"Th-three... three hundred million?!"
Li Shuhua's legs gave out, and he dropped onto the floor.
Zhu Yuanzheng trembled uncontrollably, as though seized by a fit of chills.
The veteran general, who had spent decades on the battlefield, was so frightened that he could barely get his words out.
"Y-young... Su, you... you're not joking, are you?"
Seeing their horrified expressions, Su Chen didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"What's so surprising about that?"
"As the first emperor of the Central Plains, Dayu passed his throne to his son Qi. From then on, hereditary rule replaced the system of abdication to a worthy successor."
"Once rule became hereditary, what mattered most? The imperial bloodline, of course!"
"Although Dayu had only one child, Si Qi, Si Qi had five sons, and those five sons went on to have a whole brood of children."
"Four thousand years ago, Huaxia's population wasn't very large to begin with. Dayu's bloodline, including its collateral branches, already accounted for a substantial proportion."
"What's more, after the Xia Dynasty fell, those descendants scattered, married other people, and had children, spreading Dayu's bloodline even further."
"Although Huaxia's history was filled with endless conflict and recurring natural disasters..."
"Those hardships also forged the Huaxia nation's resilient, unyielding character."
"No disaster, natural or man-made, could completely stop the people of Huaxia from continuing their lineage."
"After four thousand years, the number of descendants with Dayu's ancestry would naturally be enormous."
Zhu Yuanzheng and Li Shuhua kept drawing sharp breaths. Even Su Chen's explanation did nothing to lessen their shock.
Three hundred million!
That was almost a fifth of Huaxia's population!
Many countries had only a few tens of millions of people in total.
In Huaxia, the descendants of Dayu's bloodline alone outnumbered their entire populations several times over.
Good heavens...
Zhu Yuanzheng could feel nothing but shock.
He had thought even three million was a wild fantasy.
It turned out his imagination had still been far too limited.
If all three hundred million awakened their bloodlines, what would Huaxia become?
The mere thought made Zhu Yuanzheng's scalp prickle.
Seeing Zhu Yuanzheng's horrified expression, Su Chen's lips curved into a smile.
"What I just mentioned only covers people within Huaxia."
"If we include those abroad, the number of Dayu's descendants would double."
Li Shuhua was still reeling from shock.
At those words, his whole body shuddered again.
Double?
Wouldn't that mean...
Six hundred million?
Thud...
Li Shuhua couldn't take it anymore. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
Fortunately, a medical team was on standby in the building. They hurried upstairs soon after receiving the call.
After several doctors and nurses worked over him, Li Shuhua finally came around.
"It was brought on by emotional agitation. Nothing serious. Some rest will do."
The doctor offered that brief explanation, then turned and hurried away.
Su Chen, Zhu Yuanzheng, and Li Shuhua.
They could now be considered the three most important people in Huaxia.
Su Chen in particular-his every move could change the course of Huaxia's future.
The medical staff didn't dare waste even a moment of their time.
Zhu Yuanzheng closed the door and turned his gaze back to Su Chen.
"Young Su... it's not that we doubt you. It's just that the numbers you're giving us are truly frightening!"
Rather than answer, Su Chen looked toward the pale-faced Li Shuhua.
Li Shuhua quickly waved a hand to show that he was fine.
"General Zhu, Elder Li."
Su Chen kept his tone as calm as possible, lest he upset them again.
"You're only this shocked because you don't know Huaxia's history."
"After the Xia Dynasty fell, those bearing the Gui surname changed it to Xia to commemorate the origins of their bloodline."
"The Xia surname is one of the major surnames among Dayu's descendants."
"There's also Xiahou, which originated from the Si surname."
"Tuo, a descendant of Dayu, once lived in the Lu State. Because he was descended from Yu of Xia, and his ancestor had been granted the rank of marquis, Duke Dao of Lu called him Xiahou. That was how this branch began."
"The Zeng surname also originated from the Si surname. It was founded by Qu Lie, the youngest son of Emperor Xia, Shaokang."
"Elder Li, you should know Zeng Guofan, right? That Qing Dynasty minister was a descendant of this branch."
"There's also the Deng surname. The descendants of this branch were granted a fief in the Deng State, so they became known as the Deng clan."
"Deng Shichang was another Qing Dynasty military commander. During the Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1894, the Zhiyuan came under attack from the Sakura Warship. With his ammunition exhausted and his ship damaged, he led all his officers and crew in an attempt to ram the enemy flagship. All 250 aboard died heroically together!"
"The Qing court may have been corrupt, but Dayu's descendants remained proud and unyielding. He truly deserved to be called a national hero."
Zhu Yuanzheng froze, his gaze filled with conflicting emotions.
Of course he knew Deng Shichang.
But if Su Chen hadn't told him, who would have imagined that this Qing Dynasty commander had any connection to Dayu?
Su Chen continued.
"Besides those I've already mentioned, Dayu's descendants also include people with the Bu surname."
"According to legend, it originated with Taikang's younger brother Feng. Some of his descendants worked as diviners, so they became known as the Bu clan."
"The Yue surname is another branch of Dayu's direct descendants."
"After these descendants founded the Yue State, they took its name as their surname."
"King Goujian of Yue also once held sway over a region and accomplished great things."
"Besides these, there are dozens of other surnames, including Bao, Lou, Chao, Ou, and Ouyang.
"All these surnames are connected to Dayu's descendants. They all count as descendants of Dayu's royal house in the Xia Dynasty."
"While the Xia Dynasty existed, these descendants were granted fiefs in various regions."
"After Xia fell, some took the names of their states as surnames, while others took the names of their fiefs."
"Though they changed their surnames, Dayu's blood still flowed through their veins."
"Through generations of change, their numbers grew to what they are today."
"Hundreds of millions of bloodline descendants-a miracle like this could only have been made possible by Huaxia's long history."
"They truly deserve to be called the sons and daughters of Huaxia!"
Su Chen paused. Only after he saw Zhu Yuanzheng and Li Shuhua gradually regain their composure did he continue:
"What's more, for our Huaxia nation..."
"What has always mattered is not pedigree, but bloodline!"
"We don't care whether our ancestry is pure, but whether our bloodlines can be passed down!"
"Over five thousand years, Huaxia's descendants have gone through countless migrations and intermingled countless times."
"As a result, the blood flowing through our veins doesn't come from just one ancestral line."
"So it isn't only Dayu. Many of Huaxia's ancestors must have staggering numbers of descendants still living today!"
In fact, there was another implication behind Su Chen's words.
Since many people in Huaxia had more than one ancestral line, they might also be able to awaken their bloodlines more than once.
Take Dayu, for example. He might have lived four thousand years ago.
But no matter how long ago he had lived, he would have had ancestors of his own.
And according to legend, Dayu was the Yellow Emperor's great-great-grandson and a descendant of Zhuanxu.
All the people of Huaxia shared one common name.
Descendants of Yan and Huang!
As time passed, more ancestor symbols would surely appear.
It wasn't impossible for a single line of descendants to possess the bloodlines of several ancestors at once.
If those bloodlines awakened one by one, wouldn't their awakening powers keep stacking like buffs?
Before you continue