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Qi: This can be said to be the energy that gives life to all things. Without qi intelligent life is impossible as it can be said to be the energy that empowers the soul and then refurbishes the body. Each person is usually made from a mixture of different qi's but some people will specialize in specific forms with unique constitutions such as 'poison body' or 'yin body'. Yin Qi is the feminine while Yang Qi is the masculine while also representing both water (ice) and fire and usually every man and woman will have their respective element in majority though there are some examples of this not being true or a unique cases of each. Even then however there will be some differences a male and females qi - these differences easily lead to impurities if attempted to mix but different types of qi will cause different amounts of impurity.
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Qi of Heaven & Earth: This is Qi that has no alignment and thus is great for cultivation. It's present basically everywhere but the concentration is directly stronger in certain areas - often these area's are either natural concentration points of strong 'nature' but may also be artificially gathered through arrays.
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Beast Cultivation: There are ranks between beasts with the mortal beasts being as one would expect - a beast with no cultivation to speak of an is generally what one would call a 'tier-0 cultivator of immortality' if they were human so also get called tier-0 beasts.
A beast that manages to step foot into cultivation though becomes a 'Magic Beast' who suddenly is worth a whole lot more as their bodies become ingredients for equipment, pills and arrays to broadly name a few. Some may even have special bloodlines that if one can turn into their own may grant special abilities. It is even possible for a Magic Beast to 'challenge the heavens' to achieve a human form which will help them to cultivate as well as gain resources from humans.
Even clans of Magic Beasts exist as the higher cultivation the smarter they become and even allows them to increase the power of their bloodline the longer they keep it going - improving the power of their clan as time goes on thanks to resources they are able to get - similar in a way to humans but perhaps beast have it a bit easier as they can more easily take in the Qi of Heaven & Earth while only suffering more when it comes to understanding Dao's.
Spirit Beast's however are different, these are legendary beast clans known throughout the lands such as Dragons, Phoenix, Nine-Tailed Foxes, Radiant Lion etc.. Unlike Magic Beast they needn't face heavenly judgement to achieve their human forms but rather just require growth and training - coming naturally as a skill which allows them to not only transform between the two but when skilled enough merge them or 'semi transform'.
Their bloodlines are also the most heavily sought after but considering their position as unquestionable royalty of beasts (partly due to their ability to completely suppress lower beasts) it is very unwise to directly go against them. And, if there is something they hate, it's humans desecrating their kin. One reason why Mother, Munzumira & Ouroboros are so heavily frowned upon. Though, in recent years, hatred towards Munzumira has turned into a bizarre version of respect due to her control over the [Spirit Vessel]s.
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Dharma Treasure/Artefact: An insanely powerful treasure born with ones soul that have unique abilities. Often these figures become major figures in their generation and beyond - becoming legends for future generations - so some believe they come with other added affects that cannot be quantified as easily. As for what they could be, there appears to be no limit but their rank should be a fair rank. These are called [Personal Dharma Treasure]
There are also 'natural dharma treasures' which are treasures which spawn in the world. These are particularly rare herbs, pools of spirit qi or just a [Spirit Vessel] of particular worth spawning. The main difference between these and a regular item is the suddenness at which they appear and being at least Earth rank. These are called [Natural Dharma Treasure]
However, sometimes a race has such a powerful bloodline they naturally develop a bloodline dharma treasure which they often are very protective and proud over. It also often makes them far stronger in general - other parts of often achieving the ranking as a dharma treasure. Examples are the [Phoenix Flames of Nirvana], [Dragons Breath], [Devil Demonic Horns] (many race have similar demonic creatures have similar horns) and [Soaring Swords of the Jian Family]. The last actually being an example of a family who have managed to preserve their unique flying swords - each family member being born with a sword of their own which will improve throughout their life. Kaiser's Catalogue of Treasures.
As previously mentioned, to be considered a [Dharma Treasure] it needs to appear with at least Earth Rank as soon as it appears - as such created items don't count as [Dharma Treasures]. A sort of loophole is that, although a treasure is ranked based on it's strength many can grow stronger with age or other items at which case their rank as a [Dharma Treasure] will increase despite not 'spawning' at such a rank.
There will be of course the question of what happens to a treasure when the user/owner dies and the answer to that is simple - almost nothing!
The treasure will likely not ever show the same degree of power it did from the first user. For example; nobody else will be able to as easily browse through [Warlords Catalogue of Hatred] as easily as Kaiser, nobody could handle a [Phoenix Flame of Nirvana] like the phoenix and a [Harmonious Flame] will have lower potential.
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Flame Ranks: Unlike many other elements flames are seen as a very important tool no matter where you are, who you are or even what you are. Flames are not just the commonly recognised 'strongest aoe based destructive element' but also used to make artefacts (as well as various other tools), produce pills and some even use them to carve arrays in otherwise difficult to work with materials.
However flames, like many things, is limited by it's ranking in the world. A low ranked flame will find it difficult to melt truly precious materials and may not even be able to create Earth Ranked Items. Of course, different fuels can affect the ranking of the flames. For example, demonic flames will naturally be far stronger than other 'mortal flames' due to fuel coming from the demonic dao.
The ability to get these flames is negligible as they are unbelievably rare or in the case of a [Beast Flame] guarded leading to them rarely being seen by the common cultivator. Most [Unique Flames] are considered a [Dharma Treasure] as they 'suddenly appear' at a Sky Rank.
The classification of flames tends to be:
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-[Mortal Flame]; any 'non-unique' flame is considered a mortal flame. Mortal flame are the weakest flames as they are most common type of flame. Although it's not impossible to use them to be used to create highly ranked items - it will often be costly or require a very high ranking.
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-[Harmonius Flame]; a [Unique Flame] that naturally appeared in nature. They naturally get stronger as they age but tend to be restricted to certain types of 'fuel' - though other than the [Mortal Flame] which anyone can create with the aid of tools it is the easiest flame to subdue. Tends to be the weakest though as although it isn't hard to pass down, it will gradually build more and more impurity from past users. Eventually to the point of the flame no longer having any room for growth.
Though, if it's been used in a tool for many to use (unless the tool is profound enough) it stifles it's ability to grow though the impurities accumulated will often be lesser allowing it to actually be more beneficial for creation. This leading to it being developed into a tool being the more popular method for those large powers who aren't as short sighted.
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-[Beast Flame]; flames a beast is flame often created through a powerful beast's bloodline - examples are that of a phoenix, dragon and ifrits. They vary drastically in power according to the bloodline and exactly how powerful it can be though obviously the stronger the flame is the stronger it will be to steal.
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-[Flame Spirit]; a rare race of spirit who are born with the ability to perfectly control flames and in fact create their own powerful flames which is a [Dharma Treasure] in itself. The reason the actual [Flame Spirit] is considered a treasure though is because the two are interlinked and in order to use the flame one needs to subdue the spirit first. A move which has lead to many prideful alchemists being tortured to death and displayed in public - after all, forcibly subduing a spirit then publicizing it is a good way to annoy the wrong people. Often they don't need to take action themselves unless it's someone from a particularly good background.
Many instead have chosen to not risk it and instead make deals so the [Flame Spirit] will lend them their ability to produce powerful items.
Though, it's not uncommon for a Sect's higher rung or a royal family to suddenly vanish before reappearing in a 'shocking state' that hardly resembled their prior glory. Many alchemists also cannot 'lower themselves' to deal with the childish personality of a [Flame Spirit] thus suffer a horrible fate for their arrogance. After all, [Flame Spirits] are very important to even spirits (though ironically to less of an extent) as they can become powerful guardians or aid the higher rungs in their research.
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Impurities: Caused by the mismanagement of qi within a closed system and it is also called chaotic/corrupted qi however this is due to a misunderstanding that they aren't he same thing. In the common world Impurities are just recognized as being caused by the corruption of a persons will while chaotic/corrupted qi (which was known as un-cultivatable) was created by a bunch of conflicting qi mixing and qi becoming entangled. It isn't the only way to create this qi but it's most common after two powerful immortals fighting with large martial skills.
Impurities most often will weaken the foundation thus making cultivation more unstable and harder to progress in. The more unstable ones foundation to more likely/easier it will be to damage or even cripple the cultivation of an individual - this includes weakening the bonds in spirit sense to possibly lead to it collapsing causing massive damage to ones core or mind. It even can block the golden core which is the cultivator version of a heart attack called a 'core collapse'. Another thing to note that it slows down the movement of qi in general making just about everything take longer. It can also cause different medical issues - often being caused by impurities or another form of qi building up or even blocking a acupuncture point.
To be more accurate, the effects of the impurity is caused by where the impurity is located (type of meridian, foundation, golden core, dantian, spirit sense & more locations are possible for impurity to infect) as well as the makeup of the impurity and can have long term effects or 'short term'/lethal effects.
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Bloodlines & Constitution: First of, to explain the two it would be best to describe the difference between the two.
A bloodline is best described as something a powerful history grants a clan but by their nature many different bloodline's exist between Magic Beasts & Spirit Beasts. A bloodline can affect ones talents and perhaps even grant special skills to them. It even be used to pass information and unique cultivation methods as well. It's also said stronger, purer bloodlines have the ability to suppress other people.
A bloodline can be stolen though as it is literally carried in the blood in the form of bloodline essence. Bloodline Essence often being able to be used to provide strength bonus' etc.. This essence sometimes being used up and requiring time to replicate or maybe even need resources to 'repair' it if overused.
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A constitution on the other hand is more akin to a mutation that occurred to give a unique abilities and talents (though often there are many constitutions that have been seen repeatedly and sometimes in the same generation so calling them all wholly unique isn't fully appropriate). A constitution is also more limiting as it may completely prevent some forms of cultivation while greatly boosting others - though these bloodlines sometimes are the strongest but can also make them more predictable though same can be true for a bloodline as it too has preferences.
This will make it harder to develop with a naturally gained constitution over a bloodline as someone would need to be able to recognise the constitution and have the correct resources to even begin cultivation. Meanwhile, a bloodline has less to worry about as often they are surrounded by seniors who have already walked their path.
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Cultivation of Immortality: This is the way people in the 'Land Abandoned by The True God' and it has two main routes of Cultivation of Immortality; body cultivation and qi cultivation. Qi cultivation involves using the qi to cultivating ones dantian to increase ones qi - this will be the best for those who want to deal long range damage and is used with mages. Body Cultivation is increasing the bodies limits through various methods (usually through using vital essence tempered through various harsh types of qi) and often comes with it's own set of abilities that are unteachable for those without the right body cultivation. There is also soul cultivation but this is rare and practically unheard of and directly empowers the souls raw state and would be important for more mental based powers.
There is also demonic and evil cultivation - evil cultivation empowers the user through the suffering of others and is mostly always a form of qi cultivation. Demonic is often said to instead cause suffering to the user - often causing hideous mutation but Earth ranked cultivation and higher may even change the entire race of the user into an actual demonic being. Demonic beings are often said to be 2 to 10 times stronger in their true forms while evil cultivators tend to simply have more difficult to deal with techniques than orthodox qi techniques.
There is also weapon cultivation which allows one to cultivate 'weapon intent' which can be considered the rarest form of cultivation. It often allows passive buffs, special techniques & skills related to that weapon and more depending on the technique itself. Even if a Red level technique came out it may catch the attention of a large sect if it suited their a majority disciples (or maybe a select few core or even a direct disciple) weapon. Though, the profoundness of them can also be said to be tiers ahead of a regular cultivation.
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Dual Cultivation: Usually duel cultivation makes use of the opposite natures of yin (female) and yang (male) to flare up the other but impurities was often involved when 'rouge qi' spread between the pair due to the poor quality of duel cultivation in general with the popular one requiring many female cultivators to basically cripple themselves to give their man a increase. It basically places a mans yang qi straight into their core (often called a dantian in humans) making them unable to make use of their yin qi but in return the male basically gets to use them as a battery - freely gaining the qi that they would've been able to use and prevents to many impurities from forming and even links cultivation so the women and also improve their cultivation thus keeping their youth. This is a favourite for nobles.
Another is the 'dao partner' system where two individuals will cultivate together only between themselves and involves no sex (for the publicly known version). This leads to many cultivation sects (of the orthodox) placing purity in high regard.
Impurities also exist in medicine and even though it only effects the quality, it does in equipment. less impurities often means better which is another reason why 'Greed Gear' equipment was so strong. It will affect an individuals foundation making future progression harder while also lowering purity (thus strength) of qi and although there are different types of impurity everyone will have some... Except Helveta and her Master who can cultivate using the corrupted qi (impurity). One by being able to make use of everything by breaking it down while the other as a manifestation of pure impurity.
Small note that succubus and other lust based demons don't actually gain impurities as they specialize it the types of qi that often produce this affect - converting it into cultivation with no issues due to their own racial advantage (though different to the Mantis Clan that literally cultivate the impurities for their body refinement).
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Qi Cultivation Levels:
0-Qi Sensing; The act of sensing qi in order to enter qi collection - this stage often takes several weeks to months if at all. Though it can be greatly reduced with the aid of someone who is already proficient at manipulating qi.
1-Qi Collection; 1-7; The true beginning of a cultivator and it is simply about taking the previously senses qi into oneself to refine the body. Though, as simple as it sounds and as key as this process is to the rest of the stages, simple it is not. Else, thousands of different cultivation methods wouldn't exist! There are different forms of qi, different meridians to focus on, different dao to understand and more!
Takes about 10 years for a talented 7 year old to break through into Qi-Consolidation from this stage and reaching this stage makes it so one is more resilient to illness etc as well as being physically stronger. Although it doesn't extend the lifespan per-say but it makes one more likely to make it past the average age
2-Qi Consolidation; 1-7; This stage is about take the qi one has learned collected and 'dampening' the meridians in them in order to acclimate the body to the qi in order to avoid negative impacts of taking in a large amount of qi before slowly beginning to store it in the body. Of course, it's only up to a certain level, but it sets up for later stages and could be considered the last stage available to people whoa aren't accepted into sects.
It allows one to not only does it have the ability to double the mortals average the life-span to 150 but it also proceeds to allow one to use more than just regular martial arts but {Martial Techniques} which are 'skills' learned that make use of qi to have supernatural effects attached. Want to have a flying wave of fire from your sword - that's allowed in this stage.
Of course, they take time to practice and even more to master so it tends to take far more time. It not only requires one to 'make fire' but understand the profoundness of the technique, the transformation required in ones qi as well as the minute movements of qi to produce the effect. That is just touching the surface of {Martial Techniques}. Because of this, although one could theoretically take only 20 years if talents to pass this stage it is rarely that easy as one NEEDS {Martial Techniques} if they want to survive in the world. It also allows for the usage of Spirit Artefacts as well as the creation of them, formations and pills.
3-Foundation Formation; 1-7; This requires a [Qi Cultivation Technique] with a level of profoundness not found in the common - this means a certain understanding of the laws of nature or 'Dao' (this has {Earth Ranked} as the lowest tier). The most common type of [Qi Cultivation Technique] allows one to cultivate a single elemental qi of the main four types - fire, water, earth and wind - and each person has certain talents in each elements. Each technique has different level of profoundness which will make it easier, harder, quicker, slower to improve. It will even affect how many well one can deal with impurities and often limits how high one can achieve in their cultivation.
This stage can be taken quite literally as setting up the formation of ones path into [Qi Cultivation] and allows one to actually store transformed heaven & earth qi naturally instead of requiring one to transform it mid-combat. It also means one isn't required to transform natural elemental qi into non-elemental qi during cultivation (if it matches the technique they're cultivating with). It also increases the lifespan to an average of 1200 years. This tends to be the rank an emperor has to be in order to be respected but the level of their technique depends on the kingdoms age...
4-Core Formation; 1-7; This realm forms a 'golden core' that aids in the accumulation of elemental qi and qi in general by working as a transformer. This core forms within ones dantian which is also the core of qi cultivation - where qi will be stored. It massively increases the rate in which the user can absorb the Qi of Heaven & Earth (as well as other types). This also helps with ones Comprehension of the qi used for their cultivation technique. This means one improves their qi regeneration, ability to use {Martial Techniques} and ability to deal with impurities. But, too much at once can cause a blockage in the golden core which will negatively impact the previous benefits. It, of course, also increases the lifespan of a human cultivator once more to 4800 years.
When one reaches the final stage they can even consider becoming the respected head of a small clan/sect.
5-Spirit Elder; 1-5; This realm forms the cultivators 'spirit sense' by condensing strands of qi from the dantian/golden core that allows the user to sense around themselves and even more impressively control items remotely. Mixing this with Spirit Artefacts one can imprint a 'spirit mark' which allows easy control of a artefact so it can be remotely controlled during combat. This tends to become the main form of combat for a Qi Cultivator as it offers a benefit over Body Cultivation who tend to have advantage in terms of physical attributes.
Age is now just a number that they no longer need to care for and are now truly respected as a 'Faux' Immortal as they still require Qi to sustain themselves - also have ways to revert their age. They can be the respected head of a medium sized clan/sect or even the ancestor of a small sized one. Could also be considered as an elder of larger sects.
6-Nascent Soul; 1-3; Seen as the peak of even the immortal world - a Nascent Soul cultivator is, without doubt, one of the strongest experts on their continent as the respected leaders of large sects. This stage condenses their Spirit Sense into a 'Spirit Soul' or Nascent Soul which will grow and form an infant version of the user in their core which will then evolve as their cultivation goes up till reaching young adulthood. At it's core is the golden core that acts as a dantian for the soul - this soul can actually escape with the cultivators will allowing them to escape death and perhaps find a new body or make one.
This give a major quality change to their 'Spirit Sense' that make everything easier and stronger. Like comparing the motor skills of a child to a young man. Of course, there is still a level of skill to using their sense (sometimes boosted by powerful races like demons and elves who tend to have better talent with qi in general) but it's highly unprobeable a human at Spirit Elder Cultivator can outwrestle the sense of a Nascent Soul Cultivator.
7-Ascendant; 1-3; Only achieved when one makes a breakthrough with their Dao - fully comprehending a Dao beyond what would other be possible and slowly transforming their foundation to represent that Dao. They get the ability to represent this Dao in the form of a domain (though technically any realm of cultivation could have some level of ascendance in this aspect, they can only full ascend in both mind and body after Nascent). Through this domain they basically have an area where their Dao rules and often battles against Ascendants don't cause death but merely compete to see who's Dao is more profound or who has a greater understanding by competing with their domains. A domain vastly differs per user and Dao though so some Dao's don't work in a way this is feasible.
8-Immortal; 1-?; Finish ascending and gain great control over your Dao to the point of no longer requiring the heaven & earth to supply a platform for your ability - rather becoming a source of the Dao itself. Little is known about this realm however as even Ascendants can be collected in a single building... Still a little bitch compared to Mother though.
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Item Ranking:
1-Red
2-Blue
3-Purple
4-Earth (At this having some form of profoundness - only those with legendary skill can create these)
5-Sky
6-Immortal
7-Heaven
8-Divine
'9'-True
(Dharma treasures will be at least sky rank and often will often improve in their life though this isn't always the case)
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Spirit Vessel; [Spirit Vessel]s are the blood vessels of the world that carry around the qi of Heaven & Earth. The {World Tree}s act as bone marrow producing more from the resources around themselves - acting as a symbiote to nature though technically each should be considered a demi-god. Their Dao of Growth coming from [The Infinite] which some consider the ultimate Dao if it can be considered one. The spirit's are the platelets - repairing and maintaining the health of the [Spirit Vessel] and marrow while the {Primordial Dao Heart} of Gaia (and technically Mother) acts as a mixture between a regular heart and 'the marrow'. Few know that 'Guardian Beasts' (often Spirit Beasts that are given the chance to remain at a [Spirit Vessel] or a magic beast in the case that they are weaker and thus less important) but the demons also have a role to play - both cases being comparable to a white blood cell that either protects or 'reclaims'. Perhaps a more fitting name for a demon may be a disinfectant or antibody as they are often used by the spirits to 'clean up' an area with the sin and impurity causes by the 'thief' as part of their reward.
The size is ranked as such (size referring to not only physical size but the amount of qi released):
-Spirit Capillary
-Spirit Vein
-Spirit Artery
While the purity of the Spirit Vessel is ranked as (with a non-element vein as the example);
-Spirit Vein
-Sub-Dragon Vein
-Dragon Vein
-Ancient Dragon Vein
An elemental [Spirit Vessel] will obviously have greater benefits to those of said element but also come with added dangers as the purity increases - the power of the element being stronger (eg. if it were a [Magma Ancient Dragon Artery] one could expect to be erased from existence if they were in it's core and would likely be very very high level fire and magma (earth would be too bothered by heat) around it) spirit around it with perhaps even a Phoenix or Fire/Magma Dragon Spirit Beast Clan making it their home as a Guardian Family. Not a single beast, not a outpost or branch family. The Clan will make it their home - not only that but they will likely have entire 'city' of descendants living their as a true nightmare for any human supremacists as they perhaps can even overshadow the [Great Sects] with raw power. The number of these [Spirt Arteries] are unknown and are 'fully managed' (use the term lightly) by Munzumira personally with her highest ranked Spirit's overseeing the vast majority with few fully left to the Spirit Beasts strongest families - though often at a great cost of a constant view of a terrifying group of spirit's that can match their leader at least over their shoulder (other options are available).
If a human sect could get their hands on one of these Arteries or another 'mortal' race without permission... They would be wiped out with great prejudice by the Spirit's and their 'hit squad' the demons. Same if these [Spirit Vessel]s that are gifted are misused - for example syphoning out more energy than premised using forceful measures or attempting to change the element of the [Spirit Vessel].
As for which elements are available? Only Munzumira probably knows as except for some rare exceptiosn there is a [Spirit Vessel] of every element - there are also demonic & holy [Spirit Vessel] as well but they are usually ones that have either been 'corrupted'. Demonic veins can exist naturally in the demon realm and have the potential to grow into another realm through a gap between the realms if it has been weakened enough - most commonly this is from a demonic cultivator attracting a {Nakara Tribulation} but it's not that uncommon that a {Lightening Tribulation} broke through into the Demon Realm. One would expect [Holy Spirit Vessel]s to also exist but this isn't the case as Heavenly realm has received no 'upkeep'. More on that later.