Is “He secretly kept the Imperial Seal and swore a deadly oath, which led to his death.” true?
based on fact
The Book of Wu records that Sun Jian found the Imperial Seal in a well while clearing the ancestral temples in Luoyang; however, the novel's addition of the oath 'if I hide it, may I die by sword or arrow' is a literary embellishment.
Sun Jian
In official history, he was a brave and resolute Eastern Wu tiger who slew Hua Xiong and defeated Dong Zhuo.