From Sword to Slaughter: Evolution

"Earlier, my attitude was out of line, Ren Xing. Don't take it to heart..." Commander Cheng stood up and slowly began retreating as he spoke, his voice trembling with regret.

Now, fear gripped him tightly. Ren Xing wasn't acting like a typical city lord—he was more like a madman. Why had he provoked such a lunatic?

"It's too late for that," Ren Xing said with a sinister smile. "I've been planning to replace you for a while now. I just moved up the schedule."

As Ren Xing spoke, he channeled his energy into his Soul Cleaver, which began to emit an intense sword aura. The sheer power of it caused cracks to spread across the ground around them.

"Ren Xing! Have you lost your mind?" Commander Cheng shouted in panic as Ren Xing continued to approach him.

"Goodbye," Ren Xing said coldly, raising his sword. In the next moment, he swung it in a deadly arc.

Whoosh—

A terrifying wave of sword energy erupted from the blade, shooting directly toward Commander Cheng.

Reacting instinctively, Cheng raised his sword to block the attack.

Clang—

A deafening noise rang out as Cheng's sword snapped in half from the impact. His eyes widened in shock.

"My sword... broke?" This was an A-grade top-tier sword! How could it shatter so easily?

"Don't worry; you won't feel any pain," Ren Xing's calm voice reached him as he reappeared right in front of Cheng. With a flash of his sword, Cheng felt a sharp pain in his neck. Then, everything went black.

[Killed Seventh-Tier Warrior: 7,000 Evolution Points obtained.]

[Absorbed Seventh-Tier Warrior's Blood Essence: 7 Energy Points obtained.]

As the system notifications echoed in his mind, Ye Fan couldn't help but click his tongue. "Looks like Ren Xing's ambitions are growing by the day."

"I wonder how long it'll be before people take notice of him," Ye Fan mused, though he was satisfied with how quickly the evolution points were piling up.

Although Ren Xing had become quite the dark force, he wasn't killing indiscriminately. And Commander Cheng was far from a good person.

"Commander!" At that moment, Cheng's remaining men burst into the hall. When they saw Cheng's lifeless body on the floor, their eyes widened in horror.

"The Commander... he's dead? And Ren Xing... you killed him!"

One of the soldiers pointed a trembling finger at Ren Xing, his voice quivering.

"So what if I did?" Ren Xing replied nonchalantly, completely unfazed.

As he swept his gaze over the men, the eerie aura of Demonic Majesty exuded from his body, making them all shiver. The sinister energy was overwhelming, and it sent chills down their spines.

"The empire will know about this, and you'll be executed!" one of the warriors shouted, his voice breaking with fear.

"Will they?" Ren Xing smiled coldly. "Too bad. No one will find out."

The soldiers' expressions shifted as they processed his words. In the blink of an eye, Ren Xing moved like a ghost, his blade flashing in the dim light.

Swish, swish, swish—

Shadows and sword light danced, and within seconds, the soldiers fell silent.

[Killed Sixth-Tier Warrior: 600 Evolution Points obtained.]

[Killed Fifth-Tier Warrior: 500 Evolution Points obtained.]

...

More notifications chimed in as the system registered the kills.

"Huang Conghui," Ren Xing called out calmly.

"City Lord!" Huang Conghui hurried inside. He glanced at the bodies littering the floor, his face twitching slightly before regaining composure.

"Get rid of these bodies," Ren Xing ordered.

"Yes, sir." Huang Conghui immediately complied, and with the help of several warriors, they quickly removed the corpses.

Once the hall was cleared, Ren Xing summoned Huang Conghui to the inner chamber.

"Make sure to erase any trace that Commander Cheng was here. And as for those who know... kill them," Ren Xing said, his gaze cold and unwavering.

"Understood," Huang Conghui's body trembled slightly, fearing that Ren Xing might turn on him as well. The thought sent a chill down his spine.

"Don't worry. You're my confidant. As long as you do your job well, I won't kill you," Ren Xing assured him, then tossed him a storage ring. "It's full of source stones. Use them for your cultivation."

"Thank you, City Lord!" Huang Conghui exclaimed, his hands shaking as he took the ring.

"You may go now."

"Yes, sir!"

Once Huang Conghui had left, a sly smile crept across Ren Xing's face. "Now then, the people from Qing City should be making their move soon."

"They've been gathering so many warriors... do they think they can kill me?" Ren Xing chuckled darkly. He had already bribed a faction in Qing City, obtaining vital information about the movements of the Qing City Lord, Zhong Qiangwen. He knew that the death of the Lion Mercenary Group would provoke a reaction from them.

But Ren Xing was confident. He gripped his Soul Cleaver, feeling the power coursing through it.

"At my current strength, I could probably kill a ninth-tier warrior," Ren Xing mused, wiping the blade of his sword. His plan was clear: eliminate those who came for him, and then spread the news of Commander Cheng's death, blaming it on the Earth Dragon people. With the evidence pointing to them, no one would suspect him.

And when the time came for a new commander to be chosen, Ren Xing was certain he could take the position.

"First things first, I need to reach the eighth tier as soon as possible," Ren Xing muttered to himself. He summoned more source stones from his storage ring, preparing to resume his cultivation. With the Soul Cleaver's All-Attribute Enhancement, his absorption rate was nearly unmatched.

Three days later...

"So, this is Star City, huh?" A group of about a dozen warriors stood outside the city gates, eyeing the walls.

"Quite heavily guarded," one of them remarked.

"Are you sure about this, Xiaofeng?" a middle-aged man in the group asked, turning to the spear-wielding warrior at his side.

Though Xiaofeng was an eighth-tier warrior, he was nothing compared to the middle-aged man—who was a ninth-tier warrior.