Registration Office.
At the window sat a long rosewood desk, its surface covered with various documents and registers.
Behind the desk sat a middle-aged man in a cyan long robe, appearing to be around forty years old, his dead fish eyes brimming with weariness.
Shen Ye approached the window and spoke:
“Hello, identity registration.”
The middle-aged man’s dead fish eyes didn’t move at all. He slowly picked up a writing brush and asked without looking up:
“Name?”
“Xiao Ye.”
“Gender?”
“…Female.”
“Race?”
“Human.”
The middle-aged man’s writing hand paused, and he looked up at the girl before him.
Shen Ye blinked without flushing or skipping a beat.
The name didn’t sound human.
And the face was too pretty to be human either.
Who was she trying to fool here?
Despite the mental jab, the middle-aged man’s expression remained flat as he continued asking:
“Do you have anything to prove your identity?”
“I do.”
Lin Xiangyi interjected at just the right moment, flashing his identity card.
“Yeah, she’s human. I’ll vouch for her.”
The middle-aged man took the identity card, and a wisp of spiritual power swept across its surface.
As the recorded information in the identity card entered his mind, his lifeless dead fish eyes gradually grew sharp:
“Lin Xiangyi?”
He straightened up and replied respectfully:
“So you’re Lord Shen Ye’s junior brother. Then there’s no problem at all. I’ll process it for you right away.”
Upon hearing the middle-aged man’s words, Lin Xiangyi’s movements stiffened unnaturally for a brief moment before quickly recovering.
He nodded:
“Yeah, sorry for the trouble.”
“No trouble at all, no trouble at all.”
The middle-aged man shook his head, then spoke in an apologetic tone:
“It’s just that, per regulations, I can only issue this young lady a temporary identity card. Please forgive me.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
Lin Xiangyi waved his hand.
“But please hurry. I have other matters to attend to.”
“Of course, I’ll take care of it right away.”
The middle-aged man’s expression turned serious, and he answered with utmost respect, a completely different person from his earlier listless demeanor.
Shen Ye stood to the side, quietly watching the scene.
In the Association, things like this weren’t uncommon.
She had seen many reception staff slack off when facing executors or spirit beings of lower standing.
It’s just that…
What was up with her junior brother just now?
Shen Ye’s gaze shifted slightly, looking at the side profile of the man before her.
Lin Xiangyi watched the staff member behind the desk, his eyes casual and calm.
From the moment Lin Xiangyi had taken over the conversation, Shen Ye had been watching him from the side.
She had noticed it—that moment of wrongness in Lin Xiangyi when the middle-aged man had announced his identity.
She let out a soft sigh.
Xiangyi…
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Before long, a card gleaming with a jade-like luster was handed to Shen Ye.
Unlike Lin Xiangyi’s card, this one had no portrait photo of her—only her identity information recorded on it.
“With this card, you can freely enter and exit all guild halls in River City. Certain facilities within the halls will also be open to you. The card’s functions include, but are not limited to, storage, payment, task handovers…”
“However, please note that holders of temporary identity cards cannot use teleportation arrays to travel beyond River City.”
“We wish you…”
Shen Ye took the card, her fingers moving deftly as it flipped through her hand before she tucked it into her pocket.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Lin Xiangyi retrieved his own identity card and led Shen Ye out of the Registration Office.
Once they were a short distance away, he pulled her aside and spoke in a low voice:
“You should have told me about this beforehand.”
His tone was filled with helplessness:
“It was so sudden. If I hadn’t been able to vouch for you, we’d have wasted the trip today.”
“I knew you could help me, that’s why I did it.”
Shen Ye blinked, replying with an innocent look.
“…”
Lin Xiangyi stared at her self-assured little face, momentarily at a loss for words.
He looked up, his gaze sweeping across the bustling crowd in the hall.
Most of these people were humans, but there were also spirit beings mixed in among them—though all had concealed their features, looking no different from humans.
Sigh.
Whatever. The situation for spirit beings really wasn’t easy.
Anyway, she’s Senior Brother’s person. Might as well look out for her.
“Come on, one more thing with me.”
The two crossed the hall and arrived at the other side.
Here stood a massive wooden wall, densely covered with papers of various glowing colors.
This was the guild hall’s task assignment point.
Anyone holding an identity card could post and accept tasks here according to their needs. The color of the paper represented the task’s rank.
Beneath the wooden wall, a handful of people stood scattered around, craning their necks to read the contents above.
Someone would point at the wall, and the task paper they indicated would fly into their hand automatically, then dissolve into golden dust—meaning that person had accepted the task.
In the corner, two or three people chatted, discussing the details of task cooperation.
Lin Xiangyi walked to the service desk and spoke to the staff member at the reception:
“Hello, I’d like to check on a commission I posted earlier.”
The staff member offered a gentle smile:
“Of course, let me look that up for you.”
She then produced a thick tome, her fingers tracing through the air as a golden character materialized.
“Whoosh, whoosh—”
The pages flipped, rustling with sound.
After a moment, the pages stopped at a certain one, and the character descended into the book, causing a spot on that page to light up.
“Hmm…”
The staff member glanced at the tome, then said respectfully to Lin Xiangyi:
“Your A-class multiplayer task recruitment—no one has applied yet so far.”
“Is that so?”
Lin Xiangyi furrowed his brow.
Still no one, huh?
“Your recruitment posting expires in three days. Would you like me to renew it for you?”
“Not for now, thank you.”
He turned away dejectedly, walked to an empty bench nearby, and flopped down onto it.
For the final stage of the executor examination, one could choose their own task rank.
The higher the rank, the higher the title you’d receive after passing.
He had chosen the same highest difficulty as his senior brother.
To become a second-order or higher executor right after passing the exam like his senior brother had, the final task only offered two options.
—A-class multiplayer task.
And C-class solo task.
He had chosen the former, meaning he needed to form a team of at least three.
At the same time, an A-class task meant that, as long as he passed the exam, he could potentially leap straight to becoming a first-order executor.
And then, the gap between him and his senior brother would…
Tsk.
Lin Xiangyi clicked his tongue.
He had originally planned to have Xiao Meng register under his name, then find one more person—surely gathering three people wouldn’t take too long.
But half a month had passed, and he hadn’t seen a single soul.
“Sigh—”
Lin Xiangyi let out a long breath.
The exam happened only once every five years, and missing it would be a real loss. No one was willing to put themselves through a high-risk option.
Was he really going to give up and switch to a lower-ranked task?
Poke poke.
A soft, tender little finger poked at his waist.
But if I do that, how long will it take me to catch up to Senior Brother?
Poke poke.
Senior Brother carries such a heavy burden—when will I ever be able to share it with him?!
Poke poke.
My Azure Cloud Sect will never produce just one Shen Ye!
Poke poke.
A vein bulged on Lin Xiangyi’s forehead.
“What?”
He turned back helplessly, looking at Shen Ye.
The task deadline was approaching, and not having found a teammate yet was really getting to him.
Beside him,
Shen Ye sat sideways on the other end of the bench, quiet and composed.
The hall was lit with spiritual-power-driven candle lamps, their warm glow casting a gentle, hazy ambiance against the classical Chinese architectural setting.
It was late spring, and Shen Ye wore only a men’s T-shirt.
The girl’s figure traced a beautiful silhouette against the lamplight.
She leaned back against the bench, one hand propping up her cheek, watching Lin Xiangyi with a teasing look, her fingertip tapping lightly against her smooth, supple cheek.
She opened her mouth and spoke with a smile:
“Xiangyi, three missing one?”