Absolute inheritance

Dayu remained silent as his enormous phantom rapidly shrank, soon becoming no larger than an ordinary person.

He stood facing Su Chen, his gaze deep and inscrutable, without saying a word.

Whether it was the devastation wrought by disasters in later ages.

Or the unity and unyielding spirit of Huaxia's descendants.

Or the seemingly miraculous Three Gorges Dam.

Or the naval fleet that resembled a world-destroying weapon.

Every scene had shaken Dayu profoundly, leaving him unable to settle his emotions for a long time.

The vast square was utterly silent as well.

Every person in Huaxia felt anxious, like a child awaiting an elder's judgment.

Whether it was the Three Gorges Dam or the powerful naval warships.

They were all the culmination of countless people's painstaking efforts in the generations that followed.

Huaxia's prosperity today had likewise taken generations of hard work.

Every person in Huaxia, along with their parents and grandparents, could claim a share of the credit.

"I... understand now."

Dayu finally spoke, his voice resonating like a great bell, stirring everyone to the core.

"Though floodwaters fill the skies, they cannot break the levee of united hearts!"

"Even if heaven falls and earth splits, the foundations of the Nine Provinces shall not be shaken!"

"Care for one another in hardship, and aid your fellow countrymen!"

"With hearts such as these, Huaxia's descendants have far surpassed the people of Xia!"

Dayu's gaze swept across the square, pierced countless screens, and rested on the face of every person in Huaxia.

"In deep valleys, you build miracles; across vast seas, your ships sail!"

"Iron birds spread their wings across the heavens; long arrows fly a thousand miles!"

"In my lifetime, I worried more than once about the future of the Nine Provinces."

"Never could I have imagined that, thousands of years later, the Nine Provinces would become so wondrous!"

Dayu paused. All hesitation had vanished from his eyes as he spoke each word with conviction.

"To have such successors is the good fortune of the Nine Provinces!"

"To have such descendants is my own good fortune!"

As his final two declarations rang out, thunderous cheers erupted across Huaxia.

Until then, everyone in Huaxia had been on edge.

Even though Huaxia had only three hundred years of history, its traditional values still placed great importance on filial piety.

Forgetting even their ancestors was absolutely unforgivable.

And after Dayu had been summoned, many people could sense that this ancestor truly harbored misgivings toward his descendants.

But now.

With Dayu's final two declarations.

That anxiety instantly vanished.

Endless joy and pride surged through the hearts of everyone in Huaxia.

As members of a younger generation, what could make them happier than praise from their elders?

As descendants, what could be more worthy of pride than making their ancestors proud?

Comments kept streaming through the livestream.

Everyone poured their excitement into words that filled the screen.

"Did you hear that?! Our ancestor approves of us!"

"To have such descendants is our ancestor's good fortune..."

"Dayu is proud to have descendants like us!"

"This isn't just someone from the past recognizing later generations. It's an ancestor recognizing his descendants!"

"Boohoo... I'm so overwhelmed! This is like visiting my ancestors' graves and suddenly seeing a thumbs-up appear on the headstone!"

"Damn it! I was getting all emotional! Why did this suddenly turn into a ghost story?!"

"Guards! Drag this fool out and behead him!"

"..."

The livestream was awash with celebration, and the square was just as loud with cheers.

Dayu turned his gaze to Su Chen, making no attempt to hide the approval and admiration in his eyes.

"In the days of Great Xia, the Nine Provinces spanned only a few hundred thousand li, and the people of Xia numbered scarcely a million. We could not compare to the Huaxia of today."

"Yet throughout my life, I remained ever vigilant, never daring to slacken in my duties to my country and my people."

"Today!"

"You shall receive my inheritance, and with it, the great responsibility of protecting the Nine Provinces."

"Can you do this?"

At those words, Su Chen's expression instantly grew solemn, and he bowed.

"I will never fail the trust you have placed in me, Ancestor!"

Dayu raised his right hand and gently rested it on Su Chen's shoulder.

In the next instant, immense ancestral power poured into him like a river cascading from the sky.

Yet Su Chen felt no pain at all. Instead, he felt boundless warmth and security, like an infant nestled in swaddling clothes.

Though it seemed to take a long time, only a single breath passed before Dayu withdrew his hand.

Su Chen opened his eyes, and two points of light flashed briefly within them.

His entire presence had instantly changed beyond comparison.

Although Su Chen's appearance remained unchanged.

He now shared a wondrous connection with Dayu beside him.

Their eyes met. Though thousands of years separated them, in that instant, each seemed to see another version of himself.

This was inheritance. Whether or not Su Chen carried Dayu's blood, their bloodlines were now connected.

Empowered by ancestral power, Su Chen was no longer an ordinary person.

His strength and speed alike had reached unimaginable levels.

Even more astonishingly.

A dazzling layer of golden light radiated from Su Chen's body, too brilliant to look at directly, making him seem like a god descended to earth.

Yet none of this sent Su Chen into rapturous delight. Instead, he felt a heavy weight upon his shoulders.

Accepting the inheritance meant that he would now have to shoulder Huaxia's future and continue guarding this land in his ancestor's stead!

It was an undeniably weighty responsibility.

Although Su Chen remained composed, Zhu Yuanzheng and Li Shuhua below the stage nearly popped their eyes out at the sight of the golden light surrounding him.

"My God! It's absolute inheritance!"

"Holy crap! I never imagined Su Chen would actually receive Dayu's absolute inheritance!"

Both men stared in utter disbelief, their mouths stretched so wide that their jaws nearly hit the ground.

Ordinary people might not know what absolute inheritance meant, but they had heard of it.

Normally, once an ancestor symbol was activated and an ancestor phantom summoned, that ancestor's blood descendants would awaken.

But in exceedingly rare cases, the ancestor phantom would not directly awaken the descendants' bloodlines.

Instead, he would entrust that authority to his inheritor.

This was absolute inheritance!

Previously, something similar had happened in only one small country.

But the ancestor that country had activated was from barely more than a century ago, and had left only a handful of descendants.

Dayu, however, was an ancestor from four thousand years ago!

After all those generations, the number of people carrying his bloodline today had to be staggering!

Su Chen had received Dayu's absolute inheritance.

That meant that from this day onward, he was both Su Chen and Dayu!

He could awaken the bloodlines of Dayu's descendants, and he could revoke that awakening at any time.

Such authority far exceeded that of an ordinary inheritor.

If he wished, he could even create an army of Awakened who answered to him alone!

At the thought, Zhu Yuanzheng could not help drawing several deep breaths in succession.

Yet although he was shocked, he felt no fear. In fact... he even felt a little relieved.

Li Shuhua beside him felt the same way.

To ordinary people, awakening a bloodline might seem like an unequivocally good thing.

But for a country and its people, it was a double-edged sword.

When someone suddenly gained power far beyond that of ordinary people, their temperament would naturally change as well.

Over the past year, countless countries had seen their social order collapse into chaos because of the emergence of Awakened.

Those who had awakened their bloodlines had ascended to the heavens in a single step.

But what of the ordinary people whose bloodlines had not awakened?

Against the Awakened, they had no means of protecting themselves at all.

And the things that once could have protected them were utterly insignificant in the eyes of the Awakened.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzheng and Li Shuhua believed that the vast majority of people in Huaxia had kind hearts.

But they could not deny that Huaxia had its share of evil people, too.

Some even wore the skin of Huaxia while harboring hearts loyal to foreign peoples.

What if those people activated their bloodlines as well?

Would that not be shooting themselves in the foot?

Every people had its scum, and Huaxia was no exception.

As the first emperor, Dayu had endured countless hardships to unite the savage tribes. Naturally, he understood this.

His decision to grant Su Chen absolute inheritance not only proved that Su Chen's character had won his complete approval, but likely also reflected those concerns.

Besides, without Su Chen, no one in Huaxia would even have known who Dayu was, much less activated his symbol.

Single-handedly turning the tide for Huaxia was an unprecedented achievement.

Everyone had witnessed his every word and deed.

More than his knowledge or courage.

What moved them most was the burning love for Huaxia in Su Chen's heart.

That was why Zhu Yuanzheng and Li Shuhua believed Su Chen would never do anything harmful to Huaxia.

His receiving Dayu's absolute inheritance was undoubtedly the best possible outcome for Huaxia.