Chapter 729 - 221: Generous Benefits—Private Quarters and Free Housekeeper
Chapter 221 [Benefits Abundant, Houses and Maids Provided] (6800)
The Immortal Reception Platform, although it bears the name "Platform," is actually not built on any high platform.
It is merely a separate hall opened beside the governance office of West Platform City.
However, outside the hall, a two-zhang high Jade Platform was built, upon which the words "Immortal Reception Platform" were inscribed with golden flowing light runes.
After entering West Platform City, Chen Yan quickly found his way here after asking passersby, and stood in front of this Jade Platform, looking at the golden flowing light runes with a couple of glances, feeling the surrounding primordial qi and a hint of extraordinary fortune.
Knowing this was left by a high-level cultivator, Chen Yan took a deep breath and walked into the side hall behind the Jade Platform.
"Fellow Daoist, what brings you here?"
In the Immortal Reception Platform of the West Platform City governance office, a middle-aged man sitting calmly behind a jade-carved counter inquired without hurry.
He looked at Chen Yan standing before him, his tone unassuming and moderate, his attitude gentle and tranquil — though it carried a hint of curiosity.
The cultivator before him looked unfamiliar, likely a new arrival in West Platform City—within the city there are eighteen thousand six hundred and forty-seven registered cultivators, accumulated over the years, with little fluctuation in this number, thus encountering new faces isn’t frequent.
This is primarily because West Platform City is located at the Western Border, where daily population movement isn’t significant, making the appearance of new cultivators a somewhat refreshing occurrence in an otherwise unremarkable life.
Chen Yan glanced at this middle-aged man, recognizing a familiar air about him — in real life, those minor officials responsible for handling affairs at the grassroots level tend to have this kind of vibe.
"Fellow Daoist, pardon me. I’m new to West Platform City, here for registration." Chen Yan cupped his hands in response.
The middle-aged man nodded, a slight smile appearing on his face: "Please wait a moment, fellow Daoist."
Having said that, he clapped his hands, and shortly, behind him on the wall, the jade stones rotated, and after a series of clattering sounds, they reformed into a beast head.
About as large as a washbasin, resembling some kind of mechanical puppet beast shape — as Chen Yan looked at it, it somewhat resembled the head of the mythical creatures Pixiu or Qilin.
Full of curiosity, Chen Yan examined this "Immortal Reception Platform," seemingly just a spacious room, yet surrounded by dense primordial qi. As a cultivator standing in such a place, each breath was invigorating.
In this spacious room, however, there seemed to be no configuration, apart from the jade platform in front of the middle-aged man. There wasn’t even a chair in the room.
Yet watching the jade bricks on the wall rotate, forming a beast head, it was apparent that this place wasn’t as simple as it looked; there surely existed complex puppet mechanisms.
The middle-aged man touched the beast head on the wall behind him, then with a wave of his sleeve, a piece of white paper appeared on the jade platform before him. A brush silently appeared from the air, floating above the white paper.
"May I ask the fellow Daoist’s name." The middle-aged man asked Chen Yan calmly.
Chen Yan smiled and immediately replied: "My humble name is Zhao Shanhe."
Since he had changed his appearance, the alias Wang Chuyi was no longer appropriate.
The middle-aged man nodded, and the brush floating above the white paper moved by itself, swiftly recording words on the paper.
"Do you have a sect, fellow Daoist? From where?"
"A loose cultivator, as for my hometown... Taohua Mountain."
The middle-aged man nodded, observing the brush automatically completing the writing before continuing to ask: "Your cultivation level, fellow Daoist, should be..."
"Guiyuan Realm." Chen Yan replied unhurriedly.
He knew that the other party had used the Qi Observation Skill on him, and Chen Yan hadn’t intended to hide his cultivation level anyway.
The middle-aged man smiled: "Good, fellow Daoist possesses decent talent to reach the Second Realm. Achieving a Realm-Breaking Celestial in the future is not impossible."
This sounded like polite conversation — pleasant talk but lacking in sincerity, akin to casually wishing someone wealth during the New Year. Chen Yan didn’t take it seriously, but still maintained a polite demeanor, offering thanks.
The middle-aged man nodded before reaching out to pick up the piece of paper from the table, glanced at it, and with a wave of his hand, the brush disappeared.
Then, he turned and inserted the paper into the mouth of the beast head on the wall. The mechanical beast head closed its mouth, swallowing the paper.
Only then did the middle-aged man smile at Chen Yan: "Please come closer, fellow Daoist, and place your hand on the beast head, silently channeling primordial qi to inject a trace of it... Mm, just a trace will suffice."
Although unclear about the process, Chen Yan complied by moving forward, placing his hand on the mechanical beast head on the wall, feeling its cold surface, and under the watchful eyes of the middle-aged man, injected a trace of primordial qi into it.
After Chen Yan stepped back, the middle-aged man scrutinized him, and after a moment, the mechanical beast head behind him emitted a series of clattering sounds — whether it was an illusion or not, Chen Yan couldn’t shake the impression that these sounds resembled those of an old-fashioned printer.
Upon hearing this sound, the middle-aged man’s eyes revealed a faint hint of relief, his gaze relaxing, and he smiled at Chen Yan: "It’s done."
Having said that, he reached out, and the beast head behind him opened its mouth again, ejecting a stream of light which fell into the middle-aged man’s palm.
In his palm, a jade token was revealed.
"Fellow Daoist Zhao Shanhe, Guiyuan Realm cultivator, native of Taohua Mountain, currently residing in West Platform City, registered at the Immortal Reception Platform of the West Platform City governance office."
Casually the middle-aged man told Chen Yan: "Your information has been registered and has passed the Immortal Platform’s review. Previously, there was no record of you, and you have no prohibited records. So let me congratulate you on becoming an officially registered cultivator."