I spent the next years holed up in my cave to complete my foundation using the three things I stole from Lin Fan.
One bonus the Serenity Peak enjoyed was that its disciples didn't have to do the monthly mandatory tasks and only needed to accept one task every year. It was hard to cultivate in seclusion if you had to pause every month, of course, that also meant we didn't get as many benefits and resources as other peaks but it was acceptable.
The strength of my foundation exceeded my expectations, I originally thought that the molten golden skeleton would be my foundation's basis but I was wrong. Normal you use your Qi, or in my case NE, to create a foundation, the glowing stone I obtained was very helpful with that.
The stone acted like a filter, each time I ran any kind of energy through it, it came out just a bit stronger, denser, and more. Somehow the stone managed to not only make my NE which consisted of every single energy in all existence even stronger, it even started to change slowly with each rotation.
It was slowly taking on my NE's properties, growing in power and size, at some point, the benefits the stone gained became larger than what my NE got in a single rotation. After a long time, the stone took on my very nature and turned into nothing, turning into my foundation.
With each rotation my NE underwent, it not only became more powerful, and more infinite, but it also became much easier to control. I originally thought that my energy would maybe get around 30% more manageable but after the stone turned into my foundation, it became at least 70% easier and it was still increasing.
After I reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm, the stone gained the ability to passively circulate infinite NE through it, increasing its power and controllability with each round. At some point, my NE will be easier to control than a limb and that was just the benefits from the Foundation realm, I was kinda looking forward to what the remaining 29 realms had in store for me.
I could attempt to enter the Spiritual Sea realm right away but considering the benefits I gained from the last time I traveled with a child of destiny, I wanted to wait for a bit. It just so happened that a giant secret realm was going to open in two years and anyone between the Foundation and Purple Palace realm was allowed to enter.
The realm was actually so big and prosperous, that the Divine Yang sect had to share it with some other strong sects to avoid needless conflict. I was pretty sure that I would meet at least one child of destiny there from whom I could snatch some opportunities.
From what I heard Xiao Chen had become an unremarkable disciple who cleaned all over the sect, most likely to sign-in in different places without having to sneak in. Lin Fan had become the core disciple of the Overlord Peak, which specialized in body cultivation. After the sword cured him of the birth defect that hindered him from cultivating, he became rather talented.
It seems like he only got some small opportunities after the great sword and his next great chance was coming up soon, most likely even in the secret realm. We were now both at the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm, making me very confident that he would get opportunities that would help with the next few realms.
I was going to spend the next two years either practicing alchemy, blacksmithing, or some self-created techniques. I didn't think much of their traditions, so my versions would vastly deviate from them, focusing completely on usefulness.
If a potion is more effective than a pill, I will create it no matter how many try to stop me from breaking their traditions. I don't care if my created techniques were judged as unorthodox or even outright evil. They can have sexual relationships with their precious swords all they want but I would still develop weapons that weren't swords, blades, or anything they had seen.
Just activities that were merely used to pass the time were enough to shake the traditions that existed since the beginning of the world and might even be part of the universal laws. What better way to pass the time than by causing productive chaos?
While I'm at it, I might also go back to torturing Xiao Chen. Too bad the chick I cucked him with was too useless and had to remain at the previous sect, maybe he already got a new lover. Once I ran out of ways to mess with him, I would just throw him into my basement, aka The Backrooms.
He would actually be the first official victim. Over time I also made several improvements to The Backrooms, adding countless new levels, each being based on horror games.
I even modified it to keep the likes of him in. No matter how powerful he got, the walls would never break and the monsters and entities would always be stronger, faster, and scarier than him.