Shi Mu: The hero of this story, born in Yue Zhou, the Qi Heaven Country in Dong Zhou, the East Lands. Growing up in a fishing village, he had heavy features and sun-tanned skin; a persevering, righteous young man who stays clam in face of death and asserts his dignity before the upper class. Some strange blood was inhaled in an accident and consequently caused his body to mutate.

Xiang Zhu, the Little Pearl: The clam girl born with a talent for water-conjuring. She was saved by Shi Mu in the beginning chapters, hence she contaminated her Holy Pearl with the strange blood to cure Shi Mu from deadly wounds.

Ke Er: A conjurer scholar in Miao Yin, the Ethereal Phoenix Sect, her element is wood. She is a particularly skilled healer and is on good terms with Shi Mu.

The Worlds in the Story

＊The wasteland of the barbarous tribes

In the Eastern Lands:

The Heavenly Qi Country (Contains three sects: Tian Yin, the Unholy Hex sect; Miao Yin, the Ethereal Phoenix sect; Xuan Wu, the God of the Northern Sky sect);

Within Feng City there are many smaller “sects”: Black Fox, Luan Shui, and many others. I am going to call these “sects” gangs.

The Yan Fire Country (Contains two sects: Hei Mo, the Dark Demons sect; Feng Huo, the Wind and Fire sect).

＊Strange spaces that do not exist in this space where the heroes’ world is in. For example, the Dead Spirits Space.

Two Systems of Skills: Warriors and Conjurers

Warriors

＊Levels: Practitioner, Houtian Warrior, Xiantian Saint (Popular titles used among the people are Body Tempering, the Real Warrior and National Guardian). At current chapters it is known that an even higher level has appeared: the Earth Grade, named by the author probably to indicate the highest level as the Heaven Grade. However, the two grades are not specified yet.

Practitioner: Students learning the art of Body Tempering (They are divided into thirteen levels, from the beginner to the peak level).

Houtian Warrior: Practitioners who have sensed their qi and thus developed to the higher level, where they can practise their real qi (divided into three stages: beginning stage, intermediate stage and accomplished stage).

Xiantian Saint: After reaching a certain degree in their real qi practise, the Houtian warrior has developed a qi area in his lower abdomen and consequently arouses an inborn real qi inside his body. This way he becomes a Xiantian Saint able to separate his real qi from his physical body. Usually, he has a life expectancy twice as long as ordinary people and other warriors lower than his level.

The Earth Grade: Not specified yet in the novel, but is mentioned by the author to have four stages: the beginning, the intermediate, the advanced and the consummate.

＊Bloodline Warrior: A specially skilled group of warriors who are born with excellent bloodlines and have awakened the bloodline to master some skills peculiar to them. Hence they far surpass other scholars or warriors at their level who have no good bloodlines at all.

Bloodlines are classified into five characters (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth) , three general levels and nine grades in each level.

The Bloodline of the Stone Monkey: Not even eligible to enter the lowest level. Those who have this bloodline literally have no future as a warrior, the only benefit is a strong physical body with huge strength.

The Bloodline of the Phoenix Song: The Highest Level, Grade Three. Fit for practicing the Art of Ethereal Resonances.

Requisites for being an Magician: Spiritual instincts and sacred knowledge, without which one is unable to sense the indispensable powers of the five elements (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth).

Types of Magicians: Magicians of the five elements; a small number of Magicians of wind, thunder, ice, darkness, or light; Incantation Magicians skilled at magic charms; Magicians of magic formations; Magicians of alchemy and medicine-making; Magicians of manipulating puppets; Magicians of souls and spirits, who can communicate with creatures from other strange spaces via their own soul power.

The last type of Magician, the soul and spirits Magician, has three requisites to constructing a successful connection with the strange spaces: one, powerful creatures’ remains should be in the strange space at that time; two, the general coordinate of the space should be known; third, overpowering sense of space.

Arts

Definition: Art includes two part: cultivation and techniques. The former deals with qi-cultivation and body tempering, while the latter concerns skills, techniques and even tricks in actual combat. The two goes hand in hand and cannot be separated. Many high level arts contain the practice of cultivation and techniques at the same time.

Skills

Skills can be classified into several types according to their usages, for example, the attacking skills, defense skills and body skills. The practise of skills have four stages: beginning, intermediate, advanced, and consummate.

Skills for Practitioners:

Skills for Houtian Warriors:

Other skills include: The Blood Palm, The Golden Axe Leg, The Devil Fingers, The Arm-Wielding Fist , etc.

Cultivation

The Cultivation of Rock: This cultivation features a steadiness, and it needs no tools or weapons to practice. There are five levels to it, after finishing all of which one’s real qi cannot be advanced, but a real qi area can be developed in lower stomach. Therefore one can move on to the higher level of Xiantian. Fit for mediocre Houtian warriors.

The Secret Canon of Three yang : This cultivation belongs to the quality of yang and has three levels. The degree of difficulty in practicing it is average. This cultivation gives a Houtian warrior who practices it an overpowering real qi which can injure his enemy from inside the body. An accomplished level will develop a real qi area in lower stomach and lead up to Xiantian level. Fit for intermediate Houtian warriors with requisite resources.

The Cultivation of Heaven-Stirring Real Qi: This cultivation has a vigorous and simple quality, its difficulty average and no tools or weapons needed. There are seven levels, after finishing which one’s real qi can be deepened, helping to a small extent develop one’s real qi area and move on to Xiantian level. Fit for warriors less intelligent than average.

The Cultivation of Heaven Elephant: This cultivation features huge strength and it is quite simple to practice it, but the Bones-Tempering Pill is requisite. The accomplishment of each level from altogether the eleven levels gives a warrior who practices it a physical strength of one elephant. But the process of finishing all the levels is a long one which consumes a large investment of expensive pills. Not fit for well-equipped warriors.

Other choices include the Cultivation of Blood Waves, the Sutra of Blue Origin.

Cultivation for Bloodline Warriors:

The Art of Ethereal Resonances: One of the most powerful arts of the Ethereal Phoenix Sect. An accomplished level can lead the warrior to an even higher legendary level of the Earth Grade.

The Sutra of Red Ape: This cultivation belongs to the quality of yang, and was refined by imitating the ancient ape that could fly in the sky and exhaling fire from its mouth. The difficulty of practicing it is average, but a sacred land with the quality of fire is requisite, plus a large amount of yang pills and a bloodline of the apes. This sutra contains a cultivation of real qi with the quality of yang and two corresponding skills. Fit for highly intelligent Houtian warriors.

The Formula of Strong Ape: This cultivation is an inheritance from the ancient strong demon apes, and is a secret secondary art which enforces one’s body. It cannot be practiced solely: a corresponding art is requite. But the process of practicing it is very simple. The warrior who practices it must be born with any bloodline of the apes, and a Devil-Killing real qi is needed. There are nine levels to it, each mutating one’s bones and vessels to enhance physical strength. But the process is excruciating; the warrior will experience pains like a million knife cutting his skim. Fit for warriors of strong will.

Constitution

The Body of Thick Earth: a constitution well-known for its defensive force.

Qi Ling Pill: It can help Practitioners to acquire qi-sensing.

The Bones-Tempering Pill: The requisite pill to practice the Cultivation of Heaven Elephant.

The Spirit-Enhancing Pill: Can replenish a conjurer’s power instantly.

The Fertile Blood-Spirit Pill[A1] : The essence of a Blood Wind Tiger[A2] ’s blood is sealed inside the pill. Once a warrior successfully resists the bodily anguish after taking the pill he can grow new bones whenever he has a broken bone. Besides, large amounts of real qi of the quality of fire will also begin to grow inside his body, benefiting his future practice.

Animals

The Golden Hamster: or the Medicine-Searching Hamster, a commonly seen variation of the spotted mountain mice. Can inspire an inherent ability of finding some rare herbs after its hair turns golden all over the body.

Sacred Animals

Magic Charms

The Construction of a Magic Charm: Every charm has a corresponding essay to explain it. A conjurer needs to perceive the essay before he draws the charm on a piece of magic paper (Materials used to draw: magic brush, magic ink, magic paper). Next, he needs to instill his magic power into the charm.

The Usage of a Magic Charm: Save some magic power on the paper before conjuring. The power is easily awakened whenever one needs to use the magic charm.

Types of the Magic Charms: Charms of the Five Element, Charms of Other Qualities (for example, death-restoring charms, charms that can send a person to some place, charms that can make a person fly, etc).

Levels of the Magic Charms: Low, Average, High

Levels: Magic Tools (a weapon with a magic charm, usually much more powerful than ordinary weapons), Sacred Tools

The Black Ice Ruler: The most powerful weapon of the Tian Yin Sect

The Black Fire Tablet: A tablet used in the Black Demon Sect to obtain a book on a certain art.

The Blade of Moonlight Sea Chestnut: A magic tool successfully made by Shi Mu after overlaying ten magic formations on it. The blade is a bent blade of half chi, rather thin and bent as a new moon with a silver lustra. A secret weapon recorded in the Secret Arts of the Zhong Clan. Made of a special fragile metal that breaks when struck by force, hence emitting a formidable force that equals a Xiantian warrior’s one blow.