Entwining Fragrant Silk

At that moment, Doctor Mo remembered how Han Li had insisted on leaving the door open when he first entered the room. It seemed that Han Li had already laid the groundwork then, intending to use the reflection of sunlight. At such a young age, he had thought everything through so thoroughly and laid such a meticulous, vicious series of traps that even Doctor Mo, a seasoned veteran of the jianghu, had plunged headfirst into them and nearly been unable to turn the tables. The depth of the young man's scheming was truly at odds with his age and experience. Could he really be a born genius, a divine child reincarnated?

The more he thought it over, the more frightened he became, and cold sweat kept pouring from his body.

After this setback, Doctor Mo was even more wary and fearful of Han Li. He faced him with the utmost caution, not daring to make another rash move.

For some reason, Han Li merely glared at Doctor Mo, with no intention of attacking either. For the moment, both sides furled their banners and stilled their drums, staring wide-eyed at each other.

After a while, amid the awkward silence, Han Li suddenly spoke. His words left Doctor Mo dumbfounded and rooted to the spot.

"Elder Mo, let's make peace. Or how about I surrender? What do you think?"

With a flick of his hand, Han Li promptly tossed his weapon at his feet. He showed a row of pearly white teeth and beamed at Doctor Mo, looking every bit like an honest country boy.

"Surrender?"

At first, Doctor Mo thought something had gone wrong with his ears and he had misheard. But he quickly recovered. He glanced at the iron spike Han Li had thrown away, did not believe him for a moment, and shot back viciously:

"What the devil are you up to? Don't think I'll believe that nonsense. If you wanted to surrender, you could have done it at the start. Why wait until we'd fought to the death before pulling this stunt?"

Han Li smiled at Doctor Mo without speaking, seemingly acknowledging the accusation. Once again, the two found themselves at a stalemate.

A short while later, Doctor Mo seemed to think of something extremely funny. He suddenly doubled over, clutched his stomach with both hands, and burst out laughing. His laughter was so free and unrestrained that tears spilled from the corners of his eyes.

"Ha ha! Ha! Ha ha! How... how amusing. I actually forgot something so important and really exchanged blows with you... with you, blades and spears out in the open." Doctor Mo's words came out indistinctly between bursts of laughter.

Han Li frowned, but his brow soon smoothed in indifference. He glanced out the window, the smile at the corners of his mouth deepened, and he spoke unhurriedly:

"Elder Mo, don't you think we've wasted too much time on this? It's time to bring it to an end."

Doctor Mo froze for a moment and stopped laughing.

He slowly straightened, set his face, and looked at Han Li without expression. Only after a long while did he reply coldly:

"I think so too. It's time to end all of this."

Suddenly, both men seemed to have a well-laid plan and victory in their grasp, as though in that instant each had found a trump card to restrain the other and force him to submit.

After another awkward silence, Han Li was the first to speak, slowly opening his mouth. He was full of confidence in what he held and believed it would make Doctor Mo back down and abandon any other thoughts.

"Elder Mo, do you know that your life is already in my hands?" The moment Han Li spoke, he gave Doctor Mo a great shock.

"My life is in your hands?" Doctor Mo sneered, his face full of disbelief.

"Don't you feel something strange around your wound?"

"Nonsense. I looked closely, and there was nothing at all on your dagger..." Doctor Mo retorted, but halfway through, his expression changed drastically. He remembered that it was not the dagger that had wounded him, but the concealed spike.

"It seems I don't need to say any more. You already understand what I mean, Elder Mo." Han Li grinned at him.

"So what if that's true? Don't forget, I taught you everything you know about preparing medicines. What poison could you have that I couldn't cure?" Doctor Mo's expression returned to normal, and he spoke calmly.

"Heh heh! I forgot to mention, what I smeared on my weapon was 'Entwining Fragrant Silk.'"

"Entwining Fragrant Silk?" Doctor Mo gave a low cry of alarm. Clearly, this was far beyond his expectations.

"That's right. Surely you know how potent this drug is, Elder Mo!" Han Li teased unhurriedly.

"Nonsense. How could you know how to prepare that poison? I never revealed the slightest part of its formula." Doctor Mo still put on a brave front, seemingly unwilling to believe Han Li, but the strange sensation around his wound had already made him eighty or ninety percent certain.

Seeing that Doctor Mo still refused to give in, Han Li sighed and had no choice but to explain.

"Don't forget, you gave me free access to all your medical books back then. The formula was tucked away in an obscure book on medicine. If I hadn't read it carefully, I probably would have missed it."

Only then did Doctor Mo recall that when he first obtained the formula, he had feared he would forget something later because it required so many kinds of medicinal ingredients and the steps were so complicated. He had copied the preparation method and ingredients in full detail onto a slip of paper and casually tucked it into a book. So much had happened afterward that he had forgotten the slip entirely. He had never expected Han Li to benefit from it and cause him such trouble.

"We should sit down and have a proper discussion about shaking hands and making peace!" Han Li said confidently.

Doctor Mo snorted and ignored Han Li, trying hard to recall how Entwining Fragrant Silk was made and what it did.

The name "Entwining Fragrant Silk" did not sound frightening in the least. It even set the imagination wandering to scenes of romance and sensuality. But its medicinal potency, like the longing of a lovesick woman, was hard to bear, its every strand piercing to the bone.