“Thank you for your service.” Ryu tipped the guide as they landed. He informed the guide that he’ll no longer require his services and the guide could only frown. His warning to Ryu had only piqued his interest.

According to the guide, the mountain ranges was another five hours away by mount but Ryu knew that no one would be willing to fly him there. The Vanishing Bandits were comparable to a first rate sect. They specialize in speed techniques, something Ryu hasn’t found a suitable one to learn.

“This Five-Color Lightning fruit is definitely worth checking out. With the lightning absorbing method, I should be able to advance much faster than cultivating by myself.” Ryu said to himself. There were various reasons why Ryu wanted to check out the fruit. One was to see if the method of absorbing raw elemental Qi such as lightning and lava worked. Since he’s no longer inside the inner sanctum of the Forbidden Forest, cultivating outside in a less Qi enriched place is decreasing his cultivating rate by more than half. Also after reaching level 40 in his second reservoir, the amount of Qi getting absorbed by that foreign plant object is increasing. Even with his profound cultivation method, his leveling up rate is only double that of an average person now.

Another reason is that the red gemmed necklace inheritance Ryu got was a rank 10 + item according to his estimation. This just shows Ryu how much gap there is between him and his potential real family. The world has many strong beings that Ryu couldn’t hold a candle to, if he’s unfortunate and meet one of them then his demise will be quick. Ryu put on the enchanted cloak that allows him to blend in with the shadows and started running.

“This cloak is truly miraculous. Not only does it excel in hiding me when I’m in shadows, even in broad daylight I am just a blur. It seems to be bending light to create an adaptive camouflage effect.” Ryu mused as he looked downwards to see his lower body as a haze. It’s a shame that my Qi wings and flames wouldn’t be hidden by the cloak.

After five hours of running, Ryu found a small village ahead. Normally he would’ve just kept on running since he’s two hours away from the mountain ranges but the overall aura generated by the whole village is dark and gloomy. This isn’t possible unless every single person in the village was depressed!

Whoosh. Ryu arrived inside the village and started walking around on rooftops. It’s the first time he has been inside a village, the place is much more desolate than he thought. Most buildings were made of wood and there was even some huts made of straws.

As he approached the center of the village he noticed that one side of town was occupied by a small group of soldiers of the Lin Empire. Arriving at the center he sees ten masked men berating a frail old man. These masked men were in their thirties and wearing purple robes, what’s special is that their robes are similar to his. They seem to be made for camouflaging since their body seems distorted as well but obviously Ryu’s cloak was better.

“I told you last year to prepare another twenties well-abled bodies for us.” The leader of the masked man yelled as he slap the old man. His name was Dian-Yu. Blood flew out from the frail old man’s mouth.

“We really don’t have any one left, please don’t take our young ones.” The old man begged frantically. Ryu saw just over a dozen young kids behind the masked men, all shackled in chains.

“Shut up you pathetic old man. We asked for twenty a year and there’s only fourteen kids, we’ll take six women to keep us company then. We are honorable people, when we say twenty we mean twenty hehe.” The Dian-Yu snickered as he inspected the women from the crowd. Every women instinctively took steps backwards.

Ryu had seen enough. Besides the leader who is at level 42, slightly above Ryu, the rest were only in Master Domain. With a humph, Ryu stamped his feet and the ground beneath the masked men began to sink. Seven were instantly trapped with half their bodies beneath the ground. Mini stone golems formed and imprisoned them. Only two veterans at peak Master Domain and the leader were able to resist and escape in time.

“Who dares to-” Dian-Yu yelled as he leapt up but was interrupted by direct punch to his face. The punch was terrifying, a huge boom rang out and sounds of bones breaking could be heard. The gusts of wind from the impact made the villagers sway backwards. This was the Mega-Punch from the mysterious monkey’s arts with a fraction of his Qi, Dian-Yu would have been beheaded if he went all out. Dain-Yu’s body flew like an arrow towards the edge of the village only to be slapped backwards towards the center by a huge golden being, the Gold Keeper that Ryu materialized.

The two remaining Master Domain masked men instantly lost the will to fight after seeing their leader literally crushed and pounded into the floor like a nail easily. He was facing downwards but his body was bent in all sorts of weird ways. Even the villagers felt pity for him.

Ryu spoke calmly in mid-air, “Give back their people or die.”

“Do you know who we are? We are the Vanishing Bandits!” One of the surviving bandits yelled out.

“So?” Ryu said casually, two Qi blades instantly shot forward and stopped beside their necks. The two remaining bandits were scared out of their wits, unable to speak now. With a wave of his hand Ryu free the shackles that held the kids.

“Sir, you better leave before the soldiers come!” The old man that was getting beaten up by the bandits earlier spoke.

Before Ryu could ask why. All twenty soldiers came towards them and the captain who was wearing a superior armor shouted, “Who dares make a scene here in front of us?”

“I do. There men are the Vanishing Bandits, please arrest them.” Ryu said simply from mid-air. The captain frowned and contemplated what he should say as he saw Ryu floating in mid-air. Could he be in Heaven Domain? No he doesn’t seem to be flying naturally. I can’t gauge his level at all! Also that golden monster made of Qi…

The Qi blades and golems disappeared and an invisible force flung every single bandit except the squashed leader towards the soldiers.

One of the bandits instantly spoke up, “You fool, you are dead now. Captain do what you are paid to do and get rid of this nuisance.”

Ryu sighed, he gets the picture now. He thought it was strange that the soldiers were not doing anything earlier. Seeing Ryu’s expression, the captain knew that a fight was inevitable so he signaled his men along with the bandits to surround and attack. Besides himself, there was two others in Grandmaster Domain, he was confident they’ll prevail. The villages at this point had retreated into their homes but the curious ones peaked out from their windows.

The Infinity Tome opened up behind Ryu, allowing him to maximize his mental capacities. With his left arm behind his back and his right arm with two fingers pointed outwards raised above his right shoulder, Ryu made a simple motion of sliding his right arm diagonally to his left side. Instantly a dozen Qi blades flew out towards the soldiers from his fingertips. He swung his right arm again and before the first wave of Qi blades landed, another dozen Qi blades flew out.

The soldiers were all wearing armor so they didn’t bother dodging the Qi blades. Raw Qi loses its strength as the distance increase from its origin, that’s why no one goes around blasting Qi. Little did they know that inside those Qi blades was real steel materialized by Ryu due to the fusion of fire, air, and earth!

Screams of agony flooded out as over half the soldiers and bandits got disabled immediately. This time Ryu didn’t’ bother holding back, in a real fight against despicable people his resolution was firm. Crippling a few was okay as long as he doesn’t kill them. He wants to be strong enough to protect without killing but he knows it’s difficult. Thankfully he has the Absolute Agreement, he’ll give them a second chance later on. If they choose to continue to be evil then their lives can be forfeited.

The Gold Keeper was swatting the rest away like flies with a spear, he was practicing the profound stick techniques he received. Previously in his fight against Fang-Da Ryu’s second reservoir was only at Master Domain so he couldn’t materialize a weapon for his Gold Keeper, now that his second reservoir is at Grandmaster Domain he can add on a few more accessories. His first reservoir was powering the Qi blades. This combo was deadly, no one could get close to Ryu and after a minute only the captain of the soldiers was left leaning against a building. He was covered in cuts though and was heaving heavily.

Suddenly the captain raised his sword upwards and turned towards the building he was leaning on earlier. He had a look of a crazy man and shouted, “You… You stay back you monster. I will demolish this building and everyone inside if you come any closer.”

In reality the captain doesn’t know if anyone is inside, his mind was already in chaos. Ryu frowned as he noticed people hiding within the building.

Ryu dismissed the gold keeper and landed on the ground. The captain knew that getting away was slim so he needed a live hostage. Holding his sword above his head still with one arm, he used his other arm to punch a wall down. Ryu knew that he was going to grab an innocent villager so without hesitation he performed the Mega-Kick with a variation. The kick originally allows Ryu to output all his Qi at a single point but Ryu modified so he kicked out a huge Qi blade instead. This blade was larger and faster than any he had shot out before, it swung towards the captain and chopped off his arm instantly before flying upwards. If the Qi blade continued forward than half the village would have been destroyed.

The captain screamed out in pain and instantly dropped his sword. Ryu easily imprisoned him inside a stone golem along with the rest of the culprits promptly.

The villagers slowly came out. Right now they were afraid of Ryu who displayed monstrous strength but seeing as how Ryu was not hostile, they slowly approached him and thanked him.

“Thank you mister. These bandits have been colluding with the army for decades. The authorities wouldn’t help us!” A young woman said genuinely.

“They took away our young ones, you have to help us! My son was taken away last time.” A middle-aged woman begged urgently.

“Not just our village but any village and towns around the border are all suffering!” An elder man said as he coughed.

“Our village head was even killed by them.” One person sobbed.

Ryu saw how desperate things were around this village and from the sounds of it, it wasn’t just this village that was getting victimized. Originally he just wanted to enter the mountain range and search for the treasured fruit but now he has another reason to.

Ryu used this time to question the villagers about the situation while he regains his Qi. It turns out that the army is occupied with protecting the border at the west so very few were stationed here at the south. Different squads were assigned to protect towns and villages close to the southern border but there wasn’t enough men to fend off the bandits. Eventually even some soldiers ended up being bribed and turned a blind eye to their evil deeds.

With great effort Ryu erected stone walls around the village and restored the damaged buildings within the best of his abilities, he even made a steel gate for them. The villagers were beyond grateful.

Ryu asked to be alone with the bandits. The Infinity Tome actually floated around the bandits as if it’s scolding them. Obviously no one could see the tome.

“All of you have done many evil deeds and deserve to be killed. However, I’ll give you one last chance. Agree to serve this village for the next fifty years with complete obedience, never leaving its boundaries. You are never to perform any evil deeds or use your Qi for selfish gains for the rest of your lives. The punishment is death and the terms are subjective to my views. Even if you think something is not evil but I might.” Ryu said to the bandits. Obviously all of them agreed. Deep down they are itching for Ryu to leave so they can get revenge later. Even their crippled leader managed a nod.

The moment they agreed, the Infinity Tome spun around Ryu as if it’s trying to tell him something. It flipped to a page and started to draw a few figures. There was a pair of people talking and then there was a guy with a huge gold being behind him. Ryu figured that the latter was him and he chuckled. He got what the tome was trying to say.

“Lastly you may never reveal anything about me. Agreed?” Ryu said sternly at the group. They easily agreed once again. The tome seems to get more intelligent as I level up my second reservoir hmm.

Suddenly they were all released from their confinements and Ryu simply walked away. The first thing they did after Ryu disappeared from their sights was to run away from the village. As they approached the newly made walls, they started coughing up blood. It’s as if their life was squeezed out from under them.

One person tried muttering about Ryu but found out no voice came out. It took them a while to realize that their agreement with Ryu was binding. They don’t know how but they can’t go against it. They can’t even discuss it amongst themselves because Ryu forbid them from ever talking about him!

Ryu went towards the soldiers afterwards and established a similar contract. Instead of serving this village, they are to serve their province whole heartily. The captain had an extra condition and that was to admit his crimes to his superiors without leaving a detail out.

“How did you do it?” A village elder asked Ryu as he watched in amazement. A bandit was actually helping out the village after being asked.

“I just forced them to serve this village for the next fifty years. I hope you can keep my involvement a secret.” Ryu said simply. He bid farewell to the villagers and headed off to the mountain ranges.

Ryu unloaded the massive amounts of weapons that Alexis had in his storage ring and stored them in the Infinity Tome. This way he could call them out at will. Arming himself with a Wudang sword at his waist, a six foot long spear behind his back and a rank 7 set of thin plated armor, he flew off into the distance. The villagers confirmed that the Vanishing Bandits were in fact comparable to a first rate sect with over thousands of members, some are even in the Heaven Domain!