late Han came to lay their cards on the table with him.
Not only did the Han Emperor Liu Xie want to ally with Xiang Ning, Cao, Liu, and Sun also wanted to ally with the actual power holder of Great Chu.
What shocked Fan Li was that while obviously of different minds, the three were like-minded in each wanting to establish their own regimes and temporarily aligned as partners for now.
Individually, none of them were even qualified to be equals with Fan Li in negotiation. But together, they had enough qualifications.
Xiang Ning was also shocked!
What was the situation now? Could everyone around her be treacherous ministers when she was the orthodox emperor and had just walked into a den of tigers alone!?
"The three sirs all have great heroic ambitions." Fan Li drank a mouthful of wine. "However, in my opinion, as long as Prime Minister Dong is in power, it will be hard for the three sirs to rise up for a day."
To negotiate cooperation, they needed strength. Added together, the three did have enough weight for Fan Li to take them seriously. But with Dong Zhuo in power, how could they talk about the Cao Liu Sun trio rising?
Cao Cao nodded. "Duke Jin's words are true. The three of us together still cannot match Dong Zhuo, let alone defeat him individually."
"How strong exactly is Dong Zhuo?" Fan Li asked.
"Most rumors say Dong Zhuo has reached the pinnacle Great Perfection Realm, but that's not true. Dong Zhuo's cultivation is already at the Great Vehicle Realm, First Grade!" Liu Bei said heavily.
Fan Li nodded, then shook his head.
Dong Zhuo overwhelming the Han court with Great Vehicle Realm cultivation made sense. But know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. This bit of intel was far from enough to satisfy Fan Li.
"Back then when Dong Zhuo entered the capital on imperial orders to kill the Ten Eunuchs, those ten people couldn't last half a day and were all killed by Dong Zhuo."
"Among them, three people were instantly killed the moment fighting broke out."
"Zhang Rang, the strongest of the Ten Eunuchs, barely managed to last until the end but died extremely tragically too."
Sun Quan was responsible for the explanations but his face had strangely turned somewhat pale, as if recalling some horror scene.
"Dong Zhuo cultivates the [Devouring Demon Art] and has gone down the demonic path! When Zhang Rang lost, he surrendered and begged Dong Zhuo for his life. He even swore an oath to Heaven on the spot, acknowledging Dong Zhuo as his master and wanting to enthrone him."
"Yet Dong Zhuo rejected outright on the spot and used his demon art to drain Zhang Rang of his blood, flesh and soul force."
Sun Quan finally managed to calm himself but his face remained ghastly pale.
He slowly said in the end, "That was still my first time seeing someone die with all traces of their existence in the world thoroughly erased. The Devouring Demon Art completely devoured Zhang Rang, not even leaving the slightest bit behind."
"I don't believe it!" Xiang Ning suddenly interrupted. "Everyone in the world knows of Dong Zhuo's ambition to overthrow the Han Dynasty. With the Ten Eunuchs helping him, Dong Zhuo could have easily declared himself emperor!"
Fan Li was extremely vexed by her as he shook his head speechlessly to himself.
You don't believe?
Are you a certain famous TV host?
Please focus on your palace maid role! This isn't your place to be speaking!
Fortunately, no one at the scene bothered about Xiang Ning's powerlessness.
Cao Cao suddenly asked, "Can Duke Jin guess why Dong Zhuo rejected the Ten Eunuchs' surrender?"
Fan Li thought briefly before having the answer. "I guess that Dong Zhuo isn't Fate Heaven's Son, right?"
Fate Heaven's Son, a natural endowment, was the necessary requirement to become emperor and found a country.
No matter how shocking someone's cultivation was, without Fate Heaven's Son, it was absolutely impossible to establish a nation.
Son of Heaven was no empty boast!
As Son of Heaven, one could cultivate all methods in Heaven and Earth. At the same realm and level, Son of Heaven was invincible!
Add in Heavenly Dao's blessing to comprehend and refine the Country Jade Seal, it was the supreme saint artifact in the human realm. But most importantly was nearly mythic reasoning:
Ordinary cultivators could aspire to ascend as immortals one day. But Son of Heaven cultivators actually had the chance to ascend an entire country and become an Immortal State!
Thus, while commoners wished to become immortals themselves, having no absolute confidence, then following the Son of Heaven became their second choice.
Even commoners with the ability to become immortals themselves, still wanted to attach to the Son of Heaven for their clans' future generations in hopes that their descendants could accompany the Son of Heaven's ascension!
"When one attains the Dao, even chickens and dogs may ascend to heaven?" A common idiom popped up in Fan Li's mind.
In his past life, this was just an ordinary idiom. However now, did it secretly hint at the Son of Heaven?
Xiang Ning coldly laughed. "Since Dong Zhuo isn't Fate Heaven's Son, then he had no reason for rebellion back then. Or could it be that now he suddenly becomes Fate Heaven's Son to forcefully defy the heavens and change his fate?"
Right after she finished speaking, Cao Cao nodded heavily with a grave look.
"The [Devouring Demon Art] truly has the miraculous effect of defying fate and changing destiny. It was only recently that we three learned Dong Zhuo hasn't rebelled yet precisely because he has been waiting for his fate to change. He's forcibly changing his fate with the [Devouring Demon Art]. Once successful, while the Great Han Emperor will become a pain in his side, a thorn in his flesh, destined for early calamity!"
Xiang Ning merely felt it unbelievable. How could innate fate be changed?
Yet Fan Li vaguely guessed something and asked, "Dong Zhuo... ate what?"
Then he saw Liu Bei's eyes reddened with visible tear stains. Cao Cao and Sun Quan kept silent, clearly yielding the floor to Liu Bei.
Liu Bei gritted his teeth and said heavily, "The old scoundrel Dong Zhuo has dug up Great Han's original mausoleums!"
"This....???"
Fan Li listened with mouth agape.
The Great Han had experienced turbulence in the past, leading to the division into East and West Han.
The so-called ancestral tomb of the Great Han was the tomb of Emperor Guangwu of East Han, who revitalized the Han dynasty!
Nowadays, the Liu imperial family of Great Han was descended from the lineage of Emperor Guangwu of East Han.
In other words, Dong Zhuo desecrated the ancestral tomb of Liu Xie!?
Thinking about Dong Zhuo cultivating the [Devouring Demon Art], Fan Li felt nauseous.