Chapter 571 — The Soup Test

CHAPTER 571

The Soup Test

“That’s not mine,” Bao Liang said, before Shi Feng could open his mouth. “Don’t even ask. I’ve had turnip for nine days.”

The waste cart stood at the mouth of the back corridor, where it always waited after the night bell. The same three buckets were roped to its bed. Tonight there was a fourth thing between them: a covered clay bowl with steam leaking out from under the lid.

Shi Feng lifted the lid an inch. Hot broth, spring onion and three thick pieces of pork rib with the fat still on.

In the Pill Pit, that was a feast.

“Guard Bao, whose is it?” Shi Feng asked, staring.

“Yours. Overseer’s orders,” Bao Liang said gloomily, leaning on the handle to rest his feet. “Fail a furnace, get meat. Stand on stone for a whole shift, get turnip. Nobody ever brings my feet soup!”

“I’m sorry about your feet, Guard Bao,” Shi Feng said.

“Everyone’s sorry. Nobody pays,” Bao Liang said. “Push.”

Shi Feng pushed past Hall Three with his head lowered. He looked miserable for Bao Liang’s benefit, but the soup made him suspicious. Someone had chosen to give him meat immediately after a failure. He needed to understand why before he ate anything.

Nobody gives a prisoner meat on the day he fails, Shi Feng thought. Not unless the meat has a job to do.

The pit lay behind the dark hall, a square hole lined with white lime. The cold draught came up out of it as it always did, smelling faintly of river. Tonight someone was already waiting.

Kong Ba sat on an upturned bucket at the edge, with his belly on his knees and a lantern by his boot.

“There he is! The boy who murders moss!” Kong Ba said cheerfully. “Bao Liang, go rest those famous feet. Over there. Further.”

Bao Liang went without a word of complaint, which was a first.

“Sit. Eat,” Kong Ba said, pointing at the cart. “Don’t let it go cold. I had to sweet-talk the kitchen for that.”

Shi Feng sat on the edge of the cart. The soup was on his left. On his right, on top of the first bucket, lay the dull brown lump from Appraiser Mei’s table, still smelling of frost.

He looked from one to the other, and the whole test laid itself out in front of him.

If he’d deliberately failed, he’d know the lump held five Soul Formation-grade herbs’ qi. He might eat it quickly to recover that gain. A genuinely frightened boy would choose the hot meat first and put off swallowing his failed pill. Kong Ba had set both within reach so he could watch the choice.

So that’s it, Shi Feng thought. Appraiser Mei’s table tested my hands. The bowl is here to test my appetite.

Kong Ba was pleased with himself already. Shi Feng wanted to laugh, but he didn’t dismiss the test. This man decided who could eat and who went back hungry. Failing to satisfy him could be dangerous even if the trap looked simple.

Shi Feng picked up the bowl with both hands and drank.

The soup was good enough that Shi Feng didn’t need to pretend his hunger. He stripped every rib, sucked the bones and drank the broth to its last ring of onion. Kong Ba’s grin widened as he watched. So far, Shi Feng was giving him exactly the answer he expected.

Only when the bowl was empty did Shi Feng look at the lump. He sighed, picked it up with two fingers, and made the face of a boy taking bitter medicine.

“Go on,” Kong Ba said, grinning. “Receiver Ning says it’s good for you. I say it’s disgusting. Eat bitterness first, taste sweetness later, boy! A good blade needs a whetstone!”

Shi Feng put the failed pill into his mouth.

It went down cold and gritty. Then the Physique opened beneath it, and the qi of all five herbs poured into him, the ember-bark’s cold sap included. He kept his breathing slow and his aura flat, and held his face in a sour twist until the warmth stopped spreading.

[Devoured: ember-bark pill x1 | Note: they paid for my dinner to test me.]

Kong Ba slapped his knee.

“Honest boy,” Kong Ba said, very satisfied. “A man who could fix it wouldn’t have wasted it.”

“Fix it, Overseer Kong?” Shi Feng asked, blinking at him.

“Never mind,” Kong Ba said, waving his hand.

Shi Feng slid off the cart and bowed so low his forehead nearly touched the bucket.

“Thank you for the soup, Overseer Kong,” Shi Feng said. “It’s the best thing I’ve eaten since home. I won’t waste a furnace again. I swear it!”

“You will,” Kong Ba said. “Everybody does. That’s why we’ve got a pit.”

Shi Feng kept bowing to hide his relief. Kong Ba was satisfied for now, and the test hadn’t forced him to expose the Reservoir or let his Nascent Soul grow.

All five Soul Formation-grade herbs, Shi Feng thought. About a month’s cultivation in one swallow, and they’d brought soup to make him take it. His captors believed they’d confirmed his honesty. He’d gained more qi while keeping the ability that absorbed it concealed.

If this was how the Pill Pit set traps, Shi Feng was happy to walk into one every day.

[Reservoir: 30%]

Kong Ba stood up with a grunt and lifted his lantern. Its light swung across the white lime and down into the black mouth of the pit. The draught pulled at the flame and made it lean.

Shi Feng looked at the flame, not the pit. A frightened boy didn’t wonder where a draught came from.

“Bao Liang! Bring the cart back,” Kong Ba shouted, and the guard came limping out of the dark, complaining before he’d even arrived.

Kong Ba was already walking away. Then he stopped and spoke over his shoulder, as if he’d only just remembered.

“Oh, one more thing, boy,” Kong Ba said. “Mei Han wants to look at your hands next week.”