"We really aren't very familiar. From beginning to end, I've only met her three times, and we haven't talked for long each time," Xiaoyao answered seriously. This was the truth, but no one believed it.

"You're still lying—this is very meaningless," Pan Jiao still expressed that she didn't believe him.

"The facts are as such. Whether you believe it or not, that's how it is," Xiaoyao shrugged and said indifferently.

"If that's really the case, then why would she allow you to call her sister, and her attitude toward you is also unusual?" Pan Jiao was very puzzled. Xiaoyao didn't seem to be lying, and there was no need to lie about this matter.

Xiaoyao said somewhat helplessly: "Sister is just a form of address. I can call you sister too—sister..."

"..." Pan Jiao fell silent. She suddenly understood that Xiaoyao's so-called "sister" was really just such a simple way of addressing someone, just like calling someone "miss" or "young master"—merely a form of address.

Actually, this was a very simple principle that they all should have thought of. It's just that Heart Moon Fox's identity was too unusual, making them feel this form of address was worth investigating deeply. But this was originally a very ordinary matter.

In fact, Heart Moon Fox also didn't think Xiaoyao's "sister" was sincere, but she didn't oppose this form of address, which was actually somewhat acknowledging Xiaoyao's status. Although not as deep as they thought, it at least wasn't shallow.

"No matter what, the fact that you can call her sister shows that your relationship with her isn't shallow. Perhaps in the future, there will be places where you'll need to look after this little lady," Pan Jiao said with a smile.

"We'll talk about that if it really happens," Xiaoyao waved his hand. Whether such things would happen in the future was questionable, and even if they did happen, he'd have to see what kind of matters they were and whether he could help.

"Hehe, as long as you don't object, that's good. Then I won't disturb you anymore. We'll have people repair this place as quickly as possible. Although the iron chain bridges were cut down, they can be pulled back up," Pan Jiao said with a smile. She wouldn't ask Xiaoyao for a definite reply, as that would only make him feel disgusted.

What she needed to do now was build a good relationship with Xiaoyao, especially such small favors—those definitely had to be done. They might come in very handy in the future.

"Mm, that's best. Staying here for a few days is no problem, but if it's too long, that wouldn't be good," Xiaoyao nodded. Since they were helping to repair the bridges, that couldn't be better.

"Don't worry, in at most three days, our Pan family will have all the iron chain bridges repaired," Pan Jiao said with a smile. Our Pan family will handle this matter alone—no need to inform others.

This favor belonged to the Pan family. If others wanted favors, they could figure out their own ways.

At first, others didn't understand why Pan Jiao was being so kind, repairing bridges and roads. Later they understood, but after understanding, they could only accept it. Besides cursing Pan Jiao as shameless, they couldn't say anything else. Who told them they hadn't thought of it?

Although everyone didn't think this would be very useful, they could curry favor if possible. It was all just in case—what if they needed others' help in the future? Wouldn't it be useful then?

Regardless of what these people thought, and regardless of whether he would encounter them again in the future, after staying here for a few days, Xiaoyao left this place and continued toward Flowing Stone Kingdom with Hei Xue, leisurely traveling and sightseeing along the way.

Half a month later, Xiaoyao entered the borders of Flowing Stone Kingdom. This wasn't originally within his planned scope—his original plan was to reach Flowing Stone Kingdom after a month. This wasn't due to any special reason. His arriving early at Flowing Stone Kingdom didn't change his plans at all; he was still within his planned timeline.

However, his planned route was based on Flowing Stone Kingdom's territory map from a year ago. He didn't know that Flowing Stone Kingdom's territory had now expanded. The land beneath his feet, which originally didn't belong to Flowing Stone Kingdom, had already become Flowing Stone Kingdom's border.

"What? This is already Flowing Stone Kingdom's territory?" When Xiaoyao discovered the checkpoint, it actually bore the name of Flowing Stone Kingdom, which made him feel somewhat surprised. He asked whether there was a mistake.

As a result, he got the information that this place indeed already belonged to Flowing Stone Kingdom, having been conquered by Flowing Stone Kingdom just half a month ago.

"Half a month—just half a month, and this place seems completely normal. This ability to restore order is too fast," Xiaoyao had new doubts.

"Quite surprising, isn't it? Order was basically restored in just a few days. Flowing Stone Kingdom's army is very impressive, especially their two female generals—they're like divine soldiers descending from heaven," a person nearby replied.

"Female generals? Two? Could they be the Young Miss and Nangong Suxin?" Hearing this, Xiaoyao thought of the Young Miss and her companion, and at the same time, he felt this possibility was very high.

Originally, they had already taken over Flowing Stone Kingdom's military power, and leading troops in battle was their strong suit. Moreover, they once had the title of Twin Female War Gods—this wasn't strange at all.

Xiaoyao had originally thought this would happen—that Flowing Stone Kingdom would expand its territory extremely due to their presence. He had already anticipated this result, just hadn't expected it to be so rapid.

According to Xiaoyao's thinking, organizing the army would take at least half a year, then preparing would take about ten months before they could start expanding territory. This was the fastest scenario. He hadn't expected that in less than a year, they had already conquered this place.

This place wasn't within Flowing Stone Kingdom's neighboring countries' range—it was at least two kingdoms away. Although they were only small kingdoms, being able to expand territory to here would normally take at least three or four years.

If speaking according to the Young Miss's abilities, it would still need one or two years, and that's assuming everything was prepared from the beginning. They had just taken over Flowing Stone Kingdom's military power and shouldn't have prepared so quickly.

"What? These two female generals are not only beautiful like fairies, but their abilities are also terrifying—they're simply like gods," that person seemed not to have heard Xiaoyao's words clearly and was just saying from the side. His worshipful appearance basically showed he had become a loyal admirer of the two female generals.

"Are you originally from Flowing Stone Kingdom?" Xiaoyao asked. Generally, if someone was from here, they would be on the invaded side and should have some resistance. They shouldn't worship the generals who invaded them.

"No, I grew up here, but now I'm a person of Flowing Stone Kingdom. I believe Flowing Stone Kingdom will become a strong country, as long as those two goddesses are there," the man shook his head, then again showed a worshipful expression.

"Don't you think they're invaders?" Xiaoyao asked in confusion.

"We don't care about invaders. As long as they don't oppress us and give us stable lives, what does it matter to us who the emperor is?" the man said with a smile. There were too many commoners with this kind of thinking, and at the same time, this world had many dynastic changes—everyone was used to it.

Of course, this was also based on the new ruler being better than the old one. If the new ruler was worse than the old one, the commoners would naturally remember the old one and reject the new one.

Although Xiaoyao didn't know what the situation here was like before, now this place was orderly and peaceful-looking, appearing quite good. It shouldn't be worse than before, so it was very normal for the commoners not to be resistant.

"You might not know, but our lives before could be said to be in deep suffering. Those corrupt officials only knew how to oppress and exploit us. The taxes they made us pay left us barely able to eat. But those two female generals exempted us commoners from taxes for three years, and after three years, we'll only need to pay some normal taxes, which compared to before, is nothing," the man sighed again, letting Xiaoyao understand some things.

They started by winning people's hearts, and since the people here were originally oppressed, now being liberated, they naturally won hearts immediately. No wonder there was such order in just half a month.

Also, Xiaoyao seemed to hear that this three-year tax exemption was only for commoners. Those wealthy merchants and powerful families still had to pay taxes, though what they paid was much less than before, so they wouldn't have any complaints either.

"They also killed those corrupt officials who oppressed us and replaced them with a batch of good officials. Also, they..."

Xiaoyao listened as the man spoke bit by bit. In that man's mouth, there was only praise, no criticism at all. One could imagine what kind of position they held in these commoners' hearts.

Through these words, Xiaoyao also learned that this place was currently under a kind of military trusteeship. There were no civilian officials—Flowing Stone Kingdom hadn't sent people to take over yet. Whether Flowing Stone Kingdom's officials could maintain this popular support in the future was unknown.

However, for the Young Miss and others, this wasn't very important. They were only responsible for military affairs and didn't manage political aspects. As long as it didn't affect them, they wouldn't interfere. What they were thinking about was expanding territory.

This territorial expansion certainly wasn't for the Luo family's consideration, but to facilitate having a more powerful army. The more territory, the more troops naturally needed, which meant stronger power.

Having stronger military force would enable developing better intelligence systems and developing their own power. Then they could destroy Shadow Moon Valley and rescue Xiaoyao.

They still didn't know Xiaoyao's situation, so this goal remained unchanged. To enter Shadow Moon Valley, they were also preparing for the worst-case scenario—becoming enemies with the entire Demon Domain.

Because of this, they had to work hard to develop their own forces until they had the power to devour the Demon Domain, bit by bit.

(End of Chapter)