Red Phoenix

demon horde,’ Gold said. ‘It won’t happen, my Lord. All of Heaven needs your Disciples, they are the best.’
    ‘But they died ,’ John moaned.
    Gold sat and rested his elbows on the table. ‘I carried out your orders, my Lord. I went to the Western Palace and gathered the remaining Disciples. I told them that you felt they were in danger and that they should return home. I ordered them home.’
    ‘Good.’
    ‘I know what they did, John. Not a single one went.’ I gestured towards Gold. ‘I bet they threatened to kill themselves if they were forced to return home.’
    John glanced at Gold.
    Gold smiled slightly.
    John leaned back and put his palms on the table. ‘Not a single one?’
    ‘Not a single one, my Lord. They would rather die than discontinue the training. They love the Arts more than their lives.’
    ‘And that’s why they’re on the Mountain,’ I said. ‘Face it. You’re stuck with them.’
    John sighed with feeling.
    I turned back to the lists. ‘Let’s look at the Masters.’ Most of the names had either an ‘I’ or an ‘S’ next to them. Many more of these were Chinese, but there were still some names from other nationalities there. ‘I?’ I said.
    ‘Immortals,’ Gold said. ‘“S” is for Shen.’ ‘What’s the difference?’
    ‘I thought you did some research,’ John said without looking up from the list.
    ‘Cut it out, old man,’ I said. ‘What’s the difference between an Immortal and a Shen?’
    Gold snorted with amusement.
    ‘Answer the goddamn question,’ I growled.
    ‘For our purposes, nothing; we just refer to them as the Celestial Masters,’ John said. ‘Immortals are humans who have gained the Tao. We Shen have always been immortal; we are more like spirits than people. Most of the mortal human Masters on the Mountain didn’t make it. There were some tremendous acts of valour witnessed that day.’ He glanced up. ‘Gold.’
    ‘My Lord?’
    ‘Are the records being made?’ Gold nodded. ‘My Lord.’
    ‘Some of them attained the Tao and were Raised. It was a sight to see. But it will take them slightly longer to return.’
    I flipped through the list again. ‘The Energy Master is a European woman?’
    ‘Meredith was a missionary’s daughter,’ John said. ‘She lived in Hubei Province about three hundred years ago. She was incredibly talented at tai chi, so I took her to the Celestial Mountain to teach her. She is one of the most talented human energy workers I have ever seen. She married one of the Immortal Masters, Master Liu, and they’ve been happy together for hundreds of years.’
    ‘I’d really like to meet her.’
    ‘You already have. She was at the ceremony where everybody swore allegiance. I didn’t introduce you; you seemed slightly overwhelmed to have gods bowing down before you and swearing allegiance and obedience.’
    ‘I wasn’t overwhelmed, I was drowning.’
    ‘You were magnificent,’ Gold said. ‘They are all extremely impressed with you.’
    ‘They are looking forward to working with you as new Regent and Lady of the Mountain after I have gone,’ John said.
    The shock hit me when he said that. I wasn’t accustomed to it; it was still very new. I was to be their Master.
    ‘Are they very unhappy about an ordinary human woman taking over?’ I said.
    ‘Every single one of them is absolutely delighted that they won’t have to do the job. Most of them have offered to come to the Earthly and continue your training after I’m gone. But by that time you will probably be teaching them a thing or two—you are exceptionally talented. A year with me is worth a lifetime with any other Master. Look at Leo.’
    ‘They must miss your hand, without you there to teach for them,’ I said.
    ‘They were horrified when I married Michelle and decided to stay on the Earthly with her. Every time I went up there to rebuild my energy, they were waiting with a packed schedule. Eventually I told them to let me rest, so they sent students down here to learn instead. Remember, before the Attack? Young students would come down and stay in the two spare rooms here.’
    I nodded as he continued. ‘Sometimes I’d have so many that I’d put them in the flat below us, which is always kept vacant. But I may rent it out now, until wecan organise something. You can’t leave a flat empty in Hong Kong for long, it becomes very musty.’
    A brilliant idea suddenly hit me out of the blue. ‘John, how big is the block of flats in Happy