My beautiful CEO wife-Chapter 1636: Martial Saint in a Run-down Bar

Chapter 1636: Chapter 1636: Martial Saint in a Run-down Bar

The hoarse voice, tinged with a hint of coldness, said, "Haven’t you ever heard that you should introduce yourself before asking someone else’s name?"

Long Qie’s eyebrows lifted slightly as he said in a deep voice, "Long Qie."

Click.

An old oil lamp was placed on the bar, illuminating both Long Qie’s face and the old man’s.

"Long Qie?" The old man’s weathered face remained expressionless as he handed over a glass of red wine. "Has the illustrious King of the Grasslands come to find an old thing like me, with one foot in the grave, for some matter?"

Long Qie wasn’t surprised that the old man saw through his identity. If he didn’t have this ability, Long Qie wouldn’t have sought him out.

He took a deep breath and didn’t push the glass away but simply avoided looking at it, his expression slightly heavy as he gazed at the old man.

"I’ve come to ask about some things, things that can’t be found through official channels."

The old man’s eyes narrowed slightly, and a glimmer of insight suddenly flickered in his formerly cloudy eyes.

He took out a worn pipe from his pocket and, after pinching it slightly, blue smoke began to rise from it. He took a deep puff, closed his eyes, and savored it for a while, letting the smoke linger in his lungs for a long time before slowly exhaling it.

Strangely, the pure white smoke that had been inhaled was exhaled as a dark, black smoke.

"A big figure in the Martial Arts Alliance has things they don’t know?"

Long Qie’s expression turned a bit odd, finding the old man’s demeanor hard to fathom. He pondered slightly before saying, "Senior, with your network, you probably know what I’m here to ask about."

The old man gently exhaled a puff of smoke, closed his eyes again, and took out another pipe tamper from his bosom, shaking the ashes from the pipe into it. Long Qie focused his gaze and realized that after only two puffs, the tobacco in the pipe had turned entirely to ash.

His expression changed slightly, surprised as he looked up at the old man. To be able to turn all the tobacco in a pipe to ash in two puffs suggested that this old man’s body coordination had reached an astonishing level, to the point where even the coordination of his internal organs, including his lungs, was involved.

This person’s strength... If he were to guess, this old man was likely on par with, if not stronger than, himself.

Long Qie furrowed his brow, took a slight step back, and stood poised for action. He couldn’t discern which side this old man was on or what kind of person he was.

Moreover, for such a formidable expert to open an unfrequented bar in this dilapidated place seemed abnormal, no matter how one looked at it.

The old man’s gaze, sharp as lightning, instantly saw through Long Qie’s thoughts, and with a hint of mockery, he remarked, "Don’t be so tense. If I wanted to kill you, you would have lost your head the moment you stepped in, not reached what little you could drink of my precious brew."

Long Qie remained unmoved, his expression stern, with Gang Qi flowing within him, ready to strike at any moment. His long-standing habit of living on the edge of life and death had imbued him with a keen awareness.

He had the awareness of his limitations.

The old man before him was definitely not an opponent he could handle, so he could only hope that the distance between the bar and the door was short enough to allow him time to escape after making his move.

He couldn’t just believe the old man based on his few words, as the reason he had survived to cultivate to the level of a Martial Saint was due to his caution and intuition.

Long Qie’s expression was grave, his steps continually retreating as he coldly asked, "Who exactly are you?"

The old man shook his head, appearing somewhat helpless but making no move to stop Long Qie’s retreat. He merely picked up the glass of brew meant for Long Qie and drank it himself before speaking blandly.

"I no longer remember my name. The few mongrels on this street call me... something something Old Mai. If you don’t mind, you can call me that too."

A cold glint flashed in Long Qie’s eyes. He wasn’t asking about the name, of course: "Senior, I believe you know what I’m truly asking."

The old man’s eyes opened slightly as he glanced at Long Qie and chuckled, "Hehe, you want to ask about the Evil God."

Long Qie’s steps halted, a spark flashing in his eyes: "Does Senior know the whereabouts of the Evil God?"

The old man chuckled lightly and shook his head.

Long Qie’s brow furrowed, but he quickly composed himself, smiling and saying, "Name your price, Senior."

"Name a price?" The mysterious old man sneered, looking at Long Qie with a gaze tinged with malice. "Do you think someone capable of running an unfrequented bar in such a rundown place would want money?"

Long Qie, unfazed, took a few steps back, observing coldly, knowing that if the old man made a move, he wouldn’t give him a chance to escape. His sense of vigilance heightened again, and he asked in a deep voice, "Then what does Senior want?"

The mysterious old man’s eyes lit up, and a hoarse voice came: "The old man doesn’t have many hobbies, just likes tinkering with old things. But now most of these things have vanished, or they are stored in museums. Can you procure them?"

Long Qie deliberated slightly, then looked up at the mysterious old man: "I can try, but I need to know the whereabouts of the Evil God first."

"Heh..." The mysterious old man scoffed, teasingly eyeing Long Qie: "You actually believe it, huh? They say the King of the Grasslands is as cunning as a demon, yet he turns foolish at the mention of the Evil God?"

Long Qie paused, his gaze on the old man turning cold: "What do you mean by that, Senior?"

"Do you think I would truly know the whereabouts of the mighty Evil God? He died at the hands of the werewolves."

Long Qie’s expression changed, and his face sank into disappointment. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. After a moment, when he opened them again, he was calm.

He exhaled, and with respect, he bowed deeply to the mysterious old man before turning to leave.

The mysterious old man’s dim gaze watched Long Qie’s back, only speaking as he was about to step out the door, touching the wrinkles on his face and saying in a deep voice, "Wait."

Long Qie turned around, looking at the mysterious old man with slight confusion.

"Was your relationship with that Evil God very close?"

Long Qie nodded and solemnly said, "Life and death comrades."

The mysterious old man’s actions halted, his gaze toward Long Qie showed a slight change. After a long while, he let out a light grunt, fetching some pieces of paper from under the bar.

"Take a look, there might be the information you’re seeking."

Long Qie was overjoyed, quickly stepping forward, and taking the pieces of paper from the bar to examine them.

Luohai City’s Shen Family’s young master being framed... Not right.

Long Qie discarded that one.

Intensifying internal struggles within Qingcheng Mountain... Also not right!

...

The Tang Family in Minzhong City was exterminated by a mysterious man, two Great Grandmasters were killed, one of whom died from excessive bleeding...

Long Qie’s eyebrow twitched; this was the last piece of paper in his hand.

Two Great Grandmasters being killed... That suggests the person who killed them was at least a Martial Saint...

He tightly gripped the paper in his hand, a hint of gravity in his eyes.

To die from excessive bleeding, such a death is undeniably cruel, akin to forcing the victim to watch their life ebb away before their eyes.

Who could conceive of such a method of killing?