Spirituality and the Path of Cultivation

练气士 (Liàn Qì Shì): Qi Cultivator (or Adept). A practitioner of an ancient Chinese tradition of energetic and spiritual refinement, predating organized Daoism.

清 (Qīng): Clarity / Clear Qi. The energetic quality of life, order, ascension, vitality, and integration.

浊 (Zhuó): Turbidity / Turbid Qi. The energetic quality of decay, entropy, heaviness, stagnation, and death.

炁 (Qì): Qi. The subtle, fundamental substrate of existence; life force energy. (Note: Differentiated from the simpler 气/air).

承负 (Chéng Fù): Inherited Burden / Ancestral Consequence. The principle that the energetic and moral weight of one's actions passes down through the family lineage, rather than reincarnating with the individual soul.

妖邪 (Yāo Xié): Yao Xie / Parasitic Spirit. A spirit entity (often an animal that has achieved sentience/supernatural power) that has chosen the path of predation over cultivation, feeding on human life force.

三尸 (Sān Shī): Three Corpses / Three Worms. Parasitic entities residing in the human body during life; upon death, they remain to form the "ghost" of the deceased.

附体 (Fù Tǐ): Possession / Attachment. The act of a non-physical entity entering and taking partial or full control of a human body.

符咒 (Fú Zhòu): Talismans and Incantations. Tools of the Qi Cultivator; the talisman is a container for the power cultivated in the incantation (spell).

道行 (Dào Háng): Cultivation Level / Attainment. A measure of spiritual power, accumulation, or "years" of practice, not necessarily literal time.

神通 (Shén Tōng): Supernatural Abilities / Psychic Powers. Extra-sensory perception or powers; in this framework, often viewed as a "loan" from an external entity rather than an internal achievement.

仙 (Xiān): Immortal. A being who has refined their Qi to such a degree of Clarity that they transcend the human realm.

魔 (Mó): Demon / Mara. A being of extreme Turbidity; the embodiment of dissolution and chaos.