Chapter 1: First Defeat
The Emperor’s grand selection has already been three months. Why has there been no happy news from the harem yet?
Happy news? What happy news? Are you some evil mother-in-law? It’s only been three months since the wedding, and you’re already itching to hold a big grandson?
In Qian Yuan Palace, Xu Changle—having just watched the inner attendant finish poison-testing—was about to happily dig into his more-than-a-hundred-dish feast when he nearly sprayed the soup he’d just sipped back out.
Xu Changle stared in shock at the young woman seated beside him.
Perhaps she could no longer be called a “young woman”—though she appeared youthful, she was currently the de facto ruler of this nation.
The Prime Minister.
Xiao Tan.
Or rather—Regent Prime Minister Xiao Tan.
In short, the situation was complicated, but to make it brief: Xu Changle had transmigrated.
That had happened over a year ago.
Back then, Xu Changle had been deeply addicted to a game wildly popular among young people: Otherworld Life Simulator.
Every day he watched ads to refresh talent entries, then simulated lives across various otherworlds.
He played like someone who had forgotten what heaven and earth even were.
He’d even gone to the forums to read guides. One big shot mentioned that in Otherworld Life Simulator, there was an extremely rare talent entry—almost impossible to roll, one in a billion. If you got it, you absolutely had to experience it.
Xu Changle was instantly hooked by this ultra-rare entry.
He watched ads day and night, desperately refreshing talents—until finally, he rolled it.
It was an orange entry called “Chaos Summon (Triggers at game start).”
He had no idea what it actually did, only that it was extremely rare. Apart from that one big shot’s casual mention, Xu Changle had never seen anyone else on the forums talk about this talent.
So, that day, Xu Changle was completely unprepared.
He even took a screenshot and showed off on the forum, carefully selected three talents, allocated the system’s 20 initial attribute points, and only then officially started that life simulation run.
And then—there was no “then.”
The moment he pressed “Start Game,” in the blink of an eye, the world changed.
He inexplicably found himself lying in a freezing-cold, dust-covered ancient palace hall.
His body was stiff from the chill, strength completely drained—he couldn’t move at all. It felt like the next second he would breathe his last.
Only a floating light screen hovered before his eyes, resembling a phone interface, running the Otherworld Life Simulator UI. Text scrolled across it at high speed.
[Game Start.]
[Your initial attributes are:
Family Background: 8
Physique: 3
Appearance: 8
Intelligence: 1]
[You possess the following talents: [Orange] Chaos Summon (Triggers at game start), [Orange] Demigod (All initial attributes +2, effective at game start), [Purple] Otherworld Visitor (I hear it… the scent of gossip!)]
[Talent “Chaos Summon” triggered. Random world drawn—Matriarchal Transcendent World.]
[Conducting transcendent physique evaluation…]
[This is a transcendent world. Player Intelligence <5. No transcendent physique.]
[Talent “Demigod” triggered. All your initial attributes +2.]
[Your current attributes are:
Family Background: 10 (Human maximum)
Physique: 5
Appearance: 10 (Human maximum)
Intelligence: 3]
[Re-conducting transcendent physique evaluation…]
[This is a transcendent world. Your Intelligence <5. No transcendent physique.]
There was no time for Xu Changle to think carefully. Otherworld Life Simulator simply continued running and refreshing text on its own.
[Age 0: You were born. You are a boy.]
[Age 1: You grew up in Tianchen Palace—Ningrui Courtyard. Your birth father was a palace attendant favored by the Great Abyss Emperor Xu Langyi in a drunken encounter—low status. You were entrusted to Consort Liu, a favored consort without daughters or sons, for raising.]
[Age 2: Consort Liu became pregnant and did not take good care of you.]
[Age 3: Consort Liu’s daughter was born. That very night you fell gravely ill. Consort Liu deemed you inauspicious.]
[Age 4: You grew extremely beautiful. Consort Liu treated you slightly better.]
[Age 5: Consort Liu brought you to attend the birthday banquet of the Emperor Dowager. Your appearance astonished the palace consorts. The Emperor Dowager seemed to like you very much and even praised you.]
[Age 6: Your birth father suddenly appeared, attempting to abduct you. He was discovered and executed by imperial decree.]
[Age 7: For some unknown reason, Consort Liu’s attitude toward you became erratic—sometimes warm, sometimes cold.]
[Age 8: Consort Chen discovered a curse doll intended to hex the Emperor in your palace.]
[Age 9: You were sent to live in the Cold Palace.]
[Age 10: You fell gravely ill in the Cold Palace.]
[Age 11: You fell gravely ill again. The palace servants said the Emperor Dowager had also fallen ill.]
[Age 12: The palace attendants grew increasingly negligent toward you; their figures were rarely seen.]
[Age 13: Your clothes became too short again, but no one cared. It seemed the entire palace had already forgotten you existed.]
[Age 14: You fell gravely ill.]
[Age 15: Something seemed to have happened in the palace. All the servants in the Cold Palace fled. Only very occasionally would someone bring you spoiled, rancid food.]
[Age 16: You were on the verge of dying from illness.]
[Age 17: A large group of people suddenly arrived in the Cold Palace. They said you were the last surviving bloodline of the previous Emperor. Now—you are the Emperor.]
Speechless.
Back then, lying in the Cold Palace on the brink of death, the last line of text Xu Changle saw left him with this exact expression:
“???”
In the final moment before losing consciousness, the simulator’s last line became reality.
The already dilapidated doors of the Cold Palace were practically smashed open. A crowd of palace attendants and indistinct figures surged in, surrounding him and wailing hysterically.
Among them stood a somewhat younger Xiao Tan.
She wore a vermilion official robe—a color that should have been bright and lively, yet on her it only accentuated the icy chill of her features.
Perhaps she had always been this cold. Even such a vivid hue, when worn by her, only made people feel colder.
And when she frowned, that coldness became something almost tangible.
The surrounding blurry-faced inner attendants—who had only been able to wail around Xu Changle—immediately fell silent the moment she frowned. They knelt trembling on the ground, bodies shaking.
Xiao Tan merely lowered her gaze. Her tone carried not a trace of fluctuation—as though she weren’t addressing the last surviving child of the previous Emperor, but some random stray kitten or puppy picked up by the roadside.
“Your Highness.”
She spoke almost in the manner of a formal proclamation.
“From this day forward—you are the Emperor of Great Abyss.”
Only later did Xu Changle learn the truth.
Before Xiao Tan led people into the Cold Palace and found him still breathing, several daughters of the previous Emperor—who had not participated in the palace coup—were still alive.
Even if they were incompetent, they were still the previous Emperor’s bloodline and naturally qualified to ascend the throne.
But clearly, Xiao Tan did not think so.
Fire, chaos soldiers, bandits… in short, that day was utter mayhem—so chaotic that by the time everyone came to their senses, only the Xu Changle found by Xiao Tan had survived.
Thus, Xu Changle became the new Emperor of this nation—the only male Emperor in many years.
In short: the strongest opportunist king.
He was also known as—the puppet little Emperor of Regent Prime Minister Xiao Tan.
And now, this very Regent Prime Minister was sitting beside Xu Changle, gazing at him with deep, unfathomable eyes.
“His Majesty is growing older. In another two years, you will reach the age of capping. By this age, the previous Emperor already had several imperial princesses and princes in the harem. Yet Your Majesty remains without heirs beneath your knees. This minister feels ashamed before the late Emperor…”
Xu Changle’s hair stood on end. He felt as though the word “danger” had been written across his forehead.
He tried to explain:
“Perhaps… the life in the Cold Palace previously damaged my health, so… producing heirs has been somewhat difficult…”
Xiao Tan quietly watched Xu Changle.
“Perhaps it truly damaged your health—thus Your Majesty has never even visited the harem. The other consorts are one thing, but the Empress is this minister’s younger clan cousin…”
Understood!
I get it!
Having struggled to survive under Xiao Tan’s thumb for more than a year, Xu Changle had gained some understanding of the woman beside him—who had an even colder heart than her face.
She disliked an overly stupid Emperor—but she also disliked one who was overly clever.
Xu Changle’s best strategy was to be clever when he should be clever, and stupid when he should be stupid.
So he could only declare loudly in front of Xiao Tan:
“Someone come! Prepare the palanquin! Tonight, We shall rest in the Empress’s palace!”
He would rest there, yes—but whether anything actually happened? Did Xiao Tan really think she could force him?