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.
Also known as "fu" or "seal", talismans are spiritual tools with various uses. They're typically written on strips of yellow paper and contain their own special script derived from Taoist symbols, so only Taoists, dedicated scholars, or talisman makers can make sense of them-- GDC's cultivators usually just memorize the characters and call it a day. However, talismans are a one-time use because they burn up after the effects are over, hence why it's preferable to have a lot of them on hand. Most talismans are written in red due to cinnabar, which was the traditional writing instrument used for these in real life because it's considered sacred and a powerful source of protective energies in Chinese culture. They can be written in other materials as well, such as ink and blood, but cinnabar is the most common material.
They are more accessible than the usual spells and skills of a cultivator, and to create one on the go, a cultivator just has to be able to have a lot of sheets of blank paper (or any surface that accepts ink or paint), and think fast and write faster. A large amount of spiritual qi on the cultivator's part isn't needed either-- and if Wei Wuxian's Yiling Patriarch days are any indication, it's likely that none is needed at all, perhaps there are talismans that can run on resentment. There's a talisman for almost anything, such as explosions, physical restraint, lighting, power suppression, and even teleportation. And if there's not, then either it will exist eventually, or there's an array instead.
Arrays, also known as spell formations, are large patterns and symbols written on the ground-- or the wall, or the ceiling, or even not written, but a collection of items arranged in a certain manner-- not unlike the magic circles that are common in fantasy media featuring Western magic. When activated, an array continuously casts whatever spell it was created for until either the lines of the array are ruined, or blood is spilled on it-- a common use for them is to create a spiritual barrier to protect whatever is inside... or contain it.
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talismans & arrays
They are more accessible than the usual spells and skills of a cultivator, and to create one on the go, a cultivator just has to be able to have a lot of sheets of blank paper (or any surface that accepts ink or paint), and think fast and write faster. A large amount of spiritual qi on the cultivator's part isn't needed either-- and if Wei Wuxian's Yiling Patriarch days are any indication, it's likely that none is needed at all, perhaps there are talismans that can run on resentment. There's a talisman for almost anything, such as explosions, physical restraint, lighting, power suppression, and even teleportation. And if there's not, then either it will exist eventually, or there's an array instead.
Arrays, also known as spell formations, are large patterns and symbols written on the ground-- or the wall, or the ceiling, or even not written, but a collection of items arranged in a certain manner-- not unlike the magic circles that are common in fantasy media featuring Western magic. When activated, an array continuously casts whatever spell it was created for until either the lines of the array are ruined, or blood is spilled on it-- a common use for them is to create a spiritual barrier to protect whatever is inside... or contain it.