An Fei's Cultivation

## Cultivation

Since the Shattering of her soul, An Fei does not belong to any classification of race, nor is she exactly a mortal or Immortal Being. As such, although the Eternal Sanctum does force her through the rigors of mortal cultivation during her journey throughout the Shattered Star Continent, her experiences are far different than that of ordinary mortal cultivators.

As later revealed through her encounters and conflicts with the remnant shards of her own soul, An Fei is a unstable mixture between the Sanctuary and herself. The most noticable byproduct is that as a mortal, she is unable to truly die, but instead loses a particular nature (sight, hearing, sense of touch, language), upon each death. Each time after she dies, her soul fails to enter the Underworld Bridge, preventing it from entering the cycle of reincarnation as mortal souls should.

An Fei's cultivation progresses by itself as time passes; this is due to the Sanctuary constantly pushing against the boundary of the mortal world, and siphoning a small portion of the benefits to her. Usually, the process of transfer begins during the evening when An Fei enters the Sanctuary and concludes when she leaves, but can spill over into the mortal world if the benefits have accumulated to a certain extent. Often, this occurs at the most unopportune time, the most critical being her unexpected breakthrough into the Bastion Pillar of the Spirit Building Realm in the middle of a nightly winter rain in Bei Tang that almost cost her life.

Other unique aspects of An Fei's progression in mortal cultivation is the ability to directly consolidate a Pillar instead of progressing through the intermitent "stages", or phases before consolidation. Other than the Body Tempering Realm that was gradually consolidated as it required An Fei to physically exercise her body, the remaining cultivation Realms are progressed per Pillar. She skipped over the Foundation Establishment Realm entirely, and the Sanctuary bestowed her both the Twelve Standard Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, the latter constituting the altars for the envoys of the Ten Disciplinary Channels to reside in. Other than the most basic of supplementary effects, An Fei doesn't receive an expended capacity for spiritual essence, and is in fact lower than an ordinary post-Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator due to the mortal world's constant suppression.

When she advances to the Core Formation Realm, An Fei's heart is replaced with a crystalline sphere, not unlike that of the Heart's Crystal Stone that constitues the Eternal Sanctum.

## Martial Arts Techniques

The existence of the Compendium of the Realm, the Archives of Time, An Fei has a near unlimited supply of martial arts techniques for both mortal and immortal's usage. This amount continues to increase as Immortals create new techniques and Compendium records them through his Construct; the lack of instruction and guidance, however, causes An Fei to make several rash decisions that greatly harm her combat abilities, and forces her into overflow when she uses certain martial arts techniques even a single time - namely, the <Heavenly Talisman>.

Her progression in the martial arts techniques (and cultivation techniques) that she did select, however, are:

#### Heavenly Talisman

A martial arts technique created by An Fei prior to the incident at the Altar of God. Designed to emulate the infinite prowess of the Creator, the technique instills a condition into one's Construct to impart all vocalized words through the Divine Script - thus creating miracles through speech.

**"Invoke Manifestation"**

Invoke Manifestation is the direct method of activating and utilizing the Heavenly Talisman. The technique brings into reality an envisioned effect or imagined phenomenon through the sheer influence fo their Construct and mastery of the Divine Script, and affixes permanent spatial and temporal coordinates in the Realm. Due to the requirement of a permanent existence following the invocation of the technique, however, the caster must be capable of subconsciously denouncing all objections without any hesitation or wavering in their Construct - a requirement that can only be fulfilled by either the most ignorant or God.

The Heavenly Talisman initialized through Invoke Manifestation can consume not a single iota of divine essence of an Immortal, or deplete their entire reserves in a single incantation depending on their development of "ignorance". When utilized through spiritual essence, An Fei can barely conjure a single-word phenomenon even with the Sanctuary's constant assistance and supply of spiritual essence.

**"I came; I saw; I record!"**

An Fei's alternative method of invoking the Heavenly Talisman, utilizing a close derivative of the talisman-producing techniques of the mortal Shattered Star Continent. The technique accesses her memories of certain phenomenon and objects she wishes to manifest, and brings them into reality utilizing her memories as a catalyst to supplement the necessary information required should she opt for the proper method of activation. As such, An Fei can produce any item or phenomnon she remembers, but each succesive cast of the Heavenly Talisman through this alternative method blurs the memories it relies upon until they are reduced to mere bits of information; the succesive phenomenon produced are weaker than their predecessors.

Though this method allows An Fei to easily bypass the absurd requirement of spiritual essence and mental processing, she cannot create anything that exists as a figment of imagination, and is limited by her experiences.

The longest worded phenomenon An Fei could invoke in the Realm was sixteen words. In mortal worlds where she is heavily restricted, An Fei can only manage up to a maximum of six words.

#### Shadow Dance

A martial arts technique created by a relatively unknown Immortal who desired to escape all forms of pain. Operating upon an alternative interpretation of the concept of shadows, the technique allows its user to isolate themselves from their surrounding environment, rendering them impervious to any incoming attacks - expect those empowered by the Divine Script.
The Shadow Dance has three primary forms to complement its nature of concealment and invulnerability, as well as a means of offense:
Step of Underlying Shadow
Midnight Veil
Dance Upon Shadows
The first is a complement of the concept of ultimate defense and concealment, whereas the second and third are more direct means of attack - ranged and close-quarters.
An Fei perused this technique at the initial start of her cultivation, but ultimately couldn't progress for a significant portion of her journey due to her overwhelmingly conflicting choices of the Heavenly Talisman and Calligraphy.

##### Step of Underlying Shadow

The **Initial Three Points** of the technique are as follows:

"The essence of a shadow is to form a distorted reflection of an attributed object or entity, and to conceal oneself within a target's field of interference. As an object moves within space, the shadows follow but at a distorted angle within the natural degree, mimicking all traces of spiritual fluctuation and perception."

The **Five River Stones:**

"All objects and entities possess a certain perimeter of transformation spanning from their core. This perimeter, upon contact with other living existences or solitary objects, merges a portion of both parties' fates, hance creating an interference. The magnitude of the amount of conjoined fate or the specific target's perimeter of transformation varies between each existence of creation."

The **Small River** and **Large Rive**r:

"The first purpose of a shadow is to mimic! Mimic the personality, habits, actions, and even the original consciousness of the target! Merge into their field of influence as to prevent their detection and interference!"

"A shadow is the region in which light is obstructed relative to its surroundings. It is also described as the subconsciousness of living beings - as the dormant processes of the soul."

Finally, the **Consolidation**:

"Shadows exist independently of any specific Construct, nor are they constrained by the boundary of creation and nihility. As proponents of the void's nature of duplicity and mirrored identity, shadows are indestructible from any means."

Mastery over the Initial Three Points of the Steps of Underlying Shadow grant the ultimate protection against all physical attacks. Opponents become unable to direct targeted attacks or deliver any physical impacts towards the user whilst the technique is in effect. The Five River Stones provide an indefinite concealment of one's presence during the activation and sustainment of the technique through infiltrating into the target's field of influence. The user's presence is rendered as part of the world and is unable to be recognized as an individual entity, allowing An Fei to walk underneath her enemies' noses without being recognized. To receive the full effects, however, the technique must be activated through any nature of divine essence - which can be accomplished by attaining a nullification phenomenon from fusing pure Yang attributed spiritual essence and Yin attributed spiritual essence in an equal ratio.

The Small and Large Rivers respectively extend the nullification of incoming damage towards any attack empowred by spiritual essence and divine essence respectively, making up for the preceeding realm's weaknesses against the cultivators' martial arts techniques beyond the Foundation Establishment Realm. Upon attaining Consolidation, the martial arts technique can be called through its Construct instead of manually processing the information, saving the user much time in concealing their presence or nullifying attacks. Though the Steps of Underlying Shadow cannot nullify attacks empowered by the Divine Script, it can mitigate a large portion depending on the user's Authority.
An Fei began studying this technique from her inital entrance into the path of mortal cultivation. However, she doesn't manage to truly understand and comprehend its contents, causing her to not receive the full range of benefits her meridians are sufficiently developed to constantly house Xilong's presence.

#### Golden Lotus of Establishment

A completed cultivation technique native to the Shattered Star Continent. An Fei obtained this as a part of a consolidatory gift from the elders of the Three Lotus Sect of Jiang'an's Sun and Moon Pavilion, amongst many others. As it is a completed cultivation technique, it possesses its unique set of martial arts techniques that emphasize the cultivation technique's greatest strengths and benefits to the limit. The maximum attainment in cultivation that is feasible through the Golden Lotus of Establishment is the Late Nascent Soul Realm.
The Golden Lotus of Establishment's primary method of cultivation is through the fusion of two distinct attributes of spiritual essence into a neutralized mixture. The neutralized form of spiritual essence is created through the combination of vastly different attributes of spiritual essence and concentrated in a particular acupuncture point - the major proponents being Yin and Yang - which is then stored in the cultivator's dantian, or perpetually circulating through the meridians.

The spiritual essence of different attributes must be of foreign origin comparable to the cultivator's physique, or represent two vastly different procedures in accomplishing a certain action. The former method produces a certain amount of spiritual essence devoid of any particular attribute and can be utilized freely with any martial arts technique. The latter, on the other hand, would retain specific attributes and properties relevant to the action envisioned, and any effects produced through such spiritual essence only seek to accomplish producing the envisioned action.

Each combination of spiritual essence produces a lotus petal, and eighteen of such petals produces a layer; the technique can support up to a maximum of eight layers, producing a completed total of a hundred and forty-four petals at the culmination of the Late Nascent Soul Realm. Spiritual essence to be utilized for executing martial arts techniques are either channeled through a layer or a single petal; the former generates phenomena of greater intensity, whereas the latter allows for multiple martial arts techniques to be executed simultaneously. At its peak, the cultivator can execute eight martial arts techniques to their fullest capacity, or a hundred forty-four with diminished strength. The Golden Lotus of Establishment does not have any integrated means of reducing consumption of spiritual essence.
The martial arts techniques unique to the Golden Lotus of Establishment are:

* Severing Flowers - External manifestation of spiritual essence in the form of lotus petals. The petals are shot forwards in a frontal, indiscriminate attack - the range and strength of which is determined by the amount of spiritual essence invested and the number of petals formed.
* Chalice - External manifestation of spiritual essence in the form of a lotus flower. The flower is multiple times the size of the cultivator, and the petals serve as a means of physical defense. The maximum size projected is three times the cultivator's size.
* Golden Detonation - Spiritual essence converged into the form of lotus petals, which are then scattered across an area. Upon the cultivator's command, the petals are recalled and converge onto a single point to detonate to inflict an indiscriminate attack of spiritual essence. The external overflow of spiritual essence can disrupt the channeling of martial arts techniques, inflict harm onto the meridians via causing instability in the circulation of spiritual essence, or cause the atmospheric spiritual qi to be stripped away from the area for a limited period of time.
* Sacrifice - The cultivation base within a lotus petal or layer is projected out of the body to deliver a direct attack onto the opponent's soul, or defend against an incoming attack, regardless of its attribute. The sacrificed cultivation base cannot be recovered and must be generated from the beginning once again.

#### Calligraphy

A martial arts technique created by a Royal Immortal of the Realm who existed prior to the formation of the Divine Palace. It seeks to replicate the miracles and phenomena created through direct implementation of the Divine Script in a conventional method bridging divine essence as the primary consumed resource. The intensity of the miracles or phenomena produced are significantly weaker than those generated through the Divine Script, but the sheer convenience and accessibiltiy of the technique provide sufficient advantages.

The technique is executed by transforming a symbolistic element related to the phenomenon in question into a form of calligraphy - either performed by pen or sword. The motions must be recognized by the opponent either through their perception or subconsciousness, which completes the prerequisite of attaining the acknowledgement necessary to cause a miracle to generate in fruition. The user of the technique then gathers the surrounding divine/spiritual essence to provide the resources necessary to generate the phenomenon - removing the abnormal consumption of divine essence imposed should one attempt to supplmement a miracle through the Divine Script.
As it prioritizes reducing the consumption of resources in generating a miracle, the technique primarily focuses on forcing the opponent to recognize a symbolistic element corresponding to the phenomenon in question. Although the direct perception of the opponent does not need to recognize the element of symbolism, it must be within a language or writing implement that is understood by both parties; the technique is mostly ineffective against the blind and abnormally ignorant.
Even with the mitigated requirement of resources imposed onto the user of the technique, An Fei is immediately thrown into a prolonged state of overflow at a single use of the martial arts technique as she must rely upon spiritual essence and the atmospheric spiritual qi, which are both limited to definite amounts in quantity. As such, in the process that she utilizes Calligraphy, all of her defenses are crippled - even the Step of Underlying Shadow.

#### Hemorrhage

A martial arts tecnique created by an unamed Royal Immortal of the Realm, whose particular origins are obscured in the passing of time. The martial arts technique incorporates the Construct of [Hemorrhage] in every iteration of combative movement through subliminal substitution of the foundational core that forms intelligent beings - the written language. By declaring that all characters, strokes, and forms within a language can be comprised of the Divine Script's character for [Hemorrhage], the technique forces its Construct to materialize at each use of any martial arts technique employed by the user.
A single strike that draws blood shall draw the vitality, the soul, and fate of the victim.

#### Blasphemy

A martial arts technique created by the Demon Palace of the Realm as a means of disrupting the channeling of martial arts techniques of the opponent through the displacement of subliminal messages and spiritual impressions meant as constant distractions. The subliminal messages are directed towards the act of profaning the soul to turn upon itself by influencing it to contradict most of its inherent beliefs, and can cause the Heart Demons of mortals to increase in ferocity.