When Shang Tsung and Quan Chi came before him to pledge allegiance, this meeting soon became an assassination attempt - and seemingly his reign had finally come to a violent end. To make matters worse for Kahn, the Shokan race had joined their ranks. Many of his so-called loyal soldiers had abandoned him, and his adopted daughter Kitana had turned Sindel to her side, thus restoring Edenia as an independent realm. Shao Kahn was greatly weakened by this defeat, and Earthrealm was restored. The chosen few eventually defeated Outworld's forces, with the Emperor himself falling once again to the might of Liu Kang. Consuming countless millions of souls upon entering the realm, he then sent extermination squads to destroy those whose souls he could not steal. This allowed Kahn to step through the gateways between the realms to claim her and undermine the safeguards of Mortal Kombat, thus launching a full-scale invasion of Earth. Shang Tsung was ordered to complete a plan 10,000 years in the making by reviving Kahn's long-dead wife, Sindel, not on Outworld - but on Earthrealm. Shao Kahn had one last plan up his sleeve, however. Unwilling to accept this, Kahn ordered his forces to kill off the Earth's fighters, but they managed to escape. However, the new Mortal Kombat Champion proved to be too great even for the Emperor of Outworld - by defeating him personally. The plan was to draw Liu Kang and his allies into an Outworld tournament where they would surely die. However, the sorcerer begged him for another chance, one that the Emperor believed might hold the key to undoing five centuries of wasted plans. Enraged, Kahn brought Tsung before him to punish him personally. Despite a 500 years-long winning streak, Goro was denied the vital tenth victory by Liu Kang - a descendant of the very same man who had put an end to Shang Tsung's dominance of the sacred tournament centuries ago.
He sent Shang Tsung - and then Goro - to gain enough victories in Mortal Kombat to allow him to freely invade the realm.