Han Li grumbled under his breath, yet to keep up the image of a great physician he was bound to wear a countenance of serene assurance, smiling without a word, as though he held all things already settled in his mind.
His steadfast look deceived the folk who stood about; they took it that the working of the pill had been just as he had foretold, and their admiration of him grew the greater. The Vice Sect Leader Ma, too, laughed most cheerily, and there was in his mirth a trace of secret satisfaction, as though Han Li were even now become his man. Perchance he deemed that, of all present, he stood the likeliest to win Han Li over to his side, and so he smiled with such hearty pleasure.
But ere long the turn of things was changed.
"Alas!" Zhang Xiuer cried out in sudden fright. "The black vapours upon my uncle's brow seem to be rising once more!"
These words startled every soul in the room; several of the more hasty folk pressed straightway to the bedside to look closely, and Elder Zhao was among their number. Han Li, hearing this, felt a small start in his own heart likewise, but he did not jostle with the rest nor crowd himself to the couch. It was Madam Li, a woman of fine and quick discernment, who rapped her tongue at the two young ones and bade them draw back from the bed, leaving room that Han Li the physician might come up and make his diagnosis.
Han Li, seeing the space at the bedside thus opened, advanced without haste and examined the sick man minutely. Some half a stick of incense he stood thus, until at length he was certain that this was not any rising of black vapours, but merely that the poison could not be swept wholly away, and a faint, lingering wisp of blackness still clung to the cheek. Having settled the matter, he cast a sidelong glance at Zhang Xiuer, deeming the girl overready to make a stir about nothing.
This glance of small reproach escaped the notice of all others; yet Li Feiyu, who kept his gaze fixed upon Zhang Xiuer without respite, marked it well, and turned a glare back upon Han Li, plainly offended that the physician should so slight the goddess of his heart. Han Li had no words for it. It was plain that Li Feiyu, being fallen into the toils of love, was set fast in the way of a friend who thinks more of a fair face than of a comrade; and there was no reasoning with him. He would waste no more time upon this fellow grown simple-minded through the charms of a woman, but turned his mind once more to the condition of Elder Li.
Save for the blackness that yet lingered on his face, the poison-spots upon the old man's body, which had shrunk to the size of soybeans, had likewise come to a standstill and would shrink no further. The whole man, too, for that the poison in him was not fully spent, still slept unconscious, and could not be roused.
Seeing all this, Han Li knew that the further remedy he had prepared against just such a turn would now be called into play; that he need fret no more over finding a tale to paper over the cracks of his earlier words, and that here was a chance to show his foresight to the full.
"Fetch a basin, and let it be filled with clean water," said Han Li, in a tone that brooked no denial. This time it was not Zhang Xiuer who ran to the errand; Ma Rong was before her, dashing out at a run with a ready shout of assent.
Han Li turned again, and spoke gravely to Elder Qian and the Vice Sect Leader Ma:
"Hereafter I stand in need of your help, the pair of you. You must press with your inner power the poison that yet remains in Elder Li's body into certain acupoints; then I shall let the poisoned blood out by the method of gold-needle blood-letting. Are you both able to do it?"
The Vice Sect Leader Ma's eyes flickered and danced, yet he gave his assent; Elder Qian, by contrast, nodded coldly, and agreed right readily.
"And why them two?" said Elder Zhao, taking offence, for he felt that Han Li held him in some contempt. "Am I not able?"
Han Li sighed within himself, knowing he must needs explain himself to this stubborn fellow. "Elder Zhao's Hunyuan Palm," he said mildly, without haste or heat, "is chiefly founded upon the external arts, is it not? For the pure refinement of inner power, I still hold that the Vice Sect Leader Ma and Elder Qian are the more fitting."
"The—" The other was struck silent by this soft-spoken rebuff, and could not find a word.
Han Li gave no more heed to this fuddled old man, who slunk off somewhat crestfallen; but turned to the rest of the room and spoke in a tone of command:
"All except the Vice Sect Leader Ma and the two elders are to withdraw. The method whereby I shall draw the poison from Elder Li is not for every eye to see, and the work of healing demands absolute quiet, for it chafes at interruption."
This edict set every soul in the room gaping; but Madam Li was the first to take it in. She bent in a deep and most respectful bow, and said, "My husband I commit into your hands, gentlemen," and then, with good sense enough, was the first to walk out of the room. Her lead being set, the rest — willing or no — trailed out after her, rank by rank, and made their way back to the guest hall.
When Ma Rong had set down the basin of clean water, Han Li straightway bade him be gone, then pulled the door firmly to behind him, leaving the folk without to stare blankly at one another.
The minutes slipped by, a quarter of an hour, and another, and no one could say how long it wore on; still the bedchamber door did not open, and through its panels came not the faintest whisper of sound. This strange, unwonted silence set the watchers on edge, and a shadow crept up unnoticed into the breasts of all — even Madam Li, who had kept her countenance so well, began to grow unsettled and restless; and the fiery Elder Zhao, all patience spent, had already circled the hall a countless number of times, pacing up and down until the very boards might have worn thin beneath his tread.
And just when those within the guest hall had quite lost the last drop of their endurance, there came a creaking, and the bedchamber door was drawn open from within. As one man, every eye in the room snapped round and fell upon it, and the air grew heavy and tense. Han Li came slowly out, his face marked with weariness. He saw the grave looks bent upon him, and smiled:
"It is over," said he. "The poison that remained is wholly driven out. Let Elder Li rest but one night more, and on the morrow he will wake of himself."
Han Li spoke this with great confidence; yet in truth even he had not looked for so smooth a passage, and no mishap of any kind had befallen the work. Madam Li and the rest, hearing these words, were all smiles again, and the heaviness that had pressed upon them was blown away at a stroke. Several of the hasty spirits made to rush in at once to look upon the sick man; but Han Li stretched out a hand and barred their way.
"Elder Li is now very weak," said he, "and will not bear crowding and clamour. And the Vice Sect Leader Ma and Elder Qian, having spent of their vital energy to drive out the poison, are even now settling their breath in meditation. Thus I judge that few should go in — best of all, that only the lady herself should enter." These words he delivered gravely to Madam Li.
Madam Li, at such blessed news, had no other opinion to offer; she nodded eagerly, and without so much as pausing to thank Han Li, hurried alone into the bedchamber.