Chapter 12, Surprised

Li Jain told the kids to continue meditating throughout the night. 

At night, the village was quiet. Only with the sound of birds chirping and frogs  croaking could one hear a whisper in this place of peace. A soft breeze blew through the trees making leaves dance across the ground. It had stopped raining but not yet frozen.  The stars shone brightly above their heads while moonlight glittered upon the small streams that meandered throughout the land.  The wind stirred the tall grasses and leaves, the sounds it made bouncing back from the mountain side as if they were being played by a musician, causing them to sway gently in the night air.

Li Jain was in his backyard building things with wooden branches. He was building something similar to a bridge. Small branch was stuck into the ground at each end.  Each was about two meters long and the width of his hand. He then crossed over the long branch with a flat smooth surface to reach out on each side. The width was one meter wide and can only accommodate one foot at a time.  When the bridge was completely finished he stood back to check it over, which he did. Satisfied, he called back over his shoulder, "Done."  

He then dug another hole and stuck a long branch into the ground. He nailed four short branches at the side to act as the hands.  Next he set up two large planks at the base. Then he put other planks under each plank forming the legs. He repeated with other planks until he finally had four platforms that reached the top. Next, he put dirt mixed with sand into eight stacks and hung them on the arms of the wooden man. The last thing he built was ten branches stuck in the ground fifteen feet apart.  The sticks would be used for leverage and support the structure. Now all that remained was to make sure the supports stayed attached. At the end of the night, Li Jain built four tiny bridges, four wooden men and four test and run. 

The obstacle course he built  consisted of three levels with varying distance between the bottom level and the top. The first layer has several traps and walls with ropes that you must dodge. The second level has many obstacles and a lot of terrain so that you can't move around as fast as you want to. The final level has more ropes and terrain that require jumping over the pits and hurdles. The difficulty of the obstacles varied depending on the height. 

He built these obstacle courses to train, accuracy, reflexes, and speed. 

As day was clearing, Li Jain activated a covered up talisman and entered the space to replenish his energy.

...

The next day;

Li Cheng and Li Zhang woke up very early the next morning. After watching their faces, Li Zhang grabbed two buckets to get water from the river while Li Cheng took the broom and began to sweep the yard. By the time Li Jain woke up, there were buckets filled with water and the yard was already pretty clean thanks to Li Cheng and Li Zheng who had recently cleaned up everything.

 As soon as he saw Li Jain, Li Cheng went up to him and said, "Good Morning father." Li Cheng had been trained since working for people to get up early and do chores whenever needed. This habit has become a part of him.

Li Jain smiled and looked over the courtyard , "Good morning, how was your night?"

"Good." The two children sat down beside him as they watched what he was doing. "So what are we eating for breakfast today? " asked Li Cheng. 

Li Jain just smiled mysteriously and answered. "You will find out when it comes out. Come eat now and then I'll tell you."

The breakfast was simple and warm.  It consisted of rice fried in oil and dried meat. When everything was settled down they started eating the porridge. 

"Daddy, are you going to town today?" Jing Sheng ask

Li Jain answered: "No, I'll be going up the mountain later. The wild chicken is finished and we don't have any meat." The wild chicken was very big, yet it only spent two days at most. Li Jain was thinking about going hunting to see if he could catch a few spirit beasts.

Spirit beasts are  animals that possess spiritual power. Some are innately magical and simply grow stronger over time, while others must actively practice a cultivation method. They tend to be much more intelligent than mundane animals, and some are capable of speaking in human languages. Spirit Beasts which have reached a high stage of cultivation may even be able to take on a human form. 

Spirit Beast can release their soul after they are killed, which can be absorbed by the person who killed them. They are classified based on their age, level and the color of the soul core released after death depend on their level. Their cores contain spiritual energy and essence. Even without the soul, their meat contains pure energy in them and it's beneficial to nurture the body. At his level, Li Jain thought he would only be able to hunt low level beasts which is better than nothing.

Jing Xuan quickly swallowed the porridge in his mouth when he heard Li Jain words and asked: "Can you take me with you? Last time, you took Sheng Sheng and left me behind. That's not fair; don't you think? Therefore; you should take me with you and make up for it."

Jing Sheng snorted; "Quite making a foul. What are you, a three year old child? If you hadn't slept like a log, maybe daddy would've taken you with him."

"Daddy, I wanna go too. Can you take me instead?" Li Juanxin didn't want to be left behind and asked cutely. Staring at Li Jain with his round and sparkling eyes.

Afraid that Juanxin cuteness will melt his daddy's heart, Jing Xuan protested: "Hey, that's cheating."

"There are no rules." Li Juanxin stuck his tongue out.

For a moment, Li Zhang thought that his father was going to a fair instead of the bushes mountain and became excited. Maybe the mountain was just a cover up and they were going somewhere exciting. Otherwise; why would his brothers fight to go? 

"Why do you want to go up the mountain with daddy?" Li Zhang asked Jing Xuan but his eyes were more excited than Jing Xuan. The high expectations in them couldn't be hidden.

Li Cheng shook his head helplessly. What a fool. I wonder what he imagined to get him this excited.

Jing Xuan saw that Li Zhang was asking him, so he began to fill Li Zhang in with the details: "There are treasures on the mountain. When daddy and Sheng went there the last time, they got colorful barriers, fruits, mushrooms, wild chicken and a huge egg. Sheng is not very honest, I don't believe he didn't eat some of the things on the way and only brought a little for me. Even so, they brought lots of things back." When he spoke about Jing Sheng, you could hear his tongue clicking.

"Wow…." Li Zhang was amazed by the details

Meanwhile, Li Jing Sheng's face was changing colors, from blue to red to white and then black. He almost choked on the porridge when he heard Jing Xuan's words. He angrily pointed at Jing Xuan: "Hey, what do you mean I'm not honest? When daddy gave me those barriers, he said I can have them all, but I still save some for you. Yet you're slaturing my name? Let's see if I'll save anything good for you next time!"

Jing Xuan immediately put on his innocent cap and said Ignorantly: "Huh? Did I say that? I don't even remember. You are the best brother in the world. I've always admired you. Come on, don't be angry with your brother." As he spoke, he took porridge from the big pot and put it into Jing Sheng's bowl.

Li Jain watched the children's interaction with interest. While shoveling spoonfuls into his mouth, Li Jain thought of something and said: "I won't be taking none of you because I have a surprise for you."

"What kind of surprise?" Li Zhang ask excitedly

"You'll know when you're done."

.....