Xianxia Encompassing the World! (Xianxia Rec Discussion and Idea thread)
- Thread starter Hangwind
- Start date
I wrote something, anyone want to criticize it?
Fate and destiny, two forces that guide the path of the living. While the second can change just as quickly as one makes a choice, the first tends to be harder to change. For example let's observe the two below, the man's fate is to die to something he underestimated (which admittedly it's also the fate of most demonic cultivators), the girl's is to have her heart ripped out of her chest leading to the creation of a cultivator. The man's destiny was to be the first demonic cultivator to ascend and burn the world along with all who had opposed him to not but ash upon the cosmic winds. Unfortunately for him he chose the wrong house to try to start his journey thus completely and irreversibly changing his destiny.
Deng Ling could almost feel the power as he neared the door, truly he had the most fortuitous encounter with a hidden master that not only decided to take him on as a student but to also gift him a technique that will aid/jumpstart his cultivation. To add even further to his fortune, he found not only someone to use his new technique on who will not be missed but also a location so full of chi that it might as well be alive. With a confidence born of a self assured destiny he took hold of the handle and polled, only to have to look down to see that the door did not budge. quicky looking around to verify that no one had seen his blunder he push open the door to revival, a empty box room with no windows.
After dragging in the to-be-sacrifice to the middle of the room he looked down on the small child. She was clad is so much filth and muck that what ever color the rags she wore had been originally all was left as just a dark brown that wouldn't be out of place in a pile of freshly churned mud. All in all nothing more than the first stepping stone to his ascension and one that will soon be forgotten as the worthless thing it was.
Striating his back he took the pose to ready the technique his new master has taught him, right hand pooled back what few scraps of chi in his body pouring to his fingers, a seconds wait, and [Phenix's Rebirth]. Faster than a mortals eye could track his hand plunged into the girls chest and just as quickly pooled her heart out along with a fountain of blood. Just as he raised his prize into the air to gaze upon his prize the sound of a squeaking door opening cut through the silence. Slowly he turned his gaze behind him to the wall that previously had nothing on it but now has a wooden cabin door that was being pushed open by inhumanly long wooden fingers. As he stared at first in shock than fear as something inhuman walked out, it was too tall, it's limbs too long and misshapen, but it was it's face that held his gaze the most. A blank face devoid of any features save for two eyes red as the blood moon stared down at him with nothing but a predatory hunger. Just as it reached him he dropped his prize and used [Phenix's Rebirth] once again, his attack struck true right into the thing chest causing it to fall forward as it was struck dead.
His heart racing from the sudden encounter but slowly returning to a more normal rhythm he was caught unprepared when what felt like a bear trap suddenly latched onto his arm that was still inside the unnatural thing's chest or was when the things spindly hand grabbed his shoulders. all he could do was watch as the blank face split open with cracks of wood and bone to reveal a maw of splintered wood and twisted metal spiraling down into....
Zou Xiaolian could only lie in her blood as sicking sounds of bone being broken and meat was being torn but her focuses was not on what was happening just a few feet from her but instead the floating box that was Infront of her.
The Dungeon has heard your cries for help.
Do you wish to accepts its help?
Yes No
Such a simple question and yet after all this time something actual answered her prayers for help, maybe it was just a hallucination brought upon by the blood loss, maybe it was just her imagination trying to give her comfort in her final moments. What ever the case she decided to answer the floating box.
"Yes" her voice was barely a whisper but no sooner has the word left her lips did a sudden feeling of liquid fire being poured directly into her being. The darkness that was steadily consuming her vision was suddenly and violently throne back and new life filed her lunges but the stress of the day would not allow her to remain awake and as she fell into realm of dreams she heard someone say "Well isn't zis intairesteng.".
Deng Ling could almost feel the power as he neared the door, truly he had the most fortuitous encounter with a hidden master that not only decided to take him on as a student but to also gift him a technique that will aid/jumpstart his cultivation. To add even further to his fortune, he found not only someone to use his new technique on who will not be missed but also a location so full of chi that it might as well be alive. With a confidence born of a self assured destiny he took hold of the handle and polled, only to have to look down to see that the door did not budge. quicky looking around to verify that no one had seen his blunder he push open the door to revival, a empty box room with no windows.
After dragging in the to-be-sacrifice to the middle of the room he looked down on the small child. She was clad is so much filth and muck that what ever color the rags she wore had been originally all was left as just a dark brown that wouldn't be out of place in a pile of freshly churned mud. All in all nothing more than the first stepping stone to his ascension and one that will soon be forgotten as the worthless thing it was.
Striating his back he took the pose to ready the technique his new master has taught him, right hand pooled back what few scraps of chi in his body pouring to his fingers, a seconds wait, and [Phenix's Rebirth]. Faster than a mortals eye could track his hand plunged into the girls chest and just as quickly pooled her heart out along with a fountain of blood. Just as he raised his prize into the air to gaze upon his prize the sound of a squeaking door opening cut through the silence. Slowly he turned his gaze behind him to the wall that previously had nothing on it but now has a wooden cabin door that was being pushed open by inhumanly long wooden fingers. As he stared at first in shock than fear as something inhuman walked out, it was too tall, it's limbs too long and misshapen, but it was it's face that held his gaze the most. A blank face devoid of any features save for two eyes red as the blood moon stared down at him with nothing but a predatory hunger. Just as it reached him he dropped his prize and used [Phenix's Rebirth] once again, his attack struck true right into the thing chest causing it to fall forward as it was struck dead.
His heart racing from the sudden encounter but slowly returning to a more normal rhythm he was caught unprepared when what felt like a bear trap suddenly latched onto his arm that was still inside the unnatural thing's chest or was when the things spindly hand grabbed his shoulders. all he could do was watch as the blank face split open with cracks of wood and bone to reveal a maw of splintered wood and twisted metal spiraling down into....
Zou Xiaolian could only lie in her blood as sicking sounds of bone being broken and meat was being torn but her focuses was not on what was happening just a few feet from her but instead the floating box that was Infront of her.
The Dungeon has heard your cries for help.
Do you wish to accepts its help?
Yes No
Such a simple question and yet after all this time something actual answered her prayers for help, maybe it was just a hallucination brought upon by the blood loss, maybe it was just her imagination trying to give her comfort in her final moments. What ever the case she decided to answer the floating box.
"Yes" her voice was barely a whisper but no sooner has the word left her lips did a sudden feeling of liquid fire being poured directly into her being. The darkness that was steadily consuming her vision was suddenly and violently throne back and new life filed her lunges but the stress of the day would not allow her to remain awake and as she fell into realm of dreams she heard someone say "Well isn't zis intairesteng.".
Wakefulness slowly returned to Xiaolian, but she struggled agenst it burring herself deeper into the comforting wight that was surrounding her. It took her brain a monet or two to register the abnormality of the situation, slowly opening her eyes she gazed around the room that was definite not abandon building that she normally slept in. The bed was large and soft, the walls where clean and whole, even the entrance had a door that was not banging open and close do to the wind. As she looked at the entrance her gaze was drawn downwards to two green glowing eyes.
Noticing her attention the eye's owner suddenly spoke up "Hi!! You feeling better?" the voice was surprisingly young sounding no older than she was
"Uh yes?" was her shakily response back
"That's good! You where out like a rock when dad brought you here."
"Um where, if you don't mind me asking, is here exactly?"
"Your room of course silly!"
Before she could formulate a response to that statement the door to the room opened and a heavily cloaked person stepped in with a tray of food and a steaming mug of some liquid. "Rachel! No overloading people with information!" The now named Rachel slumped down slightly at the chasttimaent "Sorry dad."
"You'll have to excuse her, she doesn't get too see may kids her age around here."
Taking a moment to quicky recenter herself Xiaolian asked "C-could you explain by what she means exactly?"
"Of course but first introductions" the cloaked person said as they placed the tray into her lap "I am Murray and the little bundle of energy and creativity is Rachel my daughter. Now to answer you question, what was the last thing you remember?"
Noticing her attention the eye's owner suddenly spoke up "Hi!! You feeling better?" the voice was surprisingly young sounding no older than she was
"Uh yes?" was her shakily response back
"That's good! You where out like a rock when dad brought you here."
"Um where, if you don't mind me asking, is here exactly?"
"Your room of course silly!"
Before she could formulate a response to that statement the door to the room opened and a heavily cloaked person stepped in with a tray of food and a steaming mug of some liquid. "Rachel! No overloading people with information!" The now named Rachel slumped down slightly at the chasttimaent "Sorry dad."
"You'll have to excuse her, she doesn't get too see may kids her age around here."
Taking a moment to quicky recenter herself Xiaolian asked "C-could you explain by what she means exactly?"
"Of course but first introductions" the cloaked person said as they placed the tray into her lap "I am Murray and the little bundle of energy and creativity is Rachel my daughter. Now to answer you question, what was the last thing you remember?"
@Snowandmax Not a bad start, apart from a few typo's here and there (polled -> pulled for example). The bit about fate and destiny at the start wasn't bad, though I think you'd have to further develop if you made this into a full story. Why are fate and destiny so important to the characters/story they warrant being the first line in the book?
I'd also be tempted to give a bit more description from Zou Xiaolian's perspective, or perhaps some dialogue of her pleading or praying for help from the demonic cultivator's point of view while he's dragging her. It certainly believable that she was doing so, but the abrupt transition to her point of view feels a bit lacking in emotion.
The second part is also fine, though again could perhaps be improved with a smidge more descriptiveness of the scene, but that is also because the scene is short. It might not be so noticible if the scene went on longer and had more conversation and snippets of description.
I'd also be tempted to give a bit more description from Zou Xiaolian's perspective, or perhaps some dialogue of her pleading or praying for help from the demonic cultivator's point of view while he's dragging her. It certainly believable that she was doing so, but the abrupt transition to her point of view feels a bit lacking in emotion.
The second part is also fine, though again could perhaps be improved with a smidge more descriptiveness of the scene, but that is also because the scene is short. It might not be so noticible if the scene went on longer and had more conversation and snippets of description.
Concept: spirit herbs are like grapes or rhubarb. They under produce in perfect conditions and if you want maximum benefit you have to raise them in increasingly ridiculous barely survivable ways.
Like the plants that grow in concrete somehow, only to the extreme.
Dragon's Eye Flower raised in neat little rows in a spiritually rich patch of land: mild burst of qi.
Dragon's Eye Flower raised on a tiny bit of dirt clinging to a sheer cliffside so it's forced to subsist mostly on qi, positioned so it experiences either sunrises or sunsets but never both: Rising Dragon's Eye Flower is a potent ingredient for breakthrough pills, Setting Dragon's Eye Flower can make it much harder to damage your meridians by channeling too much qi.
Dragon's Eye Flower raised on a tiny bit of dirt clinging to a sheer cliffside so it's forced to subsist mostly on qi, positioned so it experiences either sunrises or sunsets but never both: Rising Dragon's Eye Flower is a potent ingredient for breakthrough pills, Setting Dragon's Eye Flower can make it much harder to damage your meridians by channeling too much qi.
- Location
- Reading, Berks, UK
That does seem to be how some of the Spirit Herbs in Beware of Chicken/Beware of Cloud/Soaring Heaven Isle work: One of them has apparently to be raised in high QI bath water, and another appears to require altitudes up there in low orbit. Leaving out what it takes to germinate a skyship. Other than the Lowly Spiritual Herbs which the Cloudy Sword sect teaches all of its disciples to raise because they are easy for their value.
Or Memories of the Fall where the high level spirit herbs move to the Yin Eclipse Forbidden Zone for the Qi Suppression.
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ZeroXSEED
Economic Authoritarian Muslim Leftist
- Location
- In the name of orange!
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- He
Spirit herbs needing to be raised in extreme condition can easily be explained with "look at their world, how do you think they would evolve?"
One thing I can point out is a spirit herb being fragile makes no fucking sense, though. Plants are natural cultivator (pun intended) and they get more hardy as they age, not less.
One thing I can point out is a spirit herb being fragile makes no fucking sense, though. Plants are natural cultivator (pun intended) and they get more hardy as they age, not less.
Unless someone screws up royally and we get something like the Cavendish Banana, which is a single blight away from extinction at all times.
- Location
- Philippines
Now I'm reminded of the idea of a cultivator trying to do large scale monocultural agriculture for a spirit herb, only to get low quality if not dead plants due to how unhealthy traditional monocultural agriculture relatively is.
Then you get the guy who sets up a highly controlled hydroponic farm that includes proper Qi flow in its design to grow the same herb and ends up with a relatively big bounty.
Then you get the guy who sets up a highly controlled hydroponic farm that includes proper Qi flow in its design to grow the same herb and ends up with a relatively big bounty.
That applies to any plant grown in huge monoculture. The biggest example is potatoes, but far, far from the only one.
Honestly, that would fit the social critique inherent in xianxia (it's critique when it's not cheering, and often enough it works as critique even then)
It you could apply it to the school system. It's honestly really fruitful if you have something to say. Well, beyond "ahhh, how will i meet my daily words quota?!? Ahhhhhh"
Thinking about it shouldn't plants dominate xianxia worlds? They naturally cultivate from birth. Extreme treasure plants must have ridiculous innate talent as well. They are more hardy than humans and beasts and have great regeneration. When they attain a human form they should be unmatched body cultivators. And they are long lived meaning they have more time to go from one stage to the next thus solidifying their foundations and making each stage perfect. Not to mention they outnumber humanity and beasts massively maybe even insects they should be the most numerous clans in xianxia.
Counterpoint: they're tasty little snacks that take a trillion years to do what a protagonist does in maybe a hundred.
A trillion years of perfect cultivation may not beat out the protagonist but it should beat everyone else. The average elder can't do it. Xianxia protagonists are literally the center of the universe. Plants should beat everyone else. Plus those super treasure drug trees or vines that can instantly make some mortal a nascent soul should be just as talented as any protagonist I'd they start cultivating themselves. Or like divine trees or whatever like they literally have built in talent that comes with them. All other creatures do is merc them before they reach their full potential.
Edit: Tree cultivator superiority lol. Too bad there's not many with this premise
- Location
- Elsewhere
I've had the thought of an MC actually leveraging this to get out of bullying.
The Jerkass Young Master and his friends are "exchanging pointers" with the MC, and he actually starts asking questions.
Really simple questions to start, and manages to get the Young Master engaged in the discussion.
"But how can I block such a strong attack?"
"You think a loser like you can block my attack? Dodge you idiot!" *Smack*
Gradually it becomes clear that the Young Master is a jerk, but he does know his stuff.
Then the other people in his group start asking questions and it turns into a real impromptu practice session.
Later the Young Master turns to teaching the younger members of the clan to pass time since his cultivation is stalled out.
The cultivator finds an Ancient Lightning Weed guarded by a giant snake.
He cleverly lures the snake away and circles around to grab the weed before the snake can catch him!
Just as he grabs it... he gets electrocuted.
The snake looks at him sympathetically, it has been trying to defeat the weed for a hundred years.
Kadmus
Dragon's teeth are surprisingly hard to sow
- Location
- Devon
- Pronouns
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You could justify spiritual herb fragility with it being part of their life-cycle, if you needed to. Get too rough with one and it explodes into a billion seeds that burn through the accumulated qi to disperse and get established, ruining the value of the plant for a greedy cultivator.
They would legit just gain sapience and become a cultivator rather than you know dying
Plant cultivation requires a level of passivity that makes it hard to suddenly turn around and start acting?
ZeroXSEED
Economic Authoritarian Muslim Leftist
- Location
- In the name of orange!
- Pronouns
- He
Some works was very explicit about plants being sentient
It gets forgotten very quickly unless you need plant monster boss to defeat
Most of the time because they only mind their own business and ignore each other. A plant based xianxia hivemind would be legitimately godlike, and we can't have that in human supremacist story.
...might explain Avatar, tbh
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Yeah plants do have a mycelium network I think it's called I'm not too informed. But they can share danger and warnings through their roots. I heard the smell of fresh cut grass is actually grass warning their neighbors with pherem9nes something dangerous is coming. Trees are the only living beings who crack concrete all the time. A xianxia about like a treasure shrub linking up to the forest and cultivating a hivemind before basically becoming a forest would be peak. Their human form could get precious herbs and trees to willingly come to them fuse with their flesh joining the hive and advancing their cultivation and innate talent. They also hate tea. It's cannibalism lol
It shouldn't according to xianxia anything can cultivate I believe in actual myth a lot of fairies and the like are actually precious plants who attained human form. Plant cultivation should require passively more than any other type if tortoises and bunny's can become effective cultivators why not a tree. Especially because some herbs have lightning and already present powerful affinities.
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- Elsewhere
Maybe not.
After all, leaves drop off on their own.
So it would be like someone taking your hair and nail clippings and boiling them and drinking it.
"You want to do what? Ewww..."
"Humans are so weird"
"Dude you actually eat shit"
"...It's fertilizer"