Note 1: This is NOT a list of character skills, just a list of xianxia terms in Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (GDC) aka Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS) that are likely to come up in tags, so I might as well give a brief explanation of them.
Note 2: This is by no means a full list of what goes on in canon, just a primer I slapped together from reading the GDC book-- the novels published by Seven Seas have glossaries at the back-- and other xianxia novels and comics, and a bit of extra research to fill in some gaps. There are people who have done even deeper dives into the genre, like whoever runs the Immortal Mountain site. If I made a mistake somewhere or the official translations contradict anything I've already written, I'll make the necessary edits.
Note 3: I'm a Southeast Asian of Chinese descent living in a Southeast Asian country with close historical and cultural ties to China. Some of the Chinese culture prevalent in this region has changed over time and distance, but the roots are still the same, so I try to write what knowledge I do have in ways I understand them to make them more accessible.
Two concepts that are very common in wuxia and xianxia. Cultivation clans are organizations of blood-related cultivators that are rich, privileged and socially/politically powerful, but not actual nobility. Leaders pass their positions down to their children, usually the eldest son, and keep the other children and cousins as spares or political marriage material-- standard court stuff, ancient fantasy China-style. Cultivation clans can also create their own sects, usually naming it after themselves, and this allows them to take in disciples who are not relatives, usually called outer disciples. Of course, there can be sects that are not headed or founded by clans at all-- but you won't find that in this story. GDC's sects are exclusively headed by clans because someone in the past made it vogue to favor blood relations over everything else, so these terms can be used interchangeably in the context of this canon.
GDC's clans and sects have their own techniques, traditions and customs, tools, and fashion, and people can usually tell which organization someone is from just from the style, insignia, and color of their clothes. These organizations also make their homes in or near major cities, so regular people often look to them for help and consider them more trustworthy than the local government-- if the sect is not the actual local government, that is, not unlike a feudal system.
Because a lot of modern wuxia and xianxia stories take inspiration from the works of the novelist Jin Yong, there are a lot of common clans and sects in them that are depicted in similar ways, like the Shaolin temple and its Buddhist monks, and Mount Hua and its swordmasters. However, GDC makes up its own cast of major players in the cultivation community, so there are no familiar sect names here for long-time fans of the genres (Shaolin does exist in this universe, but is only mentioned in passing).
There are also rogue cultivators, or people who are not in a clan or sect and instead wander around with their own cultivation practices and goals. The English term may seem like they're villains but the Chinese term literally translates to "loose/scattered cultivator" which in context means they're free from the restraints of a sect, no nefarious deeds unless explicitly mentioned, and this term also predates GDC.
Outside of governing people, one of the more prominent duties of GDC's sects is handling ghosts, undead, monsters, and basically anything supernatural that would threaten humans. They would regularly go out to investigate odd happenings in their territory in case of hauntings and the like with the goal of solving them and vanquishing the monster. Of course, I say "sects", but rogue cultivators also go night hunting.
In any case, all of this means that GDC's cultivators are more like exorcists, and are usually not expected to fight other cultivators like in other wuxia and xianxia stories, wherein the entire goal is to get stronger, fight each other, and get even stronger. In fact, this novel has a number of story arcs that can be considered case fics because the setting is rife with weird spooky situations to be solved.
A name given to a Chinese man when he comes of age-- women can receive a courtesy name as well, usually when they get married. A courtesy name is considered formal, and those who are not part of the person's close relations must use it unless they want to be rude or don't care for social niceties. Some other countries in Asia also used to practice the tradition, especially those with close cultural and historical relations to China. In the modern era, few people keep up with this tradition.
GDC's cultivators don't follow the typical naming customs because teenagers already have their names, and at one point one was already decided for a child before they were even born, though they're not called by it for a while. The author has stated that cultivators come of age at 15-- as opposed to the historically-accurate age of 20-- so they receive their names at that time.
People who study under the same teacher or master or are raised in the same sect are called martial siblings. Literally, the titles they call each other and their teacher stems from the hanzi for "teacher/master", with a familial term slapped on the end to denote their relationship to each other using their master as a baseline. For example, one's master is "shifu" or literally "master father", and an older male student under the same master is "shixiong" or "master elder brother", typically translated as "senior martial brother" or just "senior brother". There are also martial uncles and aunts, especially if the master's master took in multiple students. These terms can also extend to the blood family of the master to show respect, though the blood family of the student don't usually get this sort of treatment.
Despite the terminology, the sect is not considered the same as blood or adopted family. The master doesn't actually adopt a student as their child nor gives them their family name-- this would be considered rude towards the student's biological family (and if the master really wanted a student as part of their family, they'd get said student to marry one of their biological children). Instead, this system shows the hierarchy, which keeps the sect organized and gives people something to call their fellow sect members by as a sign of respect, especially towards elders-- calling someone older by just their birth name is considered disrespectful, even if the age difference is minimal.
Becoming sworn brothers is not as simple as saying so and expecting this relationship to be honored-- a formal ceremony with witnesses is required, though what exactly goes on in the ceremony differs from story to story.
However, they're not actually adopting each other, they're not writing each other's names into the family registries, or allowing the use of their last names. Rather, by swearing unending loyalty to each other, this can tie their political powers together and allow them to share resources without reprisal and while being on even footing-- it's a great way for two or more factions to show solidarity without marriage. The closest Western counterpart I can imagine for this is "brothers-in-arms", but they stand by each other even without war. A more modern term I can think of is "ride or die".
There's nothing stopping women from being sworn sisters, it's just that it's more common for men to do so. However, I have not seen male-female or NB sworn dynamics. Yet.
In modern media, people sometimes use the term to imply a homosexual relationship between the characters involved in the brotherhood/sisterhood, usually to skirt around censorship. This ends up making people who aren't familiar with the dynamics of sworn siblings think that the characters are actually related, which makes the implications of a romance between sound incestuous-- not unlike Uranus and Neptune being called cousins in an old EN dub of Sailor Moon.
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culture
cultivation clans & sects
GDC's clans and sects have their own techniques, traditions and customs, tools, and fashion, and people can usually tell which organization someone is from just from the style, insignia, and color of their clothes. These organizations also make their homes in or near major cities, so regular people often look to them for help and consider them more trustworthy than the local government-- if the sect is not the actual local government, that is, not unlike a feudal system.
Because a lot of modern wuxia and xianxia stories take inspiration from the works of the novelist Jin Yong, there are a lot of common clans and sects in them that are depicted in similar ways, like the Shaolin temple and its Buddhist monks, and Mount Hua and its swordmasters. However, GDC makes up its own cast of major players in the cultivation community, so there are no familiar sect names here for long-time fans of the genres (Shaolin does exist in this universe, but is only mentioned in passing).
There are also rogue cultivators, or people who are not in a clan or sect and instead wander around with their own cultivation practices and goals. The English term may seem like they're villains but the Chinese term literally translates to "loose/scattered cultivator" which in context means they're free from the restraints of a sect, no nefarious deeds unless explicitly mentioned, and this term also predates GDC.
night hunting
In any case, all of this means that GDC's cultivators are more like exorcists, and are usually not expected to fight other cultivators like in other wuxia and xianxia stories, wherein the entire goal is to get stronger, fight each other, and get even stronger. In fact, this novel has a number of story arcs that can be considered case fics because the setting is rife with weird spooky situations to be solved.
courtesy name
GDC's cultivators don't follow the typical naming customs because teenagers already have their names, and at one point one was already decided for a child before they were even born, though they're not called by it for a while. The author has stated that cultivators come of age at 15-- as opposed to the historically-accurate age of 20-- so they receive their names at that time.
martial siblings
Despite the terminology, the sect is not considered the same as blood or adopted family. The master doesn't actually adopt a student as their child nor gives them their family name-- this would be considered rude towards the student's biological family (and if the master really wanted a student as part of their family, they'd get said student to marry one of their biological children). Instead, this system shows the hierarchy, which keeps the sect organized and gives people something to call their fellow sect members by as a sign of respect, especially towards elders-- calling someone older by just their birth name is considered disrespectful, even if the age difference is minimal.
sworn siblings
However, they're not actually adopting each other, they're not writing each other's names into the family registries, or allowing the use of their last names. Rather, by swearing unending loyalty to each other, this can tie their political powers together and allow them to share resources without reprisal and while being on even footing-- it's a great way for two or more factions to show solidarity without marriage. The closest Western counterpart I can imagine for this is "brothers-in-arms", but they stand by each other even without war. A more modern term I can think of is "ride or die".
There's nothing stopping women from being sworn sisters, it's just that it's more common for men to do so. However, I have not seen male-female or NB sworn dynamics. Yet.
In modern media, people sometimes use the term to imply a homosexual relationship between the characters involved in the brotherhood/sisterhood, usually to skirt around censorship. This ends up making people who aren't familiar with the dynamics of sworn siblings think that the characters are actually related, which makes the implications of a romance between sound incestuous-- not unlike Uranus and Neptune being called cousins in an old EN dub of Sailor Moon.