September 2nd.
This morning, Lin Yue suddenly discovered that Su Ziqiu had a fever.
"So hot?"
Lin Yue sat by the bed, touching her forehead with his fingertips, and finding it scorching hot.
According to experiences from his previous life, the temperature was at least 40 degrees.
Su Ziqiu, however, seemed relatively untroubled, her cheeks flushed red, her breaths more labored, and her body weaker.
"You have a fever."
Lin Yue withdrew his hand, calmly looking at Su Ziqiu, and suggested, "How about I immerse you in icy water for a couple of days?"
Su Ziqiu couldn't respond verbally due to numbness in her mouth; she could only glare at him resentfully with her eyes.
"But, why the sudden high fever?"
Lin Yue examined her body, her brows slightly furrowed.
He wasn't concerned about Su Ziqiu's health nor whether she was ill.
After all, Su Ziqiu had been continuously consuming Bone-dissolving Powder for over two months, and if she were a normal person, she would have turned into a puddle of mud. Yet having never practiced cultivation, she was surviving, relying on her latent Bloodline Divine Power for so long without much trouble.
If he fed her less Bone-dissolving Powder, Su Ziqiu might very well recover completely.
What Lin Yue cared about was why Su Ziqiu suddenly developed a high fever.
This couldn't be due to infection from a wound.
Because the penetrating wound in Su Ziqiu's chest, which went through her lung, had been inflicted by him over two months ago, and her natural healing ability was much stronger than an ordinary person's. He also regularly reopened the wound to prevent her from healing on her own.
Yet all this while, Su Ziqiu had never shown signs of a fever.
What happened today?
"Do you know something?"
Lin Yue slowly narrowed his eyes, looking at Su Ziqiu.
But Su Ziqiu just glared at him as she always did, her eyes filled with hatred.
Lin Yue, ignoring her gaze, again touched various parts of her body and discovered that her whole body was feverish, as if she had been roasted in a furnace, seeming like all her blood was boiling.
Blood?
"Could it be..."
A thought suddenly flashed in Lin Yue's mind, his expression shifted slightly, and he whispered, "It is said that once the Imperial Family of Xiahong awakens their Bloodline, they might awaken Innate Divine Power. Are you beginning to awaken your Bloodline?"
Regarding Innate Divine Power, he had some understanding from a secretive Second Ring Level event.
Aside from lucky individuals like him, born once in a billion, members of the Great Yong Imperial Family could also awaken Innate Divine Power if their Bloodline awakened.
And a Prince, being a direct descendant of the God Emperor, would definitely awaken Innate Divine Power once their Bloodline awakened!
That was the special nature of the offspring of the God Emperor.
"It seems your Bloodline is awakening."
Lin Yue looked at Su Ziqiu and, narrowing his eyes, said, "If I drain your blood, will your Bloodline still awaken?"
Su Ziqiu couldn't speak, but even if she could, she probably would have only said something useless such as "then just kill me" or "do as you please."
However, Lin Yue wouldn't actually do that.
If he drained too much blood, she might actually die, and then he would be doomed.
"Now I'm curious, what will your Innate Divine Power be?"
Lin Yue smiled, then picked up a small bowl containing vegetable porridge next to him. In front of Su Ziqiu, he poured Bone-dissolving Powder and Soul-binding Water into the bowl, stirred it casually, then started to force-feed her the medicated porridge by pinching her cheeks.
"To celebrate the awakening of your Bloodline, today I'll give you double the dose of Soul-binding Water and Bone-dissolving Powder as my gift," he said with a smile.
Su Ziqiu paid him no heed, merely trying her best to swallow the thin porridge.
After a while, she weakly fell asleep.
Lin Yue put down the empty bowl, his smile gradually fading.
He could tell that Su Ziqiu wanted to live; therefore, she always tried to swallow the porridge, knowing well it was laced with drugs.
To survive.
Perhaps, she also knew that one day her Bloodline would awaken, followed by the awakening of her Innate Divine Power.
That would be her chance to escape.
Innate Divine Power is an extraordinary talent, and no one knows what kind of ability one might get.
If Su Ziqiu truly awakened a special Innate Divine Power, particularly one that could cope with the current situation, then he would be in trouble.
Then, he would only have two options: kill her or escape.
Using the treasure he had obtained from a secret Five Rings Level event, he was somewhat confident solely in escaping.
But Lin Yue was not content to hide like a rat, nor was he sure how long he could escape.
Moreover...
Old Master Tu was still under the control of Baili Fengzhi; if possible, Lin Yue wanted to rescue Old Master Tu and escape together.
Having Old Master Tu along might make escaping simpler.
"What a hassle..."
Lin Yue took a deep breath, his brow furrowed as he glanced at Su Ziqiu, feeling utterly troubled.
Completely at a loss as to how to solve this predicament.
It seemed to be an insoluble deadlock.
"The awakening of Imperial Family Bloodline takes time, and the purer the Bloodline, the longer it needs."
Lin Yue recalled a book he had read a few days ago, a chronicle of the world that, besides geography and culture, also contained some information about the Bloodline awakening of the Xiahong Imperial Family.
Though Xiahong strictly controlled their Bloodline inheritance, after thousands of years of proliferation and branching out, there were quite a few who carried the Xiahong Bloodline, nearly all high-ranking nobles from Jingzhou.
The duration of the Xiahong Bloodline awakening varied, with the longest being nine days.