Xianxia – The Path to Immortality
Column by: Ananya Maddukuri
The Xianxia trope is currently one of the most popular genres in the world of Chinese Dramas. Entailing: handsome seniors or shixiongs the enigmatic shizun and the lovable shimeis; it is one of the most colourful genres of Chinese literature. It primarily originates from the various epics and myths such as ‘Journey to the West’ which follows the monkey-king Sun Wukong on his travels and the various challenges he faced.
The epic introduces the aspects of the cultivation world and the idea of immortals. Each Xianxia novel might have different ideas but they all essentially carry the same essence: People who cultivate and ascend to immortality. Xianxia also encompasses the supernatural, the fantastical and is filled with magic and action. It is akin to the high-fantasy of Western works and the superheroes of D.C. and Marvel rolled in one.
1 Shixiong. Refers to a male senior in the sect. Translates to Senior Sect Brother.
2. Shizun. A more respectful form of shifu. Translates to teacher. A guru.
3 Shimei. A female junior in the sect. Translates to Junior sect sister.
With the genre not having any fixed time-period or proper landscape, the description of its world is entirely based on the author’s imagination. Therefore, there is no limit to the expansiveness of its plot or limitations to its geography. The world-building is nothing like you’ve ever seen; ethereal vistas of nature inhibited by numerous distinctive sects, and the architecture that cannot be explained by science; things that are conventional in legends and myths. Adventures of our main characters include competitions, fighting powerful beasts, entering secret realms, receiving inheritances from bygone masters and unearthing powerful weapons and medicinal herbs.
Cultivation is the process of getting stronger through the practice of mystical or martial arts, thereby extending their lifespan while also gaining supernatural powers. The ultimate goal of cultivation is to attain immortality and ascend to the heavens. Most books have the ideology of Qi or life energy (This is probably something you’ve heard about in Kung Fu Panda) which must be accumulated inside the body to grow stronger and is most commonly done through meditative techniques. Cultivation stages identify a cultivator’s rank or quantify how strong he/she is.
It is best to imagine this as levelling up a video game character. How an author creates these stages is at their discretion. The importance of these stages is that, with each advancement in stage, the cultivator can get a new ability such as a stronger soul and also extend their life by a few hundred years or so.
Anyone can become a cultivator as long as they have ‘Spiritual roots’. Spiritual roots are like veins in the body but for Qi. Understandably, if you don’t have Spiritual roots, you cannot circulate Qi inside your body. Being a cultivator is not genetic. People with mortal parents can also become cultivators (Like muggle-born wizards in Harry Potter). A cultivator is anyone who practises cultivation techniques in order to become immortal.
Talent is very important in Xianxia. Cultivation takes hundreds of years and if you do not cultivate fast enough, you die doing so. The faster you cultivate, the more likely you are to become an immortal. Talent is quantified by the number of attributes your ‘Spiritual roots’ have. The attributes are often the five elements of the universe such as
fire, water, wood, metal (Sometimes gold), earth. The most talented individuals have one attribute and therefore have “Heavenly Spiritual Roots”. The less attributes you have, the more talented you are and faster the cultivation speed. The kind of spiritual roots determine the kind of martial skills you can use as well as the cultivation technique you practice. These are the main kinds of spiritual roots:
False Spiritual Roots - A mixture of four or five attributes.
True Spiritual Roots - A mixture of two or three attributes
Heavenly Spiritual Roots - A single attribute. A person having this spiritual root is very
rare.
Mutated Spiritual Roots - It is a spiritual root that doesn’t belong to any one attribute but
is evolved through a combination of any two or three attributes. Their cultivation speed is almost the same as that of one with Heavenly Spiritual Roots. However, it is not as rare as the latter.
The Xianxia world has multiple magical hidden realms, divine creatures and beautiful descriptions of landscapes.
Xianxia is heavily inspired by Chinese mythology and folklore and has a lot of interesting creatures such as demons, spirits and magical beasts. These beings can be gods themselves, a creature of mass destruction or marked for subjugation for resources. Magical beasts are animals capable of cultivation. They are more intelligent than normal animals and can even take on a human shape and can speak human languages if they have achieved a certain amount of cultivation. These beasts often have a core which is highly prized by cultivators as they can hasten the cultivation, drastically improve the cultivation base and are also used as medicinal and magical tools. Spirits are quite similar to the western idea of naiads and dryads– They are any part of nature that has gained a consciousness through the accumulation of qi and therefore even become very powerful beings. The cultivators are often divided or they belong to sects, clans and factions to whom they pledge allegiance. When they are in a sect, they are ‘disciples’ of that sect. The sects function as a sort of government as well as a school that teaches them martial arts and cultivation arts and provides them with resources.
Each of these sects have their own practices or defining cultivating techniques or martial arts. The sect is a hierarchical organisation with the patriarch at its apex and led by the Sect Leader. The Patriarch is the oldest member of the sect and is often not available for trivial things. The Sect Elders instruct their disciples in the cultivation or martial styles of the Sect; they often have their own strengths and each teach their own skills to the disciples. Skills the disciples learn vary and the kind of cultivation each cultivator does is based on their talent as well as their interest. Pill concocting, swordplay, and talisman-making are some disciplines disciples can learn. In some novels, disciples are divided into the Outer disciples and the Inner disciples. Apart from these two groups, there is the third group of Core disciples, who directly study under the Sect Elders or the Sect leader himself. Outer disciples are just good enough to enter the sect but they are not worthy enough to receive the more precious resources of the sect– knowledge and guidance from the Elders.
Good vs. Evil is a dominant theme in this genre. It is sort of like Indian mythology in that sense– the devas represent the “Dao” cultivators or the righteous and the asuras represent the “Devil” cultivators who pillage the innocent. The Dao cultivators help the innocent and are the archetypal “heros” who follow the “right” path and cultivate in a manner that does not harm others. The Devil cultivators on the other hand will do anything to cultivate faster, they do not mind harming thousands in the process. They sacrifice the souls of mortals/non-cultivators and are very willing to use dirty means to get their way including destroying other cultivators’ cultivation and taking their qi by force by using them as ‘human cauldrons’. Most main characters of novels are Dao cultivators but some do take the path of the Devil– taking revenge on all the people who have done them wrong. There is, in fact, no ‘right’ in the two sides, sometimes it is the Dao cultivators who are in the wrong and the ‘right’ side rests on the author’s moods and whims.
‘The Untamed’ is one of the most popular Chinese Television series.It is based on a Danmei named, “The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation” (Mo Dao Zu Shi) by the author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. It follows the story of Wei Wuxian, the founder of Demonic Cultivation who is besieged by the large sects due to his unorthodox way of cultivation. Heartbroken by his sister’s death, he takes his own life. He is reborn a decade later into the body of a gay ‘lunatic’. As he starts his journey with his pet donkey, he somehow ends up in the hands of Lan Wangji– his comrade in his previous life. After their reunion, they go on a quest to solve the mystery of a severed hand which is somehow linked to the death of Wei Wuxian. This action-packed romance is one of the best Xianxia novels with phenomenal world building and plot– full of twists and turns– focusing on a war, genocide and its terrible effects as well as the reason for Wei Wuxian’s death.
The next Xianxia novel I want to introduce is ‘I Have Medicine’ by Fallen Clothing Becomes Fire. It is one of my favourite novels for world-building. It is a more traditional Xianxia novel of cultivating to immortality in comparison to MDZS (How fans call ‘The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation’). Our protagonist, Gu Zuo transmigrated from the modern world into the cut-throat Xianxia world. In this particular novel, cultivators are divided into two: Martial artists and Pharmacists. Martial artists are like any ordinary cultivator while Pharmacists have almost no skills to protect themselves but have the ability to concoct pills. The primary physical difference between the two is that Pharmacists have medicinal beads in their palm, which allow them to refine pills. Gu Zuo obtained a Medicine Refining System– an AI that needs a host to complete its mission– that helps him learn about concocting pills. Having no ingredients to create pills, he finds a guardian in Gongyi Tianheng, a sickly yet intelligent young master of a prominent Clan. As Gu Zuo heals Gongyi Tianheng, they both embark on a journey to immortality.
This BL novel has amazing world-building (Good things must be repeated multiple times), battles, wonderful characters and a slow burn romance.
Xianxia thus is a vast sea and quite frankly, still growing. If you find it in yourself to do it, take a plunge– and you will be unable to extricate yourself.
Columnist: Ananya Maddukuri
Sub Editor: S. Jyothyshree
Image: Pinterest