The next morning, Silas and Thea slept late into the day, just wanting to stay in bed and hold each other, but soon their goals and dreams forced them up.
"Now that we're married, we can go challenge the Battle Pagoda and hopefully leave this place," Thea said, longing in her voice.
"I have no doubt that we will succeed," Silas said. He was a Divine Beast—how could he not? And while he was slightly worried about Thea, she was quite talented herself, so he had a little confidence and hope that she would make it and be able to enter the wider world with him.
"Alright, let's go," Thea said as she reached forward and grabbed Silas's hand.
After they opened the door, Thea was a little surprised to see both Kai and Red sitting outside their bedroom.
While Red was at the end of the hall, as far away from their bedroom as possible, sitting in a lotus position in his human form meditating, Kai was in his beast form, lying on his back not even two feet away from their bedroom door.
When Kai heard the door open, he immediately turned his little head and just grinned at Silas and Thea.
"How was your first night? Was it special?" Kai asked, saying the last part with both sarcasm and a mocking tone.
"Kai, stop it," Silas quickly said, wanting to save Thea from further embarrassment.
"Haha," Kai started to laugh as he fell on his side.
"Kai, are you ready? It's time to challenge the Battle Pagoda," Silas said.
"Ready? I was born ready," Kai said as he stood up with confidence.
"Well, let's go say goodbye to everyone, and then we can head out." Their respective families already knew that they were going to try the Battle Pagoda after their marriage, and while they worried and even tried to talk them out of it, there was nothing they could do. Both Thea and Silas were adults and could do what they wanted.
And even if they wanted to stop the two, the strongest of them, Oscar, was only at his best on par with Silas and at his worst would lose to him, so there was no stopping them.
They were soon surrounded by their families, saying their goodbyes.
Thea was saying goodbye to her Redstone Clan.
Silas was saying goodbye to his Armstrong Clan, and even Red was saying goodbye to his father, Rey.
"Are you sure you have to go, baby?" Silas's mother, Clara, asked, clear worry on her face.
"Yes, Mom, I have to get out of this place if I want to stride down the path of an immortal. But don't worry, I'll be fine, I promise," Silas said.
"But that's not something you can promise. We don't even know how deadly the trials are—no one's ever come back to tell us," she argued.
"Please, just trust me," Silas said.
Soon, he said goodbye to each of his family members, from his mother and father to grandparents and great-grandfather, as well as several other close family members and friends from his childhood.
***
Soon, Silas, Thea, Kai, and Red were on their way to the Battle Pagoda. It would take them more than a week traveling there since it was in the center of the Inheritance Realm and their Moonvale Mountain region was toward the edge of the realm…
Several days went by, and they were now all standing in front of a massive pagoda that was over 100 meters wide and 1,000 meters tall.
"So, who should go first?" Thea asked, a little nervous now that she was here.
They knew the rules of the Battle Pagoda. Only one person was allowed to go at once, so one of them would go in, and the rest would have to wait their turn.
"I'll go first," Silas said.
"But I want to go first," Kai said, acting as if he were a child.
"You're the strongest of us. We know you will surely pass, so just hold tight. Stay out here and protect Thea," Silas said. Kai was indeed currently stronger than Silas. Silas was only a late Transcendent lifeform, while Kai was at peak. And even though Silas's Dao was slightly more advanced, they were both still at minor completion, and Kai had even touched minor completion in his Claw Dao, while Silas was still stuck at 'touched' in his Scythe Dao.
"Fine," Kai said as he crossed his little arms, then hopped from Silas's shoulder to Thea's.
"After I go, let Thea go, and then, Kai, you can go," Silas said. The Battle Pagoda only let one go at a time, but it did allow beast companions to go with you, so he would take Red with him. He, of course, could take Kai with him as well, but Kai insisted that he beat the Pagoda himself.
Silas then let go of Thea's hand and walked forward. He placed his hand on the pagoda, and after 10 seconds, he was teleported inside.
***
Silas was teleported into a large, dark cave. It was over 200 meters tall and 500 meters wide. He was alone now, but he wasn't worried. He knew that while your beast companions were allowed to enter with you, they were not allowed to help in any way, so they were always teleported someplace else while you challenged the floors.
Even though the cave was on the darker side, Silas, being a Transcendent lifeform, could see just fine, and what he saw surprised him a little.
There were skeletons all around him—tons of them. Many people had clearly died in this first trial.
Silas suddenly sensed movement behind him. Startled, he spun around to see an old, hunchbacked man emerging from the shadows. Clad in simple robes that seemed to be woven from starlight itself, the man leaned heavily on a wooden staff that was gnarled and twisted like the roots of an ancient tree. His grey hair cascaded down to his waist, and his eyes shone with the wisdom of countless lifetimes.
[Treasure Spirit]
"Be quiet and listen," the old man said in a rough but solid voice.
Silas just nodded his head. He didn't want to disobey this man, lest he anger him and get kicked out. Silas knew who this old man likely was. He was most likely the treasure spirit of this Immortal Estate that the entire Inheritance Realm and Battle Pagoda were in. He also knew that for a weapon to form a spirit, it had to be at least Immortal grade, so this old man, even though he was just a spirit, could easily kill him if he wished to.
"I know that you are from the world inside the Immortal Estate, so you likely know this already, but I will tell you regardless since those are the rules the master of this estate set before his death."
"You must be no higher than Peak Transcendent to challenge this pagoda."
"There are eight levels to this pagoda… After passing each floor, you can choose to exit if you feel you will not be strong enough to pass the next floor. But if you do decide to exit, know that you will be forever trapped inside the Immortal Estate's world."
"To exit the Immortal Estate, you have to pass the 7th floor. If you choose to exit here, you will not gain anything, but you will have the ability to enter the wider world of the Thousand Planet Realm, and you will be teleported thousands of miles from this Immortal Estate."
"However, if you wish to become the owner of this estate and the disciple of Daoist Silent Sage, you must continue on to the 8th floor and pass the final test."
"There are currently no inheritors of this estate. There have been two inheritors and disciples before, but they have all since died one way or another…" After that, the old man vanished, and 30 armored men took his place.