The Five Elements were an incomplete concept.
Introduced in the I Ching, the Eight Trigrams (乾坤八卦) gave birth to the Yin-Yang Five Elements (陰陽五行).
Because no single element can be complete on its own, Yin and Yang must be divided,
and the Five Elements must be split to support each other.

Water nurtures wood, so Water nurtures Wood (水生木).
Wood ignites fire, so Wood creates Fire (木生火).
When fire extinguishes, it becomes earth, so Fire creates Earth (火生土).
Earth gives rise to metal, so Earth creates Metal (土生金).
And metal produces water, so …