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

"Yes! This servant obeys the decree!" Feng Bao bowed and slowly stepped aside, following closely behind Xiao Anxun.

Only after stepping out of the Qianming Hall and bathing in the cool night breeze did Feng Bao dare to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. He felt a wave of relief wash over him, and the clothes on his back were already sticking to his body, feeling both cold and uncomfortable.

At midnight, the entire palace was quiet and still, with only the occasional, clear footsteps of the night patrolling guards.

On the second floor of the library, Su Mu stayed in a room he had personally arranged. He took a deep breath and finally mustered up his courage to take out the core of the Dragon Blood Fruit from the jade box.

Previously, he had only observed it with his naked eye and explored it with his divine sense, but had never actually touched the core of this strange fruit.

The fruit, about the size of a lychee, was entirely reddish with a faint golden glow around its surface, and it emitted a scorching heat upon being touched. Su Mu dared not be careless and immediately circulated his true energy to cover his palm to prevent being burned.

But the next second, something strange happened—the imperial power hidden within his body surged out uncontrollably, flowing into the core of the Dragon Blood Fruit through his palm!

"What's going on?" Su Mu's eyes widened suddenly, his face filled with disbelief.

Even he himself found it extremely difficult to actively withdraw the imperial power from his body, yet this tiny fruit could actively absorb his imperial power!

What surprised him even more was that the fruit seemed to be interested only in pure royal power, but had no reaction to the imperial aura that dissipated into the air and lost its master.

"The imperial palace is filled with the aura of an emperor. Why doesn't it absorb the scattered energy between heaven and earth, but instead tries to seize the imperial power within my body?" Su Mu frowned and fell into deep thought.

He quickly used his divine sense to carefully investigate and discovered that the imperial power contained in the core of the Dragon Blood Fruit was slowly merging with the true essence within his body.

"So that's why the Xiao royal family couldn't refine it—they didn't possess pure imperial power and couldn't resonate with the power within the fruit." Su Mu gradually came to understand.

The Dragon Blood Fruit contains both the violent power of ancient dragon blood and the pure life force, and its imperial power can serve as a medium for the fusion of the two.

"Since it can absorb my imperial aura and then reciprocate and fuse with it, can I use the Imperial Supreme Body Technique to absorb and refine all the power it contains?"

Without further ado, Su Mu gripped the core of the Dragon Blood Fruit, activated the exclusive breathing technique from the Imperial Body Technique, and the speed of his true essence circulation suddenly increased as he began to actively draw upon the power within the fruit.

This method of absorption is similar to the spiritual power he used to draw from spirit stones, except that the power in the Dragon Blood Fruit is far more violent and pure than the spiritual power in the spirit stones.

Nowadays, spirit stones are scarce in the Great Xia Dynasty. Spirit stones that were commonplace ten thousand years ago have long become a rare resource. Such pure power is even more so for him.

A moment later, Su Mu felt a pale golden power seep out from the core of the Dragon Blood Fruit and slowly merge into his palm.

A slight stinging sensation came from his palm, and the golden light rushed into his body through the meridians of his arm!

The next second, excruciating pain swept through his entire body! Those wisps of pale golden power, like countless tiny steel needles, shuttled back and forth and impacted his meridians, making every inch of his meridians feel as if they were about to be torn apart.

Su Mu quickly slowed down his absorption speed, not daring to let too much power flow into his body, for fear of damaging his meridians.

Before he could even circulate his cultivation technique to channel the energy, the pale golden power surged into his bloodline, intertwining and merging with his essence and blood.

Su Mu used his divine sense to examine himself and was shocked to find that his blood had begun to emit a faint golden light, and his body temperature was rising rapidly, making his whole body feel as hot as if it were being burned by a raging fire.

Blood is the most primal energy and the most powerful foundation of the human body. At this moment, the golden power merges with his essence blood, bringing extreme pain, but also quietly tempering his physical body.

Su Mu could clearly feel that his physical strength was slowly increasing, but the increase was very slight—clearly, the golden power he had just absorbed was far from enough.

He gritted his teeth, gripped the core of the Dragon Blood Fruit tightly again, and accelerated his breathing. More golden power flowed into his body and deeply merged with his bloodline.

He remained cautious, not daring to be greedy, after all, the golden power in the Dragon Blood Fruit was too violent, and once it got out of control, it would cause devastating damage to his physical body.

Fortunately, the imperial power within him was no ordinary thing. It not only endowed him with a powerful physique but also neutralized the ferocity of the golden power, helping him to better digest and absorb this strange force.

"The Xiao royal family lacks the aura of an emperor. Even if they obtain this fruit, they can only look on with envy and ultimately have no chance to enjoy such a treasure." Su Mu chuckled to himself.

He could clearly feel that this golden power was similar to the cultivation method of the "Imperial Supreme Body Technique". It could not only temper his physical body and invigorate his blood and qi, but also nourish his imperial power, making his supreme body even stronger.

A night passes in the blink of an eye.

It took Su Mu an entire night to completely refine the strange power within the core of the Dragon Blood Fruit.

As dawn broke, the first rays of sunlight streamed into the room through the window.

Su Mu used his divine sense to examine himself again, and his pupils suddenly contracted—his blood was burning with dazzling golden flames, and his body was surrounded by a faint golden halo. His physical strength and blood energy had both been qualitatively improved.

However, the golden flames continued to slowly burn his meridians, bringing waves of needle-like pain, which would gradually dissipate as the power was fully integrated.

Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and the palace should be bustling with activity.

Su Mu's condition was not yet fully stable, so he stayed in his room and was not in a position to receive guests. However, he could sense that many people had come to the library, each carrying a gift box, clearly there to wish him a Happy New Year.

In the Great Xia Dynasty, there was no traditional New Year's greeting custom; the annual God Worship Festival was the most important festival.

The festival of worshipping the gods is followed by New Year's Day. On this day, nobles, princes and ministers in the palace would visit each other to maintain good relations and build ties.

Su Mu transmigrated to the palace and found himself without any relatives or close friends, only accompanied by his three adopted sons, Feng Bao, Cheng Ping'an, and Yu Tian.

In previous years, he would prepare a small gift for Li Lianqing on New Year's Day as a way of repaying his past kindness.

Ordinary eunuchs, like those in the past, were not qualified to give gifts to the powerful and influential in the palace. In the Great Xia Imperial Palace, accepting gifts from eunuchs was taboo, and giving gifts to eunuchs was considered a loss of status, and one would be ridiculed for "colluding with eunuchs."

However, there are always exceptions. For example, a top eunuch who holds great power is a different story.

For example, when Wei Zhongxian served as the Grand Eunuch of the Inner Court, every New Year's Day, not only would countless eunuchs vie to present him with gifts, but even nobles, princes, and ministers in the palace would send people to deliver lavish gifts to curry favor.