Chapter 563: End of Task

"Brother Su, did you go to the Wuhu unknown area?" Tang Kong asked and Su Ming nodded.

"I went." He said.

Hearing this, Tang Kong looked at Su Ming and tilted his head in confusion.

"You are unharmed." He stated, and quickly continued.

"I returned four months ago, and have been recovering ever since. Most of the group didn’t return."

"How many?" Su Ming asked.

"The Zhou family keeps the soul cups of their descendants. More than half have already shattered." The man said, and Su Ming gasped with a horrified expression.

"More than half?" He asked and Tamg Kong nodded.

"It’s a bad situation." He said.

Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan sighed when they heard this.

They had expected that people would die but they didn’t expect so many to lose their lives in the Wuhu unknown area.

"What do the elders plan to do?" Su Ming asked and Tang Kong shrugged before speaking.

"There is talk about teleportation, but I am not certain." He said.

Considering the solemn atmosphere, Shen Xu and the others found a corner, and settled down.

[The loss is not small.] Shen Xu transmitted and Zhen Yuan nodded.

[The smart thing would be to let the weak ones use the teleportation array to go to Suzhou city.] He said.

[You are right, but can the clan afford it?] The double wondered.

After all, they were not even a quarter way to Suzhou.

Considering that, the teleportation cost from Wuhu to Suzhou would definitely touch on the clan’s foundation.

[Let’s just wait and see.] Zhen Yuan said.

Three days passed but the clan elders still did not announce their decision.

On this day, Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan were drinking wine when they heard a commotion.

Looking around, they saw fifty or so people boarding the ship.

[Fifteen great immortal realm cultivators and forty-two heaven immortal realm cultivators.] Zhen Yuan said and quickly continued.

[The heaven immortals are atleast late stage, and the great immortals range from early to late. There is no peak-stage great immortal.] He observed and Shen Xu rolled his eyes.

[Ayuan, you are underestimating yourself, and overestimating the lower heaven.] He said and Zhen Yuan raised an eyebrow.

[What do you mean?] He asked.

[I know from the book that it’s extreme difficult for peak-stage heaven immortals to advance to the great immortal realm. Even those who are lucky can barely advance a small realm.] Shen Xu started and continued.

[There are more than one hundred great immortals in the lower Heaven, but only a handful of peak-stage masters.] He said.

Zhen Yuan nodded when he heard this.

[It makes sense.] He said and lowered his head with a thoughtful expression.

[Xiaoxu, the Zhou family doesn’t have so many masters. I think these newcomers are elders from the big forces in Suzhou city.] He speculated and Shen Xu nodded.

[The Zhou family has an alliance with the Duan family so It’s not strange that they informed them about the high-level unknown area.]

[Similarly, the Duan family has other alliances which has led to this situation.] The double concluded.

[It’s not over.] Zhen Yuan said and tipped his head towards the ship hatch.

When Shen Xu looked, he saw that more people were boarding the ship, and all were atleast heaven immortal realm cultivators.

[I think the escort task will end here.] Zhen Yuan said and subconciously smiled.

[I think so too.] Shen Xu said and happily sipped his wine.

Zhen Yuan and Shen Xu were right.

One day after the newcomers arrived, the elders gathered the hired protectors and announced that the task was over.

Thankfully, the clan didn’t renege on its debts, and paid one quarter of the promised immortal stones.

"Keep the task tokens. You can use them to contact my Zhou family when you arrive in Suzhou city." An elder said, and the protectors couldn’t help but be happy.

"Young master Zhou, Young misses Zhou, fellow immortals, let’s meet again if fate allows." Shen Xu said, looking at the Zhou siblings and the other protectors.

"Mmh." Li Bo nodded with a disinterested expression.

After all, he was a great immortal while Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan were heaven immortals.

Similarly, Zhou Man nodded, but Zhou Xuan looked a little reluctant.

As for Zhou Ruyan and the other protectors, they didn’t say anything and just nodded.

After that, Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan disembarked and entered Wuhu city.

"It’s been ages since we were free." The double said and Zhen Yuan smiled.

"Let’s never do another escort task." He said.

In fact, the Zhou siblings were not difficult to deal with.

However, Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan didn’t have any freedom when they were on the job.

[Let’s find an inn. I want to contract the gourd.] Shen Xu said in an eager voice.

It had been more than an year since they bought the gourd.

Unfortunately, they were on the escort task so Shen Xu didn’t dare to stay in the space for too long.

[We need to buy materials before we can enter the space.] Zhen Yuan reminded.

After all, they needed to prepare pills, weapons, talismans, formation disks, and other things if they wanted to survive in the Wuhu unknown area.

"I know." Shen Xu said.

After that, the two hopped from shop to shop; buying materials regardless of attribute.

Unfortunately, even in a tier one place like Wuhu city, level thirteen materials were difficult to find so the two could only settle on level twelve.

"It’s going to be hard on you." Shen Xu said and frowned.

"I have a plan." Zhen Yuan said and the double raised an eyebrow.

"What plan?" He asked.

[I plan to use my heavenly law of space domain, or the absolute domain talisman whenever I need to rest.] Zhen Yuan said and Shen Xu frowned.

[The domain and talisman consume a lot of energy. Can you rest properly while maintaining them?] He asked but Zhen Yuan wasn’t too worried.

[I will find a balance.] He said.