Prologue

But the beauty merely shook her head and said in a cold voice: "What I value is you. If you change your mind, come back to worship me again."

Are you asking me? Su Ying did not dare to breathe at the festival, let alone speak. She merely thought this in her heart and then saw the beauty gently nodding her head

"If you could exchange twenty years for that one year, would you want it?" The woman's lips did not move at all; she simply stared intently at Su Ying.

Indeed, the cost of this is the ten years of forbearance prior, during which everyone around you experienced a moment of brilliance, while you remained obscure. This obscurity led them to regard you with indifference, even dismissing you entirely. You were compelled to sacrifice yourself to cater to their preferences and decisions, drifting along with the tide. Even if there were fleeting moments of dazzling brilliance, they would ultimately lead you into deeper darkness. Such days were destined to stretch on for a decade. Even if there were fleeting moments of dazzling brilliance, they would ultimately lead you into deeper darkness. Such days were destined to stretch on for a decade

"Suying, do you want to have the power to dominate the world for a year?" She added Suying's name, and this time it was accurate.

At this moment, the master of ceremonies called out in a long, resonant tone: "Descendants of the Su family, pay homage to the ancestral goddess—kneel—kneel again..."

The woman's posture is extremely beautiful; even when she sits casually, it is a captivating picture. She sits softly on the back of the bronze deer, gently caressing its antlers, her ten fingers surpassing the most perfect white jade.

Through the swirling smoke of the cigarette, Su Ying gazed fixedly at the stunning woman, feeling at a loss.

The colorful banners rolled with the wind, as if painting the sky with a myriad of neon hues. The drums and music resounded grandly, echoing through the clouds. Outside the ancestral temple, hundreds of men and women knelt, each dressed in splendid attire, exuding an air of distinction. The men were on the east, the women on the west, together worshipping the ancestral deities enshrined on the altar, enjoying the fragrant smoke.

It is truly a situation of holding power over the world—your actions face no opposition, as if what you do is precisely what everyone desires; every word and deed of yours will never encounter dissenting voices, as if everything aligns with the people's hearts and deserves to be embraced; your capriciousness, your cruelty, your absurdity, are absolutely beyond question, and the feelings of those around you are reduced to understanding and tolerance, with no resistance or protest.

If you were given one year to hold power over the world and dictate the fate of humanity, would you be willing to exchange it for such twenty years

If you were given one year to hold power over the world, but it required ten years of enduring humiliation as a prerequisite and resulted in ten years of solitude and suffering, would you accept it

Moreover, after a year of grandeur comes ten years of desolation—without friends, without family, without anyone who cares for you... Each night, you are lonely and melancholic, only able to sigh in the cold silence, with no one to share your pain, no one to notice your weeping day and night...

The woman has a pair of crystalline eyes. Su Ying has seen many beauties, but none possess such a pair of eyes: when looking at others, they are cold, silently gazing down with an unparalleled authority, and amidst the coldness, there is also a compassion that governs all living beings

Su Ying could not understand how this woman could appear there—the bronze deer, the guardian deity of the Su clan, had always been worshipped, never ridden. When Su Ying was young and did not comprehend the significance, she had touched the deer’s antlers after the sacrificial ceremony and was sternly reprimanded by her father and several elders. How dare this woman sit atop it? Especially on the day of the grand ceremony for the entire clan

Su Ying was taken aback for a moment, then secretly laughed to herself: "I don't need it. You should ask them—" She glanced at the surrounding sisters who were holding their breath and focusing intently.

As she spoke, she twisted her waist and vanished upon the back of the bronze deer

Su Ying followed the surrounding sisters in bowing repeatedly towards the altar, yet in her heart, she knew: there were no deities left for them to worship there

The excitement and mystery brought about by this eight-year-old adventure quickly faded in Su Ying's heart, leaving only an unwavering promise: "If you change your mind, come back to worship me."