*WARNING* Spoilers for Volume 1 of Cultivating Civilization ahead, read at your own peril!
If you think that I missed something, or that I should correct something, please let me know. I will answer any questions that you have in the comments.
Characters (in order of appearance):
Jack Nash/Song Tanda – Jack was a grandfather, an army veteran, and a cyber-security expert. He spent the later years of his life taking care of his grandson, doing research on anything that interested him via the internet, and fishing.
After a heart attack, he got abducted from the River of Souls by a cultivator and sealed into a spirit puppet. He managed to escape the spirit puppet and found a baby's body to inhabit.
For the next eight years, he spent learning the local language and customs of his new world. After cultivators destroyed his village and killed his family, he got abducted to a Sect to act as a servant to one of the Elders because he could see spirit energy even without doing any cultivation.
In the Sect, he discovered how to cultivate and invented his own cultivation method and ways of looking at the whole process of cultivation. Over the next year and a half, he managed to get to the position of a personal disciple to the Elder that he served, and to the leadership position of his own unit of men.
When enemies attacked the Sect, he took the chance and led his people in an attempt for freedom.
Bai Xiatuo – the cultivator that abducted Jack and an Elder of a powerful Sect. He had a deadly grudge against his brother over a Senior Sister and decided to go hunt him down. His brother killed him after he launched a sneak attack.
Bai Shetai – the brother of Bai Xiatuo, a rouge cultivator. He killed his brother when he realized that he had no other option. Later in the story, people from their previous Sect come to hunt him down in the Sect where Jack lives. He went there to try to heal the injury that his brother's last vicious attack did.
Lieutenant – Jack's commanding officer from his time in the army. He's willing to do anything to get the job done as fast as possible. He appears in Jack's flashbacks.
Song Fengtian – Jack's father in the new world. He's a strict, but fair, person that likes to follow the rules and loves his family. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed him when they came to their village.
Su Meimu – Jack's mother in the new world. She loves her children and takes care of them, but also respects the traditions of her elders. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed her when they came to their village.
Kong Ganrong – Jack's grandmother and Su Meimu's mother in the new world. She's an old shrew that thinks that she doesn't get enough respect from her family. Due to her belief in many folktales, she can be unpredictable. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed her when they came to their village.
Song Aolie – Jack's oldest brother in the new world. He's a dutiful son that respects his parents and acts as a role model for his siblings. He moved out, got married, and had a son while Jack was still little. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed him when they came to their village.
Song Fenlan – Jack's oldest sister in the new world. She's a pretty and proper young lady that got married to an abuser in a different village. Once she got pregnant, she ran back home in fear that her husband would kill the baby. In the end, she protected her abuser when Jack wanted to kill him. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed her when they came to their village.
Song Yasin – Jack's second oldest brother in the new world. He's a playful teen that likes to laze around and do as little as possible. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed him when they came to their village.
Song Yuening – Jack's second oldest sister in the new world. She's a rebellious teen that doesn't want to follow in her older sister's footsteps but loves her family fiercely. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed her when they came to their village.
Kong Nuanken – the Village Chief of Jack's village. He's the cousin of Jack's grandmother and the most knowledgeable person in the village. After Jack bugged him, he taught Jack how to read some of the basic words. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed him when they came to their village.
Shi Nugao - Song Aolie's wife. She moved from a neighboring village to come and live in Jack's. She and Jack's oldest brother and had a son. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed her when they came to their village.
Song Farong - Song Aolie's and Shi Nugao's son, and Jack's nephew. He's only a couple of years younger than Jack so they became good friends. Jack taught him some survival and exercise methods. He followed Jack out of the village when the cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School massacred their village. His location is unknown.
Shen Xianshu – the Village Chief's grandson, and Jack's friend. He's a couple of years older than Jack, but he learned to follow Jack's lead. Jack taught him some survival and exercise methods. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed him when they came to their village.
Hao Tiankai – Song Fenlan's abusive husband. Jack crippled him in an attempt to kill him after Jack found out what he did to Song Fenlan. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed him when they came to their village.
Feng Furui – leader of the cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School that exterminated the people from Jack's village. He got killed in a fight over a treasure with Mai Younu later in the day.
Mai Younu – the Young Master of the Undying Flame Mountain branch of the Endless Cycle Sect. He took Jack to the Sect to be a servant to Elder Yu. Later on, he helped to lead off the more powerful enemy disciples away so that Jack could attempt to fight through the blockade of the Sect.
Xie Mannu – the personal servant of Mai Younu. He tormented Jack when he first met him. Later on, he assists in leading the enemy disciples away so that Jack could attempt to fight through the blockade of the Sect.
Yu Ouli – an Elder of the Eternal Rest Mountain branch of the Endless Cycle Sect. He runs the Gravediggers and became Jack's master, and then later his teacher. He experiments on spirits and can turn violent as soon as something that displeases him occurs. Right before the enemies attacked the Sect he escaped.
Du Angliang – a personal disciple of Elder Yu and a Senior Brother to all Gravediggers. He respects the law of the fist so he tormented Jack because of his ability to see spirit energy without any effort. Later on, he started to admire Jack's work ethic. He went to train to the back mountain of the Eternal Rest Mountain before the enemies attacked.
Kuang Bindun – one of the Gravediggers. He helped Jack when Jack arrived in the unit and became good friends. Jack trusted him enough to start teaching him English and his cultivation technique first. He became the English teacher for the entire unit and one of two of Jack's right-hand men.
Shi Furui – one of the Gravediggers. Jack saved his life when Jack accidentally imbued a rock and made it explode. He is quite smart and is Jack's most well-rounded friend. He takes over command when Jack isn't is around and is one of two of Jack's right-hand men.
Bi Tuohui – one of the Gravediggers. He had the strongest cultivation base in the Gravediggers when Jack hired him as a bodyguard. He died during their attempt at flight from the Endless Cycle Sect.
Old Long – a humble merchant and owner of the Golden Dragon Store. His greed knows no bounds and he even tried to rob Jack when they first met. Jack uses his connections to buy food and supplies for the Gravediggers. Later on, he joins Jack in an attempt of running away from the Sect.
Old Long's Assistants – old Long has three assistants who Jack beats up when they try to rob him. He damages one's knee, gives one mild brain damage, and breaks the teeth of their leader. Later on, they follow after old Long in an attempt of running away from the Sect.
Yin Ping – one of the Gravediggers. Kuang Bindun selects him as the right person for the job of producing slingshots for Jack's group. He's a very curious and intelligent person who likes to experiment with things.
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Bai Maolong – one of the Gravediggers. Kuang Bindun selects him to join in with Jack's training when they first start it. His family used to run a martial arts temple, but it got destroyed. He used to be lazy, but Jack beat it out of him and reignited his love for martial arts. Now he leads the martial arts practice of Jack's group.
Shen Saishuo – one of the Gravediggers. He used to make trouble for Jack, but after he received an offer that he couldn't refuse, he agreed to become Jack's second bodyguard. He died during their attempt at flight from the Endless Cycle Sect.
Tan Boli – a blacksmith that Jack hires to make Deep Water Iron cylinders and metal balls. He and his sons are quite good at working with metals. Later on, he takes his wife and two sons and joins Jack in an attempt of running away from the Sect.
Li Manning – an outer disciple of the Vast Sky Mountain and the librarian of the Endless Cycle Sect's General Library. He helps Jack with his search for information about sigils. Later on, Jack kills him to get the contents of the library before he runs away from the Sect.
Bi Xiongtuo – an outer disciple of the Unbreakable Rock Mountain and the master of the Endless Cycle Sect's Martial Hall. He helps Jack in looking for martial arts that would suit him and offers Jack the opportunity to join the Unbreakable Rock Mountain if he wanted.
Mai Yining – the direct disciple of her mother, Mei Fenhua, and the Young Mistress of the Blooming Life Mountain. Jack takes her favorite reading spot, so they have a wager on a song from Earth. After she loses she begs Jack to teach her the song in exchange for helping him with his research. Jack tricks her into giving him the map to the local area that her mother had. When the Sect gets attacked, she betrays it together with her mother but doesn't pursue Jack in his escape attempt.
Fan Aolan – an Elder from the same Sect as Bai Xiatuo. He comes to take revenge for the murder of Bai Xiatuo and attacks the Endless Cycle Sect where his murderer, Bai Shetai, is hiding. The Sect Leader of the Endless Cycle Sect engages him in combat and they both disappear into the horizon.
Ma Ruiman – one of the Gravediggers. He's a friendly guy that likes to talk a lot. Out of all the people that weren't in Jack's inner circle, only he managed to break through to the fourth grade of Spirit Accumulation.
Kong Weilie – the leader of the outer disciples of the Undying Flame Mountain. He and Jack worked together to break through the blockade of their Sect.
Places (in order of appearance):
Raging Ox village – the village in which Jack reincarnated. It got burned down on the day that cultivators had a fight over a treasure in it.
Koray – the larger of the two moons. It always goes from the North to the South.
Endless Cycle Sect – the Sect to which Jack got abducted. It consists of five mountains that form a circle around a beautiful lake. Each mountain has its own Peak Master and specialties. It got invaded and gave Jack an opportunity to flee.
Eternal Rest Mountain – the mountain to which Jack got assigned. Its disciples and Elders specialize in spiritual attacks and anything that has a connection to death. Its Peak Master tried to help Bai Shetai with his festering wound and fought the invaders and traitors together with Bai Shetai.
Tranquil Lake Town – a town on the shore of the Tranquil Lake in the middle of the Endless Cycle Sect. It houses most of the Sect's servants and civilians. It also offers various leisure establishments for the Sect's disciples to enjoy. Each branch of the Sect has an office in it through which they do business with each other.
Golden Dragon Store – the store that belongs to old Long. It looks ready to crumble, but somehow still stays standing and allows for a lot of shady deals.
Undying Flame Mountain – the mountain that specializes in explosive attacks and anything connected to fire. Its Peak Master got ambushed and hurt during the attack on the Endless Cycle Sect.
Library – the general library that the Endless Cycle Sect's disciples can use to learn about cultivation. It has a bottom floor on which general knowledge is stored, and a top floor on which more advanced knowledge is kept.
Vast Sky Mountain – the mountain that specializes in invisible and air-based attacks and anything connected to air. Its Peak Master betrayed the Sect during the attack on it.
Martial Hall – the place in the Endless Cycle Sect where disciples can come to learn basic and intermediate body based cultivation techniques.
Unbreakable Rock Mountain – the mountain that specialized in body-based cultivation techniques and attacks. Its Peak Master helped the Undying Flame Peak Master when he got ambushed.
Blooming Life Mountain – the mountain that specializes in sound and nature attacks and anything connected to nature. Its Peak Master betrayed the Sect and ambushed the Undying Flame Peak Master.
Slaughtering Sword School – the cultivation School that attacked the Endless Cycle Sect. Its disciples focus on blades and weapon based attacks.
Anything Related to Cultivation:
Jack's cultivation technique – a technique developed by Jack when he realized that he could use the meridians in his skin to absorb the spirit energy from the air without having to focus on the traditional way of sitting down to cultivate. He used a lot of the knowledge he brought from Earth to figure out how spirit energy worked.
Air Blast Spell – the spell that Jack picked from the Spell Pagoda. It concentrates air and shoots it out in a way and direction that the user wants. Jack uses it to fire off metal balls through a cylinder to emulate an air gun.
Sigils – the things cultivators use to help them form their spells. Various combinations of sigils can produce various effects. Even the same combination of sigils can produce different results depending on the cultivators intent and their understanding of the sigil.
Beast Recovery Method – a body recovery method that Jack learned in the Martial Hall. The user has to inject his spirit energy into his bloodstream to increase the recovery speed of his body by a large amount.
Oxen Rush Punch – a basic punch that uses spirit energy to improve the user's punching strength. It wastes a lot of spirit energy but can produce a strong result. Jack bought it from old Long for a high price and later found out that he could have easily learned it for free in the Martial Hall.
Moon Step – a simple, but also complicated, movement method that Jack learned in the Martial Hall. Depending on the amount of spirit energy, and the user's constitution, it can reach extreme speeds.
Chaotic Hawk Assault – a more advanced body cultivation and attacking leg technique that Jack learned in the Martial Hall. Jack didn't study it to its full before he used it in desperation and broke both his legs.
Spirit Accumulation Realm – the beginner realm of cultivation. It has twelve grades and four minor thresholds. Cultivators in the same minor threshold can put up a fight against someone of a higher grade, but fighting against someone in a higher threshold is extremely hard.
Miscellaneous:
Kui Ox – main labor animals in Jack's new world.
Xiezhi goat – the main source of fabric for poor people.
Poison Arrow Bullfrog – its legs form a substance that has similar properties to rubber, but stronger, when heated. Jack used them to make bands for slingshots.
Spirit Capturing knife – a knife that Elder Yu made for capturing spirits with any kind of sentience.
Energy Dispersal device – a device that takes a person's spirit energy and slowly disperses it in the air. It's used to lure wandering spirits and to make them transform into catchable ones.
Light Orb – a special orb that holds spirit energy and turns it into light.
Spirit Stones – a currency for cultivators. They can also be used as an aid in cultivation, making formations, or anything that needs spirit energy to run.
Deep Water Iron – a metal that Jack had his cylinders made out of. It's quite sturdy for its price.
Star Bag – a bag that can store a lot more things inside of it than it first appears. Legends say that such a bag existed that could even store a Star, hence the name.