The sun hung high in the sky, and though autumn was already drawing nigh, the heat of it yet made a man uneasy to abide.
Within his own chambers, Doctor Mo paced about with no small restlessness. He trusted well in the means by which he had bound Han Li to his will, yet now that the moment was come, his heart swayed this way and that, ever doubtful of success.
All at once, a tread of footsteps sounded from afar, drawing nearer and nearer to the room.
The very moment he caught that familiar step, Doctor Mo was seized with a great joy. With an eager bound he flung himself to the door, thrust it open, and looked forth. Down the way came a single figure, no other than he whom he had so long awaited—Han Li himself.
As the lad drew close, Doctor Mo pressed down the excitement within him, and forced upon his countenance a smile that sat but ill upon it.
"Good, good—you are punctual. I am pleased to see you have not thought of taking flight; it shows you are a man of sense. Come within, and we shall talk at our ease."
The manner of Doctor Mo, at this moment, was kindly as a neighbor's elder, and his face was bright as a flower in full bloom.
"Have no fear; the room harbors no hidden traps, no snare. It is no den of dragons and lair of tigers," said Doctor Mo, seeing the wary glance Han Li threw at the dwelling, and so he sought to soothe him, contriving the while a small bait to goad his pride.
"Hmph! Since I am come, do you think I should dread to enter your room?" Han Li gave a light snort, as though the taunt had touched him to the quick. And so saying, he took the lead and strode within.
Doctor Mo, with a broad, smiling air, hastened to draw his own body aside and clear the passage. Yet no sooner had Han Li crossed the threshold than the man reached out as if to close the door behind him; wherefore, without so much as turning his head, Han Li spoke:
"Dare you shut that door, and I shall deem it a trap to catch the turtle in the jar, and talk with you no more."
At these words Doctor Mo was startled, and stood a while in hesitation. But after a moment he drew back from the door, and with an air of unconcern said:
"I am in truth minded to consult with you, and harbor no design against you. Since you say the door shall stay open, then open it stays."
Thereupon Doctor Mo returned to his armchair and settled himself therein as was his wont; nor was Han Li shy in the least, but dragged a stool to the man's opposite and dropped himself down upon it with a flourish. About six months had passed since the two had last set eyes on one another, and so for a space each took the measure of the other.
Han Li could not but mark that Doctor Mo had grown visibly older than before, until he was now scarce distinguishable from any graybeard of seventy. A doubt stirred within him: "Was it all true, then, what the man had said prior—that he asked but to have his essential yuan restored, and plotted nothing amiss? Have I been too suspicious?"
Han Li let his gaze wander about the chamber, and of a sudden his pupils contracted. That tall, mysterious fellow—Doctor Mo's silent companion and bodyguard—stood unmoving in a corner, as hushed and still as a dead thing. Had a man not sought him out of set purpose, he could never have marked his presence there at all.
By now Doctor Mo too had ended his study of Han Li, and seeming well pleased with what he had found, spoke in a gentle tone:
"Seeing you thus calls to my mind the day you first crossed this door—a child of ten or so, no taller than this. And look at you now, grown so tall and broad. Truly, the years spare no man!"
This speech, delivered as though between kinsmen over a common meal, put Han Li at a loss to guess the man's intent; yet in the depths of his heart his wariness rose at once. He warned himself: the fellow was an old fox, who had eaten more salt than Han Li had eaten rice. Let him not, through a single careless slip, fall into the trap.
"Elder Mo, I have kept your kindness ever in my heart and dared not forget it. If there be any service you would have of me, pray name it freely." Thus Han Li softened his countenance, and used the style of respect, as though once more the meek disciple of earlier days.
"Good! Good! With such words from your lips, all the pains I have lavished upon you are not in vain. Come, let me first see how far your Art of Eternal Youth has advanced." Doctor Mo seemed to have slipped wholly into the part of a devoted master; he rose from his chair, drew near, and made as if to take Han Li directly by the wrist.
"Old fox! And still he plays the elder with a brazen face!" Han Li cursed within his heart, and with a quick turn of his body dodged the grasping hand.
"Elder Mo, have patience. Let me set it plainly before you: I have in very truth brought the Art of Eternal Youth to its fourth layer. Yet will you not first grant me the antidote to the Corpse Worm Pill? Once my lingering fear is eased, I shall let you examine my cultivation at your ease." So Han Li spoke, with a smile and a tone of the utmost earnestness.
"Oh! Upon my word, look at the head upon these shoulders—old as I am grown, my memory fails me. I had meant to give you the antidote the very instant you crossed the threshold." Doctor Mo seemed to come suddenly to himself, as though the recollection were but just now struck into him.
From his sleeve he drew out a little silver bottle, emptied from it a black, grimy-hued pill, and tossed it across to Han Li.
Han Li made a show of fumbling and catching it only with great ado. He held it beneath his nose and drew a breath; a pungent, biting odor rose to assail him. He glanced up at Doctor Mo, who looked back at him with a half-smile.
For a space Han Li hesitated, half in doubt whether the thing were the true remedy.
Yet he could not leave it uneaten, for the day was at hand when the Corpse Worm Pill was due to break forth within him; were he to forgo it, he would be a dead man in very truth. He judged that the other still had need of him, and so the pill was like enough to be no counterfeit. With a grave and resolute countenance he swallowed it down, and then stood quiet, waiting for the drug to work.
Doctor Mo, for his part, was in no hurry now. At his leisure he sank back into his chair, and fell to chattering with Han Li of this and that, as though he had quite forgot the true end for which he had summoned the lad.
Before long, a single pang of pain shot through Han Li's belly, but it passed in the very instant. Haste he to examine himself, and found that the Corpse Worm Pill had dissolved away until not so much as a shred of it remained. A great joy filled his heart, and some trace of it crept across his face.
All this, however, could not escape the notice of Doctor Mo, who had watched him throughout. When Han Li had done with testing the effect of the drug, the man smiled at him and said:
"Han Li, if I gave you the Corpse Worm Pill, it was a thing done for sheer necessity. Had it not been there to spur you on behind, I doubt you should have come so readily to the fourth layer!"
"Many thanks for your kindness, Elder Mo; yet I would pray you spare me any such bounty hereafter." With one of the great burdens upon his heart at last lifted, Han Li was in far better spirits, and, half inclined to believe in the man's sincerity, no longer met his hypocrisy with sharp words to its face.
"And now, will you give me leave to take your pulse?"
Thus Doctor Mo at length spoke those very words Han Li had so much dreaded to hear; for who could say but that, taking advantage of such an opening, the man might snatch the moment to seize and subdue him?