At that moment, the Cloud-Robed Young Man up ahead interjected:
"The main reason Old Master Luo doesn't want to go to war again is that he's thinking of the clan's younger generation. After all, the major powers of the Northern Region are tangled together in a vast web, and quite a few people have their shadows lurking behind this incident."
"Some of them are people even our Jiang Family would rather not offend lightly. Old Master Luo has been a hero all his life. Naturally, he knows very well that once he overturns the table, there'll be no room left to maneuver."
He seemed to know more of the hidden story.
"Hmph."
Luo Qingluan gave a light snort at his words, though she did not argue. She merely expressed her displeasure at having pressed a warm face against a cold backside.
This left Luo Yue beside her feeling rather helpless.
They had not spent much time together.
But Luo Yue had already begun to get a grasp of her aunt's temperament.
It was completely different from the caution she had shown everywhere on the Jiang Family's Divine Island. The true nature she now revealed clearly put her in the same category as the Cloud-Robed Young Man, who had been standing at the bow with his hands behind his back all along. Both carried the usual failings of great-family scions.
In short, neither was a kindhearted soul...
Still.
Luo Yue had also gleaned some useful information from their conversation-the Luo Family's Ancient Mine.
The cause of the whole affair was simple enough.
As everyone knew, the Northern Region produced more "source" than any of the Five Regions of the Eastern Wasteland. Beneath this seemingly desolate land lay countless source mines.
As one of the most precious resources for cultivation, source held the same allure for cultivators everywhere that gold held for mortals.
Thus, every source mine was of tremendous importance to the various powers.
This had indirectly given the blood-soaked, chaotic Northern Region its ferocious local customs. On this barren land, even a pitifully tiny source mine or a palm-sized oasis could make people fight until they knocked one another's brains out.
Even lofty sacred lands and Desolate Ancient Families were no exception when it came to the importance of source.
If ordinary "source" was already so precious, one could well imagine what would happen if someone dug up the legendary "divine source."
Formed from the world's most primordial vital essence, it was one of the purest fundamental essences in existence!
Every appearance of divine source caused an uproar. Even the sacred lands and Desolate Ancient Families that prided themselves on their lofty detachment could not resist competing for it, sometimes tearing away all pretense of civility and spilling blood.
It was just like how, in her previous life, certain places would automatically start growing "mold" whenever oil was discovered there.
And now, the Luo Family of Qingyun Province was precisely the place where "mold" had begun growing...
As early as half a year ago.
The Luo Family had unexpectedly unearthed a piece of divine source in an unremarkable little source mine out in the wilds of Qingyun Province. More importantly, it was no small piece-it was a full fist in size.
This discovery instantly stunned the entire Luo Family, and the Luo Family patriarch immediately ordered the news suppressed.
But no wall in the world could keep the wind from seeping through...
Moreover, too many people at the mine had seen the divine source being unearthed. There was simply no way to seal off the news.
What happened afterward was even more dramatic. Hoping to get there before the various powers could react, the Luo Family's old master personally led a group down into the source mine to investigate...
And that descent was where everything went wrong.
An ill omen haunted the Ancient Mine!
Of the Luo Family party that entered the mine together, everyone except Old Master Luo and a handful of clan elders died deep inside the source mine!
Nor did it end there. After Old Master Luo escaped from the Ancient Mine, he descended into madness...
Before long, he collapsed.
Some speculated that the old master had been tainted by an ill omen inside the Ancient Mine.
For the Luo Family, the situation then was no different from the sky falling. Their sole mighty cultivator had fallen, while outside, the various powers of the Northern Region eyed Qingyun Province like hungry tigers because of the divine source.
Trouble within and threats without, everyone's hearts gripped by fear...
With no other choice, they could only seek help from the ancient Jiang Family.
Yet although the two families had once been joined by marriage, that relationship had effectively ended five years earlier, when both of Luo Yue's parents died in a perilous incident.
Furthermore, quite a few people in the Jiang Family had vehemently opposed Luo Yue's mother marrying into the Luo Family from the very beginning, so naturally, nothing more had come of the relationship.
Although the Luo Family was nowhere near as powerful as a Desolate Ancient Family, Old Master Luo was a mighty cultivator who had risen from the ranks of the Northern Region's unaffiliated cultivators. How proud a man was he, down to his very bones?
The old master had no desire to use that relationship to lick the stinking boots of some so-called Desolate Ancient Family.
Thus, each family lived its own life and paid the other no mind. He had even forbidden anyone in the clan from mentioning the marriage, lest some spineless members use it to curry favor with the other family.
But once Old Master Luo fell, the entire Luo Family seemed to lose its backbone. Who still had the heart to worry about that prohibition...?
And so, Luo Yue had been brought all the way to the ancient Jiang Family by her aunt and several clan elders.
Someone had come up with the rotten idea of using Luo Yue's special status as a "young divine body" to beg the Jiang Family for help. After all, half the blood flowing through her veins belonged to the Jiang Family.
As it turned out, the strategy had indeed been very successful.
The price, however, was that Luo Yue would have to take the surname Jiang from that day onward-Jiang Yue.
No Desolate Ancient Family would turn a divine body away at its gates, much less one who already carried their own Jiang Family blood.
Four thousand years ago, an invincible White-Clad God King had appeared in the Eastern Wasteland, filling its cultivators with blind confidence in "divine bodies."
They believed the Divine King Body was synonymous with invincibility. For a time, they had even thought a divine body was far stronger than the so-called Desolate Ancient Sacred Body.
But they had overlooked one thing: what was powerful had never been some divine body, but Jiang Taixu himself...
Clearly, the White-Clad God King had simply been far too exceptional. He had single-handedly forged "divine body" into a synonym for invincibility.
And now,
The Luo Family's treasured little princess with a divine body had taken someone else's surname.
Who knew whether Old Master Luo would cough up blood in anger when he regained his senses and learned of this?
Given the old man's lofty pride, he would probably want to tear whoever had suggested that rotten idea apart with his bare hands.
Luo Yue could not help thinking so.
"Ah, I'm afraid I'll have to hide for a while after we get back. If the old master finds out I was the one who suggested sending you to the Jiang Family, won't he tear me apart alive?"
Just then, the aunt beside Luo Yue muttered with a hint of melancholy.
Luo Yue could not help rolling her eyes.
So you were the culprit all along...
"Little Yue, once everything's settled and you're back with the Jiang Family, remember to take your aunt in. Luo City-
"I won't be able to go back there," Luo Qingluan said.
Luo Yue rolled her eyes at that.
How can you say something so shameless? Asking your own niece to take in an older single woman like you-you really are something else.
Even the Cloud-Robed Young Man up ahead, who had been secretly eavesdropping while standing at the bow with his hands behind his back, could not help twitching at the corners of his mouth when he heard her words.
Jiang Wei had not been boasting.
The enormous cloud-patterned warship sliced through the barren skies of the Northern Region, the red earth below racing backward.
Just as he had said earlier, at full speed, an oasis brimming with life appeared at the edge of their vision after only eighteen hours.
It was a sizable oasis, like a piece of emerald jade set into the reddish-brown Gobi.
The oasis stretched over ten thousand li, a stark contrast to the desolation along their journey.
Apart from the Jiang Family's territory, this was the largest oasis Luo Yue had seen so far, spanning more than ten thousand li. Along the way, she had only seen smaller oases a few hundred li across, or two to three thousand at most.
Even so, in the vast Northern Region, an oasis ten thousand li across could only be considered a moderately sized oasis with a little renown.
At its center stood an ancient, imposing city-Luo City, the foundation of Qingyun Province's Luo Family and the province's principal city.