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.
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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.