AKITO
Aki followed the crowd which was going inside the room. When he entered the arena, he found that there were individual small dining tables arranged for them and people were already taking up seats. As he moved towards one of the empty places, he discovered the person right next to him was the woman from yesterday, Asami.
A cultivator should always be ready to face any difficult situation but this right here he did not want to be in any kind of situation with that beautiful devil sitting there. So, he hightailed out from there and took another seat as far away from the woman as possible. She may look harmless and pretty but Aki had a feeling she was a very dangerous person. He needed to tread carefully.
The servants soon arrived and served them full meals which consisted of rice, sauteed vegetables, pickled radishes and what not. Seeing such a hearty meal placed in front him made him remember his time with his sensei.
Most of the time when he was with his master, food was scarce but it was always fulfilling. Because it was something that either he or his master would catch or buy, then they would cook it together and eat it under the trees or under the caves, they would be sitting in the wild with no roof over their head yet it still felt like home.
Akito observed the assembled people opposite to them, there were few elderly cultivators and masters sitting and it looks like they will be eating with them. All the contestants respectfully waited for the eldest cultivator to eat first.
As the rest of the cultivators and masters started eating, the contestants also started eating. Aki picked the shiny chopsticks with wonder, looks like Mount heaven was very rich just as the rumours say. Picking the few morsels of rice, he tasted it and he could immediately tell that they were of good quality, rich in Qi.
The vegetables and the sides were all tasty and enriching, slowly he started to eat happily but it was when he reached for the soup that he felt something was amiss.
Scooping up a spoonful of the clear broth, it didn't even have to reach his nose to know that something was wrong with it. It had this pungent and dark presence, the tell-tale sign that it was poisoned. Putting the spoon back Aki thought why would anyone want to poison his food and who could that be.
He looked around and found few contestants drinking the soup without any problem and he looked towards the masters sitting in front of them they were also drinking it with no problem. Thinking that someone was trying to kill him, Akito was honestly surprised.
He was relatively new in the mountain, him and his master often stayed hidden not exposing themselves much, so who could it be that was trying to kill him. Poisoning the food of a fellow cultivator, what a cowardly move.
Just as he was thinking to abandon the soup, he turned to his right to find a cultivator few seats away from him looking strangely at the soup. Aki narrowed his eyes as he took in his expressions.
The guy smelled the soup and then kept it back. He turned here and there looking at others when his eyes locked with Aki. Without any outward reaction Aki looked back to his food because he had already deduced what was happening. It was not just his soup that was poisoned instead everyone's was. But the masters were eating it. That means this is a test, they were clever enough to hide it.
He had to agree he had underestimated Mount heaven. Now that he knew no one was trying to murder him, he needed to think of ways to quickly filter the soup so that he could drink it. That must be how they can pass the test.
Quickly gathering his Qi in his palms, he picked the soup bowl as he slowly let his Qi transfer into it. The poison was strong in nature and it took more than half of his Qi to totally filter it.
Beads of sweat were rolling down his face by the time he finished filtering everything. Small black vapours of the poison were releasing from the soup which was visible. He just hoped that he won't be disqualified for that because none of the masters had vapours releasing from their soups.
Anyways, he had done his job and finished the soup in one gulp. Aki was surprised, once the poison was gone the soup was full of enriched Qi and it felt like he was energized back. His meridians were buzzed with the boost of energy he just received. After finishing his food, he looked around to see that few of them were also waiting and the masters were also just sitting back. Aki wondered what were they waiting for.
Nobody was talking, then the servants came back and took away the utensils, leftover food and in some cases the poisoned soup. Still, no one moved and all the masters remained seated looking at them. A nervous energy spread across the contestants who were wondering what they were waiting for.
After a moment a small commotion started at one corner of the assembly, looks like someone fainted. What continued afterwards was multiple people fainting in their seats. His neighbour also fainted and dropped with a thud on the table.
"Alertness of one's surrounding is one of the key factors for your survival. If you can't even find the nature of the food you are consuming then you are not fit to be a cultivator. Poison testing is one of the many effective methods to sharpen your senses. This is one of the reasons why we organised the second round in this manner.
Those who had filtered the poison successfully and drank the soup has passed this round. Congratulation on your qualification. Rest of you are thus eliminated. Even if you have detected the poison but failed to filter the soup you are still disqualified."
One of the elderly cultivators explained as more servants rushed in and started gathering the people who have fainted probably to take them to the healing grounds.
"What about the people who fainted, what will happen to them?" someone voiced from among them.
The cultivator who was apparently the in charge for this round turned around and looked at the guy in surprise. "The poison was not fatal in nature they will be given an antidote and they will wake up within an hour. Rest assured Mount Haven is taking full responsibility."
The cultivator spoke as the rest of the elders and masters walked away.
Aki was thoroughly impressed and very happy as he has advanced to the Third Level. A few more rounds and he hoped that Kijuro-sama would select him. He will perform extraordinarily and become his student; he will keep the promise he made to his master.
As he was walking out, he heard a sweet voice call him out which gave him chills.
"Bunny-chan, where are you running off too."
to be continued------