Detection Concepts

Amid cheers, Ye Weian began treating the two seriously wounded without taking a break.

Two more healing flames lit up at the same time.

As the fourth seriously wounded soldier struggled in the light to thank Ye Weian, the eyes of the remaining two seriously wounded soldiers were already filled with anticipation.

Ye Wei'an walked over to the sixth wounded soldier.

This was a very young guard, probably only sixteen or seventeen years old. He had a deep, bone-revealing wound on his thigh, and excessive blood loss had left him disoriented.

The young guard, who had been feeling cold all over, suddenly felt a warm hand press on his forehead. Then, a reassuring warmth flowed from his forehead and gradually permeated his limbs and bones.

The excruciating pain subsided like a receding tide, the severe injuries healed rapidly, and the lost strength began to return.

The young guard barely opened his eyes and saw a boy dressed in noble attire, surrounded by magical light.

"Young...Young Master..." The young man's voice was hoarse, and tears welled up in his eyes.

He didn't know where the strength came from, but he struggled to kneel down on one knee. "Thank you, young master, thank you for saving me. I... I owe you my life! By the guardian god Heim, I, James Anvil, will repay your kindness!"

"Me too!"

"And me!"

"Thank you for your kindness, young master!"

Several other wounded soldiers, pulled back from the brink of death, were also excited and wanted to pay their respects.

Ye Wei'an quickly stopped them.

Witnessing all this, all the guards around—whether slightly injured or completely unharmed, whether or not they had personally received treatment—felt a deep sense of respect.

Before this, they protected the lord's illegitimate son only out of orders and duty.

Their true allegiance was to Baron Harandil Shassing himself and his heirs.

But after this bloody battle, everything changed.

Everyone witnessed Ye Wei'an's strength and kindness.

Normally, it would cost at least ten gold coins to ask a priest to use the [Healing Spell] at the temple, but the young master treated them for free.

Some people even had the thought of "outrageous disrespect": this illegitimate young master was perhaps far superior to his arrogant younger brother, the rightful heir to the baronial title.

If only he weren't an illegitimate child.

Eileen stood a little distance away, her eyes sparkling as she looked at her master, making no attempt to hide her pride.

After Ye Wei'an finished his final treatment, she jogged up to him and said, "Young Master! You're amazing! They always talked about you behind your back... but I knew you could do it!"

Only then did she notice the barely perceptible fatigue between Ye Wei'an's brows, and she quickly helped him up with concern: "Are you tired, young master? Shall I help you rest for a while?"

"Not for now."

In fact, casting spells continuously had indeed taken a toll on his energy, but he couldn't rest yet.

He has more important things to do.

"Kane," he said, turning to the knight, "bring that barbarian here."

"yes!"

Soon, two guards dragged the bandit leader over, one on each side.

The powerful barbarian was bound tightly, and the wound on his abdomen had been simply bandaged.

Seeing the other party's current state, Ye Wei'an truly realized how terrifying the barbarian's vitality was.

The blood loss and the weakness following his berserk state did not defeat him. In less than half an hour, he regained some strength and even had the energy to glare at him fiercely.

But his arrogance can only go so far.

This was the moment when the guards' loyalty to Ye Wei'an was at its peak.

A mere defeated general dared to look at their respected young master with such disrespect—this was no ordinary prisoner; he deserved to be dealt with severely.

The two men ruthlessly pushed him down onto the muddy ground and forced him to kneel in front of Ye Weian.

The barbarian chieftain struggled to lift his head.

His face was covered in blood, grease, and dust, but his eyes remained defiant.

He glared at Ye Wei'an and shouted, "Bah! You damned mage brat, all you do is scheme and plot... If you've got the guts, untie yourself and fight me one-on-one!"

"Insolence!" The guard was even angrier, and Bao Tie's combat boots kicked him hard in the injured ribs.

"Ugh!" The barbarian convulsed in pain after being kicked in the wound, but he gritted his teeth and didn't cry out. He could only squeeze out heavy breathing from his throat, and his eyes became even more venomous.

Ignoring his defeated wailing, Ye Wei'an cut to the chase: "Who sent you to kill me? Explain yourself, and you'll suffer less."

"Nobody sent me," the barbarian sneered, his neck stiff. "I'm a bandit! That's what I do! You rich nobles deserve to be slaughtered! I only regret that I was blind enough not to chop you up with the first strike!"

"Who are you calling 'father'?!" The guard was furious upon hearing this and wanted to hit him again.

Ye Wei'an raised his hand to stop the guards.

The barbarian's wound had already started bleeding from that kick, and he didn't want to waste his last level 1 spell on a prisoner.

Then he looked down at the barbarian.

"Robbery?" he sneered. "When your men first stormed into my carriage, I clearly heard what he said to me. He didn't shout 'fat sheep,' guess what he said?"

The barbarian paused almost imperceptibly in his breathing.

"He said he'd 'found his target,'" Ye Wei'an teased him. "Tell me, who is his 'target'?"

Actually, the robber didn't express that meaning, and Ye Wei'an only had some suspicions about the mastermind behind it all.

But with the help of his acting skills, he asked with absolute certainty, directly fooling the barbarian.

The bandit leader's face finally darkened: "...Usga curses him, that loose-lipped fool!"

"I'll ask one last time," Ye Wei'an straightened up, his voice regaining its initial calm, "who is behind you?"

"Want to know? Hahaha... Dream on! Go ahead and kill me if you dare!" His lie exposed, the barbarian was left with only stubbornness.

Ye Wei'an was not surprised by the barbarian's unyielding attitude.

It would be strange if such a ruthless outlaw who lives on the edge of a knife easily gave up.

"It's okay to be stubborn." His voice was calm, revealing neither joy nor anger. "However, even if you don't say anything, I have ways of knowing what you're thinking."

After saying that, Ye Wei'an closed his eyes, concentrated his mind, and began to mobilize his mental power.

2nd Ring Spell - [Detective Thoughts].

A glint of purple light flashed in Ye Wei'an's eyes.

The icy thoughts, like tentacles, quietly pierced the barbarian's consciousness.

Ye Wei'an first sensed the surging surface emotions:

The burning pain from the wound under his ribs, the deep weakness after the rage subsided, the hatred for the mage before him, and the carefully hidden fear and unease about magic.

This guy's so-called toughness is nothing but a cunning and ruthless mentality; he's essentially all bark and no bite, it's just that most people can't hit his weak spot.

Ye Wei'an's thoughts did not linger; they continued to delve deeper into the barbarian's mind.

His mental intrusion was extremely brutal, without any consideration for whether he would be discovered.

After all, he was just a barbarian, not a spellcaster, and didn't have enough mental power to fight against his mental tentacles.

"Uh...what..." The barbarian's eyes widened suddenly, and for the first time, genuine terror appeared on his face.

He felt a cold, slippery tentacle trying to pry open his skull and drill into his brain.

"What...what did you do to me?! Get out! Get out of my head!"

He shook his head violently, trying to shake the things out of his mind, but his weak mental barrier was useless in the face of Ye Weian's powerful mental strength.

The defenses of memory shattered like fragile glass, and the tendrils of thought rushed in. Some shimmering fragments of memory began to surface uncontrollably, and as long as they were touched, the scenes within them could be seen.

The first thing that appears is the most important memory for the barbarians:

Ye Wei'an saw a skinny boy being beaten until his head bled by older children over half a piece of black bread that was as hard as a rock in the northern tundra...

He saw a woman's body lying in the snow. The boy shook her in vain, finally managing to pry open her tightly clenched fingers and take away a small totem sculpture...

He witnessed the gaunt young man snap the neck of a wild deer with his bare hands for the first time, the warm blood spurting out mixed with fear and a grotesque pleasure...

He saw the strong man perform his own coming-of-age ceremony by himself and give himself the name Grumman, which means "cruel".

He saw the adult Grumman heading south to Sword Bay with a passing mercenary group...

He watched as Grumman earned the title of "Butcher" through mission after mission...

He witnessed the enraged "Butcher" kill his teammates after an argument, forcing him to flee Sword Bay with no way back...

Fragments of memory flashed by, and the barbarian's life story gradually unfolded before his eyes.

But none of these are what he wants.

Ye Wei'an quickly filtered through the useless information. Finally, he saw a familiar scene in a relatively recent fragment of memory:

It was a noisy, rough-hewn town made of wood and stone, which the original owner vaguely remembered—it was the only town in Firefall Valley, Firefall Town.

This place was only a few dozen miles away from where they were attacked, and arriving in Firefall Town meant entering the territory ruled by the Xia Xing family.

Ye Wei'an was immediately overjoyed.

We've found our target.