He exhales the smallest laugh, without much humor. "That is my hope," he says. "I also know time may pass differently here than outside. Perhaps this is the inversion of what happened to him -- now I will wait three years, and he will only live a month."

Which is a miserable idea in its own right, but at least Lan Zhan will be unhurt.

"Or he may simply have trouble finding a door, even if he is still in Cold Pond Cave. It could be anything."