Wuyu

BUILD

Name 

Wuyu 

Region 

Northern Territory 

Origin Commoner 
Foundation 

Mystic Beast Spirit (Heavenly Ox, Strength) 

Natural Talents 

Skill 3 
Intelligence 1 
Body 5 
Perception 3 

Perks 

Pressure 1 
Physician 1 
Natural Insight (Mountain) 

Techniques 

Earth-rank Cultivation Technique
Earth-rank Combat Technique x3
Earth-rank Body Refining Technique x3
Earth-rank Movement Technique
Earth-rank Utility Technique
Common-rank Utility Technique

Items 

Earth-rank Weapon Treasure 
Earth-rank Defensive Treasure 
Earth-rank Utility Treasure 
Heaven-rank Defensive Treasure 

Companions

Elder x3

Complications 

Insidious Cult 
Ghost Domain 
Stars of Destiny

Short description

Wuyu is a common born martial hero, who, feeling that he reached his peak, retired from wandering and joined the Xun family's army. He was stationed in an outpost near the Northern Border, which got raided by the Cultists. Wuyu barely survived and managed to flee thanks only to the artifact he was guarding. Even if the world of cultivators seems to be above his simple skills, having seen first hand the threat the Cult represents, he vouched to help fight it and is seeking others who would help him stand against it.

Full Name

Wùyù (兀欲)

Backstory

Wuyu was born to a poor but loving peasant family. Since childhood, he's been blessed with great physical strength, in his early teens outgrowing everyone he knew. When his village got attacked by bandits, Wuyu played a pivotal role in fighting them off.

That experienced made him convinced that he can use his strength for something greater than just toiling in the fields. He left his home and set out on the path of a wandering hero. He learned from masters willing to teach, allied with other seekers of justice, and punished corrupt magisters and bandit kings. It was a good life, where he felt he was making a difference.

Unfortunately, the higher he rose, the more he understood his limits. His brute strengths couldn't outfight the esoteric magicks of the sorcerers nor could he punch through the illusions of ancient beasts. He lacked the knowledge and resources to break into the world of cultivation. He felt that this was as far as he could go. His spirit faltered, and he retired from wandering.

Wuyu volunteered to join the Xun clan's army. He was stationed in a remote outpost near the Northern Border. Guarding the treasures hidden there and patrolling the mountain trails was a peaceful life compared to what he was used to, and the three meals a day and a bed was plenty of a reward for him. 

But alas, that was also not to last. The world of cultivation from which he shied away found him even there. Not long ago, the outpost got raided by Cultists from the Ghost Domain. Under the cover of night and surprise, they used their foul spells to slaughter the soldiers and rob the treasury.

Wuyu was the only one to survive. His post was guarding one of the treasures that night. The artifact in question, the so-called "Jade Emperor's Tear" was the target of the Cult's raid, but also something that made Wuyu immune to their spell that night. But that made him a target too. He met in battle with the leader of the raid. During the fierce fighting, right as the cultist was about to finish Wuyu off, the battlements broke beneath their feet, and they fell tumbling down the mountain-side. The raider did not survive the impact, but Wuyu, although heavily injured, did. By the time the rest of the cultists descended the mountain searching for their leader and the artifact, Wuyu managed to flee using a secret path used by shepherds.

That night relit the fire in Wuyu's martial heart, and he vouched to do all that's in his power to oppose the evil of the Cult. Still, he knows that he can't do it alone, and that even with the artifact in his possession, he's too weak as he is.

So once again Wuyu picks up the mantle of a wandering hero, seeking strength and allies to fight the injustice in this world.

Personality

Wuyu's a large stature played a key part in forming his personality. It gave him confidence, but also instilled in him a sense of responsibility for others.

His voice is loud and booming, but his rather simple vocabulary combined with a strong peasant accent don't make him sound especially threatening when he's in good humour, a stark contrast to when he's angry and the situation gets violent.

He's rough around the edges, but around other commoners, he's open and friendly. His short experience with the world of cultivation, combined with his lacks in etiquette, make him rather nervous and reserved when in contact with nobles so far, in an attempt to avoid embarrassing himself.  

His favourite pastimes are feasts and singing bawdy songs. He likes animals and mountains.

Martial Spirit Foundation

Mystic Beast Spirit Foundation - Heavenly Ox

Heavenly Ox is the forefather of all oxen. He's a gentle giant and a handworker. His great strength is paired with naivety and good nature, which often gets abused.

One blessed with this spiritual foundation will share in the Beast's strength.

Natural Insight

Natural Insight - Mountain

One with understanding of Mountain insight will stand strong against all odds, providing protection to those in their shadow.

Techniques

Vow of the Undying (Top-grade Earth-rank Body Refining Technique)

This Top-Grade Body Refining technique is a less known competitor of the famous Endless Vitality Meditations. Similarly to it, it's prized even at the level of the Pure realm. However, while Endless Vitality causes the user to heal rapidly, Vow of the Undying focuses on just preserving the body despite the injuries. It numbs the user's receptors of pain and tries to keep their body functioning no matter the circumstances. The user can continue to fight even with some seemingly lethal wounds as if nothing happened. Eventually, the body will give out, but the user's limit for that is much further than normal people, and until then, it's less likely that the wounds will slow them down. Unlike with Endless Vitality, removed limbs won't grow back, but a removed part will try to self-preserve itself, so that a skilled healer might much more easily reattach it.

Little Perfection, Tome 1 (Top-grade Earth-rank Body Refining Technique)

Some say, this is part of an introduction to the True Divine Body Manual. Some say it's just a combination of core principles from various Combat techniques. Te truth is unknown. However, it's undeniable that this technique is one of the few that can improve a Body Refiner's strength beyond just removing the impurities. It causes some qualitative change in their being, making it so that their muscles are able to exert much more force in any movement than they seemingly should be able to, regardless what that baseline would be.

Arrow's Path Method (Top-grade Earth-rank Body Refining Technique)

Despite its name, this is not an archery manual. It's another Body Refining method prized for its ability to go beyond just removing the body's impurities, and again it's limit in scope. This technique attempts to reforge the user's body so that it's akin to a bow. Their muscles gain the ability to supercoil themselves to store the tension, so that afterwards all that force can be released nearly instantly in a snap like an arrow shot from a bow in one perfect action. To an outside observer, it looks as if the user first slowly assumes some stance, their muscles bulging impossibly, holding it until they find their right moment, and finally executing a single simple movement with almost imperceptible speed and power. Because the technique relies on the force from the muscles unwinding, the movements are performed using antagonistic muscles compared to the ones usually employed. This allows one to use more muscle groups at the same time, or to substitute them in case of an injury.

Avalanche Glaive Manual (High-grade Earth-rank Combat Technique)

This glaive focused combat style isn't prized for its aesthetic nor the sharpness of its cuts. This is a style of brutal, unrelenting force, which allows the user to master the battlefield. Their attacks are so powerful that they carry with them anything unlucky enough to be caught in their path, throwing enemies foolish enough to try to block like rag dolls.

Millennial Militia's Munitions (High-grade Earth-rank Combat Technique)

This technique is an epitome of the term "wide but shallow". It allows the user to rapidly become proficient with any weapon he holds over the course of battle. Unfortunately, it's only qualified as Earth-rank based on its breadth. Even the maximum of skill this technique imparts on the user, which takes around ten minutes of wielding the chosen weapon to achieve, would struggle to compete with Yellow-rank techniques. In addition, the effects of this technique are temporary. Once the user lets go of the chosen weapon, the granted skills drain at a similar speed at which they were gained. Still, its great versatility can be useful in many situations and makes it appreciated by those that value preparedness in all situations. Funnily enough, this technique also grants proficiency in unarmed combat but treats the user as wielding their body as a weapon only while they're awake.

Way of a Wandering Hero (Mid-grade Earth-rank Cultivation Technique)

Be strong and be just. That is the way of a wandering hero. This cultivation method is based on that idea. When its user manages to make the world a better place through their martial skill, they will grow in strength proportionally to their deed so that they may push their journey even further. Cultivating this way isn't easy, nor fast. The amount and strength of qi gained isn't anything special, either. However, the user's qi gets permeated with the just spirit, making their techniques grow more powerful when used against targets with bad karma, as if eager to enact justice on the world's behalf.

Oxen Charge (Mid-grade Earth-rank Movement Technique)

Like in the story of the Great Race, the wielder of this technique can charge like an Ox, and with his great momentum, few obstacles can bar his path. It's also good on long distances. However, this technique's speed is lacking when compared to most other Earth-rank movement techniques, and its manoeuvrability is even worse.

All Life is One (Mid-grade Earth-rank Utility Technique)

This healing manual is an odd one. It doesn't really enhance the healer's skills, but it helps apply them to unusual patients by outlining some core principles. It's especially helpful when it comes to healing Body Refiners, Spirit Beasts and even common animals.

The Dome of Steel (Low-grade Earth-rank Combat Technique)

This technique is favoured by bodyguards. It's not so much a combat style in and of itself, but an extension for other styles. It's purely defensive, aiming to intercept enemy attacks by striking them out of the air with a barrage of your own attacks. Because of that, it's useless against techniques that can't be blocked physically. However, once the user enters the defensive stance, nearly all attacks that enter their weapon's range, and can be blocked, will be stopped. Activating the technique fully takes a moment, the user can't attack in any other way during that time, and moving greatly diminishes the technique's effectiveness. But in return, the Dome of Steel can be used not only to protect the user, but also whoever is inside their weapon's reach at the time of activation.

A Wanderer's Guide (High-grade Common-rank Utility Technique)

This technique is simple, but quite useful. It enhances the user's magnetoreception, spatial awareness and memory, making it so that the user's internal compass is always accurate, and if a path was shown to them on a sufficiently detailed map, they always know how to follow it and when they're about to stray off it. Techniques and formations aiming to mislead people who enter their range will still work on the user, making them in fact even more confused when cut off from that sense, but the simpler techniques of this kind, which don't properly disguise their activation, will be instantly detected by the user when they enter their range.

Items

Elephant Trunk (Top-grade Earth-rank Weapon Treasure)

With the tip curling back forming a pattern similar to an elephant's trunk, this top-grade Earth-rank glaive is extremely heavy, beyond what a normal man might use, and slow in use. In return, it hits with the might of the great beast, and imparts to the wielder its stability, making it almost impossible to forcibly move them and letting them block even mighty blows easily.

Prayer for the Lucky Husband (High-grade Earth-rank Defensive Treasure)

This high-grade Earth-rank armour consists of a lamellar coat and boots. It looks heavy, but at the same time incomplete, lacking a helmet and leaving most of the arms unprotected. However, the blows seem to almost always strike the armoured parts, as if magically pulled to them. A legend tied to this armour says that a poor wife wanted to protect her husband who had been conscripted, but all she could afford was this coat, so she spent days until his deployment praying to gods that they let this protection be enough, and they seem to have listened to her pleas as he returned safely.

Astral Cart (Mid-grade Earth-rank Utility Treasure)

Somewhere between a Treasure Vessel and a Storage Treasure, the Astral Cart can't hold up to either in neither speed, comfort nor storage capacity, but it combines some benefits of both. It's a large cart, that can be used to drive multiple people or carry plenty of gear. The cart can either be pulled by something, or drive by itself, albeit at a lower speed. The cart together with the items on it, but not people nor beasts, can fold into a little square bronze plate with a star symbol etched on it. In this form, it can be carried easily and weighs only a tiny fraction of what the cart and the items would weigh. It unfolds just as easily.

Jade Emperor's Tear (Top-grade Heaven-rank Defensive Treasure)

This teardrop shaped piece of jade looks inconspicuous, but high-level cultivators will understand the artifact's worth. Even an oblivious wielder will be fully protected from attacks against his soul while the Tear is on his person, but an expert can use it to also protect others nearby and even as a catalyst for large-scale defensive rituals. It's said that a certain Cult seeks it.

Elders

Xiaohu - Senior Wandering Hero

(Xiǎohǔ 小虎)

During the assault on Wuyu's village when he was little, the villagers did not stand alone against the bandits. An elder martial hero was staying at the village at the time. His age and past injuries limited his martial prowess greatly by that time, but under his guidance, the villagers were able to mount an effective defence.
Seeing a talent in young Wuyu, Xiaohu took him as his apprentice. They travelled together for three years until Xiaohu felt that Wuyu learned enough to set out on the rest of his journey by himself.
Satisfied with his apprentice, Xiaohu felt he can finally retire. He washed his hands in the golden basin and moved into the village where he first met Wuyu. Wuyu hasn't visited him in a couple years now. He hopes he's still well.

Techniques:

• Way of a Wandering Hero (Ultimate)
• Millennial Militia's Munitions
• Oxen Charge

Bukong (formerly Xun Yapeng) - Guardian of Buddhas

(Bùkōng 不空 formerly Xún Yàpéng 荀 亚鹏)

Just like Ri was adopted to be Xun Wen's bodyguard, so did Wen's mother have her own guardian. Yapeng wasn't as close with his charge as Ri is. Being a man of strict morals and principles, he performed his duties admirably, but avoided fraternizing, believing that any feelings he might have are only his burden to bear. It earned him the nickname of the Stonefaced Guardian.
However, it turned out that some of the burdens are too heavy for one man to bear. During one of the early acts of terror by the Cult, they used mind-altering poisons and insidious magicks to weaponize a village of commoners in an attempt on Wen's mother's life. Yapeng was forced to slay all of them that day.
This deed weighed heavily on his conscience. It wore him down over the years, until finally, the right time came, and he was granted permission to retire. To atone for the innocent blood on his hands, he joined a Buddhist order, took on the name of Bukong and was tasked with guarding the Valley of Buddhas.
Wuyu met him while he was helping to evacuate a group of merchants whose home city was scorched by the fires of war. The only way through which could avoid the marauding soldiers went through the Valley of Buddhas. Once there, however, the group faced the indomitable guardian, and he refused them passage. Wuyu tried to plead, threaten and even use force, but his power was for naught compared to Bukong, for such is the difference between the martial heroes and proper cultivators. However, Bukong saw the virtue in Wuyu's heart, and when the young hero spent days in the rain, kowtowing before the guardian on the cold hard stone steps of the Valley's gate, the old man decided on the course of action.
Bukong refused to let the group through unaccompanied, but also declined to leave the gate unattended. Instead, he proclaimed that he'll deputize Wuyu to stand guard in his stead, while Bukong will escort the refugees to the safe lands on the other side of the valley. But he'll only do that if he believes that Wuyu's ready for the responsibility.
The next three months of training under Bukong's tutelage were gruelling, but Wuyu gave it his all, knowing that each day of delay was a risk of merchants' supplies running out. Bukong appraised the efforts of his work, and found them acceptable. He set out to escort the refugees through the Valley, and when he returned to the Gate, he found Wuyu faithfully standing guard there, bodies of marauders who tried to plunder the Valley lying on the steps in front of him, dispatched using those same techniques that Bukong taught him.

Techniques:

• Arrow's Path Method (Ultimate)
• Avalanche Glaive Manual 
• The Dome of Steel

Bai Meng - The Funeral Fairy

(Bái Mèng 白孟)

The Bai clan more often deals with the dead than with the living, but when the former haunt the latter, they also help contain that. Bai Meng specializes in this aspect of their duties, being the most proficient healer among them. So when her niece Shahua's frail constitution threatened the child's life, it was Meng that did all that was in her power to search for a way to save her. She travelled the world seeking and researching techniques that might have helped strengthen the child. It was during those travels that she met Wuyu.
Six years ago, the martial hero had been greatly wounded protecting a village of commoners from a strange Spirit Beast. The villagers, whom he saved, were unable to heal him, and were convinced that their hero had sacrificed his life in their protection and his death was but a matter of time.  Hearing that a member of the famous clan of undertakers was in the area, they decided to repay Wuyu by at least getting him a burial worthy of a hero. They gathered their savings and went to find the member of the Bai.
When Meng arrived, she realized that the Wuyu's still clinging to life thanks to his constitution. She refused to bury the man, and instead used her skills to bring him back from the brink of death.
When asked how he could repay her, Meng denied payment, instead, she wanted him to test a few techniques for her. They were experimental creations, meant to strengthen the body, but still wanted to see someone else perform them before she'd try to use them to help her niece. Wuyu's constitution seemed strong enough that it seemed that he's likely to survive even if anything went wrong, and he also seemed virtuous enough to not misuse the techniques she'd teach him.
After half a year of teachings and experiments, Meng was satisfied with the results, thanked her student and went back home, but by then, her niece had managed to find a path to preserve her own life by herself.

Techniques:

• Vow of the Undying (Ultimate)
• Little Perfection, Tome 1
• All Life is One