The figures of the Divine Lady and the Biyi bird had long disappeared, but the crowd gazing up at the sky only gradually came to their senses.
Yue Sheng muttered to himself, looking somewhat lost. “So the Divine Lady only descended to the desert because she left a seed here tens of thousands of years ago...”
“She truly is not the Divine Lady of the desert.” His grey-green eyes dimmed, looking dejected, much like an alpha wolf cast out of its pack on the barren desert.
Lan Yi and A'han hung the wooden plaque carved with their names on a branch of the Marriage-Binding Tree. When they returned, they saw Yue Sheng sitting alone by the campfire, holding a gorgeous peacock feather, taking one depressing swig after another from his flask.
Seeing this, Lan Yi thought for a moment, walked over, and sat opposite Yue Sheng, with A'han silently following behind her.
“Prince Yue Sheng, you seem to have something on your mind?”
Yue Sheng put down his wineskin, looked up at Lan Yi across the campfire, and let out a bitter smile.
“Madam Lan, you were right. She is the Divine Lady of your Central Plains, and this oasis with the Marriage-Binding Tree also belongs to your Central Plains. If not for basking in your light, I probably wouldn't have even had the chance to set foot here a second time...”
“You don't have to be so disheartened.” Lan Yi picked up a dry branch and poked the campfire to keep it from dying. “The Divine Lady loves all living beings. Even someone like me, who has made mistakes in the past, was given a chance to turn over a new leaf. If you truly wish to become a believer of the Divine Lady, you might still have a chance.”
Yue Sheng's eyes lit up. “Madam Lan, please teach me. How can I gain the Divine Lady's approval?”
Lan Yi shook her head gently.
She did want to use Yue Sheng to offer Loulan to the Divine Lady to repay the favor of giving her a new lease on life, but in the end, she didn't know enough about the Divine Lady and worried that doing so might backfire.
In the past, she would have taken the gamble.
But now, she had people she cared about and a bright, promising path ahead of her. Why would she gamble?
“I cannot teach you. If there is an opportunity in the future, perhaps you can visit Xindu City in the Central Plains yourself. The people of Xindu City were the earliest believers to follow the Divine Lady. If you can make friends with them, they should be willing to help you gain the Divine Lady's approval and become her believer.”
“Xindu City?” Yue Sheng instinctively gripped the peacock feather tighter, his eyes sparkling with light. “I will go!”
Once he brought the news that a deity truly existed in this world back to the Loulan royal court, he would go to the Central Plains to seek the Divine Lady.
As long as there was a sliver of hope, he would not give up!
He had to become a believer of the Divine Lady!
Back in the tent, A'han couldn't help but ask, “My Lady, why did you tell Prince Yue Sheng to go to Xindu City?”
Lan Yi took off her veil and said, “A'han, I have a feeling that the Divine Lady's descent into the desert wasn't just for the seed of the Marriage-Binding Tree and the Biyi bird.”
A'han was puzzled. “Besides the seed and the Biyi bird, what else in the desert is worthy of the Divine Lady descending to the mortal realm?”
Lan Yi didn't expect A'han to be politically sensitive.
She only said something ambiguous, “Perhaps the Divine Lady wants to taste the fine grape wine of the Western Regions?”
“I have long heard that Pei Wanning of the Heluo Pei Clan and Shen Yu, the Second Young Master of the Marquis of Ningyuan's estate, are the two most trusted believers under the Divine Lady. Both are geniuses with devilish intelligence and infallible schemes. I have already met Shen Yu, and he indeed lives up to his reputation as a heaven-sent genius. Since that Miss Pei can share a reputation with Shen Yu, standing above everyone else to govern Xindu City, her talent must not be inferior to his. She should be able to comprehend the deity's intent and offer the most mellow grape wine of the Western Regions to the Divine Lady.”
If the Divine Lady had designs on the desert, she would be credited with recommending him.
If the Divine Lady had no interest in the desert, she had merely suggested Yue Sheng take a look at Xindu City, so how could she be at fault?
Afterward, she walked over to the small desk in the tent, sat down, and by the candlelight, wrote down today's events on a piece of letter paper.
“A'han, have someone deliver this letter to the nearest Longyou City posthaste. Although this place is a desert, this oasis and the Marriage-Binding Tree are gifts bestowed upon us believers by the Divine Lady. We cannot let them fall into the hands of non-believers.”
While the believers of the Divine Lady indeed liked to do good deeds, it did not mean they were so benevolent that they would hand over divine gifts on a silver platter.
The believers had always upheld honesty and friendliness among themselves, while helping outsiders whenever possible, but never unconditionally.
Yun Shu and the system sat invisibly on the Marriage-Binding Tree, taking in all the actions of Lan Yi and the others through the surveillance screen.
“Host, next time can you please not make me do things that break up young couples?” The system turned back into the little fox and grumbled in a low voice. “What if I actually tore them apart? Wouldn't that be a grave sin?”
Yun Shu opened her Peach Blossom Umbrella to ward off the falling blossoms from the tree. She turned her head to look at the little fox. “The red thread between Lan Yi and A'han is stronger than steel bars. If you could actually break them up, you wouldn't have failed to win over Shen Jue so many times.”
“Host, why are you bringing up ancient history again??” The little fox stomped its feet in anger and shouted.
Fortunately, they were invisible, and others could not hear them speak; otherwise, both the human and the system would have had their covers blown.
“Alright, now that the Marriage-Binding Tree has been given out, how much of a role it plays will depend on them. Now, we should go resolve the issue with the map.”
Yun Shu gazed up at the twinkling stars in the night sky.
Having unified the north, they would definitely have to start on infrastructure, and the prerequisite for infrastructure was building roads.
A smooth, easy-to-travel road would not only facilitate the daily travel of the common people but also make merchant trade more convenient...
In short, there were only benefits and no drawbacks.
No matter how one looked at it, building roads was a top priority that had to be put on the agenda as soon as possible.
But relying solely on the maps of this era, even if they paved the roads with cement, it would still take them decades to build a road connecting the six northern prefectures.
The system had made a map last time, but it only marked the approximate locations and was just as lacking in detail.
“I've got it! Every time the Ley Line Map, the formation component of the Thousand Machines and Myriad Crafts Set, refreshes mineral deposit locations, it provides a small portion of the map. I just need to piece those maps together and fill in some blanks. Won't that give me a complete and highly detailed map of the north in the shortest time possible?”
A sudden flash of inspiration struck Yun Shu. “By the way, I can also mark those mineral veins we found earlier on the map.”
With a new plan in mind, she did not delay for a single moment and immediately prepared to take action.
After all, the part of the Ley Line Map that needed to be supplemented was no small workload. Fortunately, she could fly on her sword; otherwise, if she had to walk and draw the map solely on foot, she would be exhausted to death.
“System, let's go. To let the people live good lives sooner, we have to hurry up and get to work!”
She was always full of energy.
Because she knew very well that if she wanted to change the world, there were far too many things she had to do. How could she allow herself to idle?
Rate on N.U.
