Starting with being handed over to the Imperial Concubine, building a family with a thousand-year hi

But it was too late. The Kunling True Fire Pill had already been swallowed by Jinzi, and there was no way to retrieve it. Su Mu quickly hugged Jinzi to his chest, carefully examining its condition, his heart pounding in his chest.

There are ten Kunling True Fire Pills in total. Giving one to Jinzi wouldn't be a waste—after all, one pill is enough for one person. What Su Mu is really worried about is that Jinzi is only a few days old and his physical body is not yet fully developed. He simply cannot withstand the powerful medicinal effects of the Kunling True Fire Pill. If something goes wrong because of this, it would be a great loss.

At this moment, Jinzi was burning hot all over. Not only did it radiate dazzling golden light, but it also had fine, mysterious patterns appearing on its body. Its body was surrounded by bursts of scorching flames. It looked extremely painful, and its little paws kept kicking, emitting weak chirps.

"Now you know it hurts?" Su Mu looked at its pained expression and complained angrily, "Serves you right for stealing food like that!"

Though he was scolding, Su Mu was more anxious than anyone else. He had not only poured a lot of effort into hatching the gold, but also spent a large amount of spirit stones given by Xiao Anran. Now the gold hadn't even played a role yet, and if it died prematurely, Su Mu estimated he would be so frustrated he would vomit blood.

Fortunately, it turned out that Su Mu had underestimated the potential of gold.

About an hour later, the golden light and fire on Jinzi's body gradually faded, the mysterious patterns slowly disappeared, and the burning sensation all over its body dissipated. It was no longer in such agony, but just like when it had just hatched, it was panting heavily, looking utterly exhausted.

Jinzi snuggled against Su Mu, her little head tilted up, gazing at him expectantly, her longing in her eyes was unmistakable.

"You just finished eating the pills, and you're hungry again?" Su Mu frowned, then helplessly took out a dozen or so Spirit Essence Pills and offered them to Jinzi's mouth. But Jinzi shook its little head, refusing to eat the pills, and continued to stare at him longingly.

Su Mu's mind stirred, and he quickly sensed Jinzi's thoughts. Without hesitation, he took out a dagger, gently cut his finger, forced out a few drops of bright red blood, and handed it to Jinzi.

This time, a hint of joy flashed in Jinzi's eyes. Without hesitation, it leaned forward and drank the few drops of essence blood in one gulp. Then, it closed its eyes and drifted off to sleep, its small body curled up in Su Mu's arms, its breathing gradually becoming steady.

Su Mu put away the Spirit Essence Pill and the dagger, circulated his internal energy to heal the wound on his finger, and then carefully placed the sleeping Jinzi on the bed. He stayed by its side, carefully observing its condition, afraid that something might happen.

After a long time, Jinzi was still sleeping soundly, her aura was stable, and there was nothing else unusual. Su Mu finally breathed a sigh of relief, and his heart was finally at ease.

By this time, dusk had fallen, and the sky outside was gradually darkening. Lights began to twinkle in the imperial city.

Su Mu walked out of the library and went to the gatehouse. Zheng He had already prepared dinner, and the father and son were about to eat when Xiao Anran hurriedly returned.

"Congratulations, Imperial Preceptor! Congratulations, Imperial Preceptor!" Xiao Anran greeted Su Mu with a smile as soon as she entered the room.

"What's so great about it?" Su Mu was completely bewildered. He put down his bowl and chopsticks and looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"Your goddaughter, Consort Liu, is now the Empress of the Great Qian Dynasty!" Xiao Anran sat down with a smile, her tone full of laughter. "His Majesty just issued an edict, promoting Consort Liu to Empress and moving her to Fenghe Palace."

Seeing this, Zheng He quickly got up, turned around and went to the kitchen to get bowls and chopsticks for Xiao Anran.

"Oh." Su Mu simply nodded, his face showing neither surprise nor joy.

Liu Ruoyu becoming the new empress was entirely within his expectations. He didn't care about it at all—compared to Liu Ruoyu's position as empress, he was more concerned about when Liu Ruoyu would break through to the Innate Realm and bring him new system rewards.

Afterwards, while eating, Xiao Anran recounted to Su Mu in detail how the Emperor had summoned the Second Elder of the Tianwu Sect to the Qianming Hall. Afterwards, she asked with some concern, "Grand Preceptor, is His Majesty's handling of this matter appropriate? Won't the Tianwu Sect discover any flaws?"

"It's appropriate." Su Mu's tone was calm, without the slightest objection. "The emperor has his own considerations and difficulties. Different positions lead to different perspectives and ways of handling things, which is normal."

"That's good." Xiao Anran breathed a sigh of relief, a look of relief on her face. To this day, the entire Xiao royal family, including the emperor and herself, relies on Su Mu's support, so they naturally care a lot about Su Mu's attitude—if it weren't for Su Mu, they would have already suffered a complete disaster on the day of the sacrificial festival.

After dinner, Xiao Anran took her leave, while Su Mu returned to the second floor of the library. Jinzi was still fast asleep, and it seemed she wouldn't wake up anytime soon.

Su Mu sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes and regulated his breathing. After his mind was completely clear and his condition had returned to its best, he took out another Kunling True Fire Pill. This time, he was extra careful, holding the pill tightly in his palm, so that even if Jinzi suddenly woke up, it would not have a chance to snatch it.

After observing carefully for a moment and confirming that there were no problems, Su Mu swallowed the Kunling True Fire Pill.

The moment the pill entered his stomach, a violent, fiery medicinal power instantly swept through his body, surging into his inner world of Qi. Su Mu dared not be negligent and immediately released his acquired essence fire from within his Qi, guiding the medicinal flames to merge with his acquired essence fire.

He could clearly feel that his acquired essence fire was gradually sublimating and becoming stronger, the golden flames were becoming more and more intense, and the temperature around his body was rising sharply.

However, not long after, Su Mu discovered the anomaly—the vast energy contained in the medicinal flames of the Kunling True Fire Pill was mostly absorbed by the dragon shadow in the acquired essence fire. The dragon shadow became much clearer than before, and its aura became increasingly domineering.

Su Mu was not impatient. He waited patiently for the medicinal effects to finish taking effect, and then took out a Kunling True Fire Pill and swallowed it without hesitation.

As expected, almost all of the medicinal power of this Kunling True Fire Pill was absorbed by the Peng Shadow within the Acquired Essence Fire. The Peng Shadow became increasingly clear, spreading its wings as if about to take flight, its aura sharp and fierce. The Acquired Essence Fire itself, however, only absorbed a very small portion of the medicinal power.

After consuming two Kunling True Fire Pills, the entire cluster of acquired essence fire failed to complete its transformation and sublimation. Su Mu secretly rejoiced, thankful that the system had rewarded him with enough Kunling True Fire Pills; otherwise, completing the transformation of his acquired essence fire would have required much more effort.

Immediately afterwards, he swallowed the third Kunling True Fire Pill. This time, the medicinal flames were not absorbed by the dragon shadow or the roc shadow, but instead continuously merged into the golden flames themselves, nourishing the acquired essence fire and propelling it to complete its final transformation.

At midnight, Su Mu finally completed the overall transformation and sublimation of his acquired essence fire. At this moment, what enveloped him was no longer acquired essence fire, but true fire—a golden true fire that was blazing and dazzling, carrying an incomparably domineering aura, with a temperature high enough to scorch everything.