Chapter 579: Two Hundred and Fifty Years Later

Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan stayed in the space for another week.

During that time, Shen Xu remade the weapons that they found in the Sheng group’s storage equipment, and Zhen Yuan engraved new inscriptions on the remade weapons.

When that was done, the two exited the space and placed the weapons and other loot including pills and talismans on the shelves of their carriage store.

"Ayuan, do you want to try some of the soul wine that I previously refined?" Shen Xu asked and Zhen Yuan nodded.

"Mmmh." He hummed and the double removed a winegourd from his storage ring.

Two hundred and fifty years passed in the blink of an eye.

During that time, Zhen Yuan and Shen Xu stopped at dozens of villages, towns, and cities.

They enjoyed the scenery, sold goods, bought materials and local specialities, interacted with all kinds of cultivators, killed robbers, entered the colloseum, received tokens for all their arts, and occasionally accepted tasks.

On this day, Shen Xu collected their carriage and looked at the looming city gate.

"We have finally arrived in Hefei city." He said and Zhen Yuan nodded before speaking.

"Suzhou city is only a few months away." He said.

[Dongfang Jing, Chen Yi, and Mo Ling will soon return to Suzhou.] Shen Xu suddenly transmitted.

After many trips to the Tianji Pavillions in various towns, Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan had gained a basic understanding of their friends’ situation.

From what they knew, Dongfang Jing and Mo Ling had apprenticed under famous masters. As for Chen Yi, he had become an inner guard of the Murong family in Suzhou city.

At the moment, all three were in the Wuhu unknown area but under different circumstances.

Based on what Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan learned, Dongfang Jing and Mo Ling went with their masters, but Chen Yi was forced to scout the way for the Murong family.

Recalling this, Shen Xu frowned and couldn’t help but worry about Chen Yi.

[Will Chen Yi be okay?] He transmitted and Zhen Yuan smiled.

[Chen Yi is resilient and talented. He will use the Wuhu unknown area to improve his strength, and find a chance to break away from the Murong clan.] He said.

[Let’s hope so.] The double said.

Hefei city was a tier-two city and because of its proximity to Suzhou city, it was more prosperous than other places that the two had seen.

However, as soon as they entered, Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan discovered that everyone seemed to be unusually excited.

"Restaurant?" Shen Xu asked and Zhen Yuan nodded.

With that, the two hurried to a restaurant, and began eavesdropping while waiting for their order.

"I will go to the food festival even if it kills me." A female cultivator declared.

"We must go." Another said, but a voice of reason poured cold water on his companions.

"First, going to Suzhou is not easy. The teleportation array is the safest method, but the cost is not low. As for going by ship, you must be prepared for robbers and other difficulties." The man said and quickly continued.

"Second, the cost of entering and living in Suzhou during the food festival will not be low. You must be ready to lose an arm and a leg." He said.

"I know this but I still must go." The first female cultivator said.

"Second sister is right. The food festival will have all kinds of beneficial foods and drinks. We can’t afford to miss it." Someone said.

"My cultivation has been stuck at the mid-stage of the heaven immortal realm for more than one hundred thousand years. Maybe I will encounter a spiritual delicacy that can help loosen the barrier." Another said.

"Don’t forget that the top ten winners of the food festival will be allowed to enter the food garden. That place has countless level twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and even level fifteen ingredients. Maybe we will have a chance to buy some from the winners."

"Are you dreaming? What is our identity?" Someone sneered and quickly continued.

"Those ingredients can only end up on the tables of great immortal realm cultivators and their clans."

"Fifth brother is right, but that doesn’t mean that there is no benefit to going to the food festival."

"The food festival will have spiritual chefs from every corner of the immortal realm. There will definitely be countless delicacies that are beneficial to the body and cultivation."

Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan listened to this and couldn’t help but be excited.

On one hand, they loved delicious food and on the other, they were interested in the so-called Food Garden.

[Xiaoxu, let’s go to the task hall after lunch.] Zhen Yuan suggested and Shen Xu readily agreed.

After arriving at the task hall, the two first received the reward for the five-petal blue stock task.

When that was done, they went to the task screen and checked the available tasks.

"Food Festival." Shen Xu said and began reading the details.

From what he learned, the festival was open to all culinary masters in the lower heaven.

However, the area in Suzhou city was limited after all, and couldn’t accommodate too many culinary masters.

Considering that, all the tier one, tier two, and tier three cities would hold qualification rounds.

Eventually, each tier one city would chose twenty masters to send to Suzhou, tier two cities would send ten masters, and tier three cities would send three.

In Suzhou, all the masters would compete in five rounds and the top ten would be allowed to enter the Food Garden.

At the same time, Suzhou city would hold a Food Festival where the different masters would sell delicacies to locals and guests from all over the immortal realm.

Additionally, the top one hundred winners would become permanent residents, and could stay in Suzhou as long as they wanted.

[I didn’t expect the Food Festival to be such a big deal.] Shen Xu said and Zhen Yuan raised an eyebrow.

[Wasn’t it mentioned in the novel?] He asked and the double sighed before speaking.

[It was mentioned but Xiao Weimin is not a spiritual chef so the book didn’t go into details. That said, he found his sixth wife during the festival.] The double said.

[She is a spiritual chef?] Zhen Yuan asked and Shen Xu nodded.

[Many things have changed and the sixth wife has now become the seventh wife if we count Zhu Huang.] He said.

[Who is the sixth wife?] Zhen Yuan asked and the double suddenly gasped.

[Come to think of it..., why haven’t I seen Bai Meilin?] He asked.

There was no Bai Guo in the original book but Xiao Weimin did marry a Bai family daughter called Bai Meilin.

[He should have married her in the Tianxuan continent.] He muttered.

[Maybe her absence is the condequence of the many variables.] Zhen Yuan speculated and the double nodded.

[Maybe.] He said and continued reading the task details.

"The first qualification round is to cook a qi replenishing soup." He read.

However, the task wasn’t as simple as cooking a qi replenishing soup.

First, the soup would be kept in the city lord’s residence and wouldn’t be assessed right away. Instead, they would be stored for one month and only the soups that were still edible and retained seventy percent effectiveness would move on to the next round.

Second, the soups could be any level, but higher level soups would have priority when determining the top winners.

Third, the spiritual chefs were not allowed to use additives or special containers to preserve freshness or aura.

’This is not a simple task.’ Shen Xu thought but he was not worried.

After all, he was a chef before transmigrating to the cultivation world.

Unlike the cultivation world, the modern world did not have storage rings or inscriptions that could preserve food and ingredients for an eternity.

Back then, Shen Xu had learned many ways of preserving food, and the current challenge was a tribute to his roots.

[There is a detoxifying task.] Zhen Yuan said and narrowed his eyes.

He and Shen Xu had taken several detoxifying tasks over the years. After all, they now had pure light water which was a universal antidote.

That said, detoxifying was not a risk-free business because many poisoning instances were due to enmity between people or families.

Looking at the high reward of the detoxifying task, Zhen Yuan instinctively knew that the situation would be complicated.

[One billion immortal stones.] Shen Xu said and tilted his head with a thoughtful expression.

[Birds die for food and immortals die for immortal stones.] He said and Zhen Yuan chuckled.

[Let’s use a puppet.] He suggested.

After all, they couldn’t leave Hefei city right away because of the qualification rounds.

[Okay.] Shen Xu agreed.

After deciding, Shen Xu registered for the Food Festival and left the task hall.

Later, he released a puppet and let it return to the task hall to take the detoxifying task.