One reader asked about spirit cores. In this story, a Spirit Core is like the heart of a cultivator's energy — it stores power, keeps balance, and helps shape techniques. It is similar to what other novels call a dantian. I just use a slightly different term for style and world flavor.
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Some of you may be wondering — "Where are the dantian, meridians, or spirit cores? Isn't every cultivation world supposed to have them?"
In this story, the cultivation system is not the traditional xianxia structure you may be used to. Shunya's world follows a rank-based progression:
Easy < Normal < Hard < Rare < Extreme.
Instead of focusing on forming a "spirit core" inside the body, cultivators here channel energy through a mixture of system guidance, practical training, and external resources like talismans, herbs, and tools. This keeps the progression more grounded and also makes it easier for Shunya (and new readers) to understand without needing a huge info-dump of technical terms.
The choice was intentional: I wanted this world to feel both familiar and fresh. By stepping a little away from the common "dantian-core" path, we get a world that has its own rules, its own flavor, and its own mysteries.
That being said — yes, I do know about the "spirit core" and traditional cultivation structures. They exist in many novels I love. But here, the goal is different: to tell Shunya's journey in a way that mixes comedy, healing moments, and a slowly unfolding storm without overwhelming readers with jargon.
So if you were waiting for a "spirit core chapter"… well, in this world, the system is Shunya's core. And that might end up being far scarier and stranger than a glowing orb inside the belly.