Later that night, after the tavern was closed, Li Jain sat alone on the back step with a steaming cup of calming tea. The stars overhead shine peacefully. Beside him, Shiny curled up and blinked drowsily, tail thumping against his robes.
After the excitement of finally being able to leave the secluded sea of consciousness, Shiny took a good look at its appearance and hated it as expected. Since then, it'd been behind Li Jain to change it.
As a legendary snake beast, it can't bear to be looking like a funny creature that wasn't even a beast.
"Fruit spirit, find it in your heart to forgive me and change my appearance back." Shiny was trying hard to look innocent and cute. However, it wasn't very convincing since its voice was very deep.
"Leave the cuteness to Xiao Xin, you sound creepy." Li Jain rolled his eyes and tried to ignore it.
"What did you say to me, you sour fruit spirit!" Shiny growled threateningly and glared at Li Jain. As a beast who has been dominating for thousands of years, Shiny didn't have a good temper.
Li Jain on the other hand can take anything lightly except being called a sour fruit spirit. The temperature suddenly drop several degrees with an extremely dangerous aura radiating from Li Jain as he glared at Shiny.
Shiny suddenly realized its mistake and took a step back. "Okay, sorry." Its tone lowered as if it knew that it did wrong.
Li Jain nodded slightly before turning around and continued drinking his tea.
"Changing my appearance is very easy for you. So why don't you want to do it?" Shiny pouted, refusing to give up.
"It's very simple, I don't you to scare my children with your ugly appearance." Li Jain simply answer without even batting an eye.
"... " Shiny frowned in dissatisfaction and stared at the ground.
After a few minutes, It finally gave up: "Fine, but at least you can make me smaller. They wouldn't be afraid of a small snake."
"No problem, come here." Li Jain beckoned Shiny forward with two fingers.
Shiny got up from the ground, walked over and stood in front of him.
"Now, close your eyes."
"Okay..." It closed its eyes obediently as it felt it was about to receive a blessing.
"Hold it tightly." Li Jain ordered it as he started concentrating.
Soon after, Shiny felt warmth spreading from it all over its body.
Then suddenly it felt as if someone was holding it on both sides, then it suddenly felt weightless.
It felt something warm and soft touching it, the softness covering its skin. It opened its eyes slowly and found itself lying on Li Jain palm.
"... Huh??!! I feel so comfortable!" Shiny sat up abruptly and jumped off his palm. Once he landed on solid ground, he began rolling around excitedly.
Li Jain shook his head helplessly. His mood was a bit shaky tonight, he didn't want to be disturbed by Shiny so he turned it back into a snake and shrunk it into the size of a crop stick.
Shiny was very satisfied and lay next to him.
As if he'd suddenly thought of something, Li Jain and made his way to one of the unused rooms in the house.
...
A few hours later, Li Jain stepped calmly out of the formation and dusted his robes off with a soft sigh. The moonlight had shifted to sunlight, pale gold now peeking through the windows.
There's a secret realm in his house. The secret realm had been dormant for decades and sealed away by a Fifth-Level Formation Arena. To most, that would be impenetrable. But to someone like Li Jain, it was little more than a layer of ornamental dust. He'd deal with a much higher level formation array. Not to mention, if this wasn't in a backwards town, other people would've found its existence as well.
When he first bought the house, the realm's presence was subtle. But with so many children to raise and the tavern to open, he hadn't had time to activate it. Now that he'd developed in this town, it was the right time.
He had tested each floor overnight, going one by one and observing.
There were twenty levels total. A low-tier spiritual dungeon, built for those between Qi Gathering and the early stages of Spiritual Sea. The challenges were scattered, illusions, wild beasts, trap puzzles, and the occasional treasure chest all self resetting.
It was perfect. The children needed training and this was the perfect place to do so. Not only will they be challenged, they'll also be rewarded for that.
...
The next morning:
After morning training, Li Jain called the remaining four children into the pavilion.
Li Yujian, Li Yuhan, Li Cheng, and Li Zhang sat around the low table, each of them with their own half dried sweat from morning practice. They were very curious. After all, every time their father suddenly called them. It means something good.
"We're going on a field trip?" Zhang asked hopefully.
"Sort of," Li Jain replied.
"No field trip, then is it a mission?" He asked again
"It could be considered…"
"Then what is it? I'm dying of curiosity." Li Zhang shook his head victuously.
"If you could just wait patiently and let father sort things out, you won't be this miserable." Li Cheng sneered.
"This wait is also killing me." Yuhan threw himself on the table.
Li Jain found the things he was searching for and placed them on the table: "This house has a secret realm sealed in one of the back rooms."
All four straightened and stare at him eagerly
"A secret realm?!" Li Yuhan said, eyes lighting up. "Since when?!"
"Since before I bought the place," Li Jain replied. "I left it alone until now because we haven't settled yet. But I believe it's time."
"Oh yeah! This is the kind of surprise I like to hear." Li Zhang jumped to his feet in joy.
Li Yujian's brows knit. He was happy for the secret realm but also a bit worried: "Is it… safe? What if it belongs to someone? What if we're trespassing, wouldn't that bring unnecessary trouble?"
"That's unlikely." Li Jain smiled: " It's old and discarded. Also, I left a few spiritual traces inside and confirmed it's a self-contained realm with no master imprint or monitoring threads. If someone does check, they'll need to pass through five layers of misdirection I've added."
They breathe a sigh of relief.
Cheng gave a subtle nod of approval. "So is it like an inherited trial realm?"
"No, there's no inheritance in it. It's low level, no floor exceeds the early Spiritual Sea stage in difficulty. But the realm has an interesting feature, it automatically regenerates once a floor is complete. In that way you don't have to worry about someone clearing the floor and taking away all the good stuff. Also, the challenges are very random."
"Once you enter, you'll all be separated as this is a solo realm." Li Jain reminded
Yuhan clicked his tongue: "So no ganging up, huh? I was planning to let Zhang do the punching while I took the credit."
"In your dreams. I'll take as much treasure as possible." Zhang said, grinning.
Li Jain slid the talismans forward. "These are your exit tokens. One will eject you at sunset. Use that if you complete your floor or wish to return on schedule. The other is an emergency escape. It will pull you out instantly if your life is threatened."
Li Cheng examined the talisman closely. "Refined from hollow moon jade? These are very complicated. You carved them?"
"I made them last night," Li Jain said casually, sipping a cup of tea.
All four of the children exchanged glances. Only their father could make high level formations sound like bedtime craft projects.
Li Yujian instructed them one last time: "Once you're inside, you'll have to find your own path. Every floor's challenge is random. There are Combats, puzzles, spirit tests, and endurance. Do your best, if you can't endure it, come out at any time. You can always try again later."
Yujian was already memorizing. "Maximum of twenty levels?"
"Yes," Li Jain said. "The first few levels would be easy as they'll be in the Qi gathering and Physical body realm."
"As for the treasure?" Yuhan asked slyly. "We get to keep what we find, right?"
"Don't worry , they're not illusions." Li Jain replied, lips twitching.
...
They followed him to the hidden room behind the rear storeroom. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary storage space, except for the faint shimmer around a stone formation carved into the floor. When Li Jain pressed his palm to the central glyph. A whirlpool of energy emerged from the ground, and the air shifted.
"Remember to retreat when necessary." He reminded them again a bit worriedly. Although he did plan to observe them so nothing would happen, he still can't help worrying. Maybe it's a parent instant.
Each child nodded.
Yujian stepped forward first: "As the eldest, I will go in first to clear the way."
"Dad said it's solo. There's no way to clear, you're just showing off." Yuhan murmured.
"See you inside!" Zhang waved.
One by one, they stepped into the spiral.
...
Each of them landed on the same floor with random sections. Each secluded from the other.
Li Yujian appeared in a forest with hidden beasts and pressure zones.
Li Yuhan found himself inside an illusion maze where sound and wind were reversed.
Li Cheng opened his eyes in a chamber of mirrors, his own reflection flickering in and out.
Li Zhang stood on a floating stone platform above lava, facing a series of riddles given by a talking rock crab.
And in the house, Li Jian remained still beside the glowing formation, watching as the energy of his children pulsed within the array.
He smiled faintly: "They've got this."
Li Jain doesn't know about other children but he feels like his children were the smartest buns in the world.