To secure a hundred years of prosperity for the family, the Su family made a pact with an evil god from beyond the realms. Every hundred years, they had to sacrifice a pure-blooded direct descendant.
This generation, the sacrifice was Su Mu, the elder of a pair of twins.
The family bound him hand and foot and sent him to an ancient altar, making him a stepping stone for his younger brother, Su Yang, to rise to power.
The Su family received the evil god's blessings in return: wealth, power, and talent came one after another, while Su Yang became the Empire's brightest rising star.
The whole clan reveled in the joy of trading one useless person for supreme glory, often remarking that Su Mu had died for a worthy cause.
But they never dreamed that Su Mu was an Old One reincarnated with his memories intact.
The so-called evil god from beyond the realms was nothing but a second-rate nobody in his eyes.
At the moment of the sacrifice, he wasn't devoured. Instead, he devoured the evil god, claiming its power, knowledge, and even its followers as his own.
Seated upon the divine throne, he continued to honor his pact with the Su family under the name of a new god, manipulating the course of the entire world from behind the scenes.
He watched with amusement as the family used the power he'd given them to throw their weight around, and as his younger brother sank ever deeper into a false glory.
When the hundred-year pact finally expired, he appeared in his true form before the grateful members of the Su family and smiled as he spoke the words that froze their souls: “Now it's your turn to sacrifice yourselves.”
