Versatile Mage (Web Novel)
chapter-480

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

"This Soul Seed must be the Alumen Fire, a high-quality fire commonly used to forge equipment. I think the forgemasters would be willing to buy it for a good price!" Lingling identified it with a smile.

"To be honest, I still can't believe it; it's a Soul Seed, one that is supposed to be priceless..." said Zhang Xiaohou, his face rather blank.

Mo Fan glanced at the yellow Soul Seed inside the container. He clearly remembered the situation of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, when he was competing for the Rose Flame. He was so close to dying to the maniac killer, hence he was left speechless by how easy it was to acquire the Alumen Fire.

"I think we shouldn't just focus on Soul Seeds. You might assume that the Burning Valley is famous for its fire, but there are lots of rare natural resources that will only blossom at a certain temperature. Therefore, the Fire Calamity was irrigation for them..." Chen Yi was clearly not interested in the Alumen Fire, and seemed to be in a rush to look for something else.

Mo Fan glanced at Chen Yi. He had a strong feeling that the girl was not as simple-minded as she seemed when she first joined the team.

"Chen Yi, we're all in the same team, going through fire and water together. Why don't you tell us everything you know?" said Xinxia.

"What...what...what could I possibly know? I just… I just think that we should aim higher… something like that," Chen Yi was obviously not an expert at lying. She immediately panicked when someone questioned her.

Her reaction had no doubt made everyone feel suspicious, especially Zhao Manyan, who had only brought her along because she was family, and he had complete trust in her.

Zhao Manyan looked at Chen Yi, and agreed that she should not be hiding something from the party. He said to her sternly, "I already told you before we came here, you can trust these people. We can tell that you know more about the Burning Valley even when we had long prepared for this… and it feels like you're trying to lead us to search for something else."

"No... I didn't," Chen Yi's voice was soft as a mosquito's when everyone looked at her.

Chen Yi was not very pretty, but her confidence did add some charm to her. She was also not bossy like those from renowned families, so everyone had a fairly good first impression of her. However, her behavior now forced the others to feel suspicious toward her. She was clearly hiding something, and was trying to guide the team indirectly, yet she had made it so obvious.

Xinxia exchanged glances with Mo Fan when Chen Yi was unwilling to spill the beans.

'She's feeling very uneasy, she's definitely hiding something,' Xinxia's voice suddenly echoed in Mo Fan's ears, sounding rather hollow.

Mo Fan stared at Xinxia in great shock. She was not speaking; why was he able to hear her voice?

'As I've awakened the Psychic Element, if I gather my focus to listen, I can feel a person's emotions and roughly hear their thoughts. I can sense that Chen Yi is extremely anxious. She wants us to move on as quick as possible, as if there's something she really needs ahead,' Xinxia's voice appeared in Mo Fan's mind once again.

-Alright, being able to read someone's mind, isn't this Psychic Element a bit too…-

Didn't that mean if he were imagining something lewd, Xinxia would be able to read his mind too? The truth was, Mo Fan had already planned to set up his own tent at night and lure Xinxia to do something off the scale. He felt thrilled and excited when he was secretly touching her last time...

"Can you hear what her secret is?" Mo Fan walked up to Xinxia and whispered into her ear.

Xinxia shook her head and said, "I can only feel her emotions and roughly read her mind. A person's brain is very chaotic when they are trying to figure something out. If I really want to know her thoughts, I'll have to cast Mind Control on her, and force her to focus on only one thing, so I could understand better. Otherwise, even a Psychic's mind would be in disarray."

"I don't think that's a good idea for now. Chen Yi is still Zhao Manyan's cousin, let's see if Zhao Manyan was able to convince her," said Mo Fan.

As the two were discussing, Zhao Manyan had already dragged Chen Yi to the side.

A while later, Chen Yi came back with her head lowered.

She apologized to the party and told everyone what she knew about the North Burning Valley.

The others quickly gathered their attention, since her information was related to things that were more valuable than Soul Seeds. Any Magician would be intrigued by it.

"I have a family member, whose whole body was seriously burned. Not only were her looks destroyed, but not a single part of her skin is in good condition. No matter how many Healers we hired, none of them could restore her original appearance..." Chen Yi said slowly.

"Are you talking about the uncle that doesn't have the same surname, Lu Jianli?" Zhao Manyan quickly pictured the man who was always wrapped in white bandages in his mind.

The guy lived not that far from his house. Sometimes, when he was meditating on the balcony, he would see the white mummy taking care of the plants in the backyard.

Zhao Manyan was not very familiar with the guy, but he did hear the people in his clan uttering disdainful and sarcastic remarks at him, saying that he was punished by the Heaven and left in his current state because of his sinful misdeeds.

Since a young age, Zhao Manyan had accepted their words. After all, the person did hire lots of Healers to try and heal his wounds, and any normal burn could easily be healed by the Healing Magic, or some special medicine.

"Mm, she...she's my mother," said Chen Yi in an extremely soft voice.

"WHAT?" Zhao Manyan jumped into the air.

The others were dumbfounded too. Everyone knew that an uncle was supposed to be a man, how did he become one's mother out of nowhere? They suddenly felt extremely out of the loop.

"Have you seen her appearance before?" Chen Yi asked him directly.

"Well... no, I only heard… fine, I guess we've all been mistaken," Zhao Manyan had a wry smile when he realized something.

As a matter of fact, Zhao Manyan had never thought the person who was always wrapped in white bandages was a woman. There were many sayings about her in the family, yet to Zhao Manyan's biggest surprise, she was Chen Yi's mother. His uncle, Zhao Yulin, had never mentioned anything about her...

"So if she's your mother, who's the person we call our aunt?" asked Zhao Manyan.

"You tell me?" Chen Yi did not explain any further and bit her lips. It must be something unbearable.

Zhao Manyan finally came to a realization, and did not dare to ask any further.