Watching Jin Junxian's arrogant and overbearing appearance, Zhu Yuanzheng felt the anger in his heart keep surging upward.
He was already over fifty years old, and as a renowned iron-fisted general of Huaxia, he had always been famous for his unyielding and tough demeanor.
Precisely because of this, at an age when he was about to retire, he received orders in a time of crisis and became the supreme commander of this incident.
If it were in the past, how would these Haidong people ever dare to act so presumptuously in front of him?
But right now, this iron-fisted general who dared to go head-to-head with the Seventh Fleet of Eagle Sauce felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.
Huaxia's history spanned a meager 300 years in total.
Domestic historians had already spent decades turning over and studying those things passed down.
According to the original plan, activating the ancestral symbol should not have been a problem.
Even if it couldn't compare to other countries, there were still quite a few Bannermen today, except that many had changed to Han surnames.
After these people's bloodlines awakened, Huaxia ought to have had no problem protecting itself.
However, what Zhu Yuanzheng did not expect was...
A year had passed, and research on the ancestral symbols had made no progress whatsoever.
Huaxia went from hope to bewilderment, and from bewilderment to despair.
The ancestral symbols were placed right before their eyes, yet they did not recognize them.
They couldn't even summon the ancestors of the Qing Dynasty.
Could Huaxia truly be a land of remnant citizens from other countries?
Could it really be as Sakura claimed?
Were the bloodlines of the Huaxia people equated with inferiority?
Could it be that amidst this upheaval of bloodline awakening,
Huaxia didn't even have the qualifications to participate?
Was it eliminated directly?
This exceeded Zhu Yuanzheng's imagination.
It also exceeded everyone's capacity to bear.
The scars deeply buried at the bottom of the Huaxia people's hearts were once again torn open in front of the entire world.
And this time, it was not only dripping with blood.
It also seemed to foretell...
Huaxia's decline and fall!
Every country had its scoundrels, let alone Huaxia's one billion four hundred million people.
Under all sorts of pressure,
some chose to defect to other countries, while others spent exorbitant sums to cling to foreign bloodline awakeners.
Some even went so far as to be reduced to playthings, hoping thereby to conceive a child with a bloodline awakener, continue a foreign bloodline, and rise in status through the child.
Zhu Yuanzheng saw all of this in his eyes and felt the pain in his heart.
Yet he could only endure it.
As long as the ancestral symbols were still there, the hope would still remain.
But now, the Haidong people had come knocking on their door.
Not only did they want Huaxia's ancestral symbols,
they also wanted to annex Huaxia.
Such wolfish ambition!
What an enormous appetite!
Facing the aggressive and pushing stance of Haidong Country, how could Zhu Yuanzheng still endure it?
You might have over a hundred thousand awakeners,
but Huaxia had never failed to face powerful enemies!
Not to mention three hundred years, even in just over a century, had Huaxia experienced few tribulations!
Facing airplanes and cannons, facing tanks and machine guns, had we ever flinched?
Under times of crisis and danger,
it was inevitable that some would cling to life and fear death,
and inevitable that some would betray their country for glory.
However, Zhu Yuanzheng firmly believed that the vast majority of Huaxia people had their hearts set on the motherland!
All soldiers took the oath of "If there is a war, a call-up is a summons!" before retiring!
They only needed a single rallying cry, and these veterans would immediately pack their gear and follow.
Even if ahead lay a mountain of blades and a sea of fire!
Even if ahead lay guns and artillery shells!
They would go without hesitation and die for their country!
And the descendants of these people, even if they were still sitting properly in schoolhouses, even if still lacking worldly sophistication,
would for the most part resolutely enlist in the military just like their fathers when facing national calamity.
Even if scared, they would still fight for the country!
Even if crying, they would still protect their home and slaughter the enemy!
This point had already been proven countless times within Huaxia's short history of over a century!
Even if there were over a hundred thousand awakeners ahead, the result would inevitably be the same!
These people,
even without awakening,
still had the iron blood belonging to Huaxia flowing through their veins!
This was Zhu Yuanzheng's source of confidence!
And it was also the fundamental reason why Huaxia had weathered hardships and stood tall without falling!
Zhu Yuanzheng was clear.
Haidong Country was not afraid of Huaxia resorting to force right now.
On the contrary, once he struck first, it would give Haidong Country an excuse to launch an assault.
And he would not be able to leave alive today either.
Yet he was equally clear that blind and endless forbearance would only bring even greater humiliation.
More terrifying than war was enslavement.
The ancestral symbols were Huaxia's bottom line; whoever handed them over would be a sinner against Huaxia.
In the past, even when the nation was engulfed in the flames of war and corpses littered the land, we never surrendered!
Now, it was even more impossible!
Zhu Yuanzheng's eyes were bloodshot, but just as he was about to make a move, a hurried knock suddenly rang out.
Glancing back, he saw a secretary already open the door, hurry in, and lean over to whisper a few words into Li Shuhua's ear.
"What? Are you certain?"
As soon as Li Shuhua heard this, the wrinkles on his forehead instantly lifted.
Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzheng's hand reaching behind his back also paused, and his gaze quickly shifted over.
At a time like this, the only thing that could cause Li Shuhua to lose his composure was something concerning the ancestral symbols.
However, before Zhu Yuanzheng could speak, he saw Li Shuhua exchange a look with him.
Zhu Yuanzheng understood instantly, forcibly suppressed his anger, and then casually made up an excuse, turning around to walk quickly out of the meeting room with Li Shuhua.
After walking out through a corridor and rounding a corner, Zhu Yuanzheng finally grabbed Li Shuhua by the sleeve.
"Speak quickly."
"The Balijie Neighborhood Committee just reported up that a young man from their jurisdiction came forward claiming he can... activate the ancestral symbol."
Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzheng was stunned at first, and then flew into a rage.
"Nonsense! What time is it even! How can anyone still dare to make this kind of joke!"
Li Shuhua also sighed and shook his head.
It was no wonder Zhu Yuanzheng was angry; ever since they publicly solicited clues, various places had reported a massive number of them.
Yet after being verified one by one, all of them proved useless.
Over the past half year or more, from television, radio, and the internet to going door-to-door in every community to inquire and register,
if it were truly useful information, it should have been reported long ago; why would it wait until now?
The two of them had experienced countless disappointments, and by now they hardly dared to trust such information anymore.
To make matters worse, this person wasn't even providing a lead, but was directly claiming he could activate the ancestral symbol.
In the eyes of the two, this was simply talking nonsense and bragging without drafting a statement!
Calming down a bit, Li Shuhua said in a low voice: "That person also said that the ancestral symbol that appeared in Huaxia is called a Cauldron, and he spoke with absolute certainty. Secretary Wang didn't dare to neglect the news upon receiving it, which is why he came in to report it at the first possible moment."
"A Cauldron?"
Zhu Yuanzheng was stunned once more, furrowing his brow as he asked, "Have you ever heard of it before?"
"No."
Li Shuhua said with certainty.
"There are simply no records of the sort in Huaxia's history books, nor are there any similar cultural relics passed down."
Zhu Yuanzheng gritted his teeth, his face turning as dark as the bottom of a pot, and he could not help cursing again.
Something that even the president of the Huaxia Institute of History had never heard of, how could some unpolished punk possibly recognize it?
He was most likely just another idle young man who had nothing better to do and took reading webnovels for the absolute truth!
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