"I'm sure he'd want to see you too. If he knew you were still alive, he would definitely be very happy," Third Master immediately said. "By the way, Xiaoyao, what exactly happened to you?"

"Are you asking about my injury or about my time in the Demon Domain?" Xiaoyao asked.

"Both," Third Master said with a smile.

"My injury is actually simple to explain. Because I practice the Divine Farmer's Art, my recovery ability is stronger than others. Although my injuries looked severe, as long as my body was given some time, I could recover," Xiaoyao replied. This was the truth, and everyone knew some of the special characteristics of the Divine Farmer's Art. Given Xiaoyao's cultivation level at the time, this wasn't impossible.

"I see. I knew you wouldn't have such a short life. You made me sad for quite a while," Third Master said with a hearty laugh.

"Dad, When you say 'quite a while,' do you mean the time it takes to burn one incense stick?" Lingling asked from the side.

"Girl, men's emotions are kept in their hearts, not like you women who like to show them," Third Master said seriously, not feeling embarrassed at all.

"Third Master, don't you have other matters to attend to? Just say what you need to say directly," Xiaoyao said, looking at Third Master.

"Actually, it's nothing major. Big Brother wants you to attend the banquet—don't just leave directly," Third Master said. "Big Brother guessed you would leave directly, and General Nangong and her companions would leave with you. This way, our banquet would be short on people."

"Oh that. I still want to see my mansion. Banquets aren't interesting—I won't participate," Xiaoyao shook his head and directly refused.

"I knew you'd say that. The mansion can be seen anytime—it won't run away. Since you're already here, come participate in the banquet. We'll introduce you to some people, and there are some matters to discuss with you," Third Master said with a smile, looking at Xiaoyao, afraid he would refuse again, which would give him a headache.

"What matters?" Xiaoyao only cared about that last sentence. "Is it about alchemy? As long as you have materials, I can refine pills. By the way, Third Miss, does our mansion have an alchemy room?"

"Of course it does. There's also a sword forging workshop—all the best equipment," Third Miss Nangong replied. Knowing Xiaoyao would often refine pills for them to eat, naturally an alchemy room had to be prepared. Otherwise, Xiaoyao would have to use the Luo family's alchemy room again.

"That's good. Just send the materials to the mansion," Xiaoyao said, turning to Third Master.

"Alchemy is just one matter—there are other things. Just come participate in the banquet. It won't take much time," Third Master said somewhat helplessly. So many people wanted to attend this banquet. Even junior members of the clan weren't necessarily qualified to go, yet Xiaoyao couldn't be persuaded to come.

"Fine, since I'm already here, I'll listen to what the family head has to say," Xiaoyao finally nodded. He thought if he went back now and then Luo Yunqing summoned him again, the time going back and forth wouldn't be worth it compared to participating in the banquet here.

"Good, that's better. Come on," Third Master nodded and prepared to lead Xiaoyao. His eyes inadvertently glanced at Xiaoyao's hand, which was still holding the Young Miss's hand.

He seemed somewhat puzzled—not about Xiaoyao and the Young Miss's relationship, but wondering: didn't the Young Miss like women? Why wasn't she resisting being held by Xiaoyao?

Wait, she was using the identity of Xiaoyao's fiancée, so this didn't count as anything unusual.

"What are you looking at? This is brotherly affection, understand?" the Young Miss glared at Third Master, as if sensing his thoughts.

"Yes, yes. The brotherly affection between General Mo Yu and Xiaoyao is enviable," Third Master could only smile apologetically to the Young Miss. Although his strength was currently a bit stronger than hers, he would soon be overtaken. Moreover, the Young Miss's importance wasn't in her strength—her role on the battlefield was invaluable to both the Luo family and Flowing Stone Kingdom.

Besides, she was a girl after all—how could he argue with her?

Xiaoyao just smiled at this and didn't resist their talk of brotherly affection. He felt it was normal—treating the Young Miss as a brother was much simpler. Just don't think of her as a woman.

This banquet was about what Xiaoyao had imagined. It was a celebratory banquet, so the atmosphere was quite good. However, he felt some people didn't seem very friendly toward him. Had he offended them somehow?

Xiaoyao thought about it but couldn't remember meeting these people anywhere, let alone offending them. He had always kept a low profile in the Luo family and had only met so many people. He didn't remember any incidents of giving offense.

How strange. Never mind—if they weren't friendly, so be it. He didn't know them anyway, so they could do whatever they wanted.

The seat Xiaoyao was currently occupying was prepared for the Young Miss and her companions. There was no seat for him here—who knew he was still alive, so how could they have prepared one for him?

However, the Young Miss and her companions' seating area was quite large with many seats, so adding Xiaoyao didn't make it crowded. Even adding Lingling was fine.

"Xiaoyao, I want to drink!" the Young Miss said to Xiaoyao.

"There's so much alcohol here—drink whatever you want," Xiaoyao replied directly. There was quite a lot of wine on the table, all good quality.

"I want your wine. Do you have any on you?" the Young Miss looked at Xiaoyao with an expectant expression.

"You think I'm like you? I don't carry wine with me. All the wine I brewed is at the Luo family estate. You must have moved it all and drunk it up," Xiaoyao thought about it. He had brewed quite a lot of wine, but given the Young Miss's drinking capacity, she would have finished it all in a year's time.

"How could that be? I only drank part of it..." the Young Miss said weakly.

"If ninety-nine percent counts as 'part,' then you're right," Nangong Suxin said directly.

"Hehe, it's fine. I'll go brew some more in a few days. The mansion has a winery, right?" Xiaoyao smiled and didn't say anything more, just looked at Third Miss Nangong—this question was for her.

Third Miss Nangong nodded and said, "This is so important—even if I forgot, Mo Yu wouldn't allow it."

"Right, I just remembered!" the Young Miss suddenly said.

"Remembered what?" Everyone was puzzled.

"The winery is my contribution! I went to supervise," the Young Miss said very seriously.

"..."

Everyone was speechless. They all knew what the Young Miss meant—she was still hung up on her earlier words. But this winery was obviously established for her benefit, and she was claiming credit for it?

"Everyone, let's drink. It's been so many years since we met. I actually really missed you all," Xiaoyao raised his cup. These words were directed at the four women—Guxing and her companions. Although they had kept in contact, it had actually been two or three years since they'd met face to face.

"Speaking of which, I missed you too," the Young Miss said with a smile.

"You missed his wine," someone said.

"Not at all—I missed the person!" the Young Miss said. Fortunately it was her saying this. If anyone else had said these words, everyone would have teased them. When she said it, there was no point in teasing.

However, although there was no teasing, everyone still laughed.

"What are you laughing at? I'm serious. Don't you all miss him?" the Young Miss said directly. "I don't know who kept saying 'little servant this, little servant that'..."

"That was out of concern as a friend. I'd do the same for you," someone replied.

"I'm not your friend. In the future, you'll be a concubine and I'll be the wife. When I sit, you'll have to stand," the Young Miss said directly.

"Who's going to be the concubine is still unclear," Nangong Suxin said indifferently.

"You're really boring. Third Miss, tell us about what you've been up to this past year. I'm curious," Xiaoyao asked. With nothing else to do, he might as well chat about everyone's situation over the past year.

"We've been the same as usual. They cultivate while I handle military affairs and incidentally did a small test of our military strength. The results were acceptable," Third Miss Nangong said with a smile.

"You call that a small test? You've already fought your way over there. The results aren't just acceptable—they're extremely good," Xiaoyao said somewhat helplessly. This Third Miss had talents that even left him speechless, and her behavior was very low-key—so low-key he felt like he was seeing his own reflection.

"It was all meaningless anyway. Now that you're back, we can just expand casually to pass time. Otherwise, my sister and the others would be very bored and do boring things," Third Miss Nangong said.

Originally, since Xiaoyao had returned, they could retire successfully and return the army to the Luo family. But the problem was that without this, the Young Miss and her companion would be very bored and do many boring things. She felt it was better to continue this matter.

Since it benefited both sides and could pass time, they would continue.

"Mm, I'm going to the Carefree Sect soon. You can continue playing here for a while," Xiaoyao nodded.

"Going to the Carefree Sect?" the Young Miss immediately spoke up.

"Yes, I originally wanted to make a trip there. It's said that among the Carefree Sect's original techniques, there might be something I need. Now that I have this opportunity, I'll go take a look," Xiaoyao said.

"So you agreed because of this. Hmph, I thought it was because of me," Hei Xue said unhappily at this moment. She hadn't known Xiaoyao's original purpose—no wonder he had suddenly agreed before.

"Did I ever say it was because of you? Your matter is just incidental. If you're unhappy about it, you can go by yourself. I can go later," Xiaoyao waved his hand indifferently.

"Hehe, that won't be necessary. We'll go together," Hei Xue said with a smile. Xiaoyao didn't care, but she cared very much. Without Xiaoyao, she might not be able to handle this matter.

"Together?" the Young Miss looked at the two of them and asked. If Xiaoyao was going alone, she didn't think there was any problem, but with Hei Xue added, she felt there was an issue.

(End of Chapter)