'Which one of these energies do I choose?' Dyon's brows furrowed in thought. He couldn't help but feel frustrated by the situation, something that was no doubt the fault of this world he was in.
He wanted to consult someone, but the twins hadn't followed him in. Whatever world this was, it seemed to have pulled him in alone. On top of that, only things that were engrained into his body followed him. All of his spatial rings, including the one the Dragon King was housed in, were gone. Only The Seal, which was originally in his Mind's Eye, and the Energy Core, which was within his inner world, had followed him here.
Ridiculous. He had entered such a dangerous situation and yet he had no weapons, no support, and even if he did, it was likely that they'd be just as immobile as him. Dyon couldn't imagine carrying around the unsealed Dragon King in this world. He could hardly lift himself, how was he going to lift millions of jin?
'My mind is flying off the track again.' Dyon grit his teeth. Things that normally took him split seconds to think of and deliberate over were now taking minutes. It had already been half an hour since he began riffling through the types of energies, yet he still hadn't decided. This was too frustrating.
If he didn't have control of the situation, he would have at least liked to have had control over himself, but he didn't even have that.
'Wait, my inner world?' Dyon suddenly remembered a thought he had had over ten minutes ago. Something about how his Energy Core followed him in because it was within his inner world. 'If the Energy Core is here, isn't the spiritual vein also here?'
Dyon often neglected his spiritual vein reward because it was far too weak to be of any use to him. But, this neglect only grew after his soul was unsealed because he no longer needed the aurora stones birthed from it.
However, this was a massive mistake. Although the spiritual vein was small in comparison to the Angel Clan's, it was still very much worthy of being a reward for the God Trials. It was about a twentieth the size of a spiritual vein found in the largest clans of the martial world, but with the Energy Core as its center, its potential for growth far outstripped others.
Still, this wasn't the reason Dyon had sent his mind toward his inner world, nor was it the reason he focused on his spiritual vein. His thoughts were far simpler than that… Since his inner world could withstand the energy of an entire spiritual vein, couldn't it withstand much more?
Dyon blinked. He usually looked toward his inner world with a slight distaste. He had given up almost 20 years for it, time that would have been much more had it not been for Evangeline, yet all he got in return was a slab of dry rock and soil barely ten meters in length and width.
It was impressive that the inner world could reduce the suppressive effects of other worlds on him and that it was far sturdier than normal due to the Primordial Energy that seeped its innards, but Dyon almost felt that for such a difficult cultivation technique… It should give him more.
However, it was only now that Dyon realized that he had been stupid. Or, more accurately, his talent for energy cultivation had been so terribly stifled that he couldn't see this path until he awakened his birth right.
The construction of his inner world had used his meridians as a template. Dyon didn't fully understand what that meant originally, but that was because this "template" wasn't related to array alchemy, but rather, magic.
The theory behind arrays and magic circles were so fundamentally different that Dyon couldn't draw any parallels between the two. In fact, Dyon had such little faith in his energy path talent that he had procrastinated even delving into the world. However, now, things that had been so foreign to him were suddenly simple beyond belief.
If one said that array alchemy's purpose was to alter the laws of the universe in a given space to achieve desired results, magic relied on the meridians themselves.
In Ancient Times, everyone cultivated exactly how the bull-bird did. Energies would be absorbed based on your preferences and used to directly temper the body. Over time, the skeletal and muscular system of your body would evolve to greater heights.
However, as time went on and humans realized just how difficult it was to follow the Titan and Demonic paths, so, they began to find solutions of their own. Maybe instead of trying to copy cultivation methods not created for them, they'd try to find their own paths.
It was then that a study of the human body began and the mysterious meridian system was found. People soon found that the intricate connections between the 108 meridians and found that the patterns themselves held a certain power in nature.
These patterns and ratios would be found in seemingly random things, whether that be constellations, flower petals, life cycles, destinies, faiths.
It was then that the practice of magic began and people started to understand just why the universe replicated those patterns so often and that if you infused energy into these patterns, that the magnificent things you could accomplish were endless.
This had only just now become important to Dyon because he realized that if his inner world used his meridians as a template, his soul as a guide, and his wills as its substance… That meant that its uses couldn't just be limited to removing suppressive effects on him.
Just how much energy could Dyon store if he treated his inner world like his own personal universe?
'My inner world is inextricably linked to my meridians. I keep worrying about what my meridians can handle, when in reality I have a nearly unbreakable tank to deal with all of this.'
What Dyon didn't know was that his inner world acted exactly like the legendary dantian would. It was only natural that he didn't fully understand this considering that the dantian was something only unlocked by those who transcended to the immortal plane.
Mortals had a limited amount of energy they can handle at once. In fact, a large part of cultivation was increasing this upper limit by tempering the body and the meridians. This was why the first two realms of cultivation existed.
The normal limits of the mortal could only handle the energy provided by 108 meridians. By limiting the flow of this energy with narrow or clogged blood vessels, the universe was actually saving humans and beasts alike from themselves.
Those with "poor" talent simply did not have the constitution necessary to withstand large amounts of energy, while those with "good" talent did.
What most mortal plane cultivators didn't know was that this limiter was even fiercer than they thought.
Located just above the belly button was a separate inner world very similar to the Mind's Eye. Except, instead of being linked to the soul path, this separate world is linked to the energy path and is known as the dantian.
When an immortal awakens this world, they gain access to a pool of energy far beyond their imaginations. Someone as powerful as Dyon's Grand Teacher would have a dantian spanning a near infinite and unreachable limit. It is only at that point that one could call themselves a true cultivator.
But… Just what would happen if an absolute genius found a way to circumvent this problem? What would happen if this same genius found a way to gain access to a pool of energy at this level, but was also have it skip over the step requiring their body to be able to withstand it?
This was exactly why Dyon's grand teacher had called [Inner World: Sanctuary] the greatest energy cultivation technique ever created.
While the dantian and mind's eye are described as separate worlds, they were inextricably linked to the person who birthed them. For example, when the Holy Princess entered Dyon's Mind's Eye, she knew that she could damage Dyon by doing so.
Simply put, despite being called separate worlds, they weren't separate at all. Whatever occurred within them could have a direct impact on the real world. Meaning, if the dantian was awakened too early, its wielder would die if they weren't prepared.
However, the inner world sanctuary technique was completely different. It wasn't inextricably linked to Dyon, and the damage that occurred within it was separate from himself. It was like gaining a dantian without the drawbacks…
Of course, Dyon still had to be careful. If he gave his inner world a task too much for it to handle, there was a possibility that it could be destroyed. Should that happen, he would have to once more reseal his cultivation in order to build it again.
