Ten years passed within a flash, and Luo Tian stared at the countless characters he wrote on the ground. His face ceased in annoyance as he realized what he was doing was once again a failure.
The stone monkey has grown to become a charming young fellow. He sighed and brought down his hands making them all disperse, he stretched before going to the nearest tree and sat in a lotus position, cultivation was long and it was also very boring and Luo Tian knew that as he had reached the limit of Qi condensation a few years back and was now on the verge of entering the Foundation Establishment realm.
But thay was quite meaningless to him as he didn't really need to cultivate to gather spiritual energy and the reason he does cultivate is because he would need to absorb countless amounts of Spirtual energy to advance a stage and stuffing it in his body seemed meaningless if he was still going to take the same time to advance and also cultivation is a sort of a way for him to concentrate and look back on mistakes he would have taken in his spells or techniques.
The thing that vexed him most was the technique given to him by Macaque and what he said learning it in a Millenia was...sort of correct and so he did the most sane thing he could think of that would atleast make him benefit feom glancing at the technique.
Yes, Luo Tian copied it and created a lesser but new technique from it, the original technique given to him by Macaque would have allowed him to pull out the reflections of himself and others into the material world which to him was clearly an Immortal level technique he had no right and deciphering and the goodwill of Macaque was not 'good' in the mere mortal senses.
The technique itself felt like it was written by a madman because of what he saw in the glimpses of it. Macaque would not be just summoning reflections but past selves. Alternate selves and opposite selves.
Either way, the bootleg version of the technique he was trying to replicate has failed him, and he realised the formula he made was too...advanced for his current cultivation. He felt ashamed that he overlooked that, and now he was breaking down and recreating a few formulas in his mind that would allow him to perform the technique.
After countless hours and even a few days, he felt a click in his head and sighed as he was finished with creating a technique that would last him the entirety of the Foundation Establishment realm. Though It would not give him anything too good.
"The lesser version of the True Endless Mirror is complete." With a satisfied expression, Luo Tian began breaking into the Foundatiin Establishment realm.
He closed his eyes once more as he gathered all the qi he had condensed for over 13 years now, and yes, he did begin cultivation when he was two. Luo Tian brought the qi toward his abdomen and began to enrich his blood,bones, and flesh with the overwhelming qi that looked abnormal for any Qi condensation junior to gather.
He stayed there for about an entire month of slowly spreading the qi throughout his body, and then he felt the first foundation of his cultivation emerge. His body was made from stone, and he had consumed an elemental qi storm that had accumulated for a thousand years and used it to birth himself. The first foundation that appeared was something a lot of cultivators would crave for a physique, and Luo Tian's physique was....abnormal.
His physique was there before it even appeared, from the moment of his birth, and the first time he controlled spiritual energy without gathering it made him abnormal because only Foundation Establishment cultivatirs could do that, but he could do it since birth so when his physique appeared, a vast storm of Spirtual energy began to fill his entire body, deepening the foundation of his physique to what one would consider the limit.
His skin, like stone beg to crack and golden light seeped through the cracks and the energy inside seemed to unable to spill out as if it was forcefully held within, but that seemed to have not deterred the violent qi as more cracks began to emerge on the bod of the stone monkey and even the robe he was wearing began to be burned by the Intense energy being produced by Luo Tian.
Suddenly, he breathed out, and the various cracks in is body began to forcefully close themselves, the golden light seemingly unable to come out from his body.
When his physique finally could not take more, the spiritual storm around him simply vanished, and Luo Tian opened his eye. The golden gaze was much brighter than before.
He opened his mouth and sighed. The foundation Establishment stage has three stages, the first stage where you create a Spirtual body transforming yourself from a mortal to a slightly stronger mortal, the middle stages allows one to for their mental space where they would gain more mental strength and thought processing then the late stages where one would strengthen their Spirit. Body,Mind, and Spirit.
The three main focuses of the Foundation Establishment realm and you would need to gather Qi for the dame time you had gathered it or find treasures or pills that would allow one for easier advancement. "yeah I don't think I want to wait another thirteen years in this valley, i could technically look for some natural treasures here because there definitely is an abundance of them...but I got a feeling that the ones that are important have already been stolen few years ago...yeah I'm pretty sure Macaque did that...and I don't think they would help me by that much."
Luo Tian mused, he knew his intake of spiritual energy was quite abnormal and strange so according to his calculations he would need to gather 6x the amount of energy he did before to reach the next stage of cultivation.
As a growing teen, Luo Tian would definitely want to meet other people other than beasts, he hates to admit it but he has grown tired of the Valley of Madness and wished to go out into the world to explore it and it's wonders and also find some treasures along the journey, his goal was of course to reach the heavens and without power that's impossible and you cannot acquire true power without experience.
Luo Tian sighed and then walked towards his home where his mother stayed. Soon, he was upon the cave, which has changed by a lot these ten years, tiny blue wisps of flames surrounded it, and a terrifying spiritual pressure was making the air heavy.
But Luo Tian did not mind, as he entered, he finally saw his mother now in her humanoid for, yes in these ten years she has broke through to the Demonic Transformation stage which was the equivalent to Nascent soul and now she can take on the form of a demon.
She was quite short for her age, and her nine tails moved slowly behind her. She was lying on a makeshift bed and reading a book. It would have been a charming sight, but such things were not really acknowledged by Luo Tian. He was more happy to see her reach a new stage of cultivation and gain power.
The fox's ears, which were flopped down suddenly, sprang up as she heard the footsteps of her son. "Luo Tian, you're back early, I thought it would take you a year to complete your technique and break through. It seems you're ahead of schedule."
Luo Tian rolled his eyes as he went towards her and sat next to her. "It wasn't that hard once you have comprehended some things and mother, I still have not comprehended a lot. I want to leave the Valley of Madness and Into the world."
At his words, the fox hummed and turned to look at Luo Tian, her gold eyes glinting with an understanding light. "I have outgrown this place, and there aren't any benefits to pluck from, so I don't mind leaving the valley, I need a change of scenery and new experiences."
Luo Tian smiled happily. He stood up and turned to her. "Can we leave now?."
The fox raised an eyebrow. "Can you fly?."
Luo Tian scratched his head and said. "No... but the clouds would probably reply to me if I did. It's a feeling I had for a few years now."
The fox chuckled. "Oh, so a Nimbus cloud found interests in your, those things are quite pecky in picking their masters."
"Pecky?" Luo Tian blinked. "You mean picky."
His mother giggled behind her sleeve. "Oh hush, you know what I meant."
He chuckled too, the warmth of the cave and her presence grounding him from the turbulent breakthrough he had just endured. The after-effects still stirred inside him—his bones hummed faintly with energy, and his golden eyes flickered with residual light—but his mind had already shifted ahead.
"Then… shall I go look for it?" Luo Tian asked, hopeful. "The Nimbus?"
His mother's nine tails flared out slowly, the silky fur shimmering with fiery blue spiritual energy. "You don't seek a Nimbus, Tian'er. It chooses you. If one is watching you… then it will come when you begin your journey. Just be ready."
Luo Tian nodded solemnly. He looked around the cave one last time, memories flashing behind his eyes—of days spent arguing with beast spirits, of months spent buried in spells and failures, of years spent in solitude, with only his mother's gentle voice and the maddening wind for company.
"I'm ready," he whispered.
His mother smiled, setting her book aside. "Then allow me to prepare us for departure." She snapped her fingers lightly, and flames rippled through the cave like threads of silk. The little spiritual wisps outside coalesced into intricate runes and charms, wrapping around the entrance like a sealing spell.
"I'll leave this place protected," she said. "In case we ever need to return."
"Will we?" Luo Tian asked.
She gave him a knowing look. "The world is vast, Tian'er. But fate is a strange, coiling river. We may yet circle back."
As they walked toward the mouth of the valley, the pressure of countless beasts observing them could be felt. The Valley of Madness was teeming with powerful entities, some wild, some old, many sentient. Many had come to respect the stone monkey who challenged cultivation dogma and created his own technique from an immortal's madness.
Some of them bowed. A few turned away in silence. They have tried their hands in scheming on Luo Tian, but they soon came to know his nature.
Luo Tiam sighed as he looked back at the valley... he missed Li Shinsen and Zhou Feng, but he would need to move on. That is what they would have wanted.
When the pair of mother and son reached the ends of the Valley, a pit that only led to the endless void was there.
The sky darkened for a moment, and then from the clouds, a white almost silver cloud came down in supernatural speeds and landed before Luo Tian, and then a voice entered his mind.
"Hello, I am so excited to meet you ever since the clouds said you were my master fourteen years ago and I was so annoyed and angry when they told me I could not get to you and had to wait till you're ready for your journey and then I would be allowed to meat you. My name is Yin xia, by the way."
The stone monkey was stunned for a while before he smiled. "Well, sorry, I had to make you wait Yin Xia, but now I think we can be proper friends as we explore the world together, now then shall we take off and can my mother join us atop of you."
Yin Xia paused before speaking. "It would be an honour for a Demoninc Transformative elder to ride me.
The fox girl looked offended by that. "Excise me, I'm only 782 years old?!!."
Yin xia gasped in horror. "So young...and yet you have already reached the Demon Transformation realm?!!, this cloud apologises for making the senior upset."
The fox girls lips twitched. "Stop grovelling, I hate that since you aren't really an enemy, I can take advantage of it."
Hearing her words, Luo Tian felt a dangerous chill. His mother was ruthless, and he had witnessed it firsthand.