Chapter 28 Xu Chu

  The previous chapter's section order was incorrect and has been corrected.

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  "Sir, I've finished polishing your sword."

  Dian Wei held a pair of large iron halberds in his hands and rushed into the inner courtyard of the county government office.

  "Really?"

  Zhou Jian asked with interest: "What kind of weapon is this? Is it easy to use?"

  Right!

  Dian Wei slammed the two heavy iron halberds together, creating a deafening metallic screech that seemed to pierce one's eardrums. "This is my weapon, weighing sixty-six or seventy-six catties, far stronger than those iron chains."

  Zhou Jian stretched out his hand, "Let me see."

  Dian Wei hastily handed a pair of large iron halberds into his hands.

  Zhou Jian took the large iron halberd, held it in his hand and tried it out. The weight was quite heavy, almost as much as his iron spear, but this kind of unconventional weapon was harder to use than a knife or sword, not something an ordinary person could handle.

  Only a fierce warrior like Dian Wei could wield such an unconventional and heavy weapon.

  Zhou Jian threw the iron spear to Dian Wei, drew his sword and laughed: "You've always said there's no suitable weapon for you, now that we have one, let's see who's better. Is your striking technique superior or is my knife method more powerful?"

  "Good."

  Dian Wei let out a loud roar and swung his massive halberd twice before charging forward.

  As Zhou Jian swung his sword to pry open a large iron pike, another large iron pike came crashing down on him like Mount Tai.

  "Okay."

  Zhou Jian shouted loudly, stepped aside, flipped his hand knife, and slashed the treasured sword horizontally towards Dian Wei's neck.

  Dian Wei swung his halberd to block, another large iron spear swept across Zhou Jian's chest and abdomen, which was blocked by Zhou Jian with a knife.

  Right!

  In the midst of the golden light's impact, both men simultaneously jumped back, feeling their arms go numb.

  "But this weapon is indeed suitable for you."

  Zhou Jian swung his war knife and loudly praised, he had already clearly felt that Wei Dian was more difficult to deal with than the iron chain. The two large iron halberds were used seamlessly between offense and defense, completely unlike the clumsiness of the iron chain, and the moves seemed a bit stiff.

  "Take it!"

  Veitien excitedly let out a loud roar and once again swung his halberd as he charged forward.

  Finally, he had a suitable weapon in hand. With his strength, it was difficult to find someone to try out the new weapon with. Among the people he had met in his life, only Zhou Jian could fight him to a draw, while others were no match for him.

  With a well-matched weapon and an evenly matched opponent, how can one not kill with relish?

  Dian Wei felt his blood boiling instantly, his moves were powerful and heavy, the iron spear danced with a fierce killing aura.

  Zhou Jian rushed forward, swinging his sword and launching a fierce attack.

  The sword and spear clashed, and the two men quickly fought over a hundred rounds.

  Zhou Wu returned to the county government office to report on the new recruits' training progress and saw that the two were fighting again, so he could only stand aside and watch.

  After two hundred rounds, the two were still evenly matched.

  Dianwei's fierce temper flared up again, and he took off his armor, going into battle bare-chested.

  Zhou Jian's forehead also sweated fine beads, but his eyes became increasingly sharp and piercing, like two sharp arrows. When he swung his sword to attack, his speed not only didn't slow down, but instead became even quicker by a fraction.

  Two hundred yuan.

  500 yen.

  One thousand yen.

  The two of them fought fiercely this time, and they actually killed each other for over a thousand rounds without determining the winner.

  Dian Wei's martial arts were bold and powerful, but his offense and defense were strictly governed by rules, and he was able to parry and block with ease. Even Zhou Jianyun found it difficult to gain the upper hand. Although Dian Wei still had some tricks up his sleeve, this was just a test of skills, not a matter of life and death, so there was no need for him to use them.

  Zhou Wu was stunned and forgot to applaud.

  Zhou Jian and Dian Wei have also been practicing their martial arts for several months, but they have never had a battle that lasted this long.

  As the sun sets and the sky darkens, the two still show no signs of stopping.

  Dian Wei was drenched in sweat, and Zhou Jian was also slightly panting, but his eyes were still sharp as a knife edge, making people dare not look directly at him.

  "Open!"

  Dian Wei let out a loud roar and swept aside Zhou Jian's sword with one of his iron pikes, while the other pike flashed towards Zhou Jian's chest and abdomen like lightning.

  Zhou Jian borrowed momentum to lean back and dodge, causing the iron plate bridge to avoid the sweeping arrival of the large iron halberd. He immediately violently stood up, his ears bursting with a loud shout: "Take my one knife." With both hands grasping the knife, he made a powerful slash at Mount Hua, like thunder and lightning, cutting straight down.

  "Great job!"

  Wei Dian's hair was disheveled and his two large iron halberds charged forward, striking fiercely.

  Right!

  Dian Wei's eyes bulged out like he had been struck by lightning, and he felt as if his chest had been heavily pounded, his breathing momentarily stifled.

  Zhou Jian leaped backward, and after landing, he shook his numb arms, unable to help but let out a loud whoop of excitement.

  Di Yun's eyes widened as he took a few cold breaths, shook his big head, and asked in surprise: "General, your strength is inferior to mine, why after fighting for thousands of rounds, your strength has actually increased by several points compared to me? This is indeed strange."

  Zhou Jian sheathed his sword and said calmly, "Martial arts and strength are indeed the foundation of one's power, but endurance is just as important. You've been using your full strength with every move, while I've always held back some energy. Naturally, my consumption of energy is less than yours."

  "Ah, I see!" said Dian Wei with a sudden realization.

  It's easy to talk about it, but it's hard to put into practice.

  Zhou Wu finally returned at this time and hurriedly greeted the two of them to enter the house and rest.

  The two men fought fiercely for a thousand rounds, with enormous physical exhaustion.

  Dian Wei ate eight catties of mutton and five bowls of rice, then patted his belly and shouted with satisfaction.

  Such an astonishing appetite, ordinary farming families really can't afford to raise this guy. One person eats the food of seven or eight people, even if it's a wealthy family, they'll be impoverished by this guy.

  A steaming hot pot of stewed tiger bones with over a dozen kinds of tonic herbs including ginseng, emitting a rich aroma.

  Zhou Jian was very particular about his food and drink, neither too fast nor too slow. He first ate a few large pieces of meat, then poured himself a bowl of bone soup to drink.

  In terms of innate physical strength, Di Wei is infinitely stronger than Zhou Jian, this is an inherent advantage.

  Zhou Jian's current strength is all thanks to his continuous improvement of his physical condition over the past decade, with extremely strict requirements on his diet, almost every meal is a supplement, regulating his muscles, bones and blood, constantly narrowing the gap with those powerful men like Dian Wei.

  Having had a late dinner, he was listening to Zhou Wu's report on the new recruits' training progress when an attendant rushed in hastily.

  The attendant's face was very unsightly and he hastily said: "Something has happened to Young Master Zhou Sheng."

  "What?"

  Zhou Jian was shocked and suddenly stood up, saying: "Isn't Zhou Sheng one of the fifty vagrants who were trained and recruited at Dongxiang Pavilion? There aren't any large-scale bandits nearby, what could have happened, what's going on?"

  Zuī cóng dā dào: "Zhōu shèng àn zhào gōng zǐ de fēn fù, píng shí yuè guò xiàn jìng jiáo lǔ fù hù, yě duō zài chén guó de wǔ píng, kē xiàn děng lín xiàn xià shǒu, zuì yuǎn yě bú guò dào kǔ xiàn. Sān tiān qián dài rén jìnxíng liǎng bǎi lǐ lā liàn, yī zhí yuè guò chén guó, pǎo dào le zé guó jié xiàn nèi, bàn yè qián rù yī zuò zhuāng zǐ xíng shì shí, shī shǒu bèi rén gěi zhuā le, ér qiě zhāo mù de liú mín yě bèi shā le sān gè."

  "Is this really happening?"

  A sharp glint flashed in Zhou Jian's eyes, and he said in a deep voice: "Although Zhou Sheng's martial arts are not as good as Zhou Wu's, the difference is limited. How could he possibly lose his hand and be captured? Even if he couldn't escape, it shouldn't be a problem. Did he encounter a truly formidable opponent?"

  The attendant nodded and said: "Specifically, I'm not very clear either. The young master can summon the refugee who came to report the news earlier to ask."

  "Summon him at once."

  The attendants hastily withdrew and soon brought in a man in his early twenties.

  "Chen Er Dan, a humble man, pays his respects to your honor."

  Zhou said solemnly: "Speak up, what's going on? Who caught Zhou Sheng?"

  Chen Er Dan replied, "I'm not too clear either. The night before last, Zhou Sheng brought a few brothers out to do business and didn't return until dawn. The remaining brothers discussed it and went out to investigate, but found the bodies of several brothers thrown in the wilderness. I found a village nearby, where the villagers said that the village was called Xu Jia Zhuang, and the owner was named Xu Chu, who could pull two heads of oxen upside down for a hundred steps, extremely brave and famous throughout the ten villages. Zhou Sheng and several brothers were caught by Xu Chu, some brothers resisted and were killed by Xu Chu and thrown in the wilderness, while Zhou Sheng was taken to the village..."

  "What is it, Xu Chu?"

  Zhou Jian was taken aback and frowned, asking: "What nickname does Xu Chu have?"

  Chen Er Dan scratched his head and hesitated: "This, I don't know."

  Zhou's eyebrows furrowed even tighter. In this era, there were too many people with the same name and surname, so he didn't know if this Xu Chu was indeed the one who could rival Dian Wei, after all, people with the same name were not in the minority in this era.

  However, there are not many people who can capture Zhou Sheng, although they are not few either.

  Zhou Jian also didn't believe that there was another person named Xu Chu in this world who could capture Zhou Sheng, so this Xu Chu was probably the same as the other Xu Chu.

  Since he came to this era, he also wanted to find those famous strategists and generals in history books. However, Zhou Jian was not a fan of the Three Kingdoms, although he had heard many names, but where these people were specifically, he knew nothing about it.

  Never expected to arrive at Yizhou, first encountered Dianwei, now heard news of Xu Chu.

  Zhou Wu asked: "Sir, have you heard of Xu Chu?"

  Zhou Jian nodded: "If this Xu Chu is really the person I know, his martial arts should be between Dian Wei and Bo Zhong. Otherwise, how could he capture Zhou Sheng alive? This Xu Chu is probably the person I know."

  "Really?"

  Zhou Wu lost his voice and said, his face full of disbelief.

  In the eyes of the twenty followers, Zhou Jian was almost the number one fierce man in the world. Perhaps only if the legendary Overlord Xiang Yu were to be reborn could he rival Zhou Jian's prowess. Such a fierce man encountering even one Tian Wei would be too many; how could there possibly be a second?

  Dian Wei grunted and his eyes gleamed with a fierce light, clearly taking an interest in Xu Chu.

  "What's the use of talking more, go and take a look."

  Dian Wei immediately grabbed a pair of large iron halberds and took up position, saying: "I'll also go take a look."

  Zhou Jian nodded and said to Zhou Wu: "I'll go with Dian Wei, you stay behind and continue training the new recruits."

  "Yes sir," replied Zhou Wu hastily.

  Save people as if putting out a fire, all twenty followers are the result of Zhou Jian's painstaking efforts to cultivate, and cannot be abandoned.

  Duan Xia brought Tian Wei and Chen Er Dan with him, left the county government office, and the three of them rode their horses overnight to Yu Zhou's Qiao County.

  However, Xu Chu captured Zhou Sheng and killed his own soldiers. A cold glint flashed in Zhou Jian's eyes.

  If the feud cannot be resolved, such a fierce man cannot be left to Cao Pi, and he must be eliminated as soon as possible to prevent future troubles.

  ;