Orthodox Techniques

The Ten Great Schools

There are many schools of cultivation. Some are focused on martial prowess, others on various tasks of importance. In fact nearly everything that can be done has an associated school even if many of them are somewhat obscure. There are however ten schools that are so ubiquitous and so well known that everyone has heard of them and can practice.

Corresponding to the five basic elements and their supporting combinations these Ten Great Schools have been refined by the sages of the world for generations.



School of the Fierce Wildfire (Fire)

This school is all about destroying the widest possible area as quickly as possible. Practitioners learn to channel their Qi most effectively into wide scale area bombardments that are best suited for dealing with mass formations of enemy troops or demon beast packs. As can be gathered this is most useful for dealing with enemies of a lower realm than the practitioner, and thus they rely on protection from others in the event that someone of their own realm joins the battle.

School of the Swift Stream (Water)

The school of assassins. Swift stream adherents learn to focus their power into quick deadly strikes that pierce enemy defenses. They are fast and agile and can even fight across realms if they can ambush the opposing party. However the effort and concentration they put into each strike means they have trouble tracking multiple opponents and their stamina suffers in extended battles as they run low on Qi.

School of the Stone Fist (Earth)

This school is about martial strength first and foremost. Despite the name this is not purely an unarmed school. Instead it refers to the fact that once the body has been trained anything can be used as a weapon. Practitioners use swords, spears, bows, and indeed their fists to defeat their enemies and rise to any challenge. This is a generalist combat school that has an answer for every occasion, and thus is favored by soldiers and mercenaries who cannot plan what they might fight next.

School of the Leaf Cauldron (Wood)

This school covers the most common types of alchemy. Practitioners are adept at molding pills and brewing elixirs. The school teaches many of the most common recipes for various useful items such as Qi Pills, Healing Elixirs, and Cultivation Aids. This is not to say that they are ineffective. Far from it they are common because the School of the Bubbling Cauldron is widely practiced. And it is widely practiced because it has reached the perfect intersection of effectiveness and ease of use.

School of the Iron Hammer (Metal)

The school of the artificer. Although it is the weaponry that practitioners forge that get the most glory they are also more than capable of making treasures that help in all aspects. Flying treasures are the second thing most people think of, but they can also forge pots that never run out of water, chests that have more space than they should, or hoes that till the earth a hundred times faster. And these are just a few of the possibilities.

School of the Demon's Command (Fire, Wood)

Despite the name this isn't a forbidden technique or at all evil. It refers to the ability of practitioners of this school to tame and command demon beasts. This can be a great help in any endeavor as demon beasts tend to be stronger than human cultivators in the same realm, and ones in higher realms can become quite intelligent. The power comes at the cost of time however as those who walk the path of the Demon's Command must spend years raising and training their beasts.

School of the Iridescent Toxin (Wood, Water)

This school focuses on the mastery of alchemy for offensive purposes. It's all about making poison and delivering poison in the most effective manner. Of all the schools this is the one that is best suited for combat across realms for even the most advanced cultivator can still fall to an unexpected poison. For this reason the Iridescent Toxin is almost universally reviled and most practitioners pretend to follow the Leaf Cauldron instead. They get enough under the table business that they can continue to practice their true calling regardless.

School of the Piercing Blade (Water, Metal)

The school for duelists. By mixing metal and water Qi cultivators of this school enhance both their defense and offense. They can deliver much more deadly strikes and take more powerful blows. The downside is that they are not quite so fast and evasive as a pure water cultivator. Thus they have trouble setting up ambushes mid battle the way a Swift Stream adherent might. Once a student of the Piercing Blade engages in battle they are locked into it for better or for worse.

School of the Cave's Treasure (Metal, Earth)

The school for survivalists. Whereas a more traditional artificer must gather materials and work at a proper forge, a Cave's Treasure student can call forth material from the very ground and shape them into treasures with pure Qi. Treasures made in this way tend to be just as powerful, but less durable. They will eventually crumble into dust if used by anyone not of the Cave's Treasure school. Despite this many Iron Hammer disciples also learn something of the Cave's Treasure school as there is no reason the materials called up from the Earth can't be forged in a more traditional style.

School of the Mountain's Formation (Earth, Fire)

This school is the path of arrays. Many cultivators can make arrays that pertain to their specialties, but Mountain's Formation specializes in the arrays themselves. They can produce powerful self-sustaining arrays that can duplicate almost any cultivation technique. They gather their own Qi and thus anyone can use an array, and they are usefully more powerful than a technique created on the fly. The only downside is that they cannot be moved, and it takes a lot of time and resources to set up an array.

The Ten Imbalanced Paths

It is a sad fact of life that many people have imbalanced spirit roots. This can lead to stalled cultivation at best and insanity at worst. But it isn't the end. There have been many geniuses with imbalanced roots who worked to fix their instability issues. And many more sages who wished to aid their disciples or family members with imbalanced roots.

Over time ten paths have been developed to help people with the most common imbalanced spirit roots. They are slow to cultivate, but steady and in time can overcome the inherent difficulties with having mismatched elements.

School of the Steam Cloud (Water, Fire)



This school is one of several designed to help cultivators with imbalanced spirit roots. Almost the entire first few stages of the path are focused with merging and balancing Water and Fire Qi into Steam Qi. The culmination of this is the creation of a Steam Core which allows a cultivator to overcome their Qi imbalance by automatically converting all the Qi absorbed by their roots into Steam Qi. Not many cultivators manage to accomplish this unless they have ample support, but once they do they can embark on the further specialization of the path. Steam Qi combines the best aspects of both Fire and Water Qi allowing a cultivator to move like mist and deliver destruction like fire. They are adept in using illusions to distract while setting up huge formation attacks.

School of the Mud Ball (Earth, Water)

This school is one of several designed to help cultivators with imbalanced spirit roots. Almost the entire first few stages of the path are focused with merging and balancing Earth and Water Qi into Mud Qi. The culmination of this is the creation of a Mud Core which allows a cultivator to overcome their Qi imbalance by automatically converting all the Qi absorbed by their roots into Mud Qi. Not many cultivators manage to accomplish this unless they have ample support, but once they do they can embark on the further specialization of the path. Mud cultivators have the endurance of Earth combined with the attacks of water. They are extremely adept at ambushing and trapping enemies. Even higher realm cultivators are vulnerable to a mud ambush and can be restrained for several moments making them vulnerable while the Mud cultivator stays at a distance.

School of Magma (Fire, Metal) School of Ash (Fire, Wood) (Demon's Command) School of Rust (Water, Metal) (Piercing Blade) School of Sand (Earth, Fire) (Mountain's Formation) School of Bone (Wood, Earth) School of Poison (Wood, Water) (Iridescent Toxin) School of Puppet (Metal, Wood) School of Brick (Metal, Earth) (Cave's Treasure)

School of the Heaven's Judgement (Lightning)

Given that there are no major lightning schools due to the rarity of the element Li Rong was at something of a loss when training Li Mei. Eventually he ended up training her in his variant of the Earth Fist, but this did not really suit Li Mei. Her initial training continued in fits and starts until she advanced to Warrior. Then during her breakthrough the tribulation fell down on her and she was enlightened. Even as she absorbed the lightning Qi she memorized it's patterns and afterwards worked to duplicate it. She can now shoot pseudo tribulation bolts at her enemies, and every time she breaks through and experiences the Tribulation again she gets one step closer to being able to replicate them completely.



School of the Eternal Storm (Lightning)

Li Mei had to teach herself all of her own techniques, but she wasn't entirely without resources. Li Rong attained a wide variety of technique manuals for her when she was girl, and she studied them diligently. She tried using lightning instead of their original Qi types, and mostly those experiments failed. Except when she tried converting Fierce Wildfire. By spreading her Qi over a wide area she was able to summon a massive storm that covered the mountainside and rained down lightning strikes across the entire area. With further practice Li Mei refined her control of where the lightning fell and was able to reduce the collateral damage, but it still isn't a technique to use if there any allies in the area.