Chương 47: The Dao Court

Rowan The Dao Court Building didn't fit in with the rest of the structures on the Main Road. It was like the imperial capital hadn't put any thought to how the building would look next to the others built in the style of Righteous Mountain - the authorities had simply arrived and laid down a smaller copy of the Dao Court Building from Where Rivers Meet. The dull, white stone wasn't from any nearby quarry, and the eaves were deep and straight.

Two banners flew from the upper floor, the vermillion of the Twin Dragons Empire, bearing the jade seal of the Emperor. The stone steps leading to the entrance were as wide as the Main Road. Four uniformed Dao Court guards stood on the last row of steps, still as statues, and perfectly equidistant from each other. Two of them were even cultivators. A bright green grasshopper crawled down from one of the cultivator's shoulders and perched itself on directly under his collar, over his layered white robe.

The man's Qi Sea twitched as he fought to ignore it. Rowan's yellow sect robes billowed behind him as he climbed the steps. The guards didn't react as he passed by them and swept inside the cool, white marble interior of the building. The atrium was larger than its exterior dimensions suggested. Likely the working of a spatial formation. A dozen officials in white robes ran from door to door.

The ceiling was high enough that sound didn't behave normally, voices right next to him quiet and whispers across the room loud. Pigeons circled in the air, illuminated by the golden beams of light from the upper windows. Rowan couldn't call the place chaotic. But, it was busy. The front desk ran the full width of the hall, a single unbroken slab of marble. A smattering of visitors spoke with the clerks behind it. Rowan went up to the front. The few people there scattered out of his way, making room for him.

"I need to speak with Florimond Sutter," he said.

"It's an emergency." The clerk's ink-stained fingers tapped nervously against the desk.

"Reporting to the young lord, the Senior Investigator is currently indisposed. If there's an urgent matter for the Dao Court, I can pass the message along to the most appropriate person."

"Do that. Tell them that one of their stupid formation plates at the Highwater Orphanage broke, and the Yin energy formed a Malicious Ghost. Dozens were killed."

"Yes, I'll get right on - excuse me?" the clerk squeaked.

"Malicious Ghost? Is it still at large, young lord, or…?"

"No. Thankfully Halfmoon House was there to exorcise the area!" The name "Halfmoon House" caused the visitors and eavesdropping officials to jump in alarm, even more so than the threat of a Malicious Ghost in Righteous Mountain. Rowan had dropped the name of the other sect on purpose, just for this very reaction. The Dao Court had been downright negligent of their handling of the orphanage, ripping the Seven-Toned Folding Yin Formation off the walls, and failing to check on the orphans afterwards.

If Rowan brought Halfmoon House into the equation, he was sure the officials would sit up straight and go through the whole situation with a fine tooth comb. It would force important people to get involved. The clerk began scribbling frantically on a piece of parchment. The second his quill lifted, a pigeon grabbed the edge of the paper in its talons and winged off to a higher level of the building. The clerk called out a name, and one of the white-robed officials ran over, bowing to Rowan.

"Please, let my humble self escort you to one of our offices. The Lead Investigator will be with you shortly," the official said. The official led Rowan to a fancy lounge, where he was served tea before he could even sit down. The lounge was larger than his dorm twice over, filled with stately furnishings. Along the walls stood shelves stuffed full of treatises on imperial law. Beneath a heavy, oak table was a deep blue carpet embroidered with a storm at sea.

There was nothing on the table but a small porcelain bowl filled with fresh pink qi fruits. The extravagance shocked Rowan. Though, he supposed if anyone would be frequently hosting important cultivators, it would be the Dao Court. Rowan selected one of the qi fruits and bit into it. Sweet juice filled his mouth, but the qi barely stirred his Qi Sea. He sat in the visitor's chair and finished the fruit. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

By the time the door opened, Rowan had eaten two more fruits. When he saw the person who was entering, the sweetness on his tongue soured, and he suddenly wished he hadn't been polite and had eaten all of them.

"Ah, so it's Rowan of House Helsing! Wonderful, wonderful. I've been hoping to speak with you for quite a while now." Magistrate Cyrille was a lot more amiable within the confines of his domain. It helped that Elder Patino and Elder Schell weren't around, trading barbs at his expense. Here, in this little kingdom of bureaucracy and numbers, he was as good as king. The man was a cultivator himself at the same level as Rowan. The second layer of Qi Condensation.

Since he was well-off and so old, Rowan assumed he had gotten stuck in a bottleneck. Rowan stood up and gave the man a nod in acknowledgement.

"Magistrate Cyrille. Will the Lead Investigator be joining us?" Magistrate Cyrille laughed and shot Rowan a merry wink.

"No need to worry, dear lad, I'm here to save you from that stuffy fellow. You can just talk to me. I'm higher ranked than him, anyway, so I can get things solved quicker." They both sat down from each other across the heavy oak table.

"Can I interest you in a qi fruit, Rowan? It was grown at Lush Orchard, a closely kept secret of those 'in the know' - even I don't know its exact location, only that it is somewhere in the Wilds."

"Sure." The magistrate slid the bowl toward Rowan, who pretended like he hadn't been snacking on them this whole time and plucked one out of the pile.

"You're a difficult young man to get a hold of," said the magistrate.

"I tried asking my friend Baudelain about you, but he said that you were quite busy. Not too busy if you're spending your time saving kids in need, eh?" The magistrate chuckled, as if he'd said something very funny. When Rowan didn't laugh, he looked almost disappointed.

"I must say, that parade was the most joyous event I've been a part of in quite some time. To keep order in the city, the Dao Court often has to make tough decisions, upsetting all sorts of people. To see everyone cheering us on was heartening. Reminds us that, despite the snarky words that sometimes befall us, the people do see us as their heroes and protectors, not the villains…" The end of Rowan's mouth twitched.

What exactly had Magistrate Cyrille done except banish Official Guin to the far-off Crow County, and steal the Seven-Toned Folding Yin Formation? If the man didn't hold such a high position, Rowan would've choked the qi fruits down his stick-like throat until he suffocated to death. His fingers found the rosary around his wrist. He thumbed through the beads until, without looking, he knew he had found the bead of Indifference - the bead which now bore the character for Conviction.

"I'm glad you had such a great time, Magistrate Cyrille," said Rowan.

"Unfortunately, in the meanwhile, there's been another tragedy."

"The clerk informed me… I hear Halfmoon House is skulking around, causing trouble."

"Actually, it was related to those formation plates the Dao Court placed in the orphanage to prevent the Yin qi from coalescing," said Rowan. As he spoke, flames beneath his skin soared higher and higher.

"One of the plates cracked, and a Malicious Ghost formed. An expected reaction. The plates were four-array formations. They couldn't possibly replace the seven-array formation that was taken." Magistrate Cyrille reared his head back in shock, blinking several times at Rowan's sharp words.

"Mister Helsing, please calm yourself. How could anyone know a Malicious Ghost would form? This entire situation has been strange from the start. When the Astrology Bureau arrives, they'll look into the matter. There's no need to take that tone."

"The Malicious Ghost lured all the girls back to Daoist Apex's den. None were spared. They are all dead!" The man's rheumy eyes appraised him, measuring.

"A tragedy. But perhaps, it's for the best." Rowan thought he'd misheard the man. Surely, he must have misheard. The magistrate's expression became worn and full of years.

"What kind of life can those orphans have after experiencing such horrors? You're young. But I've seen the cycle. Their parents were useless. That's how the girls ended up in an orphanage in the first place. The second they come of age, they'll find a rotten husband to leave them, and get addicted to marsh resin, and have more babies that end up in orphanages. Generation after generation. They're like animals. Breeding. Dying. Breeding. Dying. These kinds of people just can't be saved, Rowan.

They have this inborn helplessness. This disease. Best to just turn a blind eye." All the blood drained out of Rowan's face. He shot up, his chair crashing sideways to the floor.

"No wonder demons eat so well in Righteous Mountain," he hissed, a terrible anger crashing through him.

"You let them feed! Isn't that as good as being their supplier?" Magistrate Cyrille stood up as well. Red blotched the high points of his cheeks.

"How dare you? I have served Righteous Mountain for over fifty years. You are young and idealistic. You will see that your efforts are wasted on the sort who live in Highwater!"

"And what of the Seven-Toned Folding Yin Formation?" For the first time, a touch of something that wasn't anger found the magistrate's eyes.

"Would you prefer for it to be stolen by Halfmoon House? We're waiting for the daoist from the Astrology Bureau to show up, to hand it over to him." Rowan didn't believe him, but he couldn't prove that he was lying.

"Besides, what's the worst that's happened? A few mortals wander into a wreckage–""You are scum," spat Rowan.

"Fifty dead in the past week. More than a thousand lives lost over the years. And what have you done about it? You took Official Guin's spot in the parade and closed the investigation. And then you stole the only thing keeping the Fading Yin from coalescing into ghosts."

"For the sake of my friendship with your patriarch and your uncle, I will pretend the last few minutes never happened. You are no longer welcome in the Dao Court Building today, Helsing. Go home and get some rest. Have an ice cream. It's hot out." Rowan sneered at the magistrate as he left, slamming the door shut behind him so hard that it splintered and broke off its hinges.