What is a cultivation novel?

Hello new readers, this is for all who don't know what a Chinese cultivation novel is. If you know, you don't need to read this.

In this kind of novel, the people can absorb the world's energy, normally named Qi or mana. This Qi is also divided into many sub energies, which we will discuss later.

The base of all the cultivation novels is simply to cultivate (Absorb) the world's energy inside an organ named "Dantian" and gain strength by circulating that energy through vein-like things called meridians! They circulate this energy by meditating or doing other actions. They can also gain strength by ingesting alchemy pills, natural treasures, or in special cases, while fighting.

The more energy they absorb, the stronger they become. Normally there are bottlenecks when absorbing this energy which means that the Dantian (The organ) is full, so they need more space.

The cultivator must amass a lot of energy and break an invisible barrier that stops them from advancing to pass these bottlenecks. If done successfully, the cultivator's energy will compress, making way for more energy, and they will advance to the next realm, and most importantly, they gain lifespan!

Cultivators living thousands of years in these novels is easily a norm! (I have read a cultivation novel with a 5000-year time skip in the middle of the novel! I was like, What the hell!?)

The realms are different depending on the author. My novel has a grand total of 9 REALMS with 10 LEVELS in each realm.

I've called the tenth LEVEL or the state before passing from one big REALM to the next big REALM "Half-step."

For example, a cultivator can be at the second realm, and fifth-level. They manage to accumulate enough energy and fill their dantian. The next step is compressing that energy. If they manage to do it, they break the bottleneck and pass to the sixth level!

What happens then? This will bring different benefits depending on the author. So you will have to keep track of the author's explanations in the cultivation realms!

Another thing is that [The Heavens] or [The world-will] is sentient. Its objective is to try to stop cultivators from advancing in their cultivation paths. They can send tribulation clouds and rain heavenly lightning killing the cultivators. They can control the fate of everything under the Heavens!

What is the catch, then? How can our protagonist, or any cultivators, survive this omniscient and omnipresent heaven!? They don't need to because the heavens also have one rule. That is to be fair to everything under the heavens!

That is why they won't punish someone if they do any kind of crime unless it goes against the natural laws, but at the same time, they won't reward anyone who does heroic deeds. They are there to be another obstacle for the main characters to overcome and become Mighty!

Like I said before, there are a lot of sub-energies, and normally each author uses different ones, but there are some that repeat themselves. For example, the Yin or Yang energies! Normally the energies follow the Buddhist religion, so Yin and Yang are normally two opposite things.

Something with Yang in nature is Fire, Sun, Heat, Light, the day, movement, awake, masculine things... So if you read something like [Yang Poison], it should be a poison that burns the body

Something with Yin in nature are: Ice, moon, coldness, darkness, the night, stillness, sleep, feminine things... a [Yin poison] can be a poison that freezes the body, makes them asleep... Well you get the gist, right?

Do you follow so far? Then we will dive into things like body constitutions! These are normally innate to people and rarely changed. For example, my protagonist, Yasenia, has a [Celestial Yin and Yang body]. What did I want to say with this?

It means that my protagonist is a contradiction. Having these two kinds of energy inside the body shouldn't be possible; it is like putting ice and magma in a jar. They can coexist without something happening, right?

That is why she is the main character, to take the readers into thinking why is she both Yin and Yang? And not some random person with a [ice wolf body] and people will say like oh... is it good?

With the celestial, I was saying giving it a grade. Something celestial must be good stuff, right? These constitutions normally provide powers to the cultivator. The mentioned [ice wolf body] will probably give some ice powers and characteristics of a wolf. For example, strength, speed, being good with teamwork, etc.

Then there are ALWAYS some side professions.

Alchemy. It is one of the most popular ones. They take some plants, throw them in an alchemy pot, use their alchemy fire or things like that, and puff! They create pills, ointments, and more. Of course, this is the most simple description. There are very interesting cultivation novels that describe alchemy in great detail! And I mean two chapters to explain how a single pill is created!

Pills and ointments can have any effect. From aiding in cultivation, to letting the cultivator break through the bottlenecks. They could also heal or regenerate even missing limbs! How about an exploding pill? Also possible.

Then we have blacksmithing/Artifact refiner. They use either hammers or forging furnaces. Instead of plants, they use metals, woods, and jewels to make different treasures. From simple swords to a bow that can blow up a mountain with one arrow! Or a sword that can cut a continent in half with one swing. How about a flying boat that goes faster than the speed of sound? Easy.

(As you have guessed, these cultivation novels are very exaggerated. People destroying the space fabric with their attacks in their fights are normal in the advanced parts! Or traveling from one planet to another with one step? It also happens. Very, very, exaggerated. But in my opinion, that is the fun of it~)

The last thing I'm going to explain is formations or arrays! (Can be called both) what is a formation or array? A formation is a group of geometrical lines and objects put in a specific order to create various effects in a wide area of effect. For example, a sound canceling formation will, like the name says, cancel sound in the area or make sound unable to be heard outside the formation.

A killing formation or killing array will attack with spiritual, physical, illusion, or anything that the author can imagine to the people that step into it. Of course, there can also be training formations and more. The limit is the imagination of the author!

With this... You should be able to enjoy cultivation novels more. I hope that you support my novel called [Heaven, Earth, Me] I recommend not reading the rest of the auxiliary chapters yet and go directly to the first chapter! There are some spoilers~