The Sovereign of a Lifetime

"Brother, I'm sorry."

Keke was lying on the table outside in the yard, where her homework was almost finished.

Ahead was Jiang Si, still exercising, tirelessly doing burpees and pull-ups as always.

The occasional splatter of sweat looked like rain.

Keke turned her back to her older brother, shielding her homework from the wind and rain. Occasionally, raindrops splashed on her back, making her look like she was being beaten up.

It's been like this since I was little; when my older brother exercises, my parents always tell her to stay away.

Jiang Si paused slightly, then asked, "What's wrong? Did you steal my ice cream?"

"No way!"

Did you pee on my bed again?

"I haven't even been to your room!" Keke's face flushed red. "And, besides, I haven't been to your room in a long time. Brother, you're just accusing me of bedwetting beforehand!"

I intend to do that.

"Huh? Why?"

"As a return gift, you blamed me for wetting the bed before."

Petty!

She muttered to herself, but didn't dare say it aloud, "I was wrong."

When it actually started to Xiao Yu, Keke stopped writing and looked at her older brother's still-moving figure.

There was something I wanted to say, but in the end, I didn't say it.

For some reason, she was saying things that even she herself didn't quite remember.

His body acted before his memory could process, and he reflexively said, "But, bro, didn't you say you were going to give me a test? I turned in a blank paper."

Sometimes a blank paper is the answer.

"Oh----"

She responded, looking slightly troubled.

A blank paper is also an answer.

It seemed to make sense, but she still felt something was off.

It wasn't her brain that felt something was wrong, it was just her body.

Or perhaps it's the soul that senses something's wrong, as if this isn't the answer it seeks.

Then my body spoke up again, "In the end, I still feel that I don't want to sacrifice others; it's enough if I die alone. I don't want others to suffer misfortune. Although I know you're right, brother, my body and soul are rejecting this idea—"

Have I ever taken such a test?

"I took the exam."

Jiang Si leaped up again, almost jumping onto the roof.

The house was shaking, and the faint sound of shattering glass could be heard.

"Are you trying to die, Jiang Si?! How many times have I told you not to jump onto the roof? What if you break the roof beams? If you jump again, I'll jump right in front of you and make you regret it for the rest of your life!"

The sound of Mom complaining came from inside the house, so the older brother obediently jumped down again.

Then, stretching his arms, he said casually, "If you think it's not going to work, then it's not going to work."

"But, brother, you said this is a zero—"

What am I saying?

Keke was puzzled. She knew nothing about these things, yet she was talking about things she didn't understand at all, but felt they were incredibly important.

That feeling was incredibly strange.

"What do you mean by zero points? From the very beginning, who demanded that you answer the questions according to my instructions?"

Jiang Si sat down next to her. "The reason they have to take the test is because I'm stronger, so they have to answer according to my requirements, and therefore I have the right to grade them."

"But there's not just one correct answer. You just need to become stronger than me and surpass me, right? Remember this, Keke: as long as you have the power to flip the table, you decide the score on the test. Don't worry about my grading."

As she spoke, Jiang Si patted her head and peeked at her exam paper. "In fact, from the very beginning, this was the real answer."

The correct answer and the real answer are not the same.

Once Keke understood this, everything became clear.

She felt her brother stroking her head, comfortably squinted her eyes, and felt sleepy.

So I took the initiative to rub my hand against my older brother's.

Huh? Has my brother ever touched my head before?

It seems there isn't one at all.

He only complains about not being able to wash his hair three times a day.

But the feeling of being patted on the head was incredibly real, as if I had actually been patted on the head.

Just as she was enjoying the feeling of being touched, the guy suddenly grabbed her ear, "You've been writing for so long, and half of the questions are wrong! Did you even try to answer the questions?"

"I do! I'm just not feeling well today."

"You stayed up late reading comics again last night, didn't you, Mom!"

"I didn't, I didn't! Don't tell on me!"

She was both anxious and amused, and grabbed her brother's ear in return, pulling back and shouting, "I'll fight you! As long as I beat my brother, my test paper won't be wrong!"

"As expected of my sister, you've got guts! Well then, here I come to kill you!"

"Hey, hey, honey, come quick! Your son and daughter are fighting!"

"Oh my, I have to sit up and see! Keke doing well, she can go toe-to-toe with Jiang Si now."

"Go for it, Keke! You have to beat your brother!"

Keke, seeing her parents rushing out to join the fun, was both amused and exasperated. "Come help!"

The father shook his head deeply, "The struggle for the crown prince position has always been like this. Keke, you must strive to be strong!"

Her mother, standing nearby, waved a glow stick she'd somehow acquired, cheering her on. "That's right, we can help you for a while, but Keke forever, Coco. You have to defeat your brother with your own strength! In ancient times, there was the Xuanwu Gate duel; in our family, there's the Xuanguan Gate duel. Whoever wins becomes the crown prince—let's have a big toast, I need to drink some—"

Jiang Si held Keke down with one hand and looked at her mother, who was about to go back inside, "Will you drink some more?"

The mother shrank back, raised the glow stick as if in surrender, and said, "I was just kidding—"

Keke to flip over and cling to her brother like a koala, biting his hand.

Her parents were laughing and watching the show, while her older brother kept tapping her forehead. Her parents started telling him to slow down, lest he make himself stupid.

The two wrestled, Keke laughed and joked, and for a moment she was in a daze.

It just doesn't feel quite real.

Then, her father's voice gradually faded away, and she turned her head to look; her mother was also waving.

The next second, she found herself standing at the scene of the car accident, ravaged by the vine-covered Calamity Beast.

The mother, trapped under the rubble, smiled gently and recited the lines she used to lull her to sleep when she was a child.

"Good girl, Keke, be good and close your eyes."

The rain outside was getting heavier.

She watched her parents disappear, then waited until they turned back.

He realized that, without anyone noticing, his brother had been pierced through by the spear he was holding.

He was still stroking his head, his lips moving slightly.

Run forward, Keke.

Don't look back.

Keke suddenly woke up with a start. She stood up and instinctively shouted.

"Elder brother!"

So everyone turned to look at her.

Keke paused slightly, then looked around.

This is a cemetery.

Before her were her parents' coffins, which were being prepared for burial.

She was just hugging the coffin, her face covered in tears.

She looked up, and the relentless downpour above still washed away her tears.

What's wrong with this child?

"Are you crazy? Both your parents are dead in an instant—"

"Where did this brother come from? They only have one daughter, her."

"Maybe it's my cousin? Let A Bing come over."

"Bullshit! They've never even met. Don't think I don't know what you're up to. Wait for your uncle to give the order, and don't do anything rash—"

"It's not like you didn't want to sneak out."

"A gentleman loves wealth, but he acquires it in a proper way."

The relatives nearby whispered amongst themselves.

Keke didn't listen to a word she said.

As her relative was talking, she moved the umbrella she was holding away from her, leaving her soaked by the rain.

All emotions, all weaknesses, all beauty.

They were all buried in the soil.

Keke had forgotten when she returned home to that empty, big house.

It was as quiet as another cemetery.

She sat in the living room, staring blankly at the television report about vines, and unconsciously stood up.

He walked out of the house.

She didn't know what she was going to do, nor what she was looking for; she just walked forward aimlessly.

Walk towards where there are more people.

It was as if something terrifying lurked in the deserted area, making her too afraid to stop and run towards the increasingly crowded area.

In the pouring rain that seemed to connect heaven and earth, she vaguely walked against the flow of people, only to find that as she walked, there were fewer and fewer people.

So their pace slowed down.

Who am I?

Where did I come from, after all?

What exactly do I want to do?

My memory is a jumbled mess, a blank.

This disrupted her emotions, causing her to become confused and overwhelmed with sadness and pain.

Humans are built from past memories and experiences.

But she found that the past was a mess, so blurry that she couldn't distinguish anything at all.

Even his own emotions were somewhat out of control.

There is a fear that I will no longer be myself.

And there's also a subtle, almost impatient, eagerness.

"Roar!"

A tremendous roar woke her up.

Keke was still walking forward indifferently, raised her head and looked ahead.

The terrifying and ferocious Calamity Beast were wreaking havoc on the surrounding vehicles amidst the torrential rain.

The ground was almost trampled to pieces.

Opposite the Calamity Beast, a girl with injured legs was huddled up, trembling.

His face was filled with fear and unease; he looked as if he were crying.

But it kept raining, Keke n't tell if it was tears or rainwater.

"Help me, Mom!"

She must be a girl with excellent upbringing, even under such a desperate and terrifying disaster.

Her plea for help still carried a very dignified fragility.

There was no hysteria or madness, unlike those who ran away.

In fear, he closed his eyes tightly, resignedly trembling as he awaited death.

I think I know this younger sister.

These things naturally came to Keke's mind.

But as always, she still couldn't remember.

She had no idea who the other person was or why she was there.

Fortunately, the things I need to do are becoming increasingly clear.

She walked slowly forward, then quickened her pace, and finally started running!

Just as the Calamity Beast's attack was about to strike the girl, she leaped out, narrowly escaping death with the girl!

Her body reacted instinctively, and she fell, leaving her dizzy and disoriented. Keke stood up unsteadily.

Then he looked up.

Without even taking a breath, the Calamity Beast leaped up and slammed down on them!

There's nowhere to hide!

Keke felt a warm touch in her hand. She looked down and saw that her right hand was glowing with a fiery light.

The scorching, violent heat surged forth, almost evaporating the torrential rain!

Keke then remembered that she had been holding this seed in her hand ever since the day the accident happened.

I've never let go of it.

So she looked at the charging Calamity Beast and raised her seed.

A fierce heatwave shot skyward!

You seem to have misunderstood something.

Sitting on the World Tree, Qianye gazed at the leaf that belonged to Jiang Si.

The purple leaf veins are incredibly clear, without any missing or damaged parts.

Even if someone were to erase you from the past, present, or future, the World Tree's records would not disappear.

Qianye looked at Keke's leaf again.

Although from the beginning, the World Tree could temporarily erase the record of this leaf.

However, as soon as Shion dies, the records will resurface.

Rather, even the World Tree itself cannot erase the records.

It's only temporarily blocked.

In order to give Keke the power to surpass Shion, the unrecorded Keke endured the power of thirty million reincarnations to defeat Shion.

This is itself within the observable future.

"Although the Time Branch has shifted somewhat unexpectedly for you, it seems you've made another mistake."

Bianye chuckled softly, stroking the leaves of the Keke tree.

"In the recorded past, even Time Branch can actually change a great deal of things. So why do you think no one has ever done this before? I have to admit those magical girls are very talented. Through generations of hard work, they Return to Truth managed to obtain a Time Branch. And your unobservable friend has hidden and modified the Time Branch."

Is it written by Lu Ya?

Henba doesn't remember very clearly either, but he used magical girls, and even ordinary people, to experiment on how to completely hide the Time Branch.

Not to mention the Incubators, even she and the World Tree couldn't actually observe the Time Branch at all.

"However, I've already tried. Even if I used the Time Branch to go back in time, I couldn't change what had already happened. The world, or rather the World Tree, can correct past changes within the scope of the Time Branch, recording the intricate details. You have no idea about the cause and effect involved, poor Shion. All the changes will eventually be pulled back onto the right track by the records of the Great God—"

His tone was full of regret.

Rather, Qianye never disliked this magical girl.

It possesses a quantity that is in no way inferior to its former glory, and may even surpass it at some point.

Because the realm Keke ultimately reaches is not just the amount that each magical girl undergoes through countless reincarnations.

Instead, it collects all the miracles and wishes of every person in every one of the thirty million reincarnations.

It can be said that it has completely surpassed the magical girl genre.

That was a territory that even the variegated leaves had never set foot in.

Whether it was Shion or Keke, the sheer amount of energy they unleashed at the end far exceeded her expectations.

Perhaps we can become companions.

It is a very lonely thing for one person to guard the World Tree. As for Leaf, she also needs to find her own companion.

"After you've tried all the possibilities, you'll realize that I'm not deliberately trying to hinder you; it's just that it's all meaningless. All the attempts you make are things I've already done. Then you'll discover that the World Tree's mechanisms are actually quite friendly to humans. When you see the limits of human development, you'll, like me, support the World Tree and uphold the rules that govern its operation—"

Bianye stroked Keke's leaves, then felt a pang of heartache. "Making your sister go back in time, lose her parents, lose her brother, lose everything, and relive the path she came from—you Return to Truth are cruel, Shion."

She waits quietly amidst the chaos and emptiness that has destroyed everything in the well.

Although there was some schadenfreude involved.

Watching these younger generations, who have completely surpassed him, do the same things he once did again.

I watched as they would ultimately suffer the same despair and pain as I did.

But Bianye still felt sorry for Coco, who knew nothing and Keke everything arranged by her own brother.

How much despair and pain will she feel when she finds out everything?

Will she, like me, eventually give up her magical girl powers and identity?

Bianye was very curious about the choice Keke would make.

If you make a choice different from your own, it's like having another Keke of yourself, Coco.

Where will it ultimately lead?

The World Tree records many things, but also many things that cannot be recorded.

Once the world enters a cycle, future records will be temporarily unobservable.

The World Tree has left us with a glimpse into the possibilities from the very beginning.

Just as she was anticipating what was about to happen.

Suddenly, as if burning her hand, she released the leaf she was holding to record the Keke.

She shook her hands in surprise, then blew on her fingers.

I walked up to the Keke leaves that had fallen onto the branches of a tree.

Suddenly, a few drops of purple appeared on those fiery red veins.

Bianye was slightly dazed, but then picked up Keke's notes again with great curiosity.

The leaf in my hand was still getting warmer, and its purple veins were expanding wildly.

It's devouring the fiery red record that originally belonged to Keke!

Lianye slightly parted her lips and looked carefully at the record.

Keke, who transforms into a magical girl, saves a girl named Bingtang.

Subsequently, Keke established an organization called Azure Cloud Sect.

Keke defeated Captain Tang and wiped out the entire Beihai Witch Association;

Keke wiped out Jiangming's Witch Association and infiltrated its Witch Association;

Keke passed through a copy of the Mental Image Remnants;

Keke suppresses the Old World ----

The purple veins continued to expand at an incredible speed, turning the Keke leaves purple!

"How is that possible!"

Bianye stared in disbelief at the ever-changing, unchanging Keke.

Even the names of Liuli and Keke gradually began to disappear from her mind!

"No, no, that's impossible. The World Tree's records can't be overwritten. Even if you completely disappeared from the past and it filled your place, it couldn't possibly modify the records—you're not the same person. You can't fool the World Tree. Do you think the World Tree is stupid? It can't possibly deceive such a divine difference—"

Then Bianye suddenly paused, staring at the Miracle Seed in Keke's hand.

Then I flipped to the moment when Keke had just returned to the past.

Because Keke had been using that fiery red seed from the beginning, she hadn't noticed it.

Looking at it now...

The power of the Shion gently stirred when the seed was born.

That's how this seed ended up in Keke's hands----

Miracle Seed are rewards bestowed upon magical girls by the World Tree.

But it also serves as proof of identity.

The World Tree could not possibly mistake Keke for Jiang Si.

But what if, from the very beginning, the Miracle Seed that Keke used belonged to Shion?

To the World Tree, that was simply a person.

Boom!

The leaf well was hot, and the limp hand immediately let go.

The Keke leaves were almost ablaze, with purple markings covering the entire leaf!

But compared to this...

Bianye immediately turned his head to look.

That one leaf belongs to the Shion.

All the purple veins are slowly disappearing----

"Shion!"

However, even she herself can no longer tell the difference.

The so-called Shion that I myself called out -

Which one is it?

The leaves that originally belonged to the Shion suddenly burst into flames!

It turned into ashes and gradually dissipated.

For a fleeting moment, Bianye's pupils glazed over.

Completely forgetting the purple magical girl who originally existed, he simply looked down at Keke's leaf and instinctively roared again.

"Shion!"

The red leaves, completely submerged in purple, represent a Subtracting to Attain Emptiness, ultimately leading to the Dao Fruit!