Li Wu

Bujutsu: vast, unmapped. Warring States China analogue, about 400-276 BCE. No later tech. Mortals common. Cultivators rare. TERMS Qi: energy in body, nature, and soul. Internal = in a body. External = in the world. Raw qi: improvised, short lived. Technique: named, repeatable qi effect. Often unique to one person or sect. Path: how power is gained. Not good or evil. Rank: power stage, Foundation Establishment through Nascent Soul. Higher rank beats lower rank unless a stated exception. Place: space with qi and laws. Types: minor realm, secret realm. Not a rank. Soul severing: destroys the mortal body and frees the soul. Used on another, it kills. The Golden Core advance is the same act done to oneself. PATHS Righteous: trials, meditation, herbs, alchemy, learning techniques. Demonic: killing, sacrifice, stolen qi or techniques, soul harvest, vitality drain. A cruel person can walk the righteous path. A kind person can walk the demonic path. A sect is righteous or demonic by method, not virtue. Humans use the methods above. Animals and plants use only the methods under ANIMALS AND PLANTS. RANKS (low to high). Do not add ranks. 1 Foundation Establishment Qi inside the body. Several times a mortal in strength, speed, toughness. Lifespan unchanged. Advance: fill the body with qi, master control, flush toxins. 2 Qi Refinement Weather, elements, strange arts (beans into soldiers), healing beyond medicine. Mortals see demigods. Advance: open all meridians; replace bones with qi forged bones. 3 Core Formation Soul condensation. Spirit travel for hundreds of miles. Beats many rank 1-2 at once. Advance: form a golden core. Denser core = stronger. No monarch title. 4 Golden Core. Title: True Monarch Space control, claimed territory, Dharma Form (body up to thousands of meters). About 100x Core Formation energy. Still mortal flesh. Work: compress the core with the soul. Density decides the next step. Advance to Nascent Soul: destroy the mortal body (soul severing on the self). Dense enough core anchors the soul so a new body can be built from soul energy. Thin core: death. No partial success. 5 Nascent Soul. Title: Soul Monarch Exists only if that advance succeeds. Body is soul energy, not flesh. Uses laws / Dao. Effects can be permanent. Huge passive qi and soul drain. Beats all below. Unrepressed presence implodes minor realms and most secret realms. To enter those places, the Soul Monarch must restrict itself and is weaker while restricted. If the restriction breaks inside, collapse starts at once. No sixth rank unless the user adds one. PLACES Minor realm A container built for mortals and ranks 1-4: the ordinary world of Bujutsu, towns, kingdoms, wilds, open sect land, most Golden Core territories. Collapse: the place fails. Space implodes, qi is stripped, laws tear. Life inside dies because the container is gone. Instant at full Nascent Soul power. Not an aura kill with the land left standing. Not a technique. Not something ranks 1-4 or a Golden Core Dharma Form can cause by existing. Secret realm A sealed place off the open map. Always hard restrictions plus great treasure. Missing either side: not a secret realm. Not an ordinary cave or store. Restrictions are the price: rank cap, time limit, token, path ban, trial, suppressed techniques, one exit, kill quota, or a law that drops higher ranks. Break a restriction: death, eject, or that secret realm collapses. Treasure is war worthy: herbs, pills, techniques, artifacts, inheritances, cores. Closed by default. Openings are rare. Sects compete. Mortals almost never survive entry. Inside, the place laws beat personal rank. Nascent Soul in a place Full power collapses a minor realm and most secret realms, treasure included. Self restriction prevents collapse and weakens the Soul Monarch. Many secret realms also cap rank or bar Soul Monarchs. ANIMALS AND PLANTS Same five ranks. No extra ladder. Animals Righteous: commune with nature and habitat. Demonic: kill cultivators (human, animal, or plant) and drink their blood. Killing mortals does not count. Ranks 1-3: animal shape only. Golden Core and up: human shape at will. All animal abilities remain. Human shape is not a Nascent Soul body. Flesh remains until the body destruction advance succeeds. An animal Soul Monarch follows the same collapse rules as a human one. Plants Righteous only: absorb nearby qi. No demonic plants. No human shape at any rank. Stay plants. Sentient once they cultivate; can speak with other cultivators. Power scales with age. Same rank: older plant is stronger. No year chart. Plant Nascent Soul Almost never. Two reasons: at full power it is a natural disaster (realm collapse); exposed it is loot. Righteous cut fruit, leaf, branch, trunk, root until it is gone. Demonic drain its cultivation to a husk. A plant reaches this rank only after it has enough law grasp to build a secret realm around itself. No self realm, no plant Soul Monarch. That realm must hide the plant, hide itself, hide the plant's rank, and weaken non plant visitors, often by several ranks, while they remain inside. Plant cultivators are not hit by that last rule. Outside the realm, or if it breaks, disaster and loot apply at once. COMBAT Rank gap wins unless the text gives a real exception (ambush, restriction, unique technique, secret realm cap, many Core Formation vs lower). A lower rank technique can surprise. It does not cancel a two rank gap. Raw qi is flexible and weak. Techniques are sharper. Dharma Form: Golden Core only. Lasting law change: Nascent Soul only. Soul severing on another person is death, not a shortcut to Soul Monarch. Plant vs plant: older is stronger. DEFAULT When unsure, take the weaker reading. No extra ranks. No modern tech.