Chapter 816: The Old Man Was Pretending All Along

Chapter 816: Chapter 816: The Old Man Was Pretending All Along

Rong Ye and An Mo had never been known for having much patience, especially when it concerned Su Qinglan. The moment they caught up with the old man on the quiet forest road, neither of them bothered with pleasantries.

"What did you tell her?!" Rong Ye growled.

An Mo’s expression remained colder than ice. He walked over, his tall shadow looming over the old man. "Speak."

The old man lay completely motionless on the grass, refusing to answer.

An Mo’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "Still pretending?" He grabbed the old man by his dusty collar, hauling him up with one hand.

Bang!

Another heavy punch connected, throwing the old man’s body several meters away. Dust rose thick from the ground.

Rong Ye followed immediately, stepping into the cloud of dust. "Tell us what you said to her!"

Silence. The old man didn’t say a single word. Not even a groan escaped his lips.

Rong Ye’s expression darkened. He walked right up to him. "Are you deaf? Or are you deliberately refusing to speak?"

Still nothing.

An Mo exchanged a tense glance with Rong Ye; silence descended on the woods. The old man hadn’t moved an inch.

Rong Ye’s brows slowly furrowed. "Did we..."

An Mo’s expression shifted. "...kill him?"

Neither of them spoke. They looked at each other. They had been furious, but neither had actually intended to murder an ancient stranger. After all, despite looking incredibly frail, the old man was still a beastman.

Beastman bodies were exceptionally durable; even an elder shouldn’t die from a simple beating.

At least... they hadn’t thought he would. But the old man had been lying there far too long without breathing.

Rong Ye’s expression grew complicated. "Don’t tell me..."

An Mo glared at him. "Did you kill him?"

"I didn’t mean to! You hit him too!"

"You punched him first!"

The two stood over the body, arguing back and forth. Finally, Rong Ye cautiously walked closer, nudging the old man’s side with the tip of his feet.

"Hey. Are you alive or dead?"

No response. Rong Ye nudged him again. "Old man?"

Silence.

An Mo stepped up and looked down. The old man lay flat on his back, eyes closed, completely lifeless. For several long seconds, neither beastman knew what to say.

Then...

"Hahahahaha!"

The old man suddenly sat bolt upright!

Both beastmen froze mid-step. The old man threw his head back and laughed loudly at the sky. "Hahahaha!"

Rong Ye’s face instantly darkened to match the night sky, while An Mo’s expression turned frigid.

The old man laughed until tears welled up at the corners of his eyes. Then, he slowly twisted his hunched shoulder.

Crack.

He cracked his neck.

Crack.

He flexed his thin arm.

Crack. Crack.

He let out a deep, dramatic sigh. "Still not dead... What a pity."

Rong Ye glared at him, his veins popping. "You..."

The old man glanced up at them, wiping a tear from his eye. "You young men are truly ruthless! Look at these old bones of mine!" He rubbed his waist dramatically.

"Do you know how many years it took me to grow them? You nearly broke everything!" He patted his shoulder. "Here hurts." Then his back. "Here too." Then his leg. "Ah... you really don’t respect the elderly."

An Mo’s face remained utterly expressionless. "Enough nonsense. Tell us what you told her."

The old man blinked innocently. "Nonsense? I told her many things! I told her the weather was good. I told her the trees were green. And..." He paused, his smile growing wide. "...I told her that your fists were very heavy."

Rong Ye’s hand clenched so hard his knuckles popped.

The old man immediately held up both hands in mock surrender. "Don’t hit me again! If you want to kill me, just kill me! Why make this old man suffer so much?"

Rong Ye sneered. "You think we won’t?"

"Would you?" The old man smiled comfortably. The beating from earlier seemed to have left zero impact on him. He tapped his ancient bark crutch against the dirt. "If you truly wanted me dead... I would already be dead."

Rong Ye growled, "Don’t play games with us!"

The old man shrugged helplessly. "What can I say? You have already beaten me half to death. Look at me...I’m old, I’m weak, I’m poor, and I’m helpless. Do I look like someone capable of causing trouble?"

Neither man believed a single word coming out of his mouth.

An Mo took a menacing step forward. "If anything happens to her because of what you told her..."

The old man looked up. "Then what?"

An Mo’s aura flared, raw killing intent filling the air. "I will hunt you down and kill you."

The old man simply smiled. "You can try."

The old man slowly raised his head. For one split second, the frailty completely vanished from his withered face. His cloudy eyes turned terrifyingly deep, like a dark, endless abyss.

"I’ve lived far too long to be afraid of young men."

The two beastmen’s instincts screamed in alarm, their muscles tensing for a fight. But before either of them could even react...

Poof.

The old man vanished.

One moment he was standing right in front of them, and the next...nothing. Only a few faint footprints remained in the dirt.

Rong Ye froze mid-stride. An Mo’s eyes widened in genuine disbelief.

"Where did he go?!"

Neither of them had sensed a single trace of his aura moving!

Rong Ye whirled around, scanning the dense forest. "Old man!"

An Mo’s face turned thoroughly ugly. "He ran away."

Rong Ye slammed his fist against a nearby tree, shattering it instantly. "That old bastard!"

They had just spent ten minutes watching him limp around like a fragile senior citizen, yet he had slipped away without leaving a single trace!

Rong Ye kicked a stone away, cursing under his breath. They both knew there was no point in chasing him now. Even if they managed to track him down, what would it accomplish?

Beat him again?

The old man’s mouth was sealed tight. He had taken a barrage of punches without giving up a single detail.

"That old man is extremely strange," Rong Ye gritted out.

An Mo nodded grimly. "Very. He looks like he can barely walk, yet he vanished instantly without an aura trace. And he knows things he shouldn’t know."

After a silent moment, Rong Ye turned back toward the city path. "Let’s go back. We need to check on Qinglan."

As they turned to leave, Rong Ye cast one final, suspicious glance back into the woods. "Tch. Old bastard..."

Far away, hidden behind the thick trunk of an ancient tree, a frail head poked out.

The old man watched the two towering beastmen walk away. He waited until their figures completely disappeared into the distance before chuckling softly.

"Young people these days..." He rubbed his sore waist, sighing happily. "So violent! Fortunately, this old man’s bones are still quite durable."

Picking up his twisted bark crutch, his back immediately bent once more into a frail, hunched posture. His steps turned slow and shaky as he ambled back onto the path.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

As he slowly faded into the shadows of the forest, his hoarse voice echoed faintly through the rustling leaves one last time.

"Whether she believes me or not..." He smiled mysteriously into the wind. "...the future has already begun."