I started writing a xuanhuan called the spark of many names. here's basically my attempt at world building not done yet. The Spark Of Many Names: Li Yan Cultivation World Power Is Everything Morals, beliefs, hope is all based on the powerful. It is not wrong to kill or harm the weak and no one cares for the weak. Only the strong can exist dog eat dog world. Talent, background, will, cultivation, prestige, and contributions. Xuanhuan cultivation: Spiritual Essence is derived from the spark which lead to the primordial chaos law which then expanded to the many laws the 7 elements and many other laws. 4 tiers of concepts primordial, heavenly, grand, and laws. One above is the spark or the True Law Cultivator are normal humans who have absorbed spiritual essence and used it to become cultivators. Spiritual essence makes the soul accessible which gives power and in later levels the soul can leave the body. The soul is inclined to certain types of spiritual essence and that affects the body. The first breakthrough restructures the body’s meridians and body to suite the spiritual essence. The type of spiritual essence the body gets depends on the soul and the absorbed spiritual essence. The spark that the mc absorbed surpasses even primordial chaos. Top tier talent and perception towards all laws. True Law is a culmination of all laws cannot be used without mastery of all universal laws. The first stage of True Law is deconstructing laws and reading them. Second stage is destroying laws you understand. Third stage is fusing laws you know even contradictory ones. Fourth stage is law domain which stops all other laws assuming you and the opponent are at the same relative comprehension. Otherwise the domain will weaken other laws instead to an extent. 5th stage is True Law domain fusion which increases the power and fuses with attacks. Li Yan uses a saber Necessary: Form mastery, 1st Saber light, 2nd Saber Intent, 3nd Saber force, 4th Saber Law Domain, 5th stage is Saber Law domain fusion Basic: Basic Saber techniques to the pinnacle. He went through a bunch of different saber books before he realized he made a mistake with trying to breakthrough to saber intent. He was stuck at peak saber light because he trained in other people’s saber laws not his own. The saber comes down to the basic attacks and defense. But when it’s added with one’s own laws then it becomes the individual saber intent. Which can lead to control of the saber force and using the saber force to build a law domain. Saber force means sharper and power to fight against force. Those who can use force kill those without much easier. Immortality is a process of giving up mortality. That starts with using essence to recreate your body. It’s a slow process it starts at the skin, muscles, blood, marrow, organs, brain. Also known as Outer Reformation. Then you can enter Inner Reformation/earth seeking stage which is about mentality. Mortal things like food, water, and shelter. Fear of heights or of things that aren’t threats. The difference in life force and experiences. One must cut away mortality to become an immortal. That which is mortal becomes the earth in the dantian. The next stage is about pursuing the laws without laws breaking through to Heaven Seeking. When someone reach Heaven Seeking they can move higher in their current laws or change to grand, heavenly, or primordial laws. That will affect the quality of the the Nascent soul the person creates. Heaven seeking allows a person to cultivate energy in their dantian. The spiritual energy creates a sky or heaven in the dantian. The soul appears between heaven and earth based on the laws used. Heaven, earth, and the soul fuse creating a nascent soul. Primordial nascent soul, heavenly nascent soul, grand nascent soul, and nascent soul are possible nascent souls. But there is the True Nascent soul. In outer reformation daos cannot normally be learned and is basically wuxia. Foundation building for further stages meaning master basic forms for saber. After the brain is reformed the dantian activates and the cultivator’s qi type is determined. Based on the soul’s spiritual type and energy absorbed from the surrounding. In Inner reformation/Earth seeking the mortal fetters create the earth in the dantian. Based on what is cut from mortality. In heaven seeking a law is used to breakthrough. That law will be a basis for the nascent soul. In nascent soul stage the laws, earth, heaven. And the soul fuse and create a nascent soul. In nascent soul stage the body can be left. For the 5th stage on must master a law domain and reach fusion with it. Then fuse it with your nascent soul. The soul becomes fused with the force of choice you can fuse 9 times but can stop anytime and breakthrough with less potential. Outer Reformation: Wuxia Superhuman feats but not immortal feats Inner Reformation/Earth Seeking: Qi powers elements to a small extent, dantian Heaven Seeking: Strong Qi Powers, flight, spiritual sense Nascent Soul: Soul movement Strong Qi Soul Refining: Patriarch level super op also force fusion.
My advice keep it simple, read about actual qi theory and then call the stages or levels whatever you like. Qi can be called essence and my other thing Techniques Pills Levels can be called anything you fancy Take Tail of the Reincarnated Lord, iron is more valuable than bronze. You can explain anything away with your own world 's logic. You can have gold level for beginners and copper level for experts
think about what your end game is going to be is he going to be a god like character at the top lonely or will he have friends, familly,etc Try to plan out arcs and a rough outline of the over all story. write down key people and techs down also good for not forgetting possible loose story threads. ALways reread a chapter after you wrote it down to see if it flows right. When creating a character keep their personality constant. the most important thing for a story especially if you plan on making more then one book or story in the universe is making an index of people , places and the history that you are creating.
I think you should think about the plot first as to make it easier for you to write the story You should think about the MC's background, his motivation, the world around him, etc
The Northern Desolation: Frigid and cold outlaws from other areas escaped and created a society there. It is sparse throughout except for a few big cities. Where most people know each other it’s overall lawless but united against foreign forces. Many services normally not available in other places due to law constraints are possible here. Few resources and a lot of fighting for cultivating. People are stronger and more dangerous because of that especially going up the scale. Fire and water are dominant. Mastery of fire and water can mean ice creation arts. Everwinter Mountains: Just south of the northern desolation many powerful demons take it as a home. It separates the northern desolation from the Southern states. Demonic beasts do not need to go through reformation they start with the power of outer reformation experts. Grade 1 is peak Muscle stage. Grade 2 is peak Marrow Stage. Grade 3 is peak Mind Stage. Grade 4 is early inner reformation. Grade 5 is mid inner reformation. Grade 6 is late inner reformation. Grade 7 is early Heaven seeking. Grade 8 is mid heaven seeking. Grade 9 is later heaven seeking. Grade 10 is early Nascent soul. Grade 11 is mid nascent soul. Grade 12 is late Nascent Soul. Grade 13 is soul refining no specific stages. Southern States: Temperate area plentiful in resources and many cultivators as a response. The king was a powerful cultivator who founded a kingdom and a sect uniting many clans and training them. They have overall law which is why the are against the Northern Desolation. Because many people in the northern desolation have escaped the Southern States. Heavenly treant kingdom. The legend was that the southern states was once a part of the eastern desert. As a long desert but then a massive treant fell from the heavens. When the treant fused with the earth after death the earth become the lush southern states. As a result it thrived in wood spiritual energy and became temperate. They are also skilled in water laws. Eastern Desert: Once a long desert reaching the Everwinter mountains combined with the desert southern states. The southern states became green and the eastern desert remained dry. The desert is filled with dangerous and poisonous monsters. Nomad tribes exist throughout living on the land. There is no combined effort everyone is tribal and uninvolved. They do not like outsiders but for resources they go to combat occasionally. They have unique poisons and are highly skilled in fire and earth. Fire is dominant as the dry earth is a result of fire.