THE DEMON EMPEROR REBORN AS A SERVANT

Chapter 8: A Healer's Hands from Hell

The night wind whistling through the cliffs felt colder than usual. The tip of Xiao Chen's sword pressed against Head Guard Lei Tie's neck, while the general's chipped sword trembled in front of Xiao Chen's chest.

In Lei Tie's eyes, the young man in coarse servant's clothes before him was no human, but a manifestation of the angel of death.

"Stop! Please, stop!" Young Miss Lin Xuanyin's shriek broke the suffocating tension. The noble girl stumbled forward, throwing herself between them, heedless of her silk dress getting soaked in the pools of blood.

"Uncle Lei, lower your weapon! A'Chen... he's the only one who saved us tonight!" Xuanyin looked at Xiao Chen, her swollen eyes filled with fear, but also absolute dependence. "A'Chen, please... don't kill him. He's protected us this far."

Xiao Chen looked at Xuanyin's tear-streaked face. Inside his chest, the Heart Demon Curse pulsed faintly, a subtle warning not to harm someone on his master's side.

With a slow movement filled with cold arrogance, Xiao Chen pulled his sword back. Blood dripped from the blade onto the rocky ground.

"Blind loyalty is a rare thing in this world, General," Xiao Chen said flatly, spinning his sword and sheathing it on his back in a way that would be impossible for a mortal servant. "You should thank the Young Miss's tears. If it weren't for her, your head would already be rolling to the bottom of this ravine."

As soon as Xiao Chen's killing intent vanished, the last of the adrenaline in Lei Tie's body evaporated. The veteran soldier suddenly coughed violently, spitting up blood that was no longer red, but a foul-smelling, thick black. His large body collapsed instantly.

"Uncle Lei!" Lin Tian, who had been hiding, immediately ran to his side.

Xiao Chen narrowed his eyes. He stepped forward, nudging Lei Tie's wounded shoulder with his foot to check his condition. Around the enemy's sword wound that had pierced the general's side, purplish-black veins were bulging, rapidly spreading towards his heart.

"Death Root Poison," Xiao Chen muttered, recognizing the cheap mortal realm poison at a glance. "When were you cut by this?"

"In... the estate's corridor... one of the assassins grazed me..." Lei Tie's breath was ragged, his vision starting to blur.

Xiao Chen snorted coldly. "We can't stay out in the open like this. The smell of blood will attract forest predators or another wave of troops."

Without waiting for approval, Xiao Chen ordered them to move. With his own Grade 1 Warrior body aching from the earlier meridian tears, he led the small, broken group along the steep cliffside until they found a small cave hidden behind thorny bushes.

Inside the dark, damp cave, Lei Tie's condition became critical. His skin was as pale as a corpse, and his body was convulsing. Xuanyin wept silently, feeling that her family's protector was truly about to die.

"A'Chen... is there nothing we can do?" Xuanyin asked in a desperate tone.

Xiao Chen didn't answer. He walked to the damp cave wall, using his sword to dig into the moist earth. A few moments later, he returned with five thumb-sized forest leeches squirming hungrily in his hand.

"Hold his shoulders and legs," Xiao Chen ordered Xuanyin coldly.

"What are you going to do?!" Xuanyin's eyes widened at the sight of the disgusting leeches.

"Heal him, of course. The damn general's meridians are already damaged from overexerting himself. If I use my Qi to suppress the poison, his heart will explode." Xiao Chen drew his sword, which was caked with dried blood. "The only way is to manually draw out the poisoned blood."

Without warning, without giving Lei Tie any time to mentally prepare, Xiao Chen plunged the tip of his sword directly into the black wound on the general's side, cutting the decaying flesh open wider.

"GAAAAARRGHH!!"

Lei Tie's scream echoed in the cave, the veins in his neck nearly bursting from the pain that surpassed human tolerance. His flesh was being cut open while he was still alive, without any anesthetic.

Xiao Chen didn't blink. His hands were as fast and precise as a surgeon from hell. He placed the hungry leeches right into the open gash. The leeches immediately latched onto the infected blood vessels, swelling rapidly as they sucked out the black, poisoned blood.

"UNCLE LEI!"

Ten-year-old Lin Tian shrieked hysterically. Seeing the black blood gushing out and the flesh being forcibly cut, the boy's sanity shattered. He charged at Xiao Chen, pummeling the young man's back with his small fists. "Stop! You're hurting him! You're an evil demon! Stop!"

Xiao Chen stopped his movements. He slowly turned to look at Lin Tian. His patience for mortal whining had run out.

PLAAK!!

A hard, merciless slap landed squarely on Lin Tian's cheek.

The sound of the slap was so loud it echoed off the cave walls. Lin Tian was sent flying several feet, landing in a heap on the dusty ground with a split and bleeding lip. His crying stopped instantly, replaced by a freezing shock.

"Tian'er!" Xuanyin screamed in anger. She let go of Lei Tie and ran to hug her brother. She glared at Xiao Chen with burning rage. "How dare you?! He is your Young Master! He's just a scared little boy!"

Xiao Chen stood up slowly. Lei Tie's black blood dripped from his fingertips. A thick killing intent, the remnants of his Demon Emperor's aura from his past life, radiated from his body, pressing down on the air in the cave until Xuanyin felt like she was suffocating.

"A little boy?" Xiao Chen's voice was eerily calm, but it radiated absolute terror. He stepped towards the siblings. "Open your eyes, Young Miss. The world where you could pamper this little boy burned to the ground tonight."

Xiao Chen crouched down, bringing his face level with the terrified, trembling Lin Tian in his sister's arms. He pointed at Lei Tie, who was now breathing more easily as the leeches successfully drew the poison away from his heart.

"Look at that man, you stupid brat!" Xiao Chen commanded, his voice as cold as ice. "You're crying because I cut his flesh? Know this, the pain I'm giving him is the only reason he's still breathing. The enemies chasing us out there won't cut you open to heal you. They will slit your throat, then rape your sister over your dead body."

Xuanyin swallowed hard, her face turning pale at the brutal reality her servant had just stated so bluntly.

Xiao Chen grabbed Lin Tian's collar, pulling the boy so close their noses were almost touching.

"In this chaotic world, tears can't block a sword. Crying won't bring your father back from the dead," Xiao Chen whispered, planting the seeds of his hellish doctrine directly into the Young Master's soul. "If you can't stand the sight of your comrade's blood, then you will drown in your own. Remember the smell of blood tonight. Turn your fear into fangs, not chains. Understand?!"

Lin Tian looked into Xiao Chen's eyes, which were as dark as a bottomless abyss. Amidst the pain in his cheek and the terror in his heart, something inside the ten-year-old boy cracked. His innocence died in that moment. He swallowed his metallic-tasting saliva, then nodded stiffly. His eyes no longer held weakness, but a trauma that was beginning to harden into resolve.

Xiao Chen released his grip, letting Lin Tian fall back into his sister's arms. He turned back to Lei Tie's side to remove the leeches, which were now swollen to the size of fists, and then crushed them with a rock.

"Get some sleep. We have a long road ahead of us tomorrow," Xiao Chen said coldly, walking to a corner of the cave and starting a small campfire with some dry twigs.

A heavy silence fell over the cave. Xuanyin hugged her brother, stealing glances at Xiao Chen's back, illuminated by the firelight. The timid servant was dead, replaced by a terrifying tyrant. But ironically, this tyrant was the only thing holding up the sky for the Lin family tonight.

A few hours later.

The night grew deeper. The air temperature dropped drastically. Lei Tie, his condition stabilized, was snoring softly. The Young Miss and Lin Tian huddled together for warmth in their restless sleep.

Xiao Chen sat cross-legged near the small campfire. He wasn't sleeping. He focused his mind, circulating the 9 Hells Purification Sutra very carefully to heal the cracks in his Grade 1 meridians from the earlier insane fight. He knew that in this mortal realm, without absolute power, his cunning mind could only ensure survival, not dominance.

Suddenly, Xiao Chen's eyelids snapped open.

His dormant killer instinct awakened instantly. He pressed his palm against the rocky cave floor. Through the faint vibrations in the earth, his ears picked up the rhythm of footsteps, too regular for a wild beast. There were five, no, seven of them. Their movements were light, coated in a stable internal Qi, spreading out as they moved through the underbrush.

Without wasting a second, Xiao Chen scooped up a handful of wet earth and threw it onto the campfire.

Hsssh!

The fire died instantly. The cave was plunged back into complete darkness.

The hissing sound woke up Lei Tie and Xuanyin, who gasped in panic.

"A'Chen? What's wrong?" Xuanyin whispered, trembling, as the cold night air enveloped her again.

In the darkness, Xiao Chen's eyes reflected the faint moonlight filtering through the thorny bushes. His gaze was as sharp as a scalpel. His right hand slowly drew the sword from his back. The sound of metal scraping against its sheath sounded like a death song.

"Wake your brother," Xiao Chen commanded in a very low voice, almost like a whisper of wind. "That dog of an Advisor isn't a fool. He sent an elite tracking squad. I can feel their Qi fluctuations from here. They are all Grade 2 Warriors."

Lei Tie forced himself to sit up, gritting his teeth against the pain. "Seven Grade 2 Warriors? We don't stand a chance. We need to find a way out!"

Xiao Chen didn't turn. He stared straight at the cave's entrance, cracking his neck. A cruel grin spread across his face in the darkness.

"Running will only get us hunted down like crippled deer," Xiao Chen hissed coldly. "We're not running. We're going to lure them into hell."