Cultivation

Before say this idea of mine, forged using that little knowledge obtained from the manhua I follow, I want to explain a couple of things

WHAT IS CULTIVATION
"Cultivation" is a process where a being train its mind, soul and body via certain exercises that combined with the absorbing and refining of environmental energy prolong its life, strenght the body and make one stronger, people that practice cultivation are called "Cultivators".

One of the pillars of cultivation is the understanding of the principle of the universe and that form everything that exist, understanding such principles, that sometimes are called Rules or Laws, make one able to progress its cultivation and become stronger.

WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF CULTIVATION ?
In basically the 95% of the manhua I follow till now the ultimate goal is basically always to become an immortal and reach godhood... in other terms one basically start to cultivate for become a god/ess

ANYONE CAN CULTIVATE ?
Here the first step... in theory anyone can cultivate BUT in manhua the first thing is always mentioned is "talent" and so you can say that cultivation is not something any person can do if a minimun of talent is present and in various manhua when you talk of talent you speak of what is called "spiritual root".

As one can imagine from the name, a "spiritual root" is some kind of foundation and in fact, in a figurative way, is the base of one talent.

In certain manhua it seemed something physical but I can't say for sure if is really something like that or not because it depend on the translation of it and from how the author of the story setted the thing.

About the spiritual roots I need to say that in some cases it can be a "special" one that basically increase talents in certain fields, for example a special root can increase the talent with certain attributes, like a ice root that increase the talent for ice based arts, or other fields like alchemy.

Aside the spiritual root there are other two factor that cultivation manhua always name and they are "fate/destiny" and "luck"... this two topic are very important in cultivation as sometimes they are main column of cultivation and both of them self explain themself but let me explain them


 * Luck, this is important in cultivation since for advance sometimes certain encounters and finding are usefull, for example find a herb that improve the cultivation or encounter an old master that with a simple hint make the cultivator advance and break the bottleneck are considered luck
 * Fate & Destiny, this too is an important factor and in some works is show that is possible calculate the destiny and future of a person... me use the term calculate and not another one is not a case since in cultivation manhua I saw that while some see the future other instead make a logic like calculation of future events, like predict the movement of a person using math.

HOW MUCH A CULTIVATOR CAN LIVE ?
This is not clear, is common say that the lifespan of cultivators exceed the one of normal humans but the various authors give different rates, for example a cultivator that reach a certain level of cultivation can live for 500 years while another cultivator from another authos, at the same level, can live for 200 more or less.

Fun fact about this is that cultivators can enter in deep states of meditation for long periods of time and don't starve, it seems that in certain cases they don't need to eat for long time if they don't are physically active.

I DON'T SEE OFTEN CULTIVATORS EAT, WHY IS THAT ?
With the progression of the cultivation the body require less things for work and this mean that cultivators, with the advance of their cultivation, need less sleep, food and drink and for this reason is pretty normal don't see cultivators.

I remember that I saw in a manhua that it was said that cultivators don't really sleep at some point but instead enter in meditation and spend their night like that.

WHEN A CULTIVATOR START ITS PATH?
Cultivation is a very long path that take centuries if not more and usually cultivators start when they are young due to their family or sect push them to start doing that.

The main problem in give an age for cultivators to start is that this type of things go in conflict with what science tell use and I refer to physical training... some people may don't know this but in humans muscles start to really develop in puberty (we talk of a period that generally start at 10-11 for girls and 11-12 for boys) but in manhua you can see people of that age have already a good muscle mass... the real problem of manhua is that most of the characters seems older of what they really are so one may end not understanding ages but let me give you a more simple example...

The two girls you can see in the pict are Ye Zi Yun and Xiao Ning'er, this two girls are characters that come from the manhua called "Tales of Demons and Gods", the pict you see was made by me using window's snapping tool and than using paint for put them in that position and write the arrows and names.

If you look at them you may think that they are 15 or maybe 16 years old... wrong, the pict you see are take in a part of the story where they are 13 years old... I live near an elementary and middle school and I don't remember see students so well developed...

As you can see from this example the appearance is a jail bait... anyway, in manhua cultivators are usually saw training from young age and the main reason is that the first step into cultivation are always physical training.

In the end the initial question was when start so I believe that the best answer would be around 10 but this is my opinion.

CAN YOU GIVE ME SOME OF THE MOST COMMON USED TERMS THAT WE CAN SEE IN MANHUA ?
I can but keep in mind that people that don't know how read chinese can only see the english terms and sometimes they are translated in different ways so is possible that what you see in a manhua is named in a different way in another.


 * Cultivation Method, is basically a single exercise or a collection of various that make one cultivate.
 * Cultivation Base, it refer to how muc Qi one have.
 * Manual, it can be a scroll or a book, is basically a detailed set of instruction for cultivate they are very precious
 * Dantian, is basically a central part of the cultivation and of a cultivator and is a place where the Qi concentrate itself in the body, in theory one have 3 dantian that are located one between the eyebrows that is called Upper Dantian, one at the level of the heart called Middle Dantian and one below the navel that is called Lower Dantian... normally in manhua we found a simplified version and only the lower one is mainly nominated
 * Meridians, they are the vessel inside the body that are used by the Qi for flow inside.
 * Acupoints, this term refer to the places where needles are used while doing acupuncture, this practice is medical in nature and can be used for heal injuries, unlock blocks and so on.
 * Impurities, this is something that we can say is disgusting, basically a cultivator need to purify its body and when he do this the result is the release of black smelly substances that normally come out from the skin like is sweat but I remember that in a work the character puked it.
 * Breath, this is used for sign time, that in theory is one second, and in other ways... for example I saw that one that is able to conceal or alter its breath can pass unnoticed and even trick others making oneself appear weaker.
 * Incense Stick, this is used for both indicate the item itself and as a way for indicate time, from my researches it seems that one stick in that environments burn for a max of 15 minutes so if in a manhua you see someone talk of do something in less then half incense stick than it mean that that person took around 7 minutes for do that something.
 * Meditation, cultivator usually enter in state of meditation for cultivate their spirit and mind trying to progress and understang the laws of the universe, usually they assume a pose where they sit in a cross-legged meditative position. It happen that cultivator enter a "closed door state" where they basically shut themself inside a room and meditate, this process is very long and sometimes they can come out of their hole after months.
 * Inner Demon, they are negative emotions inside the heart of a cultivator that slow or prevent any type of progress, for example if one is betrayed and is traumatized as conseguence then the trauma will become a inner demon that will create problems to the point that can even lead to death in the worst cases.
 * Deviation, cultivation it can be a dangerous path since if a mistake is made, like practice an incomplete methodor succumb to a inner demon, then the cultivator can become a mad person or die to the mistake.
 * Bottleneck, is basically a block that a cultivator reach that prevent it to advance, in various works this blocks can be removed using medicinal pills or after reaching certain understanding that are called enlightenment... think it this way, you are playing a puzzle game but you get stuck on a riddle (you play a game = a cultivator that cultivate ; you get stuck in a riddle = the practioner reach a bottleneck).
 * Star, in the manhua I saw till now with the term "star" they usually refer to what we call "planets"... the main problem is how they are represent because while in some cases they are spherical like our earth in other they are like... have you ever see a flying island in an anime, where it seems something like a mountain reversed with the top point down? in some manhua I saw worlds represented like that.
 * Realm, I saw this term used for indicate two different things in different works... in the first case the term is used for indicate the various "levels" of cultivation while in others it refer to something akin what occidental can call pocket dimensions
 * Nascent Soul, in some cultivation stories this is a realm that a cultivator can reach where it create an infant like form that is present inside the dantian, if the cultivator is supposed to die then is possible transfer its coscience inside the infant and survive... in some cases I saw that the cultivator with time can recreate its body but I saw too that a nascent soul cultivator can enter inside another cultivator and take possession of its body.
 * Weapon Intent, this term is used for indicate the strenght a weapon cultivator show and use
 * Special Constitution, with this term, not always used in all the works anyway, is basically a special body that a person can have, of them I saw that there are basically 3 types that are one that can be used for help others (mean that the special trait is usefull only for other people and not for the owner itself), one that power help the owner and one that

HOW MUCH PATHS THERE IS IN THE FIELD OF CULTIVATION ?
With path I refer how much ways there are for ascend to godhood and in various works it was always said that there is an unlimited number of path

WHAT IS A SECT?
Sects are basically schools where people enter and learn various things.

In various works I saw that most of the sects teach only about cultivation but I saw some works that sects teach other things that are not related to cultivation like the history of the land where the sect is or even the story of their world... this are simple examples but one need to think that the people there have to learn something in a way or another and this mean that they must have someone that teach that things, obviously rich people can hire a teacher but there is a limit to what a student can learn from a teacher of from its own family but this depend from case to case.

Contrary to the scholastic systems of our world each sect differ from each other and so while some follow the research of a specific path other may be more variable, for put this whole story in another way think like the sects as martial schools... some teach judo, some krav maga while others teach both kung fu and aikido, some teach the way of a single type of sword while others specialize in the use of a single type of attribute like fire of water.

Now an aspect that is never explained in cultivation manhua or is not very clear... since they are schools then from where the founds and resources come out? this is a quite basic and natural question and the answer is that I'm not sure of this so I'll give a little list of possible incomes the sects have:


 * Donations, rich families sometimes give some donations to sects so that their children are accepted as students
 * Alchemy, if the sect have a class about alchemy then is possible that eventual pills made by them and not necessary are sold or exchanged
 * Missions, each sect have a territory and the disciples do missions for the sect and normally we see them complete the task and obtain credits to use in the sect or changed for money so is possible that the tasks disciples do are jobs from settlements close to them.
 * Competitions, various times sects are invited to take part of various types of competitions and so the reward is included but is natural think that sometimes something is gave so that the sect partecipate in the event

HOW MUCH TYPE OF CULTIVATOR THERE ARE?
This is a tricky question since there are various type of cultivators, here I'll try to lit the main ones but before line them I want to line the main 2 type of cultivators that are the normal ones and the evil ones.

The main difference between this 2 types is that evil cultivators are basically violent cultivators that are ready to hurt and kill people for increase their cultivation, as example I can say that in a cultivation manhua I saw a woman that attracted and killed men for take their blood and increase her own cultivation, while normal cultivators don't do that.

After said this I can start to talk about the various type of cultivators:


 * Body Cultivators, this type spend its time and resources cultivating physical arts... I think that if I want to use a Class as reference then I have to talk about Brawler that is one that basically punch and kick using physical strenght but don't really use special and magical techniques.
 * Weapon Cultivator, this type train itself in the use of a single weapon understanding its principle and its essence, in manhua most of the time there are entire sects that revolve around the learning of a weapon.
 * Martial Cultivator, this type of cultivator is basically the balanced one where it learn the use of martial arts and weapon arts but focus more in the martial section.

HOW ALCHEMY IS APPLIED IN CULTIVATION MANHUAS ?
When we talk of alchemy in a way we need to forget what we know of our alchemy and remember an important notion that is in cultivation manhua alchemy is mainly showed be used in pill making.

Before I said that is mainly used so, after look around various works, I can say that alchemy is mainly used in:


 * 1) Pill Making, in cultivation manhuas pills are very important medicines that cultivators use for various purposes like heal injuries, recovery and advance their cultivation... funny thing is that all the pills they made are all spherical.
 * 2) Artifact Making, from the name someone can think the wrong thing so I want to explain that what in cultivation manhua are called "artifact" the same thing can be called "magical tool" using occidental terms

Despite the creation of pills is widely show in cultivation manhua, I want to point that the making of artifacts is rarely show and that when this happen it show only the MC using jade for make pendants inscribing in it a formation.

For talk about what is used in alchemy I'll copy paste what I saw in the chapter 148 of a manhua called Magic Emperor:

"Alchemy requires at least 3 things: Cultivation, Technique, and Flame.

Cultivation determines the extent and duration of their control of the fire.

Each family keep their alchemy technique a secret.

The flame determines the degree of refinement of the ingredients."

From this sentence is possible extract the main elements used in alchemy so let me show you them one by one:


 * Cultivation, in this case it basically involve the stamina one have and use, I remember that I saw an alchemist say that certain pills require hours for be made and from this one can understand why stamina is need
 * Technique, like martial arts it seems there are various ways for practice alchemy but in the various works I saw is not like all the methods are explained so I can't really tell you a some examples I saw... the only one I can do is one where I saw the alchemist basically burn all the ingredients, focus them in the hand and then crush them for then open his hand and reveal the pill under the eyes of the others that was asking what method that was.
 * Flame, in various cultivation manhua, expecially the ones where alchemy is a good element of it, is possible found various type of flames where one is more powerfull of another to the point where they are even listed and ranked... I remember that there is one with 23 flames with names like "bone chilling flame" and "fallen heart flame"... anyway, when we talk of pills the power of the flame is not only used for "cook" the ingredients but for refine them removing impurities, extracting the essence and things like that, I think we can say that the fire is like a medium that is used for various purposes and obviously you need to have a good control of it otherwise you'll end burning the materials.

In alchemy arrays are used for help the production or are part of the final product too... for example I saw that an artifact was created using a sword and than put an ice array in it so that it will boost ice based attacks

WHAT IS AN ARRAY?
An array, that in some works is called "formation", is something that an occidental can consider similar to a magical formation and they can be done in various ways and I say this due to the fact that not only I saw it using formations draw somewhere but I saw too using people and items as "pillars" for the formation itself.

Every array is different and can have different effect, as for now I saw arrays used as protection, for trigger traps, for attract and absorb aura, for offensive and defensive purposes.

Arrays are used in various fields and one of those is pill making where arrays are used for increase the chance of make a superior pills or control fire, I saw the latter in a manhua where the MC went to an alchemist association and used an array for fire control, in that same chapter it was explained that the use of the array is mainly for less the burden on the alchemist that than can focus on making the pill.

As one can think, thanks to my example of western magic circle as references, arrays can be simple or complicated, in a manhua I saw a defective artifact that had semplified version of ice and fire based arrays that went in conflict weakening the artifact itself

WHAT TYPE OF WEAPONS ARE PRESENT IN CULTIVATION MANHUAS?
Manhua present a good pool of weapons but the most classic one we can found are sword, saber, spear and staff while the others are: -  Fan 

The one you see as reference is a bladed fan I found on internet using google and it should be a bladed fan used by the character named Kitana from Mortal Kombat

I saw fan being used as weapons, in some cases this fans had hidden needles that are shooted toward a target, in some cases they were poisoned, while in other cases I saw bladed fans that are fans with blades that make them able to cut.

-  Whip 

I refer to the classical whip you can found around, I saw this weapon mainly be used by women but in some cases men too. -  Chui 

The ones in the pict were found using google

This type of weapon is a melee one where a metal sphere is attached to a rod and is used for inflict damages, I mainly saw them normally being used as pair but I saw a manhua where a little girl use a single one... obviously the weapon is bigger then her...

Of this weapon I know there is a variation where the metal sphere, instead of have a rod, is connected to a long chain increasing the range of this weapon compared to the other version

- Hook Swords

The example of this weapon was found on the net using google research, I didn't modified the pict since is of a site that sell this things.

As one can see from the pict this is a type of sword that have various blades, with the tip curved making a hook, a stright blade instead of a pomel and a crescent moon like blade that


 * Seal, like the ones used for stamp an official document, this is peculiar as I usually see this as an artifact with special power but I'm not really sure on how is used as I don't really understand it.
 * 3 section staff, is a staff that can divide itself into 3 and each part is connected to the other via chain
 * Hook Sword, this type of sword have blades that protect the grip of the sword and the tip is curved making a hook.
 * Deer horn knives, they are basically 2 crescent moon blades connected similarly like this
 * Deer horn knives, they are basically 2 crescent moon blades connected similarly like this