He watched as the rabbit before him continued to swell, growing larger and larger, its flesh stretching taut as the life within it fought to burst free. A flicker of wrongness stirred in Han Li's mind, and then a sudden memory surfaced. With a cry of alarm he flung the porcelain bowl—the very thing he had come to dread like venom—away into the medicine field, then turned and sprinted off. He did not stop running until he was a dozen or more zhang from the rabbit.
Just as he was about to look back, two explosions rang out almost simultaneously, one after the other. Han Li shuddered and whirled around. Both rabbits, he saw, had been torn apart from within, their bodies blown into several mangled pieces, flesh and blood scattered in every direction. Where they had been tethered there now gaped two shallow pits, and all around them lay the strewn wreckage of the creatures—gore and fragments painted across the earth in a scene too grim to behold.
Han Li let out a long breath and sank heavily onto the ground. Had his reaction been a moment slower, he would have been caught in the blast. He doubted it would have wounded him seriously, but being drenched in rabbit blood and spattered with meat was not a pleasant prospect either.
Only when his pounding heart had calmed did he climb to his feet and walk over to the pits.
He surveyed the blood-soaked wreckage, then glanced at the shattered shards of the porcelain bowl lying in the medicine field. Words failed him.
He had hoped the emerald-green liquid might yield some wonderful elixir or precious medicine. Instead it had given him something monstrous. Even accepting that it was poison, did the rabbits have to die so miserably? From this moment on, no power in the world could make him touch that thing again. It was simply too terrifying. Han Li was no stranger to deadly venom; under Doctor Mo's instruction these past years he had been shown countless toxins that killed the moment they touched blood, yet none of them had claimed lives so horribly.
It was a testament to Han Li's strength of character that, in the midst of such a scene, he could keep his nerve well enough to linger for a while before finally deciding it was time to leave.
Noon was approaching, and he still had to deliver the prepared secret medicine to Senior Brother Li. All the loose ends here, he decided, could wait until after he had made that delivery.
Holding to that thought, Han Li did not spare the scene another glance. Leaving every tangled problem for later, he returned to his quarters, rested a little, and then set out for the mouth of the Spirit Hands Valley, medicine in hand.
Han Li was punctual to the letter. When he reached the valley mouth it was just high noon, and there, waiting with evident impatience, stood Li Feiyu.
He was alone at the valley's exit, dressed in a fresh white brocade robe, yet with the long saber that had made such an impression on Han Li still strapped across his back. As Han Li arrived, he was gazing anxiously toward the valley, a hint of strain on his face.
But the moment he caught sight of Han Li, his anxious expression melted away. A smile curved at the corners of his mouth.
"Junior Brother Han, you are truly punctual! You said high noon, and high noon it is, to the very moment. I have been waiting the better part of an hour." Li Feiyu spoke half in jest, half in reproach.
"My apologies. Brewing the medicine took far too long yesterday, and I slept very late. Then I rose a little later than usual this morning, and by the time I had finished all my business, it was already noon." Han Li's answer was likewise half truth, half excuse.
"Junior Brother Han, the medicine… that medicine… have you finished it?" the senior brother asked, so flustered by his eagerness that his words stumbled and caught in his throat.
Han Li gave a serene smile instead of a reply. Slowly he drew a medicine packet about the size of a palm from within his robes, then tossed it to Li Feiyu with a flick of his wrist.
"Each time before you take the Marrow-Draining Pill, first wash down a spoonful of the powder from this packet with cold boiled water. It should ease the suffering you endure."
"Thank you, Junior Brother Han! Thank you!" The senior brother was beside himself with joy. Even a sliver of relief from that agony was a blessing beyond measure. The pain of taking the Marrow-Draining Pill still made his blood run cold. He had tried countless pain remedies before, and none had worked. But since this Junior Brother Han knew every detail of the pill's behavior and had taken it himself, perhaps his medicine would truly make a difference.
"Do not thank me too soon; wait until it has proven itself effective, and then you may thank me. And there is one more thing—this is only a single year's supply. I have exhausted every herb I had on hand. Once I have gathered more materials, I will brew you several extra portions." Han Li spoke plainly and without pretense.
"That is no trouble at all. There is a whole year's worth here—more than enough for now. Whether the medicine works or not, Junior Brother Han, your goodwill is something I, Li Feiyu, will not forget." Having obtained what he wanted, the senior brother's composure returned. He no longer put on airs but frankly acknowledged that he was once again in Han Li's debt.
Han Li smiled faintly and said no more, taking his leave of the senior brother and returning the way he had come.
The secret medicine in hand, Li Feiyu was equally eager to hurry home and test its efficacy, and so he did not press Han Li to stay. The two parted ways after their farewells.
Back inside the valley, Han Li went first to the medicine garden to tidy things up. He swept the rabbit's remains, the blood-soaked earth, and the shattered bowl shards all into the pits, then pushed the soil flat to fill them in again, so that the whole stretch looked much as it had before the experiment.
Satisfied, Han Li clapped the dust from his hands and looked around to see if he had missed anything.
When his gaze fell upon the spot where the bowl had broken, he fell into thought.
He remembered clearly that when he had thrown the bowl away, the diluted clean water in it had splashed out across that small patch of medicine field, soaking several herbs there. This made him hesitate. Might those herbs, having drunk that water, now be poisonous in return? And if a man were to eat such tainted herbs, would he meet the same end as the rabbits? Should he dig these poisoned weeds out at once? A whole string of such questions welled up unbidden in Han Li's mind.
He weighed the matter for a long while and finally decided to wait. He would observe them for a few more days, treat it as yet another little experiment. If, within the next several days, the herbs truly turned toxic, he could still remove them then.
With that decided, and with nothing else to do, he returned to his stone chamber to train his cultivation. He hoped that, on top of the great gains he had already made, he might break through to still greater heights.
Han Li no longer gave much thought to what the formula was for. Practicing it had become pure instinct for him; without it, he would not know what to do with himself up here on the mountain. Pursuing the formula to ever higher levels had become the sole goal of his life.
After a full afternoon of devoted training, Han Li discovered, to his chagrin, that he truly was no genius. Though he felt the barrier to the fourth layer was no thicker than a single fingertip of paper, he had still not advanced by so much as a hair. His entire afternoon of hard practice had been in vain.
There was no way around it—without the aid of medicine, he would never move forward. Otherwise he might be trapped at the third layer forever, unable to take another step.
In his heart Han Li began to long for Doctor Mo's early return, and to hope that the man would be fortunate enough to gather sufficient herbs. Only with such help could he break free of the predicament that now bound him.