The Nine Provinces Cauldron hummed incessantly, its enormous phantom gradually solidifying into a bronze cauldron as tall as a person once more.
A gentle power spread outward, lifting the kneeling Descendants of Dayu to their feet.
It was like an elder helping his children and grandchildren up, brimming with affection.
Dayu's remnant soul had already returned to the Nine Provinces Cauldron and could never appear again.
But as an ancestor of Huaxia, as the forefather of these million descendants...
Perhaps his spirit could still feel them.
He was proud of his children!
He was laughing with joy at the impending rise of the Nine Provinces!
The Nine Provinces Cauldron flew onto the beach and slowly settled behind Su Chen, its meaning unmistakable.
The million Descendants of Dayu suddenly understood and immediately bowed again.
From what had happened earlier, they could already tell.
It was Su Chen who had awakened their bloodline.
That meant their ancestor had entrusted all of them, his descendants, to this inheritor of Huaxia.
Su Chen dispersed the power of inheritance and accepted their bow.
As he gazed at the sea of Descendants of Dayu covering the beach, his eyes flickered with emotion, his heart surging.
Just a few days earlier, he had been an ordinary person, no different from anyone else.
But now, he had become Huaxia's inheritor.
He shouldered the immense responsibility of defending his homeland and revitalizing his nation.
It was no light burden.
Fortunately, he was not walking this path alone.
Those walking beside him...
Included the descendants who carried their ancestors' bloodlines!
And the 1.4 billion sons and daughters of Huaxia!
At that moment, heroic pride swelled in Su Chen's chest. He raised his hand and shouted.
"From this day forth!"
"Anyone who dares attack our Huaxia shall be slain, no matter how far away!"
"From this day forth!"
"Our Huaxia shall stand proud among the nations, its dragon soaring over the world!"
The million Descendants of Dayu rose to their feet, their faces alight with excitement, and raised their arms to shout along.
"From this day forth!"
"Anyone who dares attack our Huaxia shall be slain, no matter how far away!"
"From this day forth!"
"Our Huaxia shall stand proud among the nations, its dragon soaring over the world!"
A million voices joined together, resounding across the beach and spreading throughout the world.
The people of Huaxia watching their screens had all frozen in shock when the million descendants of Dayu awakened.
Only now did many of them snap out of it.
"We won? We won!"
"Oh my god! Who was saying Dayu had no descendants? Those million people on the beach! They're all his descendants!"
"Here on Huaxia's soil, heaven really is on our side!"
"What do you mean, heaven? Our ancestors protected us! Su Chen and the others risked their lives for this!"
"A million Awakened! If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't have believed it in a million years!"
"My surname is Xia too! My bloodline didn't awaken, but I'm so excited my blood vessels might burst!"
"Because we're all people of Huaxia! Even if we aren't Dayu's descendants, Huaxia's blood still flows through our veins!"
"Su Chen was so badass! Not a word of bullshit, just an axe straight into that bastard!"
"From today on, Su Chen is my idol! Nobody can talk me out of it!"
"That was insane! I never imagined our Huaxia would ever be this fucking awesome!"
"Easy, gentlemen! Our pharmacy has already sold out of emergency heart pills!"
"Who could stay calm at a time like this? Now that I've seen this, I could die happy!"
"We won! We won!"
"Long live Huaxia!"
At that moment, everyone in Huaxia hugged the family and friends beside them, jumping and shouting, crying and laughing.
What had seemed like certain doom had turned around in an instant.
That overwhelming shock and joy became earthshaking cheers, resounding throughout Huaxia.
But before the people of Huaxia had much time to celebrate...
Li Shuhua seized the moment to release an even more shocking piece of news.
"Everyone, look! The authorities actually posted an announcement!"
"Holy shit! Dayu has more than a million descendants? Am I seeing things?"
"That's right! They haven't released the exact number, but they said anyone of good character has a chance to activate their bloodline!"
"Oh my god! Is this real? Doesn't that mean I have a chance too?"
"Holy crap! A million Awakened was already outrageous! And that's not even all of them!"
"This is too much! How are the other countries supposed to compete? Nobody move. I'm signing up first!"
"..."
Only at that moment did everyone truly understand what Su Chen's words meant.
From this day forth!
Anyone who dares attack our Huaxia shall be slain, no matter how far away!
From this day forth!
Our Huaxia shall stand proud among the nations, its dragon soaring over the world!
This was not a slogan. It was a statement of fact!
Huaxia now had both the confidence and the strength to accomplish all of it!
For so long...
Haidong had loomed like a mountain over the people of Huaxia.
But now, that mountain had come crashing down.
Through their actions, Su Chen and Dayu's million descendants had proved it.
Huaxia would never be bullied!
Huaxia's ancestors were beyond compare!
Anyone who dared lay a hand on Huaxia would pay in blood!
Naturally, this outcome sent the people of Huaxia into ecstatic celebration.
But those who had spouted outrageous remarks during the crisis and done everything they could to flee Huaxia...
Now felt as though they had plunged into an ice cellar, consumed by regret.
If only they had known Dayu had so many descendants.
If only they had known Su Chen was so powerful.
How could they ever have spoken such nonsense?
How could they ever have left Huaxia?
Most importantly...
The authorities had never stated exactly how many descendants Dayu had.
They might have been among them.
Yet they had thrown away that chance to soar to greatness with their own hands.
There was no cure for regret in this world.
No matter how they beat their chests and stamped their feet, it would make no difference now.
Their earlier words and actions had already been recorded.
When danger struck, they had not stood by their homeland.
Naturally, Huaxia would no longer welcome them back.
This battle sent shock waves throughout the entire world.
The strength Huaxia displayed left every country utterly stunned.
And the people of Haidong were undoubtedly the hardest hit.
With Jin Dachang and all 130,000 Awakened wiped out...
Kim Chunchu's jade stele, revered as Haidong's national treasure, shattered into fragments as well.
Every citizen of Haidong mourned as though they had lost their parents, and anguished sobbing could be heard everywhere.
They could not accept this outcome, yet they had no choice.
Compared with Jin Dachang and Haidong's Awakened, ordinary people like them had been little more than servants.
Yet when it came to Huaxia, they had always maintained a lofty sense of superiority.
But now...
They had watched Jin Dachang, revered by tens of millions of citizens as the reincarnation of King Taejong, kneel before Su Chen and grovel for mercy.
They had watched Haidong's Awakened, whom they regarded as gods, weep and beg Dayu's descendants to spare them.
Each of those scenes was like a sharp blade plunging viciously into the hearts of Haidong's citizens.
The arrogant pride they had cultivated for so long was torn to shreds in an instant. Every Haidong citizen's heart bled, the pain so fierce they could barely breathe.
From the moment the Descendants of Dayu awakened their bloodline...
Everyone in Haidong understood that Huaxia was nothing like the dependency of Haidong their government had always portrayed it as.
Kim Chunchu, revered as their founding monarch, could not begin to compare with Huaxia's ancestors.
The Hwandan Gogi, long regarded as Haidong's official history, was definitively branded a forgery and burned by countless people across Haidong.
Who knew how many Haidong historians leaped from rooftops in tears, unable to accept that everything they had studied their whole lives was nothing but a joke.
Haidong Country now had not a single Awakened left, let alone an inheritor.
In the world as it stood, it had completely lost the ability to protect itself.
Countries and countless factions around the globe would certainly not let this chance to seize easy spoils pass them by.
When that time came, Huaxia would not even need to act. Haidong would fall apart as the various powers plundered it and fought over the scraps!
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