My Xianxia Harem Life

Chapter 279: Chapter 279 Ranger

As if he had watched Riley’s journey from behind an invisible curtain.

Riley didn’t know how.

All he knew was that Sunny was stronger than him and possessed myriad abilities that were beyond his comprehension.

Beyond that, Riley did not know anything much about Sunny.

The old monkey was quite tricky and cunning indeed.

”Call me Riley. Riley will do just fine,” he said evenly, power simmering just beneath his voice.

”I’m not interested in wearing someone else’s name. And I have no desire to walk the same path as the one before me.”

He stepped forward, and the void trembled beneath his footfall.

”But this ends now.”

He raised his hand, and golden light sparked to life around his palm, spinning and coiling like strands of divine fire.

It wasn’t merely energy—it was his essence. His soul.

The very threads of his immortal being unraveling at his will.

”I’m offering half of my essence,” Riley said, his voice ringing with authority.

”A gift, a sacrifice, a treaty. End your attacks. Withdraw your monsters. Leave my realm untouched—and I’ll let you exist without interference.”

Then, he let the final weight of his offer settle.

”Swear it. In our true names.”

The battlefield went still. Not from fear—but from interest.

The monsters paused, sensing something ancient being invoked.

Even the void seemed to lean closer, listening for what would come next.

And then came the laughter.

Loud, sharp, and cruel.

”HA! Hahahaha!”

Sunny doubled over, his frail frame convulsing with mirth, as if Riley had just offered him a wooden sword to stop a meteor.

The sound echoed across the torn planes of existence, bouncing off crumbling stars and dying echoes of forgotten gods.

”Oh, how generous of you!” Sunny wheezed between his fits of laughter. ”Half your essence? How noble. How stupid.”

He straightened, his smile widening in a way that made the air grow colder around him.

”Why would I agree to that?” he asked, stepping right up to the edge of Riley’s realm, his toes nearly brushing the invisible threshold.

”You still don’t understand, do you? I don’t want your permission. I don’t need your offer. Because in the end, I win anyway.”

His smile faded into something darker—flat, unamused.

”In my estimation, it’ll only take one trillion years. That’s all. One trillion cycles of time and I’ll have gained enough area and momentum. I’ll have fed enough. I’ll be able to pierce through that flimsy divine barrier of yours. And when that happens...”

His eyes narrowed, glowing with twisted glee.

”...I will come for you, Riley Mason. Slowly. Patiently. I will devour you piece by piece. Tear your mind apart. Feast on your soul like it’s fruit. I’ll wear your name like a crown and dance in your ruined dominion.”

A beat.

”And when there is nothing left, I’ll make sure you still live—barely. I’ll let you watch me unmake everything you once protected. Every world. Every law. Every soul. Every wife and woman you have. Until your existence is just... torment.”

He chuckled again, low and cruel.

”So no, I won’t swear by my true name. I won’t bind myself to chains. Why would I? You’re already dying. You just haven’t realized it yet.”

Silence.

The void held its breath once more.

The monsters stirred restlessly at the edges, sensing the heat of rising tension.

Riley’s expression didn’t change. But deep within, the fury was building—a storm of cosmic proportions.

And yet... not rage alone.

Resolve.

A will that had not existed obviously in the Ancient One.

He took a long breath.

Then he smiled.

Not in arrogance, but in understanding.

Riley paused, his thoughts briefly wandering as he considered the monkey’s words.

Then he shook his head and smiled faintly. Sunny was right.

As much as he hated to admit it, there was truth in those mocking words.

The Ancient One had once towered over all beings—unmatched in strength, feared across realms, and wielding powers that bent even time and space to his will.

But that era had long since passed.

Bit by bit, Sunny and his forces had clawed their way into his realm, growing bolder, stronger, more cunning.

Their corruption seeped through the cracks like ink in water, staining what was once pristine and untouchable.

The once-mighty dominion of the Ancient One had become a battleground riddled with decay and resistance.

Much of the Ancient One’s essence had already been spent—poured into wars, gambits, and desperate countermeasures.

His alien enemies were evolving, learning, adapting.

He, on the other hand, was merely surviving—like a dying flame smoldering at the bottom of a lantern.

Sunny and his army weren’t a mere threat anymore; they were a plague, a malignant force slowly consuming everything sacred.

They had become the rot within his foundations.

Even now, standing at the heart of his own dominion, Riley could feel it—the difference.

He had command, yes. His power surged, immense and terrifying to lesser beings.

But it was still only a shadow of what the Ancient One had once wielded during the golden age, before Sunny had ever appeared to challenge the throne.

The realization settled in like dust in a crypt. Power was no longer absolute.

Time was no longer an ally.

In the end, Riley let the silence stretch before offering a quiet, almost amused sigh.

There was no point arguing anymore—not now.

He raised his head, and his eyes gleamed with a quiet defiance as he looked toward Sunny. ”Then it will be a fun trillion years indeed,” he said softly, voice calm like the still surface of a storm-bound sea.

With a flick of his hand, a wave of devastating energy erupted from his palm.

Bang!

The monsters that surrounded him shrieked and writhed, dissolving instantly into ash and mist.

The shockwave tore through the landscape, warping reality itself—yet Sunny stood untouched, not even flinching as the power passed through him like wind through leaves.

And then, as the monsters began to regenerate—twisting bones reforming, tendrils snapping back into place—Riley was already gone, vanished without a trace.

Only the echo of his laughter lingered in the air, like the fading toll of a bell before battle.

Sunny narrowed his eyes, his expression unreadable as he stared at the empty space where Riley had just stood.

For a brief moment, the void was still—silent, watchful, almost expectant.

Then a slow breath escaped him, and he closed his eyes.

He had seen this coming.

He had always known Riley would rise.

Ever since the moment that fool inherited the Ancient One’s domain, Sunny had begun preparing.

Watching. Waiting. Back then, Riley was nothing but a flickering ember compared to the roaring blaze that had once been the Ancient One.

Sunny could peer into his movements with ease, whisper into the currents of fate, and manipulate events around him without effort.

But now...

Now things had changed.

Since taking full possession of the realm, Riley had begun to grow.

The domain no longer answered to the Ancient One—it answered to him.

And with that shift came something Sunny had not fully accounted for: sovereignty.

True sovereignty. Riley was no longer just a pretender propped up by circumstance.

The realm itself had acknowledged him as its master, and with that, the fog of divinity had settled over him.

Sunny could no longer see.

He could no longer spy on Riley’s actions, no longer anticipate his decisions from the shadows.

His web of surveillance, once intricately woven throughout every inch of the realm, had begun to unravel.

Every attempt to peer into Riley’s future ended in a wall of blinding light, a silent refusal from the fabric of the realm itself.

The power that once belonged to the Ancient One was now protecting Riley. Guarding him.

And Sunny hated it.

It was like being blind in a chess game where your opponent could still see every piece.

His jaw tightened, a storm simmering behind his calm expression.

Yet despite the growing unease, he could not ignore one truth—the balance had not yet tipped.

Riley may have inherited the throne, but he had not yet earned the right to sit on it without challenge.

Sunny still had time. He still had secrets.

He still had power. More power than Riley could ever imagine.

He chuckled, the sound low and dry, like crumbling earth beneath a dying sun.

”A trillion years is just the blink of an eye for gods like us, Riley,” he said, his voice cutting through the void like a blade.

”Enjoy your throne while you can. I’ll see how you tremble before me when the hour strikes.”

He knew Riley could still hear him. Even across distances, even cloaked by sovereignty, their voices—imbued with divine authority—could still find one another.

There were no more pleasantries to exchange, no more mind games to play.

The time for whispers was over.

There was only the waiting now.

Sunny lifted his gaze toward the dark skies of the fractured realm.

Cracks shimmered in the heavens like shattered glass, reminders of the ancient battles that had once torn reality apart.

Somewhere beyond those scars, forces were already stirring. Armies preparing.

Worlds choosing sides.

A war was coming.

Not just between Riley and Sunny—but between everything they stood for.

Order and chaos. Legacy and ambition. Creation and destruction.

He would give Riley time. Let him think he had peace. Let him believe in safety.

It would make the fall that much sweeter.

With one final glance at the empty void, Sunny’s form shimmered, then dissipated like mist caught in the morning sun.

The place where he had stood darkened, the air growing heavy with anticipation.

The gods had spoken.

And the countless multiverses would listen.