Cultivating the Real Through the False, Defying Heaven’s Will

At the beginning of the 20th century, as the Japanese launched a full-scale invasion of the Great Ming, cultivators from the Eastern Isles and Huaxia began clashing on a massive scale. All cultivation schools use the illusory as a means to cultivate the real, turning the intangible spiritual energy of heaven and earth into actual power. In Huaxia, the popular arts are immortal arts, martial arts, esoteric arts, and Daoist arts. In the Eastern Isles, yin-yang arts and martial arts predominate. European white civilization has superpowers and combat arts. Among these, immortal arts, yin-yang arts, and superpowers are all forms of cultivation that transform the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into magical power; they simply go by different names. The cultivation of magical power is the oldest practice, predating cultivation itself by far. Magical power is a form of cultivation that some ancient ancestors were born able to wield. Similar to this are martial arts and combat arts, which cultivate inner strength, called energy in the West. There are also powers that do not rely on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. One of them is dark magic, which cultivates sinister energy, known in the West as fel energy. Esoteric arts and Daoist arts are unique to Huaxia.

(This is a xianxia tale set in an alternate history. The story takes place in the Great Ming, a dynasty that has endured for more than 560 years. Its historical setting draws on modern history, so it can also be read as an alternative take on the War of Resistance. The story features clashes between cultivators, military campaigns, and covert political struggles.)