My Xianxia Harem Life

And indeed, it didn't take long for Riley to witness what he had dreaded. And of course he was not alone to suffer the view from such a gruesome mess.

"Hak!"

"Hak!"

"Hak!"

A retching sound echoed through the air, barely audible over the hum of flies swarming the grotesque scene before them.

Riley turned to see Luna, her slender frame trembling as she doubled over, vomiting onto the bloodstained ground.

Her face was pale, her breaths ragged, as if her body itself was rejecting the reality laid out before her.

She had insisted on coming, eager to see the world beyond the sect's protected walls, eager to "expand her horizons"—but she had not been prepared for this.

No amount of training or meditation could have steeled her against the sheer brutality of war, the overwhelming stench of rot, and the sight of human bodies stacked like discarded firewood.

"How… how can anybody do this?" a voice asked, soft yet filled with horror.

Riley turned his gaze to the speaker. It was Ava, her striking features twisted in disbelief. Her usually composed demeanor had cracked, and for once, she looked lost.

Like Luna, she had wanted to explore the outside world, to break free from the isolation of the sect and see the truth with her own eyes. But the truth was uglier than either of them had anticipated.

Riley exhaled slowly, his eyes drifting across the carnage. Before them lay a mountain of corpses, twisted and broken, their bodies in various states of decay.

The putrid stench clawed at his senses, thick and suffocating. Flies buzzed frantically over the bloated flesh, their black forms dancing in the dim light.

On the other side of the clearing, a long line of grieving families stood in silent agony.

Mothers clutched lifeless hands, fathers knelt beside what remained of their sons, children whimpered as they searched for familiar faces among the fallen.

This is war.

"The price of war is always death," Riley murmured, his voice calm—too calm. He felt nothing. No disgust, no sorrow, no shock. Just… emptiness.

He realized then that this detachment wasn't natural.

He should have felt something, shouldn't he? Shouldn't the sight of so much death shake him? Shouldn't he at least flinch at the raw grief suffocating the air?

But he didn't.

Perhaps it was because of the countless years of memories within him—memories that didn't belong to him, yet shaped him nonetheless. Elias Page and Tadeo Prince had seen slaughter far worse than this.

Through their eyes, Riley had already walked through rivers of blood, had already stood atop mountains of corpses.

Compared to the nightmares that haunted their pasts, this was nothing more than a grim inevitability.

Without a word, he summoned his character stats.

Ding!

A glowing screen materialized before him, its familiar presence almost comforting in this dreadful scene. Riley's eyes flicked over the data, but his mind was elsewhere.

He refocused after a few breaths.

***

Host: Riley Mason

Cultivation Base: 10th Stage Void Tribulation Realm

Rewards Acquired: Soul Dominion (17 uses left), Primordial Chaos Physique, Heavenly Judgment Palm, Eternal Fortress of the Divine Realm, Sovereign Marionette, Sacred Lustful Restoration, Mind Palace Master, Omniscient Dao Codex, Supreme Sutra of Seduction

Divine Rank Techniques Created: Divine Step, Divine Healing, Divine Healing 1, Divine Healing 2

Minions: Gideon Hunter, Lucas Prince, Elias Page, Tadeo Prince

***

"I guess this is it. There's nothing more to see here," Riley murmured, his voice quiet yet resolute. He cast one last glance at the field of corpses, their lifeless forms sprawled across the bloodstained earth.

The cries of the grieving echoed faintly in the background, but to him, they were nothing more than whispers carried away by the wind.

He exhaled slowly, then issued a command in a soft but firm voice.

"Come."

The moment the word left his lips, the air around him twisted unnaturally, and two shadowy figures materialized before him.

Their sudden appearance sent a visible ripple of unease through the gathered crowd.

Even those accustomed to combat instinctively took a step back, sensing the overwhelming presence of these newcomers.

Dark mist coiled around the two figures like living shadows, obscuring their true forms. Though few knew their identities, Riley did.

These were no ordinary subordinates—these were Elias Page and Tadeo Prince, two beings who had long since transcended mortal limitations.

And yet, here they stood, concealed behind careful disguises, waiting silently for their master's command.

Riley's eyes remained indifferent as he spoke.

"Bring me the two leaders responsible for this war."

A cold smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he added, "I'll let them take center stage for a change."

Without a word, the two shadows nodded and vanished into the night, their departure as swift as their arrival. A hush fell over the onlookers.

Even Ava and Luna, who had been too shocked by the carnage moments ago, found themselves unable to look away.

Whoever Riley had just summoned—they were beyond anything they had ever seen.

And then, exactly one minute later, the shadows returned.

But this time, they were not alone.

Each of them dragged a struggling man in their grasp. One was grotesquely overweight, his fine silk robes stretched tightly over the folds of his flesh.

Sweat dripped from his forehead, his face twisted in fury. The other was thin and wiry, his sharp features twitching with barely concealed panic.

The fat man roared in outrage, his voice booming across the battlefield.

"Unhand me this instant, or I'll have your heads on pikes by morning!"

He struggled against Elias's iron grip, but it was useless. The fingers holding him barely even tightened—as if his resistance wasn't worth acknowledging.

The thin man, however, was far quicker to realize his predicament. His sunken eyes darted to Riley and his group, and within seconds, he fell to his knees in terror.

"Fool!" he snapped at the fat man. "Do you have any idea who they are? They're immortal cultivators!"

His previous arrogance dissolved into sheer desperation as he turned toward Riley, his voice shaking.