Mei You had been silently watching the Bai Family Rice Shop from the loft when he suddenly lowered his head and took out a Mother-Child Talisman to check it. There were only two words on it: come quickly!
He dared not hesitate. He left at once, taking a carriage away from the area before climbing out and flying toward the mountainside within the city. He landed outside a hall amid a disorderly cluster of buildings halfway up the mountain.
Compared with the bizarrely shaped buildings around it, this hall was so proper that it stood like a crane among chickens, yet it could not keep out the faint wisps of demonic aura drifting over.
The plaque above the hall bore the words "Inner Court."
Behind the long desk at the head of the hall sat a handsome, delicate-featured man dressed as a white-robed scholar. He looked young, but in Dazhi City, he was second only to one man.
Like most cities, Dazhi City divided its affairs between the Inner and Outer Courts. The white-robed scholar was named Lou Xiu, the commissioner of Dazhi City's Inner Court, responsible specifically for affairs within the city. His counterpart was the commissioner of the Outer Court, who handled affairs outside the city.
"Within" and "outside" referred to the territory's boundaries, not merely the two sides of a wall.
Lou Xiu was leaning against the desk with his head propped on one hand, apparently dozing. Mei You walked up below the desk, cupped his hands in salute, and said, "Commissioner, what did you summon me for?"
Without changing his pose, Lou Xiu asked slowly, "At a time like this, you aren't up on the mountain. Does the business at the Bai Family Rice Shop have anything to do with you?"
Hearing this, Mei You glanced