Su Chen stood before the great cauldron beneath the phantom, looking out at the dense sea of people on the plaza, and said in a clear, resonant voice:
"You have lived here for so many years, but do you know why the land beneath your feet is called Huaxia?"
Su Chen's voice was not loud, yet it reached every corner of the plaza.
The previously noisy crowd fell silent at once, everyone looking somewhat dazed and at a loss.
Why was it called Huaxia?
Many people had never thought about this question.
It had simply been passed down from generation to generation, so they naturally called it that.
Before the crowd could react, Su Chen's voice sounded again.
"As written in the Rectification of the Zuo Commentary to the Spring and Autumn Annals, the beauty of attire is called hua, and the greatness of ritual propriety is thus called xia."
"But in my view, the Xia of Huaxia not only represents ritual propriety, but also represents the people, represents the Central Plains, and represents the origin!"
"Because this was the state title of the very first dynasty of Huaxia!"
"This is the true meaning of the Xia in Huaxia!"
Su Chen's words not only dumbfounded everyone, but also shocked Li Shuhua below the stage.
Even Zhu Yuanzheng, who had just received the news and rushed to the scene, involuntarily stopped and stood frozen in place, dazed.
Rectification of the Zuo Commentary to the Spring and Autumn Annals?
What ancient book was this?
Why had he never heard of it before?
And as for the first dynasty of Huaxia, wasn't it the Qing Dynasty?
Everyone felt their brains in complete chaos, all staring blankly at Su Chen.
Su Chen turned his head slightly, looking at the phantom in mid-air, and his voice suddenly rose once more.
"The Dragon Gate divides Yique, and the Sanmen cleaves the Yellow River!"
"In ancient times, the sage labored for thirteen years controlling the floods, sparing the people of the Central Plains from the suffering of water disasters and establishing merit for ten thousand generations!"
"His footprints covered the entirety of Huaxia, and he felt deeply for the hardships of the common folk!"
"He delineated the Nine Provinces and united the realm, preventing the land of Huaxia from fracturing into pieces and opening up the framework for all generations to come!"
"The tribes of the Nine Provinces, filled with gratitude for his grace, offered up the metal of the Nine Provinces to forge the great cauldron, inscribed with the map of the Nine Provinces to symbolize the unity of the realm!"
At this, Su Chen reached out and pointed at the Cauldron.
"This!"
"Is the supreme divine artifact of Huaxia!"
"The ancestor of ten thousand cauldrons!"
"The Nine Provinces Cauldron!"
The Nine Provinces Cauldron on the high platform instantly emitted a low hum, as if responding to Su Chen's call.
It was just like a traveler who, after many long years away, finally stepped once more onto the soil of his homeland and heard the people of his hometown loudly calling out his name.
In the world Su Chen came from, the Nine Provinces Cauldron had already been lost by the pre-Qin era, and no one had ever laid eyes on its true appearance.
As for whether the cauldrons numbered one or nine, controversies had likewise persisted endlessly.
Even the very existence of the Xia Dynasty had constantly been criticized and doubted by the outside world.
But now.
Su Chen had seen this Huaxia divine artifact with his own eyes.
He had seen the phantom of the Xia Dynasty's ancestor with his own eyes.
Everything was already beyond a doubt!
"Four thousand years ago, the sages of our ancestors united the tribes, partitioned the realm, established the capital at Yangcheng, and took the name Xia!"
"He rallied the scattered tribes and ethnic groups of Huaxia, triumphing over the disasters that wreaked havoc among mankind!"
"He led Huaxia out of primitive tribalism and into a brand-new era!"
"Before his name, the common people bestowed the great character 'Da' to manifest his monumental achievements!"
"He! Is the first sovereign ruler of Huaxia!"
"He! Is the ancient sage-monarch!"
"Emperor Xia!"
"Dayu!"
With every single word Su Chen spoke, the phantom in mid-air grew dozens of meters taller.
By the time the final word fell, Dayu's figure had already reached over a thousand meters in height!
Like a giant supporting the heavens and treading upon the earth, he used his sturdy arms to hold up the sky of Huaxia.
And the hempen clothes on his body had also turned into a black-and-red imperial robe at this moment.
The majestic pressure instantly swept across the surroundings, penetrating countless screens and making all the people of Huaxia feel their scalps tingle and their hairs stand on end.
Shock, confusion, and disbelief.
This was everyone's mood at the moment.
Generations upon generations of Huaxia people, influenced by what they constantly heard and saw, had long accepted the reality that their country had a history of only three hundred years.
Toward the sneers of foreign races, they had felt anger and unwillingness, but they had never doubted this point.
However, now...
This deeply ingrained notion was shattering bit by bit.
Four thousand years!
What a profound and lengthy passage of time this was.
In the past, the people of Huaxia wouldn't even dare to dream of it.
Yet right now.
The mountain-like, majestic phantom of Dayu.
The thunder-like low hum of the Nine Provinces Cauldron.
All of this proved one thing.
What Su Chen said was not false!
Li Shuhua's eyes were red, and tears uncontrollably burst forth, streaming down his wrinkles-covered face.
As the president of the History Research Institute, the pain suppressed within his heart was simply too much.
A history of three hundred years, half of which was written with blood, tears, and humiliation!
A mere tens of thousands of foreign troops had used guns and cannons to blast open the gates of Huaxia.
Burning, killing, and looting, they entered as if stepping through uninhabited territory!
Not to mention the subsequent invasion of Huaxia by Sakura.
The land of Huaxia was scarred and riddled with devastation, with corpses covering the ground!
Every time he opened the history books, those tragic records beyond human imagination and those blood-stained numbers...
Were like sharp needles continuously stabbing into Li Shuhua's heart, causing him agonizing pain that kept him awake all night.
But now.
He knew.
Turns out that four thousand years ago, we had already established a dynasty!
Turns out that the Xia in Huaxia represented a great history!
Turns out that in that distant era, we already had great and wise ancestral sages!
Turns out we were not the remnants of a foreign race!
Turns out we were not the vassals of other nations!
Turns out our history, besides blood and tears, also had brilliance!
Li Shuhua wept aloud, but even though tears blurred his vision, he refused to blink even for a second.
Because he was afraid.
He was afraid that all of this was merely an illusion.
He was afraid that the moment he closed his eyes, everything would vanish.
Sharing the same feeling with him were all the Huaxia people present at the scene.
As well as countless teary-eyed, trembling figures in front of their screens, stirred to their very cores.
Yet among the crowd in the plaza, the faces of a certain group of people held no excitement, only terror.
These people were precisely the awakened ones from Haidong Country who had just hurried over.
The sudden departure of Zhu Yuanzheng and Li Shuhua had long since aroused Jin Junxian's suspicion.
Initially, he hadn't paid much attention to it.
Because in his view, any resistance from Huaxia was child's play in the face of the power of the Awakened.
Yet he never expected that Huaxia's Ancestor Symbol, dormant for a year, would actually be activated at this very moment!
With the abilities of a bloodline Awakened, he had shaken off the Huaxia surveillance personnel at the first possible moment and rushed to the scene in a blazing panic.
After witnessing it with his own eyes, Jin Junxian was completely scared out of his wits.
A thousand-meter-tall ancestor phantom.
A Huaxia emperor from four thousand years ago.
Was this some kind of joke!
Huaxia clearly only had three hundred years of history!
How could an ancestor from four thousand years ago pop out of nowhere?
Dayu...
Jin Junxian furrowed his brows and pondered for a moment, then suddenly glared fiercely.
He seemed to have seen this word before!
And not just him, many people in the Haidong Country should have heard of it too!
That was a record from the Hwandan Gogi.
"Dangun Wanggeom sent crown prince Furu to make an appointment to meet Emperor Shun at Tushan, and Shun sent Minister of Works Dayu to receive our Five Elements method of flood control, and thus the achievement was accomplished..."
In the understanding of the Haidong people, Huaxia had since ancient times been a vassal territory of Haidong.
And Emperor Shun was a subject of the Haidong Country who, after studying the method of statecraft in Haidong, was sent to govern the land of Huaxia.
Moreover, this Minister of Works Dayu was a subordinate of Emperor Shun and also a person of the Haidong Country.
Because of the help of the Haidong Country's crown prince, the floods of Huaxia were successfully controlled.
Afterwards, the ruler of the Haidong Country issued an order to integrate the Huaxia tribes and made Shun abdicate in favor of Dayu, and only then did Dayu become the King of Xia.
Put that way...
Dayu's achievements were entirely the merit of our Haidong Country!
And he was not an ancestor of the Huaxia people either!
He clearly belonged to our Haidong Country!
Before you continue