Kylie Chan: Heaven to Wudang

Table of Contents

Title Page

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Glossary

About the Author

Books the Kylie Chan

Copyright

About the Publisher

The Serpent lies on the carpet, alone.

The city lights shine through the windows.

It raises its head and tastes things gone;

it drops its head and returns to the sea.

The Turtle raises its head from the water;

the lake stretches around it.

People point and talk, excited.

It goes to the bottom and settles in the mud.

Leo and I sat on the mats across from each other in the Fragrant Lotus training room. His dark face was rigid with concentration as he held the chi on his outstretched hands.

I held one hand on his forearm, watching as the energy flowed through him. ‘Float it to the other hand.’

He lost it and it snapped back, hitting him in the middle of the chest. He bounced backwards but didn’t fall; then sagged, leaning on the floor. ‘This is so damn hard.’

‘That was a pathetically small amount of chi for anybody to generate, especially an Immortal,’ I said. ‘You ate meat, didn’t you?’

He didn’t reply but his face said it all.

‘Alcohol too?’ I said.

‘Not alcohol.’

I felt the answer through his arm. ‘Well, I’m glad you’ve forgiven him.’

He pulled his arm away. ‘That is none of your business and you’re not supposed to be able to do that.’

I didn’t pursue it. ‘You have a choice here, Leo. Either give up trying to do energy work or give up meat, alcohol and sex. You can’t do both.’

‘But I’m a Shen,’ he said, softly protesting.

‘Shiny new and green as grass,’ I said.

He grimaced.

The door flew open and my secretary, Chang, charged in and planted himself in front of us. ‘They’re taking away my job!’

Leo waved one hand and his wheelchair rolled to him. He pulled himself into it. ‘You salute your Master when you enter. Where is your respect?’

Chang fell to one knee and saluted me and Leo. ‘Lord. Lady.’ He rose and gestured impatiently. ‘They say I am no longer to serve you, ma’am. Stop them!’

Yi Hao came in, her expression desperate. ‘I’m sorry, ma’am, I didn’t expect him to react like this. I thought he’d be happy not to have to do it any more.’

I pulled myself to my feet and Leo held one arm out to steady me. ‘Yi Hao was my secretary before you were, Chang. You had the job on a temporary basis; I explained it to you before.’

‘I thought she couldn’t be trusted.’

‘That’s why we’re going down to the Earthly this afternoon. I’ll find out one way or the other if she’s trustworthy, and if she is she can resume her post.’

‘Let him do it, ma’am,’ Yi Hao said. ‘I’ll do something else.’

That stopped Chang and he stared at her.

‘She’s a tame demon, she doesn’t have free will,’ I said. ‘If a human or Shen orders her, she must obey. She’s seen that you want the job, so she’s ceding to you, even though it’ll make her miserable.’

‘And the fact that you’re making such a fuss about it proves that you’re not worthy to do it,’ Leo said. ‘You need to release your attachments and accept circumstances with serenity and grace.’ His face went strange. ‘Where did that come from?’

‘You were just connected to the universe while we were doing chi gong,’ I said. ‘Well, that’s what it feels like anyway. Some of it rubbed off.’

‘I think I’ll spend more time connected to it then,’ Leo said, musing. He glared at Chang. ‘Cede the position. You deserve to be moved back in with Lok.’

‘I don’t want to serve the dog again!’ Chang said, desperate. ‘I’m better than that …’ He stared at us for a long moment, then fell to one knee and lowered his head. ‘I will report to Master Lok immediately.’ He rose, saluted us, and went out without looking back.

I exhaled a huge breath. ‘Finally!’

‘What if Lok doesn’t want him?’ Leo said.

‘Then I’ll put him to work in the gardens,’ I said.

‘Oh, good idea.’ Leo concentrated, attempted to lift himself out of the wheelchair, and failed. ‘Okay, I give up. Meet up with me again after I’ve been vegetarian for a few days.’ He spun his chair to leave.

‘Martin will understand,’ I said.

‘Martin’s been trying to make me abstain,’ he said without looking back. ‘He said the same thing you did.’

‘Don’t forget you’re driving me to Kwun Tong in an hour to meet with the Demon King,’ I called after him.

‘Don’t go, ma’am,’ Yi Hao said. ‘Don’t see the King. He’s …’ She searched for the words. ‘He will hurt you again.’

‘Don’t you want to be sure that I can trust you? That you won’t turn?’ I said.

‘Not if it puts you in danger.’

‘I won’t be in danger. Half a dozen Celestials are coming along. We’ll be fine.’

She shuddered and dropped her voice. ‘Protect me, ma’am.’

I pulled her into a quick hug. ‘Don’t worry, I will.’

Leo drove me through Hong Kong’s industrial area in Kwun Tong to the meeting place. We had to meet on the Earthly; I refused to invite the Demon King onto the Celestial Plane, and I wouldn’t travel to Hell if I could avoid it. The streets were two lanes either way, passing between multi-storey factory buildings with the floor numbers painted in large letters on the sides, for easy lifting of objects up to the correct floor by crane.

Leo checked the building numbers carefully, and pulled into the right one. The entrance was large enough to allow two trucks to pass side by side. Just inside the ground floor on the left were three enormous lifts, large enough to hold the ubiquitous Hong Kong blue lorries. The ground floor was deserted, and the small grimy windows let in rays of sunshine that lit up the floating dust. Leo drove to the edge of the vast space of the ground floor area and parked the car next to the wall. Bricks were heaped against the back wall, strewn haphazardly on the concrete. Paint marked the floor, taking the shapes of the objects that had been sprayed with it.

The Tiger and several of the Wudang Mountain staff came into the building through the truck entrance, knelt to salute me, and waited quietly behind us.

‘This is a bad place to meet,’ Leo said softly. He was in his wheelchair behind me to my right. ‘Difficult to defend.’

‘He’ll stick to the protocol,’ I said. ‘Not even the Tiger could teleport in. We’re safe.’

‘I wish I had your confidence.’

The noise of the traffic outside stopped and the only sound was the breeze whistling through the factory’s broken windows. All ten floors of the building were empty.

Someone shouted and a red and gold palanquin appeared in the entrance. About twenty young men surrounded it: demons in human form. All of them appeared to be in their early twenties, of all races, tall and muscular and wearing only skin-tight black bike shorts. They were all impossibly handsome. Some carried the sedan chair and others flanked it.