Hi! This is Xiu Mei! I'm so very happy that I have gathered a small crowd of people that enjoy my amateurish writing, many many thanks to everyone that keeps leaving comments and corrects the mistakes I make.
This "Chapter" will not follow Yun Kou or for that matter any character, it is a small summary of characters and important story tidbits.
I will strive to keep this updated and as spoiler-free, as I can so that at any point of the story you think "What was that about again?" or "Who was that character?" you can find it here without rereading everything!
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I'll start off with the Characters, note this is what you the reader knows - and not necessarily what Yun Kou herself is aware of.
Yun Kou!
She is our little main character and the protagonist of most chapters! Grew up on the streets of Dongzhou the city in the north - and is named after it's white gate. She is frank and does not easily trust others. Her simple nature makes it easy to get along with her once she does not see you as a threat.
Unamed Noble Boy!
The boy whoms backpack she stole back in Dongzhou, their "Meeting" kickstarted Kou's introduction into the world of cultivation. He is easily distractable and has antagonistic feelings for Kou, albeit the girl had not even noticed any of it - being gleefully unaware of his existence.
Hu Wuhan!
A man that appears to be gentle and kind to the outside, he a protector of the 3rd peak, he is at peak early 3rd realm, breaking through with dangerous means resulted in him being stuck there for the rest of his life. Truly he is a lazy and calculating snake that would not stop to kill if it meant furthering his own interests.
He picked Kou up in the woods and brought her to the sect, not quite with her consent.
The Hei family.
An important family inside the sect, they are one of 4 families that have control over one of the peaks of Ancient Cloud Sect, the Hei mountain houses the outer sect, the current head of the family is a prime elder - while his son is the peak master.
Hei Tianyou!
An elderly man of questionable virtues! He enjoys teasing his juniors and while he is indeed mildly mannered he does not have much regard for people that have no worth in his eyes. As he looks over the outer sect, Kou was delivered to him and he arranged for her to spend the first 3 months there.
Hei Tian!
Scion of the Hei family - a young boy about Kou's age, he like most Hei clan's men is a righteous and straightforward person that is quite sensitive to injustice. He is Kou's first friend, albeit Kou still is unsure about how to interact with the boy properly, they had not much contact since the outer sect opened.
Hei Mei!
A young woman about 20 years old (I may have called her 16 at some point.) She is Kou's teacher and the first person that Kou would actually trust. She spends 3 months bring Kou at least up to a commoners standard concerning cultivation and such.
While she appears to be strict and cold, she is actually a bit of an Airhead and worries a lot about people she likes.
Sect friends.
Xiu Shihong!
Kou's roommate, scion of the Xiu house - a large Ducal house that has dominion over the largest part of the empire - while most of their lands are desert, they are rich in mines and spirits, making it a hard but profitable place to live in, she herself almost has the same status as an empirical princess but prefers to keep a low profile.
For the outside world, she is a perfect mildly mannered doll, but on the inside and for her rare friends she is haughty headstrong and likes to tease, while also being really concerned about her friends.
Li Zhi.
Apparently, Li Zhi is of noble birth - the girl still is rather confusing for Kou, she is not belittling or slightly sadistic like Xiu Shihong but a bookworm, someone that writes everything down!
She also is a lot more girly then Xiu Shihong or Kou, concerned about looks and such things, she helps Kou with learning from time to time, and Kou has promised her to help her in the future.
ShiShi
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Kou's Grandmother, she was once a proud and noble spirit beast - but something has bound her to this sect and keeps her here - she has aged since then - and now in her late years she found one of her offspring - determined to help her escape this mediocre sect and empire she took it upon herself to further Aykou's cultivation.
Other Characters.
Meng Fu.
A tall handsome boy with bright eyes and a charming smile, he acts as the face for his small group of friends and tends to get along with everyone, he is hard working.
Fang Yu
Skinny with long black bangs does not talk much and appears to be a bit gloomy.
Wang Xioachun
Handsome with long brown hair bound to a pony-tail - while still prepubescent he is quite good at making the hearts of young maidens flutter, he comes across like a charming playboy.
Jie Ciao
A small boy with a monkish appearance, he is the brain of the group and harbors deep ambitions.
Elder Gui.
He appears to be a man in his thirties - that has forgotten how to wear a top, as he is usually seen barechested flaunting his sizeable and admirable muscles about, he appears to be a happy go lucky character with the motto. "Laugh train eat sleep."
His training is like some demon has possed him.
Elder Yee
An old but dignified woman of wide knowledge, she is strict but gentle, think of professor McGonagle
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Cultivation.
There are 6 stages of Cultivation that we know of at the moment.
Awakened.
Someone that is awakened has in some way or form absorbed Qi.
There is the spiritual awakening which involves taking in Qi and letting it flow into the dantian, after a certain amount of energy depending on talent and natural disposition has been taken in - one count as awakened - their dantian functions as a source of Qi.
The body awakening involves Qi sinking into flesh and bones - Qi refines and strengthens muscles, tendons, and bones slowly over time, at a certain threshold the body is strong enough to allow for the opening of meridians which is a fully awakened body.
It is just brushed over in the story, but there are actually many people stuck in one of the Awakened states, while not strictly mortals anymore they also don't quite count as cultivators. These people usually become servants insects or soldiers for lesser nobles.
The difference between an Awakened human - whatever he may be and a normal human is there - but it's not impossible to overcome.
Yellow.
Once someone has awakened in both aspects of cultivation they are firmly placed in the first realm - as all realm's they consist of early, middle and late - One has to cultivate in both spirit and body to advance properly.
While one could cultivate their spirit all the way to late yellow - without being actually in late yellow for their body as well they would not be able to advance to the next stage.
Red
Same as Yellow allows the use of more complicated arts. In the current story, Red is the stage most talented geniuses are in, it is quite common for people to never reach the third realm in their lifetime. While children might step into red as early as 8 or 9 years old - actually reaching the late stages takes almost everybody close to 10 years if not longer.
Violet
Same as Yellow allows more complicated arts. Violet is the ceiling for those without great talent, you may get to this stage with hard work alone, and even then just with luck and some help, but to progress further one must have the talent and access to proper resources.
Gold
Same as Yellow allows more complicated arts. Gold cultivators are the true powerhouses in the empire, they usually act as sect elders, high officials or military generals - to reach this level of power a considerable amount of good fortune is required, as well as hard work and talent.
Core.
The Core stage has 4 different kind of variation - Yellow, Red, Violet, Gold - growing more powerful the further up the 4 stages it is. While a Yellow core may defeat a Red core with enough luck, he is utterly hopeless in front of a violet core.
Core Cultivators are old Monsters people like sect leaders or prime elders.
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Bloodlines.
There are a few distinct races in this world.
There are the humans, you can divide those between mortals and cultivators - 1 in a thousand had the change to reach highs in cultivation so the number of mortals was enormously higher than the number of cultivators.
There are beasts. Simple animals that could cultivate to become demon beasts slowly growing stronger over time just like a cultivator, these demon beasts were dangerous and wildly arrogant and self-centered. And if one reached a certain realm they would be able to take a human form.
And Spirits, Spirits are forces of nature they come in two kinds.
There are those spirits that are ethereal, that the eye can not see. These spirits govern the law of the world, they are unbelievably powerful, but they are mindless, just like a force of nature.
And then there are spirits that had given up a large part of their powers in exchange for freedom, while those spirits could still grow in strength they could never go back to what they once were. Most call them Spirit Beasts.
Over the centuries, the line between spirit and demon beasts became a little blurry, so much so that they even established their own kingdom.
The line between humans and them never became as blurry - but over the millennia there was always a human that would come together with a spirit or demon beast, leaving their offspring with special bloodlines.
These bloodlines quickly became diluted in human society, but every now and again there would be offspring that could access it. Granting them special powers.
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Techniques
WIP
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Other interessting tidbits that might be important later on
The as of yet unnamed empire.
Apparently, it has a few more big sects, and the current emperor ordered the nobles to send their children to the sects so they may improve on each other. Properbly in the hope to groom the next generation to be more powerful.
The empire while for a mortal and even for someone like Yun Kou appears wast and endless - is actually just a tiny speck on the map - their feud with the northern barbarians is nothing compared to the big scale of the world.
Monster Burrow.
The lands were spirit and demon beasts have created their own empire.