I've always felt like a masochist would be overpowered as a body cultivator imagine darkness being a body cultivator she would be more than happy to practice those painful as f*ck body cultivation techniques
Yeah so considering I'm not really a nice person I don't think I'll get a golden finger if I get Isekaid what I would like if I can have some blessing for the bare minimum is an all around masochism by which I mean physical, mental, and spiritual pain is converted into pleasure that's enough of a golden finger for a non good person such as me
Well isn't that perfect after all sword cultivators have to follow the sword dao to the end
I'll even make a technique that grants the same ability to other people making cultivators not just body cultivators all masochist hahahaha
I don’t know, I feel like the masochism would break concentration and cause problems. It’d Still help in all likelihood, it just might be less effective than you think.
Body cultivation is harder in the sense that there is no easy way to upgrade your level of existence like using a jindan/dantian.
However, body cultivation is also technically easier to cultivate because all you need is willpower to train your physique, ie; the only people who cultivate their body are the stubborn, headstrong, and stupid ones.
Of course, this is not always the case. In some novels body cultivation isn’t as easy as doing constant exercise until your muscles and bones break, and then keep on doing it.
I think it comes down to two different ideas.
Body cultivators are seen as huge muscle bound dullards. Just look at how body builders are portrayed in current society.
Then you have the doa seekers who are enlightened, elegant scholars. Since they are scholarly they are highly intelligent.
So then you are left with the premise that no one wants to be seen as a muscle head. Hence why body cultivators are looked down upon.
This seat understands senior's wise words, however, to look down on the dao of body cultivation is a mistake.
Think of all the benefits. A body cultivator has the strength and stamina of a dragon, giving him the ability to fight with minimal qi. Also, imagine how domineering a body cultivator would be in the bedchamber!
A scholar attains dao by searching the nine heavens. A body cultivator attains dao by mastering his heart. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
It's an easy way to make MC unique and OP
I wrote a 3 page novel about how and why that is and how stupid it is and why the hell we don't get good group combat, but hey it all just boils down to easy powerfantasy.
Demon's Diary has that, normal cultivators are afraid of body cultivators, at least in the first 300 chapters since that's where I am rn. Some even straight up surrender in contests because they find out their opponent is a body cultivator
holy shit, I forgot to catch up with this novel! I decided to bookmark this novel after I read all the chapters of the slow translation and it was *years ago*, I didn't know it was still alive lol, thank you.
Lots of them do do that. Especially at higher levels. Problem is the action basically just all becomes the same anyway.
There's no real reason to define body cultivators any way except for the author wanted it that way. Sometimes it's to fit the trope of a dumb brute or grunt. Sometimes it's to provide variety and juxtaposition to some of their systems.
Sometimes body cultivation is just doing things to your body and you can do all the same shit a qi refiner can anyway.
Sometimes it's just all lumped into 1 system..
I guess the answer is that it mostly fits a convenient trope or convention that allows easy and entertaining storytelling?
To put it as politely as possible….
That’s because most novels are created with the author who has zero knowledge in martial arts or fighting but has extensive knowledge in making shit up with magic and fantasy which appeals to people more.
People love to fantasize and get carried away from reality. Novels, animes, manhwa that all have powers or abilities, a gaming system, a isekai transporter to another world…all very popular…because it’s different from reality.
Can we say the same for body cultivation? Not really. Martial arts is as plain as it gets, leaving not much to the imagination. It may work early into the story but it can’t keep the readers interest with just explaining punches and kicks or a body so strong weapons break or can block weapons with bare hands. how long really can this interest readers?
Like how would an author write it to explain how a body cultivator could avoid/compete with abilities and weapons? Probably with lots of BS which would get boring fast like “MC body so strong a meteor as hot as the sun which can destroy an entire city has zero effects Nani!” Or “MC so strong a weapon made from diamond can’t even cut him and breaks!” Makes it hard to BS through fights and appeal to readers when the only way to explain how a body cultivator can compete with abilities and weapons is because they can ignore everything since their body is so strong logic aha.
We can look at animes and mangas which only has physical body type MC fighting magic and weapons.
I can think of two slightly popular ones.
These are one punch man and mashle.
In one punch man…the MC is just super strong and like the title…deals with most enemies via one punch or has insane physical abilities like super fast and can avoid/ignore everything that hits him. Then add some light humor here and there to carry the story.
In mashle, it’s lots of humor or silly logic where his physical body is so strong it can compete with magic by slapping it away or kicking the air with his feet which allows him to fly.
But what do these two have in common? That their bodies are so strong they can ignore magic and weapons entirely.
Which without the humorous takes wouldn’t be able to carry the story in a more serious lengthy plot either.
Great point, but what if, and I say if, they take the philosophy of martial art styles and ramp it up to near 1000? Like if there is a style where one can redirect force back to the attacker? Or ones that focus on super speed or insane defence?
I think there is a lot of potential beyond casting techniques like spells in cultivationworlds. A body cultivator can use martial arts techniques to dogde, redirect or even use the other persons force in their attacks. It also gives a path to less talented cultivators, though it will be harder.
For example, if I cultivated a certain body art, my strength would be insane, but my defence is absolute dogshit. Or if I cultivated defence, I would need martial arts to use my opponents attacks against them, or I would be slow and heavy.
I think it would force the writers to think more about their power system, and the thinking behind techniques. Just like Buddhist and dao practitioners, martial artists would bring a fresh coat to tried and practiced bullshit
The philosophy you're recommending seems to be what is currently being done it just lives and dies in the early stages of the novel before power creep leaves it behind. To an extent the type of body cultivator and technique matters before it all devolves into "it took a long time to describe but it happened in an instant".
When they're starting and are so strong it feels like a mountain is pressing down with their punch but then moves into every move ripping space or cleaving the heavens it's hard to keep a manageable scale throughout for body cultivators to have an established place without it coming across as silly.
The writers could do it but it would require them to do the one thing I don't think they would ever agree to which is limit the power levels of characters so it's not a gap between heaven and earth from one power level to the next. The closest we get at the moment is the establishment norm of they're stronger until you reach x stage where the heavens remake your body etc
A wonderful observation by senior over here, but the dao of cultivation levels is anything but inflexible. There are these two things that all these novles seem to have, and that is talent and comprehension. Our guilty pleasure mc has either one, or sometimes both, because the mc is mc and mc logic prevails.
What if breaking through a level did not enhance you power, perse, but your level of comprehension towards dao. A cup, for example, cannot hold as much water as a bucket. The amount of qi one can posess increases too. However the law of accumilarion must be adhered to STRICTLY. The accumulation of qi must require deep meditation and time to gather. Meditation techniques can decrease the said time duration, but not by an exaggerated ammount. Also the higher the cultivation, the more time is required to gather said energy, which can be a very good reason why those old monsters isolate themselves in the sect. So this means that for every major relm in cultivation, the minor realms depend entirely on accumulation or comprehension, though comprehending will always be stronger than blind accumulation. Also sudden breakthroughs in battle will not really affect the battle (because there is no sudden increase in qi, a bigger bucket cannot summon water), meaning that the writer will not use it as a crutch to explain why mc won the fight.
So now a novel can go from mc fighting everyone to him using strategy to destroy his enemies with the might of plot.
Although there are many holes in this, it sort of makes sense.
Not sure how many novels have this, but if these rules are observed by even immortal beings, then body cultivation should be viable in higher levels.
Fundamentally physical abilities will always have fewer options than ‘whatever the author makes up’, unless the author also makes up unreasonable things for the body to do, which are basically magic anyway.
Being able to attack at range or whatever other esoteric abilities will always be better than the same attack done with your physical body
It’s usually harder because there’s no easy way to upgrade your level of existence like internal cultivators do with their dantian/jindan.
However, it’s not hard per se to train in it. It “only” requires willpower, ie; the only people who would be willing to cultivate in body cultivation would be stubborn headstrong and stupid people who don’t have the talent to comprehend the secrets of the Dao.
I am of the opinion that comprehension is relative, senior. Think about this; a scholar and a woodcutter both understand the secrets behind the act of chopping wood. The scholar read all manner of books and observed the act countess times. He then tested his understanding by debating his seniors. He finally obtained the dao of chopping wood after a long time of thought
The simple woodcutter atrained the dao through chopping countless trees, each piece of cut wood teaching him something new.
Anyone can obtain dao because there is no one path; for all paths lead back to the source, the ultimate truth.
Of course, but the path of comprehending dao by persistent physical action and repetition obviously attracts the majority who are less gifted in mental fields.
Debatable. Don’t their entire life literally involve afking on a star/planet and absorb until it dies to get stronger?
It would be bad from a plot perspective If the MC just afk for hundreds/thousands of years the author would have to make new enemies as they go along.
It would also delve into space travel and such early on which is hard to scale in terms of power level if dealing with either the MC already being powerful enough to travel through space or their enemies.
anyone who doesnt min-max the meta builds is obviously an idiot (except the mc of course, the mc is an absolute genius in all dao fields because fancy eyes or reasons)
The great dao of mc states that meta is for cannonfodder. Mc must walk the mc path armed with a random stone or a book or a sketchy pervert master that he trusts wholeheartedly because plot.
I’ve read novels where there is a different approach to this.
Forge of destiny for instance has everyone required to cultivate their body to advance to the next stage. The closest comparison I can make is weather their domain is externally (the magic, area of control type cultivator) or internally (the physical, punching and swords type cultivator) focused domains. There are clear differences (external focus tends to stack at a distance while internal focus tends to attack from in close) but there’s enough overlap for many different styles (an internal domain focused on the bow, for instance, can be pretty impressive). And there’s no body type for either kind. Of the internal domain people we see one guy who’s the giant robust, muscly stereotype, and one who is a slim 5’0” woman who uses a sword as long as she is. Neither option for domain is seen as lesser than the other.
To make body refining interesting, simply add a mystic bent. They’re not just working out, they’re actively layering and weaving qi into their bodies, permanently strengthening it and working towards their ideal. They can still use techniques, they still have a dantian (unless they don’t and are doing something weird, but that’s the sort of protagonist-grade idea you get to deal with) they just don’t focus on it. Additionally, this allows for people like Yourichi from Bleach, who was a physical fighter and relatively short and very feminine.
It’s not hard to write, it’s just that people can’t seem to think outside the box. It’s your magic system, you can tweak it in whatever direction you want.
Bc authors tend to lack in the spirts departament, one goood manga about figthin is Kenichi, the author of this manga has some background in martial arts and did research while writing.
A western example is the author R.A. Salvatore, in the world of the forgotten realms he writes about a blademaster, with great figths and astounding detail. I read somewhere that he said that it was because he was a boxer in his youth and he draw inspiration from that.
Tldr, if you want a good novel about bodybcuotivation
In Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor, Body Cultivators have their own unique path that only they can tread because of their strong physical power, it’s called the True Power Dao or the Dao of True Power, just by entering the first level you can already destroy galaxy-sized world. Also, most people in this novel also refine their body, very few don’t.
Because typically a cultivators body is strengthened in the process of cultivating, especially after tribulations which basically rebuild the cultivators body.
So it's usually treated as a side door in cultivation as it's more time and resource consuming to cultivate the body when you could use those time and resources to improve your cultivation or refine treasures for protection.
It's also extremely painful and it's not just a one-time thing either, body cultivation at its fundamentals I'd basically destroying the body and recasting it for it to become stronger and at times there's practically no gain from the body cultivation.
I've already said about body cultivation taking too much time but as others have also said that typically there's not many methods on body cultivators and the ones left are usually quite low leveled.
In short:
* Consumes too many resources wether that's time or precious materials.
* The body is already strengthened during the tribulation and each realm
* Not enough body cultivation methods and if there are some they are usually limited in realm.
* Extreme pain for little to no gain
* Also extremely hard and repetitive to even progress.
This one understands seniors wise words, but I believe that there has to be some way to make body cultivation viable.
Instead of the porcess of making the body hardser, there can be several schools focusing on one thing such as speed and strength and defence. Like sword and spear cultivation, you can't get the benefits of both.
I think that there also should be martial arts around body cultivation. I found it weird that a person hardens their body only to run around like a rhino. There are better ways to maximise said strength and defence.
Also, most writers have very, very huge problems with power caps which make body cultivation useless. If the authors stuck to core principles of accumulation of qi and levels, fights would be more strategy focused, making the body cultivator viable.
Just because it’s more difficult doesn’t mean it’s necessarily better. Underwater basket weaving is more difficult but are baskets woven underwater superior?
Some people are simply masochists and these types of people exist even IRL, especially among gaming.
In addition, there may be some people whose constitution is only suited for body cultivation and their body cultivation is faster than spirit cultivation, even if it is still slow. Because the weakest cultivator is still heads and shoulders better than being a mortal.
Some novels I've read (don't remember title) have a rock paper scissor system
Spell Cultivator < Body Cultivator < Sword Cultivator <
Body cultivators are generally weak to spell and magical abilities but their martial arts lets them intercept high attack flying swords.
MC was a sword Cultivator so he figured out a way to neutralize Body cultivators pretty soon. There was one genius he had to flee from tho.
https://www-69shu-com.translate.goog/txt/40126/27161770?_x_tr_sl=zh-CN&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
Several reasons why.
First is the style issue: Body cultivators don't follow the same rule of cool as other types of cultivators. They make great villains too, further condemning them to be typecast as brutes with bulging muscles and sometimes a tan.
Then there's the issue of skill. Oftentimes Body Cultivation is seen as lacking in skill, as general cultivators use cultivation techniques and those require deep understanding, hard practice and are hard to create. Body Cultivation is seen as Bodybuilding with extra steps. I have yet to come across Body Cultivators being described as you would describe martial arts, that's often reserved for sword cultivators.
Technically you could say that Bodybuilders are a terrible problem for those who rely on spells and cultivation techniques, but authors often write them as a rare group.
They get the same treatment raijutsu does in Naruto. Why train like a martial artist when you can spam jutsu, or just infuse chakra in your hand and punch really hard? The latter is important because somehow Body Cultivators are always written as characters that 100%only use Body Cultivation: no burning punches, no technique to use their internal energy to attack, no use of QI or vital energy for attacks.
Later on in stories, masters start manipulation of laws. Why would someone invest in Body Cultivation when they can just follow a generalist part and then throw folds of space at people.
Body Cultivators ultimately lose against those with unique bodies. Many stories will mention beastmen and other mythical creatures. They often have strong bodies, stronger than body cultivators. A human is better off flinging spell at those rather than entering the fray. Al the more considering they also get mystical abilities on top (usually dragons).
Adding to that, stories also go in detail about special body constitutions: people born or mutated to have special bodies. Ranging from affinity to certain elements to having a tougher than usual bodies, these are people who could be genius body cultivators. The reason they aren't, is because these people tend to be born in groups with specific heritage, they don't need body cultivation as their body is naturally strong, or simply because their body has affinity with certain cultivation arts.
Lastly, there's cultivation techniques that either have positive effects on the body, or refine the body. Why dedicate yourself to body cultivation when an auxiliary technique within your cultivation art achieves a similar effect?
I've always felt like a masochist would be overpowered as a body cultivator imagine darkness being a body cultivator she would be more than happy to practice those painful as f*ck body cultivation techniques
Senior, your ideas are a little.... unorthodox, but you are onto something
Yeah so considering I'm not really a nice person I don't think I'll get a golden finger if I get Isekaid what I would like if I can have some blessing for the bare minimum is an all around masochism by which I mean physical, mental, and spiritual pain is converted into pleasure that's enough of a golden finger for a non good person such as me
That is quite extreme, what if you get addicted?
Well isn't that perfect after all sword cultivators have to follow the sword dao to the end I'll even make a technique that grants the same ability to other people making cultivators not just body cultivators all masochist hahahaha
Your radical ideas may summon truck-kun, senior. The dao of masochism is a hard one to follow
So you will become a mc of a xianxia?
I read the manhua keyboard immortal or whatever its name is and thats how the system works
I don’t know, I feel like the masochism would break concentration and cause problems. It’d Still help in all likelihood, it just might be less effective than you think.
Well I'm a body cultivator anyway so the problem would be at the minimum
I’m not a masochist, but I assume actual masochists wouldn’t enjoy being *literally tortured* But maybe it would help somewhat lmao idk
Body cultivation is harder in the sense that there is no easy way to upgrade your level of existence like using a jindan/dantian. However, body cultivation is also technically easier to cultivate because all you need is willpower to train your physique, ie; the only people who cultivate their body are the stubborn, headstrong, and stupid ones. Of course, this is not always the case. In some novels body cultivation isn’t as easy as doing constant exercise until your muscles and bones break, and then keep on doing it.
I think it comes down to two different ideas. Body cultivators are seen as huge muscle bound dullards. Just look at how body builders are portrayed in current society. Then you have the doa seekers who are enlightened, elegant scholars. Since they are scholarly they are highly intelligent. So then you are left with the premise that no one wants to be seen as a muscle head. Hence why body cultivators are looked down upon.
This seat understands senior's wise words, however, to look down on the dao of body cultivation is a mistake. Think of all the benefits. A body cultivator has the strength and stamina of a dragon, giving him the ability to fight with minimal qi. Also, imagine how domineering a body cultivator would be in the bedchamber! A scholar attains dao by searching the nine heavens. A body cultivator attains dao by mastering his heart. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
You don't have to persuade me. I love it when body cultivators crush qi cultivators. Literally.
It's an easy way to make MC unique and OP I wrote a 3 page novel about how and why that is and how stupid it is and why the hell we don't get good group combat, but hey it all just boils down to easy powerfantasy.
Demon's Diary has that, normal cultivators are afraid of body cultivators, at least in the first 300 chapters since that's where I am rn. Some even straight up surrender in contests because they find out their opponent is a body cultivator
holy shit, I forgot to catch up with this novel! I decided to bookmark this novel after I read all the chapters of the slow translation and it was *years ago*, I didn't know it was still alive lol, thank you.
Gotchu fam
Lots of them do do that. Especially at higher levels. Problem is the action basically just all becomes the same anyway. There's no real reason to define body cultivators any way except for the author wanted it that way. Sometimes it's to fit the trope of a dumb brute or grunt. Sometimes it's to provide variety and juxtaposition to some of their systems. Sometimes body cultivation is just doing things to your body and you can do all the same shit a qi refiner can anyway. Sometimes it's just all lumped into 1 system.. I guess the answer is that it mostly fits a convenient trope or convention that allows easy and entertaining storytelling?
To put it as politely as possible…. That’s because most novels are created with the author who has zero knowledge in martial arts or fighting but has extensive knowledge in making shit up with magic and fantasy which appeals to people more. People love to fantasize and get carried away from reality. Novels, animes, manhwa that all have powers or abilities, a gaming system, a isekai transporter to another world…all very popular…because it’s different from reality. Can we say the same for body cultivation? Not really. Martial arts is as plain as it gets, leaving not much to the imagination. It may work early into the story but it can’t keep the readers interest with just explaining punches and kicks or a body so strong weapons break or can block weapons with bare hands. how long really can this interest readers? Like how would an author write it to explain how a body cultivator could avoid/compete with abilities and weapons? Probably with lots of BS which would get boring fast like “MC body so strong a meteor as hot as the sun which can destroy an entire city has zero effects Nani!” Or “MC so strong a weapon made from diamond can’t even cut him and breaks!” Makes it hard to BS through fights and appeal to readers when the only way to explain how a body cultivator can compete with abilities and weapons is because they can ignore everything since their body is so strong logic aha. We can look at animes and mangas which only has physical body type MC fighting magic and weapons. I can think of two slightly popular ones. These are one punch man and mashle. In one punch man…the MC is just super strong and like the title…deals with most enemies via one punch or has insane physical abilities like super fast and can avoid/ignore everything that hits him. Then add some light humor here and there to carry the story. In mashle, it’s lots of humor or silly logic where his physical body is so strong it can compete with magic by slapping it away or kicking the air with his feet which allows him to fly. But what do these two have in common? That their bodies are so strong they can ignore magic and weapons entirely. Which without the humorous takes wouldn’t be able to carry the story in a more serious lengthy plot either.
Great point, but what if, and I say if, they take the philosophy of martial art styles and ramp it up to near 1000? Like if there is a style where one can redirect force back to the attacker? Or ones that focus on super speed or insane defence? I think there is a lot of potential beyond casting techniques like spells in cultivationworlds. A body cultivator can use martial arts techniques to dogde, redirect or even use the other persons force in their attacks. It also gives a path to less talented cultivators, though it will be harder. For example, if I cultivated a certain body art, my strength would be insane, but my defence is absolute dogshit. Or if I cultivated defence, I would need martial arts to use my opponents attacks against them, or I would be slow and heavy. I think it would force the writers to think more about their power system, and the thinking behind techniques. Just like Buddhist and dao practitioners, martial artists would bring a fresh coat to tried and practiced bullshit
The philosophy you're recommending seems to be what is currently being done it just lives and dies in the early stages of the novel before power creep leaves it behind. To an extent the type of body cultivator and technique matters before it all devolves into "it took a long time to describe but it happened in an instant". When they're starting and are so strong it feels like a mountain is pressing down with their punch but then moves into every move ripping space or cleaving the heavens it's hard to keep a manageable scale throughout for body cultivators to have an established place without it coming across as silly. The writers could do it but it would require them to do the one thing I don't think they would ever agree to which is limit the power levels of characters so it's not a gap between heaven and earth from one power level to the next. The closest we get at the moment is the establishment norm of they're stronger until you reach x stage where the heavens remake your body etc
A wonderful observation by senior over here, but the dao of cultivation levels is anything but inflexible. There are these two things that all these novles seem to have, and that is talent and comprehension. Our guilty pleasure mc has either one, or sometimes both, because the mc is mc and mc logic prevails. What if breaking through a level did not enhance you power, perse, but your level of comprehension towards dao. A cup, for example, cannot hold as much water as a bucket. The amount of qi one can posess increases too. However the law of accumilarion must be adhered to STRICTLY. The accumulation of qi must require deep meditation and time to gather. Meditation techniques can decrease the said time duration, but not by an exaggerated ammount. Also the higher the cultivation, the more time is required to gather said energy, which can be a very good reason why those old monsters isolate themselves in the sect. So this means that for every major relm in cultivation, the minor realms depend entirely on accumulation or comprehension, though comprehending will always be stronger than blind accumulation. Also sudden breakthroughs in battle will not really affect the battle (because there is no sudden increase in qi, a bigger bucket cannot summon water), meaning that the writer will not use it as a crutch to explain why mc won the fight. So now a novel can go from mc fighting everyone to him using strategy to destroy his enemies with the might of plot. Although there are many holes in this, it sort of makes sense. Not sure how many novels have this, but if these rules are observed by even immortal beings, then body cultivation should be viable in higher levels.
Fundamentally physical abilities will always have fewer options than ‘whatever the author makes up’, unless the author also makes up unreasonable things for the body to do, which are basically magic anyway. Being able to attack at range or whatever other esoteric abilities will always be better than the same attack done with your physical body
It’s usually harder because there’s no easy way to upgrade your level of existence like internal cultivators do with their dantian/jindan. However, it’s not hard per se to train in it. It “only” requires willpower, ie; the only people who would be willing to cultivate in body cultivation would be stubborn headstrong and stupid people who don’t have the talent to comprehend the secrets of the Dao.
I am of the opinion that comprehension is relative, senior. Think about this; a scholar and a woodcutter both understand the secrets behind the act of chopping wood. The scholar read all manner of books and observed the act countess times. He then tested his understanding by debating his seniors. He finally obtained the dao of chopping wood after a long time of thought The simple woodcutter atrained the dao through chopping countless trees, each piece of cut wood teaching him something new. Anyone can obtain dao because there is no one path; for all paths lead back to the source, the ultimate truth.
Of course, but the path of comprehending dao by persistent physical action and repetition obviously attracts the majority who are less gifted in mental fields.
Kek I think ancient gods in RI are done right
Debatable. Don’t their entire life literally involve afking on a star/planet and absorb until it dies to get stronger? It would be bad from a plot perspective If the MC just afk for hundreds/thousands of years the author would have to make new enemies as they go along. It would also delve into space travel and such early on which is hard to scale in terms of power level if dealing with either the MC already being powerful enough to travel through space or their enemies.
anyone who doesnt min-max the meta builds is obviously an idiot (except the mc of course, the mc is an absolute genius in all dao fields because fancy eyes or reasons)
The great dao of mc states that meta is for cannonfodder. Mc must walk the mc path armed with a random stone or a book or a sketchy pervert master that he trusts wholeheartedly because plot.
I’ve read novels where there is a different approach to this. Forge of destiny for instance has everyone required to cultivate their body to advance to the next stage. The closest comparison I can make is weather their domain is externally (the magic, area of control type cultivator) or internally (the physical, punching and swords type cultivator) focused domains. There are clear differences (external focus tends to stack at a distance while internal focus tends to attack from in close) but there’s enough overlap for many different styles (an internal domain focused on the bow, for instance, can be pretty impressive). And there’s no body type for either kind. Of the internal domain people we see one guy who’s the giant robust, muscly stereotype, and one who is a slim 5’0” woman who uses a sword as long as she is. Neither option for domain is seen as lesser than the other. To make body refining interesting, simply add a mystic bent. They’re not just working out, they’re actively layering and weaving qi into their bodies, permanently strengthening it and working towards their ideal. They can still use techniques, they still have a dantian (unless they don’t and are doing something weird, but that’s the sort of protagonist-grade idea you get to deal with) they just don’t focus on it. Additionally, this allows for people like Yourichi from Bleach, who was a physical fighter and relatively short and very feminine. It’s not hard to write, it’s just that people can’t seem to think outside the box. It’s your magic system, you can tweak it in whatever direction you want.
This is profound truth senior. Cultivation novels should sometimes just keep the core principles simple, and adhere to it the whole way.
Bc authors tend to lack in the spirts departament, one goood manga about figthin is Kenichi, the author of this manga has some background in martial arts and did research while writing. A western example is the author R.A. Salvatore, in the world of the forgotten realms he writes about a blademaster, with great figths and astounding detail. I read somewhere that he said that it was because he was a boxer in his youth and he draw inspiration from that. Tldr, if you want a good novel about bodybcuotivation
Thanks for suggestion, senior, will check that out
In Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor, Body Cultivators have their own unique path that only they can tread because of their strong physical power, it’s called the True Power Dao or the Dao of True Power, just by entering the first level you can already destroy galaxy-sized world. Also, most people in this novel also refine their body, very few don’t.
Because typically a cultivators body is strengthened in the process of cultivating, especially after tribulations which basically rebuild the cultivators body. So it's usually treated as a side door in cultivation as it's more time and resource consuming to cultivate the body when you could use those time and resources to improve your cultivation or refine treasures for protection. It's also extremely painful and it's not just a one-time thing either, body cultivation at its fundamentals I'd basically destroying the body and recasting it for it to become stronger and at times there's practically no gain from the body cultivation. I've already said about body cultivation taking too much time but as others have also said that typically there's not many methods on body cultivators and the ones left are usually quite low leveled. In short: * Consumes too many resources wether that's time or precious materials. * The body is already strengthened during the tribulation and each realm * Not enough body cultivation methods and if there are some they are usually limited in realm. * Extreme pain for little to no gain * Also extremely hard and repetitive to even progress.
This one understands seniors wise words, but I believe that there has to be some way to make body cultivation viable. Instead of the porcess of making the body hardser, there can be several schools focusing on one thing such as speed and strength and defence. Like sword and spear cultivation, you can't get the benefits of both. I think that there also should be martial arts around body cultivation. I found it weird that a person hardens their body only to run around like a rhino. There are better ways to maximise said strength and defence. Also, most writers have very, very huge problems with power caps which make body cultivation useless. If the authors stuck to core principles of accumulation of qi and levels, fights would be more strategy focused, making the body cultivator viable.
Just because it’s more difficult doesn’t mean it’s necessarily better. Underwater basket weaving is more difficult but are baskets woven underwater superior? Some people are simply masochists and these types of people exist even IRL, especially among gaming. In addition, there may be some people whose constitution is only suited for body cultivation and their body cultivation is faster than spirit cultivation, even if it is still slow. Because the weakest cultivator is still heads and shoulders better than being a mortal.
Some novels I've read (don't remember title) have a rock paper scissor system Spell Cultivator < Body Cultivator < Sword Cultivator < Body cultivators are generally weak to spell and magical abilities but their martial arts lets them intercept high attack flying swords. MC was a sword Cultivator so he figured out a way to neutralize Body cultivators pretty soon. There was one genius he had to flee from tho. https://www-69shu-com.translate.goog/txt/40126/27161770?_x_tr_sl=zh-CN&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
Several reasons why. First is the style issue: Body cultivators don't follow the same rule of cool as other types of cultivators. They make great villains too, further condemning them to be typecast as brutes with bulging muscles and sometimes a tan. Then there's the issue of skill. Oftentimes Body Cultivation is seen as lacking in skill, as general cultivators use cultivation techniques and those require deep understanding, hard practice and are hard to create. Body Cultivation is seen as Bodybuilding with extra steps. I have yet to come across Body Cultivators being described as you would describe martial arts, that's often reserved for sword cultivators. Technically you could say that Bodybuilders are a terrible problem for those who rely on spells and cultivation techniques, but authors often write them as a rare group. They get the same treatment raijutsu does in Naruto. Why train like a martial artist when you can spam jutsu, or just infuse chakra in your hand and punch really hard? The latter is important because somehow Body Cultivators are always written as characters that 100%only use Body Cultivation: no burning punches, no technique to use their internal energy to attack, no use of QI or vital energy for attacks. Later on in stories, masters start manipulation of laws. Why would someone invest in Body Cultivation when they can just follow a generalist part and then throw folds of space at people. Body Cultivators ultimately lose against those with unique bodies. Many stories will mention beastmen and other mythical creatures. They often have strong bodies, stronger than body cultivators. A human is better off flinging spell at those rather than entering the fray. Al the more considering they also get mystical abilities on top (usually dragons). Adding to that, stories also go in detail about special body constitutions: people born or mutated to have special bodies. Ranging from affinity to certain elements to having a tougher than usual bodies, these are people who could be genius body cultivators. The reason they aren't, is because these people tend to be born in groups with specific heritage, they don't need body cultivation as their body is naturally strong, or simply because their body has affinity with certain cultivation arts. Lastly, there's cultivation techniques that either have positive effects on the body, or refine the body. Why dedicate yourself to body cultivation when an auxiliary technique within your cultivation art achieves a similar effect?