What were techniques? This was a common question asked by all and answered by many. The most common answer was, "A way to display strength".
However, what if a person went deeper into it. To Zhou Fan, most techniques were simply different ways of shaping Qi. There was hardly any actual difference if one ignored size and Qi cost. However, there were many variations with different uses, and many could do things that others couldn't. Some people could also display greater power with certain techniques due to resonating with them or having an affinity.
Only techniques that were created with the profoundness of the mortal or cosmic daos had any true difference in them. Otherwise, most were just different ways to use Qi.
What Zhou Fan wanted to create was a true way for techniques to be different in their very essence.
As for how, his inspiration was from meridians, the most important organ in humans.
Meridians were like tunnels in the body, and he planned on creating billions of tiny branches of these tunnels.
They would be called technique pathways. This was not a short term project, and its effect would nearly be on the same level of the creation of the river of cultivation, which it would be a part of.
These technique pathways would have to perfectly resonate with both the bodies of all creatures, as well as the universe and Qi itself in order for the project to be successful. The most important part was making sure that this was not an outside power, but a power that a human truly controlled and could not simply be taken away from them. It would also need to be possible for people to use techniques the same as now. The technique pathways would simply be a deeper study into the usage and creation of techniques.
In short, Zhou Fan was creating what could be called an organ on the level of meridians.
Zhou Fan closed his eyes as his mind moved rapidly. At the same time as he closed his eyes and thought, a portion of his thoughts had been split off in order to observe the creation of worlds.
Even Ying Xiong and Heaven moved out in order to create worlds. Although they were his friend and son respectively, he had no plans to freely reward them, especially after helping Ying Xiong reach the true god realm, something that he may never have done himself.
As for what the rewards were, they could be anything. Increased talent, weapons, materials, techniques. The possibilities were endless with Zhou Fan.
A billion years passed, and Zhou Fan realized just how big the projects he was taking on were.
The creation of worlds was naturally something huge and incomparably far reaching. Progress would take forever. He would also need to populate those worlds, though that could be done at a later time. At some point in the last billion years, he also began transporting true god realm cultivators around the filament using his power. This way, the creation of worlds would spread out in an even greater size. As of now, he was containing it to the filament, but it would absolutely expand in the future, though it would be very very far in the future.
As for the creation of technique pathways, he had made essentially zero progress. He was not making something loosely. This was going to be one of the masterpieces he would be proudest of for all of eternity.
Therefore, every part had to be perfected by him. As his strength increased, he would also update the technique pathways with the river of cultivation and the expansion of his mortal dao. Their profundities would always be on the same level as his cultivation.
100 billion years passed and Zhou Fan felt that he was 1% complete, though he had no idea if that was accurate. He could be done in another billion years, or it could indeed take 10 trillion years.
The creation of worlds was going well. Having a thousand true god cultivators was indeed useful. There were also 50,000 god realm cultivators helping as well, though they mostly designed the worlds after their creation.
With just a little effort from Zhou Fan, the universe could indeed become a completely different place. From 2 god realm cultivators to 50,000 in a billion years.
Imagine if someone had invested in god realm stocks before that.
As of now, the total land created was multiple times more than the great world, though it was simply many much smaller areas. Despite being called small, all of them could compare in size to a galaxy.
Most were desolate, with simple dirt, water, and a star or two around them. Some had grass and basic life. Some had been completely turned into a new world with beasts and some humans.
All of them would be completed later. As of now, the foundation of it all was being completed like a wave.
Zhou Fan closed his eyes as a trillion years passed. Much had changed, but to all the god realm cultivators and above, it was but a small fraction of their lifespan. God realm cultivators could live for a quadrillion years, while true god realm cultivators could live for a quintillion.
In comparison, a trillion years was a thousandth of a god realm cultivator's life span and a millionth of a true god realm cultivator's lifespan.
At this time, Ying Xiong and Heaven came to see him with a suggestion. Most of the worlds all stood on the same level, and they both believed that there should be a sort of higher realm for god realm cultivators and above. Zhou Fan had this idea as well, though he had imagined it on a larger scale.
He personally moved out, and soon, at the top of the filament, endless clouds appeared. Inside those clouds was a whole different world with 5x the cultivation speed. It was the size of a galaxy cluster, just like the great world, though it was almost entirely made from clouds.
The only way to enter was by being in the god realm. Zhou Fan gave this place a name.
"The upper realm."