The villagers quickly had the elderly, women and kids evacuated. The men hurriedly gathered at the village entrance, now armed mostly with common farmer's tools. Though a few men did carry real weapons like a spear or saber.

"Quick! Doctor Fu, please leave!" The villagers urged Grandpa Fu, who did not budge.

"Sigh. Although, this old man is indeed quite old. I have not withered yet. Let me take part in this battle." Grandpa Fu sighed and said with determination.

"To be honest... These villagers I happened to have inspected, none had strength surpassing 2. That means grandpa Fu is the strongest man at the helm. But it can't be helped. I heard that 'Brother Tie' is the strongest man from Blue Haw Village. But in order to further his martial arts, he joined a mercenary-like band of martial artists that usually escort merchants. And Brother Tie is supposed to escort a merchant company back to his village, unfortunately, they'll only be arriving tomorrow." Mu Cheng thought.

As the villagers urged Mu Cheng to evacuate, he had no choice but to comply. There was no way the group of adults would put a kid in danger.

"But this isn't a bad thing for me. I thought grandpa Fu would just drop me off here at the village. But it seems he intends to bring me around and somehow find my so called 'noble family'... But I don't have any noble family. Sigh. I'm trying to get adopted by a noble family, not find my noble family. But now, I can use the chaos and confusion to disappear." Mu Cheng thought and gave a slight smile.

Mu Cheng then changed direction and ran to Hongguo Fang's house. Mu Cheng quickly entered the room he and grandpa Fu stayed in and found a bamboo basket filled to the brim. He hurriedly grabbed the bamboo basket and put it on his back and ran back out.

"Alright, let's pretend to panic and run to the forest." Mu Cheng gave it a thought and quickly put on a scared and panicky face as he hurriedly ran to the forest.

"Oh no! It's the Tiger Bandits!" A man yelled in fear.

"What?! Why! Oh god! The Tiger Bandits are ruthless, they won't leave a single survivor!" A woman cried with tears in her eyes.

News quickly spread and more panic and chaos ensued. Due to the panic, Mu Cheng easily made it to the forest without a problem.

Mu Cheng took a few steps and stopped.

"Sigh. I really don't want anything to happen to grandpa Fu. And the villagers, they treated us quite well." Mu Cheng said with a wry smile.

With a thought, Mu Cheng quickly started growing to an 18-year-old adult. A handsome a regal looking noble young man stood in the forest.

Going from 6-year-old to 18-year-old cost Mu Cheng 12 AP. His remaining AP dropped from 205 to 193

"Okay, let's put on an ordinary face." In order to not get recognized, Mu Cheng went to the character customization and put on one of the ordinary presets from the free presets list.

Moments later, Mu Cheng's hair, face, jawline, nose, eye, eyebrows, his whole face started morphing from a noble-looking man into an ordinary man's face.

"Although I don't have a mirror to confirm. I could feel the change of my face." Mu Cheng felt his face.

Mu Cheng hurriedly put on his half-finished wolf fur coat and hid his bamboo basket in a bush.

"Guess I'll have to sell my stuff somewhere else." Mu Cheng gave the bush a look and turned his head toward the village entrance.

Mu Cheng could hear intense sounds of weapons clashing from the village entrance.

"Now that I think about it, I don't even have a weapon." Mu Cheng said with a wry smile. The sounds of iron weapons clashing, Mu Cheng could image what he would become if an iron saber were to cut into him.

Looking at his new attributes.

Strength 4.8, Agility 4.2, Vitality 4.9, Intelligence 4.1

"Let's at least max my physique." Mu Cheng thought. Agility would be especially useful in a battle with sharp weapons. Agility not only increased his body's dexterity and nimbleness. His perception of time would slow due to his enhanced nerves.

Strength changed from 4.8 to 7.9, a total of 30 AP was expended. The remaining AP fell from 193 to 163.

Agility changed from 4.2 to 7.8, 32 AP expended, Vitality changed from 4.9 to 7.9, 29.5 AP expended.

Mu Cheng's remaining AP quickly fell down to 101.5 AP.

Mu Cheng had thought his body would be incredibly bulky like before after increasing his strength to 7.9. But who would have thought that after evening out his Agility and Vitality, his body grew to 2.1 m, turned streamlined and well balanced. Looking somewhat like a gymnastic's body, though with slightly bigger muscles, yet not as big as a bodybuilder's.

"Intelligence won't have much of an impact on my battle prowess. Instead, I should focus on my martial art instead. The Tiger Bandits? I'll let you have a taste of my Tiger Fist." Mu Cheng gave an evil smile. Although increasing Intelligence would at most make Mu Cheng memory enhanced and a slight increase in body coordination. This was insignificant as compared to mastering a martial art.

Focusing on Tiger Fist, Mu Cheng dumped 100 AP into it.

Tiger Fist Lv1(96/100) changed to Tiger Fist Lv1(10,096/100) as if digesting the XP, the skill rapidly decreased the XP.

Soon the skill blurred and turned clear again. Tiger Fist Lv7(1596/8000)

Boom! As if a bomb exploded, Mu Cheng's mind was flooded with memories almost equal to someone having practiced Tiger Fist for 10 years. Every clench of the fist, turn of the waist, twist of the ankle. The memories quickly got ingrained into Mu Cheng's muscle memories.

"What. An. Ama-zing. Feeling!" Mu Cheng said word for word. Still indulging in the amazing experience. Unlike in the Cataclysmic Era, An increase in skill level only unlocked additional features or new moves for the character. Mu Cheng, instead received the full memories of practicing the Tiger Fist for almost 10 whole years. It was as if he had truly practiced the Tiger Fist every day for 10 years. The martial art was now so familiar to Mu Cheng, if he were to get attacked right now, his body will automatically react and utilize the Tiger Fist to block and counter-attack even before his mind has reacted.

...

"Hahaha! Feel honored, Blue Haw Village! We, the Tiger Bandits want all your money and women!" A bandit riding a horse yelled arrogantly as he looked down on the large group of villagers blocking the entrance to the village.

"You can't do this! Brother Tie won't forgive you!" A courageous man stood out and shouted.

"Iron Fist Tie? Boss! This is bad. I heard Iron Fist Tie is from Blue Haw Village. " A sharp-eyed man rode his horse close to the 2 m tall large man with bulging large muscles.

"Ha! If Iron Fist Tie really was here! I wouldn't be robbing you lots right now. But where is he right now then? Since he isn't here, I, Tiger Boss got nothing to fear!" The tall man said fearlessly.

"But, boss. If Iron Fist were to seek revenge..." The sharp-eyed man hesitated and said.

"Don't worry. We'll just kill everyone! Leave no witnesses!" The boss said cruelly.

"Kill everyone! Leave no witnesses!" Over 20 bandits riding horses yelled enthusiastically.

"Leave the Tiger Boss to me." Grandpa Fu narrowed his eyes and stepped forward.

"Hahaha! Does this village have no one else to defend? Even sending an old man forward to his death!" Tiger Boss yelled.

The village had over 20 men, while the bandits also had over 20 men. But the bandits were all riding on horses, the kinetic force generated from the horses' rush was deadly.

The bandits quickly rushed forward and waved their sabers at the men defending.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The men held their weapons forward to block the incoming saber slashes. But the resulting force flung one after another man flying and coughing mouthfuls of blood. After one wave of the bandits' attack, half of the men defending where lying weakly on the ground with blood painting their clothes.

Meanwhile, grandpa Fu fought Tiger Boss with a sturdy bamboo pole.

"Damnable old man!" Tiger Boss cursed. No matter how he attacked the old man with his large iron saber. Grandpa Fu easily redirected the force away. 

Grandpa Fu who had practiced Tai Chi his whole life, was a master of using soft means to defeat hard means. All of Tiger Boss' saber attacks contained great power, but the kinetic force in his saber attacks was easily scattered and turned as weak as a leaf.

Bang! Bang! Grandpa Fu easily deflected Tiger Boss' saber attack and waved his bamboo pole, slamming Tiger Boss hard on his head and shoulder. Tiger Boss turned dizzy and fell off his horse. Grandpa Fu did not miss the opportunity and quickly jumped up and rode on the horse.

"Boss! We're here to reinforce you!" After defeating more than half of the defending villagers, several bandits hurriedly rode their horses over to Tiger Boss. They had seen the old man's ridiculous strength after beating their boss down from his horse.

"Hahaha! So what if you're stronger than me! What can you do now that you're surrounded!" After shaking off his dizziness, Tiger Boss sneered at Grandpa Fu.

Being surrounded from every direction, Grandpa Fu had to pay great attention to his defense. But with Tiger Boss back, Grandpa Fu was unable to defend all the attacks from the other bandits. Soon Grandpa Fu started bleeding. But he had no choice, because one attack from Tiger Boss was good enough to sever an arm or leg. He had to prioritize defending against Tiger Boss' attack.  His horse was slain and now Grandpa Fu stood weakly on his two feet as he continued defending against the bandits.

"Oh no! Doctor Fu!" The villagers yelled helplessly.

Thud, Grandpa Fu's bamboo pole was cut in half, the other half of the bamboo pole helplessly fell on the ground.

"Hahaha! Let me send you to hell!" Tiger Boss yelled and raised his saber high, intending to behead the old man.

"HALT!" A tiger-like roar deafened everyone. The horses laid down in fear, the bandits quickly fell down on the ground.

A shadow flashed forward, rushing directly at Tiger Boss. It took everyone a few moments to recover from the shocking yell. By the time Tiger Boss recovered, Mu Cheng was already in front of him. Tiger Boss could only change the direction of his saber attack toward Mu Cheng.

Mu Cheng seeing the saber falling down toward him, twisted his upper body right, twisted his body left, brought his right hand forward. Mu Cheng's right hand easily caught Tiger Boss' saber wielding hand's wrist

Crunch! Squeezing hard, Tiger Boss' wrist was crushed.

"AAAHH!!" Tiger Boss yelled in pain.

Clang! Tiger Boss' saber fell to the ground.

Without giving Tiger Boss a moment to recover, Mu Cheng, with his eyes slightly red in anger. Let go of the crushed wrist and clutched Tiger Boss' throat.

Crack! With a single clench, Tiger Boss' neck was crushed.

Slightly waving his arms in despair. Mu Cheng took the chance to extract Tiger Boss' skills.

34 AP! The Tiger Boss' martial skills weren't bad, including horse riding skills and a few non-combat skills, Mu Cheng reaped a whole whopping 34 AP!

But Mu Cheng wasn't in the mood to enjoy the AP. Due to the numerous hunts he had done with A'Hu in the forest. He had extracted Tiger Boss' skills by sheer reflex when he saw Tiger Boss' despairing eyes.

Mu Cheng had just gone to Hongguo Fang's house to get his bamboo basket, then run to the forest. Then he quickly transformed into an 18-year-old's body. Quickly putting on his wolf fur coat, Mu Cheng had then immediately rushed to the village entrance. It took no more than a few minutes to do everything. But once he arrived, Mu Cheng saw Tiger Boss raise his saber and about to behead grandpa Fu.

Although he had only spent a month with Grandpa Fu, Grandpa Fu had treated him very well. Mu Cheng's eyes turned red in rage as he yelled "HALT!" before he rushed up and killed Tiger Boss. Mu Cheng may have gotten used to killing animals, but killing a human for the first time was different. Because of the rage, Mu Cheng had yet to fully awaken, otherwise, with him killing a human for the first time. He would definitively have vomited and felt sick.

The rest of the people had just recovered from the shocking and deafening yell. With Mu Cheng's 7.9 Strength and Vitality, his lungs were extremely strong. The yell had been with Mu Cheng's full strength, even his throat was hurting from overexerting his shout. The shout was so loud the people's ears stung and they felt dizzy even now.

Right after recovering from the yell, they only heard a crunch then a crack sound. Everyone stared dumbfoundedly at the now dead Tiger Boss lying on the ground.

"Boss!" The bandits yelled in terror.

Stimulated by the bandits' yell. Mu Cheng turned his target to the remaining bandits.

"Die!" Mu Cheng's slightly red eyes stared at the bandits like a wolf staring at its prey.

Swish! Mu Cheng flashed forward like a ghost, standing in front of a bandit.

Crunch! He easily crushed his neck.

Swish! Crush! Swish! Crack! Mu Cheng flash around the battleground and ended all the 20 plus bandits' lives with a single crack to their necks.

"Young Hero! Thank you for saving our village!" Suddenly a villager woke up from his stupefaction and yelled out his gratitude.

"Young Hero!" The first villager's voice woke up the rest of the villagers, everyone hurriedly thanked Mu Cheng.

"Ah! Urgh!" The villager's words of gratitude woke up Mu Cheng from his anger. Soon he felt nauseous after remembering how he killed over 20 bandits just moments ago. He quickly covered his mouth with his hand. 

"Young Hero! Are you hurt?" The villagers noticed Mu Cheng's strange actions and asked in worry.

"No, I'm fine!" Mu Cheng hurriedly forced down his unwell feelings and waved his hands to indicate he was fine.

"Now, it's time to loot the boss!" After Mu Cheng remembered that he killed all the bandits, he thought that the bandits should have some wealth.

"Nice! Some silver and a few strings of copper coins." Mu Cheng found some crushed silver pieces and three strings of copper coins.

"Nice saber!" Mu Cheng then sheathed Tiger Boss' saber and put it on his back. Tiger boss was indeed the bandit boss, his saber was of much better quality as compared to the other bandits. Mu Cheng was happy to finally get a good weapon. Now he won't have to fear having to fight barehanded against iron weapons.

"Luckily Grandpa Fu is fine." Mu Cheng looked over at Grandpa Fu and saw that he only had some surface wounds. Grandpa Fu was indeed strong to have managed to fight simultaneous against so many bandits surrounding him. Mu Cheng had heavily relied on his monstrous physique to easily kill the bandits like chickens.

Seeing Grandpa Fu was fine, Mu Cheng turned and ran into the forest.

"Young Hero! Please grace us with your name...!" Before the villager managed to finish his sentence, Mu Cheng was already gone.