Into danger alone

"No!"

The moment Su Chen finished speaking, Zhu Yuanzheng and Li Shuhua objected in unison.

Even without an explanation, they could guess what Su Chen intended.

He wanted to go to Sakura himself and activate the Imperial Seal before the Foot-Basin Chickens could!

Once he activated the symbol and awakened Qin Shi Huang's phantom, there would be no question who the Imperial Seal belonged to.

That way, they could recover the ancestor symbol without a fight.

But that was easy to say and almost impossible to do!

Sakura did not have many Awakened, relatively speaking, but they still numbered in the tens of thousands.

And the ancestor they had awakened was Sakura's First Emperor from a thousand years ago.

Once his descendants awakened their bloodline, their strength was not to be underestimated.

Moreover, the Foot-Basin Chicken Awakened were different from those in Haidong.

Most came from the Sakura Upper-Class Clans. Their ancestors had intermarried countless times, leaving them all related by marriage.

Touch one, and a whole swarm would come after you, like hornets from a disturbed nest.

Let alone activate the Imperial Seal right in front of the Foot-Basin Chickens!

It would be like a Foot-Basin Chicken inheritor coming here and activating the Nine Provinces Cauldron in front of everyone!

That... would be asking to die!

Zhu Yuanzheng knew all too well the fanaticism and belligerence ingrained in the Foot-Basin Chickens.

They now firmly believed the Imperial Seal was Sakura's symbol.

If Su Chen dared make a move, the Foot-Basin Chickens would immediately fight him to the death.

Alone in a foreign country, even someone as powerful as Su Chen could not fight them all!

Su Chen was now an inheritor, a figure of extraordinary significance to the entire country.

Besides, he alone knew their lost history.

If anything happened to him...

The damage to the country would far outweigh the loss of a single ancestor symbol!

But Su Chen had made up his mind. Nothing either man said could sway him.

With Su Chen's current standing, once he insisted, Zhu Yuanzheng had no choice but to comply, however unwilling he was.

Since they could not stop him, they might as well make the visit as public as possible and let the whole world know.

Perhaps that would give the Foot-Basin Chickens some pause.

Soon, news of Su Chen's impending visit to Sakura spread rapidly around the globe.

Every country was baffled by the news.

The second ancestor symbols had only just appeared. Every country and every inheritor was devoting all their attention to them.

Yet Su Chen had chosen this very moment to visit Sakura.

What was he trying to do?

Other countries could not understand it, and the citizens of Sakura Country were even more bewildered.

Relations between the two countries had always been tense.

Especially after Su Chen's battle with Haidong, many citizens of Sakura Country had grown even more hostile.

Of course, that was not out of sympathy for Haidong.

It was because they felt threatened and afraid.

In truth, the people of both countries understood the same thing.

No matter how harmonious relations appeared on the surface...

Once either side gained the power to wipe out the other, it would strike without hesitation.

For Sakura to develop, it had to expand outward.

And enslavement, plunder, and occupation were undoubtedly the fastest and most effective means.

Sakura was surrounded on three sides by boundless ocean.

The land to the west had become its only choice.

Over the centuries, they had made countless attempts.

Decades ago, they had even come close to succeeding.

And even after a hundred years, China had not forgotten that searing hatred.

After awakening Dayu's Phantom, it had even begun to possess the strength to avenge those grievances.

Yet at a time like this, rather than making a show of force against Sakura, Su Chen had suddenly decided to visit.

The move surprised and astonished everyone in Sakura, from top to bottom.

Was Su Chen taking the initiative to extend an olive branch to Sakura?

Could they be unwilling to give up their prosperity and stability, choosing to keep swallowing their humiliation instead?

Given Su Chen's status, even a diplomatic visit should have involved a large entourage of Awakened.

Yet he was coming entirely alone.

To the vast majority of Sakura's people, this was undoubtedly a gesture of goodwill and a plea for peace.

The citizens of Sakura Country, who had been living in constant unease, suddenly brimmed with confidence.

Every major social media platform was flooded with discussions of Su Chen's visit.

"Wonderful! So what if they have a million Awakened? They don't even have the guts to stand against Sakura!"

"An inheritor visiting Sakura all by himself! What does that mean? It means they've bowed their heads to us!"

"Amazing! Our Great River Nation really is the greatest nation in the world!"

"Our Sakura Awakened are all direct descendants of Emperor Jimmu! How could their bloodlines possibly compare to ours in nobility?"

"But isn't it a little strange that Su Chen is coming to Sakura now instead of studying his own symbol?"

"You haven't heard? Apparently, their second symbol shattered when it hit the ground. Even if they wanted to study it, they couldn't!"

"What? That happened? You're not making this up, are you?"

"I searched online, and it looks like it really happened! When their symbol fell, part of it landed in a residential area. Someone took photos and posted them online. They were all fragments, so it's probably true!"

"Most countries have already unveiled their second symbols, but they still haven't. Looks like it's true!"

"So that's it! No wonder Su Chen chose this moment to make a friendly overture!"

"They lost their second symbol and know Sakura is bound to overtake them! They're scared, so they rushed over to beg for peace!"

"Hahaha! Truly a Godforsaken Land! Sakura is the country blessed by the gods!"

"The Great River Nation is number one in the world!"

"The day we resume the Holy War is not far off!"

Su Chen's visit caused an enormous uproar throughout Sakura Country.

His own country's citizens, however, were puzzled and confused.

As Dayu's inheritor...

Su Chen's every action represented the country and millions of Dayu's descendants.

He was suddenly visiting Sakura without taking a single Awakened along.

To many people, this was utterly incomprehensible.

And although Zhu Yuanzheng had immediately sent people to suppress news of the Yata Mirror...

The fragments had fallen over too wide an area for some information not to leak out.

Claims that their second symbol had shattered were already circulating online.

Together with Su Chen's sudden visit to Sakura, they left everyone on edge.

Could the rumors online all be true?

Was Su Chen suddenly visiting Sakura to sue for peace?

In the past, many people would surely have lost their composure, hurled abuse at him, and even tried to obstruct his visit to Sakura.

Because bowing to the Foot-Basin Chickens was something no Chinese person could ever tolerate.

Especially when Su Chen represented the entire country.

But now, however anxious, confused, or angry they felt...

The vast majority still restrained themselves.

Because they had witnessed the battle of Binhai with their own eyes.

They believed.

Within Su Chen's chest beat a passionate heart.

As long as that heart kept beating...

Su Chen would never do anything that undermined the country's dignity or wounded his people's feelings!