He wanted to create a fighting technique not just for combat.
In this world, techniques were divided into Mortal, True, Earthly, and Heavenly ranks, but their true purpose went beyond battle. They controlled internal energy, and the best ones helped martial artists sense the rules of the world.
Typically, a martial artist could only extend their spirit outward to perceive the world after reaching the Heavenly Essence Realm. The best techniques, however, allowed them to understand the rules before reaching that stage.
If Gavin created a cultivation technique, he would ensure it accelerated this process—allowing practitioners to grasp the world's rules even earlier.
It would also serve another purpose.
The technique could be a talent-assessment tool in the sect he planned to establish, helping identify gifted disciples.
His sect's goal was to train martial artists who could heal others. For that, the five elemental rules and the Life rule were most effective—though other rules could work, they were far less suited to healing.
" So, I have to create martial art techniques that help in understanding these rules."
"Creating a martial technique that aids in understanding the Life rule would be ideal."
However, his understanding of the Life rule wasn't advanced enough to create such a technique yet. That left the five elemental rules. In his past, he had developed Earth Elemental Claw and Ice Elemental Fist techniques, but they couldn't be directly applied here.
The fundamental cultivation methods of this world were different.
The tribe he once created stored energy in a mysterious space, known here as the upper dantian, whereas martial artists of this plane stored energy in the lower dantian.
Both systems focused on body cultivation, but their paths diverged.
His method refined the body to produce magic energy, whereas martial artists here absorbed energy from food to generate internal energy. The underlying energy fueling their techniques was fundamentally different.
To create the Earth Elemental Claw and Ice Elemental Fist techniques, he needed to transform internal energy into elemental energy.
In the main plane, absorbing different elemental energies allowed these techniques to function. But in the martial arts plane, before reaching the True Essence Realm, martial artists could not absorb external energy, and the world's energy lacked elemental properties.
In this plane, there were two ways to perform elemental fighting techniques: Absorbing corresponding evil energy – This method was only available to peak True Essence Realm martial artists.
"Disciples won't start as peak True Essence Realm martial artists."Most of his disciples will be ordinary people, and the first martial art realm is the third-grade realm. So, they will begin learning fighting techniques at the Third Grade Realm."
Transforming internal energy – This could be done in two ways: Using resources to permanently convert internal energy into a single elemental attribute. Opening the corresponding meridian channels allows temporary transformation, which could be reversed back to a neutral state.
The first option was only viable for a select few, as resources were not unlimited. So, he had to choose the second method.
"For a sect, opening additional meridian channels to transform energy is the best approach."
He began with the Earth Elemental Claw technique. Searching through his memory, he examined all earth-elemental fighting and cultivation techniques to determine which meridians needed to be opened.
He discovered that each technique required a different set of meridians, though some were common across all Earth-element techniques. Fortunately, he had already opened a few meridians required for his current cultivation method. Now, he needed to open the remaining common meridians shared by earth-element techniques.
With precision, he guided his true essence into one of the meridian channels, carefully breaking through the blockages—slowly, cautiously, ensuring he didn't cause damage.
Meridian channels weren't physical structures within the body; they were formed through imagination—similar to the energy channels and nodes in the main plane.
"If you believe they are real, then they are real. If not, then they are not."
The path from ordinary to extraordinary was the ability to turn the false into reality.
That was why damaging a meridian meant damaging one's willpower—and willpower could not be healed, only recovered.
Thus, healing a meridian was a slow and arduous process.
Why could fake meridian channels transform real internal energy into elemental energy?
In the beginning, when the first martial artist created a cultivation method, very few could practice it. Only geniuses with strong willpower succeeded. When they believed something was real, no amount of proof could shake that belief.
But as they advanced through the realms, the false slowly became real.
Over time, as more people accepted the existence of meridians, these imaginary channels shifted from illusion to reality—partially virtual, partially real. This transformation lowered the difficulty of martial cultivation, allowing more people to practice it.
It was like the saying:
"If one person believes a lie, it remains a lie. But if everyone believes it, the lie becomes the truth."
In an extraordinary world, human imagination could elevate a mortal to godhood—so it could certainly turn the false into reality.
Now, the concept of meridians was deeply embedded in the very rules of the Martial Art Plane.
One interesting thing was that the difficulty of martial cultivation had only decreased in this plane. In the Main Plane, it was incredibly hard to even imagine meridians, as they were a new concept there. However, in this Martial Art Plane, energy channels and nodes naturally existed in everyone's body—though they remained undiscovered because no one had knowledge of them.
After a few hours, Gavin had successfully opened the meridians needed to transform his energy into Earth-attributed internal energy. He began circulating his true essence through his newly formed meridian channels—a new system plugged into his existing one. At any moment, he could activate or deactivate these channels at will.
After five minutes, he opened his eyes and looked at his right palm. His light green true essence had turned into a dark yellow hue. He then imagined his right hand wearing a stone glove—and before his eyes, his true essence transformed, materializing into a solid stone-like covering over his palm.
The first step was complete.
Now, he could begin adapting the Earth Elemental Claw Technique into a fighting style compatible with this plane.