Cultivation & Other Glossaries

Cultivation and Levels of Cultivation

Cultivating is usually performed meditating in a specific way. There are many methods of Cultivation. Those that are suited for some people are not always suitable for others.

A person must have an awakened root in order to cultivate, but a person who does have an awakened root still may not have the ability. If one is not determined, patient and have the time to cultivate, one should not try to step on the path. If one has physical problems such as blocked meridians or a damaged innersea, one will have no ability to cultivate.

A dormant root is not necessarily an obstacle as there are pills that can awaken them. It is not recommended that children over the age of ten attempt to awaken their roots. The older a person is, the more likely they are to fail. Failure will damage the root and shrink the meridians making it nearly impossible to fix. Life expectancy may also be reduced as well as overall physical health.

There is often a bottleneck between stages.

Core Formation Stage

Core formation the time a Cultivator forms his inner core. Peak stage simply means the Cultivator is soon to advance. Some Cultivators do not recognise those that have not formed their core as being Cultivators.

Primary (a cultivator's first level after their roots awakened and they begin cultivating.)

Secondary

Tertiary

Body Tempering Phase

Body tempering is the transformation of the body, making it stronger, sturdier, physical impurities completely removed and ageing lessened considerably. Once this phase is complete, a cultivator can expect a very long life and no need to eat food, diamond like skin in both toughness and clarity. No longer likely to contract illness, plus all five senses greatly improved. Any physical impairment would also be fixed.

Each level has a low, mid and peak sub level. Each sub level is like reaching another initial level.

Quaternary

Quinary

Senary

Mind Tempering Phase

This is tempering of the mind; greater intelligence and reasoning, greater memory, much quicker of thought and greater mental senses; i.e. to danger, to atmospheric changes, to general moods. Any mental impairment, in theory, would also be fixed, but in Ren Zexian's world, this has yet to be proven.

Each level has five sub levels. We'll call them stars as this term is used in at least one of my favourite cultivation novels!

Septenary

Octonary

Nonary

Soul Tempering Phase

Soul Tempering Phase is considered the true path to immortality. In a middle realm, it is as rare as Phoenix teeth to reach this stage, however it is believed that there are those able to complete this path and reach the Heavens.

Each level has seven sub levels, making this the hardest phase to conquer.

Denary

Onodenary (this is made up, because apparently, an equivalent for eleven does not exist)

Duodenary (however, this word does exist!)

Who knows what, if anything, comes next!

Roots and levels of roots

Roots represent peoples abilities, so they are mostly elemental. The more roots a person has, the more difficult to tailor their needs with cultivation methods, plus their ability to advance is much slower, hence those with three roots are considered wastes.

Major Roots

Major roots have the most control over their elements and can 'create' their element from 'thin air'.

There are five major roots being Wood, Fire, Earth, Water and Metal.

Minor Roots

Minor roots are not as powerful as major roots, partially as they only encompass a part of the ability found in Major roots. They also are considered to derive from major roots. For example Water is the major root, Ice is a minor root. Water root owners can create and manipulate water including turning it to steam or ice. Ice root cannot control water, just manipulate it, but they can change existing water to either steam or ice. The name does not mean they can just deal with ice.

Examples of minor roots; Grounding(gravity), lightning, ice, sand, rock, air, plant, spirit, fog, sword, dark, light...

Body roots are often considered waste roots. Few established Cultivators will bother to train someone with either only this type of root or someone with lots of roots. These roots affect only the user. So the water equivalent of 'mist', their owners can perhaps breathe under water and not get wet in rain. Hence considered a bit useless.

Examples of body roots; Blessed, thunder, spark, smoke, diamond, curse, iron, mist, bone, feather, stone, star, lava...

There are naturally exceptions to the rules such as Jin Li's lightning, which is often seen as almost on par with a major root in many people's opinion and Leon's Star root, which actually does more than his own body and abilities.

There are mutated roots, but these are very rare and few and far between and even then it might not necessarily be a good thing to have.

Alchemist Glossary

Healing Pills & Potions

One Heart Pill Helps heal external wounds

Blood Pill Helps heal internal wounds

Vital Essence Pill Helps regenerate blood

Soft Ice Pill reduces fevers and swellings

Bone Regrowth Pill Helps heal broken and fractured bones

False Recovery Pill Temporarily removes all pain

Still Mind Pill Calms inner sea after advancement during Core Formation Phase

Tranquil Mind Pill Calms inner sea after advancement during Body Tempering Phase

Enlightened Mine Pill Calms inner sea after advancement during Mind Tempering Phase

One Pulse Pill General regeneration Pill

Basic Purifying Potion removes low levels of impurities within the body

White Warming Potion promotes recovery during sickness

Fire Water Tonic heals chill effects such as frost bite

Gentle Snowflower Balm heals burns

Cultivation Pills

Root Origin Pill Awakens dormant roots

Clear Spiritual Pill Helps promote cultivation, only effective for Primary stage Cultivators

Cloudy Spiritual Pill Helps promote cultivation, only effective during second and third stages of Core Formation

Misty Spiritual Pill Helps promote cultivation, only effective during Body Tempering Stages

White Spiritual Pill Helps promote cultivation, only effective during Mind Tempering Stages

Light Chi Elixir herbal bath soak to help promote cultivation

Combat Pills & Potions

Burning Energy Pill Increases temporarily level of ability, only effective for primary stage Cultivators

Burning Blood Pill increases temporarily level of ability, only effective for second and third stages of Core Formation

Burning Heart Pill increases temporarily level of ability, only effective during body formation stages

False Root Pill randomly and temporarily gives the cultivator the abilities of another root, considered unreliable

Seven Steps Pill increases temporarily swiftness and agility, also considered an Enhancement Pill

Dark Flame Potion A flammable oil that happens to burst into flames once exposed to air

Root Nullifying Potion Prevents a person splashed with this poison from using their natural root abilities

Beast Pills & Potions

Beast Calming Pill A Pill that Calms the natural temperament of weak beasts, making them easier to tame

Beast Soothing Pill A Pill That Calms the natural temperament of low to average strength beasts, making them easier to tame

Hidden Mist Pill Reduces the scent of low level Cultivators

Dream Blossom Potion a sleeping potion that only works on beasts

Enhancement and Transformation Pills & Potions

Bone Strengthening Pill reduces risk of broken bones in combat

First Fortitude Pill weak defence pill

Vision at Midnight Pill Helps consumer see in the dark

Fasting Pill stops a consumer from feeling hungry and needing food

False Awakening Pill makes a weary body feel energetic temporarily

Seven Steps Pill as mentioned

Feather Fall Pill lightens a body and allows one to fall much slower

Feather Float Pill lightens a body and allows one to float midair

Feather Flight Pill lightens a body and allows one to fly

Elixir of the Sage Memory enhancement potion

Elixir of the Koi Allows one to breath under water

Cosmetic Pills & Potions

White Lotus Pill gives one the appearance of innocence

Mirage Pill prevents others from recalling how you appear

Still Waters Lotion whitens and smoothes skin

Peach Blossom Balm cleanses skin and removes blemishes

False Spring Elixir allows a person to retain a youthful appearance for longer

Leon's Improved/Variant Pills (there may be others I've forgotten or ones I haven't written about yet that he created when he was Leo)

Improved One Heart Pill

Improved Blood Pill

Improved Beast Calming Pill

Smouldering Energy Pill variant burning energy Pill, increases ability less for a longer time with less side effect.

Bursting Energy Pill variant burning energy Pill, increases ability much more for a short period of time, but with an increased side effect.

Smouldering Blood Pill

Bursting Blood Pill

Beast Glossary (written direct from notes, so I may need to alter this if I changed the description in the actual book)

Griffin

tiger body, brown fur with yellow or orange stripes. Eagle like head but beak is cut jagged. Four legs, three furred toes on each foot. Eccentric plumage on tail. Very large, the younglings are the size of elephants

Baku

elephant like head with tusks, but also buffalo horns and ears. Thick fur about the neck, thinning out on its more feline body. Powerful feline fore and aft legs, paws and a thick furred tail. About the size of a horse. Travels smoothly over forest and mountainous terrain. Intelligent, only allows riders it trusts upon its back.

Basilisk

long serpentine body with lizard head and numerous sharp teeth, has small legs, six in number and a long tail. An adult will have fans about its neck. The stronger the beast, the more effective its paralysis skill. Will only paralyse to escape or eat. A greater basilisk is large enough to eat (and does eat) humans. An elder basilisk in large enough to consume a griffin cub.

Fox Bear / Snow Fox Bear

a type of bear, but with the markings and colours of a Fox. It's nose is more vulpine than ursus as well. A snow fox bear has the colourings of an artic fox.

Cooshee

long rabbit ears, four eyes, two large and two tiny which are closure to the centre of its canine nose. It has a fluffy wolf like form and as an adult can shift from its adult form back into its cute, puppy form. Has a large wispy tail that fluffs out with long fur.

Faerie Dragon

about the size of a mouse, it's opalescent scales body is long and slender and its nose is also long. It has butterfly like wings and four legs. It's long tongue sucks out honey from beehives, but it also eats meat from fresh corpses and fruits.

Cockatrice

feathered serpent with a bird shaped head, fangs like a snake. Very poisonous. Adults have wings that they can use to fly.

Dream Hare

long colourful ears, large powder puff tail, small rodent body, twitching rabbit nose and large black eyes. Has the ability to cause weak predators to fall asleep. Very popular with female beast tamers.

Dire Beasts

stronger versions of wild animals, such as rats, wolves, tigers and much less tameable.

Sky Koi

fish like spirit creature that swims through mist and fog

Chimera

twin headed lion with goat horns and scales. One half is mostly white with black scales and the other is mostly black with white scales. Only born when Yin and Yang lions come together.

Mesmyr

horse like creature, males have a crown of horns. They have six eyes and are all black. They have thin, whip like tail and a carapace along their backs. Can be ridden, but usually only by one person in their lifetimes that they have shown loyalty to.

Lightning Fox

white or yellow vulpine with a white or blue mane and a squirrel like tail. They are just a little smaller than a regular fox and have lightning abilities, which vary with strength and age.

Garuda

ape like body with feathered wings attached to their arms and a beak upon its face. It's feet have talons rather than toes. It is about the size of a small gorilla

Worgen

a cross between a feline and a canine, it has the facial features of a wolf, but cat like eyes that slit and sharp fangs. It's forebody is broad and often striped like a tabby, but it's tail is prehensile. It has cat like grace, can climb sturdy trees, but in lives in packs and has an affinity to the moon.

Coeurl

feline in shape, but covered in scales (unless it is a cub, which still has fluffy fur). It's whiskers are like long, thin cat tails though it's actual tail is more like that of a lizard. Can be ridden and is a favourite war steed. Has stubby car ears or has large, almost bat like ears. Feline eyes and facial features.

Green Spirit Deer

like sky koi, are spiritual creatures. Jade green in colour with antlers that resemble blossoming tree branches.

Alicorn

not a horse, actually a type of small deer with no antlers, but a single long horn just above it's nose. White in colouring, usually found in cold climates.

Nibblet

hairless gerbil like rodent with sharp teeth, small wings. Loves fruit and is protective of its territory. Lives in large family groups.

Antlion

giant predatory insect, lives in sand dune traps

Zebra Elk

black and white patterned elk like creature with either black ebony or ivory white antlers. Also has a long thick furred tail and it's mane stretches from the top of its head to the base of its spine.

Pixiu

miniature feline creature with a webbed mane, spines and other varying features. Although they are omnivores, they are not savage animals, will happily consume beetles, berries and small fish.

Longnecked Deer

shaped like a deer, but with a long twisting neck and small antlers. Also is long furred.

Feng Huang

there is only one Feng Huang (Phoenix) however there are lesser breeds;

Lava Cranes

shaped like a crane, but their shaggy red fur and feathers seems to cover their bodies like dripping molten lava. Lives in volcanic areas and feeds off molten beetles, which live in pools of lava

Red Sparrows

small versions of Feng Huang about the size of a normal sparrow, but with the stunning red plumage of its ancestor. Has no abilities.

Flame Wisps

looks like a hummingbird, but has flame coloured wings. Can actually spit burning fire embers when frightened.

Qilin

more equine than feline in shape, it has a dragon like face and scales that run down its back. It's main is multicoloured and it's tail short and curled towards its spine. It is highly intelligent and cannot be tamed or ridden. Solitary creature, does not run in herds.

Bifang

Tanuki

Equine

much like a horse, but more intelligent and proud.