Xianxia Encompassing the World! (Xianxia Rec Discussion and Idea thread)

Start at 1 + 1 year in the womb + 2 years after being born = 4, I guess.
 
Start at 1 + 1 year in the womb + 2 years after being born = 4, I guess.
That is not how math works, you can tell from the fact that by that logic everybody is born 2 years old.

Which is plain incorrect. It is doubly funny because the steoratypical chinese is supposed to be good at math. But I suppose steoratypes are lies anyhow.
 
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So after seeing it recommended in buch of places I started Desolate Era. Chapter 5 Main character remarks that having re-born 2 years ago and having spend a year in womb he is now 4 years old.

Is it me or is that just funny.

MATH how does it work! LOL.

Not promising start at any rate.

You start at 1, then age up by 1 each new year.
So someone born on the day before Chinese New Year would be 1. Then on Chinese New Year they would be 2. Despite only having been born for a day.

Thus someone who was born a bit over 2 years ago can be 4 years old. Ji Ning was born in winter and the new year happened soon after. Thus most of the time his age would be 2 more than how many years he has been born. Except for the short period between when he was born and the new year, where he would only be aged 1 more than what the western world would consider his age.
 

You start at 1, then age up by 1 each new year.
So someone born on the day before Chinese New Year would be 1. Then on Chinese New Year they would be 2. Despite only having been born for a day.

Thus someone who was born a bit over 2 years ago can be 4 years old. Ji Ning was born in winter and the new year happened soon after. Thus most of the time his age would be 2 more than how many years he has been born. Except for the short period between when he was born and the new year, where he would only be aged 1 more than what the western world would consider his age.
You know seeing this, it suddenly makes a lot more sense to me that Arabic Numerals have become the most popular way of math in the world. This is horrible.
 
Ah the Korean system. I remember running into that when I got into kpop.

If you're born on Dec 31st, the day after you're already considered two years old =P
 
How exactly is it horrible?
You can become 2 years old days after you are born and 2 years later you are 3 years old.

So essentilaly if your answer to a question about how old somebody who is born 2 years ago is "between 2 to 4 including both" it is indeed hobble(ly imprecise).

I suppose it is better than Lunar calendars? But I consider that appaling as well so you know...
 
Horribly imprecise is a stretch. If you're used to using that system then it never changes, and even if you want to translate it into the sort of age reckoning we're familiar with then it's casually easy once you understand the differences.
 
You can become 2 years old days after you are born and 2 years later you are 3 years old.

So essentilaly if your answer to a question about how old somebody who is born 2 years ago is "between 2 to 4 including both" it is indeed hobble(ly imprecise).

I suppose it is better than Lunar calendars? But I consider that appaling as well so you know...
People who use the system would probably say similar things about international ages.

You know someone was born in 2022. How old are they now. Are they 1 or 2? You need to know the full birthday to answer. Under East Asia age reckoning the answer is always 3. As this is the third calendar year someone has experienced.

When you throw in things like zodiac years and horoscopes your birth year becomes significant. There is a difference between being born right before new year and right after. Even though in international age those 2 would be very similar in age.

I'm pretty sure I've seen it be used before in Xianxia. Normally Xianxia that starts at a young age to be fair.
 
Beware of Chicken has a bit on keeping a baby nameless for the first hundred years or so, partly due to high infant mortality rate. I figured the age thing was due to the age being set from the moment the waiting period ended.
 
Coming back to the porpuse of the thread, I wanna rec Arthurian Cultivation or RR:
www.royalroad.com

Arthurian Cultivation | Royal Road

An Arthurian legend + Fae lore + Cultivation mash-up. Updates Mon + Fri, with occasional bonus updates I'm not having the best day, I tried to dip out of my arranged marriage and got hunted by my betrothed, who sought to cure my cold feet with many, many knives. A frustrating development because...

It's a lot of fun. The characters are a genuine joy, and a bunch of them are actually relevant. There's an actual plot, an character arcs, and the cultivation system seems well done if not super exotic. It might cling a little too tightly to eastern based stuff, honestly, since the author puts a list of 'translations' in the notes.

It's currently around 500 pages, so a decent chunk but not an endless slog either. I'd recommend it even to someone who isn't looking for xianxia in particular, just a fun fantasy/adventure story. It's good stuff.
 
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 resulting in the creation of a cultivator. Where it any other choice the man's destiny would result in him being 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 but also a location so full of chi that it might as well be alive. Already visions of what he will accomplish and the revenges he will take danced in his mind, oh how low he will bring down those who doubted his...

"Please" A small pained wispier interrupted his internal monologue, turning his sight away from the door that contained the path to his assentation, down to little beggar child that will be the first step of his journey to be a cultivator. It is dressed in nothing but rags and mug, even the hair he used to drag it could easily be mistaken for tree roots with how filthy it is. Truly it should be thanking him for giving it a true prepose instead clogging up the world of its betters with its filth. Disregarding the sacrifice he turned back to the door and reached out towards the handle. With a firm grasp and his destiny in his eyes he pulled open the door... a quick check of the door and the surrounding to verify nothing important had seen his mistake he pushed open the door to reveal an empty box of a room with no windows or additional doors save the one he opened.

After dragging the sacrifice to be inside and closing the door he throw the to-be-sacrifice to the middle of the room, walking around it until the only entrance was directly behind it so if any dared to intruded they would not be able to attack his unprotected back. Striating his back he took position to ready the technique his new master has taught him. As he pulled back his right hand, he pooled what few scraps of chi that his body had into his fingers, a few seconds wait and [Phenix's Rebirth]. Faster than a mortals eye could track his hand plunged into the girl's chest and just as quickly puled her heart out along with a fountain of blood.

Raising his prize into the air he felt a grin spread across his face as the second part of the technique started and the heart was slowly consumed by blue fire. Before he could truly saver the taste of victory the sound of a squeaking door opening cut through the silence. He only froze for a second before slowly turning around, where there was once a plain wall now contained a wooden door. A wooden door that was slowly being opened by inhumanly long wooden fingers that where griping the middle of the door. He could only stare in shock and then horror as the inhuman monstrosity crookedly walked out of the shadow and into the lit room. It was as if some cruel god decided to take the human form and stretch it out by replacing what broke with mangled wood and metal. It as only when it was almost looming over him that he sprang into action.

Dropping his prize he reused his one and only technique in a bid to save his skin. He's aim is true and struck the chest of the abomination resulting in its death. The dead abomination slowly slumped forward on his arm as Deng Ling tried to get his racing heart back under control, he had just managed to recenter himself when what could only be described as a bear trap latched onto the arm still in the things chest. Just as quickly its two spindly hands grabbed his solders and he was forced to stare into is blank wooden face devoid of any fetchers except for two blood red hungry eyes. 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 sounded around her however her focuses was not on what was happening just a few feet from her but instead on 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 strange 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 against it, burring herself deeper into the comforting wight that was surrounding her. It took her brain a moment 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.

Indeed there was none of the rotten floor boards that she slept on, nor the creaking door that slammed open and close at the slightest bit of wind, not even the room with the multiple holes that let the rain in. Instead what greeted her was a room like what she imagined would be available to some one sleeping in one of those fancy hotels albeit a bit bear. The bed was as large as an ox and soft as the finest silks with the covers of pure white, the walls where clean and whole as if waiting for someone to hang something on them, the entrance had a door that was not banging open and close do to the wind, there was even a small blue crystal on the celling providing the room with a soft glow. As she looked around what could only be a fantastical dream her gaze was slowly to a pare of glowing green 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 in fact the eye's owner looked just as old as 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 chastisement "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?"

"Um, I was bleedings?"

"Well yes you where, but more specifically you where dyeing."

"Oh"

"Now before you start worrying about if your actually dead, you did something." At that revelation Xiaolian looked to Murry with anxious filled eyes. Slowly to not frighten her Murry sat next to her and explained her situation.

"What you did was ask for help, had you done so in any other location that cry for help would have most likely not been answered. However the reason why it was answered is because your cry was done in a Dungeon."

"W-What's a Dungeon?"

"A Dungeon is a place that the world puts bad things in time out!" Rachel's suddenly interjected with jumping into Xiaolian's unoccupied side.

"While my daughter's explanation is vastly simplified she isn't wrong. To put it in another way, when something truly kourotrophic happens is such a way that would complexly alter reality as you know it where to happen the world creates a Dungeon in order to contain it. Now in order to make sure that said cataclysm doesn't escape the Dungeon itself is technically alive and able to grow stronger to better contain what it holds. Unfortunately the only way for it to grow is by having those outside it interact with it, claiming resources that spawn within it, fighting the defenders that protect it, or just wondering about seeing the sites."

"W-why is that a bad thing exactly?

"Well sore the simple matter of every now and again you've got the random idiot that things it's a great idea to destroy the dungeon out of some misguided belief that doing so will rid the world of some great and terrible evil." Was Murray's exasperated response. "And that's not counting any random cults that might pop up. But anyway this actually leads into your new job!"

Xiaolian could only just stared like Murray was suddenly sprouting tentacles at this sudden revelation. It took Rachel waving her hand in front of her face to jolt her out of her shock. "What do you mean I have a job?!"

"It actually ties back into your cry for help. Because your cry was done in a Dungeon, it was able to be answered. However there are some things that can not be avoided, one of them being death herself. Considering you where on her doorstep the only way the Dungeon could feasibly save you was to bind your soul to itself. Now normally this would just result in your wounds being healed and after a 24 hour wait your soul would be unbound and you would bee free to go."

"What do you mean normally."

Before Murray could respond Rachel cheerfully responded "Well what ever your attacker did to your heart had a side affect when the Dungeon was healing you. Specifically your no longer fully alive but your also not dead, your in the middle so technically you are an undead."

"Ug... Rachel information overload." Murray said with a hand massaging his eyes.

"Sorry dad."

"Before you panic about your new statis Your only half undead specifically half willow-wisp. And as such the Dungeon can't unbind your soul because we don't know what that could do to you so instead you are now one of us in protecting the Dungeon from idiots." Murray calmly explained to help Xiaolian avoid panicking. "We can explain more but I think the soup has cooled down enough and we've delayed your breakfast long enough. We will be outside your door when your done."

And with that Murray picked up Rachel and left Xiaolian to her breakfast of fruit and soup.



Dressed in a simple but clean clothes Xiaolian slowly opened the door to see it opened on to a balcony that over looked an empty but large square room. With a quick look around Xiaolian found that Murray and Rachel where just a few feet to her right. Noticing her Murray beckoned her over before pulling out a metal hoop with multiple strange keys attached to it. "Before we actually give you a tour of the Dungeon, there is something you should be warned about."

"Oh uh what should I watch out for?"

"Well the true is that the Dungeon doesn't have a solid layout which can be attributed to what it is actually containing."

"What exactly is it containing?" Xiaolian asked after a blink of confusion.

"The exact nature is a bit hard to describe but the easiest explanation is a hole in reality that is allowing the lands of living to mix with the lands of the dead." Murray explained while looking for a specific key. "Now normally a Dungeon would have a strict layout where once 'room' is defined it will not be able to change niter the structure nor the location it is in."

"But this one can?"

"Exactly!" Rachel answered Xiaolian's guess. "Dad says that it prefers to only move the 'rooms' around and leaves how they look and act up to us!"

"Well most rooms, the entrance room, the one we are currently in, it keeps to itself on how it looks." Murray added while holing up a key that looked to be a mixer of glowing bronze and flowing honey. "Ah here we go, now do to the rooms constantly shifting the only quick way to get to your destination is with these keys. Otherwise you'll have to walk through the area which can take quite awhile depending on where you are trying to go."

"So where are we going?" Xiaolian asked as Murry used the selected key on a closed door.

"Why to introduce you the the other residents of course." With a gentle push the door opened to reveal a scene beyond Xiaolian's wildest imagination. Bronze pots and pans towered over her, multiple caldrons of immense size boiled with soups and broths that she could not even begin to describe the aroma that gently wafted towards her, fires that roared under unknow animals cadavers that threatened to set her mouth watering from how the meat sizzled and popped, and even simple bowls of fruit looked to have come from the havens themselves. As distracted as she was from such sites she barely registered Murray saying something.
 
My stopping point for the story was when the protagonist decided that he needed to get out of the situation where he was starting. This is normally where a story would start an arc or at least a few chapters about exploring the world, trying to figure out the guard routines, escaping and then deciding where to actually go. Have a plan, try it out, fail, make small incremental changes only the way someone who's undying can.

But instead he asks the system for a teleport and five seconds later he's where he wants to be. Killed my interest stone dead.

I personally felt that was a satisfying way to end the arc, based on the MC's change in emotional state and knowledge.
 
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Just wondering, have there been any stories written about MCs with unusually lifespans, where they don't

If you mean CN stories, many. The plot was very popular 2-3 years ago. Usually the protagonist would be transmigrated to a xianxia world as an immortal (a la lifespan) but mortal (a la cultivation). They'd hide themselves as they don't want to be dissected by high realm cultivators, and keep cultivating as eras changed and kingdoms rose and fell. They'd become a legend in folklore or history, etc.
 
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If you mean CN stories, many. The plot was very popular 2-3 years ago. Usually the protagonist would transmigrated to a xianxia world as an immortal (a la lifespan) but mortal (a la cultivation). They'd hide themselves as they don't want to be dissected by high realm cultivators, and keep cultivating as eras changed and kingdoms rose and fell. They'd become a legend in folklore or history, etc.

Oops. Accidentally posted that mid-writing.

My full question was, anyone know any Xianxia stories about MCs with unusually long lifespans for their cultivation level, where they don't go out of their way to hide their lifespans? I'm looking for a change of pace.
 
CN Xianxias... my experience is that they have horribly contrived endings, if they end at all. Authors who try to fix up a final 'enemy' or resolution and end up with something that feels extremely corny.

Oops. Accidentally posted that mid-writing.

My full question was, anyone know any Xianxia stories about MCs with unusually long lifespans for their cultivation level, where they don't go out of their way to hide their lifespans? I'm looking for a change of pace.

Yes. There's 大乾长生 by 萧舒. I think... it's interesting in small doses. Something I appreciate is that all characters (opponents included!) are made to be intelligent interesting or likeable personalities.

The magic system is an inelegant mess though. But that's all xianxia for you
 
Part of the issue is the basic premise of Xianxia is "constant growth forever."
Any limit is just the characters being ignorant.
Choosing to stop is cowardice.
So endings tend to be contrived (This time it's the final boss! For real! Not like all those others!) or kinda handwavy (And then he became totally awesome in ways I can't describe... because I ran out of ideas.)
 
Beware of Chicken has a bit on keeping a baby nameless for the first hundred years or so, partly due to high infant mortality rate. I figured the age thing was due to the age being set from the moment the waiting period ended.

First hundred days, not years. And IIRC that is an actual chinese/korean/finnish custom.


Imagine if it was 100 years for cultivators. First 100 years you go by the mortal name you were given at birth, but once you reach 100 years you're now above being Mortal and must pick a new name that exemplifies what you have achieved so far as you go from one state of existence to another. Same for 1000 years or upon reaching the cultivation rank that makes you immortal.
 
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