THE DEMON EMPEROR REBORN AS A SERVANT

Chapter 7: Dance of Slaughter at the Cliff's Edge

The night wind blew, carrying the metallic scent of blood and the bitter taste of despair. At the edge of a steep ravine, under the dense forest canopy, the fate of the Lin Family seemed to have reached its end.

Head Guard Lei Tie was on one knee. His breathing sounded like air whistling through a punctured lung. His severed left arm dripped blood continuously, forming a dark red pool on the rocky ground. Behind him, Young Miss Lin Xuanyin pressed herself against the cliff wall, tightly hugging her younger brother, Lin Tian, who had his tear-streaked face buried against her.

Twelve assassins in black surrounded them. Their leader stepped forward, twirling a curved sword. The density of his muscles and his light-footed gait projected the aura of a Grade 2 Warrior. In the mortal realm, a single grade difference in the Formation Phase was the line between steel and plywood.

"You fought well for a crippled man, Lei Tie," the leader mocked, his voice muffled by a black cloth mask. "But your blind loyalty to the Lin Family has only led you to a meaningless death. Say goodbye to your little masters."

The leader raised his sword high. The muscles in his arm tensed, preparing to sever Lei Tie's head with one brutal swing.

Lin Xuanyin let out a choked scream, shutting her eyes tightly.

But the blow never fell.

Fifty feet above them, hidden in the darkness of a giant banyan tree branch, Xiao Chen closed his eyes. His analytical mind calculated the wind direction, the humidity, and the enemy's positions. He wasn't using Qi to detect them; in this fragile Grade 1 body, emitting Qi would just turn him into a bright beacon for the enemy. He relied purely on the predatory instincts he had honed over centuries in a sea of blood.

'Now,' Xiao Chen thought coldly.

With a subtle flick of his fingers, he released the purple powder, a concoction of Blood-Freezing Grass and poison sap, into the air. The powder was too fine to be seen by the naked eye, drifting down slowly like an invisible mist of death, carried by the night breeze, and blanketing the area below the tree.

The assassin leader suddenly froze. The sword in his hand trembled.

"Boss? What is it?" asked one of his subordinates standing closest to him.

The leader turned. His eyes, which had been focused, were now wide and bloodshot, the veins looking like they were about to burst. Under the influence of the deadly hallucinogen that was directly attacking his brain, the subordinate who had spoken to him no longer looked human. He looked like a giant monster with blood-soaked fangs, ready to devour him whole.

"Die... DIE, YOU MONSTER!"

CRAAAK!

The leader swung his sword not at Lei Tie, but at his own subordinate, nearly severing the man's neck. Fresh blood sprayed like a fountain, drenching the faces of the other assassins.

Chaos erupted in seconds. The rest of the purple powder was inhaled by six other assassins. They began to scream hysterically, clawing at their own throats as if insects were gnawing at their vocal cords. Two of them brutally stabbed each other in the stomach, roaring about demons chasing them.

Lei Tie and Xuanyin stood frozen in horror. The scene before them had transformed from a one-sided execution into a crazed slaughterhouse. The elite assassins were tearing each other apart like rabid dogs.

From his perch on the branch, Xiao Chen watched his masterpiece with a bored expression.

'Low-quality mortal poison. Only effective for about ten seconds on a Grade 2 Warrior before their Qi purifies their blood,' Xiao Chen evaluated internally. He drew the sword he had taken from the assassin he had killed earlier.

He channeled the last of his incredibly thin internal Qi purely into the muscles of his calves and wrists. There was no flashy projection of Qi, only absolute physical enhancement.

Xiao Chen dropped from the fifty-foot-high branch. He didn't land with a heroic thud. The tips of his shoes touched the rocky ground almost silently, absorbing the momentum of the fall with a perfect bend of his knees, like a shadow detaching itself from the darkness.

At that moment, the effects of the hallucinogenic poison began to fade. The five remaining assassins, including the leader, started to come to their senses, clutching their throbbing heads.

But Xiao Chen gave them no time to breathe.

First breath.

Xiao Chen lunged at the two nearest assassins, who were still dazed. He didn't slash. Instead, he thrust his sword at a forty-five-degree angle, aiming for the blind spot at the base of the first enemy's neck.

Zras!

The carotid artery was severed cleanly. Without pulling his sword back, Xiao Chen twisted his wrist, using the falling body of the first enemy as a foothold to launch a short leap, slitting the throat of the second.

Two bodies hit the ground in a pool of blood before they even realized who had killed them.

Second breath.

Two other assassins ten feet away widened their eyes. "W-who are you—!"

Xiao Chen dropped his stance until he was almost touching the ground, moving sideways like a giant spider to get inside the reach of their long swords. This mortal Grade 1 body lacked power, so he attacked the parts that Qi couldn't train. Xiao Chen's sword sliced through the Achilles tendon of the third enemy, making him scream and fall to his knees, followed by a lightning-fast stab through his temple. As he pulled the sword out, Xiao Chen's left elbow slammed into the fourth enemy's Adam's apple, crushing it inward.

Third breath.

Only the leader remained. Though still affected by the poison, his Grade 2 Warrior instincts screamed danger. He spun around, swinging his sword horizontally with enough force to split a boulder.

Xiao Chen didn't retreat. He knew his body's current speed wasn't enough to dodge completely. He tilted his head. The enemy's sword whistled past his cheek, cutting a few strands of his black hair and leaving a thin, bleeding gash on his cheekbone.

Sacrificing distance for a fatal opening, Xiao Chen stepped inside the enemy's defensive range. His left hand gripped the leader's wrist with a bone-locking technique, breaking the joint with a loud crack.

As the leader opened his mouth to scream, Xiao Chen plunged his rusty sword straight up under the man's jaw, piercing through the roof of his mouth and into the base of his brain.

The assassin leader convulsed for a moment, then his body went limp, collapsing to the ground with a heavy thud.

The forest fell silent again, leaving only the chirping of night insects and the sound of blood dripping from the tip of Xiao Chen's rusty sword. Time seemed to freeze. The entire precise slaughter had taken only a few seconds. Eight were dead by hallucination, and the remaining five were butchered without a trace left.

Near the cliff wall, Lin Xuanyin covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide with disbelief. Her dress trembled along with her body. In front of her stood the young man in ragged, blood-soaked servant's clothes.

"A... A'Chen...?" Xuanyin called out in a trembling voice, barely recognizing him.

The young man who usually kept his head down, who trembled when scolded, and who never dared to look anyone in the eye, now stood in the middle of a sea of corpses. The enemy's blood streaked his face, but his eyes, dark, empty, and as cold as an eternal glacier, showed neither fear nor relief. It was the look of a tyrant gazing upon a pile of trash.

In Xiao Chen's chest, the Heart Demon Curse pulsed gently, giving him a disgusting sense of warmth for having "protected" his master. Xiao Chen suppressed his raging ego. He had to maintain this facade for now. He slowly turned to face the Young Miss, preparing to spin a lie.

However, before he could open his mouth, the harsh sound of metal scraping against metal cut through the silence.

Sring!

Head Guard Lei Tie, who had been lying on the ground gasping for breath, forced himself to stand. With his right hand shaking badly, he pointed the chipped tip of his sword directly at Xiao Chen's chest. His sharp, veteran's eyes stared at Xiao Chen with burning suspicion.

"Stay away from the Young Miss!" Lei Tie growled, spitting a little blood from between his teeth.

Xuanyin gasped. "Uncle Lei! What are you doing?! A'Chen just saved our lives!"

"He is not A'Chen, Young Miss!" Lei Tie snapped without taking his eyes off Xiao Chen. His soldier's instincts were screaming red alerts. "A'Chen was a servant who was afraid to even watch a chicken be slaughtered! This young man in front of me... his footsteps are silent, he always takes the enemy's blind spot. Every one of his stabs is precise, piercing a vital artery without a hint of hesitation! That's not some lucky self-defense. That is the dance of slaughter of a professional killer!"

Lei Tie tightened his grip on the sword. "Who are you really?! Did Advisor Zhao send another assassin to infiltrate our ranks?!"

Xiao Chen stood still. The night wind blew his messy hair. He glanced at the sword tip just a few inches from his chest. In his past life, any mortal who dared to point a weapon at him would have had their soul burned for eternity in the fires of hell.

A vein throbbed on Xiao Chen's temple. The Heart Demon Curse forbade him from killing Lei Tie, as the man was a protector of the Lin Family. Once again, he was forced to swallow his arrogance.

But that didn't mean a Demon Emperor would bow to the threat of an insect.

In a split second, Xiao Chen stepped forward, deliberately letting the blunt tip of Lei Tie's sword tear his coarse shirt and touch the skin of his chest. Lei Tie was shocked and reflexively held back his thrust to avoid killing him accidentally.

Using that split second of hesitation, Xiao Chen slapped Lei Tie's sword away with the back of his left hand and stepped inside the injured General's defense. His right hand moved like lightning.

Tep!

The sword, still wet with the assassin leader's blood, was now pressed firmly against the artery in Lei Tie's neck. The speed of the movement was too fast for Lei Tie's dimming, blood-loss-addled eyes to follow.

Lei Tie froze. The breath caught in his throat. The killing intent radiating from this lowly servant was a hundred times thicker and darker than that of all the assassins combined who had attacked the estate tonight.

Xiao Chen leaned in, looking straight into Lei Tie's wide eyes. Instead of asking, "Are you alright?" like a loyal servant, Xiao Chen just smirked. A smirk that sent a chill down Lei Tie's spine.

"If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't have bothered with this sword. I would have just let those dogs chew on your bones," Xiao Chen whispered, his voice low, cold, and threatening. "Lower your sword, or you all die here."