Cultivation

**Spoiler warning!** This CULTIVATION LEVEL PAGE describes an entity or event from untranslated chapters of **Otherworldly Evil Monarch**.

## **Cultivation**

Xuan Xuan Continent martial artists are dedicated to the cultivation of Xuan Qi. In contrast to Earth's True Qi, the Xuan Qi method caters to bursts of energy. The principles of Xuan Qi cultivation were introduced into Xuan Xuan Continent by Nine Nether First Young Master, 10,000 years before the story develops.

The inborn talent of a cultivator is ranked by a number from 1 to 9, where 9 is strongest, and is associated to a color, more saturated for each step. The hue changes from Red to Purple to Black for each 3 stages.

A person's age is of consequence. An average person can live for about sixty to eighty years as long as there's no accident. A Xuan expert can live to an average of hundred years, and a Sky Xuan peak expert will live from hundred-fifty years to two-hundred years. However, this is only true as long as the individual hasn't met with any serious accidents...

## Xuan Qi

Xuan Qi can delay aging, enhance physical strength, make people live longer, move mountains and drain seas, call the winds and summon the rains… with it, you can do anything you want!

## Information

### Spirit Xuan

Can also be referred to as Divine Profound realm. After a cultivator attains the Spirit Xuan level, its realm will become colorless. Spirit Xuan is divided in 12 steps, each one with their own bottleneck. The bottlenecks after Ranks 4, 8 and 12 are exceptionally fierce, and represent the breakthroughs into Supreme = ['Great Master'] (from Rank 5-8), Superior Supreme (from Rank 9-12) and Venerable existences, respectively.

Once reaching Supreme Realm, a cultivator will become a top existence in the eyes of the common people, and are likely to be silently recruited by the Three Sacred Lands, thereafter abandoning the rest of the world to work their way up from the bottom in these organizations.

### Venerable

After a cultivator achieves Venerable realm, every single breakthrough will result into a test from a Heaven and Earth phenomenon. Failure to pass this test will result in death.

Venerable realm is divided into 4 steps. To break into the 2nd Step, the cultivator must defeat their **Heart Demon**. To break into the 3rd Step, the cultivator must resist the **Purgatory of the Seven Emotions**. To break into the 4th Step, and every single step afterwards, the corresponding test is the **Thunder Tribulation**.

### Saint

Saint realm is divided into a total of 16 steps, equally distributed between proper Saint, Saint Emperor, Saint Venerable and Saint Monarch. After each of these breakthroughs, the cultivator must face the Thunder Tribulation.

If a Saint Emperor dies in battle, there is a chance for their Spirit Seed to flee. If it finds a pregnant woman, they will be able to be reborn, keeping their memories. Similarly, if an expert of Saint Venerable rank or above dies, their Nascent Soul will flee.

### Thunder Tribulation

After an Expert breaks through, they will face the prestige of Heaven and Earth in the form of the Thunder Tribulation. The Tribulation Clouds will gather and discharge 9 rounds of lightning towards the head of the cultivator. The discharges are hard to evade, and each round is more powerful than the previous one. If someone fails this test, their body will burn down to ashes, and their soul will be extinguished.

If other people are nearby, the power of the Thunder Tribulation will leverage to the strongest cultivator, and there will be additional rounds. In the history of the Xuan Xuan Continent, trying to get someone stronger to help has always resulted in the deaths of all the participants.

### Ascending the Heaven

Breaking into the Half-Sage realm requires the cultivator to Return to the Natural State. When someone is ready to face this test, their eyes will become windows into the cosmos for onlookers.

To achieve the Sage realm, the cultivator must become qualified as a person. Thereafter, unlocking the Heaven Secret allows them to travel the cosmos.

## Trivia

* Initially, another rank was intended to stand between Saint and Saint Emperor. This rank is referred to as "Saint King" (shènwáng); however, it's later scraped in the novel. It can be speculated that the original intended progression was Saint -> Saint King -> Saint Emperor -> Saint Venerable -> Half-Sage.

* When Xuan Qi cultivation was first introduced in the Xuan Xuan Continent, the Supreme realm was known as "Knowledge Venerable" (zhī zūn). However, due to the Three Sacred Lands' recruitment process, it degenerated into "Supreme" (zhìzūn).

* Xuan Energy Transformation -
	+ Mortal Xuan - Gaseous Energy
	+ Spirit Xuan - Liquid Energy
	+ Supreme - Crystal Energy
	+ Superior Supreme - Nebula Energy
	+ Venerable - Spirit Energy
	+ Saint - Saint Energy
	+ Sage - World Energy