After my whole family overheard my thoughts, they went berserk.

The Empress naturally knew that Qing Sui was worried about the baby in her arms, and she herself was also uneasy.

"Don't worry, our Huayao Palace is a place of righteousness, there won't be anything unclean here," Qianhe said.

Qing Sui also put aside her worries: "That's true. The Emperor is in Hua Yao Palace every day. With the dragon's aura suppressing it, he's not afraid of any demons or monsters."

Even so, the Empress still quietly closed the doors and windows and carefully checked every corner of the room.

Inside the Liuyun Hall, two officials from the Imperial Observatory, their faces tense, reported the situation to the Emperor.

"Your Majesty, I observed the celestial phenomena last night and discovered something unusual."

The Emperor countered, "Now, the Huayao Kingdom enjoys favorable weather and abundant harvests, and its people live in peace and prosperity. What unusual phenomena could there be in the celestial signs?"

The Imperial Astronomical Bureau official said, "In the celestial phenomena, there was originally a bright star, but it suddenly dimmed for several months. Tonight, that star suddenly shone brightly, even threatening to overshadow the main star. Your Majesty is worried... this is an ominous sign!"

The emperor's expression froze.

Celestial phenomena have always been very particular and accurate, and there have been no abnormalities in the past twenty years.

Why did things suddenly turn out this way today?

It's like that once dim star has finally waited for its chance to turn the tide!

"Tonight, observe the celestial phenomena carefully again. If there are any abnormalities, report them to me immediately!"

After the Imperial Astronomical Bureau left, the Emperor paced back and forth in the palace.

Celestial phenomena are related to the fate of a nation. If the celestial phenomena are not optimistic, it will inevitably affect the fate of the Huayao nation.

late at night.

The Emperor was still pondering in the Chaoyun Hall and had no desire to sleep until Eunuch Lu broke the silence of the hall.

"Your Majesty, the leader of the Tianji Sect of Baiyu Mountain has sent you a document overnight!" Eunuch Lu presented it to him.

The emperor hurriedly opened the document and, upon reading the few lines, discovered the secrets of heaven.

"Could it be that a single star can truly change the fate of a nation?" The Emperor asked solemnly, throwing the petition to the ground.

Eunuch Lu hurriedly went downstairs, picked up the note, and his expression changed drastically.

The document mentions something related to unusual celestial phenomena.

Within the palace, a dim star is about to rise; this is the will of Heaven, and no one can defy it, or they will surely be punished by Heaven!

The Imperial Astronomical Bureau would take turns reporting on the situation every half hour.

That star in the sky is now on par with the Empress, and its brilliance is no less than that of the Empress!

This indicates that this rising star has the ambition to usurp the throne!

The emperor was filled with unease, so he personally climbed the rooftop to carefully observe the celestial phenomena and discovered that the night stars were exactly as the Imperial Astronomical Bureau had predicted.

"Does that star point towards the inner palace?" the Emperor questioned the Imperial Observatory.

The Imperial Astronomical Bureau official knelt behind him, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead, and said uncertainly, "Yes!"

"Summon the geomancer to the palace immediately! I need to find out exactly where this star is located!"

Boom!

A thunderclap resounded in the sky, accompanied by flashes of lightning and roars of thunder, enveloping the entire palace, while bolts of lightning shot straight into the inner palace.

"Thunder in winter is an ominous sign!" the geomancer told the emperor.

Huayao Palace.

The Empress was awakened by the thunder. She instinctively opened her eyes and held Shi Miaomiao protectively in her arms.

But Shi Miaomiao showed no reaction and remained asleep. The Empress breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that she was unaffected.

Looking out the window, streaks of lightning flashed like daylight. She felt a vague unease and stayed by Shi Miaomiao's side, not daring to let go for a moment.

The reason Shi Miaomiao wasn't awakened was because she was caught in a dream.

She entered the Netherworld, surrounded by white mist. Ahead lay a pitch-black path, which she walked towards like a walking corpse.

Upon arriving at the Yama King's Palace, Yama King was kneeling on the ground in worship, and directly above him was a serene and otherworldly female bodhisattva.

"This is the Goddess Houtu! You ignorant child, kneel down immediately!" Yama pulled Shi Miaomiao down and made her kneel beside him.

Shi Miaomiao's attention was not on this.

"Are you the King of Hell?" She stood up awkwardly, stretched out her right leg, put her hands on her hips, and questioned him.

Yama, the King of Hell, said, "In this underworld, there is no one who doesn't recognize me!"

That's right, you're the one I've been looking for!

Shi Miaomiao grabbed his ear and confronted him.

"What did I do to offend you? Why are you messing with me like this? Do you know how hard it is for me to transmigrate into a book? Why are you playing such a cruel trick on my fate?"

"Ouch!"

Even the King of Hell didn't expect this little baby to be so fierce.

"Grandma, those were people from the underworld who were taking a nap while doing their work. You can't blame me! I've already fired those two and banished them to the animal realm!"

"That's not your responsibility. As the person in charge of the underworld, you should take full responsibility for such unreliable staff!"

"Ouch, please let go, please let go!" Yama winced in pain.

Shi Miaomiao refused to give up, raising her chin and saying, "You have to make it up to me. You have to change my fate. I want to live to be a hundred years old!"

"My disciple, how dare you be so rude!" Houtu Niangniang looked at Shi Miaomiao with a kind expression.

Disciple?

Shi Miaomiao looked towards Houtu Niangniang, her little face shrouded in golden light behind her, looking just like a little prodigy.

"Fairy sister, you are so beautiful, just as beautiful as my mother."

Houtu Niangniang said, "Listen to your master, don't make things difficult for him. It's all fate. You have a special destiny. You had perfect merits in your previous life and entered the Heavenly Path, but you entered the Human Path again in order to save all living beings."

Shi Miaomiao seemed to understand but not quite: "If I have achieved perfect merit, why is my fate so unfortunate, and why did I die so young in all three of my transmigrated books?"

"Your previous two lives did not belong to you; this life is the world that truly belongs to you. Your mission is to change the course of destiny. However, the way of Heaven cannot be defied; you can only change it with your own power. Do not fight evil with evil. If you can change destiny and save all living beings, you can return to the way of Heaven."

"So, whether I live past the age of two depends on me changing my own destiny, right? But what if I fail to fulfill my mission?"

Houtu Niangniang said, "Then you shall enter the animal realm and never be reborn as a human."

Shi Miaomiao felt that her fate was tragic and that she had to change it herself. She felt sad and woke up crying from her dream.

When I opened my eyes, it was already daylight.

The queen had already gotten up, but she had sent a dog spirit to guard her bedside.

"Dog God, I had a dream, and the world in the dream felt so real."

She told the dog god in detail about her dream from the previous night.

"Am I truly from the Heavenly Dao?"

The dog god nodded.

"Master, you do indeed come from the Heavenly Dao. Whether you can live past two years old depends on yourself. Many things cannot be changed, just like this world, which has both good and evil. They must coexist to maintain balance in this world."

I don't understand it.

"For example? With Shi Yunyun's existence, things related to her will still happen, right?"

"In other words, she will still be powerful, and the male lead and the crown prince will still be attracted to her and devoted to her, while my fate depends on my own destiny."

In an instant, she felt that all her happiness had vanished.

"And you, why did you come to my side?"

The dog god revealed his secret.