Chapter 732 - 221: Generous Benefits, Assigned Housing and Free Housekeepers
Of course, after gaining an official position, the income is certainly more than just this. After all, these are merely "subsidies" and not "salary".
It is said that once you hold an official position, there are many ways to gain wealth, but as to how exactly, Chen Yan is still unaware for now.
He walked all the way into the inner city, noticing that the streets here were noticeably wider and brighter.
The arrays in the city gathered water vapor from the surrounding heavens and earth, nurturing the inner city. Under the nourishment of this vapor, the temperature became cool and pleasant, unlike the intense heat outside the city.
Moreover, even the Primordial Qi was richer by thirty percent.
While the inner city was vast in area, the buildings were noticeably less dense — evidently, in this inner city, with merely eighteen thousand official residents, the space was much more expansive and comfortable than the outer city, housing eight hundred thousand ordinary people.
Yet, there were still ordinary people in the inner city, but they were more cautious.
Chen Yan saw the ordinary people on the road walking with hands lowered respectfully. Whenever someone wearing wide-sleeved robes, clearly of extraordinary status, passed by, whether they were cultivators or not, the ordinary people would immediately stand aside and bow their heads.
The rules in West Platform City were that ordinary people were not allowed to wear immortal robes — the so-called immortal robes were actually cultivator robes, somewhat resembling the wide-sleeved ancient robes Chen Yan had seen before.
And the attire of ordinary people was mostly narrow-sleeved short shirts.
Chen Yan’s attire, on the other hand, did not invite any salutes from those around him.
He walked all the way to the Gathering Immortal District within the inner city, a name that sounded quite appealing. The district avenues were very spacious, and the architecture was quite interesting and peculiar.
It’s likely that the cultivators living here remodeled them according to their own preferences.
After entering the district, Chen Yan came upon a mountain residence...
This so-called mountain residence, after witnessing it, made Chen Yan click his tongue in wonder.
It was a complex set of overlapping buildings, interconnected and stacked, originally built along a mountain. Layers of arrays divided it, forming numerous estate courtyards built along the mountain, almost occupying and hollowing out all sides of the mountain.
Chen Yan took out his jade token (personal identification), and the guards at the district gate, who were all ordinary people, immediately bent over in salute at first glance, watching Chen Yan enter.
Once at the foot of the mountain residence, a cultivator wearing a wide-sleeved robe came out. After looking at Chen Yan’s jade token, he cupped his hands and smiled at Chen Yan: "New here, Fellow Daoist? Welcome! I’m Zhao You, the steward of this district."
Chen Yan handed over his jade token, and with a flick of his finger, Zhao You made a faint line of runes emerge in the air.
"So it’s Fellow Daoist Zhao Shanhe, a family member indeed." Zhao You’s demeanor was very warm and friendly, laughing, "Your jade token is from the ’Yi’ district. I’ll lead you there."
Saying this, he led Chen Yan up the mountain residence. Alongside the steps, there were many domain realm flowers and plants that Chen Yan did not recognize, with short-sleeved and narrow-sleeved ordinary servants tending to them.
"The gardens here are tended by gardeners from top to bottom, taking care of cleaning and maintenance daily, so there’s no need for Fellow Daoist to worry. If there are any mundane matters, you can send your house servants to handle the purchases. If the servants can’t do it, you can send someone to the steward’s room at the foot of the mountain to find me. I’m here on odd days of each ten-day period, and on even days, there’s another steward with the surname He."
Zhao You’s attitude was quite enthusiastic, making Chen Yan feel somewhat like dealing with a property manager in the real world.
But this guy doesn’t seem to have a high level of cultivation, as Chen Yan confirmed with a glance using his Qi Observation Skill, suggesting that the other was likely still in the Inner Room Realm.
Chen Yan followed him to a mid-mountain position, standing outside a courtyard. But he clearly felt a wave of restriction array fluctuation in the courtyard’s gate wall.
As Zhao You held up Chen Yan’s jade token and waved it in front of the gate, the array promptly dissolved.
With the courtyard gates wide open, Zhao You led Chen Yan inside.
The courtyard wasn’t very large, about half an acre, with a row of three to five rooms on the side for servants, along with the kitchen and other facilities.
The abode of the owner, however, was dug into the hillside, forming a cave dwelling.
With a stone door outside, stepping inside led to three stone rooms.
One for resting, one for practice, and one for placing alchemical furnaces and some simple artifact creation tools.
Chen Yan noticed that a formation was set on the floor of the practice room, and a copper Eight Trigrams disc was mounted on the wall.
"Fellow Daoist resides in the ’Yi’ room, where an array provides Primordial Qi for four hours daily for your cultivation. If it exceeds four hours, activating the array will require an additional payment — there’s a voice transmission array outside the cave, allowing you to ask the steward room to activate the array. Just have a servant send money down the mountain."
Zhao You gave a brief introduction, then looked at Chen Yan: "Is there anything Fellow Daoist is not satisfied with?"
"No, it’s quite good." Chen Yan was genuinely quite pleased with this place.
Positioned at mid-mountain, with the help of West Platform City’s array, vapor surrounded the area, the air was cool and moist, flourishing with flowers and plants but well maintained.
The view was good, expansive. The air was clean and fresh.
Moreover, it was a standalone villa.
In the real world, this kind of house would definitely count as a luxury home on a hillside.
Here, it’s free of charge!
Plus, it comes with six servants...
"By the way, do you have any specific requirements for the servants, Fellow Daoist?"
Chen Yan initially had no specific requests but suddenly had an idea: "I’d like one who’s good at cooking; the rest are up to you."
Zhao You nodded and took note before exchanging a few more words with Chen Yan and then bidding farewell.
Zhao You turned and left the courtyard, while Chen Yan was about to turn back into the cave to have a better look.
But suddenly, a voice full of anger shouted from outside the courtyard!
"Zhao! You snobbish fool, looking down on me! Do you think I can’t afford the cost for the Primordial Qi array!!"
Chen Yan heard the cursing and originally didn’t pay attention but then felt a connection.
The tone and voice sounded somewhat familiar.
The steps he was taking towards his cave immediately halted, and he turned to walk towards the courtyard gate. After just two steps, he heard Zhao You’s helpless voice outside.
"Fellow Daoist, please understand, I dare not show any slight disdain! It’s just that the array fee has been outstanding for a month now..."
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