Explanation of Chinese Fantasy for Beginners

 I'll start this off with a disclaimer that I'm by no means an expert. My exposure to this genre comes from watching old Chinese TV shows with my grandmother, as well as reading webnovel translations such as Coiling Dragon and I Shall Seal the Heavens.

Fantasy comes from the mystical and romanticized elements of the past. In the west, fantasy centers around the medieval era of knights, princesses, castles, and dragons. In China, fantasy centers around an ancient world of martial arts masters who use secret arts to perform impossible deeds. The genre is called wuxia, meaning martial heroes, and focuses on the adventures of these martial arts masters in a battle of good and evil. 

A subgenre of wuxia contains more fantastical elements such as those we see in Swords of Legends, in which we have cities in the clouds, demons, talking creatures, and animal spirits gaining human form. This subgenre is called xianxia, meaning immortal heroes. 

The characters in xianxia seek immortality and power by cultivating and ascending beyond mortal constraints. They are called cultivators. Cultivators are martial artists who train with secret techniques, often taught to them in Sects, and grow their strength using the energies and treasures of the world. In doing so, they go against the natural laws of life and death, struggling to fight against the will of the Heavens and thereby attain immortality and power. Cultivators can live hundreds to thousands of years and are able to cease needing to eat, drink, sleep and age. For this reason, they are often referred to as 'immortals', though they can die in many ways--including old age.

The Road of Cultivation

Ancient China held a belief that the world was made of three realms: the Heavens, the Earth, and the Underworld. In the Heavens reside the immortal Gods who wrote the natural laws, maintain the order of the worlds, and direct the will of the universe. Earth is the realm of mortals. The Underworld is the land of spirits, demons, and ghosts. When mortals die, all of them are sent to the Underworld, where they are processed by the immortals and sent to reincarnate after drinking old granny Mengpo's soup, which makes them forget their previous lives. Never do humans enter the Heavens, as that is the domain of the Gods.

However, a theme in xianxia is the ambition and struggle to rise above all others and reach the highest peaks. Cultivators seek to reach the Heavens by emulating the immortal Gods and following in their footsteps--or by emulating immortal Demons and tracing their malevolent paths. By trying to become one of these immortal deities and ascend to their godly status, cultivators fight against the laws and restrictions of the world. These cultivators are not limited to humans, either; in xianxia, every being is capable of cultivation, from humans, animals, ghosts, plants, and even rocks. 

Many authors have their own takes on what the journey of cultivation entails, but all in all it's a wide enough net that you can have stories full of adventure and treasure-hunting for the next power-up, an action-filled power fantasy with battles and slaughter, or a story of intense drama and interpersonal conflicts as cultivators wade through millenia of love, hate, betrayal and revenge. 

The Life of a Cultivator

Every cultivator starts as a mortal. Many are ordinary children from normal families. However, some people are blessed with a cultivation root which gives them the potential to become cultivators. Young children whose potentials are recognized may be picked up by sects, either by being personally scouted after encountering a cultivator, or by traveling to sects in hopes of being chosen as disciples.

A sect is a school of cultivators, often lead by a powerful person with high cultivation. Sects are built around loyalty and a system of exchange: powerful cultivators who join sects can receive rare resources and support in exchange for their power and assistance, while novice disciples can receive training and basic resources in exchange for working and doing menial labor to support the sect. In general, sects are very hierarchical and each have their own philosophies and ways of cultivation as influenced by the founders of the sects. For example, a righteous cultivator's sect will be expected to do good, while a reclusive cultivator's sect may be mysterious and refrain from contact with others.

There are also rogue cultivators who do not join sects. In exchange for freedom, they have no support system and must struggle on the path of cultivation by themselves.

Cultivators believe in separating themselves from the mortal world, not only physically but mentally and socially. As such, their schools lie in faraway and remote places difficult to reach for mortals. Often this means the peaks of tall Chinese mountains, where their buildings soar at the mountain peaks between the clouds. We see this setting in Swords of Legends as well. Although Cloudrise and the six class areas are beautiful and otherworldly, they are, in fact, still a part of the mortal realm.

Although these cultivators strive to reach the heavens and become immortal, it is extremely difficult. The details of the process relies heavily on understanding ancient Taoist beliefs of the body and mind, such as neidan, the theory of internal alchemy which is part of what cultivators need to understand to attain immortality. When cultivators are successful in raising their understanding of the process, they extend their lifespans. However, many cultivators reach bottlenecks at each stage of cultivation. If a cultivator fails to break through their bottleneck, their extended lifespan may reach its end. Cultivators may live for thousands of years trying to break through; for example, I've read stories where elders of families live for 18,000 years. If the cultivators are successful, however, they will be able to ascend and depart from the mortal plane.

Cultivation is a process divided into several realms and stages. The first realm of cultivation is learning how to gather and use qi, or internal life force, to perform seemingly magical techniques. This realm of cultivation may be further divided into stages enumerating one's growing power and understanding of the principle. After going through all the stages, the cultivator can advance to the next realm of understanding, which is forming a foundation. The number and types of cultivation realms depend on the authors. 

We see this style of progression in the way levels are divided in Swords of Legends Online. All players start off in the Beginner Realm, where they are first starting to understand the basics of the world, and advance through stages to go to the next Realm, which is Student. In the Chinese version of the game, there are additional Realms to proceed through on our journey.

Going Against the Will of Heaven

Mortal cultivators break the laws of the world in order to become immortal. Because of this, the heavens punish them and send them tribulations. This doesn't mean that the Heavens are opposed to all cultivators, however; those people who consistently encounter life-saving treasures or blessings on the path of cultivation are said to be favored by the Heavens. The tribulations serve two purposes: one, it is punishment for breaking the rules; two, it is a trial for cultivators to prove they have what it takes to advance.

The namesake of the game, Swords of Legends, comes from the original GuJian lore, and carries the theme of the folly of mortals opposing the heavens to attain power by cruel and despicable means. In the beginning, mortals craved the power of the heavens. They created several legendary swords so powerful that they could even wound the immortal Gods themselves. The seven swords were imbued with evil power through human sacrifice. This angered the Gods, and the Goddess Nuwa banished the blacksmith who forged them to the Underworld.

According to SOLO's summary, even after these seven swords were sealed, humanity continued to create powerful swords able to strike at the Heavens. It is said that these swords became so powerful because they contained a Bladeheart, commonly referred to in xianxia as sword essence or sword spirit. Xianxia holds that when powerful swords are forged, they have a sense of life and energy imbued into them through the methods used to make the sword, or the materials used to create the sword. For example, swords made with cold and icy treasures may gain a sense of cold and distance. A sword used for mindless slaughter may provoke a sense of bloodlust and savagery. Swords may also be affected by their wielders, and a cultivator who uses a sword with traits incompatible to their own may experience ill effects.

The plot of Swords of Legends revolves around, accordingly, the swords from the ancient legends in the GuJian world. The player character in the beginning travels to a secret realm in search of a Bladeheart, or sword essence, to enlighten and strengthen them. The player is successful in gathering this sword energy, but struggles to refine and absorb it because of the events of the story. After reaching Student 1, however, we unlock the ability to use the sword essence through the Bladeheart skills. The other notable legendary sword is the Sword of Estrangement stolen in the introduction, as well as the Demonsword. From the malevolence emanating from the Demonsword we can tell that is is likely forged or strengthened by horrible means.

Malevolent Qi

The story in SOLO often mentions qi, meaning life force or the flow of energy, especially in regards to the malicious qi plaguing several characters and leading to corruption. In ancient Chinese belief, every living and sentient being has qi. Qi is an internal force, maintained and regulated by your own body. Changes and disruptions to your qi result in damage to your body. While qi itself is neither good nor bad, as we learned from the sword essences, people can be affected by the forces of conflicting qi. This comes into play when we encounter the malevolent qi emanating from the Demonsword and from the Devastators' monsters.

The malicious or malevolent qi spoken of in the story is equivalent to a poison. It disrupts the qi of the land and beings around it, and throws the energy into disarray. It's harmful to the world and as seen with the nocturnal spirits, can corrupt beings to evil. Malevolent energies in cultivation can quickly provide a power increase at extreme risk and harm that can ultimately leave the user incapacitated. We see this through characters who use the Demonsword: they gain quick power, but grow even more power-hungry and quickly lose all sense of morality and loyalty. 

The Chinese believe in the forces of balance in the universe, known to the West as Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang is not the equivalent to black and white, however. Daytime is yang, and nighttime is yin. Men have yang energy, while women have yin energy. Fire is yang, while water is yin. Strong life energy is yang, while ghostly energy is yin. For this reason, women are said to be more susceptible to cold and to being affected by the supernatural, while strong and youthful male energy is said to be able to ward off spirits. 

Since all opposing forces in the world achieve their best state in balance according to the principle of yin and yang, anything which goes out of balance becomes uncontrolled and dangerous. If someone consumes too much yang, for example, their body may overheat and grow feverish. If someone consumes too much yin, they may grow cold and freeze. Being exposed to malevolent qi throws the body out of balance.

How this All Ties to the Story

The opening cinematic of SOLO introduces us to the legendary swords. We learn that in an ancient battle, past cultivators used their powerful swords to seal away evil in the Qin Mausoleum. This battle lead to the formation of the Qin League, meant to guard the mausoleum seal, as well as Cloudrise, which was built on that seal. 

Ages later, our player character, as well as several cultivators from other mountains, gather to enter the secret realm in hopes of awakening a legendary sword by bonding with its Bladeheart. The sword spirit of the Bladeheart will help to enlighten them on their road of cultivation, making it very desirable. The player finds fragments of the Bladeheart, listening to its memories of its final battle, and successfully fuses with the spirit. However, the attacks of the Devastators (an evil sect) lead to several characters--namely, Haocang and the player character--to be exposed to malevolent qi. This malevolent qi poisons both of them and throws their internal energies off balance. Haocang is seemingly corrupted--perhaps he had been fighting a different internal force, which took over when the malevolent qi disrupted him--and turns on Cloudrise. He steals the legendary Sword of Estrangement and uses it to break the formation on the Lunar Crown Tree in the Valley of a Hundred Grasses. This is significant because it was this ancient tree which first warned the world of the danger fought in the ancient battle at the Qin Mausoleum.

The journey of the player character from then on is about staving off the effects of the malevolent qi, stabilizing the power they received from the Bladeheart, and preventing themselves from being damaged by continuous exposure to negative qi. To do this, the player travels through several lands in search of treasures to purify themselves. Along the way, the player character answers to pleas for help as the Demonsword appears and causes havoc in the mortal realm and the demons and Devastators advance their as-yet-unknown plans.

There are several questions left unanswered, such as, why did Haocang betray his sect, and what is the ultimate goal of the demons? But these questions will likely be answered in future updates.

I hope this information helps bring the world of SOLO into better focus. For more information about this genre, as well as a glossary of other terms you may encounter through the game, I highly recommend checking out the glossary provided by the Immortal Mountain blog to help readers navigate Chinese novels. You can find the glossary here.