This Time I Must Achieve a Happy Ending with the Empress - Episode 1

Passing through the dim and winding underground passage, the girl in white walked straight to the center of the circular magic array at the innermost part of the subterranean shrine.

Slowly removing her white hood, her face radiant as a pearl and pure as morning dew was now etched with an aura of solemn lethality.

Her eyes, once as clear and beautiful as autumn waters, now emitted a piercing, bone-chilling coldness as she swept her gaze over the eight black-robed Spirit Venerables stationed at the eight corners of the array.

“…Have you all made your decision?” The girl’s lips parted slightly as she posed the question with icy detachment.

The eldest among the black-robed figures nodded slowly and spoke in measured tones, “It matters not whether we are ready or not… The Boundless Realm has fallen to such a state that there is no longer a place for our Flower Clan. Rather than be swallowed by the Shadow Realm and perish in bitterness, we would strive to reverse this defeat before our lives fade away.”

Another added, “Since it was our ancestor who committed the sin, it is only right that we, her descendants, atone for it. Too many innocent lives have already been lost due to our ancestor’s greed. Even if we were to continue living in shame, we would inevitably face karmic retribution. Though we may die now, as long as you succeed, our Flower Clan may yet survive. Thus, we have no reason to hesitate.”

“We know you despise our ancestor, despise our clan. But if you can return, we beg you, for the sake of the lifetime our clan raised you, for the sake of your parents now, to leave some lineage for the Flower Clan.”

Leave some lineage?

Hah.

The girl named Zhaoli sneered inwardly.

Did you leave any lineage for the Qingqiu Fox Clan, for the Asura Clan, or for the countless other fallen races?

It was Qing Tong’s selfish greed that led to this very outcome.

Yet Zhaoli also knew that Qing Tong’s sins could not be wholly laid upon her descendants. After all, they could not choose their lineage; they, too, were innocent.

And now, they were willing to offer the very meaning of their existence as a sacrifice to send Zhaoli back to the past, to rectify the wrongs committed by their ancestor, Qing Tong.

In her past life, Zhaoli was also named Zhaoli, the young princess of the Celestial Nine-Tailed Fox Clan of the Phantom Beast races.

The Boundless Realm was home to countless races. Among them, the Asura Clan, the Dragon Clan, and the Human Clan held the greatest power.

For only these three races had produced Spirit Emperors who had cultivated beyond the 90th level.

The Celestial Nine-Tailed Fox Clan, the highest-ranking among the Qingqiu foxes, bore the lofty title of “Celestial Foxes” in name only. Their long-departed ancestor had been a Spirit Emperor, but successive clan leaders had peaked at the 65th to 69th levels merely Spirit Venerables with no hope of further breakthroughs.

The Qingqiu Fox Clan could only tuck their tails and submit, at the mercy of other races.

In the Boundless Realm, strength dictated all. Weakness was a sin.

Qing Tong was the princess of the Flower Clan.

The Flower Clan’s leader was a peak Spirit King at the 79th level, just one step away from reaching the 80th level and ascending to Spirit Sage.

Among these lesser clans, producing a Spirit King at the 70th level was already a remarkable feat.

Princess Qing Tong of the Flower Clan was renowned throughout the Boundless Realm for her purity, grace, and ethereal beauty; a true jewel among the heavens.

By the age of twelve, she had already reached the 30th level, her talent extraordinary, her future boundless.

Thus, she was the focus of admiration and attention from countless races.

The number of clans seeking marriage alliances with Qing Tong was beyond counting.

Meanwhile, Zhaoli, of the same age, was a mere waste at the 8th level. At their age, most cultivators ranged between the 12th and 16th levels.

Qing Tong and her were worlds apart, destined never to cross paths in this lifetime. The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox clan and the Flower Clan had never shared any camaraderie to begin with.

Yet, during a youth martial arts tournament, Qing Tong stepped forward to teach a lesson to several 19th-level Spirit Awakeners who had bullied Zhao Li, thus forging a fateful connection.

Whether it was the suspension bridge effect or something else, the 12-year-old Zhao Li, naive and impressionable, fell head over heels for this powerful and beautiful girl at first sight.

And to her surprise, Qing Tong also said she liked Zhao Li.

From that moment on, Zhao Li was deeply ensnared by those simple words—”I like you.”

To please her beloved, she obeyed Qing Tong in everything.

When the 99th-level Supreme Spirit Emperor of the Asura Clan, Empress Ye Lan, expressed her intention to take Zhao Li as her consort, it was Qing Tong’s sweet words that convinced Zhao Li to exploit Ye Lan’s affection, cleverly securing benefits for the Flower Clan.

Zhao Li once told Qing Tong, “I don’t like Ye Lan. I only like you. I don’t want to deliberately flatter her and make you unhappy.”

But Qing Tong replied, “For our future, using Ye Lan is a necessary step. I hope you can endure and play along with her for the sake of what’s to come.”

Step by step, Zhao Li was dragged into Qing Tong’s grand scheme. In the end, she was manipulated by the human emperor’s magic, forced to willingly offer herself as a sacrifice to Qing Tong and worse, the entire Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox clan was annihilated by the humans.

Sacrifice wasn’t just about offering one’s cultivation. It meant surrendering one’s soul as well.

It was giving everything, completely and utterly, to the other. The beneficiary’s power would soar, while the sacrificed would vanish entirely, with no chance of reincarnation.

Because it was a “voluntary” sacrifice, even Ye Lan couldn’t save her.

Yet, Ye Lan exhausted her lifelong cultivation, invoking forbidden arts to anchor Zhao Li’s soul, allowing her to reincarnate rather than disappear from existence.

Whether out of hatred for Qing Tong, remorse toward Ye Lan, or both Zhao Li was reborn with her memories intact.

She reincarnated into the Flower Clan ten thousand years later, in the womb of Qing Tong’s direct descendant.

It was tragic and ironic. Her karmic ties with Qing Tong truly knew no end.

But ten thousand years later, the Endless Realm was on the brink of destruction. Over the millennia, countless races had fallen, and most of the Endless Realm had been swallowed by the Shadow Realm.

Only a handful of clans remained, hiding underground, clinging to survival.

The Flower Clan was among them.

And their plight was even more dire not only did they have to evade the Shadow Realm’s devouring, but they also had to escape the pursuit of other races.

It was only after reincarnating ten thousand years later that Zhao Li fully realized how crucial Ye Lan and her Asura Clan had been to the Endless Realm.

The infinite cosmos was composed of countless worlds, each governed by different laws. The Endless Realm was but one among them.

There were many other worlds.

Yet, due to cosmic laws, most of these worlds never intersected.

But the Shadow Realm was an exception.

Its inhabitants survived by devouring the souls of sinners from all worlds.

Every world had its underworld, or what some called hell. If a soul was burdened with grave sins in life, they would fall into the endless abyss after death.

In truth, that endless abyss was none other than the Shadow Realm.

Gradually, the Shadow Realm grew insatiable. Devouring sinners could no longer satisfy their craving for souls, so they extended their reach into various worlds, consuming all living beings to satiate their hunger for spiritual energy.

A million years ago, the Shadow Realm once invaded the Wuji Realm. At that time, the two peak 99th-level Emperors of the Asura Clan and the Dragon Clan joined forces to suppress the invasion.

To prevent another incursion, the Asura Emperor relocated the Asura territory above the rift where the Shadow Realm had breached, sealing the fissure with the full strength of their clan to avert disaster.

A million years passed, and the inhabitants of the Wuji Realm had long forgotten the threat of the Shadow Realm. Qing Tong, driven by selfish ambition, schemed to eliminate the most powerful Asura Clan from the Wuji Realm.

Zhao Li had become nothing more than a pawn in Qing Tong’s hands.

Meanwhile, Ye Lan, stripped of all her cultivation, naturally became the prime target for other spirit masters.

The fate of Ye Lan was something Zhao Li, after her reincarnation, learned from the current leader of the Flower Clan her father in this life.

In the Wuji Realm, all races cultivated their levels through their spiritual roots.

In other words, only by awakening their spiritual roots could one become a spirit master. The more exceptional the spiritual root, the greater the talent of the spirit master.

But the Asura Clan was different.

The Asura were phantom spirits. Beyond their spiritual roots, they possessed another unique power, phantom energy.

Ye Lan had only given Zhao Li all the cultivation she had attained through her spiritual roots, but she still had her phantom energy to rely on. Other spirit masters couldn’t easily kill her.

To maintain the seal on the rift, the cultivation of an Emperor-level was essential.

Thus, Ye Lan exhausted all her phantom energy, using her own body as the seal, paying the price of eternal slumber to close the fissure.

But Qing Tong, seeking to ascend to the rank of Spirit Emperor, devoured Ye Lan’s body, absorbing her last remnants of phantom energy.

Qing Tong did become the first Spirit Emperor in the history of the Flower Clan, but with Ye Lan’s disappearance, the rift to the Shadow Realm gradually reopened.

A thousand years later, the Asura Clan vanished entirely from the Wuji Realm.

Nine thousand years later, the Shadow Realm invaded. The Dragon Clan, the Phoenix Clan, the Winged Clan, the Phantom Beast Clan one after another, they were all consumed by the Shadow Realm.

Only then did people realize the importance of the Asura Clan, and the Flower Clan became the sinners of the Wuji Realm.

The Flower Clan and a few other surviving races clung to life for another thousand years, but their fate was nearing its end.

Thus, the eight remaining Spirit Venerables of the Flower Clan made a decision. At the cost of their own lives, they would perform the Soul Awakening Ceremony to send Zhao Li’s soul to the God of a Foreign Star. Through a bargain with this deity, she would return to the past and alter the fate of the Wuji Realm’s downfall.

They knew Zhao Li hated the Flower Clan. That was why they were certain even if it was out of sheer hatred. She would not let Qing Tong live.

As long as Qing Tong died, the tragedy could be averted.

But as Qing Tong’s direct descendants, her death would also erase their existence entirely.

Yet they didn’t care nor could they afford to. Because of Qing Tong’s greed, so many races had perished. As her descendants, they had no right to continue clinging to life.

Their only hope was to ensure the Flower Clan’s bloodline endured.

Standing atop the ritual array, Zhao Li silently withdrew her gaze and said calmly, “Begin.”

As the array’s light flared, the eight Spirit Venerables collapsed one by one, drained of their spiritual power. Meanwhile, Zhao Li was transported by the array’s power to a hidden realm.

This secluded realm was a confined space brimming with spiritual energy, spanning only a hundred meters in diameter.

At the center of the space, atop a crystal pillar, a woman of breathtaking beauty played a harp in serene silence.

—The God of Another Star, the God of the End.

The only divine sovereign in the infinite cosmos capable of leaping between different universes, traversing worlds governed by different laws, and possessing the power to erase those worlds.

She could command life as easily as she could decree death. An existence feared even by the mighty of the Shadow Realm.

And the sole being capable of altering the laws of causality. The one who could send Zhao Li back to the past.

Facing the divine pressure of the God, Zhao Li’s legs trembled uncontrollably.

Yet, this divine sovereign was merely playing her harp in silence, with no intention of intimidating her.

Or rather, a being as insignificant as Zhao Li was hardly worth the God of Another Star’s notice.

Only when the melody came to an end did the God finally acknowledge her presence.

“Great God of Another Star, I have come to propose a transaction,” Zhao Li said before the God could speak, kneeling reverently with a pleading tone.

The God silently observed her. Just being under that gaze, Zhao Li felt an unprecedented pressure, as if an invisible hand were squeezing her. Her very soul seemed laid bare before the deity’s piercing scrutiny.

“You wish to return to the past?” came the God’s emotionless voice.

“Yes! I beg for your consent!” Zhao Li bowed her head even lower.

“Very well,” the God replied, still devoid of emotion.

Zhao Li had assumed the God would not agree so easily.

Her return to the past would inevitably alter the future. She had expected the God to refuse on the grounds of temporal paradox.

But this deity simply did not care.

Zhao Li understood whether the Boundless Realm suffered temporal paradoxes or not was of no concern to the God.

As the primordial deity who governed the infinite cosmos, the existence of any single universe (or world) was as trivial to her as an ant’s existence was to a human.

The survival or annihilation of the Boundless Realm would have no impact on other worlds.

Zhao Li let out a quiet sigh of relief. As long as the God agreed, as long as she could ensure Ye Lan wouldn’t have to die, she was willing to do anything.

“Then… what price must I pay?”

The reincarnated Zhao Li was no longer as naive as she had been in her past life. There was no such thing as a free lunch. Naturally, she would have to offer something in return.

The God’s tranquil eyes lingered on her for a moment before softly uttering a single sentence.

Without a second thought, Zhao Li agreed. “No problem. As long as you can send me back to the past, as long as I can rewrite Ye Lan’s fate, no matter what you do to me, I will not utter a single word of complaint.”